Post by jordan on Feb 5, 2013 21:08:45 GMT -5
Fantastic Four
#4
By Jordan
*
Doomsday in Latveria
*
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
The load sounds reverberate throughout the small ventilation system as Ben falls through an open shaft onto cold, hard rock. His eyes dart in every direction, scanning for dangers hiding in the darkened corners. He hears screams below him, people running, people fighting. He has to get back down there. His mind stops for just one moment and, for the briefest of all thoughts, a shapely blonde woman blazes across his mind.
He shakes his head clear of the image and powers on, scanning the room for something important; hopefully a way out. He activates his stealth suit (black latex that comes out of his web shooters) and stumbles forward.
It’s just moments before he smashes his toe against something big…really big. His eyes dart up to see a gold plated throne sitting seven feet high at least—the throne of a god. He climbs up the throne with ease and sits upon it, looking at the many jewels that adorn this golden throne. “Wow Doom, you’ve got some taste.” Ben mumbles to himself under his breath.
“Yes I do, Spider. Now if you’d be kind enough, please remove yourself from my throne.” Ben’s head whips around so fast he fears it’ll fall right off of his shoulders. Standing in the doorway is a slim man wearing a green robe, holding a mask up to his face as if he were constantly trying to hide it.
“Well, you see, I think I broke my legs when I was, um—“
“Breaking into my throne room to spy on me? Doing your fearless leader Reed Richards’ dirty work for him?” Doom steps slowly and ominously further into the throne room, pulling the mask which hid his face down by his side. The way the light falls in the room, it streaks across his face. Ben can see just a tiny, tiny bit, not enough to see any real features. All Ben sees is a perfect complexion.
“Well, if you want to put it that way…”
”Get off my throne you worthless vermin!” Doom shouts before extended his left hand and fires a bolt of energy out of the mask as though it was a wand. The bolt is a shining purple and blazes a shining trail across the darkness of the room. Ben jumps out of the way with just moments to spare before the bolt strikes the throne.
“You need to take a ch— oh crap!” Ben dodges the second bolt of magic that comes flying his way. He stops just feet away from Doom, crouched, prepared to jump out of the way of another bolt.
“Leave now. Help your ‘team’ while you still can. When the sun rises tomorrow, they will be in ruin.”
*
So Long Ago
The sweet sun rises above the smaller of the two rivers that run north, and with it comes light and revelation. Among the battles fought, the worst of all took place across the now barren land known to many as Latveria. Dried blood covers everything from horizon to horizon; dead bodies and wondering souls march the land and make it a cold, lifeless world. The four men perch on their carriage likes birds waiting for their predator to pass them by.
“What now do we do?” The ginger man asks, a tone of disbelief straining his voice.
“Have you no faith in me?” The elder man asks, jumping from the carriage, seamlessly landing upon his wooden third leg, hobbling on into the trenches of death and destruction.
“We have been on this road for nearly half a decade! What faith I had in you has truly faded at this point!” The ginger barks in the elder’s ear, running up behind him in haste, kicking his cane out from beneath him.
The elder man falls into a body below him. Turning his head, he looks into the face of the ginger man, whom then solemnly spits in his face. “Old coot, I’m done with this journey! My wife and kids! By God’s will they must miss me!”
The elder man stands up, shrugging the dirt and blood off of him, picking his cane up off the ground. He turns away from the ginger and walks three more steps. He turns once more and taps his cane against the ground four times ina strange sort of rhythm.
The Earth rumbles and cracks and moans and shouts and soon the ginger stands on nothing but air: falling, falling, falling DOWN! He lands hard on the ground and the elder man follows, hobbling gracefully down, stone by stone, into the chasm created below. “Follow!” He shouts up, and the two men follow.
They look out upon them at a golden fountain, water spraying from to many impossible nasals. Each of the three men (the one with the blunt-ended star, he who sports that righteous beard, and the ginger of course) go wide-eyed as they have finally found what they have been looking for.
The elder holds out his hand and signals their discovery to the three men, confirming their disbelief. “Behold, the Fountain of Life!”
*
“It is almost time, Hammond.” Doom says as he takes to his golden throne, dropping his mask to the foundation of his massive golden pedestal. Out from the shadows steps a bulky-framed figure with short hair, adorned in combat boots and a leather jacket. His piercing blue eyes starred straight at his leader, Victor von Doom.
“’Tis true, all-mighty Doom. You must eliminate the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation, and then it will be time for us to strike.” A deep rumbling voice protrudes from Jim Hammond’s mouth as he addresses Victor von Doom.
“The former is already in the works. It’s the latter I may have trouble with.”
*
“Come *czkk*oundation, I r*czkk*dation, thi*czkk*orm. I re*czkk*lp in Latveria. D*czkk*ot has come to l*czkkkkkk*” Sue Storm stands listening over the SOS device installed in the War Room of the Future Foundation. She recognizes Johnny Storm’s voice through the static. She decodes the message in a matter of seconds. Come in Future Foundation, I repeat, Come in Future Foundation. I request help in Latveria. Doom’s plot has come to light.
She races down the corridors to her husband, Reed Richard’s, private chambers. She taps on the door three times and rushes into his room.
“Go away! I’m working!” Reed yells before he realizes that it is Sue who had entered the room unannounced. The look in her eyes moves him almost to tears, and that’s before she even says it. But he already knows what’s coming.
“They’re fighting Doom.”
*
The commotion in the ballroom has reached an all-time high as the Latverian rebels quickly gain control over the masses of the rich and affluent. Johnny blazes a trail through the rebels, attempting to keep them grouped up and at bay. Valeria holds off a more advanced, albeit smaller, group of rebels in the eastern corner of the room. Franklin creates force-fields to hold more groups of rebels at bay on the opposite side of the room from Valeria.
Ben comes barreling out onto the balcony from which Doom gave his speech minutes ago. Around him, he sees the massive amounts of commotion; the rebels have already taken several lives in their wake. “Johnny!” Ben yells, but the Human Torch does not respond. Ben jumps into the crowd and fists fly.
Ben fights with power and speed, lacking the finesse of a well-trained warrior. For every punch he receives, he dishes out two more. He stops for just a moment to watch in awe as Johnny storms by leaving a trail of fire. That is Ben’s first mistake. Ignoring his extrasensory ability to feel bodily harm coming towards him, Ben takes a right hook to his chin.
He reacts blindly, sending his opponent back against the wall of the ballroom, pinning him there. That’s when he gets his first good look at the intruder. Short hair, leather jacket, combat boots—Jim Hammond. “JIM?!” Jim doesn’t waste a single moment. He uses Ben’s shock to break free from his grasp, sending Ben backwards in a ball of fire.
“FLAME ON!” Jim shouts, extending his arms and engulfing himself in flames. Suddenly the entire ballroom goes quiet, stunned into silence by the spectacle of the second flaming man in the room. The rebels stop scarred in their tracks. Mumbling goes around; is he with Doom, or against?
“Jim?” Johnny asks, floating in the air, staring down angrily at his mentor.
“Surprised?” Jim asks before demonstrating his power on a group of rebels, frying them to ashes. “Don’t you wish you were this strong?” Tears extinguish a small trail down Johnny’s cheek.
“Traitor!” Johnny charges at Jim, who easily deflects him. Ben fires his webbing towards Jim, but the flames burn it. Johnny stares up into his mentor’s eyes from where he lies on the ground. “What are you doing?”
“Doom is the future, my friend. I’m choosing the winning team.” Jim extends his hand, placing it on Johnny’s forehead. Johnny begins to scream in pain and agony. His fire extinguishes. “Now burn!” Jim yells, turning his attention to the remainder of the Fantastic Four. A sleek, powerful beam of fire shoots from Jim’s hand but suddenly stops in mid-air. “What?!” Anger crosses Jim’s face.
From the sky descends four figures: Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, Jim Hammond and their fearless leader, Reed Richards.
“Who’s this sonofabitch?” Jim asks before delivering his own line of fire towards the imposter.
*
Four men stand before the fountain that spouts spring water of life. “Come now, join me, lest we waste away longer than required!” The elder man says, hobbling towards the fountain.
“Why must four be here, to me it seems we only need one!” He who sports the most righteous of beards exclaims. The elder man waves a finger at him, leans down and sips the water slowly. Rising up, he tosses his cane to the side and rests all of his weight on his lame leg. He falls.
“The water, in its current state, is useless. It takes four pure of heart to release its true powers!” He crawls over to his cane and rises up again, leading the four men to the pedestal at the center of the chasm. He reaches out, placing his left palm on the pedestal. “Come on, you three!” He motions with his head for them to follow his lead. Slowly but surely all three men stumble over to the pedestal and place there left hands atop the elder man’s. They wait several minutes until the ginger shouts:
“Nothing is happening, you old coot! Surely you did not lead us here, away from our lives and our loves on a wild goose chase!” He strikes out at the elder man, who simply falls to the ground. Slowly, he crawls to the fountain and takes a sip. He stands up slowly, and now it is the man-with-the-blunted-star’s turn to chat.
“What sick game is this, Doom?” He says, directing his voice at the old man. He stares directly into the old man’s eyes, into the belly of the beast.
“Sorry boys, but your job is done.” With a certain amount of speed and agility unheard of in man, Doom strikes out, murdering all three swiftly. He looks over the man-with-the-blunted-star and spits on his face. “I shall bring doom to you all.” He drops the cane to his side and walks away.
*
Fire against fire, blood flies, so do three human torches in the epic battle royal in the middle of the ballroom of Doom! “Who are you?!” Johnny screams, taking the imposter Jim Hammond by the throat and flinging him to the ground. Sue Storm quickly creates a bubble force-field around the imposter.
“I am your doom!” He yells at Johnny, whom only replies with a smirk.
“The irony.” But suddenly several bolts of purple lightning fly from the balcony and break the bubble open.
“Leave my kingdom, NOW!” Doom bellows, pointing his index finger at Reed Richards, holding the same mask with his left hand to cover his face. “You are not welcome here, Reed Richards!”
“You attack my family and I’m welcome wherever I damn well please!” Reed yells back, stretching himself out to create a protective shield for his family.
“I meant no harm to your family; they were but caught in the crossfire.”
“I know you Doom, and I know that’s a damn lie!” Fire burns in Reed’s eyes. “Now tell me what that thing is!” Reed extends his long finger towards the trapped body of Jim Hammond.
“Leave my kingdom, now Reed Richards.” Reed stays in place for a long moment before compressing once more and declaring:
“It’s time to go, family.” Everyone slowly gathers around Franklin, and they collectively disappear into thin air. The bubble around Jim disappears and he looks his master in where he assumes would be his eyes.
“You think they can figure it out?” He asks, a little fear in his voice.
“I’m almost certain they know, if not when Reed first saw you, then almost definitely by now. Now let us return to my chambers, I must contact your leader and make some future arrangements.” Doom turns and strides back through the doorway to the balcony.
“All hail the mighty Skrull Empire.” Fake Jim mutters to himself.
#4
By Jordan
*
Doomsday in Latveria
*
Clunk, clunk, clunk.
The load sounds reverberate throughout the small ventilation system as Ben falls through an open shaft onto cold, hard rock. His eyes dart in every direction, scanning for dangers hiding in the darkened corners. He hears screams below him, people running, people fighting. He has to get back down there. His mind stops for just one moment and, for the briefest of all thoughts, a shapely blonde woman blazes across his mind.
He shakes his head clear of the image and powers on, scanning the room for something important; hopefully a way out. He activates his stealth suit (black latex that comes out of his web shooters) and stumbles forward.
It’s just moments before he smashes his toe against something big…really big. His eyes dart up to see a gold plated throne sitting seven feet high at least—the throne of a god. He climbs up the throne with ease and sits upon it, looking at the many jewels that adorn this golden throne. “Wow Doom, you’ve got some taste.” Ben mumbles to himself under his breath.
“Yes I do, Spider. Now if you’d be kind enough, please remove yourself from my throne.” Ben’s head whips around so fast he fears it’ll fall right off of his shoulders. Standing in the doorway is a slim man wearing a green robe, holding a mask up to his face as if he were constantly trying to hide it.
“Well, you see, I think I broke my legs when I was, um—“
“Breaking into my throne room to spy on me? Doing your fearless leader Reed Richards’ dirty work for him?” Doom steps slowly and ominously further into the throne room, pulling the mask which hid his face down by his side. The way the light falls in the room, it streaks across his face. Ben can see just a tiny, tiny bit, not enough to see any real features. All Ben sees is a perfect complexion.
“Well, if you want to put it that way…”
”Get off my throne you worthless vermin!” Doom shouts before extended his left hand and fires a bolt of energy out of the mask as though it was a wand. The bolt is a shining purple and blazes a shining trail across the darkness of the room. Ben jumps out of the way with just moments to spare before the bolt strikes the throne.
“You need to take a ch— oh crap!” Ben dodges the second bolt of magic that comes flying his way. He stops just feet away from Doom, crouched, prepared to jump out of the way of another bolt.
“Leave now. Help your ‘team’ while you still can. When the sun rises tomorrow, they will be in ruin.”
*
So Long Ago
The sweet sun rises above the smaller of the two rivers that run north, and with it comes light and revelation. Among the battles fought, the worst of all took place across the now barren land known to many as Latveria. Dried blood covers everything from horizon to horizon; dead bodies and wondering souls march the land and make it a cold, lifeless world. The four men perch on their carriage likes birds waiting for their predator to pass them by.
“What now do we do?” The ginger man asks, a tone of disbelief straining his voice.
“Have you no faith in me?” The elder man asks, jumping from the carriage, seamlessly landing upon his wooden third leg, hobbling on into the trenches of death and destruction.
“We have been on this road for nearly half a decade! What faith I had in you has truly faded at this point!” The ginger barks in the elder’s ear, running up behind him in haste, kicking his cane out from beneath him.
The elder man falls into a body below him. Turning his head, he looks into the face of the ginger man, whom then solemnly spits in his face. “Old coot, I’m done with this journey! My wife and kids! By God’s will they must miss me!”
The elder man stands up, shrugging the dirt and blood off of him, picking his cane up off the ground. He turns away from the ginger and walks three more steps. He turns once more and taps his cane against the ground four times ina strange sort of rhythm.
The Earth rumbles and cracks and moans and shouts and soon the ginger stands on nothing but air: falling, falling, falling DOWN! He lands hard on the ground and the elder man follows, hobbling gracefully down, stone by stone, into the chasm created below. “Follow!” He shouts up, and the two men follow.
They look out upon them at a golden fountain, water spraying from to many impossible nasals. Each of the three men (the one with the blunt-ended star, he who sports that righteous beard, and the ginger of course) go wide-eyed as they have finally found what they have been looking for.
The elder holds out his hand and signals their discovery to the three men, confirming their disbelief. “Behold, the Fountain of Life!”
*
“It is almost time, Hammond.” Doom says as he takes to his golden throne, dropping his mask to the foundation of his massive golden pedestal. Out from the shadows steps a bulky-framed figure with short hair, adorned in combat boots and a leather jacket. His piercing blue eyes starred straight at his leader, Victor von Doom.
“’Tis true, all-mighty Doom. You must eliminate the Fantastic Four and the Future Foundation, and then it will be time for us to strike.” A deep rumbling voice protrudes from Jim Hammond’s mouth as he addresses Victor von Doom.
“The former is already in the works. It’s the latter I may have trouble with.”
*
“Come *czkk*oundation, I r*czkk*dation, thi*czkk*orm. I re*czkk*lp in Latveria. D*czkk*ot has come to l*czkkkkkk*” Sue Storm stands listening over the SOS device installed in the War Room of the Future Foundation. She recognizes Johnny Storm’s voice through the static. She decodes the message in a matter of seconds. Come in Future Foundation, I repeat, Come in Future Foundation. I request help in Latveria. Doom’s plot has come to light.
She races down the corridors to her husband, Reed Richard’s, private chambers. She taps on the door three times and rushes into his room.
“Go away! I’m working!” Reed yells before he realizes that it is Sue who had entered the room unannounced. The look in her eyes moves him almost to tears, and that’s before she even says it. But he already knows what’s coming.
“They’re fighting Doom.”
*
The commotion in the ballroom has reached an all-time high as the Latverian rebels quickly gain control over the masses of the rich and affluent. Johnny blazes a trail through the rebels, attempting to keep them grouped up and at bay. Valeria holds off a more advanced, albeit smaller, group of rebels in the eastern corner of the room. Franklin creates force-fields to hold more groups of rebels at bay on the opposite side of the room from Valeria.
Ben comes barreling out onto the balcony from which Doom gave his speech minutes ago. Around him, he sees the massive amounts of commotion; the rebels have already taken several lives in their wake. “Johnny!” Ben yells, but the Human Torch does not respond. Ben jumps into the crowd and fists fly.
Ben fights with power and speed, lacking the finesse of a well-trained warrior. For every punch he receives, he dishes out two more. He stops for just a moment to watch in awe as Johnny storms by leaving a trail of fire. That is Ben’s first mistake. Ignoring his extrasensory ability to feel bodily harm coming towards him, Ben takes a right hook to his chin.
He reacts blindly, sending his opponent back against the wall of the ballroom, pinning him there. That’s when he gets his first good look at the intruder. Short hair, leather jacket, combat boots—Jim Hammond. “JIM?!” Jim doesn’t waste a single moment. He uses Ben’s shock to break free from his grasp, sending Ben backwards in a ball of fire.
“FLAME ON!” Jim shouts, extending his arms and engulfing himself in flames. Suddenly the entire ballroom goes quiet, stunned into silence by the spectacle of the second flaming man in the room. The rebels stop scarred in their tracks. Mumbling goes around; is he with Doom, or against?
“Jim?” Johnny asks, floating in the air, staring down angrily at his mentor.
“Surprised?” Jim asks before demonstrating his power on a group of rebels, frying them to ashes. “Don’t you wish you were this strong?” Tears extinguish a small trail down Johnny’s cheek.
“Traitor!” Johnny charges at Jim, who easily deflects him. Ben fires his webbing towards Jim, but the flames burn it. Johnny stares up into his mentor’s eyes from where he lies on the ground. “What are you doing?”
“Doom is the future, my friend. I’m choosing the winning team.” Jim extends his hand, placing it on Johnny’s forehead. Johnny begins to scream in pain and agony. His fire extinguishes. “Now burn!” Jim yells, turning his attention to the remainder of the Fantastic Four. A sleek, powerful beam of fire shoots from Jim’s hand but suddenly stops in mid-air. “What?!” Anger crosses Jim’s face.
From the sky descends four figures: Sue Storm, Ben Grimm, Jim Hammond and their fearless leader, Reed Richards.
“Who’s this sonofabitch?” Jim asks before delivering his own line of fire towards the imposter.
*
Four men stand before the fountain that spouts spring water of life. “Come now, join me, lest we waste away longer than required!” The elder man says, hobbling towards the fountain.
“Why must four be here, to me it seems we only need one!” He who sports the most righteous of beards exclaims. The elder man waves a finger at him, leans down and sips the water slowly. Rising up, he tosses his cane to the side and rests all of his weight on his lame leg. He falls.
“The water, in its current state, is useless. It takes four pure of heart to release its true powers!” He crawls over to his cane and rises up again, leading the four men to the pedestal at the center of the chasm. He reaches out, placing his left palm on the pedestal. “Come on, you three!” He motions with his head for them to follow his lead. Slowly but surely all three men stumble over to the pedestal and place there left hands atop the elder man’s. They wait several minutes until the ginger shouts:
“Nothing is happening, you old coot! Surely you did not lead us here, away from our lives and our loves on a wild goose chase!” He strikes out at the elder man, who simply falls to the ground. Slowly, he crawls to the fountain and takes a sip. He stands up slowly, and now it is the man-with-the-blunted-star’s turn to chat.
“What sick game is this, Doom?” He says, directing his voice at the old man. He stares directly into the old man’s eyes, into the belly of the beast.
“Sorry boys, but your job is done.” With a certain amount of speed and agility unheard of in man, Doom strikes out, murdering all three swiftly. He looks over the man-with-the-blunted-star and spits on his face. “I shall bring doom to you all.” He drops the cane to his side and walks away.
*
Fire against fire, blood flies, so do three human torches in the epic battle royal in the middle of the ballroom of Doom! “Who are you?!” Johnny screams, taking the imposter Jim Hammond by the throat and flinging him to the ground. Sue Storm quickly creates a bubble force-field around the imposter.
“I am your doom!” He yells at Johnny, whom only replies with a smirk.
“The irony.” But suddenly several bolts of purple lightning fly from the balcony and break the bubble open.
“Leave my kingdom, NOW!” Doom bellows, pointing his index finger at Reed Richards, holding the same mask with his left hand to cover his face. “You are not welcome here, Reed Richards!”
“You attack my family and I’m welcome wherever I damn well please!” Reed yells back, stretching himself out to create a protective shield for his family.
“I meant no harm to your family; they were but caught in the crossfire.”
“I know you Doom, and I know that’s a damn lie!” Fire burns in Reed’s eyes. “Now tell me what that thing is!” Reed extends his long finger towards the trapped body of Jim Hammond.
“Leave my kingdom, now Reed Richards.” Reed stays in place for a long moment before compressing once more and declaring:
“It’s time to go, family.” Everyone slowly gathers around Franklin, and they collectively disappear into thin air. The bubble around Jim disappears and he looks his master in where he assumes would be his eyes.
“You think they can figure it out?” He asks, a little fear in his voice.
“I’m almost certain they know, if not when Reed first saw you, then almost definitely by now. Now let us return to my chambers, I must contact your leader and make some future arrangements.” Doom turns and strides back through the doorway to the balcony.
“All hail the mighty Skrull Empire.” Fake Jim mutters to himself.
END.