Chapter 6
"He's an angsty fellow isn't he," Harry musingly stated, startling Susan who was watching the Baxter Building and by extent Reed Richards as the elastic man stood on the top of the Baxter Building overlooking the construction being done to repair the road below where the monster had torn up from the depths of the Earth over a month and a half previous. Susan was invisible but that didn't hinder Harry from seeing her. "Neat trick by the way," the sorcerer complimented as he saw the light distortions in the space in front of Sue's face which acted like high powered binoculars. "I'm assuming you can read lips?"
"No need," Susan answered. "I can make pretty much anything I want to with the power of my mind via my force-field ability. It takes a good deal of concentration but that includes some highly advanced auditory sensory devices I have come across in my years."
"Impressive," Harry complimented.
Sue's breath caught as she saw the man who was the counterpart of her father in this universe step out of the Baxter Building onto the walkway where Richards stood watch. Harry focused his own distance listening and distance seeing sensors on the pair as Susan focused on them.
"How long have you been out here, Reed?" Dr. Storm questioned.
"I didn't mess up the calculations, Dr. Storm. I have reviewed them several times. The N-Zone translation should have worked flawlessly. But Victor insisted the schematic was flawed and I thought we had settled it. He had a habit of walking in and changing things without permission. It was the superpositioning system that overloaded. I knew phase-space theory and Victor did not. He only thought he did. Victor thought the system was flawed because he didn't understand how it worked and he would never admit it to himself let alone me," Reed explained. Dr. Storm stood and listened silently as Reed got this off his chest. "Victor didn't know how to rebuild the system so he simply reprogrammed it. The superpositioning system didn't understand what it was being told to do. That caused the accident. We were thrown across the world after being changed into these bodies. Where is Victor Van Damme?"
After Dr. Storm had coaxed Reed inside Harry said, "It is nice to see he finally figured it out. I was wondering how long it would take him to figure out the root cause of the problem."
Turning to her friend Susan inquired, "How long did it take you to figure it out?"
Susan had come to respect Harry's intelligence the short time she had lived with him. Reed, Susan, all those kids who had lived in the Baxter Building were geniuses but Harry was a class of his own above them in terms of mental capabilities.
"I knew the day after the accident and it only took that long because I was busy with other matters and couldn't sit down to analyze the problem," Harry replied.
78
Susan knew the other matters he had been dealing with included getting her settled. Susan could look like whoever she wished by manipulating the light around her body. She had gratefully accepted the new identity her savior had set up for her so that there wouldn't be any awkward questions asked by S.H.I.E.L.D. or other agencies who monitored the Storm family. Susan was officially a cousin to Sue and Johnny of this universe. Over the last month and a half she had been busily studying up on the differences between her old universe and this one from within the safety of the Parker residence and had been befriended by the younger MJ and Gwen. May had been wonderful as well. Harry...he was a different matter. The handsome superhero had been extremely friendly and warm with Susan but there was also an undercurrent of sexual tension between herself and him.
"You constantly amaze me, Harry," Susan told her fellow reality traveler as she turned back to look at the Baxter.
"I haven't begun to amaze you yet, Susan," Harry purred directly into the blonde's ear as he stepped behind her and pushed his groin into her bum, showing her his hardness.
Susan gasped and spun around, looking up into the gorgeous eyes of her savior.
"Harry...don't," Susan began to say before her mouth was covered by the mage's lips and her tongue dueled with his. When the sorcerer pulled back several moments later Susan put her face against his shoulder and breathed heavily. "Why do you insist on torturing me?"
"So you will be all the more ready for me when I claim you," Harry replied. Susan pulled back and stared at Harry with surprise and sudden realization.
"You have known all along the effect you have on me and what it has been like living in your house this past month and a half," Susan accused, her anger suddenly flaring.
Over the past month Susan had listened and even observed a couple of times by mimicking spy cameras as Harry, MJ, and Gwen engaged in numerous erotic encounters in all places and at all times of the day and night around the Parker residence. Ever since she had gotten that first taste of him Susan had wanted more of Harry's essence. Now she could see the superhero had wanted her all hot and bothered.
"No more teasing," Susan growled before she pounced on the wizard.
Begin Smut Scene
Susan's mind ripped off Harry's spider-suit. Harry caught the blonde mid leap and as she wrapped her legs around his waist he reached between their bodies and taking hold of the crotch of her garments with a sticking charm for grasp ripped out the material. Susan moaned approvingly as her sex was bared to the air. She reached down and took hold of the warrior's prick and brought it up to rub between her meaty nether lips. Staring intently into his eyes the blonde guided Harry home into her core. Miss Storm bit her lip and moaned hotly as she wiggled her hips to work her tight snatch down around her partner's length. Harry's mind was filled with lust and endorphins as Susan's soft insides squeezed his prick until her crotch pressed against his groin. The blonde clung tightly to her man as he filled her core so completely. Harry's hands grasped Susan's bubble-butt with a firm grip before he finished off ripping her pants off within seconds. With a firm grip on her smooth flesh the mage began to work Susan Storm up and down on his cock, her tight sleeve squeezing his organ with every movement.
79
"Oh damn...It's better than I imagined it would be," Susan declared with her eyes squeezed shut so she could focus on the sensations running through her cunny.
The heat generated by the rod sunk in her core was unlike anything she had previously experienced. So too was the pleasure being induced into her body from the start of their coupling new to the blonde. The arcane energy filling her vaginal nerve system was causing Susan's entire body to tingle with wonderful sensations. Susan's face was buried in the crook of Harry's neck where she suckled and licked at the exposed skin. His skin tasted almost as delicious as his seed to the young woman. Susan barely noticed as her mate moved over to the edge of the roof and set her rear down on the top of the ledge so into their coupling was she. The cock slowly piercing in and out of her womanly center was deliciously thick and hard, stimulating spots inside of Susan's sleeve that no man had touched before. The blonde squeezed her kegel muscles tightly around her man's prick as he rutted away against her. Her hands explored his sides and muscular back muscles while he pumped her pussy. The thrill of being on the edge of a rooftop hundreds of feet above ground level only added to the experience.
"Cum for me, love," Harry purred as he sent a lance of arcane energy into Susan's womb.
The blonde's body convulsed against Harry's form while the mage grinned. Her snatch rippled and squeezed his prick as he continued to carve out her insides. The telepath connected with his newest lover on a mental level and felt her bliss and euphoria. Her mind never regained focus after her initial orgasm before he generated subsequent climaxes into her form. Susan's nectar flowed freely from her juicy sleeve which only made the warlock's task easier, the lubrication allowing him to push past the clenching resistance of her tightness. As she came and came Harry freed Susan's tits from her top and took the tips of her breasts in his mouth one at a time before switching back and forth, suckling on the sensitive flesh and loving the taste of her skin. Susan somehow recovered enough of her wits despite her euphoria to tap into her telekinetic powers and generated an undulating force-field that conformed to the shape of her man's back half. It felt to Harry as if he was being given a full body massage. The telepath used his connection with the beauty to enhance her sensory input from the field she was generating. Suddenly Susan experienced the feedback from the field as if it were her flesh doing the massaging; her hands, her breasts, her lips, and tongue. Susan could taste Harry's back flesh as if she was licking his sweaty skin. The blonde's ecstasy increased at the intimacy of the feedback. She knew every inch of his posterior half and treasured that knowledge. It wasn't exactly an unpleasant situation for Harry either.
Harry's hips moved back and forth in a sawing motion as he pumped Susan's receptive young pussy. The blonde beauty gasped and cooed her approval as sweat began to build on her skin. The warrior's prick tip met the entrance to his mate's cervix with each thrust. Harry squeezed and kneaded Susan's delicious derriere while he split her cunt open. Soft and wet snatch flesh rippled along the sorcerer's length as he moved and he could not get enough of the sensation just as Susan couldn't get enough of the feel of a hard dick covered in soft skin rubbing against her innards. The friction being generated by the coupling resulted in great mutual pleasure for both lovers. The rhythm the couple moved to endured through many climaxes for the blonde woman while Harry held off his release and simply enjoyed the time he spent buried in Susan's body, experiencing her vaginal embrace.
"Ugh...oh...damn...fuck me...fuck me...fuck me with your thick cock," Susan urged between gasps for breathe. The blonde used her massaging shield to prod her man's lower half to move faster. The rubbing of his hips against her inner thighs began to generate more friction as his speed increased. "Don't stop...oh shit you're so fucking deep inside of me...I'm going to cum! I'm going to cum on your dick and I want you to cum in me," the beauty urged.
Susan's body went rigid while she hugged herself tightly to Harry when her orgasm struck. A bolt of arcane energy shot from the mage's prick as it erupted with hot semen into her depths and arced into her smoldering
80
core. Reflexively and violently the blonde's cunt contracted around the invading shaft buried to the hilt in her womanly depths before releasing and then rapidly contracting again. The frequency of squeezing his dick he was experiencing saw Harry's load being coaxed out of his spurting tool. The pleasure coursing through Harry and Susan's bits as they ground them together was perception altering. The couple felt their abdominal muscles rapidly fluttering as their minds swirled with a maelstrom of endorphins and energy. Harry thrust his hips forward several times even though he was fully seated in his lover's pussy, urging the last few drops of his seed from his prick. The grinding of her man's meaty shaft against her innards ensured Susan thoroughly enjoyed receiving his potion.
The couple remained joined for several minutes even after the last of their fluids had mixed in Susan's honey pot, letting the ecstasy they were still feeling consume them. Slowly Harry drew out of Susan.
"Don't spill any," Susan whispered before capping her slit with a small shield. "Waste none," the blonde added using one of the sayings MJ and Gwen often used.
Dropping to her knees Susan inhaled the warrior's prick which had barely softened after releasing its load. Her lips glided up and down his length so that she got every bit of their mixed juices off of the sausage. Susan's efforts returned the rod to full mast.
"Hmm...whatever shall we do with this?" Susan asked coyly.
Warning Anal From Here...
While spying on Harry and his lovers Susan had observed him with Janet Van Dyke and Natasha several times as he sodomized the beauties. Both partners had obviously enjoyed anal sex greatly. Susan had been curious enough to experiment on herself with anal play. She suspected there was something about Harry that made the experience better and was eager to find out. Standing while still holding his prick with one hand and turning to face the edge of the roof, Susan braced her free hand against the short wall and wiggled her bum while saying, "Take my ass cherry big boy. I want to feel you slide your hot sausage between my buns just like you've been doing to Janet and Natasha."
Harry stepped forward and allowed Susan to guide his prick to her puckered star. The blonde gained a look of concentration for several moments as her anus came to rest against the mage's prick head. While groaning Susan was pushing her rear back, slowly forcing her sphincter to give way and wrap around his tip. Harry sent a burst of arcane energy into Susan's rear which caused her to gasp in pleasure and for her rectal muscles to happily accept the thick tool. Susan turned her head and threw her mate a hungry look while wiggling her hips and slowly encasing her man's manhood in her colon. Harry groaned as he felt Susan's bowels wrap around his entire length and squeeze every bit of his dick. When he was fully seated in her rear the sorcerer leaned over the blonde's body and pressed himself against her, grinding his groin against her tight ass. Susan turned her head and pressed her mouth to Harry's lips, sucking on his tongue as soon as he extended it.
Susan now knew exactly why her mate's other lovers were so enthralled with taking his prick up their butts. Wonderful pleasure arced through the nerves in her bowels and snatch with each movement his cock made in her body. Harry started with slow and short thrusts in and out of her rectum. She felt his right hand slide from her hip around the front and down between her thighs to cup her sex. The skilled hero's hand immediately went to work stroking her pussy. His digits gently brushing her clit had Susan's bum muscles squeezing the pole imbedded in her guts in time with his strumming of her nub. The blonde broke her kiss so she could breathe and grasped the short wall on the edge of the roof. Harry's firm muscles were molded against her back as he covered her. Susan felt the length of his stroke deepen. Over four inches of his cock was now being sawed in and out of the blonde's anal chute.
81
"Fuck...I love your cock up my butt," Susan growled while emphasizing her words with the clenching of her insides. "I'm so damn full!"
Harry also most definitely loved being inside of his newest woman's rectal grip. The feel of her silky intestinal walls rubbing against his prick flesh as he moved was intense as was the heat of her rear core. The mage slowly reamed out her bubbly butt with deeply reaching strokes while channeling low levels of arcane energy into the rear passage in order to compliment the magic his fingers were inducing into her pussy. The gasps and grunts coming from Susan as he reached the depths of his forward stroke were intoxicating to the warrior. When he finally switched to a full length stroke, drawing out until just the tip of his manhood was still within the confines of his lover's tightest hole before pushing his whole length firmly back into her innards, Harry sensed that Susan's mind was fully consumed with what he was doing to her and fully oblivious to the outside world. To the blonde beauty there was only their connection.
Susan closed her eyes as she reveled in the intimacy of the act she was partaking in with her new lover. Harry was buried deeply in her anal tract. Each time he rocked his hips back and forth his front ground against her sweaty back and his bloated balls ricocheted off her slit on his plunge inwards. His meaty tool was forcing her bowels to expand as he invaded them before letting them relax briefly as he evacuated her tunnel. The superhero's sultry voice and breathe beat down on Susan's neck as he let out delicious little moans right next to her ear. Then there was his scent. The smell of the sweaty man on top of her was simply intoxicating to Susan and arousing on a primal level. She simply couldn't get enough of him. There was something decidedly different about the pleasure being generated when he filled her pussy as opposed to what she was feeling building in her belly when he buggered her butt.
Susan stood up, forcing her mate to stand as well, and turned her head so that she could stare intently into his eyes.
"I'm going to cum," Susan announced with an intense fire burning in her eyes.
The blonde reached back with her left arm and grabbed some of Harry's hair, locking his gaze to her stare. The mage moved his lower hips only, pumping his prick in and out of Susan's butthole with rapid speed. The woman's features tightened for a second before a rapturous expression stole over her face. Harry felt Susan's insides clench tightly around his cock for a moment before she was gasping and shuddering in his embrace. The sheer beauty of that moment, of his woman, stole the warlock's breath away. With a final few strokes Harry achieved the necessary plateau for his release. Susan began crying her man's name as his dick began to unload in her bowels. Each spurt of semen caused a new surge of ecstasy to race through the anally impaled woman's nether regions. As a direct result each splash of semen also caused Susan's nectar to gush out of her pink gash. Harry hugged his woman tightly to him as her rectal grip coaxed his load from his testicles which were being telekinetically fondled. The blonde ground her tight bum back against his groin as she went through her most powerful climax to date.
"My god," was all Susan could whisper several minutes later as she recovered her breathe. "My god! No wonder Janet and Natasha love you doing that to them!"
"Mhmm...I'll be happy to bugger you anytime you want," Harry assured while he slowly rubbed his girlfriend's juicy snatch, his abilities keeping her from becoming too sensitive for the intimate massage so soon after orgasm.
"Mmm...you're still hard," Susan suddenly observed. "How about now?" "Ok," Harry agreed with a grin.
82
Suddenly pulling forward and off her man's spear Susan spun and dropped to her knees, saying, "But first I want to taste you now."
As Susan began polishing his knob Harry could only grin happily. End Smut Scene
By the time the couple had finally gotten their clothes back on Sue had managed to coax Reed into the Baxter Building's quite advanced bioscanner. Sue learned Reed had no internal organs anymore.
"Poor guy," Harry said after hearing that Reed had finally discovered that his internals had been replaced by a pliable bacterial sack which fed his blood stream a rich supply of nutrients from the air he breathed.
"No kidding," Susan agreed. "The biotechnologist in me is fascinated by the phenomenon but the woman in me cringes a bit that Sue is dating him. I know intellectually that there is nothing Reed can do but...," the blonde trailed off.
"There is no need to justify your emotions to me, love," Harry assured.
Susan and Harry returned their attention to the Baxter Building as Ben and Reed walked into a lab where Sue was waiting. The lab contained a large press meant to test the strength of synthesized materials.
"What is this thing?" Grimm asked while staring up at the massive machine. "It's a press to test your strength," Sue answered. "Why?" Ben replied.
"Ben, I just went through all of this crap with Reed. How about you shut your mouth before I put invisible poisonous snakes in your bed at night trained to go for your eyes," Sue threatened. "You'll never be able to tell how many or where they are."
"Ok, ok you want me to weight lift?" Ben clarified.
"Sort of...this machine is meant to test the integrity of super-dense new elements," Sue explained.
"Isn't this Mad Billy's machine?" Reed inquired.
"Mad Billy?" Ben questioned.
"Mad Billy was this kid who built a particle accelerator in his bedroom and then sat in the middle of it playing a banjo. He made new metals which were super heavy, super hard, and super dense," Reed clarified.
"We used this to try to crush those metals and now we are going to use it on you," Sue explained with a mischievous grin. "I will start the machine low and increase the weight incrementally. Tell me when you can't hold the plate up anymore," the blonde added while Ben stepped onto the platform.
"Ok," Ben agreed nervously. "I am starting off with a ton, Ben. Are you set?" Sue prompted.
83
"Do it," Ben responded. "And going," Sue declared while activating the machine.
There was a loud wrenching sound and the two scientists looked up from their console in surprise to see the machine broken badly.
"Your machine kinda blows," Ben declared, holding the remnants up in one hand.
"This is crazy, Reed. Ben was putting out seven tons per square inch with each hand," Sue announced in shock. "He could crush a tank like a normal human could crush aluminum foil."
"You know...that was actually pretty awesome," Ben said.
Moments later the windows of the room blew out. A swarm of tiny robotic insects swarmed the Baxter Building. Johnny Storm was on the street below and activated his flame powers, rocketing off the ground. The young pyrokinetic began projecting streams of fire as he flew up into the air, vaporizing the glass that was falling from the broken windows before it could reach the street below. Meanwhile pandemonium was reigning in the lab where Sue, Ben, and Reed were located as they tried to figure out what was going on. Sue automatically turned invisible.
"Sue, get out of here," Reed shouted as one of the insects with deadly sharp protrusions on its front flew towards his eyes intent on skewering him.
Harry wrapped his arm around Susan's waist and teleported into the building while casting a strong Notice- Me-Not charm around himself and his mate.
"Don't interfere," Harry instructed Susan while her younger sister yanked Reed out of the way of the deadly insect hurtling towards his face and began dragging him out of the room.
"Why don't they notice us? We are not invisible," Susan pointed out.
"No we are not," Harry agreed. "Their subconscious minds just don't allow them to consciously notice us due to one of my abilities."
"Why shouldn't we help them?" Susan asked. At the same time Reed said to Sue, "I thought I told you to get out of here." "I won't be doing anything you say when you shout at me like that," Sue replied. "Pretty frickin' please get out of here," Ben said to Sue as he crushed robotic insects left and right.
Harry said to Susan, "The very young never learn and grow without adversity to challenge themselves against. I am not saying we don't protect them, but only against what we are sure they cannot handle. Be ready to step in but we won't do so unless there is no other alternative."
The group rushed out of the room and closed the door. "That sounds like gunfire," Ben pointed out as the sound of automatic weapons fire could be heard down a
84
nearby hall.
The younger trio ran down several corridors until they came out in a large hall to see a soldier surrounded by robotic insects. The man was trying to shoot his attackers but to no avail. Susan and Harry could both see the man was going to die if action wasn't taken. Sue was still surprised and wouldn't have reacted quickly enough.
"Protect the soldier," Harry projected into his newest mate's mind while also delving into the mind of her younger sister.
While they may have physically been identical the two blondes were quite different mentally. Susan was mentally more mature and a warrior. Sue was still an academic at heart. Susan reached out and wrapped the soldier in a force-field at the surface of his skin. She then formed another flat force-field like a giant fly swatter and began crushing the robotic insects against the hard steel walls of the corridor. Meanwhile Harry was in Sue's mind making her believe she was the one destroying the insects and saving the man.
Just then Johnny burst into the hallway on fire shouting, "Sue, Dad!"
"I'm pretty sure he is in his office on the other side of the building," Sue replied as the last of the insects in the corridor met their end against the walls.
"So far I think the robots are only on this side of the building but they can fly," Johnny announced.
"They need to be contained," Reed suggested.
"But how?" Ben questioned.
"Incoming," Sue announced as a swarm of more robotic insects flew in from another hallway. "I've got this."
Sue proceeded to actually use her own powers to crush these attackers while Susan watched on proudly. While he had been in her mind Harry had learned that originally Sue would have created a cube of force- fields and crushed the insects that way. While it would have worked it would have wasted energy. Why create six crushing surfaces when only one is required? After seeing Susan's technique Sue copied it.
As the three younger males gaped at Sue she instructed, "Let's go. We need to get to the admin side of the building. Eight main corridors link that side of the floor with this side, heavy machinery. Protecting dad is our first objective."
Just then a large door slammed down in front of the quartet, blocking their path. "What the fuck?" Ben demanded.
"This is a containment protocol to protect the teachers from us kids in case an experiment went catastrophically wrong. The Baxter Building wasn't exactly a playground," Reed pointed out. "We have more incoming."
"You're not getting them all this time, Sue," Johnny declared while starting to shoot the flying insects down with bursts of fire.
"Is there anything I can do?" Reed questioned while Ben began crushing robots too.
85
"Do you have a ninja rubber-band death attack move?" Ben asked. "No," Reed replied sullenly. "Then stay there and try not to get stabbed by these suckers," Ben said.
"I can probably hack into the building's security system," Reed mused as he drew a tablet PC from his lab coat pocket. Several moments later Reed added, "The robots have gathered in A lounge, it is this way. I am also reading something else...Bluetooth."
"What is Bluetooth, Reed?" Ben demanded.
"Bluetooth short range radio used for data transmissions. It's big in cell phones in Europe and Scandinavia," Reed explained. "These things are communicating instructions with each other. Can you hand me one you smashed?" Ben picked up one of the robots and passed it to Reed. "These things have been pieced together out of parts of old cell phones, mp3 players, and other junk electronics. Oh no...I know who sent these. Johnny these suckers are vulnerable to extreme heat."
"They are also vulnerable to being smashed by my force-fields, Reed. You are not putting my brother in danger when I can safely smash these suckers from a distance," Sue interjected.
"Good point," Reed agreed, wise enough not to defy his girlfriend in this matter.
The bugs had hacked the door lock and sealed the room closed by the time the quartet had arrived but Ben made short work of the door. A swarm of several hundred of the robotic insects was swirling in the center of the room like a funnel cloud as they determined the best course of attack in the Baxter Building.
"I'm not sure if she is ready for this," Susan said next to Harry while the pair clung to the wall above the entrance to the room, the blonde in her boyfriend's arms.
"Just be ready to back her up," Harry suggested. "You can do this, Sue. Everyone is counting on you," the younger Miss Storms told herself.
Sue threw out her hands towards the ceiling and a flat sheet of energy formed more visible and solid looking than any she had constructed before.
"She has got this," Susan declared with a smile, suddenly more confident in her sister's abilities.
Seconds later the force-field plummeted through the air, descending with such speed and deftness that the insects didn't have a hope of avoiding it. With a massive crash the force-field came down on the robotic swarm like a giant fly swatter. Several inches of the floor indented so great was Sue's force. The blonde had a nosebleed from the effort and was panting but was smiling. Reed, Ben, and Johnny came rushing into the room fully now.
"Power induced nosebleed headaches are the worst," Susan informed Harry with a grimace for her sister.
The sorcerer sent a bolt of energy invisible to all but Susan at her sister. When it hit Sue's facial features which had held a small grimace despite her smile relaxed.
86
"You are just full of surprises, Harry," Susan said to her mate, grinning.
"Come on, let's go home for now. They have got this in hand. We can come back if something new develops. You know I will know right away with the monitoring tech I have placed throughout this place," Harry pointed out.
"Of course you are right," Susan agreed. "Let's go." The couple phased out of sight.
Reed's investigation into the robotic insects yielded a location for Victor in the country of Denmark. Reed immediately wanted to go after Victor because he knew if the military got their hands on Victor then Reed and company would never see Van Damme again and he was the only one who knew the final segments of the superpositioning code which had been uploaded into the components destroyed in the accident. Sue's father forbade pursuing Victor and instead went to the military. Dr. Storm should have known Reed wouldn't drop the issue.
Baxter Building, the top floor...
"What level is this?" Ben asked as Reed led him, Sue, and Johnny into a massive chamber stacked with large crates and overhead cranes.
"This is the floor directly under the roof where we airlifted some of the larger equipment in. I keep one of my old toys, one I never showed you Sue, up here. Back then you were still just the Principal's daughter to me. My parents have barely said a word to me since I became a resident of the Baxter Building. When I was younger sometimes I would let it slide...but other times when they just wanted to get off the phone or...well I wanted to go see them. Ben, you have to understand. We didn't get let out of the Baxter Building without visit passes and authorizations that the parents had to sign off on. My folks wouldn't do that. So I made a car," Reed finished his explanation as he walked into a smaller room and gestured towards a wheel-less vehicle that looked somewhat like a car.
"It has no wheels," Ben pointed out the obvious.
"It flies and the roof retracts," Reed replied. "I wrote an override for the roof controls," the genius added while holding up his tablet PC.
"This is seriously way cool," Johnny declared. "What do you call it?" "I named it when I was thirteen. Don't judge. I called it the fantasti-car," Reed announced. "That sucks," Ben declared. "It fantasti-sucks," Johnny added. "Lay off my boyfriend boys or I will be forced to punish you," Sue promised with a mischievous grin. "I don't even want to know why she is smiling like that," Johnny said with a shiver.
87
"Let's have a look inside," Ben suggested.
As the two single males began exploring the car Sue turned to her boyfriend and inquired, "You were going to visit your parents?"
As Sue wrapped her arms around his neck Reed explained, "I always chickened out because I feared they would slam the door in my face."
After kissing his cheek, Sue said, "You know you have me now, don't you?"
"Do I?" Reed queried.
"Always did," Sue assured. "So why reveal the fantasti-car now?"
"I just had a discussion with your dad. The military is going after Victor and if they get to him first we will never see him again. Which means we will never get the superpositioning code," Reed explained.
"We will never be able to fix ourselves," Sue lamented. "You are planning on beating the military to him aren't you?"
"Indeed," Reed confirmed. "I will go alone if I have to but I would appreciate the help."
"Ben, Johnny, get your butts out here," Sue barked. "The army is going to grab Van Damme and if they do we will never be able to fix ourselves," the blonde explained as the two males climbed out of the flying vehicle.
"What are we waiting for...let's get after him," Johnny urged. "Yeah, it's clobberin' time," Ben declared. "It's what?" Johnny questioned. "It's something my coach used to say before a big game," Ben explained. "Is the fantasti-car ready to go?" Sue questioned her boyfriend.
"I loaded some food in there earlier," Reed assured.
"Real food, or Twinkies and junk?" Sue probed.
"Ok, maybe I need to get some real food and then we are ready to go," Reed amended.
"What about fuel?" Johnny questioned.
"It runs off of a device which sucks energy like a vacuum out of the universe," Reed replied. "I actually modified a vacuum cleaner to do it."
"Reed, you are so weird," Johnny told the older male.
88
Over Copenhagen several hours later... "What is your plan for when we find Victor?" Johnny asked Reed from the back seat of the fantasti-car.
"We make him tell us the alterations he made to the superpositioning code. After that the army can do what they want with him," Reed replied.
"Clarify what you mean by make him," Sue urged. "By whatever means necessary we make him tell us the code," Reed said resolutely. "I am not disagreeing with your proposed methods, Reed," Sue began. "I'm just saying..." Sue was cut off as Reed spotted the launch point of the robotic insect swarm. "There is our target," Reed interrupted. "It looks like a shantytown has been built up in that location," Sue observed.
Suddenly a beam of energy was launched from a figure on the ground right at the fantasti-car. The fantasti- car was struck and began to plummet. An invisible Susan and Harry were flying behind the fantasti-car. Susan reached out and caught the crashing transport, slowing it down enough that it hit with considerably less force than it would have otherwise. The airbags had deployed in the interior of the craft.
"Well, that was a lot easier than I expected," Victor Van Damme declared as he lowered the beam weapon from his shoulder, unable to see the downed craft from the dust cloud that had been thrown up.
As if hearing Victor's comment, Johnny Storm flew out of the wreckage on fire and straight at the fantasti- car's attacker.
"As usual Johnny, the universe is laughing behind your hotheaded back," Victor declared before launching half a dozen deadly metallic shards from his wrist. "And I'm laughing in your face."
Just as Johnny was hit by one of the shards in the side Ben came charging out of the wreckage.
"Where's the douche wearing the blanket that shot me in the ass?" Ben demanded.
"Here, shooting you in the chest," Victor answered as he aimed his energy canon.
"Ah shit," Ben had just enough time to say before the beam impacted him in the chest and threw him back into a nearby building with enough force to demolish the structure.
Sue snuck up behind Victor while invisible but he turned and noticed her form passing through the smoke from his weapon. Sue realized she had been spotted.
"If that is really you Victor," Sue began to say.
Before she could continue Victor spewed forth a cloud of poisonous green gas right at the blonde. Sue was blown off her feet and began hacking.
89
"I am not really sure myself," Victor began as he approached the downed blonde. "But I seem to be converting the remains of my internal organs into poison, Susan. Do you think that is possible?" As Victor stood over Sue he added, "If you inhale deeply you might be able to identify the poison. But you will have to think quickly because the final stage is the victim breaking their own back from the violent convulsions."
"Get the fuck away from my girlfriend, Victor," Reed growled as he crawled from the craft, having been working to ensure the power source didn't go critical and level the city.
"It amuses me Richards that the universe did not grant you any special gifts. As pathetic as your cohorts were, they at least offered me entertainment. You I am going to impale after snapping your neck," Victor promised.
"Well you finally went over the deep end you crazy bastard," Reed declared.
"My father taught me that there are only two kinds of people in this world Richards; the kings and everybody else," Victor answered.
"Your dad used to beat you like a runt dog, Vic. He traveled the world and you clung to his leg like a leech. He couldn't wait to scrape you off and toss you in the Baxter Building because you just weren't good enough," Reed taunted. A cry of rage escaped Victor's throat and his disfigured form leapt towards Reed. Reed stretched out his form and wrapped his body around the metallic midsection long enough to grab hold of Victor's goat-like right leg. Reed grabbed hold of the leg and slammed Victor's metallic face into the pavement. "I will make this simple for you Vic since I know how simple your mind is. Give me the superpositioning code and you will never see us again."
"I will die first," Victor said. "You were nothing before I granted you my attention. This wasn't an accident. I was meant to be glorious like this and you a freak. I will leave you trapped in that fluidic body and laugh at
the horror that your life has become." Victor's insane rant was interrupted at that moment by Johnny.
"This is for messing with my sister," Johnny called after he had begun projecting a stream of flame down at Victor who screamed on the ground.
"Are you alright, Sue?" Reed asked as Johnny poured on the heat.
"Yeah, I am better now. I projected an internal force-field to seal my throat. It hurts like you couldn't imagine," Sue replied.
"Not so tough without your bazooka are you," Johnny said as he let off the heat.
"Let's see how tough he is when he can't spew his noxious breath on me or breathe at all," Sue suggested as an airtight force-field sealed Victor's head off from the atmosphere. "I can feel him clawing at that force- field. How hard is that stuff covering his body, Ben?"
"I have only met you twice but I hate you already," Ben declared as he picked Victor up by the midsection with one giant hand and slammed goat-legs into the pavement.
"What is that beeping for?" Sue asked her boyfriend as an alarm on his suit went off. "It is an alarm tied to an electromagnetic detector I set up to tell me if Victor had more wireless robots
90
around," Reed replied. "Well this isn't going to be good," the genius added as he and Sue observed the eyes of the crowd around them in the commune glowing brightly.
Harry and Susan observed nanite composed dragon tattoos bite into the commune members and take control of their bearers.
"Did you think I was lying about being a king? I have subjects and they do my bidding because of their love for me. I love them as well. Would you kill for me, my people?" After the crowd had answered in the affirmative Victor commanded, "Kill for me now. Bring me their eyes. Display their corpses on the perimeter of the commune."
The crowd rushed the fantastic quartet.
"I need two minutes to sever Victor's control over these people," Reed announced as he began typing away at the computer in his suit gauntlet.
"I am good at defense...but it will be difficult without breaking the necks of these people," Ben said as he was attacked by the horde.
"You will have to do your best," Sue asserted. "They don't know what they are doing," the blonde added while punching one of the attackers.
Johnny flew over and attempted to mildly singe several of the attackers but accidentally overdid it. "Shit," Johnny cursed as several of the attackers burst into flame. "I am nearly there," Reed assured. "Nearly isn't close enough," Ben growled.
"It will do," Sue asserted as she put up a shield around herself, Ben, and her boyfriend.
"Indeed it will," Susan sent to her telepathic mate as she erected her own powerful bubble around her younger sister's force-field.
"Sue...," Ben said worriedly as the attackers pounded on the bubble in great numbers. "I am surprisingly doing pretty well, Ben," Sue assured, surprised that she wasn't feeling strained at all.
"What the hell kind of encryption is Victor using?" Reed muttered to himself as he struggled to break into the control system Victor was using on the people attacking the Americans.
"Kill them!" Victor screamed. "King! I know all the names. Vlad Tepes Dracula married Cneajna of Transylvania! Begetting Mihnea! Mihnea married...," the mad man shouted, rattling off his family tree back centuries. Victor's father had beaten those names into him for years so he wasn't likely to forget anytime soon. "Can you hear me now father? Can you hear me now?"
Suddenly the unmistakable sound of a high powered projectile hitting the pavement and cutting through the flesh of one of the attackers could be heard.
"We blew it...the army has arrived," Reed announced.
91
Soldiers repelled down from the hovering attack choppers.
"Freeze! Please remain calm. If you move I will have to use lethal force to subdue you," one soldier shouted at Victor with gun aimed.
"Do not seek to harm my people," Victor warned.
"We are not here to harm your people, Mr. Van Damme. We are here to bring you back with us to the Triskelion," a Colonel who had just exited one of the recently landed craft declared.
"Mr. Van Damme thinks not," Victor rebutted.
"That wasn't an offer, Van Damme," the Colonel barked. "I will subdue all these people swiftly if your weird looking ass isn't on that chopper stat."
"You do not make demands of a king, soldier," Victor stated. "Do you really intend to mow down dozens of innocents in the middle of a foreign country to subdue me?"
"Look over there," Reed pointed as another military convoy rolled up in tanks.
"Stand down immediately! This is the Danish army and your presence is unauthorized. Stand down or we will open fire," a tank commander called over a megaphone. The American Colonel tried to argue. "Victor Van Damme and his family hold many citizenships including Danish. His presence may be undesirable but it is legal. Now go home."
"You see Richards...my Keep is legal under squatter's rights," Victor taunted.
"Sure it is, Victor," Reed agreed while pressing a button on his computer, causing Victor's wireless control unit to overload and the nanite tattoos controlling the squatters to disintegrate. "It took me awhile to figure out how you did it but now I have overloaded your implants. Let's see how your subjects treat you now."
The squatters turned their backs on Victor and began to walk away. "You still don't have your precious code Richard so I win! I have trapped you in those hideous bodies! You are my subjects now," the deranged Van Damme declared.
As the American soldiers were herding the Fantastic Four towards the choppers Reed spotted one of the metallic shards Victor had hurled at the quartet during the battle sticking out of the ground. Quickly the elastic male stretched out his arm and snatched up the shard before using it to slash Victor's face.
"You...you cut me," Victor said in amazement as he touched the gash. "Why isn't it healing?!"
"You have been impaled on your own sword, Victor," Reed said. "I will see you again, you can be sure of that."
"That is my boyfriend," a grinning Sue told one of the soldiers proudly as she boarded the chopper.
It happened while Harry was in Denmark with Susan. Some idiotic thief impersonating Spider-Man robbed a bank. It was obvious to the mage and his friends that this wasn't really Spider-Man because the thief was
92
much smaller physically than the warrior warlock and was wearing a mask. In fact even the witnesses questioned the validity of the thief's being Spider-Man because of the mask. The criminal's physical size also threw doubt on his being the costumed superhero. The thief managed to get in and out of the bank before an alarm could be tripped.
Harry still maintained his job at the Daily Bugle with very little effort. He would make the occasional appearance and rely on holographic projectors floating through the Bugle office at other times to make it seem like he was present after school. Lily controlled the holograms and could even hold up a conversation with Bugle employees with realistic responses garnered by a computer generated simulation of her creator's brain. The bio-net AI also maintained the Bugle's website.
Shortly after the robbery occurred and Lily had informed her creator of the police reports he put an actual appearance in at the Bugle. Ben Ulrich, a Bugle reporter, had been one of the witnesses to the crime.
"I love ya...I really do," Jameson told Ulrich after hearing his reporter had been on the scene. "And no one else from the press was present?"
"No, but this is never going to stick," Ulrich warned. "Wall Crawler Shows True Colors," Jameson says as a headline, ignoring Ulrich's caution.
"I think Ben is right," Robbie Robertson interjected. "Spider-Man is a multi-millionaire from his media rights alone. He would never need to rob a bank. He is also an Ultimate. We don't want to get in the middle of this, Jonah."
"It is going to be reported by every news agency. We are going ahead with the story," Jonah barked. "This guy also wasn't as big physically as Spider-Man," Ulrich added. "I'll bet he wasn't. Nobody is as big as Spider-Man," Betty Brant said suggestively with a grin. Harry actually had to stifle a laugh at the attractive woman's comment.
"There is also the mask to consider. Why would Spider-Man put back on a mask? This criminal is obviously an impostor," Ulrich continued.
"I am not going through this bullshit with you again, Ulrich. I want this on the front page with a headline that can be seen from a mile away. I want a graphic...," Jonah began before noticing Peter. He pointed two fingers at Harry and said, "You. Where are the pictures the kid brought us that one time? We will use one of those."
Harry's only thought was, "You have got to be fucking kidding me."
By the evening edition the news was out. The headline read Spider-Man: Criminal. Fury owed Harry quite a bit and kept any of the more idiotic law enforcement officials from showing up at the office building that was the headquarters of the Spider-Man merchandising along with anything Spider-Man. It was good the police hadn't tried to storm the building. The place was better protected than just about anywhere else on the planet with a suite of technomancy crafted security systems. That same company finally shut Jameson's mouth up by purchasing a majority share of Daily Bugle stock.
When Harry arrived home after his visit to the Bugle he found a police cruiser parked out front. The mage
93
recognized the vehicle as the squad car used by Gwen's father. Gwen, MJ, Susan, and Janet were upstairs. May was down in the kitchen talking with Captain Stacy.
"I hate to impose on people. It was the way I was raised but I don't know what else to do," said Captain Stacy.
"Don't give it another thought. Gwen is a great girl. We single parents have to stick together," May suggested conspiratorially.
"I don't know if I am cut out to be a single parent. I am scared to death of my own daughter," Mr. Stacy admitted.
"I think you will do just fine. So your wife is completely out of the picture now?" May inquired.
"It looks like it," Richard Stacy answered.
"I am sorry if that was rude of me," May said.
"No, not at all. My wife leaving in the middle of the night without an explanation was rude," Richard assured.
Harry stepped into the room at that moment. "Hello Peter," May greeted warmly. "Hi Aunt May. Hello Mr. Stacy," Harry greeted. "Hello Peter," Richard greeted with a smile for one of his daughter's best friends.
Gwen had really started to settle down at her new school after befriending Mary Jane Watson and Peter Parker. Richard would have asked the Watsons if Gwen could stay with them but he had never met them. He at least knew May Parker. Gwen and MJ spent quite a bit of time over at the Parker residence.
"I saw the suitcase. Is Gwen staying here for a bit?" Harry inquired.
"Yes, Captain Stacy has a Police Detectives Conference in Atlantic City for the weekend. I offered Gwen a place to stay here. She is a delight to have around after all," May explained.
"That sounds great," Harry agreed. "I will just go up and see that she is settled in. Have a safe trip Captain Stacy," Harry said.
"Thanks Peter," Richard replied.
