Fantastic Four
Enter the Sue-niverse
Chapter 10
There was a calm in the city over the last few hours before daybreak, one that had never been felt in a long time. Reed had repaired and hooked up the empathy ray to allow it to broadcast over the city again. Something he felt would be a temporary salve to resolve the trauma of Malice’s nightmare. All around New York, the city was in a near perpetual state of positivity. Spirits were high and any remaining damages from Malice’s influence were currently being repaired by the locals. Reed didn’t want to keep the device on for too long, just in case people became dependant on it, but for now, it certainly made the last few moments easier to heal from.
Sitting on the couch with her two children resting their heads on her lap, Susan smiled warmly down at them as she combed her fingers through their hair. Sitting next to her right was the cat burglar version of her, resting a hand over Valaria’s shoulder and smiling wistfully. To her left, the Canoness did the same, hesitantly resting a hand over Franklin’s shoulder while they watched television together. Over at the couch, Ben and Alicia sat with their two adopted children between them while Johnny sat at the table with a cup of coffee in his hands, one shared by the other versions of his sister sitting with him. Nearby, the iron clad form of Susan Von Doom stood at the corner of the room while the cosmically powered Susan floated nearby, her white glowing eyes never diverting away from her, having learned her lesson regarding Malice.
“He’s been in the lab for the last 2 hours now.” Worried Susan the model, leaning back into her chair to peer down the hallway.
“It would have been three… If it wasn’t for little miss ‘I feed off sex’ over here.” Smirked the holographic Susan, pointing a thumb over to the blue skinned succubus sipping her coffee with a flutter of her feathered wings.
“You go without feeding for a day and tell me how much YOU need to eat in one sitting!” Chuckled the horned woman. “Besides, he didn’t complain. I healed him in ALL the right ways.”
“Okay… Too much information…” A chuckle was shared by the ladies as Johnny put down his coffee and slide it away from him, a look of grief on his face at the mental picture even while one of the Susans shook his shoulder playfully.
The cosmic powered Susan turned her attention briefly to the Invisible Woman witting with her children and over to the Grimms with theirs, seeing that Alicia’s eyes were glassy and unfocussed, she slowly levitated towards the couple and brought a handout to rest over the woman’s shoulder, surprising her briefly before she calmed. Reaching up with her own hand and smile softly when she realised who it was.
“I’m sorry for alarming you, I was curious if you wanted your sight restored again.”
Feeling Jo’venn and N’Kalla hug her more tightly, she even felt Ben rest a stony hand over hers to provide some emotional support. “Whatcha say Alicia? Do you want yer eyes back?”
Making a face, Alicia Masters slowly shook her head, patting her hand over the rough, rocky texture of the back of his hand before squeezing over the fingers tightly. “No… Not now… Not after what she showed me.” Sighed Alicia as she hugged her children close. “But maybe… Maybe one day. For now, I just want to FEEL who I care about, instead of having it all force fed into me all at once.”
Slowly nodding in response, Susan looked down at the family, her face expressionless when she stood back up, but found Alicia’s hand reach out for her own. “Try… Try to appreciate the things you CAN’T see, the things you can feel have just as much merit.”
Nodding, Susan looked down at the woman’s hand and spotted a golden ring with a diamond at its head on one of her fingers. Curious of its purpose, she remembered when her Reed offered something like it years ago to her. “What does this mean?” She asked, rubbing a thumb over the item, garnering Alicia’s attention, noticing the red-haired artist smile warmly as did Ben.
“EUREKA!!!”
Everyone stopped what they were doing when they all heard Reed cry out from the lab. Getting up from their seats, they all made their way there with a careful eye on Susan Von Doom the entire time when they got there. Entering the lab, they found Reed and the former sex slave of Susan sitting next to him, the man so ecstatic in his discovery he had knocked over his chair and was beside himself with excitement, one that had him pause and clutch his still bruised sides when the woman got up to check on him.
“Reed? What’s going on?”
“I FOUND it!” He exclaimed, raising a shaking finger while stretching out his arm to reach for a freshly created device on his worktable. “I think I found a way to bring you all back to where you all belong.”
Taken back a bit by his announcement, some of the Susans present stepped forward to get a better vantage on what Reed was hinting at when he pointed at the dimensional portal and to the slave girl sitting on the stool with an eager smile on her face. His attention then turned to the floating cosmic being coming into view, whom Reed reached out to gently pull her close by the hand.
“Susan, do you remember what you told me about our world? How everything seemed wrong to you? Like the frequency was off?”
“Yes… This world is still unknown to me, the vibrations are all wrong.”
“That’s IT! The frequency.” Bringing his outstretched hand back, he set the device up close and turned it on, guiding it over to the woman sitting on the stool, pleased that she was helping. “I had considered that each universe is build differently; using the same ingredients that comprise matter, but each attempt has a different frequency to the intrinsic field that comprises that matter.”
Waving the meter over himself, the device beeped briefly before giving off a light ping. Turning the device over to see its readings, Reed nodded and stretched his arm out with the device in hand to show the others. “The frequency of the intrinsic field that make up my molecular structure is 616 Leestans.” Turning his attention to Susan sitting on the stool, the woman primmed up as he waved the meter over her, getting a reading before it finally beeped a number. “And your intrinsic field has a frequency of 265 Leestans.”
Crossing his arms and raising a stony eyebrow, Grimm harrumphed. “That’s nice Stretch but get to the point.”
Waging his finger and turning his attention to the others, he scanned them all, getting a reading on each of them. The POINT is if each of you has a different atomic frequency, then I can use that as a means of finding which universe you each belong to.” Nodding to himself as he calculated number in his head, Reed stretched himself over to the controls and began to activate the dimensional portal. Before he did though, he slowly looked over his shoulder to his wife amongst the crowd and make a face of worry. “Suzie, honey, maybe… Maybe you should stand by the far corner over there.”
Trading looks with the others; Susan nodded back and took to the furthest end of the lab away from the portal. The moment she felt she was far enough from the portal, Susan nodded back to her husband. “Alright Reed, let’er rip.”
Getting all the encouragement he needed, Reed activated the portal and watched carefully for any anomalies as the iris of energy formed and opened. Seeing the portal remain stable, Reed nodded to himself and began to work away at the controls, adding his findings from the scanner he used earlier in his manipulation of the portal. As he did, the images flickered and shifted from one reality to the next until it focussed on one and stayed there. “There we go… Susan, I mean… Uhm… Susan in the cat attire, does that look familiar?”
Slightly taken back, the latex wearing woman stepped forward and inspected the portal. On the other side, the reality looked no different than the one she was now, with a busy street filled with people in New York, leading the woman to look back at Reed and shrug. “Doesn’t look any different than here.”
“Are you sure? Because that world has the same Leestan frequency as you do.”
Her eyes going wide, the Cat Burglar squinted her eyes and looked more deeply into the portal, suddenly recognizing subtle details she knew from her world. “Home…”
Changing the settings again on the machine, the images flickered again, showing a completely different New York city, one where much to the burglar’s surprise had towering, white furred cat people amongst the throngs of pedestrians walking the sidewalks. Back with the group, the Wendigo Woman stepped forward and gasped at the images of her world in front of her.
“Is that…”
The sound of metal scraping at the entrance to the lab caught everyone’s attention when the autobot woman tried to squeeze herself through the door frame, acting sheepish when she made more of a scene than she wanted. “Sorry, tried to get up here as fast as I could.”
Smiling at the control he now had over his invention, he typed in each frequency he had scanned earlier from the other versions of his wife and the portal shimmered to each world, making him smile as the device remained stable. Stepping away from the controls, he used his scanner to get a read on the towering machine woman, getting results quickly and stretching his arms out to set the portal again. After turning some dials, the portal changed again, showing a world that showed a tall mechanical man walk down the street before transforming into an automobile and joining the traffic nearby, while another car stopped at a parking spot and transformed to get up to its feet and check the items at the front window of a store.
“That’s MY universe!”
“Indeed, I can finally send you all back to your home realities.”
While the portal was open, the autobot woman projected her holographic pilot at her feet while she made her way to the portal entrance. Immediately she hugged the Invisible Woman and ruffled up Johnny’s hair, quickly moving to Reed to give the man an embrace and whisper that HER Reed was going to have a field day with what she had to share, just as the holograph dissipated when the giant robot finally stepped through the portal and out the other end, turning around to give everyone a thumbs up before transforming into a sports car and driving off. Switching the dials, Reed set the dimension back to the previous one, showing the Cat-Burglar’s home world.
Crouching down to hug both Valaria and Franklin, the cat themed woman kissed them both on their foreheads and stood back up to smile back at her counterpart, giving her a wink before rushing for the portal and jumping right through.
“Okay, who’s next?”
“If its all the same to you, the furthest away from this reality for me the better.” Scoffed the iron suited woman, stepping forward and frowning back at the others as she waited for Reed to scan her and find her home reality. Returning to the controls, Reed set the dials and the reality presented in the portal changed to one of the New York Susan Von Doom resided in. “Honestly, this entire affair has been a waste of my resources, I sincerely HOPE we never cross paths again.”
Before the woman could enter the portal, she found herself intercepted by the floating cosmic being who barred her path.
“You were one of the three who went against my original terms when we first arrived here.” She stated, her hair billowing over her head as the air around her began to generate a static charge that made everyone nervous. “I had spoken with the others about what to do about you.”
“If its not abundantly clear already, I’m leaving. With no intention of coming back.”
“I know you won’t come back.” Pointing at the iron clad woman’s forehead, Susan Von Doom gasped as her eyes went blank. “Because you won’t remember the entire time you were here.”
Using her powers to levitate the woman off the ground, she propelled her through the portal and back to her home reality. Stunned silent, the rest of the others could only stare back at the floating blue woman as she turned her attention back to the others. Her face remaining expressionless the entire time.
“I have erased her memories of her time here; she will not return to harm you.” Turning her head to look back at Reed, the woman continued. “It was Reed’s idea.”
Looking back at Reed who changed the settings on the portal to go to another reality, the Invisible Woman and Mr. Fantastic shared a look, one Reed replied with a shrug.
“Works for us.”
Stepping forward and stamping her steel boot to the floor with a stance and her hand to her chest, Susanna Stormbringer looked up to her cosmic counterpart. “I must ask you do the same with me.”
“What?!”
“Are you kidding me?”
Feeling a hand rest over her shoulder, Susanna turned to look back at the worried faces of her counterparts and their family. “But what about all the growth you’ve accomplished here?” Worried the Succubus, standing shoulder to shoulder with her others as they tried to convince her otherwise.
“If I return as I am, the Ecclesiarch will not like the answers they find, and I would be put to death. Better that I live as a curiosity than die a heretic in the eyes of my Emperor.” Crouching down to see Valaria and Franklin, she hugged them both gently, then surprised everyone present when she embraced the succubus next, followed by the others. When she turned to the Invisible Woman, she whispered into her ear. “You are the greatest of us sister, cherish that which was not taken from you.”
Nodding and returning the embrace, the two separated, leaving the Canoness to turn her attention to Reed and pull him in for a gently embrace, kissing him on the forehead. “Perhaps one day…” Leaving the embrace and approaching the cosmic being, Susanna stood with her hands crossed over her chest in the salute of the Aquilla. “I am ready.” With a gesture, the cosmic woman did the same to her as she did to Susan Von Doom, sending her through the portal to her home.
Bringing his attention back to the controls, Reed changed frequency and the portal changed realities once again. This one however was a New York that appeared bleak and dark, showing ocean blue banners hanging from skyscrapers and light posts that reminded them too much of Latveria in their own dimension. At the center of the city was a massive spire that focused its attention on all who saw it, with gaudy blue lights shining over its stone and glass exterior.
“Damn, what an eye sore, who’s reality is this?”
“It’s mine.” Shivered the former sex-slave, gripping the sides of the stool she sat on as she looked through the dimensional window with dread. “That’s the world where MY Reed lives.” Immediately getting out of her chair, the woman quickly made her way towards Reed as if to hide behind him and gripped at his shoulders from behind. “Do I have to go back? Can’t I stay here?”
Looking back at his wife with the rest of his family, the woman gave the same worried look back, unsure of how to handle the situation.
“Well why CAN’T we keep her here?” Wondered Ben out loud, scratching the back of his head. “She’s better off here then THAT place.”
“I agree!” Answered the succubus, crossing her arms and flapping her feathered wings behind her. “I remember her memories, if Malice was bad, then HER Reed is just as depraved.”
Thinking on the matter, Reed turned around and pulled the woman’s hands in his. “Suzie, is your Reed as smart as I am?” Hesitantly, the woman looked down and slowly nodded. “So, the odds he might create a dimensional portal of his own to find you wouldn’t be too far off then. That is if he isn’t already…”
Looking away, the slave slowly nodded again.
Trading defeated looks, the others didn’t know how to respond to that… Until the wendigo perked up and pulled the alien and succubus versions of herself close to whisper. For a moment, no one knew what the trio were plotting until the four-armed woman gasped and her spines shivered like a rattlesnake behind her. “ARE YOU INSANE?!” Raising her arms up in a shrug of defense, the wendigo looked away briefly before the three finally came to a silent decision and approached the sex slave.
“We think we may have a solution to her Reed not coming up with the idea to start looking for her… AND a means for her to defend herself when she gets back… I still can’t believe what you are considering!”
“You got any better ideas?” The wendigo asked, tilting her hip, and resting a hand at her side while the succubus leaned over the tall woman’s shoulder to address everyone else at the door.
“I suggest the kids leave the room for this, not unless you want to pay for their therapy.”
Immediately getting the idea, Ben and Alicia herded their adopted kids out of the lab, followed swiftly by Susan and Johnny guiding Franklin and Valaria out the door and closing it.
“What’s going on mom?”
“Believe me son, you don’t want to ask me that question until you’re 18!”
*
One by one, the rest of the other Susans were sent back to their home realities, each of them expressing their goodbyes and gratitude before stepping through the portal. Considering how late it was and how much they had all gone through, Susan and Reed tucked their kids in and bid the Grimms farewell to return to their own domicile. SHIELD had been addressed of the entire situation after New York was restored to normal, and when Reed felt everything was normal again, he deactivated the empathy ray.
At almost 2 in the morning, Susan and Reed laid in bed, with the Invisible Woman lounging over her husband, tracing her fingers through his hair affectionately and nuzzled her chin against his shoulder. Breathing in a sigh of relief, Susan hummed and closed her eyes, grateful that Reed and her family were alive and well. “I was worried you know, worried she would do something to you I would never forgive her for.”
“I honestly thought she was just like you… In a way she was, but in other ways she totally wasn’t.” Replied Reed, shaking his head. “I guess this had been a week of self reflection for you.”
“Kind of…” She answered. “They were me, all of them, but they lived very different lives than I did. Heh… It’s kind of funny to think that me ordering coffee instead of tea is what sparks a totally different me to form.”
“I will admit, I will miss your other selves, they were quite fascinating to be around, especially the succubus who-ouch!” Feeling his wife playfully punch him in the shoulder, Susan smirked back at him before resting her head over his chest.
“You got a pass this week Reed Richards, don’t press your luck.”
“Yes dear…”
Exhaling a held breath, Susan clung to Reed more tightly. “Still… I wonder how they are all doing.”
“So do I Suzie, so do I.”
*
Earth-38297, somewhere in the Segmentum Tempestus…
Walking alone in the grand hallways of the Ecclesiarchal basilica on Ophelia VII, a robed figure followed by a scribe servo skull moved his way down the hall where he turned his attention to the Adepta Sororitas tending to their convent. The man was tall, his face obscured by the long and flowing robes he wore that obscured his body and face. The only indicator of the office he belonged to, was the gold-leaf etching of the Inquisitorial emblem on his back. Seeing it made some of the vassals and initiates immediately bow and step aside to let him walk past.
The basilica was massive and ancient, dating back to the age of apostacy itself, its many arching hallways, and chambers tall and shadowed even in the overhead lighting and torch servitors lighting the way. Approaching a door near the end of the southern halls of the structure, one that lead to the prison chambers of the basilica, the blue and green robed inquisitor stopped at the locked door of the subject he had come to inspect. There he found dozens of unarmored sisters bent at the knee or prostrated with their heads to the floor in acts of prayer in front of the locked cell, the door frame littered with candles and purity seals offered by those who had arrived but could not stay. Many giving thanks to the Emperor of Mankind, and his living saints.
He had heard much from the archbishops, the other ranking canonesses and even the other adepta sororitas who had interacted or were in the presence of who he had come to meet. How one day she had simply disappeared, blinked out of existence in the middle of a battle against the great enemy. Then more than a week later, she reappeared… Changed. Pure, unblemished, and yet her ferocity in battle was unmatched by her peers against the forces of the Drukhari raiders who laid siege on the planet of Galvas 3; an agri-world that was easy prey for the cruel sadists. But more strangely, the devilish creature fell in their droves and scores in her presence, cut by unseen blades or finding themselves in stunned confusion as she disappeared and reappeared somewhere else, delivering one killing blow after the other in their astonishment. Great vessels of war and floating war machines of terrible cruelty were crushed and pulverized by an unseen force, as if gravity betrayed the flying Druhkari vehicles, or some vast invisible hand crushed them in its grasp. Never in any recorded encounter with the dark elves have the Imperium seen them flee empty handed of new slaves and victims. For the first time in many centuries, Galvas 3 was spared the cruel predations of the xenos pirates.
But like all things, after the calm of battle where miracles were the reason of victory, there soon came whispers and doubts. After the battle, the Canoness who single-handedly saved the planet, began to make sweeping changes in her retinue. The Sister Repentia were all cleared and pardoned of their sins by her command, declaring their penance had been fulfilled, confusing many among her peers and angering the cardinals. So much so they accused the Canoness of heresy when she ordered her sisters to offer the agri-world their medical and food supplies. They confronted her with their own forces; an entire retinue of arco-flagellants at their beck and call. Even the Inquisitor had the common sense to know that if she could wipe out an entire raiding party of the dark elves, what hope did THEY have? They didn’t. But what was surprising after she had destroyed the cardinals and their forces with but a gesture, it was revealed MANY of them were in fact mutated and branded with the mark of Chaos.
Which was why he was here.
Looking down at the many sisters of the Adepta Sororitas bowed and praying at the door of their Canoness, the Inquisitor found many of them were of the Repentia she had redeemed, their shaved heads regrowing their hair and the scars across their bodies already healing over time. Crossing the threshold of the heavy door and closing it behind him, the servo skull flitted over his head before the solid wood door clasped over the lock, sealing him inside. Looking around, the only illumination were the hundreds of candles lit around the entire circular chamber. There at its center was the woman he came to see, surrounded by his entourage of investigative staff who checked her over, unarmored and wearing only a linen cloth that left her limbs bare.
On one knee with her arms out, three of the inquisitor staff inspected her body, turning their attention up to the lord inquisitor to leave the Canoness and offer their findings. One adept offered a data pad to the man while the other two bowed, whispering their findings so the Canoness would not hear. Going over the data slate, the man nodded for his three vassals to leave him alone with the Canoness.
“Canoness Susanna Stormbringer…” Spoke the man as he pulled back the hood of his robes, revealing a nasty scar where his left eye would have been, his hair grey over his ears and a rough stubble over his chin. “You did what no other could have done on their own and sent the dark elves fleeing back to their nightmare realm between the spaces of space, then you took it upon yourself to defy millennia of tradition and freed the redeeming from their trials, you even tore down the cardinals of the planet you ‘rescued’, so why is it that when MY forces arrived, you surrendered? Why me and not through them?”
“To surrender to the Ecclesiarch tainted by Chaos would doom that world, to surrender to YOU spares it.”
Smirking at the response, the Inquisitor circled the woman.
“Yes… It does…”
Looking over her bare arms. He read the reports after her investigation. Her scars, her missing arm, it was as if she had returned to the world pure and unmarred, even her mind was pure, much to the shock of the psychana agents he had under his cabal. Not a single negative thought, memory or emotion stirred in her being. Only the Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus could ever dare such a boast as to be so pure that chaos could not take root.
“How did you know the cardinals were corrupt? You and others had served them for many centuries without a hint of their TRUE allegiance.”
“Cruel men make cruel leaders make cruel cardinals.” Answered Susanna, matter of factly. “The Emperor of Man wished for mankind to thrive and prosper… He never took gratification in the suffering of his vassals, like Cardinal Klawe and his appetite for children. Or Cardinal Nemo and his ‘creative’ methods of punishment for servants who did nothing wrong.”
“Indeed, I’ve gone over their investigations when I arrived on the planet, it seems they had reputations when not posing as ideal agents of the church; the Red Skull, Madam Hydra, Zemo the Hellmut. Overnight you ended their reign on Galvas 3. Do you know what your sisterhood and the overall populace have been calling you?”
Breathing in sharply and closing her eyes, Susanna didn’t like to hear it, feeling the title belonged more to someone else better than her. One who had what she didn’t.
“The Invisible Woman...”
“Yes. The Invisible Woman, the unseen sister, the ghostly hand that could strangle a man and he’d never know his killer… Yet all the reports I’ve read showed that hand simply helping the downtrodden. It was subtle, you’d be surprised the efforts I had to go to find reports of people avoiding accidents because they felt a gentle hand pull them away at the right time, or a mugging victim saved and helped up by unseen hands, even the starving was given food at their hovels and the Ecclesiarch’s stores ran ever emptier because of it. You’d think the hive city had a guardian angel.”
“She’s… Just a person.”
“Indeed.” Scoffed the Inquisitor, finally turning to look Susanna in the eye. “Show me.”
Looking up at the now scowling man, Susanna gave an almost quick look of defiance before disappearing altogether, even her clothes vanished, leaving the plinth she crouched over seemingly empty. After a few seconds, she reappeared.
“Fascinating. My specialists had examined you inside and out. They claim your abilities are NOT the result of warp touch, how are you able to do this?”
“That’s not all I can do.” Standing up, she extended her arm, and suddenly the Inquisitor felt as if he were in the grasp of a giant hand hoisting him off his feet and pinning him to the wall. Instantly his three vassals barged through the heavy wooden door with weapons trained and firing without hesitation, only for the metal slugs to stop a foot away from her body, a rippling effect around each slug as if they had hit a puddle of water, stopping them in their trajectory. Letting the man go, the vassals tried to reload, ignoring the indignant cries of protests from the sisterhood behind them when the Inquisitor raised his hand to order his men to stand down.
“I do not know or understand how or why I can do what I can do, Lord Inquisitor. But I will find the truth of the matter.”
“We will discover many truths… Canoness.” Getting up from the floor and straightening himself up, the man smiled back at the scowling Canoness. “My name is Nicholai the Furious, I have a proposition for you, I am assembling a roster of agents from across the Imperium, people with… Extraordinary abilities that can be best served against the enemies of man than oddities amongst their peers.”
Narrowing her eyes and looking over to the rest of her sisterhood looking up to her, Susanna stepped down from the plinth and approached the Inquisitor. “What do you have planned?”
“I will be heading a campaign against the one great enemy, heading towards the segmentum solar to face the forces of chaos, we shall reclaim each fallen world touched by their ruinous claws.”
Clicking her bare heels together, Susanna folded her hands over her chest in the sign of the Aquilla, bowing her head. “Then you have my blade, Lord Inquisitor.”
“Good.” Turning at his heel, Nicholai left the room and gestured for her to follow him. “Come then Invisible Woman, come meet the rest of my Lady Liberators.”
*
She was armed and armored again in her resplendid power armor, rebuilt with the expertise of the Inquisitor’s smiths and polished to a mirror shine into a work of art. To her specifications, they repainted the black ceramite to an ocean blue with silvery trim, as were her master-crafted bolt pistol and chainsword. Looking over to the crew she was meant to lead, a strange sense of déjà vu overtook her.
Sitting on a crate and grinding the blade of a runed force axe with a whet stone, a Fenrisian woman with braided locks looked back at her. An outcast from her tribe after finding the axe next to the body of a fallen rune priest of the space wolves, an axe she would not relent. Not by choice mind you, no one else could lift it but her. The moment their eyes met; the Fenrisian Valkyrie’s eyes glowed with the spark of electricity, a storm waiting to be unleashed. She would have destroyed her village in a raging tempest if not for Nicholai’s intervention.
Nearby, and leaning against the nearby wall and picking at her fingernails was a towering, statuesque woman whose brawn was matched only by her beauty. A woman from a high gravity world, she was born of Ogryn parentage, the first to ever be born not mishappen by her environment. Sold off by her owners, they died her skin green and used her as a circus freak before Nickolai found her beating the brains out of a chaos mutant who threatened the fairgrounds, she lived in.
Opposite her was a red-haired woman in a black leather body suit, armed with silencing weapons and filament blades sheathed at her thighs and back, her belt and chest sported the red hourglass emblem of her house in the assassinorium. The Black Widow, she called herself. Buzzing over her head, Susanna looked up to find a servo skull look her over, the small hint of curiosity hinted in its optical lenses before it spoke with the Inquisitor’s voice in a small vox attachment.
“This drone is designated W.A.S.P. She’ll be my eyes and ears over your shoulder as you perform your duties in the Emperor’s name.”
Nodding back at the servo skull, Susanna turned her attention back to her team when the Widow pointed back at her. “What is that on your armor?” Looking down, she found she gestured to the center of her chest plate. Before the alterations, her chest bore the wings and golden skull of the Emperor. But now, the skull was replaced with the number 4. “I thought you sisters found that kind of thing blasphemous.”
“What that?” Asked the green giantess, bending at the waist and ignoring the chuckle from the Valkerie as the green woman’s crude clothing showed off cleavage deep enough to lose your hand in. “What that mean?”
Tracing a finger over the etching in her armor, Susanna did not know WHY she requested the alteration. There was a feeling, a strong feeling to have it done. When she traced her finger over it, Susanna’s face softened, and she smiled warmly.
“I never understood why… But it felt right.” Feeling their vessel land and the drop ramp open to a battlefield outside, Susanna steeled herself, unsheathing her weapons and looking over her shoulder with a smirk. “COME Lady Liberators, for the Emperor!”
*
Earth-149
She was nervous, why wouldn’t she be? Standing in the elevator and watching the floors go up one by one, the well-dressed woman fidgeted and checked herself over in the reflection of the elevator interior walls to make sure she looked just right. Wearing a stylish button-down blue dress with sky blue blouse, Susan combed a finger through her long blonde hair to make sure her make up was just right and her earrings and necklace weren’t too ostentatious. She didn’t plan for this, not really. It was more out of curiosity than anything else… That and maybe wanting to find her own slice of happiness in her world. Sighing, she leaned back against the wall behind her and placed a hand to her chest to slow her heart rate. It was almost funny. She dealt with the insanity of the multi-verse, met different versions of herself and even slayed a vampire… But what she was trying to do was making her heart pound like a jackhammer.
Stepping out of the elevator when the chime announced she had reached her floor and the doors opened, she slowly stepped out in her pearl blue high heels and made her way down the hall. Keeping her eyes on the door numbers to her left as she walked, she muttered to herself, practicing on what she was going to say to introduce herself to the man. But when she found herself in front of the door labelled ‘4F’, Susan froze.
“What am I doing?” She whispered, hugging herself tightly and finding herself backing away and pace in a circle in front of the door. “Come on Suzie, what made you think this was a good idea? We’ve never met before; what do you think he’s going to do when you knock on the door?”
Leaning against the adjacent wall and looking straight at the door with her manicured nails tapping against her chin, Susan closed her eyes and sighed deeply. Looking back at the door, she stepped forward and gently knocked on the door. After a few seconds, she worried she didn’t knock hard enough to get attention and tried to knock again when the door opened, startling her.
“Hello? Uhm… Might I ask how I can help you?”
Clutching her hands to her chest, Susan found herself face to face with her universe’s Reed Richards. Dark skinned and green eyed, he scratched at the side of his head and wiped down his button shirt to look more presentable, seeing as the woman in front of him was more well dressed than he was. Susan had tried to prepare for this moment, trying to catch up on the news of Reed’s exploits in her world. How he had managed to get a job for Nasa as a think tank but never got off the ground as a pilot like his friend Ben Grimm. From what she gathered, neither of them ended up in space like the launch that gave the Fantastic Four their powers. Ben went on to do commercial flights out of Queens, and Reed remained in New York writing papers on relative physics.
“Well…” Still nervous, Susan slowly approached the man and tried to offer her hand to his. “H-hello, my name is Susan Storm, it’s… It’s nice to meet you.”
Looking down at her hand as he gently took it in his, Reed squinted and repositioned his glasses, tilting his head slightly as a thought came to mind. “Susan Storm… Susan Storm the model?”
“Y-yes! Have you seen some of my work?” She asked excitedly, unconsciously bringing a free hand to her cheek to hide the blush she was giving off. He nodded, his eyes widening now that he could recognize her.
“I’ve seen your poster on 5th avenue, the one of you pulling up Lavi’s jeans or something.” Realising she had been holding his hand for too long, he looked down and finally separated from her, bringing his hands to his pants pockets. “So, are you here for a photo op or something? Or maybe a book signing? I don’t do that anymore; it’s been a few years since I’ve written a paper.”
“I KNOW! I’ve read them, all of them really.” Susan blurted out, wringing her hands together in front of her, as her nervousness intensified. “I thought your theories on phasing matter was really something, and… Your papers on cosmic and gamma radiation and…” Seeing the man’s face as she listed off his works with her fingers, the look he gave back was not one of being impressed. But feeling like he was being humoured. “And… Your flying car…”
“Sigh… Look, I’m very impressed that you’ve seen my work, but it’s been a bit of a day for me and unless you’ve got a book for me to sign and a pen to do it with, I’d like to…” He was about to step back into his apartment and close the door when he felt her grab his arm.
“Wait! I’m sorry, I didn’t want to come off as some fan wanting a signature or anything, I just wanted to meet you, just you.” Turning to look back at the woman, Susan was taken back by the look of disbelief on his face, making her step back and not know what to do with her hands as she wrung them over her chest. “I just… Oh just look at me, I had this entire moment planned, I had hoped I could get to know you better, I even looked up your work so I could be prepared and… And… Oh my god, I’m such a trainwreck!”
Bringing her long blonde hair up with her hands, Susan tried to hide her face behind it, feeling like she could die of embarrassment. “I’m sorry, this was a mistake, I didn’t mean to make you feel like this, I just wanted to know you.”
Nearly in tears, she looked up at Reed, thinking he would scoff at her babbling, only to find him standing there stunned. Blinking his eyes, he turned his head to look back at either end of the hallway as if he were looking for something and began to wave his arm in front of him, very quickly bumping his open hand against her shoulder. “Hey!” Looking down at his hand as it tried to feel up her upper arm and shoulder, her eyes went wide to find there was nothing there. She was completely invisible. Feeling both his hands at her shoulders, tracing over where she was to get a fix on where she was standing.
“How are you doing this?”
“I… I don’t know?” She answered, unsure HOW to answer the question as she looked down at her hand and found nothing there. It was only when she calmed down that her hand and arm reappeared, and Reed found himself just a bit to close to her face that their noses almost touched. Backing away but never letting go of her hand, his cheeks darkened while he looked down at her hand with his fingers and checked her over, his mind racing a mile a minute.
“Incredible. Is it epidermal? No… No, your clothes went invisible too, maybe a field of influence? Perhaps light being bent to obscure visibility or maybe… Is it technology? If that’s the case the amount of energy needed to do that would be impressive. This is just… Fantastic!” Realising he had been staring at the woman’s bare hand for over a minute that she had calmed down, but not without a slight blush of her own, Reed realising he was gawking and looked back at his open apartment door. “Would… Would you like to come in? Maybe have some tea? I’d love to know how you did that.”
Smiling, with her blush intensifying when she found him looking into her eyes, Susan nodded. “S-sure… I’d love to.”
*
Earth-5690
A portal opened on the surface of a dry and lifeless planet, where overhead the view of a blackened sky with the sun over the horizon could be seen. Looking around, the entire surface was smooth and flattened without a single landmark that could be seen. This was it; this was her Earth. Looking up overhead, without an atmosphere to obscure it, she could see every star in the night’s sky, at 2 PM. With the portal closing behind her, Susan Storm looked around the desolation. There was nothing, not even air to breath, not that she needed to breath anymore, and all around her for thousands of miles there was nothing but cold silence.
Space was quiet, it always was. Sound cannot exist in a vacuum; sound waves need a surface to reverberate off to be heard by anything that had ears to hear it. But something must exist to create that sound wave as well. There was nothing here anymore. Everything that ever lived or existed had all been torn apart at the subatomic level and converted into anti-matter, all to fuel the ever-demanding hunger of Galactus. Looking down at the barren orb that was Earth, seared of all life and colour, the cold surface devoid of atmosphere, there was no sound, not even from the howls of wind currents. There wasn’t even an atmosphere to produce those currents anymore. A massive barren moon, being orbited by a smaller moon, orbiting a sun. The last vestige of Galactus’s many meals left behind in his wake. Teleporting herself from where she was, the glowing blue woman arrived instantly on the surface of the moon, finding the same perch she sat on where she watched the calamity happen all those years ago.
It all played out in front of her in perfect clarity, how the end bringer simply came and scoured away everything that made a world what it was and left behind a dead rock. Like so many uncounted worlds before here. Standing up from her perch on the moon, Susan looked around the empty desolation of her solar system. Closing her eyes, she could feel the tug and pull, the eb and flow of the cosmic eddies of gravity and causality around her. Despite the silence, she could hear and feel a symphony of activity.
She was home.
Already she could tell what the future of this world would be, eons upon eons of silence throughout the solar system. Occasionally there would be the stray meteorite that would collide with the dead planet, leaving scars in their wakes. Volcanic activity would still occur, like blisters of heat and smoke marring the surface that would rage for brief stints of days or weeks before sputtering out again. But those likely would be the only acts of motion the Earth would ever know. She had seen this future, in perfect clarity. For her it was always meant to be this way, there were no deviations. At least that was what she had always known before. Then she was introduced to a question, one she had never comprehended since before her apotheosis, one that was too outlandish for her to even consider even when others had asked her before in this reality. Opening her eyes again, she looked up at the dead and lifeless Earth from her perch, and that question lingered off her lips.
“What if it was different?”
A plan began to formulate in her mind, one that she understood would take time. But time she had in near infinite abundance, what she had lacking were resources. Teleporting away to the surface of Ganymede, one of the many moons orbiting Jupiter, Susan looked around the icy surface of the frozen planet. Kneeling to trace her fingers over the ice caked ocean world, she brushed off a layer of frost away from the rough craggy glacier. Minus 20-degree temperatures so cold nothing could live on the surface, and yet there she knelt, unphased. Standing up and looking around the massive icescape that spanned for thousands of miles all around her, she gauged the amount she would need and teleported away… Taking half the oceanic glacier with her. Earth suddenly found itself being belted by trillions of tons worth of frozen water, like the lathering of frost over a hot stone baking in the sun, the continent sized glaciers of ice melted over time, refilling the empty ocean and seas. From her perch on the moon, she watched as the waters settled, the ice that had yet to melt swirling over the north and southern hemispheres to remain cool and became ice caps. It took 2 weeks for the oceans, seas, and lakes to form the bodies of water she last remembered them as, with help from her heating the ice to a flash boil.
Teleporting away again, Susan stood on the surface of Venus. Her glowing blue body untouched and unphased from the raging permanent windstorms crashing against her at supersonic speeds. Looking around and feeling the harsh winds blow between her open fingers, the atmosphere was so thick that any other human would have been crushed and boiled to death from the pressure of it all. She teleported away again, stripping a third of the atmosphere with her. Reappearing on the surface of Earth, the layer of atmosphere she took with her was deposited on the Earth and blew out in every direction, encompassing the planet in a thick layer of greenhouse gases that eventually stemmed, and churned into an atmosphere of carbon dioxide. Water from the oceans and seas evaporated in the heat of its hemisphere and fell as clouds of rain in colder climates. Nodding at the formation of a layer of atmosphere on the planet, Susan bent at the knee and placed her hand against the surface of the dead world and began to concentrate.
“Nothing in this world is ever created or destroyed, only transmuted from one form to the other, its base ingredients, no matter how complex, still exist.”
Opening her eyes, the soil at her feet which by now was moist from rainfall began to shift with sprouting lumps of green leaves blooming from the ground. Rapidly, plant life grew and spread across the surface of the planet as quickly as a spreading flame. Seeing its effects, she teleported back to her perch on the moon and sat on a stone to watch her work from afar. It took weeks for the plant life to spread over the dry lands of the continents, even forming seaweeds and coral in the oceans. The results of which changed the contents of the atmosphere, where carbon dioxide was taken in and converted into oxygen by the photosynthesis of miles worth of plant life she created. Before, the skies were a sickly brown like those of the planet Venus from where she striped the first layer of atmosphere from. Now it was a sky-blue orb with streaks of bright green over its dry surfaces. A layer of ozone now encapsulated the Earth’s surface.
Teleporting again to the planet’s surface, Susan turned around and looked at the lush forests she had created. Trees that would have taken decades or even centuries to grow, developed in the span of days that would have rivalled bamboo. They stood several feet tall, looming over her head where sunlight creaked in between the spaces of leaves and branches. Smiling, she teleported to another spot on the planet to make changes. It took years for her, reshaping, creating, constructing. It all needed to be perfect, right down to the last detail. All the while, she could feel the symphony of motion around her, the future she envisioned before she was plucked from her reality. It changed just as much as the changes she made in the present. It could change, the future could be changed, it made her ashamed that she had never tried, but that was before. Now she wanted to make it all right.
Roads, towns, cities, farmlands, she pieced together the entire world as it was just before Galactus’s arrival, rebuilding everything back to the condition it was before their annihilation. She steadily added other life to the Earth to see it intrench itself into the current eco system. Microbiological organisms, insects, fish, birds, mammals. She was trying to recapture that very day, that very hour, the second she had broken Reed’s heart. Across the planet’s surface, she had gathered everything she needed to rebuild humanity from its base components, placing them all as they were when they had all been consumed. She had to time it all correctly, she did not want humanity to believe anything horrible had happened, or that all of this was fabricated by her. It all had to be perfect, right down to even the alignment of the stars on that day.
“February 12th… 2025… Now 2015 all over again.”
Teleporting to the room where it all happened, she looked around to make sure everything was as it was. Pools of dust and water were in key locations in the room, as she placed them. When everything seemed just about ready, just about right, Susan closed her eyes and concentrated again. Like a wake of energy that spread across the entire planet at the speed of light, millions upon millions of people sprung into existence with the materials she laid down to make up their building blocks, all of them appearing as they did on that day as if they had no idea what had happened. Their minds pre-programmed with the memories she had fabricated for them, knowing all their secrets, their feelings, their everything. Streets instantly became packed with civilians on their way to work, with cars and cabs honking their horns angrily for the vehicles ahead of them to move. Pigeons flew out in shock as entire walkways suddenly came to life with bicyclists, joggers, and families suddenly appearing in central park. Occasionally the odd pedestrian stopped what they were doing, confused for but a split-second wondering where they were before shrugging and carrying on.
The entire planet had been remade, repaired, and set back to that faithful day. The day she realised she had broken Reed’s heart. And as every individual person was recreated on the planet thanks to her power and will, she could feel the subtle effect they had on the symphony of fate. How did she not notice it before? Their presence on all things. She had been so infatuated with the effects of vast stellar bodies on this world she did not consider the effects of SMALLER bodies at play. After all, was not an avalanche a force of innumerable small pebbles moving at once? Never again, she promised herself, never again will she ignore the small things again.
“Suzie, what are you talking about? Who’s this… Galactus?” Reed cried out while Johnny and Ben stand back in shock. There was a moment of confusion on Reed’s expression, finding her wearing a white sundress that looked like it had been lived in for a very long time. The fabric looked like it was faded, and the buttons stained from age. “Where… Where did you get that dress?”
Opening her eyes and looking up at the panicked man in front of her, and over her shoulder to the armed S.A.B.E.R. guards behind her, the glowing blue woman smiled, the first time since she had changed as far as Reed could remember. Slowly stepping towards him, Reed was slightly taken back when the woman wrapped her arms over his shoulders, the first act of affection she had ever expressed to him in so many years. Hesitating, Reed wrapped his arms around her. She held him like that for almost an entire minute before slowly separating, bringing a hand to cup at his chin and stroke his cheek with her thumb.
“Reed… Galactus is an omnipotent being that seeks to consume life energies to sustain itself, it has destroyed countless worlds in his wake in this perpetual goal. His herald, the Silver Surfer arrived to inspect our world to determine if it will suffice as a meal for him to consume” His eyes going wide, Reed worried, his skin going cold to her touch, just as she brought a finger to the divot of his upper lip to keep him from crying out. “It is alright, he is not coming here.”
“Y-you… You… Stopped him. Right?”
“I did not…” She answered cryptically, making the guards still aiming at her from behind hesitate in what to do. “But he will never come back again, he will have no reason to.” Blinking back up to the woman, it still surprised him that she gave a warm smile, just before she stuck her fingers into his lab coat jacket breast pocket and pulled out a gold ring, one that was machine made with a blue diamond at its center. Putting it on her finger, she admired the facets of the diamond with a wistful smile, then kissed Reed on the lips. “Will you smile if I admit that I was wrong?” She asked, the same sad smile on her lips.
“About… What?”
“About you, about ALL of you.” Looking behind her again, the S.A.B.E.R. guards had already lowered their weapons, mostly due to her no longer being a threat, and slightly due to the confusion of the moment. “I’ve been so engrossed on the grand scale of the universe… I forgot about the small parts of it.” Pulling on his hand, the blue, glowing, cosmic entity smiled more cheerfully.
“Can you show me what I’ve missed?”
*
Earth-265
“WHERE IS SHE?!” Screamed out a voice in the middle of the tower, echoing out across the entire floor left empty save for several men shaking in their boots and crouched down with their heads to the floor. Reed the Conqueror sat heavily from his stone throne, glowering over the loss of his favorite plaything some several days ago. Looking to the side of his through, he could still see the rest of his slaves trying to appease his sour mood; Jennifer, Janet, Natasha, they all tried to sooth his temper by caressing his arms and thighs with their hands, whispering promises to make up for his favorite’s absence.
The conqueror wore full body black leather with an ocean blue tunic and cowl, his cape draped over the side of his throne while he leaned back with his hands folded in front of him. His beard was waxed, and his hair combed back into a ponytail as he looked out to the plumes of smoke rising out over the city’s horizon. He ruled New York with an iron fist, crushing any who would oppose his rightful rule. B.U.C.K.L.E.R, the Revengers, the Supers for Hire, they had all been taken down by his machinations, leaving many of their teammates dead… Or broken into being his playthings. Reed the Conqueror had lived up to his namesake, although he did have another.
Mr. Doom.
Looking down to the spot where the chain had been severed that would have led to the collar around Susan Storm’s neck, Reed fumed again. All around him, the city was in turmoil, turning over every stone to find his favorite love slave. His two prized minions Grimm and Torch were barking his orders over the island city for days, punishing anyone who wasn’t doing their part to find his missing prize.
“Where has she gone?! She’s never showed any sign of disloyalty.” He was sure of it with all he had done to her over the years. The beatings, the starvation, the rough fucking he would give her. “No, betrayal wasn’t in her make-up. I had seen to it.”
“WE are ever loyal to you Reed.” Purred Natasha, pursing her lips and bringing her arms together to push up her breasts while she draped her hands over his thigh.
Taking up his other side, Wasp buzzed her diaphanous wings behind her, snipped in half intentionally after a quick punishment the other day. “Yes Reed, let us pleasure you like she did.”
The others offered the same, all eager to take Susan’ place as his favorite. Some even promised to outshine Susan’s efforts to prove it, the moment he heard that he slapped Crystal across the face, sending her reeling with the chained collar around her neck.
“ENOUGH!” He roared out, getting to his feet, and marching down the steps of his throne to the main floor where several of his vassals bowed deeply and scurried out of his way, along with the lieutenants who backed away in fear. Reaching out with his hand, his arm extended and wrapped around the neck of one who did not get out of the way quickly enough, garnering his temper. “I AM SURROUNDED BY IDIOTS AND SYCOPHANTS!”
Tightening his grip around the man’s neck, Reed smirked at the sight of Matt Murdock coughing and sputtering for air, pleading to be released. “I have grown tired of the excuses and empty-handed returns from you all, you will find my prize NOW or I will…”
“Let him go… My love.”
Dropping the man and quickly turning to the source of the familiar voice, Reed smiled briefly, pleased at Susan’s return… Until he was forced to look up at who stood in front of him, and a bubble of bent light surrounded him like a force field. Her foot falls were heavy, hinting she weight several hundred pounds than what she was before she disappeared, and it showed in her towering physique. Easily 8 feet tall and built solid with corded muscle, her powerful appearance was balanced out by her flaring and generous curves. Hips as wide as a car tire with a heart shaped rear tapered to long athletic legs that ended in clawed toes like that of some predatory dinosaur, her claws clicking on the stonework beneath her. Her stomach was flat with abdominal muscles, cast under the shadow of her breasts that rivalled the size of ripe pumpkins and stood proud from her chest. Her arms were just as athletic as her legs, with a clawed hand resting at her hip while the other pointed towards Reed with a single clawed. Her face was as beautiful as ever, even more so, as if any flaw she once had hinting towards age, or poor health faded away to a glamour of impossible beauty… And horror.
For this was Susan Storm no longer.
Her skin was chalk white, with hints of sky blue over her glossy, almost polished snake-scale skin. Massive wings, bladed, like the fins of a lionfish, fluttered behind her, riddled with streaks of blue and gold and white that shimmered with the torch light of the chamber. Behind her a serpentine tail, as stout as her legs and just as muscular coiled and flicked behind her, finned like her wings and ending in a barbed stinger at its tip. Her long blonde hair flowed behind her in defiance of the gravity around her, flowing and swaying to the air currents around her as if she were submerged in water. Three sets of horns that merged seamlessly with her own flesh framed her face and skull, giving her an almost regal air… Regal and demonic. Indeed, the towering creature that contained Reed the Conqueror looked every bit the type of creature one might find in the deepest depths of Hell. A queen of seduction, and a Mistress of pain and bliss in equal measure. With a turn of her wrist and a gesture with her finger for him to come closer, Reed gasped when the bubble contracted and left him with less space to move, while pulling him closer to the giant demonic woman who purred with delight.
Her eyes were a kaleidoscope of colours, flaring out from her slit reptilian irises that seemed almost hypnotic, looking into them showed the promise of untold delights from a creature untethered by such concepts as satisfaction.
“Susan! What… What has happened to…”
“I have met friends, friends and sisters from another world, they gave me a gift, one where I can finally express my love to you fully.” She purred, her voice smooth and sweet as warm honey. Turning her horned head to the shocked and gasping slaves still chained at the throne, Susan smiled a fanged grin and faster than any of them could react, she lashed out with her prehensile tail, stinging them all in the arm and leg. To Reed’s fascination and horror, his harem of slaves suddenly began to buckle over and convulse, their bodies shivering as something overtook them. Jennifer moaned a deep and throaty cry as her muscles bulked and her mass increased, followed by Janet regenerating her wings to their former glory… Before they changed into two pairs of membranous wings like Susan’s own. Natasha ripped off the scrap of cloth that bound her breasts, giving them room to fill and become full and pliant while her hips widened to make room her long, powerful legs, followed by a serpentine tail of her own growing out behind her to snake like an angry viper.
Greer yowled as her mouth filled with fangs, a long tongue slithering out to lick her blackened lips before she pulled Elektra towards her for a passionate kiss, horns sprouting out of their scalps and nearly getting tangled in each other as they grew and made out. Rollin her muscular shoulder, Elektra winced just as a pair of wings unfurled behind her. In the span of a minute, Reed’s harem had grown and transformed into the same impossibly erotic and monstrous creature Susan had become, the winged giantess turning on her heel with a grin as she made her way up the steps and sat on the throne, crossing one leg over the other as she leaned back.
“RELEASE ME AT ONCE! YOU BELONG TO ME! I AM YOUR MASTER!” Reed bellowed out, thrashing against his prison as the monstrous woman smiled more deeply as the other slaves began giving her the same attentions they once gave him.
“What shall we do mistress?” Husked Jennifer in her ear, licking her pointed earlobe while maintaining eye contact with Reed.
Greer licked at Susan’s ankle affectionately, nuzzling at her thigh. “Yes, what do you command of us?”
“Shall we EAT him?”
Raising a hand to get their attention, Susan tilted her horned head, her pursed smile never leaving her fanged lips. “No… I don’t wish him gone, I have met another like him in my absence, one worthy of my love.” Standing to her full height, the harem mewled and whimpered, just as she gestured with her hands to bring Reed closer until he was face to face with her. “Soon, with proper care my dear Reed, you just might live up to his standards, until then, give your new Queen a kiss!”
Piling out of the royal chambers in droves, Reed’s vassals and lieutenants fled the room, covering their ears to block out hearing their lord and master scream.
Topic: Fantastic Four: Enter the Sue-niverse (Read 1904 times)