Chapter 3
Rap music played in the large club as Ben, Johnny, and Reed entered. Ben and Reed had looks of apprehension as Johnny had a cool smile on his face.
“This is it?” Ben asked.
“I don’t know anybody here,” Reed said.
“Yeah, I would have invited some of your friends, but you really don’t have any,” Johnny said.
Reed gave him a look.
“Hey!” A voice called out.
All three men looked to see two women come up to them. Ben widened his eyes as Reed spoke to Johnny.
“Johnny, we had a deal.”
Johnny looked at him, “They’re not exotic dancers.”
Reed watched as Johnny stood in between two of the girls, wrapping an arm around them. “They’re just hot.”
Reed and Ben looked at each other.
“You’re Mr. Fantastic, aren’t you?” One of the women asked. “That’s so awesome.”
Reed was quiet as she came up to him and wrapped an arm around him. Ben turned and walked away as Johnny smiled and winked at him. Two more women came up to him. Ben went to the bar.
“I’m gonna need a pitcher with the biggest handle you’ve got,” Ben said to the bartender.
“No problem.”
Ben danced on the spot as he waited for the drink. He looked around as he danced and stopped when he noticed a young man with bright orange, afro hair. He couldn’t take his eyes off of it. Back at the Baxter building where Hunter and Sue were at, several military personnel entered the building. They entered the top portion of the building and approached a holographic secretary.
“Ms. Storm will be with you shortly,” the woman said.
The lead man looked at her with an impressed look.
“Hello? Thanks, Roberta,” Sue said.
He watched as the woman disappeared and walked towards Sue.
“May I help you?”
“We’re here to see Dr. Richards,” he said.
“I’m sorry. He isn’t here right now,” Sue said. “Is there anything I can help you with?”
“Yes,” he said. “You can take me to see Dr. Richards.”
“Okay,” Sue said as she looked at him. “If you will give me a moment, I need to go and get Hunter.”
“Of course,” he said.
Sue turned and left the three in the lobby. Going into the hallway she called out for Hunter. When no response came, she went looking for her. A noise stopped her and she followed the sound to a closed bathroom.
“Hunter?” She called out with a knock.
“Yea, hold on a sec,” Hunter said behind the door. The sound of a toilet flushing and running water followed.
The door opened to reveal a pale Hunter.
“Are you all right?” Sue asked with concern.
“I’m fine,” Hunter said as she stepped out of the bathroom and turning the light off. She stepped into the direction of her room, but Sue stopped her.
Putting a hand on Hunter’s arm, Sue spoke, “Are you sure?”
Hunter smiled at her and nodded, “I’m fine, just some food that didn’t agree with me that’s all.”
Off of Sue’s look Hunter continued, “Really. Trust me, I’m fine. Want did you want?”
“We have a guest who’s very anxious to see Reed,” Sue said as she let Hunter go.
Hunter raised an eyebrow and followed Sue to the lobby.
Back at the club, Ben had drank three large pitchers, Reed was telling the women of how the universe began and demonstrating it with his hands and fingers by stretching it out, and Johnny was somewhere in the club talking to women.
“When the universe began, it was no bigger than a marble,” Reed said, “and then bam! It exploded. And in a trillionth of a second, it expanded exponentially to what became the universe we know today.”
One of the girls sitting with him looked at him with wide eyes and spoke, “Wow. You’re really smart.”
“Well, thanks, Candy. That means a lot to me,” Reed responded.
Another girl pulled at his arms and asked him to dance.
“Oh no, I don’t really,” Reed said as he shook his head.
“Yes, you do. Come on,” another girl said as she pulled his other arm.
“No, no, honestly, no, no, no, please,” Reed said.
But it was too late as another pull had him walking onto the dance floor still protesting. There was nothing that Reed could do as the girls danced around him. He was too nervous to dance.
“Just loosen up! Have some fun!” One of the girls said.
He moved some more and soon he was dancing. He used his body to his advantage as he stretched and pulled his body in different ways. Back by the bar, Johnny joined Ben and they watched Reed.
“Guy really knows how to loosen up,” Johnny said.
“You’re not kidding,” Ben replied.
They watched some more as he danced with the girls as Sue, Hunter, and the military personnel walked in.
“There he is,” the man said.
“Yes,” Sue said, “unfortunately for him.”
Hunter spied Johnny and Ben, and walked over to them. She cleared her throat and Johnny looked at her.
“Hey! What are you doing here? This is a bachelor party, no girls allowed.”
“It’s not a party anymore,” Hunter replied as she pointed behind her.
“Oh yikes,” Johnny whispered as he saw the look on his sister’s face.
Reed saw that face too and he stopped dancing. Sue turned to the man and spoke, “Shall we?”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
Ben and Johnny quickly turned around to the bar.
“Think it might be clobbering time,” Ben whispered.
“Trust me, it’s gonna be worse than that,” Hunter said as she leaned against the bar. She waved to the bartender. “Hey, you have any bottle of water?”
The bartender nodded and went to get one as she looked back to the men to greet Ben’s face.
“What?”
“You okay?” Ben’s gruff voice asked.
She took the bottle from the man and replied, “I’m fine.”
Hunter pushed off the bar and walked behind them to follow Sue. She stopped behind Johnny and leaned over him.
“Don’t think you’re gonna get away with this,” Hunter whispered in his ear.
She walked away as Johnny looked at Ben.
“What did I do?!”
Ben shook his head.
Hunter reached the group in time to hear Reed greet Sue and the man.
“General Hager.”
“Let’s talk somewhere private,” the General said as he shook Reed’s hand.
Reed nodded.
“Unless you need to do Jell-o shots off someone’s stomach,” Sue said.
Hunter choked on the water she was sipping and the two looked at her.
“I’m fine,” Hunter said.
They looked back at each other.
“I was just explaining to the girls about how the big bang led to-” Reed said. “This was Johnny’s idea. I just went along.”
The general walked away and Sue followed as Reed watched them. He looked at Hunter.
“Don’t look at me dude, I wasn’t the one “showing” the girls how the big bang started,” Hunter said.
Reed gave her a look and walked past her. Hunter followed. Johnny and Ben joined her and they all entered the club’s kitchen.
“How does Reed know the General?” Sue asked Ben.
“A few years back, the guy was trying to push a new missile defense system. Reed testified that the technology wouldn’t work,” Ben explained.
Hunter joined in, “Reed isn’t the General’s favorite man.”
The General spoke, cutting off the rest of the conversation. “I’m only here Richards, because I’m under direct orders from the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Personally, I don’t like the idea of sharing sensitive information with a civilian scientist, especially one who enjoys the public spotlight so much.”
“Always a pleasure to see you too, General,” Reed spoke with a smile.
Hunter leaned back against one of the tables and looked at Johnny. She noticed where he was looking at and turned to see a young blonde woman looking back. She finished the rest of her drink and threw it in the trash. She walked in front of Johnny and deliberately stepped on his foot.
“Ah! What was that for?” Johnny hissed.
“Oh, sorry, did I step on you? I didn’t mean to,” Hunter responded sarcastically with a sickly sweet tone.
Ben snickered. Johnny looked at her confusingly as she turned away.
“Again, what did I do?!” He whispered.
But no one answered him as all was focus on the General.
“What can I do for you?” Reed asked.
“As you may know, there have been recent unusual occurrences all over the world. Officially, we’ve downplayed their significance to the public, but we’re concerned that these anomalies might pose a credible threat to our national security.” The General said as he nodded to the blonde woman.
The woman stepped up and handed him a folder, “These were taken by one of our spy satellites three days ago.”
Reed looked at the pictures and handed it off to Sue who looked at it and handed it off to Ben. Hunter looked at it over his shoulders.
“What is it?” Sue asked.
“We were hoping Dr. Richards could tell us,” the General said.
“I’m afraid I’ve never seen anything like it,” Reed responded. “Ben?”
Ben looked at the photo, “Well, I would say that it was a meteor, but the trail’s all wrong. This thing’s giving off its own energy.”
The General nodded and pointed to the woman who then opened a computer.
“These have been appearing in remote areas throughout the world since the events started. Field personnel estimate its diameter to be 200 meters,” the woman said.
The General spoke, “If we’re gonna find out what this is all about, we need a way to locate and intercept that object.”
Hunter looked at Reed then at the General. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the woman looking behind her to Johnny. She turned her head a little bit and she knew that Johnny had smiled back with a wink. She pressed down the urge to smack that smirk off of his face and listened to Reed. Ben noticed her posture of anger and stepped next to her and put a hand on her shoulder. Hunter looked at him and smiled.
“It’d be possible to build a sensor, tie it into the Baxter building satellite grid and we can pinpoint the exact location of the object,” Reed said.
Without him seeing it, Sue looked down with disappointment.
“Good, so then you’ll build the sensor for us, we’ll tie that to the-” The General spoke before being interrupted.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” Reed said, catching Sue’s attention.
“What?”
“You see, I’m getting married this Saturday. I just don’t have the time,” Reed said as he backed up to stand next to Sue.
“Richards, your country needs your help,” the General said.
Reed took in a breath, “Look, why don’t you call Professor Jeff Wagner? He’s head of the physics department at Brown. I’m sure he can help you.”
General Hager looked at his team and back to Reed. The woman packed up the computer and the pictures. The woman looked at Johnny who raised an eyebrow at her. Hunter looked down at the table.
“I expected more, Richards,” the General said, “even from you.”
The general and the others left the kitchen.
“Reed, are you sure?” Sue asked him.
“I promised you didn’t I?” Reed said.
Sue smiled and hugged him. They left the kitchen as Hunter turned around to face Johnny. He looked at the retreating blonde woman’s back. He looked back at Hunter and smiled.
“Hey babe.”
She stepped forwards with a look of anger on her face. Her eyes turned icy blue and Johnny swallowed.
“Uh, Hunter, come on, it was just a party,” Johnny said as he straightened up.
Hunter narrowed her eyes at him and walked away. Johnny looked at Ben, “What did I do?!”
Ben shook his head, “You’re an idiot.”
He followed Hunter out of the kitchen, leaving Johnny alone. Ben followed Hunter until she stopped at the edge of the street.
“Hey kiddo,” Ben said.
Hunter barely glanced at him as he stood next to her.
“You might want to calm down before you freeze the people around you and turning them into a Popsicle,” Ben commented.
Hunter looked at Ben and nodded. Ben pulled her into a hug.
“Thanks Benny,” Hunter said as she pulled away.
She turned her head when she heard Johnny’s voice in the short distance. She watched him talk to the woman and tears pooled in her eyes.
“I gotta go,” Hunter said.
“Sweetie,” Ben said as Hunter stepped away and walked down the street through the people.
He looked at Johnny who was now alone, the woman having left. Ben gripped his hands into fists and was about to go to Johnny and after a second, decided to leaving the clobbering to his sister.
Way back in Latveria, the statue was now alive and moveable. Pieces of the metal fell apart as a small man cut it apart. The statue growled as the man shook. Quickly without warning, a hand shot out and electricity shocked the man to death. The hand came up and pulled the mask off and threw it on the ground.