Post by DiscipleofBob on Feb 28, 2015 11:46:05 GMT -5
Fantastic Four #5:
Mountains and Molehills
By Adrini and DiscipleofBob
Mountains and Molehills
By Adrini and DiscipleofBob
When he woke up this morning, his new rocky body made every movement a chore. Every joint was stiff to the point where it took considerable effort just to move. He thought he'd never be able to even get out of bed.
But on that other stone-fisted hand, he was stronger. Much stronger. It may have taken the force of a car just to bend his arm, but he felt the strength to juggle 18-wheelers. After a few steps of running he realized his leg muscles alone were throwing him ten to fifteen feet in the air. By the time he'd reached the subterranean monster, he planted both feet in the ground, leaping above the creature's head and bringing his rock elbow down on its oversized mouth.
"Make like the dirtbag ya are and go right back where ya came from!"
The creature slammed into the ground, a noticeable dent in its skull. Ben landed just in front of it, cracking his knuckles. "Just try gettin' back up ya putz!"
The mole monster's arm moved surprisingly fast. Its fist swung down on top of Ben and flattened him, crushing the road around him. After a few seconds, the monster's fist started to be pushed back up. "Is that all ya got?" Ben grinned as he slowly raised the fist up from inside the fresh crater.
As he strained against the creature's might, its other claw swiped across the road at the immobile Ben. "Ah sh-" The claw scooped Ben up, raising him up to its massive maw. "Hey, what do I look like, hard candy?"
Before Ben could be tossed down the creature's massive throat and swallowed whole, a heavy stream of flame launched into the creature's mouth. It roared at the searing pain before dropping Ben. "Kid, what're ya doin'? Ya gotta get outta here with the others!" Instead of an answer or a snarky one-liner, Ben just saw the humanoid fireball rocket past him, and then the monster. "Kid?"
"HOW DO THE BRAKES WOOoork..." The fireball yelled as he flew past.
"Hold on, Johnny, I'm comin'!"
Ben leaped up after Johnny, only for the monster's other giant claw to reach up and smack him back down into the highway.
The monster raised its massive maw over its pinned prey, snarling savagely. Ben grimaced back. "The kid needs me! Lemme go or I'll pound ya inta fertilizer!"
Ben struggled, but this time his arms were pinned as well and he couldn't get the leverage needed to push back. Suddenly the creature's head jerked to the right as if something punched it in the face. Ben couldn't see anything, but the creature's head jerked back to the left as if an invisible giant was giving it the Mike Tyson treatment. Finally its gut lurched upward from the same invisible force and it fell to the ground, losing enough strength in its arm that Ben was able to push himself free.
Sue appeared just as he picked himself up. Literally, her form slowly faded into existence. "Ben, you okay?"
"For an orange muppet that just got punched by Godzilla, surprisingly good."
"Where's Johnny?" She looked around for her brother.
"At that speed? I'm thinkin' halfway to the north pole by now."
The fireball returned over the tree line, rocketing in an arc overhead until he crashed into the ground.
"Johnny!" Sue yelled as she ran over, fearing the worst. While her brother was no longer immolated, his body was still smoking. "Johnny, speak to me!"
To her surprise, Johnny slowly picked himself back up, coughing from his own smoke but otherwise no worse for wear. "Good news: figured out turning," he said with a smile. "Still working out landing and slowing down though."
While Sue waited for her heart to start working again after living through watching that, Ben charged. Leaping into the air to put his full weight behind an elbow drop to the creature's cranium. "Get outta here, ugly! You ain't wreckin' nothin' while I'm up here! Not even Canada!" Ben continued pummeling it in the head down into the street.
When it stopped trying to get back up, Ben stepped off the creature's head and gave one full force kick to shove it back into the hole it originally dug out of. "And stay there!"
After the beatdown, Ben took a moment to catch his breath. He could only assume the rest of his body was changed with the rest of him. Breathing with nearly solidified lungs was a challenge, especially with all the added weight on his chest. Still he managed, even when the adrenaline rush wore off and suddenly just standing was difficult. "Hey, Suzie, tell me the kid's all right," he managed to gasp out.
He was answered with nearby shouting.
"Jonathan Lowell Spencer Storm, don't you EVER pull something like that again!"
"OW! Come on, sis! You're squeezing too tight! I don't even know how hot I still am! You could get seriously burned!"
Ben forced a small chuckle. If the kid was in enough trouble for all four names, then at least he was well enough for Sue not to be worried. Laughing was another interesting sensation. It almost felt like miniature earthquakes in his chest.
He stopped laughing when he realized the quakes weren't coming from his chest, but from the ground around him. "EVERYONE BACK!" he somehow managed to shout as the edge of the sinkhole started to crumble.
The hole was rapidly expanding as the surrounding area continued to collapse. Ben turned to run and saw Sue desperately rush to pick Johnny up, but it was too quick with too little warning.
Just before he went over the edge, Ben saw some kind of rubbery blue tendril, the same color as their unstable molecule suits, extend out, wrap around Sue and Johnny, and pull them back. At least they would be safe even as he fell helplessly into the abyss.
He didn't expect another hand to reach over the edge all the way down to him. When it wrapped around Ben, he could just barely see where Reed had been pulled to the edge to look down at him, his face and body stretched and strained in every way possible. "It ain't no use! Let me go or you'll get pulled down with me!"
Reed's grip remained even as Ben struggled to pry himself loose. "Stop flailing around, Ben! You're screwing up my calculations!"
His descent finally slowed as Reed's arm was stretched taut, pulled to impossible length. As quickly as he fell, Ben recoiled back up, Reed's arm snapping back up like a bungee cord and pulling Ben back beyond the new edge of the sinkhole to safety.
Reed's body was almost as unrecognizable as Ben's as it lay in a mess of rubbery noodles, except for his feet which remained anchored to the ground by an invisible force. Sue was on her knees, sweating from the strain of keeping Reed from being pulled over. Reed's chest was heaving, the only sign that his stretched out body was still alive.
"Yer... yer a bunch'a crazy freaks. All three of ya," Ben stammered out.
"Don't you mean all four of us crazy freaks?" Johnny laughed.
The hole had grown considerably. Now it was larger than both multiple lane highways and a good portion of the surrounding area. It was done expanding, but the tremors were not.
They were visible at first from the far side. The walls crawled up towards the surface. Moloids swarmed as they clawed way, too many to count, of different builds and sizes, from the size of dogs to nearly humanoid to the behemoths like the one Ben had just been flattened by.
"We need to get out of here, now!" Ben forced himself back up. Despite his seeming invulnerability he still ached with exhaustion, but he knew no one else could possibly be in shape to move on their own. He could grab them and run. He wouldn't be able to do anything for all the other civilians on the roads nearby, but then what could he do anyway against an army? "Who can still move?!"
When he turned, Johnny and Sue were already picking themselves up, but they weren't turning to run.
"Johnny, I need you to fly away from here as quickly as possible," said Sue.
"No way! I'm not leaving right before the good part! I'm just getting all fired up!" Johnny was actually smiling, to Ben's surprise.
"That wasn't a request. This is dangerous!" In mother hen mode Suzie wasn’t willing to see her only brother hurt again.
"And surviving a 250 mile crash from outer space was easy?" Johnny wasn’t having it.
"You know that's not the point!" The siblings were bickering again, and they really didn’t have the time.
"No, you want me to just run off and leave my only family to get captured or worse! You'd never be able to leave me behind like that, so what makes you think I can?!"
"None of us are going anywhere," Reed interrupted, his voice slightly warped as his vocal cords eased back into their natural position. "That is, while I don't intend to force anyone to stay, the fact is this is all our fault. Mostly mine, but we can't just continue to run and let these things destroy everything in their path chasing us."
"You got a plan that doesn't involve going back into a stone cell, Reed?"
"I do," Reed nodded as the horde finally started coming up over the side nearest them. "It will take all of us though. Sue, can you put up a forcefield around us?"
Sue nodded and although no one could see anything happen, the Moloids stopped short of their position, sniffing around with confusion. A few of them clawed at the barrier, the only real indication of its existence, but most couldn't recognize the obstacle for what it was, instead sniffing the ground aimlessly. Reed sighed with relief. "Okay, now that we have some privacy, I need everyone to pay close attention. This won't work unless we get every detail right..."
Johnny was the first to erupt from beyond the veil, flying up into the sky. "All right everyone, watch the birdie!" The mole creatures were immediately drawn to his presence. The large ones with the reach to maybe capture him quickly drew closer through the crowd. Suddenly, Johnny's flames flashed from red to green to blue to blinding white hot, erasing out even shadows. The Moloids recoiled and shrieked, clamoring to go back into the pit.
"These creatures come in many shapes and sizes, yet move with one purpose. Under normal circumstances, the larger ones would exert some kind of dominance but there isn't any sign of a hierarchy. They may appear mammalian in nature, but their behavior is closer to a hivemind, like Janet's ant farms, for example. The creatures have evolved in a subterranean environment, and as evidenced before, are repulsed by bright light, yet have clawed their way to the surface just to retrieve us. Johnny, I need you to fly above their reach, draw their attentions, and then focus on burning as bright as possible. A significant enough flash will generate an electromagnetic field that will at least temporarily disrupt any signals being broadcasted to it. If they aren't completely stunned, the creatures will revert to instinct and retreat back to safety underground..."
The other three appeared as Sue's field dissipated. A few creatures were too stunned to make it back to the hole, so Sue gave them a push. She carefully made her way to the edge of the pit, where some of the moloids were trying to climb back up the side. Sue continued pushing them back with her fields, prying them off the wall and keeping them down, having to do so around the entire perimeter. "I always hated these whack-a-mole games."
"Actually, this is closer to Space Invaders, except maybe in reverse," Johnny commented.
"However, I don't expect the creatures to stay down for long. Sue, I know this is difficult, but when the creatures have been driven back into the hole, I need you to keep them there as far down as possible. This means creating a forcefield large enough to cover the hole."
"Reed, I don't know if I can-"
"I know. It's a tall order. If it helps it doesn't necessarily need to be a completely solid barrier, just covering the edges enough so the creatures can't climb their way back up. Feel free to move parts around, strengthening other parts as needed, as long as they're kept under long enough for the next part... "
Ben, meanwhile, had grabbed an abandoned SUV, lugging it overhead without losing stride, and jogged around the edge of the pit, throwing it on the far wall. He repeated this a few more times before grabbing an abandoned oil tanker. Having a little more trouble, he hurled it overhead into the pit where it exploded. The rock walls caved in, covering the creatures with a thick layer of sediment and the top with spilled oil.
Johnny then rose high up in the air and hurled a large fireball down into the pit, erupting it into flames.
"Ben, how's your pitching arm?"
"It was in top shape before apparently 'quarry' became my newest career option."
"As much as I hate the collateral damage this will cause, I need you to take four of the abandoned vehicles on the highway. Larger is better. I spotted at least one oil tanker that will be perfect, but save that one for last. I need you to throw them at these exact spots on the sides of the pit. Based on the average geological composition of the area, this will cause several landslides."
"Uh, no offense, Reed, but that's a pretty big pit yer tryin' to fill. You sure about this?"
"We don't need to fill the pit completely, just have enough of a layer to bury the creatures back underground..."
"Won't they just tunnel back up?"
"That's what the oil tanker is for. Once it spills into the hole and covers enough of the area, Johnny will ignite it from a distance. Normally, yes, this would cause some damage to the local ecosystem, but these creatures have already done that, and the spill will be contained by the pit."
"Okay, so what is this supposed to accomplish? Can't they just dig a new hole?"
"These creatures track by scent, and very effectively. The pungence of the burning oil should break the trail they've been using to follow us."
"And if it doesn't?"
Johnny landed as the other three regrouped. "All right! Did you see that? We were awesome!"
"Hope the drivers have good insurance. What now?" Ben asked.
"We wait," Reed answered, still on edge.
The ground started to shake again. The bottom of the pit rumbled and swirled as the fires were smothered and the dirt in the pit rose. It filled itself to the brim and then some, rising above the surface until a large dome filled the void.
When the smoke and dust cleared, a lone man stood at the epicenter of the dome. A short, squat little man with baggy, brown, faded clothes. What were once a Hawaiian jacket and work overalls were now lumpy rags. His eyes were covered with thick, black sunglasses, the type used by optometrists twenty years ago, and he limped on a stone cane that was taller than he was.
He surveyed the area and all its destruction. "Damn Moloids. Can't do anything right. Making me come all the way up here and do everything myself..." he grumbled to himself before pointing his cane down at Reed and the others. "This has gone far enough! You're all coming with me!"
"Wait, I've got this!" Johnny said excitedly before Ben or Reed. "You and what army! No, wait, that doesn't work. You've already got an army. How about..."
"How about 'no'?" Ben interrupted.
"You're no fun."
Reed stepped forward. "It's about time."
"If these creatures operate off a hivemind mentality, that means there's a 'queen' mole creature, something or, more likely, someone giving the orders."
"Someone's controlling the creatures?"
"It's the most logical reason to explain why these creatures are so persistent in tracking us even though we're a considerable distance away from their territory. If that's true, then this resistance will hopefully accomplish one of two things. Either whatever's pursuing us will decide that the trouble doesn't outweigh the benefit and stop chasing us, or whoever's in charge will decide to stop acting through nearly mindless beasts and confront us directly..."
"I take it you're the one controlling these creatures," Reed shouted to the figure on the hilltop.
"They're called Moloids, and yeah, they work for me," the short man replied.
Johnny jumped in once again, "So that makes you... what? Mole King? Master Mole? Ooh! The Underbiter!"
"Johnny, please," Reed scolded before turning back to the man on the hilltop. "My name's Reed Richards. This young man in Jonathan Storm, and my other friend is Benjamin Grimm. May I ask your name?"
"The name's Harvey Elder, and I know who you are, but that thing is supposed to be Ben Grimm?" he said in disbelief.
"Harvey Elder," Reed repeated the name thoughtfully while Ben scowled. "I know that name. You published some papers in a few academic journals a while back, about several new subterranean species and some theories regarding 'missing links' in evolution. Fascinating material."
"Psst, Reed, are ya REALLY planning on gushing with this freak?" Ben whispered in the tone of rocks grinding each other to dust. Reed tried to ignore him as he continued playing the diplomat.
Harvey turned slightly redder and puffed his chest with pride as he held a little less irritation than before. "Well, it's not often I hear someone actually paid attention to my work. Even before I left civilization for my research."
"Well, Dr. Elder, presumably you found us at the original crash site, you had us in captivity without explanation, and now your Moloids are causing considerable collateral damage in pursuit of us. Can you please explain why?"
Harvey looked around nervously. All the sunlight, people and attention were making his skin crawl, and he wanted nothing more than to get this over with and retreat back to his underground home. "You all were injured and irradiated. As you should probably know, you needed to be observed and quarantined."
"You couldn't have just told us any of this instead of hiding behind rocks in a cave?" Reed asked.
"I don't have any holding cells or advanced medical scanners or any other of your fancy crap! I have Geiger counters. And I wasn't about to expose myself to massive amounts of radiation. I'm doing what I have to."
Reed nodded in understanding. "While it's likely we were expose to radiation, it would have mostly become inert by now. But to check we do have state-of-the-art equipment. We work for the largest technology company in the world. If you'd stop trying to abduct us, we can contact our people rather than sit in a cave and just hope we get better."
"Look, this sort of thing ain't my field of expertise. I'm just following orders, and the man in charge says to keep you locked up where no one can get hurt until further notice," Harvey said, growing more irritable as the conversation dragged on.
"And who's the man in charge?"
"The same guy you work for. Victor Von Doom of course."
Reed's momentum in keeping the dialogue going was shot. The others were just as shocked, though for different reasons.
"Victor's alive?!" Reed exclaimed.
"Victor's behind this?!" Ben shouted in near unison.
"Enough chit-chat. If I don't get you back right away, who knows what Von Doom will do to me?"
Reed tried to regain his composure, equally relieved that his friend was still alive and confounded that he was somehow involved with these mole creatures. It also meant that Harvey and Reed worked for the same company, but Reed had never heard of anything like this and he was supposed to be one of if not the lead of science. "Dr. Elder, may I call you Harvey? We've been gone an exceptionally long time, and we have friends who I'm sure are concerned for our safety and would be able to help us. If you could pass along to Victor that we're heading back to Central City..."
"Did you not hear me?!" Harvey interrupted. "Victor Von Friggin' Doom told me to keep you quarantined until further notice. If I don't bring you back right now, who knows what he'll do to me. Who knows what kind of punishment he'd have planned for me after this fiasco! MY LIFE is on the line here!"
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a bit?" Reed was well aware of Victor's reputation, but as far as he was concerned it was mostly just rumor and gossip based on name alone. The man he knew was an excellent leader, a shrewd businessman, and intelligent enough for Reed to consider him a colleague, but he wasn't a tyrant or madman like some people claimed.
"It's Victor Von Doom! I'm not takin' any chances!"
"Neither am I!" Ben angrily yelled as he stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "I've had enough crap from Doom and his flunkies for one lifetime!"
Reed quickly extended an arm to Ben's shoulder. "Ben! No! He's a fellow scientist! I know the damage here is extensive, but there's been more than enough violence for one day."
Ben hesitated, looked around at all the damage, took several deep breaths, and stopped. "Yeah, I guess yer right. Besides, he's just some egghead with a buncha freaks we already took care of. What's he gonna do to us now?" "Hey, Mole Man, we ain't comin' back with ya. Deal with it!"
"Don't call me that!" Harvey shouted as he grasped his stone cane in both hands and thrust it into the ground with a supernaturally loud boom. A shockwave ripped through the ground, causing tremors that made the earlier Moloid incursions seem harmless by comparison. Cars were toppling over, trees were shaken from their roots, and Reed and company were surrounded by walls of bedrock that jut out of the earth. "You think I'm someone you can just push around?! You think you're tough just because I'm the short, ugly one! Well, guess what? Even with your freak powers, I'M the one in control here!"
"Ya think a little bass is gonna stop me from clobberin' ya?" Ben managed to steady himself long enough to leap out of the stone cage and bound up the hill towards Harvey. "Normally I wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, but in your case I'll definitely make an exception!"
"That's rich. The walking landfill is trying to talk trash," Harvey spat as he stood his ground. When Ben was close he lifted his staff and thrust the end into Ben's chest. "You may think you're all tough with your new rocky body, but guess what? That just means I already got you beat!" Wielding the staff like a pool cue, Harvey struck and on impact, launched Ben into the air, far past the others, until he crashed into the side of a truck.
Johnny rocketed out of the enclosure in full fireball mode. "Hey, Mole Man, why don't you try this on for size?" Doing an overhead pass, he threw a fireball that exploded at the squat man's location. When the smoke cleared, a smaller dome of rock was in its place, having quickly been formed to protect Harvey from the explosion.
"If I have to beat you all to within an inch of your life to take you all, I will, no matter how young you are! I don't have any patience for snot-nosed brats!"
"Big talk, badger boy, but I'm all the way up here! Whatcha gonna do about that?"
In response, Harvey slammed his staff back into the ground as protrusions suddenly formed in the dome around him. Another hit on the ground and the protrutions shot out of the ground and small boulders were launched into the air, most at Johnny. "WHOA!" Johnny swerved to avoid the first few before getting clipped by one and sending spinning.
Johnny barely managed to right himself before crashing, but then had to focus on throwing fireballs at the oncoming rock assault.
Nearby in the distance, a news chopper was drifting steadily closer, drawing Harvey's attention and disgust. "No cameras! It's bad enough I have to deal with this embarrassment myself!" The boulders started launching in the helicopter's direction instead.
Johnny wasted no time and soared through the sky at comet speed to the chopper, interposing himself between it and the flying boulders. With so many of them, he could barely keep his position by trying to keep the fire erupting from his feet equal to the pull of gravity, leaving his hands free to launch a barrage of fireballs at the boulders, exploding them all nearly simultaneously. Still high from the sheer thrill of it all, Johnny turned to see a news camera trained on his flaming visage, and he couldn't help but smile, wink, and give a thumbs up before rocketing back towards the main fray.
While Johnny was distracted dodging and intercepting flying boulders, Reed had literally pulled himself from the enclosure. "You don't have to do this, Harvey. I'm warning you, stop now and let's talk about this like intelligent people."
"Even if my head wasn't at stake, I've got this in the bag. You're coming back with me, and there's nothing you could do to stop me."
"Oh, there's plenty of ways I can stop you." Reed said coolly.
Harvey grinned and lightly tapped the rod to the ground. Reed instantly felt his feet sink into a goopy, muddy mess. He tried to pull his legs free, but even though he was slowly sinking the ground was still solid enough to keep him from easily pulling out. "Stop that!"
After a few unsuccessful attempts at struggling out, Reed stopped and just casually sighed. "I don't have to."
"And why's that?"
"Because this entire time you've been looking for three prisoners: myself, Ben, and Johnny."
"So?"
Suddenly Harvey felt something yank at his staff. He managed to maintain his grip, but some invisible force kept pulling away. The blonde in the same uniform as Reed and Johnny appeared, now wrestling with the surprisingly strong Harvey for control of the staff. "That you of all people should appreciate strength in numbers," Reed smiled.
"Let... let go!" Harvey said frantically, his victory now completely uncertain as the all the various earthshaking, launching boulders, and other phenomenon ceased completely. "That doesn't belong to you!"
"You launch a dozen catapults at my brother and you think I'm going to let you get away with that?"
"You don't understand! Von Doom..."
"Is going to get a lot worse when I catch up to him. You're getting off easy!"
They continued struggling, Harvey's surprising strength and short stocky frame just managing to keep Sue from outright stealing his staff. "I'm not letting you take-"
Harvey felt a slight tap on his shoulder. When he turned, two rubbery arms had stretched around him, one tapping at the shoulder, and the other in a balled fist that immediately swung and struck Harvey's jaw in a vicious hook. The little man instantly let go of the rod and fell to the ground, tumbling down the hill and leaving the rod in Sue's hands.
"You were right," said Sue, relieved that it was finally over. "The 'queen ant' had a specific way to control the creatures."
"The terrakinesis was something I wasn't expecting, though I guess it helps explain the control over such a wide variety of subterranean creatures as well as the complex structure of the cavern network," Reed exposited as he poked and prodded at the staff. "Absolutely fascinating. It seems to be made of a uniform material. No circuits or technology I can see. When we get back I can't wait to examine it more closely." After noticing the glare from Sue he added, "After we've rested and taken care of more immediate matters of course."
Sue sighed and looked up at the fireball that was still doing victory laps. "Johnny, get down here already!"
The fireball landed next to them in a much more graceful landing than before, even managing to keep from falling completely on his face as the fire extinguished into smoke. "Come on, let me have a little fun."
"How could you possibly call anything about recent events 'fun'?" Sue was still healing from her wounds.
"Hey, I get to fly, shoot fireballs, and fight giant monsters. How is that not the greatest thing ever?" Johnny said excitedly.
Eventually Ben managed to hobble his way back to the rest. "Man, my body's still shaking from that. What'd I miss?"
"All the good parts," Johnny said with a grin.
"Figures. Where's short, dark, and creepy?" Ben’s joins cracked as he moved.
"He was..." Sue looked around to where they'd last seen Harvey, but his body was nowhere to be found.
"Great. Just great. Do we need to go after him?"
Reed shook his head. "Without this, he's not remotely a threat. He can't command his Moloids or do any of his previous feats. He's helpless, and frankly we have more important things to worry about."
"Like Victor. You heard the little man. He's responsible for all this." Sue sounded pleased, almost. Something else to hold against the man.
"Let's not jump to too many conclusions. I want to hear what Victor has to say about this.” Reed said, but it did look bad. “But first, I'm sure everyone back home will want to know we're alive."
"Can we eat soon? I'm starving, and I've never had poutine."
"For once, I agree with the kid. I'm so starvin' I could eat a whole Mountie."
"See, I'm wondering if he's actually craving human flesh. You never know with how he is now."
"We can see if there are any nearby restaurants with phones. My guess is we'll meet Wyatt along the way." Reed smiled as he started to lead the way down the road. "Either way, we're finally going home."
To be continued...