Year 5 Late March Tim Hartin & Lonni Holland

Issue 458 "Gravity is a Harsh Mistress"

Earth:

Even in bustling New York City little disturbed the wee hours of the morning. It was the time when no sane person was willingly awake... well, except those who worked the late shift or toiled at the ever present green and white emporium of Stardoo's Donuts. In a Manhattan location of the popular coffee dispenser, in a side booth, Willy Lumpkin cradled his hot coffee as he watched the man sitting across from him. This rough drunk. Shamus, was telling him he was too old to help. 'Bah. I've turned off my hearing aid minutes ago. I wonder how long before he realizes I'm not listening.'

His brogue gone now, between sips of his Pumpkin Spice latte, Shamus continued to talk, not realizing that Willie wasn't hearing a word. "I should be in charge of this mission. I have the experience and the training. I could be in action right now instead of sitting here watching some bozo mop the floors while waiting for some other customer crazy enough to be out on a night like this."

Willie adjusted his hat for the millionth time and turned his hearing aid back on. "I don't care what you say. He told me to wait here and that's what I'm doing. The FF needs all the help they can get and help is on the way."

"Who are we waiting for? Ant-Man wasn't exactly forthcoming with details." asked Shamus.

"Oh, just some boys I used to know from my old postal route." Willie smiled as he thought of the hectic, and sometimes exciting, days gone by.

"Boys?" asked a rough voice. "Is that any way to speak about the Yancy Street Gang?" A murmur of approval rumbled through the dozen or so street-wise men who had entered unnoticed. Each one was different from the next but they each wore a Yancy Street Gang jacket and a hat pulled low, obscuring their faces.

Pluto:

“Ben? Not yet?” After having his flame stripped by a Kronan power lance Johnny had re-ignited and was dodging the power beams while firing narrow tendrils of flame to melt as many of the lances as he could. He had hit a couple of Kronans when their shields had slipped and afforded him a target, but unless he increased the intensity of his flame to near nova level it had no virtually effect on the stony hides of his opponents.

“Not yet, matchstick. I’m getting’ tired of crouching back behind this wall. I think I’m just gonna...” The Thing stopped as a signal came through his communication device. “Oh, crud!”

“Yeah, I heard it, too.” Johnny sank to the floor, shut off his flame and raised his hands.

Ben shook his head as he stepped forward, his hands also in the air. "This is so humiliatin'."

Hesitating for a moment, as if puzzled by the sudden and unexpected surrender of the two Fantastic Four members, half a dozen Kronan security guards eventually moved forward and shackled them, while others covered them with their power lances.

"Reed better be right about this," muttered Ben and Johnny in unison, as they were lead away as prisoners.

Earth:

As the storm continued the few people on the street hid beneath their umbrellas and hurried to get somewhere dry. No one noticed a group huddled under an awning in front of a small non-descript building just down the street from Four Freedoms Plaza. At the door a young man effortlessly jimmied the lock and popped the door open. "All clear."

The Yancy Street Gang entered the small building, followed by the seasoned Willie Lumpkin, and the doorman/security cop, Shamus. The cramped interior of the building held an escalator that led down into an underground complex, resembling a miniature subway station without the graffiti and litter. A private railcar sat on tracks; in front of it was a forbidding metal door.

"How do we do this then? Any of you geniuses know what fancy super dooper stuff is gonna open that door?" asked one of the Yancy Street Gang.

"34987-Sigma-9341. Get in the railcar, enter that code on the keypad in the front. That will open the door, and start the train." A voice out of no where gave the instructions and by the time he had finished talking, a man in a red and blue suit had grown into full view. It was Scott Lang, Ant-Man. "Okay, here's the deal."

"Why do we have to listen to you?" asked Shamus. "Aren't you an ex-crook yourself? How do we know you’re legit? Maybe you just want to break into the building yourself. I didn’t see you going up to the security levels at the grand opening."

Ant-Man adjusted his helmet. "You listen to me because I’m the one who called you here, the one who knows what is going on and the one who can get you in. Besides…" Ant-Man issued a pheromone command.

Shamus started to wriggle and squirm as hundreds of ants crawled up his legs under his trousers. "Okay, okay, you're the boss." The insects left as quickly as they appeared.

“In case you hadn’t noticed, Mr. Hoolihan, I have an apartment on one of your precious security levels. You might want to keep an eye on who all has access to those controlled elevators. You could learn something.” Ant-Man checked his watch. "We're running out of time. Here's the deal… The Frightful Four have regrouped and are currently holding Four Freedom Plaza on lockdown. She-Hulk and Wyatt Wingfoot are prisoners. Stegron, Hydroman, Quicksand and the Wizard have invaded the building and are attempting to lay a trap for the FF. We have to stop them. Any questions?"

The room was quiet. "All right then. Get on board. The Wizard is the brains of the operation, but he thinks they have the place locked down and he’s wrong. There were sections that were still being installed and aren't connected to the mainframe yet. We have an invisible door to the Plaza. We're going to retake the building from the Frightful Four."

"Ya, lets kick some butt!" yelled a member of the Yancy Street Gang as they all piled into the railcar. The cavalry was on its way.

Pluto:

Reed, Sue and the Rigellian Recorder were over-looking the command center from the vantage point of an upper service duct. Reed had used the Recorder's sensitive sensors to locate this entrance and to mask their bio-signatures from the Kronans. Without the masking Ben and Johnny had been easily detected, exactly according to plan, distracting the main assault force away from the command area. Still there were a significant number of Kronans to be dealt with here.

Sue pointed out the astronauts in their stasis pods near the back of the enclosure. The pods were hooked up to the Kronan computers. “How are we going to sustain them once we unhook them from the computer, Reed?”

Her husband whispered softly, “Those look like information gathering conduits. The pods seem to be fully self-contained. I’ll check them before we detach them, of course. They are also sustained by their own anti-gravity field.” He pointed towards the three floating units. “Once we unhook them you should be able to move them easily with only a slight force field push.” Reed checked his watch and thought, 'Our ship should have completed its auto repairs. We'll have to time this right.'

"What's the plan, Reed?" asked Sue.

"We grab the astronauts and run like hell for the airlock for pick-up. I've scheduled our ship to meet us there. I will have to set the Kronan computers to lower the ship to the airlock level." Reed turned to the Recorder. "Reginald, you stay here out of the way. But be ready to move." The Recorder nodded in agreement.

The Kronans didn't know what hit them. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a long, winding, blue strand appeared and snaked itself around Commander Klorr and across the computer banks of the command stage. A woman's voice spoke out of the thin air, "Nobody move! This is a stick up!"

"Now, Sue. Let's not get too carried away." Reed's head appeared from the many long loops that were his body. "Attention Kronans! We mean you no harm. We'll take the astronauts and be on our way."

The Kronans tried to attack their strange intruders but found themselves restrained by an invisible force field. The Kronan Commander was enraged. "Miserable humans! I live for the day when your species will be wiped from the galactic map."

"Not today, chuckles." answered Sue. "You're dealing with the Fantastic Four, minus two at the moment."

"Release me and my men," ordered the Kronan Commander. "You have no right to invade this sovereign base."

"No right?" answered Sue. "You kidnapped astronauts from Earth and you tell us we have no right!"

"We did not kidnap the humans." snapped Commander Klorr. "They assaulted our position with their strange military spacecraft. We were defending ourselves from unwanted Terran aggression. Do not speak to me about rights."

Suddenly the blocky, stone-like computer began to pulse with glowing images. Each icon had its own chirping sound. Commander Klorr struggled under Reed's winding body. "Unhand me, human."

Reed stretched his head and a hand to the computer. He began to study the alien technology and recognized it for the danger it represented. "If I didn't know better, I would suggest that these readings are from some sort of gravity catapult. Oh no, it can't be! Sue, this is the weapon that damaged our vehicle and destroyed the Rigellian Fleet." Reed began to adjust the alien computer. His attention was on the data he was reading and not on the Kronan he was restraining.

"Sue, contact Ben and Johnny. Tell them it’s time for pick-up," ordered Reed as he punched away at the alien control panel of the graviton weapon. "The astronauts can be detached and removed but I still have to reset some other coordinates to prevent a travesty."

"Reed!" screamed Sue as she tried to warn her husband. Commander Klorr had struggled and was escaping from Reed's winding grip. He knocked Reed away from the control panel and reset the controls announcing in a triumphant gravel-like voice, "Your interference is too late. The Earth is doomed. The information our computers have gathered about your race from the captives will enable us to defeat any who escape the annihilation. With Earth and its meta-humans out of the way, the Kronan Supremacy will dominate this sector of space."

Reginald the Recorder experienced a strange informational sub-routine. He realized he had observed for far too long. It was time to act. He leapt from his protective advantage point and landed next to the Kronan commander.

"A Rigellian Recorder! Surely you do not count on this cowardly machine for your planet's redemption." The Kronan commander gave no further notice to the android. To him it was a passive machine with one purpose – to record all that happened around it. It wasn't the role of a Recorder to interfere, just to observe. Unfortunately for the Commander, he was interacting with a damaged Recorder who had acquired an unusual technological quirk of independence.

"Observation: The name is Reginald the Recorder. Purpose: Zzzzt… to stop your evil ways. Conclusion: Immediate action is indicated." The Recorder threw a solid roundhouse punch to the Kronan Commander and knocked him across the room. The punch crunched the Recorder's right hand.

"Nice work, Reginald. We'll get that hand of yours fixed when we get back to Earth." Reed began to work on the weapon's control slab again. "Sue, take the Recorder and the astronauts with you for pick-up. As soon as Johnny and Ben arrive I want you to take off. I'll be there when I complete reprogramming the graviton weapon’s targeting computer.”

Sue finished rounding up the Kronans and ushered them into a cramped storage chamber. She nodded to her husband while scooping up the astronauts in their stasis chambers, directing them with her force fields. Reed made the final adjustments as the interface tubes detached themselves from the stasis chambers with a pop and a loud hiss of escaping gas. "Don't take too long, hon. We wouldn't want to miss you." Sue gave her husband a quick kiss before she and the Recorder headed out of the control room.

Alone, Reed ignored the immense silence of the room as he concentrated on the glowing patterns of the controls before him. "Ugh, Kronan spatial geometrics… how crude. The Kree version of this is a much better design," Reed whistled as he translated the weapon's destructive capabilities. "One thing is for sure, the Kronans are the masters of gravity as a weapon."

Reed worked on deprogramming it as the remaining time grew shorter.

Earth:

On sublevel 5 of Four Freedoms Plaza an unlikely group were stepping out of a miniature railway car. The Yancy Street Gang and Shamus Hoolihan looked confused. They had no idea what to expect but this huge room, filled with gigantic equipment and banks of computers, sure wasn’t it.

Willie Lumpkin was grinning. “In all my years in the postal service I’ve had to use many a service entrance, but none of them looked quite like this.”

Under his breath Shamus muttered, “I thought I was involved in building security. I didn’t even know this level was here.” He glanced around furtively, hoping that no one had heard him.

Scott Lang headed directly to one of the computers and activated it. A few moments later floor plans appeared on the large monitor. In various spots on the plans were glowing blips. “Bingo! Got ‘em!” He motioned to the others to gather around. Indicating the screen he explained, “This is a tracking system. It scans the various floors from seventy up and tracks life forms.”

Willie laughed. “Just like Star Trek. Life form readings, Mr. Spock.”

Ant-Man ignored him and continued. “I’m just glad Reed gave me a refresher course in what all these systems do.”

Shamus thought ‘No one ever gave me a course in what anything does.’

Scott continued, “I’m narrowing the scanning focus to see if I can tell who is who. Aha! Got it. Aside from one, everyone is still on level 89. That’s where I saw them before, trying to access Reed’s computer files. It’s showing two normal humans, probably Wyatt and the Wizard, one with an excess of H2O, that’ll be Hydroman, one with a high Gamma signature, She-Hulk, and one with an high silicon dioxide index, which should be Quicksand. The last form seems to be a humanoid/dinosaurian hybrid. So, it looks like Stegron is on level 73 in the kitchen area, probably looking for a snack.”

“Woo hoo, that one’s for us!! The Yancy Street Gang will take out dino-chicken. Maybe we’ll have time for a quick snack ourselves.”

Scott gave them an appraising look. “Okay, that could work. You’ve read the old news reports, just remember how he’s been stopped before.” He tossed several small metallic devices to them. “These will let you keep in touch if you need help. If you wrap him up quickly come meet us on the 89th. Okay, Willie, Shamus, here’s how we’re going to proceed. First I’m going to…”

Pluto:

Deep within the labyrinth of tunnels and chambers, under the frozen surface of Pluto, there lay a circular stone room, the walls reinforced with metallic strips and the lone exit barred with a heavy stone and metal door. The high chiselled ceiling tapered to an uneven point, ridges emanating from the center and extending out to the walls. Half a dozen Kronan security personnel ringed the room, standing at ease, but each with a large and ominous looking weapon pointed in the general direction of their two prisoners, who were bound to a bench in the center of the room. Little expression could be discerned on the Kronans’ rocky visages but they still managed to have the same look as prison guards around the universe, bored, contemptuous and just waiting for the chance to blast someone. Two officers loomed over the captives.

Instead of looking frightened the prisoners, Ben and Johnny, just looked bored. They had agreed to act as a diversion while Reed and Sue snatched the missing astronauts, but no one said anything about paperwork and alien lectures in broken English. Ben sighed one more time as he tried to concentrate on the swim suit models he had seen in a magazine the other day.

"Who you work for? Is the Skrulls? The Kree? The Shi'ar? The Mekkans?" A large guard, ugly even by Kronan standards, jabbed a thick rocky finger at Ben's chest for the umpteenth time while brandishing a handful of forms with blocky writing all over them. “You will answer. Reports must make. Now! Speak!”

"Your questions mean nothin' to me, mack. But if you don't layoff with the finger I'm going to introduce you to my fist."

"Ben, behave yourself." chided Johnny. "Remember, we're guests of your look-a-likes."

The Thing grunted. "They might look like somethin’ like me, but there's only one Benjamin J. Grimm… the ever lovin’ blue eyed Thing!"

The second Kronan stepped forward in front of his partner. “Let me talk to them. I have studied their language. Please, Earthlings, try to see it from our point of view. First an Earth ship zips into our space at an unbelievable speed. Then you sneak into our compound somehow. What are we to think? It’s only reasonable that we would be suspicious. Now why don’t you just tell us why you’re here.”

The Torch started to laugh. “I don’t believe it. They’re playing ‘good cop, bad cop’.”

"Shut up!" shouted the first Kronan interrogator, stepping forward, his stony hand raised. Ben started to try to stand but stopped as a beeping sound echoed throughout the chamber. "What that noise?" shouted the officer.

Ben and Johnny smiled. It was their cue to leave the boredom and get back into the party. "Ready, junior?" asked the Thing.

"Let's go, I think we're overstaying our welcome." Johnny suddenly burst into a ball of fire and his Kronan restraining device melted into slag. Johnny's fiery halo intensified and the whole room went black to those blinded by Johnny's flare.

All except for Ben who knew what Johnny planned to do and protected his eyes from the Torch’s light show. "Nice floor show, matchstick. Let's get out of here. It's past breakfast time and I'm hungry. Besides, it’s CLOBBERIN’ TIME!!" He easily snapped the bands restraining him, knocked the closest guards flying into their compatriots and charged out the door that Johnny had melted into steaming slag.

Down corridor after corridor, around turns and through doorways they went, Johnny flying ahead and Ben racing along behind, stopping to pound the occasional Kronan who was unlucky enough to get in his way. He hollered, “Hey hot stuff, you have any idea where we are? All these rocks look the same to me.”

“This from the man who looks at a pile of rocks in the bathroom mirror every morning. I haven’t a clue. Didn’t you pack a GPS in your baby blue Underoos?”

“Why I oughta… never mind. There’s the wall we came though before.” Ben pointed at a shattered pile of rock, remnants of the very wall he had smashed when they first arrived. “This way, kid.”

In just a few minutes they had reached the airlock. The repaired ship hovered into view and a hatch opened, lowering a ramp for them to board. Inside, Sue and the Recorder welcomed Ben and Johnny to safety. The ship was cramped with the stacked stasis chambers of the astronauts.

"Where's Stretch?" asked Ben.

"He stayed behind to reprogram some weapon that threatens the Earth. Typical Reed stuff." answered Susan.

"You can say that again," replied Ben. “That’s our fearless leader.”

Earth:

89th Level

Jennifer Walters and Wyatt Wingfoot sat side by side, their thighs touching. Any other time this would have been electric. Now was not the time. Now they just sat, two good friends, prisoners of the Frightful Four. Each thought only of how to escape the force field that held them.

“Psst!”

Hovering close to their heads was a flying ant, aboard it was Ant-Man.

“Just keep quiet,” he instructed softly. “There’s a diversion coming and I’ll have my ants crawl into the control device at your feet and short it out. That should eliminate the field that holds you. I’m working on the collars the Wizard put on you. Jennifer, once you’re free you’ll have to deal with Quicksand. You’re the only one who can match her power levels. Wyatt, try to distract the Wizard. I’m going to get at the computer and reset the intruder defences for this level. He has them blocked from here. I just hope our distraction can keep Hydroman busy in the meanwhile.”

She-Hulk and Wyatt both blinked in acknowledgement but both looked puzzled. Distraction? Just then the elevator opened and they understood.

“You damned fool old man. Sure and I told you this wasn’t the restaurant level.” Two rather dishevelled men entered the room, pushing each other and ignoring the occupants.

The older man stammered and groped around in his pockets. “Well, I’ve got the address right here. You hurried me. How am I supposed to remember what level it’s on if you won’t give me a minute to collect my thoughts.” The contents of his pockets scattered on the ground and both bent to retrieve them, still yelling at each other.

The interchange took but a few seconds, but it was long enough. As the three members of the Frightful Four stared at the intruders hundreds of ants surged from the walls and swarmed over the force field generator of the captives and shorted it, releasing them. She-Hulk leapt to her feet and dove for Quicksand. Wyatt grabbed the chair he had been sitting on and threw it at the Wizard, knocking him away from the computer console. Immediately Scott zipped over to the computer to start working. He expanded back to full size in order to use the keyboard.

That left only Morrie Bench, Hydroman. He was smirking as he watched the two women thrashing about. This was better than any of the crap he had watched on cable – they were both right in front of him and certainly better endowed that the girls on television. Shamus dove at him, taking him to the ground while trying to throw some powder into Morrie’s now liquid form.

“You’ve got to be kidding. Jell-o?!? You’re trying to stop me with strawberry Jell-o?” Bench transformed his right arm into a jet of water, propelling Shamus away from him and pinning him to a wall. “Ha! Jell-o needs boiling water, you idiot. And it certainly wouldn’t solidify fast enough to stop me from drowning you.” He roared with laughter as the torrents of water kept Shamus pushed against the wall and preventing him from moving or breathing no matter how much he tried to escape the rushing liquid.

The battle raged on. Quicksand landed a terrific blow to She-Hulk’s chin, sending the green beauty crashing into a jumble of equipment. The Wizard stunned Wyatt with an electro-blast from his Power Gloves and turned his attention back to his computer, where Scott Lang was working frantically. Hydroman continued to send a steady stream of water at Shamus, now on the ground and gasping for breath. Willie was searching for something, muttering to himself that Reed had told him all about it and it had to be here somewhere. Things didn’t seem to be going well for the rescue force but meanwhile on the…

73rd Level

The elevator doors opened and the Yancy Street gang emerged into a hallway. Directly to the right was a living area with comfortable couches, chairs and footstools arranged in cozy groupings. Farther down the hall was a bedroom with the odd scorch mark on the walls which were mostly covered with pictures of hot cars and hotter women. Next was an exercise room, but everything was slightly oversized and obviously heavy duty. Across from that was another bedroom, the walls decorated with pictures of airplanes. Beside the bed was a framed photo of Alicia Masters.

One of the gang laughed, “Hey, you wanna…”

“No, first we’ve got work to do. I hear something from farther down the hall, sounds like something crashing around.”

The leader moved forward and the others followed. Soon they reached another open doorway that lead to what had once been a kitchen. Now it looked more like a wrecking yard. Cupboard doors had been ripped from their hinges and tossed on the floor like dominos. Packages and cans had joined them, their contents making a strange mix of Fruit Loops, macaroni, crushed tuna cans and other groceries.

In the center of the room stood a huge reptilian creature, spikes running down his back and along his thrashing tail, his mouth open in an anguished roar, revealing rows of razor sharp teeth. The only apparel he wore was a narrow metal band around his neck. He continued to rip apart the cupboards, searching for food.

“So, that’s Stegron. Okay guys, you know the drill. Let’s get his attention, and watch those teeth and tail. I don’t think the gang medical plan covers dinosaur damage.”

Whooping and hollering they surged forward. Stegron turned, furious at being interrupted. His powerful tail slashed about, destroying a kitchen table and several chairs at the same time. The men ran about the room, always just out of reach, while one of them opened a large steel door on one wall. He reached into the walk-in freezer and grabbed a haunch of frozen beef and ran back towards the center of the room.

“Hey Steggie! Here dino, dino, dino.” As the creature turned he continued, “Come on, boy. Dinner’s ready... and I don’t mean me!” He waved the meat about as Stegron looked at him then tossed it back in to the freezer.

His mind clouded, his base instincts obsessed with food, Stegron ran after the meat, ignoring the others. As soon as he was inside one of the men slammed the door shut behind him. They all piled against the door, holding it firm in case Stegron tried to escape. After a few minutes, with no sound from within, it seemed that the cold had subdued Stegron, the Dinosaur Man. They headed back to the elevator to go to the…

89th Level

She-Hulk and Quicksand continued their battle, with Quicksand pressing her advantage. Most of She-Hulk’s blows had been ineffective, as Quicksand just dissolved what ever part of her that was hit.

Scott Lang had directed his ants to attack the Wizard who was now shaking and twisting, trying to rid himself of the tiny stinging creatures.

Hydroman still had Shamus on the floor, easing off his water flow long enough to let the gasping man almost catch his breath then dousing him again, toying with him like a cat with a mouse. Bench was having a wonderful time. He didn’t see Willie sneaking up behind him with a long spiral hose in his hand. Suddenly there was a whooshing sound and Hydroman began to disappear into the hose.

“Noooo…” and he was gone.

Willie started dragging his super powered vacuum towards Quicksand when suddenly the air was filled with sirens and claxons. Scott had managed to get the intruder systems working again.

She-Hulk carefully manoeuvred around the room as if waiting for something. Then Quicksand dissolved into hundreds of thousands of grains, all blowing directly at Jennifer as if trying to capture her in a giant sandstorm. Willie had been trying sneak up behind her, his vacuum hose clutched tightly in his hand but he was too late. Quicksand’s particulate form heading straight for She-Hulk’s face; there was a soft clicking sound; Jennifer ducked and Quicksand began to be sucked into a nearby air vent’ courtesy of the intruder system.

The Wizard, finally free of the ants, evaluated the situation in a microsecond. A quick poof and abruptly he was gone, as was Quicksand. The vacuum was now empty. Willie looked disappointed.

“Aw, I wanted to use it on Quicksand. I remember Reed telling me how he used this very item on Sandman years ago.”

Scott, who was helping Wyatt to his feet commented, “Well, you would have just ended up clogging the thing with mud. Besides it was pretty full already. I’m betting Stegron is gone as well. Looks like the Wizard had an emergency teleport recall set up.” He laughed. “I bet he never thought we’d be the ones who’d force him to use it.”

The elevator doors opened to reveal the arriving Yancy Street Gang. They looked around at the sopping carpet, the shattered equipment and clumps of damp Jell-o powder.

Wyatt voiced what they were all thinking. “So the million dollar question is… who’s going to clean up this mess?” Almost everyone looked pointedly at Shamus who still sat on the floor, vaguely resembling a drowned rat.

Smiling, one of the gang spoke. “Don’t worry about it, Irish. We’ll help you out. Come on guys, I think we can do some great work downstairs, don’t you?” Roaring with laughter they all piled back into the elevator.

Scratching her head Jennifer said, “Now I wonder what that was all about?”

Under his breath Willie whispered, “Unfortunately, I’m afraid I know.”

Pluto:

On the fringes of the solar system is the Oort Cloud: several trillion asteroids tumbled through space. Suddenly several thousands of these asteroids of a wide variety of sizes, from micro-meteors to small planetoids, lurched out of their normal trajectories and changed their heading. They all shared the same course… towards the inner solar system… towards the Earth. Of the thousands of asteroids, many carried the potential for planetary extinction should they strike the vulnerable third planet.

The rapidly moving cosmic rubble began its tumble through space towards their unsuspecting target. Then they lurched once more, their trajectories making a steeply inclined bend that brought them from a crash course with the Earth to focus on Pluto. Many previously unaffected asteroids began to feel the gravity pull of the Kronan gravity weapon and drift towards Pluto as well.

The Fantastic Four craft navigated through a low-orbit flight around the planetoid. Sue had refused to leave orbit since Reed hasn't made it back yet. No one argued with her when she ordered the ship to stay in orbit. They all thought of Reed and hoped for his safe return.

Sue's communicator crackled. It was Reed's voice. "Susan, what are you doing? I gave you an order. Get away from here immediately! I've turned the weapon on itself. Soon this planet will be ground zero for everything that the enhanced gravity can throw at it. We don't want front row seats for that one."

"Save your breath and get onboard. Then we'll get lost. Ben's just itching to put the ship into full gear." Sue paused. "Oh, Reed. Hurry up, dear. And that's an order, too." Sue smiled that wicked grin that couples often share. Ben pretended not to hear the whole conversation and Johnny was laughing to himself during the entire exchange.

Moments later a narrow blue filament could be seen snaking its way through the whirling rocks. The craft’s airlock opened. Moments later Reed Richards came on board. As he sat down in a control seat the ship’s course had already changed, headed towards the inner solar system. Pluto was under a steady bombardment of asteroids. Dust, small rocks, large boulders, continental chunks drifted in an inwardly spiralling orbit. The gravity of the weapon collapsed on itself and the rain of the asteroids destroyed the Kronan base. Earth was safe once more from yet another alien threat.

"Boy, big brain, you've certainly done it this time!" Ben smiled as he placed his rocky arm around Reed's shoulder.

"What did I do, Ben?" asked Reed.

"They’re going to have to change the school text books again, now that you've smashed up Pluto. You'll be known as the man who demoted the planet even more, down to a bleedin’ pebble!" Ben's laughter echoed.

"What about the astronauts, sis?" asked Johnny.

"They appear to be no worse for wear. We'll start waking them up as we get closer to Earth."

Torch smirked. "Don’t let them see Ben. They'll think they've been captured all over again."

“Hardy har har, Junior."

SPACE, NEAR EARTH:

Sue Storm relaxed in her seat, a notebook in her lap, and a sleepy look on her face. She mused: ‘Re-entry. I almost didn't think we would make it at one point. First there was Reed and his cosmological sight seeing. It will be too soon if I see another moon of Saturn again.’

‘Then there were the boys. And as boys, they were at it again. Johnny singed Ben. Ben demolished another chair in frustration. We're running out of room to sit comfortably. Mark my words, they'll be sitting on the floor by the time we land.’

Sue Storm turned her attention back to the letter she was writing to her son:

While we were on Pluto, my mind was a universe away. I miss you so much, Franklin. I now know it was a mistake sending you away from your family like that. I thought it was best for you, but now I see that being with your family is what's best for you.

Your mommy misses you, Franklin.

She hesitated in her writing. She was afraid of Reed's opinion on the issue, afraid of his intellect overriding his heart. Still, she wanted her child home, with her, with the family. She continued.

I am coming for you.

Her eyes drifted shut and the pen slipped from her grasp.

An ethereal image of Franklin watched his mother sleeping, unnoticed by the others. He read her note and smiled. "It may be too late for me, mommy. Protect the Earth from…" The astral projection of Franklin stopped talking and looked over his shoulder. It appeared if he was seeing something in the distance. "Beware… Amun Tut is coming." Franklin’s form broke into tiny beads of light and blew away.

Sue snorted herself out of sleep. "Uh, Franklin? Is that you?" She looked around her and saw nothing unusual. Their chairs already destroyed, either by fire or by force, Ben and Johnny sat on the floor playing cards with the three astronauts while Reed worked at his console and the Rigellian watched the pre-programmed flight of the ship.

As they neared Earth Ben moved forward to take over the flying of the craft for the delicate re-entry approach. Reed was still crunching the data he recorded while they explored the moons of Saturn. He thought of taking Sue there for their anniversary. He was sure she would enjoy it.

Authors' Notes:

Here we are, less than a month later, with another issue.

As a note of scientific accuracy, dinosaurs are not necessarily thought to be cold blooded so the extreme cold in a walk-in freezer might not have affected one. However it has been established in Marvel Universe continuity that Stegron is susceptible to low temperatures so we went for it.

Everyone is back on Earth and safe, or are they? Maybe not. Join us next issue to find out, when Johnny gets his wish to be the center of attention but may find out that he should be careful what he wishes for - he just might get it.

Tim Hartin & Lonni Holland
March 27, 2006