FANTASTIC FOUR # 428

by Mark Bousquet

STARJAMMER LIE, STARJAMMER PIE, STARJAMMER ... DIE?

THE PLANET AK'YEN'JA

"CRUSH THEM!"

The man known to himself only as Victor orders an army to destroy four people who came seeking aid. Circled by a mix of Wenthorian and Unthan troops, the Starjammers - Corsair, Hepzibah, Ch'od and Raza - draw their swords and prepare to do something they have had to do time and time again.

Fight for their lives.

"Plan?" Raza asks Corsair, the group's leader.

"Don't get killed," Corsair deadpans as his eyes try to take in the completeness of their surroundings.

"That's really more a bit of advice, really, than it is a plan," Raza answers, already confident the three soldiers facing him are mere moments from death.

"It is that," Hepzibah mutters as she leaps, claws bared into a group of Unthan guards. The first one hasn't a chance and his wife will raise their children alone. The second has enough time to get his arm up. Tomorrow, it will be amputated. The third slashes at Hepzibah with his sword, which she dodges easily.

Raza uses his rapier to slash at a group of Wenthorian guards. The Wenthorians, though less technologically advanced than the Unthans, are more heavily armed. They last five extra seconds.

Corsair sidesteps his attackers and heads right for the Elder Council, who are busy running out the back entrance. He is intercepted by Victor.

"You will not leave this room alive," the cold, deep voice declares. "You should not have come here."

"I bet they're saying the same thing about you," Corsair answers, holding his sword at the ready, though he knows it will do him no good.

"And why should they think that?" Victor answers, slightly puzzled.

"I can't think of too many places that would be thrilled to see you show up."

"Tell me, Starjammer Corsair," Victor speaks as he takes a step closer, "tell me who I am and I shall spare your life."

TITAN

The Fantastic Four - Reed and Sue Richards, the Thing and She-Hulk - stand ready to depart back to Earth on a space cruiser provided by Mentor, the leader of the Titan Eternals.

"We will let you know our answer when we return to Earth, Mentor," Reed says as he shakes Mentor's hand. "You have given us much to think about."

"I'm sure I have, Reed," Mentor answers. "I can imagine it is a daunting question to answer. It is not easy to make a dramatic change in one's life, especially given the circumstances."

As the FF board the ship, Sue Richards ponders the question even more. Mentor's offer, to help teach Franklin about his powers and his role in the universe, is a tempting one. In many ways, it is the answer to all her prayers. Mentor is offering to let them live on Titan with him and she wonders how they can say no to that.

But even more, she wonders what Franklin is up to right now ...

EARTH - PIER 4

Franklin Richards sighs to himself as he gazes longingly at the sleeping form of Alicia Masters. For not the first time in his life, he wishes he had a friend, or at least ... a brother or sister.

"What troubles you, Franklin?" the Silver Surfer asks.

"Nothing much, I guess," Franklin responds.

"Thanos will return someday. You know that, don't you?"

"I guess." Franklin frowns, wishing the Surfer would change the subject. But, as he has found out, the Silver Surfer has little want to talk about much else.

"You know that there are others who will come after you, too, don't you?"

"Yeah, sure. I mean, I guess."

"Don't worry too much, young Franklin," the Surfer tries to reassure, "the future should be peaceful for you. No one will come seeking to end your life anytime soon."

"Lucky me," Franklin sighs, really wishing he had a friend.

THE PLANET AK'YEN'JA

"You do not know who you are?!?" Corsair exclaims.

"No, I do not. But you do," Victor responds, "which means that I soon shall."

"Don't think so, pal!" Corsair shoots back as he leaps away from Von Doom.

"Come back here, infidel!" Victor shouts as he tries to grab ahold of Corsair.

'Interesting,' Corsair thinks to himself. 'He really mustn't know who he is. He's got the same mean streak, but he's not using his armor as a weapon at all. He should've blasted at me just now, but he lunges. He either doesn't know what it can do, or it's broke and he doesn't know how to fix it. Or can't on this planet.'

Corsair looks to see how the other Starjammers are faring and is both pleased and disturbed. They fight well, but as time goes by even more soldiers and guards enter the room. There is no way the can defeat a whole planet's army. They must find a way to escape.

"Have at thee, man!" Raza shouts as he parries a clumsy attack and disables another soldier.

Ch'od has drawn the largest crowd, but he fares just as well as the others. He surprises his opponents with his swordsmanship skill and finishes them off with his strength.

Above them, the Elder Council watches with mixed feelings. Tykan the Unthan and Porunesclamano the Wenthorian are pleased with the way the battle is going. Nothing will impress the Shi'ar more than to hand them the dead bodies of the Starjammers. Ja'lana of the Ba'na'ay and Ioeya of the Eaau are disturbed. They are peoples of peace and had voted to give the Starjammers what they wanted and send them on their way. Haak the Leghtian watches and wonders if he didn't maybe make a mistake voting to go along with Victor's plan. And Pythtani the Eckdrasi watches, though she feels nothing for the scene. As she always has done, she abstained from the voting, letting Fate play itself out.

"This is glorious!" Tykan shouts as a Leghtian army unit enters.

The Starjammers are now outnumbered in the room 50 - 4. Ioeya and Ja'lana exchange a glance and a nod and the Chieftain of the Eaau slowly and quietly leaves the room.

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN TITAN AND EARTH

The Fantastic Four sit in the control room of the large Titan vessel and watch sub-space fold around them. They will be home within another few hours and each member of the team has issues they don't want to confront when they get there.

For Benjamin J. Grimm there is the undeniable fact that he loves Alicia Masters. There is also the undeniable fact that he has been avoiding her. He thinks about her always. Her presence is a constant companion in his mind. He remembers back to the Assault on Baluur*, in the middle of a battle with Blastaar and Annihilus. Here he was, just about to lay a roundhouse punch onto Blastaar's big ugly mug, when the image of Alicia's face popped into his mind. One of her serious, lost in concentration looks she gets when she sculpts.

He actually paused a second before laying Blastaar out.

* (FF 425, the final chapter of the FRANKLIN MUST DIE trilogy - I Wrote That Mark)

Jen Walters sits and stares out the window and frowns. She is not blind to what's going on around her. Ben thinks of Alicia endlessly, but hasn't the confidence to go to her, even after all this time. Johnny is on edge and becoming erratic. She saw the news footage of his run-in with Spider-Man and the Elementals* and knows from being around him, even for the short time since she's rejoined the FF, that he isn't happy.

* (FF 421 - 422 - Trip Down Memory Lane Mark)

And then there's the matter of Reed and Sue, who, Jen notices have decided to take this moment to leave the control room.

"What I wouldn't give to be a fly on that wall," Jen mutters.

"Aw, c'mon, Shulkie," Ben mutters back. "It ain't no fun watching people in love fight."

"Why, Ben," Jen smiles, "you are a hopeless romantic, aren't you?"

"Stow it."

Reed and Sue walk angrily down the corridor. When Sue is convinced they are out of earshot, she starts the argument all over, "Give me one good reason, Reed."

Reed stops and turns, "We have a responsibility to the people of Earth, Sue."

"To use our powers? Do you really think the world would miss two super-heroes?"

Reed sighs, "No."

"Then let's take Franklin and live on Titan, Reed. Think of how much Franklin would benefit," Sue pleads.

"Do you really think Mentor and the Titans can do a better job of raising our son than we can?" Reed asks.

"No, Reed, I don't," Sue confesses, "but I do think they can help us. We'd fit in better there, Reed. There would be something on Titan that we never seem to have at home."

"And what's that, Sue?"

"Time."

"Time? For ourselves maybe, but-"

"Don't do it, Reed. Don't you dare call me selfish for wanting to spend time with my husband and son."

"What will happen, Sue," Reed asks, exasperated, "the next time some pyscho would-be conqueror comes hurtling through the Negative Zone? Or the next time one of my deep space scanners picks up an Earthly threat?"

"Are you saying we can't be replaced, Reed?" Sue asks back. "Are you that egotistical?"

Reed looks at his wife and then to the floor and then back to his wife. Both of their minds are already made up. 'Why,' he asks himself, 'did we have to come to different conclusions?'

EARTH - NEW YORK CITY

"And in local news, Daily Bugle publisher J. Jonah Jameson has put another offer out for Spider-Man," Trish Tilby speaks into the CBNC camera, seeing but ignoring a disturbance behind camera 3. "This time there's a twist, however. Instead of putting up a reward for someone to capture the wall-crawler, Jameson is offering Spider-Man 5 million dollars to retire. Or, a cool 1 million to -- Hey, what do you think you're doing?"

Johnny Storm moves to stand in front of her. "Put your cameras on me." The cameramen do. "This is an emergency broadcast message from the Fantastic Four," he speaks angrily. "I know it was you the other night. I know it was you who played me for a fool. I'm telling you right now, stay away from me. I'm not interested in your sick, twisted games."

The verbiage continues, but Lyja, the former wife of Johnny Storm has stopped listening. No tears come to her eyes, she was aware of what she was doing when she did it, but she had to know.* She had to know if there was any chance for her and Johnny to ever reunite.

It is pretty clear to her now that there isn't.

* (FF 424 - Kiss But Don't Tell Mark)

Johnny Storm has stopped listening to himself as well. He isn't aware of what he says, just that the longer he talks, the greater the chance that Lyja will see it.

And while the viewing audience will see this as a warning to an unnamed villain, there are a few who will see it for what it is.

The desperate pleas of a very desperate, very lonely man.

SPAIN

Plunk.

Ring.

Flop.

Scrub ahead.

Scrub back.

Scrub ahead.

Scrub back.

Plunk.

Ring.

Flop.

Scrub ahead.

Scrub back.

Scrub ahead.

Scrub back.

Plunk.

To Sharon Ventura, this has become her mantra. It is practically the only thoughts that ever enter her mind. As she scrubs one of the many stone floors inside Diablo's Spanish castle, she concentrates on the words so that her Master, should he return or be spying on her right now, doesn't notice anything amiss.

But something is amiss, as deep within Sharon's mind her subconscious is once again trying to break free of Diablo's spell. She can't let him know, though. She can't. If he even suspects that something is wrong he will come over and drop one of his pellets on the ground. She will watch it fall, as she has she doesn't know how many times, a slow, endless fall. She will scream to her legs to run, but they won't respond. The pellet will hit the ground and release a gas, a green odorless gas that will waft slowly up around her form and into her nostrils and remind her that she serves Diablo.

She doesn't want to serve Diablo. It isn't right. But the gas will convince her that it is all she wants in the world.

'Not today,' she tells herself. 'Today Diablo is gonna be served by me in only one way, when I jam this fist of mine into his scrawny face.'

"You have stopped working," Diablo says.

Sharon gasps, how did he do that? Where did he come from? Why did I stop working?

"I-I'm sorry, master," Sharon pleads. "I will w-work twice as long t-today."

"Yes you will," Diablo says, his thin mouth curling into a smile.

Sharon's eyes recoil in horror as she sees his thin hand move to one of his hidden pockets that is sewn into his garment. It is the same hand and the same pocket that she has seen him move to numerous times before. "No!" she screams aloud as an inner voice screams to her legs to run. They don't respond and Diablo doesn't stop moving his hand into a pocket. He pulls out a familiar pellet and Sharon's inner voice does something it has never done since coming here, it tells her to punch Diablo in the stomach.

Much to her enjoyment, her right arm responds and Diablo finds himself suddenly out of breath.

He hits the far wall, luckily draped with a tapestry that wasn't there the day before, hard, and he looks up to see Sharon Ventura running down the hall to the main staircase, where she will run downstairs and outside into the cool Spanish countryside.

"Pity," Diablo says to the cold stone around him.

Outside, Sharon runs for freedom. Her ragged clothes offer little protection, but she pays it no mind. She has one and only one thought on her mind.

She must find the Fantastic Four. She must.

THE PLANET AK'YEN'JA

Victor has stepped aside and decided to let the battle play itself out. The Starjammers are now outnumbered 100 to 4 and their time in this life is almost up.

"Find higher ground!" Corsair yells, but he doubt this order will work any better than his last one of, "Run for the exits!"

"Aaaargh!" comes a yell from the other side of the room. Ch'od. Corsair struggles to look through the mass of steel blades and shining armor, and he can make out the form of Ch'od falling to one knee, bellowing what may well be his final challenge.

The remaining three Starjammers fight on, but eventually the inevitable occurs and they are brought and dumped before Victor Von Doom. Victor calls out, "Bring in the Elder Council!"

The Starjammers' bodies cling to life as they look up into the face of Evil itself. Corsair shudders as the eyes of Doom bore into his soul. If he's going to Hell, he knows he suddenly fears it a little less. He doubts any devil could unnerve him like Dr. Doom.

The Elder Council, save one member is brought into the room.

"Great work, Victor!" Tykan proclaims. "The Shi'ar will reward us for sure."

"Where is Ioeya?" Victor asks.

"He left," Ja'lana spits. "The Eaau are a proud people and this ... this slaughter is nothing he would care to see."

"A pity then," Victor responds, making sure the Elder Council gets his message. "It is a shame that the Eaau would be willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone on this planet for the lives of four insufferable fools."

"Bite me!" Hepzibah shouts defiantly. Her insolence is met with a steel boot to the face and blood running down her fur.

"You will die first," Victor proclaims as he grabs Hepzibah's face in his hand. "Killing a female will demoralize the others. Not that it matters," he smiles, "they'll be joining you shortly. But first, Corsair, you will tell me about my past. You will tell me everything that you know."

"Not likely," Corsair gasps, wincing at the surge of pain in his chest. Broken ribs, in all likelihood. "You're going to kill us all anyways."

"I will spare the woman. Your lover. If you tell me what I want to know."

"Again, not likely," Corsair smiles. He's not about to fall for the oldest- and then, like a falling star in a moonless night, inspiration comes to Chris Summers. They're dead, all of them. 'But maybe,' he thinks as he looks to the sympathetic eyes of Ja'lana, 'there's time to save a planet.'

"Are you certain, Corsair?" Victor asks as his metal gauntlet squeezes around the throat of Hepzibah.

Corsair, having done all this before, gives Doom what he wants, "Wait! D-Don't! I'll tell you what you want to know." His head slumps to his chest.

"Have you gone daft?" Raza exclaims. The only answer he receives is a gauntlet across the face.

"Tell me," Victor commands.

"You won't kill her?" Corsair asks.

"No."

"A-Alright, then," he answers weakly. "Ask your questions."

"Who am I?" Victor asks, the attention of the Elder Council glued to him. "Where am I from?"

"You're from Earth. A small, but important planet in the Milky Way. Your name is ... Victor. Victor Davids," Corsair lies.

"Victor Davids?" Doom asks, questioning the answer that doesn't feel right.

"Victor Davids. That's why you have that D on your belt buckle," Corsair feeds the lie. "You were, are, a scientist. You were working on a special project that would help feed your entire world. When the time came to reveal your plan to the world, one of the Earth's villains ... a despicable, evil being known as ... Plantman, thought you were trying to overshadow his brilliance and he had your formula destroyed." Corsair pauses and looks to Doom. 'Good,' he thinks, 'I've got your attention.'

"Go on," Victor commands.

"The formula you were working on covered your body and your skin burned, so you designed that metal suit you now wear to save your life. Y-You are a great man, Victor. A hero."

Victor paces the room for a moment before stopping. "There are parts of your story that feel very right to me, Corsair. I thank you for them." He looks to the Wenthorian guards who stand behind the Starjammers. "Kill them all."

"But you promised!" Corsair shouts, though he knew that this is just what Doom would do.

"I can assure you, Corsair," Victor reasons, "that if you knew what I would put Hepzibah through if she lived beyond today, you would wish she was dead instead."

The Wenthorian guards bring their swords up, and the Starjammers get ready to die. Ch'od says a prayer. Raza spits at Victor's form. Hepzibah and Corsair look to one another and bid each other a silent good-bye.

"Hold!"

The chamber turns to look and sees Ioeya standing in the doorway.

"What is it, old man?" Victor asks.

"I wish to perform our ritual of rebirth on these folk. Though I wish you would not slay them, I will abide by the will of the Council. I ask only for the Council's permission to perform our ritual. It is short."

"Go ahead," Victor scoffs impatiently.

Ioeya approaches the Starjammers and places a ruby in each of their hands and says a prayer over their form. When he has finished he moves to stand beside the members of the Council.

"May we slay them now?" Victor asks.

"You may," Ioeya answers. "Kaaauloue!" he exclaims and in four blinding bursts of light, the Starjammers disappear.

"What is the meaning of this?!?" Victor bellows.

"They are gone to the great beyond," Ioeya explains. "Or they will be," he smiles, "as soon as they power up their starship."

Victor rushes to the window just in time to see the Starjammer gain escape velocity and exit the planet's atmosphere. He turns to Ioeya, "You will pay for your insolence." Ioeya nods and exits the room.

On board the Starjammer, four very relieved adventurers are happy to have escaped with their lives. Keeyah, the ship's pilot, had the ship ready to go after hearing from the Eaau. "We even got some supplies," he tells them.

"Dinner is what, then?" Hepzibah asks, a smile on her lips.

"As long as it isn't Starjammer pie, I don't even care," Corsair jokes as the Starjammer sails away from the planet Ak'yen'ja, never to return.

END FF 428

ED. NOTE - It has been suggested to start a lettercol. I'm torn on the idea, but if you have any thoughts - positive or negative - about this issue (or any previous or those to come) and want to see your name "in print" send an e-mail to FANTASTIC FORUM at mariner2@tiac.net

FANTASTIC FORUM

Just finished the new FF, Mark. I have to tell you when I read it, it's

like Kurt's T-Bolts. I never know what might happen next. The possibility

of Reed and Sue leaving the team (and Earth!) is intriguing. Which of

course leaves the question of what the FF will do - hard to imagine Ben and

Jen leaving Earth, and it looks like Sharon could possibly return to the

team... So I'm guessing an all-new lineup. Lots of interesting things that

you could explore with that, although I feel Reed and Sue are the heart of

the team, and as such should be featured in the book regularly if not on

the team. As usual, I can't wait for the next one!

Cheers,

Matt

Thanks a bunch, Matt! Comparing this to Kurt's T-BOLTS is the highest of praise, indeed! That's one of the things I'm striving for, to keep the reader unsure of what's coming next, but also that the character's reactions to that craziness make sense to the reader.

As for Reed and Sue leaving the team, I won't tell you what's going to happen, of course, but I will promise that Reed and Sue will stay an integral part of the series. Often when characters are written out of the line-up, they are also written out of the book, maybe because the writer has nothing to say about them anymore. That's not the case here. I have plenty of stories to tell in regards to Reed and Sue. And I will tell them, regardless of whether or not they're on the team.

Reed, Sue, Ben and Johnny are the FF, even if they're not in the group at a given moment. So if Reed and Sue (and Franklin) do decide to go to Titan, their exploits will still be promintently featured. Guaranteed.

And about that guess of a new line-up ... that's a subject that will come up in the not too distant future (maybe next issue!), but how and why remain to be seen ...

BTW folks, Matt is currently writing IRON MAN for MV1. Be sure to check it out! It's some great work!

NEXT ISSUE - FANTASTIC FOUR # 429: The FF finally return to Earth and Reed and Sue give Mentor their answer! Could Reed and Sue really be leaving not only the Fantastic Four, but Earth, behind? Don't assume you know the answer to that one, you haven't been to Titan! Not to be outdone, our mystery villain makes a reappearance to unleash an old FF foe that's been away for far too long! But the results aren't quite what he was hoping for! All that, and Sharon Ventura returns to the Fantastic Four! The title of our next tale is called "PROLOGUE TO DESTINY", and if you think it's just to set up the LATVERIAN CONNECTION storyline starting in FF 430, you ain't going to believe what comes after that! Fasten those proverbial seat belts, folks, you ain't seen nothing yet!

MBQ 3.1.98