The Fantastic Four #11

[Spider-Man Beyond]

The Fantastic Four #11
Those Who Stand Accused! Part 2 of 2

Written by Mallet
Edited by Daniel Dyer (Spider-Man Beyond)

"Sentence. DEATH!" shouted Ronan the Accuser. He lifted his strange hammer, shaped just like a normal human rock hammer, only much larger and with wires running from the head to about mid-way on the shaft before heading inside. It began to radiate a bright turquoise energy that shone over the Accuser’s green armor, covering his entire body.

"Death? Now just wait a minu-AGGH!" Reed had been cut off by a beam of energy from the hammer, hitting him dead center in the chest. The Fantastic Four's enigmatic leader seemingly began to melt. His body was usually held taught until he had need to stretch, but now he couldn't pull himself together. The calculations began to run in his head with one answer springing to mind, the molecular bonding, the cosmic force that held his pliable body together, had been weakened. So his body turned into, well, pudding, a large blue and tan pile lying on the ground.

"Reed!" shouted Sue, running for her boyfriend when Ronan turned his weapon on her. His attack was halted as a large rocky fist launched towards him, knocking the highest of the Accusers to the ground. "Alright, ya big, blue, galoot! Attackin’ Earth, roundin’ people up like this, and hurtin’ my friends?! Aunt Petunia's blue eyed nephew is through playin’ around. IT'S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!" and with that, Ben Grimm launched himself toward the fallen Kree. The Kree who had brought them here and surrounded them turned their weapons on the large, orange, rocky thing, when a noise came aloud from one of their "prisoners".

"FLAME ON!" screamed the Human Torch, who then erupted in flames. The Kree soldiers were confused, some turning the weapons towards the Torch, some still aiming for Ben. Johnny seized the moment, launching jets of super heated plasma at the weapons, melting them to the hilts. Upon seeing this most of the soldiers began to retreat further into the camp, Torch began to rise in the air to give chase.

"What's the matter? Not so tough with out the toys?" but his enthusiasm was short lived as he saw why they retreated.

"Oh boy." he stammered, flying to Sue who was kneeling on the ground. Slipping through her fingers the puddle that was her fiance, still she desperately tried lifting her love, even forgetting her powers for a moment.

"Sue we gotta get out of here! There's like a hundred mad blue guys running over here!"

"We have to take Reed! We can't leave him behind!"

"Just scoop him up in a bubble!"

Sue starred at Johnny for a moment; her concern for Reed had distracted her from the obvious, but then began scooping up Reed in a force bubble. She never got a chance to lift him though, as both she and Johnny were thrown to the ground, the explosion of Ben's body slamming down beside them. The battle had gone poorly for Ben as he was shot into the ground near his friends, the Accuser had strength to match his and a seemingly all powerful weapon.

Still the Thing began struggling to his feet, first rolling onto his back when he saw Ronan standing above him, hammer held high. Ben couldn't even react as Ronan slammed the weapon right into his chest, causing both a bright blue flash, like he had hit Reed with, and Ben to shout in pain. Ronan slowly began to lift the hammer again and Ben tried to move but a sharp, sudden pain in his chest halted him. His big blue eyes turned to his orange hide and there on his chest, almost right above his heart, a large crack. It was where the hammer had struck him, it had actually broken his "skin", and that realization caused Ben Grimm, for the first time since he became the Thing, to freeze in a fight.

Ronan smirked and threw the hammer down towards his foe again, when a jet of flame struck his side, throwing him to the ground. Both Torch and Sue rushed towards the attacked when another blast was fired from the Accuser’s hammer. As it rocketed towards them, Johnny swerved around it but he had limited space being so close to the ground, and he was hit in the leg. Johnny screamed aloud and hit the ground hard, rolling from the speed at which he was going, his flame turned off the moment the beam had hit.

Sue stopped; Ronan had already gotten back to his feet, glaring at the only opponent left standing.

"Surrender and the execution will be quick. No one may stand against the Ultimate Weapon when wielded by Ronan the Accuser!" Ronan said, raising his hammer so that it rested like a gun aimed at her.

Sue's mind raced. She had a split second to think of something. The weapon seemed to be able to disrupt their powers and if it cracked Ben's skin, it could probably get through her force field. She was going to have to attack, but where? A force field to the chest would barely slow him down, the hammer could probably deflect it all together, and if she created a bubble in his brain or heart she ran the risk of him getting off a shot at her before he fell. It all came down to that hammer.

That was it!

Ronan gave her a moment and that was all she had needed, forming a bubble between his hands and the hammer. Her mind then yanked it from his hands, throwing it behind her. The hammer ended up slamming into the ground near the remains of Reed.

"Wench!" Ronan yelled, charging at her, only to stop in mid charge and clutch his head.

"That's a force field in your brain. With out your hammer you can't stop me from killing you, surren--" but she was cut short. Ronan had opened his arms wide and then, through the intense pain, slammed his arms together at full strength. The result was a thunderous clap that shook all the very ground they stood on. Sue had been thrown to the ground, her force field broken. Seizing the opportunity, Ronan charged forward again and lifted Susan by her head, and began to squeeze.

The sheer pressure and pain had stopped her from forming a defense. Ronan could only smile, being the greatest of the Accusers. He felt a strange sensation on his back. Turning slightly he saw the Human Torch limply stand and launch another weak fire ball. The result was the same as the previous attack; it fizzled out without a difference but even so the Torch prepared another one. Then another feeling, this time on his ankle, a rocky hand had gripped his leg weakly. Ben Grimm had refused to quit as well.

"Hnn. You have been found guilty, your fates are already sealed and this resistance is foolish."

"Maybe so but we're not about to go down with out a fight!" said a very familiar voice.

Ronan's eyes rose upwards, leveling out at the sight of Reed Richards standing tall and holding the Ultimate Weapon in his hands! That was the last thing he saw before two long blue arms slingshot towards him, slamming his own weapon into the Accuser’s face, knocking him to the ground. It had been a cheap shot, but few would fault Reed for, much less its effectiveness as the Accuser lay unconscious and Sue dropping to the ground.

Reed hurried to Sue's side, helping her off the ground. "Sue! Are you OK?!"

"R-Reed?! How?!"

"With my last ounce of control I willed myself on to the Accuser’s weapon. I had hypothesized that it had some way of negating cosmic rays, then I took a gamble that it could generate them too! But I can save the technical explanation for later, we've got company!" It was true. The men Johnny had chased off earlier were returning with a large heavily armed force of men. Sue saw this and nodded to Reed, lifting all four of them into the air and away from the park.

As they headed towards the Baxter Building, the four were amazed at what they saw. The alien ships hanging over the city began leaving, Kree hurriedly rising from their places in the city to get back to their transport ships. Something had turned back the invasion. (*To find out what, check out Namor: The Sub-Mariner #10. Now posted).

4

[Spider-Man Beyond]

Later on, as Johnny and Ben rested in their rooms, Sue and Reed sat alone on the couch as the news played. A strange group of heroes, including the long thought dead World War Two Prince Namor, had launched an attack on the lead ship. Somehow this had led to the Kree leaving Earth. Details were admittedly sketchy and cells of Kree soldiers were still being spotted around
the world, but it appeared Earth had prevailed.

"We got lucky," Sue said, looking at Reed. “We could have died.”

"I know, Sue. But we didn't, and I should get to work on figuring out that 'Ultimate Weapon' so that next time we'll be prepared," Reed said softly.

"Ok."

"It's for the best, Sue. I really should get to wor-Wait? Ok?"

"Like I said, we got lucky, we almost died Reed. When I thought I lost you... I didn't know what to do. I was panicked and scarred, I couldn't even think straight. I don't want to be like that again, Reed. I need to know we have a plan for this, for anything that's thrown at us, and only you can do that," Sue said, staring into her love’s eyes.

Reed starred back. She was right, she had almost lost him but he had also almost lost her. It finally hit him, she was almost crushed by the Accuser. If he had been a second slower in reforming...

Reed wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. "I should go. But I think we can take tonight off." He smiled, as his arms kept wrapping around her.

Sue looked at him and finally smiled, hugging him back. "I love you, Reed."

"I love you too, Sue."

The End.