Space – Low Earth Orbit
The stars were endless, cold fire spread across black velvet. Earth's curve glowed blue beneath the Baxter ship's viewport.
Reed sat strapped into his station, fingers dancing across consoles as the detectors hummed. "Everything's stable. Just one more sweep, then we—"
The alarms screamed.
Radiation spiked so fast the readouts blurred. Not just cosmic, but layered—gamma, ultraviolet, something stranger, and at its heart a nuclear signature of cosmic proportions pulsing like a heart.
"Reed—!" Sue shouted, but the storm was already on them.
The ship shook, energy pouring through every seam, every body. White light swallowed them whole.
The Transformation
Ben Grimm was the first to change. His skin rippled, hardened, then locked. Not shifting, not temporary—permanent. The cosmic-nuclear storm fused his body into living rock, jagged and raw, like volcanic stone wrapped around muscle. He groaned, a low rumble echoing from a throat that no longer sounded human. "Oh, no…"
Reed Richards screamed as his body elongated and twisted, bones liquefying, organs stretching into elastic bio-structures. He collapsed, his arms snapping back into place, reshaping with a sickening wet crack. Unlike old legends, he wasn't just rubber. He was adaptive flesh.
Susan Storm phased—then vanished entirely. Her molecules ghosted, scattering, only to slam back together. She panted, flickering between visible, invisible, and intangible. "I—I can't stop it…"
Johnny Storm ignited, but not with the old comic-book flames. His fire burned hotter, brighter, the plasma tearing at oxygen molecules with the fury of a sunspot. For a heartbeat he was a miniature star—then his flame guttered, his body shaking with exhaustion.
Sarah Storm clutched her hands as arcs of lightning erupted, not just from her skin but from the very air. She sparked like a Tesla coil, nuclear energy amplifying her control of ionized particles. "I can feel every electron," she whispered, eyes wide.
Stella Storm staggered upright, her veins glowing golden-white. She lifted her palm, and a pulse of nuclear plasma coalesced into a blade of molten light. The weapon hummed, its edge bending reality with heat. "This… this is mine."
And through it all, Victor von Doom remained seated, silent. His armour's systems surged with strange green fire. He hadn't twisted into stone or flame—his change was quieter. More dangerous.
Aftermath – Wreckage
The ship plummeted back to Earth, scorched by the storm, crash-landing in the desert with a roar. The team stumbled from the wreckage, their bodies crackling with unstable power.
Ben stumbled forward, stone skin grinding. "I… can't feel my face." His hands trembled as he touched jagged features. His eyes burned wet, but no tears came. "I'm stuck like this, aren't I?"
Reed stretched his arm, watching it snap back like a rubber band. "We've been altered at the cellular level. Nuclear-cosmic fusion… it's rewritten our DNA."
Johnny tried to flare again—his flames sputtered, then roared, draining him almost instantly. He fell to one knee, shaking. "It's like lighting a nuke every time I turn on. Burns fast, burns everything."
Sue placed a hand on his shoulder, but it slipped through him before she caught hold again. She closed her eyes, forcing her molecules solid. "We're unstable. But we're alive."
Sarah grinned, lightning crawling across her arms. "Unstable? Speak for yourself. I feel like a reactor about to melt down. And I love it."
Stella slashed her nuclear blade through a boulder, carving it clean in two. Her smile was sharp. "We're not broken. We're evolved."
Victor finally spoke, voice calm and low, eyes glowing faintly behind his mask. "This was no accident. The storm was waiting for us. And now… so am I."
Deadpool Commentary™
"Laaaadies and gentlemen, give it up for the new Fantastic-ish Six! We've got: Rock-Hard Ben (don't Google that), Reed the Human Cheese Stretch, Sue the Quantum Peekaboo, Johnny 'Supernova but Only for Five Seconds,' Sarah the Discount Thor, and Stella with the 'Lightsaber You Definitely Shouldn't Touch.' And Doom? Doom just unlocked Dark Sorcery DLC. What a deal!""Fun fact: Ben's stuck like that for a year, or more. Y'know what that means? Twelve months of tragic drinking scenes, crying into trench coats, and children pointing at him in grocery stores. It's called character development, baby."
Closing Scene
The group gathered, battered but alive, their world forever changed.
Steel appeared from the shadows of the wreck, neon eyes sharp. "You're not just altered—you're proof. Proof the universe has been watching us. Testing us."
Ben slammed his rocky fist into the dirt, the impact rattling the ground. "Then the universe can go to hell."
Reed looked up at the stars, his elastic features grim. "No… the universe just opened the door. The real question is—what's walking through it next?"