Sorry
Sue couldn’t bring herself to go home. She couldn’t tell Ben what she almost did, she couldn’t look her baby in the eyes and she most likely was incapable of standing anywhere near Johnny.
She lay on the floor of her lab which she had deemed useless and thus condemned to darkness. Her notes were scattered everywhere, not like she would ever try to reassemble them.
Apart from her, there was only a fly but, whenever it tried to move anywhere near her, it bumped into something.
The bubble she made to separate herself from everyone else was real and palpable. Before the fly, many people tried to reach her through the shield to no avail.
She spent most of her time staring aimlessly at the ceiling but now and then she would roll over to her side. When she rolled to her right, she would look at the chair she knocked over in anger.
When she rolled left, what she found made her change to her right. Any sight would have been better than the reminder of her shortcomings.
The device reflected what little light was still between those walls. It was the representation of all that they were capable of and how far they were willing to lower themselves.
If you had to save a life, would it be ok if the only way was killing another person?
Some may say yes but then come the variables: what if the one you have to kill is a child?
What if they are both equally valuable?
What if the one you must destroy is someone you love?
Do you now see the struggle of choosing who lives, knowing that it will never be a victory and that you will never be truly good?
Can you understand now how divided and weak Sue must have felt making that same choice? She didn’t enact it in time but she chose.
She was willing to sacrifice someone and what did that make of her?
What did it make of all the other heroes that didn’t grab the Nullifier out of her hand to spare her the guilt and take the blame upon themselves?
How does one even end up in that situation after years of calling themselves heroes? How do you save lives your whole life only to consider such an option?
What of the other variants of them, in other worlds? Did they also come down to the same dilemma? Did they also betray what they stood for?
Sue was sure that they had. Their worlds may have been more fantastical and full of life but something told her that at the end of the day those people were on the same level as them and, when push came to shove, they proved that.
Did Reed feel just as bad as her when he betrayed them? If he truly believed he was doing those atrocities for the greater good, what did he do to stay sane?
But the most pressing question was: after all the fighting, the rebuking and denial, was she just like him?
Sue no longer had any tears to give, her crying had long given its place to silent mourning. Quiet enough to hear every step that approached her room.
She planned to order whoever it was to leave like everyone else.
However, when she heard her name being uttered, it sounded like those white nights when she was eighteen with only another person to keep her company.
…he was the last person she wanted to hear.
She didn’t even reply to his call, she simply redirected her shield towards him, turning it into an unexpected cannon ball that flattened him against the wall.
While a normal person would have turned into a bloody mist in his place, Reed just turned thin like paper, like in a cartoon, and awkwardly begged her to wait.
“Shut up… shut up!” she screamed and prepared a way to silence him for good.
The ability to make a solid of any shape and move it effortlessly was as deadly as it was defensive. In the right hands, it meant kinetic energy without anything slowing it down… hopefully able to pierce even through his chest.
It only ended up pushing Reed’s mass away. His back extended into a spike for a couple of metres. Though he had little air left, he gasped out: “Sue, please, I don’t want to fight–”
“Now you don’t want to fight?! You don’t want to bomb my home and conquer the world now that I’ve turned into this?!”
Reed felt like the gravitational pull had suddenly skyrocketed and he was with his face flat on the floor. In no time, he felt his limbs twisting like noodles and constricting into themselves.
“Isn’t this what you wanted?! To prove you were right?! Isn’t being right the only thing that makes you happy, Mr. Fantastic?!”
Reed’s visor popped into sparks, his body was crushed into a rubbery sphere and his muffled scream could be heard through the invisible wall: “Sh–Sue!!”
Shouting her name caused a different reaction: Sue returned to her Fantastic Four missions, when she would get herself in trouble like a rookie and would have to rely on one of the boys to save her.
Only then she gasped and let go of her grip. Reed’s body finally returned to its original form and he desperately breathed for air he wasn’t sure he needed.
The hair he was hiding under his helmet was unkempt and messy. The scar around his right eye was still pink and very visible, it would likely never truly disappear, but his good eye was just like it was in those years when he and Sue had each other.
“Maybe I–” he coughed, “I should have worn the other outfit but I didn’t have time to change and…”
Sue ignored his words and slowly stumbled her way to her chair. She looked blankly ahead of her.
Reed understood that now wasn’t the time for the meek facade.
Sue closed her eyes and whispered: “You were right, Reed. I’m a monster, like you.”
Reed didn’t care about how she judged him but he quickly replied: “You’re not a monster, Sue…”
Sue covered her eyes and she said: “I don’t care if I didn’t do it. I was about to do it, that’s–”
“That doesn’t matter, you’re not–”
Sue showed him a depressing smile, her eyes were completely swollen and desperate. She cried: “Shouldn’t you be happy about that…?”
Reed silently watched the lines that had formed on her cheeks, thinking about what he couldn’t undo, the chances he was given and the life he gave up.
Then he thought about his life before all this. Not just the Maker, before the Fantastic Four: when he was deeply sad, until he met her at the Baxter.
“Susan, I know it may upset you– or even frighten you– whenever I say this: I still love you.
But it’s not just because you’re smart or because you’re pretty– and it’s definitely not because I think I can change you, because I know it’s impossible… It’s because you’re good. You are so hopeful, protective, strong and utterly incapable of evil. I love you because you’re good.”
Sue rested her head on her arm and was reminded once again that her tear ducts were dry.
“Sue, I came here because you made me see an alternative. You were the closest one to it– maybe you were half way there. We just need to go back to how we met at the Think Tank. Do you remember that?”
Sue found the strength to look up and recognise the past behind never ending change. She remembered the way they were.
—---------------------------------------------------------
Lightning struck the highest point of a royal castle and thunder surely followed, frightening the people and beasts of Latveria. The dogs barked to no end as rain kept hammering at the medieval stone to no avail.
Thanos admired the chaos the Earth could create unprovoked and, though it was uncomparable to the outrageous cataclysms of other planets, he thought it was very good.
Seeing his smile, Dr. Doom asked him, like a good host: “Do you like the view?”
The titan rubbed his chin and laughed: “Yes, quite scenic. I think I understand why you settled here.”
The emperor’s red eyes pierced the darkness as he said: “Make no mistake: I never settled for this, I rule Supreme here for all intents and purposes.”
A smile appeared in the shadows. “Of course…”
The two walked towards the interior while he esposed: “The Life Raft is almost ready…”
Thanos followed Doom when Corvus Glaive approached him and, recognising the thirst of blood in his eyes, he slowed down.
“Master,” he whispered, “unleash us upon this world. Let us slaughter in your name and in the name of the great Lady.”
“You already know the plan. You must be patient.”
Then Proxima Midnight joined the conversation, saying: “But this world is so weak, Lord. Let us start with this one, who thinks himself Supreme.”
Thanos turned to the two of them. His eyes were like distant stars and they meekly returned to silence.
They went underground where the Raft was being kept.
Although it wasn’t finished, it looked just like the plans they stole and they just had to walk inside.
“And this will save us when the time comes and we won’t stop it.” said the Mad Titan.
After saying that, he felt tired and darkness captured the room without him closing his eyes.
“This is Yami, as its creator would call it… you must feel tired now…”
The Cabal saw that Doom wasn’t among them. His silhouette was standing by the door.
“Amatsu-Mikaboshi’s Darkness…?” After relising what it was, the Black Swan laughed: “Here, they still use that. I can’t believe he caught us with Darkness!” and she kept laughing.
The more she laughed, the more Thanos understood that she wasn’t mocking him. She had fallen to paranoia.
“I knew it! I knew we couldn’t trust any version of Doom!” Namor fiercely shouted.
“At first I thought of fusing again with Zvilpogghua and with that– combined with the way my world weakened you– I would tear you apart. But then I realised that it’s not my style.
People like me, like the Sorcerer and Scientist Supreme, don’t resort to fighting when we don’t need it. We find the easy way to deal with brutes like you. We cheat. And you know what?
I wouldn’t want it any other way.
I’m taking you to a world that taught me a lot. I hope you learn something, too, with what little time you have.”
The Cabal appeared in New York but it was none of those they knew or destroyed. Skies were grey.
It was all too quiet.
They saw a figure in the distance, more dead than alive. His eyes no longer showed emotions but if they could it would be only hunger.
He was the first of an endless horde.
They had never been closer to their Lady…
—————————————————————
To normal people, one dune is worth the other. Not this Nevada desert, not for the Four.
That was where everything started. One apple, one “piece of organic matter” and the sky lit up.
They could recognise that sterile field any day by looking at every single crack.
Ben was sort of surprised that the field was still dry, he would expect it to gain some life, like them. Like the life in Johnny’s baby carrier.
“Ya think it’s safe to bring her here?” asked the worried pops.
And her uncle retorted: “What’s the worst that could happen? New powers?”
They heard a laugh and gave the guy managing the controls an unimpressed look. The scarred man just uttered: “Sorry.”
Sue just had to point out: “It’s insane that of all places this incursion could happen, it would be here.”
The busy scientist answered: “Everything is possible, that’s what our time together taught us.”
Ben took a deep breath and said: “I feel like we could recreate that day, right now.”
After some quiet seconds, Reed was the first to say that they couldn’t do that anymore.
“Is… is it happening soon?” Johnny asked.
“Yes.” his sister replied.
“You guys understand that this could change everything.” Reed said.
Ben ended the conversation: “I’ve heard that before.”
It appeared in the sky, not a single second late. Fear overtook their minds, deep down they thought that a plan as dumb as theirs would never work.
Sue held the remote firmly. Ben’s hand reached for hers.
When the button was pressed, the portal appeared in the sky and kept expanding.
It never stopped expanding.
They weren’t teleporting a toy car or an apple. They weren’t destroying anything. They were shielding the Earth.
Molly reached for the pretty pink sky and no one noticed for they were also too busy staring.
They knew the visitors were going through the portal when they felt everything shake without an impact.
And they dreaded that they messed something up, that a single mistake in the calculations could somehow make things worse.
When everything ended and the signal was given, they took another leap of faith and turned it off.
The sky was no longer pink but neither was it red. It was just a normal azure, everything was saved by the very first thing they ever made.
Reed looked up at the sky and whispered the same words he uttered three years prior.
“Dr. Storm… thank you.”
The calm after the storm only lasted until Ben grabbed Reed’s shoulder. They shared an understanding look and turned away.
It was like they were walking home the way they used to, when Reed got bullied and Ben was the only one that stood by his side.
Things could never return to that simplicity.
Reed couldn’t just return home after everything he did the past few years.
The destination of their walk was far darker, away from family.
But Reed was okay with that. He accepted the consequences of his actions with a smile and although the others would never forgive him, they could only smile when thinking of the Fantastic Four.