The Fantastic Four #13

[fan4]

The Fantastic Four #13
Four on Four

Written and edited by Aaron Martel (fan4)

The elevator doors opened, and the Wizard breathed, “Ah yes, Richards’ famous laboratory.”

The newly christened super-villain group, the Frightful Four- the wingless Wizard, Madam Medusa, the Trapster, and the Sandman- had invaded the Baxter Building, headquarters of the famous super-team the Fantastic Four- and had utterly defeated their heroic counterparts. The Fantastic Four themselves- Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, and the Thing- were bound in power dampeners, a type of high-tech handcuffs specifically designed to short circuit the brain functions that allowed “metas” to access their powers and superhuman abilities.

The Fantastic Four were marched out of the elevator and made to stand in the center of the lab, which was easily one of the most sophisticated and advanced laboratories in the world as designed by Reed Richards, AKA Mr. Fantastic.

“What do you think they want with us?” Sue Storm, the Invisible Woman, whispered.

“Aw, they just probably want a free tour a’ the Baxter Building,” Ben Grimm, the Thing, softly replied.

“I can’t flame on!” Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, muttered urgently.

“Shhh, Johnny,” Reed spoke quietly. “I want to hear what they’re saying.”

Reed hoped to gain some knowledge of the Frightful Four’s plans, but after a few moments it became readily apparent to Mr. Fantastic that their adversaries weren’t discussing their tactics. They were fighting among themselves.

“Frightful Four?” Sandman mockingly asked the Wizard. “That’s the best ya can come up with?”

The Wizard looked irritated. “It’s a perfectly apropos name for us. For will we not cause fright among the populace?”

“It’s stupid,” the Sandman spat.

“I have a question for you, o great Wizard,” Medusa broke in. “Why are we allowing our enemies to live? And do you seriously believe we can make this building our headquarters?”

Insolent wench. What is it with the sarcasm from these idiots? “Of course not, Madam Medusa,” the Wizard replied. “We could not operate clandestinely in this facility. But there are many technological apparatuses and scientific secrets to plunder here, and Richards knows how to unlock those secrets. So for now, the Fantastic Four live.”

The Wizard gestured to the Trapster, and the Trapster stepped forward. “First, we will strip this building of all useful items,” the Wizard proclaimed. “Then, the Trapster here will plant his explosive charges throughout the building’s structure. When we are all safely away, he will detonate those charges and blow up the building with the Fantastic Four still inside.”

The Wizard dismissed the Trapster, who went to the other end of the lab, pulling an explosive charge from his belt .

“Huh. Some genius you are, Wiz,” the Sandman scoffed. “Ya gotta steal stuff from these clowns? What’re we, cat burglars now? I thought we were supposed ta be the ‘bad FF’.”

“I am a genius!” the Wizard shouted at Sandman, while pointing at Reed. “Ten times the genius of that rubber-boned buffoon! And I told you not to call me Wiz! I’m the Wizard! The WIZARD!”

The Trapster then piped in from across the room. ”Yeah, I know! He still calls me Paste Pot Pete! An’ he knows I’m the Trapster now, the dumb @#$%!”

The three villains continued arguing among themselves, while Medusa rubbed her forehead in exasperation. The Fantastic Four had been silently observing these proceedings, dumbfounded, until Johnny whispered to the others, “Do we sound like that?”

Peering around the lab, Reed’s eyes glittered as he saw something that gave him hope behind one of the lab’s machines, unnoticed by the squabbling members of the Frightful Four. Keeping a careful watch on his enemies, he discreetly murmured to his teammates, “I have an idea. Stay quiet and let me do the talking.”

“Like ya never get ta do that,” Ben chortled softly.

Reed made a face and then spoke up. “So- Wizard, is it- what makes you think I’ll reveal anything to you about my work?”

The Wizard turned to Reed, incensed. “Oh, you’ll tell me what I need to know, Richards, I’ll see to that! But just a perfunctory glance at this laboratory reveals that there isn’t much knowledge here to be gained from you!”

“Is that so?” Reed asked skeptically. “Then why haven’t I ever heard of you or your work before?”

The Wizard’s eyes bulged as he leaned in closer to Reed. “You don’t know who I am? You don’t recognize me?” Though he wore an armored helmet, the Wizard’s face was plainly visible.

Reed looked at the fiend more closely, and wrinkled his brow. “No, I don’t know you. Should I…?”

The Wizard reached up and roughly removed his helmet, revealing dark, close cut hair. “Does the name Bentley Wittman mean anything to you?” he sneered arrogantly.

Reed recognized the name. “Yes, you’re an inventor of some renown.”

The Wizard was pleased. “I have invented numerous devices that would put your piddling contraptions to shame. For years I have sold my inventions to major corporations and to the wealthy, and what did I receive for my laborious efforts?”

“NOTHING!” the Wizard roared. “My successes have always been overshadowed by yours, as if somehow you were my intellectual superior! My whole career I have heard naught but ‘Reed Richards, Reed Richards, REED RICHARDS!’ Well, what would the almighty intelligentsia community think of its preferred whipping boy now?”

“I’d say,” Reed countered, “That they wouldn’t be much impressed.”

The Wizard looked mortified. “What?!”

“These binders, for instance,” Reed began. “They strongly resemble the power dampeners S.H.I.E.L.D. has already developed. That armor you wear reminds me of Stark Industries technology. And you’ve come here to raze my laboratory and steal my ideas. You’re just a glorified mimic, a technological charlatan.”

The Wizard’s face reddened to deep crimson as he slammed his helmet back on his head. Fuming, he stalked over to Reed and got right in his face.

“Don’t you dare speak that way to me! I hold your very life in my hands, to be extinguished at my whim! You are nothing to me! Absolutely nothing!”

So intense was the Wizard’s tirade that every pair of eyes in the room were fixed upon him. Reed defiantly stared back at the villain, then he inexplicably winked-

And the lights went out.

For a few frantic moments there was only the sound of shouts and screams as the lab was plunged into complete darkness. Then there was a sharp sizzling noise, and four thin red laser beams sliced through the blackness, followed by the CLANK of multiple metallic objects striking the floor. The power abruptly came back online, the lights returned, and the harried members of the Frightful Four saw to their surprise that the Fantastic Four stood before them, free of the power dampeners, which lay at their feet. A small, boxlike robot floated on hoverjets behind the Fantastics, a laser torch held in its mechanical arm.

“Good work, H.E.R.B.I.E.,“ Reed stated.

“Hey Sandy,” Ben called out, smacking a fist into the palm of his other hand, “This’s what ya call a rematch!”

[fan4]

“You’re ON!” Sandman roared and charged at the Thing, who stood his ground and braced himself. Timing his strike just at the right moment, Ben threw a hard haymaker into the oncoming fist of the Sandman, which was enlarged and concrete solid.

“YAARRRRGHHH!” Sandman screamed as his hand crumbled from Ben’s mighty blow.

Johnny immediately flamed on and blasted into flight toward the Wizard, who ducked under the Torch’s assault and utilized his anti-gravity discs to get into the air. Johnny veered around and back toward the fiend, and the pursuit was on. Though the lab was gigantic in size and quite spacious, it was still indoors and confined, and the Wizard feared that the incensed and much faster Torch would catch him before long. Reaching into a hidden compartment in his armor, the villain pulled out two extra anti-gravity discs, which he placed on the backs of the battling Thing and Sandman as the Wizard flew over their heads.

“Whoa!” Ben hollered as he and Sandman suddenly shot into the air, right in the path of the speeding Human Torch. All three combatants crashed into each other, knocking the anti-grav discs free, and all three tumbled down to the floor in a rocky, sandy, fiery heap.

The Trapster fired both paste guns at Reed, who did a remarkable job twisting and turning his malleable body to avoid being caught in the sticky substance. Reed stretched behind a control panel that took a direct hit, and the paste hardened on the control panel’s levers and buttons, rendering it useless. Reed winced at the loss of his equipment, then elongated his arm and threw a punch some eight feet straight out, surprising the Trapster as it connected with the scoundrel’s jaw and dropping him.

Madam Medusa attempted to ensnare Invisible Woman in her snaky hair, but she was blocked by an invisible force field. The creeping, slithering strands of hair crawled along the field’s surface, looking for an opening, but Sue gave no ground and began to push Medusa’s hair back with her unseen “wall” of mental force. The Wizard, flying behind Sue, saw this exchange and blasted at Sue with his gauntlet blasts, narrowly missing her, but the blasts’ impact on the force field knocked Sue off her feet.

Reed stretched over to the Trapster, seeking to end their battle, but the Trapster rolled over and fired his paste guns wildly, his paste somehow bonding to Reed’s fist, hardening and leaving Reed’s hand a stone-like club. Reed reacted instinctively, quickly stretching and wrapping his entire body around the Trapster like a blue tinted boa constrictor, immobilizing the criminal and squeezing him tightly.

Reed put his glued fist in the Trapster’s face. “I know you must have a solvent for this. Where is it?”

“I ain’t sayin’ nothing,” the Trapster blurted.

Reed tightened his hold, squeezing until the Trapster’s eyes bugged out. “Where is it?” Reed snarled.

“In…in…my belt,” the Trapster gurgled.

“Thanks,” Reed scoffed, swinging his pasted fist around and conking the Trapster unconscious.

The Sandman smashed the Thing through the air and into a large machine, demolishing it, as a de-flamed Johnny was still shaking his head and trying to recover from his mid-air crash with Ben and Sandman. Johnny stood up, and saw a grinning Sandman advancing upon him.

“Now I’m gonna smash your head in,” Sandman growled, his hands forming into bonecrushing mallets.

Johnny tensed up and glowered at Sandman, all his rage at being defeated by the Frightful Four and now being taunted by the Sandman boiling up inside him.

“FLAME ON!”

Johnny burst into flame, and he outstretched his hands towards the Sandman, unleashing a titanic jet of fire that completely engulfed the super-villain. The Sandman was stopped in his tracks as the Human Torch rapidly increased the sheer heat of his flame, the temperature melting all of Reed’s delicate scientific equipment in proximity to the scorching blaze. Ben, who had extricated himself from the machine Sandman had punched him into, stood open-mouthed, in awe of this astonishing display.

After two minutes Johnny lowered his hands, revealing the Sandman’s dried form, frozen in place like a glass statue, the sand particles that made up his body superheated into a multicolored, glassy sheen. He was still alive; his eyes were enraged, but he was completely powerless.

“Out of the frying pan, into the fire,” Johnny cracked.

Madam Medusa lashed out at the scrambling Invisible Woman with her hair, striking like a cobra, and caught Sue’s ankle, intending to drag the super-heroine back to Medusa for a further attack. But Sue gathered her bearings swiftly, and brought down a thin, heavy force field on Medusa’s hair like an invisible guillotine. Medusa screamed in pain and released Sue from her hold, but when she turned back to assail Sue again, Medusa saw to her surprise that Sue had disappeared. For a micro-instant Medusa was baffled-

And then she was violently jerked back as the unseen Invisible Woman pulled Medusa’s hair from behind and yanked her down, banging the villainess’ head off the hard concrete floor. Before Medusa could recover, a glue-like substance was splattered all over her, encasing her body and hardening speedily.

Shocked, Medusa saw Mr. Fantastic standing over her, one of the Trapster’s paste guns in his hand. Sue became visible again and put her arm around her boyfriend.

“Gotcha,” Sue stated.

That left the Wizard.

And the Wizard wanted no part of the Fantastic Four. Hovering on his anti-gravity discs, the Wizard saw his teammates fall before the might of the Fantastics, and he flew to the elevator, frantically pressing the button to escape the laboratory. Sweating, his pulse pounding, the Wizard heard the elevator rising-

“So the captain don’t go down wid the ship, huh?” the Thing’s voice dripped with ridicule.

The Wizard closed his eyes and slowly turned around. When he opened his eyes he saw the members of the Frightful Four on the floor, wrapped up in paste cocoons, and the members of the Fantastic Four standing before him with arms folded.

“What do you have to say now?” Johnny uttered.

“Ah…I surrender?” the Wizard put forth.

A loud beeping noise sounded from across the lab, and everyone turned to look in that direction. The Wizard recognized the sound, and stammered, “Oh, no.”

“What is it?” Sue demanded.

“That would be one of the Trapster’s explosive charges,” the Wizard gulped. “When the lights went out, he must have accidentally set it to detonate.”

“How much time?!” Reed shouted.

“Right about-“

BA-WHOOOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fan4]

When the dust and debris finally settled, all the members of both teams let out huge sighs of relief; they were all alive, as they were protected by a huge force bubble projected by the Invisible Woman. Reed wandered aimlessly, distraught to see his laboratory completely destroyed, dazed and uncomprehending what he saw. The damage extended to the ceiling and floor, and the giant windows on the lab level were blown out. All of Reed’s equipment, inventions, and current projects were obliterated.

“Ha!” the Wizard jeered. “The illustrious Reed Richards, reduced to babbling idiocy, his precious laboratory demolished-“

“Shaddup,” Ben groused, flicking his finger and knocking the Wizard senseless.

[fan4]

Three weeks later

The police transport truck arrived at the courthouse amid a small flurry of media coverage, passing through the gate and to the back of the building, where four armed guards awaited it. The back doors of the truck were thrown open and two more guards led out the person of Madam Medusa, her wrists shackled in power dampeners, her long hair pulled tightly back and bound in specially designed dampening bands. It was the day the villainess was going on trial, solo, and the sensational aspect of the case caused a minor stir in the celebrity media community. Due to her superhuman abilities, however, no media personnel were allowed access to Medusa, and as she was led to the back steps of the courthouse she was kept under tight security.

Just before Medusa and the guards reached the bottom step, the air seemed to shimmer behind them with a high-pitched humming noise, and the entire group whirled to view a bizarre sight. Four figures seemingly appeared from thin air: three strange humanoid beings and what could only be described as a gigantic bulldog. One of the humanoids, a large, powerfully muscled being with brown clothing, a black mask, and goat-like legs and hooves, stepped forward and stomped on the ground with incredible force. So powerful was the stamp that the pavement cracked apart and the very ground shook as if influenced by a slight earthquake. The six guards plus Medusa were thrown into the air and tumbled to the ground in a heap, all confused and disoriented by what had just happened to them.

Medusa, being much more than a normal human, recovered quicker than the guards and got to her feet. She turned and was startled to see another humanoid, this one much shorter than the brown one and clad in a green uniform with white arm and leg sleeves, standing before her with a near apologetic look on his face.

“Forgive me, my queen,” the short being intoned, and with amazing swiftness delivered a sharp, karate-style chop to Medusa’s neck, instantly knocking her out cold.

The brown one effortlessly scooped up Medusa and turned to the small green one. “We must depart quickly, Karnak.”

“Freeze!” yelled one of the guards, who had gathered himself and was pointing his sidearm at the humanoids. The other guards were reviving as well, and were anxiously drawing their weapons.

“Crystal!” bellowed the brown humanoid, and the third one, a beautiful, slender young woman with honey blonde hair and dressed in a yellow bodysuit, stepped forward, her hands held out in front of her. There was an electric tingle, and then the air began to swirl around the bewildered guards, growing in intensity until it became a whirlwind, toppling the six armed men over like dominoes.

The three humanoids raced to the dog, which was standing where it had appeared, drooling incessantly, evidently unperturbed by all the commotion.

“Is she all right, Gorgon?” the woman, Crystal, asked the brown one.

“Yes! Now let’s go!” Gorgon barked, still shouldering Medusa.

Crystal addressed the dog. “Home, Lockjaw! GO!”

A tiny, antennae-like appendage on the dog’s brow crackled with energy, and the air shimmered around the strange beings, accompanied by the piercing humming sound from before. And they all rapidly vanished into nothingness, before the disbelieving eyes of the routed guards.

The end