FANTASTIC FOUR # 435

one last time for now by Mark Bousquet

THE KETTLE BOILS ANEW

PIER 4

"What?!?" the question comes from nearly everybody in the room, but it is the voice of Benjamin J. Grimm that rises above the rest to be heard by all. "Tell me you're joking, Reed!"

"Ben, please," Alicia quietly interjects, as the Fantastic Four, Reed & Sue Richards, Johnny Storm, Ben Grimm and She-Hulk, plus Reed and Sue's child, Franklin, stand in one of Reed's many laboratories.

"Please, what, Alicia?" Ben snaps at her harsher than he had intended. "You're pregnant! I'm a little curious as to who the father is, 'cause I know it ain't me!"

The room quiets as the FF all wait to hear Alicia's answer to the Thing's question. Finally, it comes, but it is not what any expected, "I - I don't know, Ben." Her head drops. She finds she can't bear to look into the Thing's clear blue eyes.

Ben watches her, a mixture of anger and depression overcoming him. He was so happy just moments ago. It looked like Alicia and he would finally make things work out. But now ...

Now all he can do is walk out of the room, leaving everything behind.

"How do these things happen?" Alicia cries to herself, but no one has an answer for her.

SPACE

In the stillness of space, a lone figure rides across the emptiness on a silver surfboard. Norrin Radd, the Silver Surfer, searches for Thanos and dwells in the loneliness that is his life.

He thinks of many things on this trip, but much of it is focused on Earth. His heart goes out to the Richards' boy. 'The burden must be unimaginable to wield such power at such a young age,' he thinks as he soars, but his thoughts can not stay on Franklin for long before he's back to thinking of Alicia Masters and the time they spent together while the heroes were away.*

* ( During that whole post-Onslaught thing - Mark Reborn )

The Silver Surfer has long felt a closeness to the blind sculptress, and his feelings for her began to mature in the absence of the love of her life, Ben Grimm. He doesn't dwell on Alicia for long, however, as other thoughts begin to take over.

When you are the one known as the Silver Surfer, you haven't any real time for love, real or imagined. Unless, of course, your name happened to be Shalla Bal.

NYU

Inside the dorm room of Eugene Paul Patilio, three young men sit, planning their future. Eugene is one of the men, and he talks in hushed tones with Gerald Krent, a young farm boy from Kansas who has recently come to New York City for the first time.*

* ( Fantastic Four 432 - Never Been to NYC Mark )

The third young man is Eugene's roommate, Ed McGoyne.

"You guys are such dorks," Ed sighs, exasperated at the endless prattle between Eugene and Gerald.

"Hey, at least we're doing something to rid the world of evil!" Gerald snaps.

"Leave him alone, Gerry," Eugene advises, trying to sound as condescending to his roommate as he can. "He doesn't understand what we're doing."

"I understand, all right," Ed muses. "I understand that my roommate is, of all people, Frog Man and he's picked up a new partner. Someone who calls himself Blue Streak."

"Hey, I didn't pick the name, it came with the uniform!" Gerald whines, tired of defending the name to Ed.

"Gerry," Ed points out, "how did you even find that costume?"

"Let me tell you, Ed," Gerald scoffs ...

FLASHBACK - APPALACHIAN MOUNTAINS

Gerald Krent and two friends are hiking through the Appalachian Mountains, having an argument about whether or not the govenrment should continue to spend countless millions of dollars trying to contain the Hulk.

"Better to just leave him alone," Gerald's friend Sam says.

"No way," Gerald snaps back. "The guy's a menace. He has to be stopped! In fact- whoah!" Gerald falls flat on his face. "What the heck?" he asks, looking back to see what he tripped on.

His two friends laugh at him, but he doesn't pay them any attention, as he's busy picking up a blue padded uniform.

"Look at this, guys," he says excitedly. "It's a superhero costume of some kind."

His friends look on skeptically, "You sure, Gerry?" Phil, the other friend, asks.

"Yeah, Gerry," Sam adds, "it's not anybody I recognize. Maybe it's- oh my god, are those roller skates?!?"

"Uh, yeah," Gerald answers, somewhat disappointed at finding them there.

"Must be a Halloween costume or something , then," Sam reasons. "Way to go, Gerry."

"I think I'm gonna take it anyways. C'mon, guys, gimme a hand with this."

NYU

" ... and so they did, but boy, they weren't happy!" Gerry smiles.

A silent pause, and then, "Er ... that's it?" Ed asks, slapping his own head with his hand.

"Yep."

"Well, uh, that's not a very exciting story you just told us, Gerry," Eugene admits.

"It's not?" Gerry asks, disappointed.

"No," Ed and Eugene answer together.

"Doesn't matter, though," Eugene quickly adds. "You're here now, and that's what's important." Gerry's face brightens at the words.

"I think what's important is that you two check yourselves into a loony bin," Ed deadpans under his voice.

"We need to find Will o' the Wisp and the Black Cat," Eugene plunges on and Ed leaves to find someone, anyone, that's any less insane than his roommate.

PIER 4 - HANGAR

Ben Grimm stands alone in the FF's hangar and doesn't know whether to destroy something or break down and cry. Alicia's pregnant. He can't get over it. Pregnant. And for her to be pregnant, that means ...

His fist slams into an empty crate, splintering it into a thousand pices of scrapwood. To the side, unseen by Ben, stands the Human Torch, who has followed Ben around the Pier 4 complex to keep an eye on him.

Ben can't even stand to think what Alicia being pregnant means. But who is the father? Some superhero? Some ordinary Joe out there that Ben has never met.

He has always been one to handle adverse situation pretty well, except for two blatant instances. The first was his initial reactions to being turned into the Thing. The second is any time Alicia is involved.

As the world comes crashing in around Ben, he can't help but think more of who the father is. 'It's really not important, though' he tells himself. 'I mean, it doesn't really matter if it's Thor or her mailman, does it? She's still pregnant and that's what I've got to deal with.'

But there's a big part of the Thing that is absolutely certain that the man responsible is the Silver Surfer.

And in the loneliness, unseen by any except for the Human Torch, the ever lovin' blue-eyed Thing begins to cry.

INTERLUDE - WAKANDA

Maximus the Mad Inhuman runs as fast as he can, trying to escape the madness behind him.. It doesn't work. A mind reaches out to his and pulls it back inward, losing itself in the folds of his own insanity.

"No, please!" Maximus screams.

"Oh yes," the booming voice replies, "it is time you and your accursed relatives pay for your crimes! Vengeance will be ours!"

END INTERLUDE

PIER 4 - FRONT DOOR

"Well, this is a bit weird," Jean Grey says to her husband, Scott Summers, aka Cyclops.

"Why's that, Jean?" Scott asks, his hand finding it's way around his wife's waist.

"Just stopping over the Fantastic Four's headquarters to say Hi. It's weird. We shoulda just called."

Scott smiles. "I know what you mean, Jean. It's not like we're close pals with Reed and Sue, but things have been relatively calm lately and I figured it'd be nice for you and me to just get away."

Jean looks at her husband and a large smile spreads across her beautiful face. "Why, Slim, I don't know whether to be impressed that you found some time for us, or depressed that your spending that time on official business, instead of letting us enjoy some ... personal time."

"Ahem!" Scott coughs, smiling. "So do we just ring the bell at front door?"

"You could do that," Reed's voice cuts in from some unseen speakers. "Or you two could just walk in and tell us to what honor we owe the pleasure of your visit."

Jean smiles to the air, but Scott is already moving towards the front door, business back squarely in the front of his mind.

Once they've found themselves upstairs, Jean and Scott sit in a large room with Reed and Sue.

"Selling cookies for the Xavier School fundraiser?" Sue asks, glad to have some company that isn't Nathaniel for a change.

"Hardly," Scott says, his voice grim. Reed and Sue immediately pick up on the serious vibe and quit the idle chit-chat.

"What's going on, Cyclops?" Reed asks, his voice all business.

"Please, Reed, call me Scott," Cyclops answers. "I'm afraid I have some rather important news about a foe of yours."

"Tell us," Sue says, her mind already racing to try to think of where Franklin is at the current moment.

"It's Dr. Doom," Cyclops answers. "We know where he is."

SPACE - THE PLANET AK'YEN'JA

Dr. Doom sits on his throne, ruler of an entire planet.  A planet that he took, single-handedly, from it's people. He broods, hands folded in front of his face.  There is only one question he can ask of himself, "What shall fall under the heel of Doom next?"

NEW YORK CITY

Frog Man and Blue Streak II stand in the middle of Central Park, ready to combat evil.

"I feel stupid," Blue Streak, aka Gerald Krent says, scratching at the white 4 they spray-painted onto the Blue Streak uniform.

'You should with those roller skates,' Frog Man thinks. "It's your first real time out on patrol. Don't worry about it."

'At least I'm not dressed as a pure white frog with a blue 4 painted on my chest,' Gerald thinks. "Didn't you try to start a group before?" he asks. "Something with, uh, the Toad and Spider-Kid or someone?"

"That was a long time ago," Eugene adds quickly. "I've learned my lesson."

'Right,' Gerald thinks, 'that's why your gut is larger than a VW bug.'

"We really need to find Will o' the Wisp and Black Cat," Frog Man states, ignoring the two little kids that walk by and laugh at them.

"I don't know, Eugene-"

"Frog Man! Frog Man!" Eugene shouts in a panicked voice. "I need to keep my secret identity a secret!"

"Sorry, Eu- er, Frog Man," Blue Streak apologizes. "But, anyways, neither, er, Will or the Black Cat seemed to want to hang around us all that much."

"They'll learn to like us," Eugene adds undeterred. "Afterall, we're a team."

"What about Dragon Man? He seemed okay."

"Oh, stop. Five members of a four person group? That would never work."

"I was just thinking if Black Cat down't want to join-"

"Look!" Frog Man shouts. "It's the Scorpion!"

"He's headed this way!" Blue Streak panics.

"Good, I'm ready-" Frog Man starts to say before Scorpion's tail whips around and knocks Frog Man and Blue Streak into dreamland with one simple swoop of his tail.

"Chumps," Scorpion scoffs. "That guy's actually wearing roller skates."

PIER 4 - HANGAR

Johnny Storm stands outside the Hangar and waits for Ben to exit. To allay any fears the big guy might have that he was spying on him, Johnny walks down the end of the adjoining hall and conveniently runs into the Thing there.

"Sorry, Ben," Johnny says, picking himself up off the ground.

"Watch it, kid," Ben grumbles, continuing on down the hallway.

"Hey, wait up, Benji!" Johnny calls after him.

"Leave me alone, matchstick," Ben mumbles, "I've got things to think about."

"You should just go talk to her," Johnny replies, an instant before Ben turns around and plants Johnny up agains the wall.

"Why don't you mind yer own business for once," Ben threatens and Johnny is honestly a little scared at the pain in Ben's eyes.

"Okay, okay," Johnny says defensively. "It's just .. well, Alicia is pretty shaken up about the whole thing, too. She swears she doesn't know who the father is."

"Already moving in on her, eh, Johnny?" Ben accuses. "Not enough you thought you stole her once from me, huh?* Now you want to do it all again?"

* ( Johnny once married Alicia Masters, only to discover later on that it was really Lyja pretending to be Alicia - What's a retcon? Mark )

"Geez, no, Ben, c'mon, get off my case," Johnny babbles, really wishing Ben would put him down. "She's in a lot of pain up there and you should go talk to her."

"Why?" Ben asks.

"Because you two love each other."

A half second pause as the words hit Ben and then Johnny finds himself landing on the floor as Ben drops him and continues his walk down the hallway.

PIER 4 - MEDIC LAB

Alicia Masters rests in a bed and stares at the ceiling, tears dried to her cheeks. Jen Walters, the She-Hulk, stands by her side. Jen doesn't really know what to do in this situation, so she stays where she thinks it's safer.

She could go and see Cyclops and Jean Grey ('whatever the hell she's calling herself thse days,' Jen thinks), but it looked serious and she's not that close with the X-Men anyways. She wants to go find Ben and talk to him, but the way he's feeling, she figures it's better left to someone else in the group, since they're his family and all. And Johnny, well, she'd just rather be here.

"You don't have to stay, Jen," Alicia smiles weakly.

"I know, Alicia," the She-Hulk responds. "But it's better if you have someone here, I think."

"It's not like I can be alone right now, anyways," Alicia tries to joke.

"I guess not," Jen forces a smile.

They sit in silence for a few moments, when Alicia asks, "Did you ever want to have kids, Jen?"

"Huh?" Jen asks, startled, not ready for the question. "I-I don't know. I mean, yeah, I guess, someday, but ..."

"But there's no time in your life for it?" Alicia tries to finish the sentence.

"Yeah, something like that." 'I really don't want to have this conversation,' Jen thinks.

"I just wish ... I wish it were Ben's is all," Alicia admits.

"Uh, do you know who is the father, Alicia?" Jen asks uncomfortably. This isn't an easy conversation to have.

"No," Alicia whispers. "And what's really scary, Jen, is that there's no way anybody could be the father of this child because I haven't ..."

"Right. I get you. No need to go any further."

Another uncomfortable silence falls upon the two women.

PIER 4 - COMMON ROOM

"Where is he?" Reed asks, bolting upright in his chair even more than he was.

"A small planet within the confines of the Shi'ar Empire," Cyclops answers.

"Cyclops' father, Corsair, one of the Starjammers, called us this morning and related the location to us," Jean offers. "The Starjammers had a run-in with him a few weeks ago."

"Are they okay?" Sue asks.

"Yeah," Scott answers. "They said he didn't know who he was, but-"

"But that didn't really matter, did it?" Reed finishes. "Victor is not going to be a warm, loving individual no matter who he thinks he is. You could convince him he was Mother Theresa and he'd be certain he was acting altruistic because it facilitated the take over of the entire world."

"We've got to go stop him," Sue states flatly.

"We'll need the location," Reed states, already planning the trip in his mind.

"Do you want the X-Men's help?" Cyclops offers.

Reed thinks on that for a minute. "No, it would be too much of a hassle. You see, we're not coming back."

"Geez, Dr. Richards," Jean says, "talk about no confidence. We can help if you think you can't handle him yourself."

"No," Sue smiles, you misunderstand. We're not worried about losing to Dr. Doom, though, obviously it's a possibility. You see, Reed, Franklin and I are moving. To Titan."

"What?" Jean and Scott ask in unison.

"We'll be staying there until we raise Franklin," Reed finishes. "It's safer there."

"Yeah, but, well," Cyclops starts, fishing for words, "it's not really safe anywhere, is it?"

"Why now?" Jean asks. "I mean, is it because of Onslaught and the Professor?"*

* ( See the overblown Onslaught "Saga" - Plot Device of the Decade Mark )

"No, not at all," Reed assures them, well aware that mutants like Jean and Scott are rather defensive of Professor Xavier. "Xavier is a great man. We'd feel comfortable with him helping Franklin use his abilities, but ..."

"What my husband is trying to say," Sue completes, "is that we want to just be a family for awhile. Raise Franklin someplace where we can just be together without worrying about one of our enemies trying to kidnap Franklin and turn his power against the world. Reed can probably do the world more good spending all his time doing research, anyways."

"I understand," Cyclops says, his own past child problems coming back to him.

"Well, this has been quite a day," Jean steers the conversation in another direction. "We come to tell you where Dr. Doom is and you tell us you're not only leaving the Fantastic Four, but Earth. Pretty big day, even in our lifestyle."

The four people smile.

"Have you told anyone?" Scott asks.

"No," Reed answers. "We really don't know how to go about doing it."

"What are we supposed to do?" Sue smiles. "Call up the Avengers and ask if they'd like to come baby-sit out new headquarters?"

"That brings up a good question," Scott begins as Jean rolls her eyes beside him at the words. 'Always thinking of the bigger picture,' Jean thinks to herself. 'I'd like to head to another planet, too, for a while.'

"What is it, Scott?" Sue asks.

"What's going to happen to the FF with you and Sue gone? Is the group going to split up?"

"Why, you and Jean offering to take our place?" Reed asks, smiling.

"No, we couldn't leave the X-Men. Not right now." Cyclops states seriously.

"You'll have to fogive my husband," Jean says, draping an arm around Scott's shoulders. "He thinks if he takes an unscheduled nap the world might end."

"That's not funny, Jean," Scott says, smiling.

"Yes it is."

"Ah, you're right. It is kind of amusing."

Reed and Sue exchange glances as the Summers' trade loving jousts between them. When Reed speaks, he's certain it is with Sue's consent. "Seriously, Scott, Jean, we'd love to have you take our place if you want to do it."

"The truth is," Sue adds, "is that we have no idea who we're going to get to fill our spots on the team. "We already have Ben, Jen and Johnny on the roster, but beyond that we don't know who to ask. It's not like we've got a huge list of people who've served with us to ask."

"I'm afraid we can't," Scott declines. "We're X-Men. For better or worse, we have to stay with them. We've learned our lesson in that regard, I think."

"It might do mutants a considerable amount of good, though," Sue counters, "taking such a, you'll have to excuse the size of my ego for a second, high profile position."

"I just don't think it would be a good fit," Jean counters. "We're too experienced and Scott, well, he needs to lead a team or his ego takes a beating."

"Not true," Scott smiles. "But Jean does have a point. Certainly you'd want someone a little less experienced, as you've got the Thing and Human Torch to lead the team."

"You're right, of course," Reed smiles. "I just thought we might get lucky and not have to worry about who to ask. It' not like we're a typical group here. We're a family. Really a family. It'd be nice to keep that aspect in the team and well, the two of you are a family."

"We have such a crazy family, though," Jean states.

"You're not the only one,*" Sue counters back.

* ( Fantastic Four 433 - Summers Family Tree Makes My Head Hurt Mark )

"I actually might have an idea of who you can ask," Scott offers, his mind having already raced through a list of candidates.

And in two separate parts of Pier 4, Ben Grimm and Alicia Masters, two people very much in love sit alone, questioning why Fate has decided to cause them even more heartache.

EPILOGUE - 202 YEARS INTO THE FUTURE

"Don't stop there!"

"Got to - we've got a perimeter run to take."

"Geez, Bill, you can be such a wet circuit at times. That poor guy, Ben Grimm. What a fitting name."

Beta Ray Bill smiles as he replaces the book, ONE FAMILY'S TALE IN THE AGE OF MARVELS, back on the shelf. He cringes to himself, he was never very good at naming any of his histories of the Age of Marvels. 'But,' he thinks to himself for not the first time, 'the important thing is that they're written, not what they're called."

"C'mon, Bill, stop staring at your, uh, books. Why can't you load them all onto holo-cubes? Even King Balder uses them these days. "

"Because, young Parker, there's a part of me that finds the idea of opening a book to be a pleasant one."

"Logan says you're just an old hopeless romantic," Ben-Vell Parker chides as they leave the Heimdall Library and head into Asgard proper.

"Does he say that now?" Bill asks skeptically. "Next time Logan's introducing you to Asgardian liquor, be sure to ask him how he lost his left arm."

"That was you?" Ben asks incredulously.

"You'll discover it in time, as you will the fate of all the Marvels."

"There's not many of you guys left these days, though I guess that's to be expected."

"You are correct, Ben. There's very few of the Marvels left. Only the long-lived ones who were lucky enough to survive the many wars we've been through. But the ones who have long since passed on to Valhalla live on in their descendants. Stories never end, Ben-Vell. They move ever forward."

Ben and Bill walk out onto the Plain of Ida, their eyes scanning the horizon for Thanos' troops, whoever they may be.

"What happens next for the Fantastic Four?" Ben asks after a time. "Do Reed and Sue go to Titan? Does Alicia have her baby? Do her and Ben get married? Didn't Nightmare say someone was going to die? And what about Dr. Doom? Moonstar the Valkyrie was telling me that, all by himself, he made the cosmos shake when he conquered the entire Shi-"

"Questions, questions, Ben-Vell. Questions that all have answers, I promise." Beta Ray Bill smiles, "And answers you will get, just not today. You'll have to come back tomorrow to learn of them. I'm done telling stories of the Fantastic Four for today."

END Fantastic Four 435

NEXT ISSUE: A new writer and a new direction for the Fantastic Four. Let me be the first to welcome Jason Brice aboard as the FF's new writer. I eagerly await his stories - his enthusiasm for the FF appears to be limitless.

As for me, I'll end up somewhere, though where that will be I have no idea.

MBQ ... 6.2.98