章 3: Chapter 3

"Sue, are you alright?" I asked as I felt the movement stop.

The girl wrapped in my limbs raised her eyes and said, "Much better now. I think I can..." she said, lifting her hand.

BAM

The monster's hand unclenched, and its body slammed into the wall. I immediately wrapped its limbs. Sensing it was still conscious was easy from my position.

"It's still conscious!" I said, looking at Sue.

She nodded resolutely and struck with all her strength. She had realized that blunt impacts didn't hurt me much, meaning she could hit with full force.

BAM

The strategy proved successful, judging by the monster's cessation of movement. Returning to my normal form, I said, "That was a good hit."

Sue smiled. "I tried, but where are we?"

That was a very good question.

"Underground, but..."

My gaze fell on the numerous carvings that depicted motifs very familiar to me. Recognizing the robot-like beings that resembled gods was easy.

Celestials are cosmic beings of incredible power. Mostly, they are creators and experimenters who made humans and numerous human sub-species.

I realized this place was the refuge of a human sub-species known as Deviants. This was evident from the specific collection of bones nearby.

"Who would've thought there's a thriving civilization beneath us," I said.

There were numerous details indicating the presence of a civilization here.

"We need to hide and wait for Ben and Johnny," I said, looking into Sue's astonished eyes.

She understood that this discovery would change the world.

"Why?"

"It's unlikely these beings are peaceful," I replied, pointing to the skulls on spears.

Then Sue and I hid nearby. Thanks to Sue's force fields, we managed to dig a recess in the rock.

—= Johnny Storm =—

"Faster, Rocky!" I shouted mid-flight.

Flying was wonderful. However, two factors hindered my full enjoyment. The first was that we were flying underground, and the second was that my sister had been kidnapped.

"Shut up, Matchstick!" responded the thoroughly annoyed Ben Grimm.

Throughout this battle, we had started to bond slowly. However, our different views on certain things prevented us from completely getting along.

"Hahaha!" I laughed, releasing fire in his direction.

We had already confirmed that this type of flame didn't harm him but irritated him immensely.

"Ben, Johnny!" I suddenly heard my sister's voice from somewhere to the side.

We stopped instantly and began to look around.

"Susan?"

"We're here!" I heard more clearly and found the source of the voice.

Seeing that Susan was alright... the invisible weight on my soul lifted.

—= Reed Richards =—

"So that's the situation," I finished, looking at the gathered original members of the Fantastic Four, and the geek in me squealed with joy.

As soon as I finished explaining, Ben stood up and said, "If I understand correctly, the master of these monsters is hostile towards the people above?"

I nodded.

"So what are we waiting for?" Ben said. "We need to beat that bastard so he doesn't even think about attacking."

Johnny smiled and said, "Didn't expect to agree with this rockhead, but he's right. We can't leave this unresolved."

"You both just want to hit something, don't you?" Sue asked with a resigned look.

Johnny and Ben just grinned.

"In that case, we need to head..."

My gaze fell on the device I had assembled from available materials. The principle behind this receiver was quite simple... at least for the current me. However, due to the poor quality of the materials, the final product was quite flimsy. Fortunately, it managed to indicate the direction of the wave controlling the horde.

"...There."

—= Some Time Later =—

We reached our destination fairly quickly. The absence of traffic and buildings greatly helped. Unfortunately, even this didn't lessen my irritation from the long walk through the underground realm. At that moment, I decided that once we returned, I would build the Fantasticar first thing.

"Why are you all so glum?" Johnny, who was floating in the air, asked.

"Johnny, be quiet," Susan said, looking at him with slight irritation. "Or I'll help Ben hit you."

Stone-faced Ben Grimm grinned. My friend clearly wanted to help carry out this plan.

The blonde fell silent. Meanwhile, I was still busy trying to turn the receiver into a sonar. Just a bit more...

"Done!" I exclaimed with a slight smile.

My team members focused on me.

"The sonar works on a very primitive technology. It would normally disappoint me, but we don't have much choice now."

Johnny looked for something on my device and, not finding it, asked, "Where's the display?"

"There isn't one," I replied, now understanding what had interested him. "I created a mathematical model in my head that works the same way as numerous sonars. Building a three-dimensional map in my mind is slightly straining, but not serious."

Johnny and Ben almost simultaneously said, "Sounds simple enough."

Only an extremely dense person would miss the sarcasm in their voices. Fortunately, I wasn't one of them.

"That's quite impressive," said Susan Storm, who was an intelligent woman.

I smirked and monitored the device. Soon, it began vibrating in a specific sequence. At that moment, using the model, I started constructing a three-dimensional map of the area. A few minutes later, the terrain was clear in my mind.

"I know what awaits us ahead," I said with a slight smile. "We can proceed."

"Finally," Johnny said. "I'm tired of seeing these hordes of monsters moving back and forth."

"I hate to agree with the matchstick, but he's right. I'm also fed up with this sight."

"Ahead, there's nothing worse than these yellow monsters," I said. "However, there's a man with a staff."

"A man?" Susan asked, frowning.

"He's likely responsible for transforming the natives into those monsters," I said. "And he's probably the one we need to capture."

Ben punched his fist into his palm and said, "Then what are we waiting for?"

"TIME TO CRUSH!" Ben shouted as he charged into the place where the master of these creatures resided.

Thanks to the three-dimensional map of the entire area, plotting the necessary route wasn't difficult. That's how we managed to approach the man who, canonically, was the first adversary of the Fantastic Four.

I recognized him by his staff and glasses, which made my job much easier. The Mole Man — a villain of the week created in the '60s or '70s, though my memory of the exact time was fuzzy.

BAM

Ben descended on him like a missile. The Mole Man barely managed to react to the attack, evading the stone projectile at the last second.

Unfortunately for him, we didn't just have Ben, and in that moment, we encircled him. Susan Storm trapped him in a force field, and Johnny, saying, "So you're the Mole Man, huh!"

Engulfed in flames, Johnny launched two fireballs at him.

BAM

"Do you think that will work against me?!" yelled the Mole Man, who had escaped Sue's field.

Clearly, he had created a tunnel underground. His monsters were nearby. The Mole Man struck the ground with his staff...

BAAAM

"RAAAARGH!!!" roared a giant monster, raising the battlefield higher.

I instantly reached for Sue. At that moment, only she and I were in danger, as the attack didn't affect Ben and Johnny. The fiery blonde simply flew alongside, while Ben, perched on the monster, wasn't particularly afraid of the damage.

"Sue!" I shouted.

The blonde, finding herself in my arms, immediately created a protective sphere around us.

"We need to stop him!"

"I'm trying!" Ben and Johnny replied simultaneously.

Ben was indeed trying, and judging by the dents on the monster's body, he was succeeding... However, the monster seemed indifferent, and moments later, we broke through another layer of rock and found ourselves in the city center...

"Damn," I said.

The situation just got a bit worse.

"We need to protect the people from this threat."

Susan nodded and got to work. I helped her. We just needed to hold out until Ben and Johnny dealt with the monster.

—= Ben Grimm =—

Today just got worse.

"RARGH!!!"

The monster, turning and aiming at Ben, tried to strike him, but the fiery Johnny Storm, who started dousing the yellow creature with flames, interrupted it.

"Hey, ugly, I might get offended!" Johnny exclaimed with a cheeky grin.

Matchstick knew how to annoy. And the monster agreed with Ben's thoughts... It tried to catch the fiery man, who expected this move and dodged.

Benjamin Grimm wasn't a picky person, and besides, this was a monster destroying his hometown. So Ben attacked the monster from behind without hesitation.

"I'M STILL HERE!"

Thanks to his experience, Ben knew how to land a punch.

BAM

The yellow monster collapsed to the ground instantly. Ben's punch had hit its spine. The monster couldn't get up.

"Nice hit, rockhead!" Johnny said with a slight grin.

Ben wanted to teach him a lesson, but the blonde flew away from Grimm.

"NOOO!!!" Ben heard the Mole Man's scream.

—= Reed Richards =—

While Ben and Johnny dealt with the monster, Sue and I focused on its master. The Mole Man wasn't particularly dangerous himself, but his device, which created controlled explosions, posed some problems.

However, understanding his device was simple. Creating a countermeasure with available tools was even easier...

"Reed?" Sue's concerned voice sounded.

BAM

"A couple more minutes," I replied, not stopping my work.

The circuit board in the device was still operational. Just tweak the components to amplify the outgoing waves...

"Done!" I said, activating the device.

In the next second, a sound wave of the required frequency emitted from my improvised tool, reacting with the Mole Man's staff.

BAM

The Mole Man's staff exploded from within. Fortunately for him, the explosion was very localized, causing minimal harm.

"Richards!" the Mole Man shouted.

He quickly realized it was my doing. He tried to lunge at me but failed. At that moment, Sue trapped him in a sphere. She was getting better at controlling her powers.

The Mole Man tried to break out of the sphere initially, but realizing he couldn't, he stopped attempting to escape. Meanwhile, I approached and asked, "Why did you attack the base?"

The Mole Man looked into my eyes and said, "Is the genius Reed Richards not so genius after all?"

Provocation. An attempt to elicit an emotional reaction.

"Ah, I see," I replied.

I already had a rough idea why he attacked the base. I just needed to confirm a few things to get the most accurate answer.

"You attacked the base to get to my inventions, didn't you?"

The Mole Man's widened eyes were a more than clear answer.

"H-How d-did you..."

"You said I'm a genius," I replied with a confident smirk.

My words angered the Mole Man. I could see it in his grimace, twisted with rage.

"But that's not your concern right now," I said without the smirk. "Your actions have destroyed a part of New York. What do you think will happen to you next?"

At that moment, Ben and Johnny arrived, looking like Christmas had come early.

"Oh, Mole Man!" Johnny exclaimed with a malicious grin. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you here!"

However, our attention was soon drawn to the crowd gathering around us.

"Did they defeat the monster?"

"Oh God, what's wrong with them?"

"Are they mutants?"

I looked at my friends and said loudly enough, "We are the Fantastic Four!"

—= Some Time Later =—

After everything that happened, the Fantastic Four sat before Franklin Storm.

"Why did you do it?" Sue's father asked me.

At that moment, the TV was showing a segment about the Fantastic Four. It didn't take a genius to understand what Franklin was referring to.

"...A group calling themselves the Fantastic Four saved the city from a monster and a certain Mole Man..." the reporter said.

I looked into Franklin's eyes and said, "We had no other choice. My actions allowed us to gain a good reputation with the public. Their goodwill will become our shield."

"What do you mean?"

"They will protect us from the military. I understand perfectly well that the government wouldn't let us go without any problems. But now we're heroes, which means we have protection."