| Legends (Future Perfect, Part 1) by Tony Thornley |
 |
| July
Year 4 |
Special
1 |
"I've heard about the Phalanx," Reed Richards said. The Fantastic Four gathered at a sort of conference table, receiving a sort of status report from the remnant of Earth's heroes. The world of 2099 had been devastated by the alien hive in the past month, and despite the heroes' best efforts, the Phalanx were winning.
"I have been unable to devise a way to defeat them," declared the duplicate Reed Richards. Reed looked at him curiously.
"Who said we needed to defeat them?" Reed asked his duplicate. "It sounds to me like we just need to repel them, get them away from Earth. It would take years for the flood to subside, but it would prevent it from getting worse."
"How much worse can it get?!" exclaimed the other Richards, standing and slamming his fist on the table.
"Reed, calm down!" exclaimed Miguel O'Hara. "Look, any help we can get, we're grateful for. And who knows, what one Reed Richards can't devise, two might be able to."
Reed nodded to his double, who appeared to be furious. Reed was curious about this other Richards. He'd never reacted in such a way, even under great duress. If this man was really what he claimed to be- a future version of himself- then what had happened to himself between now and the time he was transported into 2099?
"So myself and my double will attempt to devise a solution to our... little problem?" Miguel nodded. Reed clapped his hands in anticipation.
"Then let's get to work shall we?"
The Quad-Jet rocketed over the watery landscape of the future Earth. There were only two inhabitants of the jet, both of them the same man at different times of their life. Reed hadn't dared touch his double yet, for fear of the hypothesised "same matter/ same space" rule. The flight had elapsed in silence. Apparently his double wasn't very talkative.
Reed cleared his throat. "Question," he stated.
"I'll do my best to answer it," his double replied.
"In my time, Force Works discovered that the Fantastic Four of this time period were the U-Foes of mine," Reed explained. "You're not...?"
"Vector? No. We knew about them, but they didn't know about us. They stuck around here for a month, and then disappeared back into the Negative Zone. We on the other hand... Ben died a month or so ago on a futile mission to Mars. They did nothing. We have endured quite a bit."
"I see." Reed looked at their location. They were directly above a spire of Phalanx TO material. He hit several switches, extending a floating platform beneath the jet. The Quad Jet landed softly on the water and immediately Reed felt the waves beneath them.
"We're here," he declared. "Let me get some equipment and we'll get on our way."
"Sure thing." Reed watched his double descend the landing ramp onto the inflated platform. Something about him still didn't feel right. How could two versions of the Fantsatic Four exist without people noticing?
The readout equipment told Reed exactly what Charles had shared with them years earlier. They made of a techno-organic material, they were incredibly adaptive, and they adopted some sort of hive function. Nothing new at all. He adjusted the scanner to detect energy the construct might be vulnerable to. As he did so, he ran his scanner over his double and stopped.
Reed reset the scanner to what it was previously and inconspicuously scanned his double again. Instead of getting the standard measurements for a human being, the reading he got from his double was identical to that of the spire. The double was a Phalanx construct. Reed continued his scans in silence. No use in tipping off an enemy.
The Hive spoke clearly to the Reed Richards look-alike. The scientist from the past could devise a method of destroying the Hive. He was a threat to be eliminated and replaced.
Reed sat at his workbench on the Quad Jet. His scans had revealed that a powerful electro-magnet would be able to short circuit the Phalanx. It was a matter of not allowing the hive to adapt to it. And that would take some element of surprise.
It would only take another moment to finish the device he'd need to stop them. He heard a footstep behind him. His test subject had arrived. Reed adjusted the reflective surface of his electro-magnetic device. The Phalanx being behind him was shifting form. Its appendages shifted and transformed into bladed weapons. Reed made one more connection and snapped the housing of the weapon shut.
"I think I've solved our problem," Reed said.
"Excellent," his dupe exclaimed. "Can I see it?"
"Certainly," Reed said. Reed spun and swung his enlongating arm at the Phalanx. His fist sailed through the creature, which quickly reformed itself without the TO material that Reed had knocked away from its body.
"So, you know?"
"I've known since before I started working on this," Reed growled. "Your story about the U-Foes is a lie isn't it?"
"We replaced them immediately after they left," the Phalanx said. "The Hive felt that we would be best served by a false figurehead for the resistance." Reed swung at the alien again. This time it dodged and lept at Reed. Reed jumped aside and slammed his elbow into the creature's back. It fell, and Reed reacted swiftly. He grabbed the electro magnet and attatched it to the Phalanx's back. A miniature EMP coursed through its body and it collapsed in a heap of so much tech.
Reed stood over the dead Phalanx being. "It works."
Sue sat in front of her double, listening to her stories of the team's time in 2099. So much had happened. Sue wondered when the team would enter the Negative Zone, and when Ben would begin his last days on Earth.
"This is just revoltin' Suzie!" Ben exclaimed. "I'm dead around here!"
"Ben, please," Sue started.
"Please nothin'!" Ben exclaimed. "It's bad enough findin' out we get trapped here, but to find out that I die! Admit it, it's not that great Sue!"
"I'm sorry Ben," replied Sue's double. "We're all still just getting over it."
"Hey," Ben suddenly said. "Where'd Halloween Jack go?"
Doom dodged the ax swung at his head by Halloween Jack. The nanite enhanced man cackled horribly. Doom tried to punch him, but Jack dodged.
This was just not his day.
"I dunno," Sue said. "Just disappeared."
"Hey!" Johnny called from the hallway. "Reed's back!" The two Susan Richards and Ben went outside to where Reed was landing. Miguel O'Hara was already there, looking up at the jet. The Quad Jet set down with a hiss. Sue stepped forward to greet her husband, but Reed exited the Quad Jet with his jaw set and a weapon extended. He fired at the doubles of herself and Johnny. Sue screamed. The double of Johnny was struck, and fell, but Sue's duplicate was able to erect a forcefield which partially blocked Reed's blast. Sue's duplicate collapsed.
"Reed! What was that for?!"
"Johnny," Reed ordered, "peel the skin off your duplicate."
"Reed!"
"Sue, trust me!" Reed turned to his brother-in-law. "Do it Johnny." Johnny nodded and reached down to the duplicate of himself and peeled away its skin to reveal Phalanx TO matter underneath. Johnny jumped back in surprise.
"They're all like that. My dupe is laying in a heap in the Quad Jet." Reed turned to Miguel. "You've had spies among you the whole time."
"No," a metallic voice rang out. "I can't believe this." The Phalanx Sue stood shakily. The forcefield had prevented her destruction, but the synthetic skin had crumbled in the blast. It stumbled towards the Phalanx Johnny.
"That bastard!"
"Sue?" Sue prompted her double.
"I remember now, but that bastard Reed, he wiped our memories! We had no idea! I'm so sorry..." The Phalanx being collapsed next to the construct she had believed to be her brother. "I'm so sorry."
"How do we believe you?" Johnny said, flames dancing over his body.
"We just do," Sue declared, kneeling next to her duplicate. It was a total leap of faith on Sue's part. She put her arm around the alien and closed her eyes. Nothing happened. Sue loosed a sigh of relief. The Phalanx turned and looked at Reed.
"Whatever you do to get back at these sons of bitches, I'm in."
Reed stood at the head of the table now. The FF, Miguel, and Xi'an listened attentively.
"It's a suicide mission for whoever does this. What we need is a massive EMP to wipe the them out. There's two things that can trigger such a pulse. One is an EMP device. All that will do is wipe the hive clean, leaving a large mass of techno-organic material orbiting the Earth. The second option is a nuclear bomb. It'd take out the planetoid, but it would most likely kill the person who planted the bomb. But with either choice, we'd have to land on the planetoid, get to the center of the hive and plant the device. Big risk.
"The FF will go with the volunteer and provide back-up. But we actually need the volunteer. Do you know of anyone?"
"Meanstreak comes to mind," Xi'an said. "I don't know if he'd be able to make it far before the Phalanx got to him."
"I'm clueless," Miguel replied.
"Me." The cold metallic voice of the Phalanx Susan Richards rang in their ears. She strode in. "I told you to include me. I'll take the bomb to the heart and let it go."
"How do we know you're not connected to the hive?"
"I never was. Otherwise I would have known I was Phalanx. Let me do this please."
"Okay. We begin in the morning."
Next: The conclusion of Future Perfect! The FF smuggle the Phalanx Susan Richards onto the Phalanx planet in a final showdown for the fate of 2099!
Fantastic Forum
Welcome to my second issue of Fantastic Four! I hope you enjoyed it. It's been a lot of fun to write the FF. This story wasn't my original plan, which tied up many of Mark's plots, but at the suggestion of my BE, I went for a story that was completely me. I hope you've enjoyed it thus far. My second arc will be tying up one of Mark's plots- Greykan.
Now on to the letters!
My first is from the question man of fanfic- Jason Trenner.
Amazing issue. Just one thing, the FF of 2099 turned out to be the U-Foes(as reveiled in an issue of the MV1 Force Works). Or is this another bunch? On to the questions:
1)Will the Fantastic Four meet the Squadren Supreme?
2)Will the FF fight any of the new Zodiac?
3)Is there any chance of FF fighting the X-Men of 2099?
4)Is there any chance of Death's Head 2 making an appearance?
5)Will there be a fight between the FF and the team Nathaniel has?
The U-Foes thread was explained this issue. I'd noticed Ironclad was still alive in Barry's story, but the horrible 2099 World of Tomorrow series is in MV1 continuity, Ben (who Ironclad was impersonating) died in the first issue. So my explanation (and a kinda cool story point) was born.
Now questions
1) Not my short run. But that might give the next writer some ideas.
2) As in the guys in Zodiac Rising? I thought they did already...
3) I'm leaving the X-Men 2099 to Crosby, but Reed fought Mr. Fantastic 2099 this issue.
4) Nope. Sorry.
5) No fight. But they will see each other, and I might introduce the Fourth member.
And letter number two comes from fellow MV1 writer Alan Downs.
I haven't read any of Tony's work before, and I can say that he's made a fairly good first impression on me with this issue. It seems like he only has a few things to pick up from past writers and what he has to deal with, he does so well. Anything we need to know that we might not we're caught up on as we go.
The story itself suffers a little from quick pacing in a few places, specifically the beginning. The way Halloween Jack is brought in and named right away seems a little forced, but I understand the confines of issues now, so it's not a big deal. Making up for it, Tony writes the character, who I'm not familiar with, very humorously. His interactions with Johnny and later at Pier 4 are good fun.
I really enjoyed Reed's way of teaching his class. Reed, or Tony really, really had me going with his description of "aliens invading our world", these "aliens" ending up to be viruses. It seems natural that Reed would teach that way and it's just a moment I really like. It also seems very in character for Reed when he later reveals he not only has a time machine secretly in development, but that he's experimented with it without telling any of them. Not that he was being secretive, just that he was so interested in the work and didn't see a need to mention it.
And the comment about the Superbowl: I smell "Back to the Future 2" :) I like getting the feeling that something like this, science fiction to us, is a normal part of the FF's world.
Again, the issue suffers from some overly-quick pacing, which I think comes from this being somewhat of a short issue. It's not a really bad thing, just something that leaves you wanting a little more; which, really, is a good thing I guess. I'll definitely be back to see what happens next issue.
Ending with a cliffhanger helps that. I have no knowledge of Fantastic Four 2099, so I'm very interested to see where this is going. Tony knows the characters well enough to know what they would say and how they would act in each situation, although Ben's dialogue did seem a little too "contracted" sometimes..."Why did y' come t' th' FF?" was the main one that bugged me. But all together the characterization is steady and in nowhere did it glare and distract me.
All in all, not a bad start at all. I think there's room for Tony to grow as he goes and I think he will. Most of all I'm glad to see this title putting issues out again. Seems funny that both of the Adventure branch's new issues use time travel...
-Alan Downs
Thanks Alan. I know that some of the negatives were there, but no one's perfect. Well, except maybe guys like Biscuit. :) And hey, go read Alan's work, because it's pretty darn good!
Next issue I promise will be longer and will have more character exposure as the team takes on the race that gave about thirty or forty X-Men a run for their money! Thanks, and until next time, make mine MV1!