FF: The Dorrek Alternative Update 30-07-2020 (Patreon)

 CHAPTER THREE:  DIRTY DANCING

"Fellas, really, we don't have to do this."

The Skrulls stared at Rich grimly, removing their ceremonial upper clothes, exposing the thickly-muscled emerald-skinned torsos and arms.

"We must.  You insulted our beloved Princess with your unworthy touch.  There is no other way."

"With my-?  But I didn't do a thing!  She was the one who hugged me!"

"Your words further damn you!"

"Good grief.  I never get a-!"

The thickest one turned to the taller one.  "No weapons.  We have orders.  We are at peace now.  We are guests here."

The other nodded.  "Only fists."

The rest grumbled their assent.

"Wait, wait, what do you mean only fists?"  He stepped backwards.  "We're just talking about fighting, right?"

***************************************************

As her husband came into view through the nearest gap in the crowd, Sue hastily rearranged her loose, disheveled blond locks with her free hand, while also trying desperately, but still unsuccessfully, to jerk her hand away from Dorrek's grip.

"I knew I saw your companion near this vicinity,"  Master Xar stated, coming a step behind Reed.

"Yes, thank you, Master Xar.  I thought I had already looked here."  He smiled at her.  "Sorry it took so long to find you, dear."

She was forced to move closer to Dorrek, much as that unnerved her, more now than ever, just to try to make less obvious the way Dorrek held on to her.  "You-You were... looking for me?"

"Yes, yes.  It just was a bit difficult to... ah, disentangle myself from Adora's demands."

Her caught hand tensed in a different way between the Skrull's fingers.  "Oh, yes.  I'm sure.  Really."

"I must thank Emperor Dorrek for keeping you company."  His eyes moved down to their joined hands.  "I see you are getting along better now."

"We-?"  Her face grew even warmer, as she squeezed Dorrek's hand back furiously.  "I wouldn't-"

"Indeed we are."  The Skrull smiled broadly.  "Your lovely wife even agreed just now to join me.  As my partner."

"She did?"

"Why, yes.  The music is just right, see?  For a dance."

"Oh, a dance?"

"Of course, if you don't mind it.  That I have your wife.  For a longer while."

"Oh, certainly not.  But I thought you wanted to leave the party early, Sue."

"I-I did?"  She could not blush any further at the ongoing exchange. How could this be happening?  To be standing here, between the man she loved, the man she had married, and the hateful evil alien creep who had just forced her to yet again be...  intimate with him?  Who had made her open her legs for him, for him and his...  all of his...  All while casually chatting like nothing had ever happened?  Like she had not just been forced to be unfaithful again?   Forced to cheat on her husband with this horrible alien fiend?  How could she go on after that?  Go on pretending?  That it had not happened?  That he had not made her do it?  Made her be...?  "Yes.  Yes.  I did.  I do.  We should.  We really should-"

Dorrek's eyes narrowed.  "But you would not back out now, would you?  Leaving me...  wanting?"

She would not look at him.  Not like this.  Not before Reed.  "I-I don't really feel-"

"But I was so looking forward to it.  Ever since we saw each other again.  Ever since-"

"We-We really have to go."  Why could she not free her hand?  Why was he so strong?  "Now.  Right now."

"But you already said yes to me.  Before.  Didn't you?"

Reluctantly, she nodded.  She had, hadn't she?  Said yes.  To him.  "But that-that was before-"

"Um, it would be rather impolite to back out now, Sue.  If you already accepted-"

"Oh, she did.  Accept.  To do it.  With me.  Didn't you?"

"Surely you can fit in Emperor Dorrek before we must go, can't you?"

Dorrek beamed.  "I'm sure she can.  So, may we?"

"Reed!"

"Of course you can.  I'll just wait here.  Master Xar wanted to discuss further the oscillation records, anyway."  He then turned back towards the elderly Xandarian scientist, giving her his back, as if it was all settled, as if it was all fine, as if it could ever be alright, again.

Before the startled Sue could protest any further, she was pulled towards the nearest raised dance platform, where several couples were moving rhythmically to a shrill melodic progression built over a heavy, cacophonous beat.

Sue fidgeted in his tow, almost as shocked by that recent exchange as by what had happened before, in the balcony.  The arrogant bastard had actually dared to ask Reed directly, to ask for her, openly, to claim her, from her actual husband!  And Reed had just let him!

Reaching the center of the platform, Dorrek turned nimbly and pulled her to him, pulled her into his arms, right there, before everyone, taking her by the waist and a hand, holding her firmly in his grasp, his long fingers spreading over the lowest part of her back and the top of her rear end, guiding her closer to him with his assured touch, much like back at balcony, leading her into a series of short flowing steps that shifted into abrupt jerking lunges at each main crash-beat of the music, her hips forcefully tugged forward, to press suggestively against her partner's lower body.

"You bastard,"  she muttered, furious at him, even as he nudged and tugged her, using just the right angles and level of pressure, to draw her into compliantly following his lead.  "Did you have to?"

"Did I?"

"Did you have to do that?  Do this?  Really?  Make a show?  Like this?"

"A show?"

As if to underscore those very words he spun her about gracefully before bringing her back close to him.

A show, indeed.

She should not be surprised, should she?  At how well he could move, here, on the dance floor, and how equally good he was at making her move right along with him, held so firmly, so tightly in his arms?  At how he could take command of her body with such smooth, manly assurance?  Had he not done the very same, just before, in a different kind of dance?  Startling her not just with his dramatical over-endowment, but also with his skill, and with his unsuspected, wiry strength and stamina, all so incongruous with his gangly gnomish appearance?

She had underestimated him from the very start, hadn't she?  Physically?  Sexually?  In every way?  Always being ultimately proved wrong?  About him?  Forcing her then to see him differently?  To take him differently?

How could she forget just how he had forced her to take him?  Really take him?

"A show.  Of us.  Of being...  together.  Of...  having me.  Like this.  With you.  Right before everyone?  Right before him."

"Why shouldn't we?  Be together?"

"You-You can't be fucking serious."

She had stormed off from the party before, furious at him, when first invited to dance, yet she was now doing just that, doing as he had asked of her, just as he had ultimately done what he wanted with her, out there in the terrace.  Everything she had at first denied him tonight, she had ended yielding to him, to his insolent insistence, his arrogant self-assurance, his confident overpowering of her rightful resistance.

Wasn't he making a statement with that?  Making it blatantly clear how easily he could have her do what he wanted of her?  Showcasing before the crowd, before everyone here, just how easily he could have her?  How he now openly...  claimed her?  Claimed her as his?

"Oh, I am very serious about our fucking, Susan."  He spun her once again, drawing her back even closer than before.

"What happened.  That...  That was a mistake.  A huge mistake."

"Was it?"

Could he make her yield even further?  Could he really make her change her mind about him that much?  Enough to even...  win her?  To woo her into such compliance with his desires?  Just because he was such a great fuck?  Just because she was still shaken, her legs still unsteady, even, from what she had experienced just minutes ago in his arms?

No.  He couldn't be right.  He couldn't have gotten to her that much.  He couldn't.

How impossibly absurd was it?  He was the very Skrull enemy who had almost caused their deaths, who had first tortured and abused her mere weeks ago, and who had just a short while ago coerced her yet again into another shameful act of clandestine intimacy out there in that balcony?  Right where they had almost been caught?  Discovered?  By her own husband?

Yet here she was, now out in the open, while held close, in his embrace, for all to see, her body pressed tight against his, trembling even as they danced, his hands holding her, just as his eyes held hers, with such control and authority.

"No.  No.  We can't do this."  Nervously she tried to draw back as much as possible, to keep from being too close to him, too tightly pressed against him.  "We can't.  I can't."

He laughed softly.  "It's easy.  Just hold on to me and keep following my lead."

"Stop that.  Stop mocking me."  She hated that.  Hated that much.  "I mean this.  This can't go on.  All of this.  Forcing me.  Forcing me to dance with you.  To be...  with you.  So everyone can see us.  See me.  To... humiliate me.  To shame me.  For what happened.  Shame me before everyone.  Before him."

"Why?  Why would you need to be ashamed?  Of being here?  Of being seen?  You, the most beautiful human female in all the galaxies, together with the most powerful ruler in the known universe?  What is there to be ashamed of that?  Isn't it... quite fitting, instead?"

"Fitting?"  She wanted to look away from his piercing stare, but did not.  Somehow she could not.  She hated that, too.  Hated it so much.  Hated him so much.

"It is.  Quite fitting.  As it was.  As you know it was.  So fitting."

The hand at her waist moved lower, stroking the upper curve of her firm behind, pulling her even closer with each dancing step, making her lower body brush teasingly at first against the protruding male bulge at groin-level, while the music changed in pace, becoming a slower, insistent cadence.

Where was Reed?  Was he seeing this, too?  Seeing her?  Like this?  In Dorrek's arms?  Right before him?  Before everyone?

"Please.  Please don't."  But she did not attempt to move his hand away.  "Everyone can see.  Everyone-"

"Let them.  Let them see you.  Everyone should.  See you.  See your beauty.  Your sex appeal.  With me.  In my arms."

She felt with almost physical intensity the many eyes following their motions, all around them.  Staring at her.  At them.

Her voice was hoarse with tension.  "Everyone...  will know."

"And why shouldn't they?"

"What?"  She stumbled, her legs faltering, and was forced to lean on him.

"Isn't it exciting?  For you?  For all of them?  For everyone?  Of course it is!  Even for those just watching us.  Just seeing us together.  Picturing us together.  The pairing of Terran females and Skrull males is among the most celebrated interspecies fetishes in the whole galactic cluster.  As it should.  Your kind is said to have the tightest, juiciest cunts among all humanoid species, while we Skrulls, even without shape-shifting, have by far the largest cocks.  As you know well.  Very well."

She stiffened in his embrace, losing the rhythm of the music.  Was that what everyone was thinking? About them?  Could they imagine all that had happened?  From the way he held her?  From the way she had not managed to get away from him?  Not managed to stop pressing against him?  All of him?  From the way their faces were so close as to almost be about to meet once again?

"Can they think that-?"

"How couldn't they?  How could everyone not picture an exquisite Terran beauty like you being penetrated, impaled, deeply, so deeply, by the biggest, thickest Skrull cock ever?  And then made to come, hard, again and again?  Come like you had never been made to come before-?"

"Dorrek!  Please!"  Her face grew unbearably hot and she looked away, nervously, unbalanced by what his words brought back, and unable to refute the assertion, or the redundant physical evidence pushing aggressively between her legs, as caught in the swaying embrace, her taller, curvy body pressed much more tightly against her alien partner's frame and against his full length, to literally grind steadily, firmly, against all of him, and all of it, as their motions together became slower and slower and more provocative.

"Surely you, of all people, get it."

"Yes," she conceded, reluctantly.  "I can get...  the appeal."  She did.  Get it.  She had.  The heat in her face and body rose to nearly feverish levels.  "But really, how can that...  particular physical contrast between our species not be just...  too much?  Far too much?"

"Please, dear.  There can't be such a thing as too much.  Not if ready enough.  And willing enough."

Was she?  Willing?  Willing enough?

"No.  No."  She could not.  Literally could not.  Not any more of it.  "Even if I...  I just couldn't!"

"Oh, dear, did it hurt that much?"

"You know it did!"   It had.  It had to.  Just like their first time.  Like she had known that it would.  Feared that it would.  Maybe even longed that it would.  "You almost split me in half, damn you.  It-It still hurts.  It does.  Really does."

It did, even now.  Hurt.  Hurt so much.  Between her legs.  Deep inside her.  From being stretched so wide and deep.  From being impaled by that daunting concrete manifestation of his maleness, of his crude sexual power.  It felt like it would never stop.  Never stop hurting.  Hurting so deeply inside her.

"Unlike with your husband?"

She winced.  How could there even be any comparison?  Any at all?  Between Reed and Dorrek?  It was almost absurd.  But it pained her to admit it.

"It's not all just about size,"  she protested, half-heartedly.  "There's more than..."

"Of course there's more.  And don't you want just that?  Want more?  Much more of it?"

Did she?

"No!"

Yet was her body not already pressing back against the hardness down there?  Against that massive bulge against her loins, so frighteningly big and hard, while they clung even more tightly against each other?  Their dancing now an upright semblance, a promise, of much more?  So much more?

Was that deeply lingering ache not just physical?  Was it...  something more?

"No.  It can't.  Can't be."  It could not.  It was too wrong.  Too dangerous.  In every way.   "There can't be... more.  Anything more.  Between us.  Than what we already..."  

"Really?  Must I remind you that you-?"

"That I lost your damn test?  I know!  I know I did."  She had.  Lost.  Failed.  Failed, dramatically, even, to prove herself unaffected by him, by his touch, by his undeniable sexual impact over her flesh.  "But this has already gone too far.  We went too far.  I can't let anything else-"

"But we had an agreement, Susan."  Holding her tightly, his ugly face was just inches away from hers.  "And we aren't quite finished yet, are we?"

She shook her head.  "I-I know I...  But I can't.  I'm sorry.  I can't go through with it."  Sorry?  Did she really say that?  Did she actually mean that?  Being sorry?  "Not as you expect of me.  Not as you want."

"But what is what YOU really want?  What you really need?"

The music picked up pace again and she was jerked against him much more aggressively, made to move much more suggestively against him, in a pace that recalled a more overtly provocative version of Earth's tango.  Her held hand was made to slide up and down her own flank, from where the silvery dress hugged tightly her rib-cage and down all the way along her fully exposed leg, as the high cut let its smooth, toned length escape forward and backward from the flowing silver skirt-part, again and again, in repetitive patterns.

"I want this to be over.  I need it to be over.  Please, Dorrek, let me-"
 

"I think what happened in the balcony says otherwise."

His mouth moved towards hers, but she pulled back just enough.

"You-You think that just because of...  that, I'm yours now?  I'm your property?"

He smiled.  "Aren't you?"

***************************************************

The loud commotion helped Johnny locate the right balcony, and he landed on it, his flame lighting it brightly.

"HEY!  What's going on down here?"  A tongue of flame rose from his fist, threateningly.  "That's my buddy there!"

"Johnny?  What the hell?"

The Skrulls did not back away, but glared at him sullenly   "You, human.  No weapons.  No powers."

"What's that?"

"We are at peace.  We have orders.  No weapons.  No deaths.  Only fists."

"Fists?"

"Fists."

Rich shook his head.  "Fuck it.  Just fuck it.  That sounded like some fetish porno.  I'm not doing this."

"Dude, we can't back out.  They want action?  We'll give it to them."

"It keeps sounding worse and worse!  And you're not wearing anything, damn it!"

"Oh, shit.  Forgot my suit wasn't made of unstable-"

"We're not going into a fight with you buck-naked!  That's wrong!"

"Hey, you haven't been at this as long as I-"

"And look at THEM!  They look like linebackers!  A shit-ton of them!"

"So?  I've been taking lessons with Danny Rand.  That's THE Iron Fist to you-"

"No.  No.  Fuck all that Bruce Lee shit.  I didn't have MY Nova suit on, back then, on their world, for a big stretch, and...   And THAT isn't happening again!"

***************************************************

Wasn't she?  His?

Because she had been.  She had belonged to him.  There, at the terrace.  Whatever her excuses, she had been his.  Sexually.  His sex toy.  His plaything.  She had climaxed in his arms, with his huge hard alien cock deep inside her.

Even if yet again he had not come himself, had yet again not filled her with his alien ejaculate, she could not deny that everything had changed now.  Everything.

How had she let him put her again in that position?  How could she have been so foolish?  So reckless?  So wanton?

Just because he was so good?  So damned good?  With his hands?  With his mouth?  With his giant alien cock?

But he had first just talked her into it, hadn't he?

He had just talked and worn down her defenses by being such an arrogant, overbearing, manipulative evil bastard who would not take 'no' for an answer, and who pushed all her wrong buttons to make her take all the wrong choices.  He had blackmailed her, threatening to expose her, to ruin her reputation, and also even threatened to restart a damn galactic war.  All for her.  All because he wanted to own her, wanted to have her for his own.

As he had.  Even if briefly.  But as he clearly expected her to continue to be.

But that could not be.  That she could not allow.

"That was just sex.  What happened.  Between us.  Just sex.  We just fucked, Dorrek.  It doesn't mean that I've surrendered to you.  Or that I ever would!"

"The night has only begun, Susan.  Just like the fucking.  Just like your surrender."

"You bastard.  You think you can really...  win me over?  Just like that?  Make me... beholden to you?  Just because you got your big fat cock inside me?  Just because you can make me...?  Even if you do make me...  Damn it, do you really think I'm that easy?"

But he just laughed softly, holding her tightly.  "Are you?"

Was she?  That easy?

Wasn't she still as angry at him as before?  Could she hate and despise the short ugly evil alien goblin any less just because he once again forced her to feel pleasure from his touch?  From having his giant alien cock shoved deep into her?  Shouldn't she feel angrier instead?  At how he had coerced her into spreading her legs for him yet again?  At how he had bested her?  Proving himself right?  About her?  About them?  At least in part?

Because it had been true.  His effect on her.  She could not deny it.  Just as she knew he had not finished with her.  Or finished in her.  Not yet.  Despite the risks she had faced, being with him out there in the terrace, it was still not over.  Because she was all-too aware that he had yet to come with her, to complete his act of copulation with her, finally filling her sex with his alien semen, as he had not done, in both of their two times together now.  And why hadn't he, really?  After all they had been through?  Why did it take so long for him to finish fucking her properly?  Wasn't she as hot and tight a fuck as they all said?  Wasn't she good enough a fuck to make him come?

Was she now angry at that?  At THAT?  At the idea that she had not been good enough for him?  Good enough to make him come like he made her come?

How had she gotten to that?  To this?  He was an enemy.  An evil, cruel dictator.  She should be angry because of how much she hated and despised him.  Despite what had happened.  Because of what had happened.  And what could still happen.  Which she could not allow.  Could not dare to allow.

"No.  I am not.  Not THAT easy.  I can't be.  I can't be...  yours.  I can't leave my husband.  Not for you.  Not for anyone.  I can't.  And I won't."   

She tried to push him away, to hold him at arm's length.

"Let's just finish this... this charade, Dorrek, of us, dancing here.  And this...  this will be over.  We'll be over.  I'll leave this place.  This world.  And I never want to see you again."

"Really?  Then we should make the most of this."  His hand seized roughly her buttock and pulled her even more aggressively against him, against his hard bulge, so hard that she knew, knew that he would not let it be over.  Not yet.  Not that easily.  "Our last time together."

Her chest pressed over his, bunched just under his face, which again moved close to hers, as ugly as it had ever been, but the green eyes shone bright and she did not look away even as his mouth now came alarmingly closer and closer to hers with each motion of their dancing.

"Dorrek-?"

He shushed her with a soft hissing sound, and the green lips were almost upon hers, and she felt short of breath, her eyes grown wide with near panic.

Surely he wouldn't.  Couldn't.  Not that.  Not here.  Not before everyone.  Not where everyone could see.  Where everyone would see.  It would be too much.  The dancing had already been too much.  But...  that?

She felt his hot breath on her mouth, on her lips, and then coarsely corrugated green lips grazed hers.

Her mouth opened slightly.  To protest.

"Dorrek...  Please..."

Then she could not.  Not anymore.

***************************************************

"Damn it, Rich, remind me to never get on your bad side, alright?"

***************************************************

She should have stopped him.  Stopped it.  The kiss.  Their kiss.

She should have.

Should have.

Should at least have made them invisible.  Like before.  Like in the balcony.

But it was too late, now.  When it had already begun, openly, right in the middle of the Xandarian dance floor, right before everyone, right before the whole party.  Where everyone could watch them.  Where everyone was already watching them.

In an impossibly stretched-out instant of breathless consternation, she felt like the whole universe did just that:  Watch her, watch Susan Storm of Earth, the Fantastic Four's Invisible Girl, as she stood right there in the middle of a crowd of many hundreds of luxuriously-dressed beings of multiple species, a crowd that also included her husband, while being held so tightly in the embrace of this short and ugly Skrull fiend whose alien mouth met hers, so hungrily, his daring lips and tongue demanding with such aggressive and inexorable authority her welcome, her surrender.

Which she could not help but give.

Could not.

How could he kiss her like this?  So brazenly?  So forcibly?  So irresistibly?  So damn well?  Making her feel like this?  Making her melt against him?

She tried to gasped voicelessly his name against his mouth, against his shared breath, while his hands roamed her, as they swayed against each other, the music now an afterthought, their mouths joined in a slow, dream-like reverie, a sinuous flow from their joined lips and tongues down through their whole entangled bodies, in a matched rhythm of demand and compliance.

Why was he so good?  So damn good?  When he was so wrong?  For her.

She had to stop it.  Stop him.  Stop this.  Before it went even farther.  Before it went too far.  Before the damn Skrull fiend began to actually fuck her right here, right before everyone, on the middle of the damn party.  Because she knew he would.  Because she knew he could.  If he wanted.  When he wanted.

He could.

"Ms. Susan?"

Susan quickly pulled her head back, gasping as she managed to free her mouth from Dorrek's kiss, even if not his arms, in order to glance with sudden panic to their side.

"Rich?"

With eyes bulging, the young man stared at her from a mere step away, the ceremonial trappings over his Nova costume torn to shreds.

CHAPTER FOUR:  I KISSED A SKRULL AND I LIKED IT

He shouldered through the crowd, angrily.  He had to get out of here.  Out of this place.  This party.  This planet.

What the hell was he doing here, anyway?  Playing errand boy for other people's affairs?  Busting his ass in war, or trying to be a hero, while others got to be with the most beautiful women he had ever known and all he could do was watch from the sidelines afterwards?

Maybe if the three alien babes had stuck around...  but they hadn't.  And that had hardly amounted to anything.

The best thing in all these past weeks remained the kiss, didn't it?  Her kiss.  So fast and short but...  hers.  A kiss from her.

Sure, she was married, and so far out of his league anyway in looks and fame and class and just about everything, but hey, a guy could dream, couldn't he?  Even if to her he was only just a dumb kid, he could still dream that something crazy would happen and the most totally beautiful woman on Earth or anywhere else would somehow decide to give a chance to someone usually so far underneath her that no one would have otherwise even considered to ever be in the running.

And then he saw her.  Saw them.

***************************************************

"YOU BASTARD!"

"Rich!"  Flustered, Sue grabbed at the young man's arm.  "Stop!"

"How-How could you even-?"  Shrugging off Sue's attempt to hold him back, Rich violently shook the short old alien by the brocaded lapels of his baggy clothing, oblivious to the surprised stares of all those around.  "Do... that?  To her?  TO HER?"

"How?  Well.  I did it well.  As you clearly saw."  A dozen tall and equally broad Skrulls rushed towards them, but Dorrek raised a hand to bid them to keep their distance.  "As she can-"

"No!  She'd never do something like that!  Not her!  Not with you!"  Pulled back threateningly, his other fist began glowing with furious energies.

"RICH!  Stop this RIGHT NOW!"  More of the crowd was taking greater notice of the exchange on the dance floor, and more and more Skrull guards began to gather around them.  Xandarians too.  And media drones.  It was quickly becoming a full-fledged diplomatic catastrophe.  She could not let that happen.  She couldn't.  "STOP ALL OF THIS!"

"She's Susan Storm!  The Invisible Girl!  She'd never-!"

"BUT I DID!  I DID IT!  I KISSED HIM!  I WANTED TO KISS HIM!"

Rich froze, his eyes opening wide like saucers.  "What?"

"You heard her,"  Dorrek grunted, brushing nonchalantly Rich's now-slack hand from his lapel.

Red-faced with consternation, Sue looked away from Rich's shocked face and Dorrek's smug smile, glancing again all anxiously at the many-hued faces surrounding them.  Was Reed anywhere close?  Had he heard?  Or watched?  Or would someone simply tell him?  What she had just stated?  Out loud, too?
Why had she even said THAT?

She had tried to clear her mind, to focus her invisible force to pry the two apart, but she could not focus well enough, still too off-balance, too dizzy and breathless from that kiss, that kiss they had so shamelessly shared right before everyone, Dorrek and her, the kiss thankfully cut short by Rich's unexpected appearance, before it could have led to anything worse.

"Look, Rich, I-I can explain."  Could she?  Really?  To Rich?  To Reed?  To anyone who knew her?  She struggled to find something to say.  An explanation.  A justification.  Anything.  "There's no need for-"

"You-You wanted to... kiss him?"  Rich's eyes darted back and forth with bafflement between her and the short green alien emperor.  "HIM?"

She winced.  She had not really wanted to, had she?  Not at first, at least.  Not before...  "Rich...  This-this is just a misunderstanding."

"But you're married!"

"I know that.  You don't have to remind me."  She breathed deeply.  Maybe she had not reminded herself.  Not well enough.  Not strongly enough, really.

"And he-he's an alien.  And he's old.  And ugly.  And...  wasn't he one of the bad guys?"

Sue nodded repeatedly.  "Yes.  Yes.  Yes.  And yes.  He is.  Or was.  But not anymore.  More or less.  At least, not at the moment!"  Could she ever stop considering Dorrek anything but that?  A bad guy?  An enemy?  A most dangerous enemy?  How could she not?  "But that doesn't-"

"He-he must have been doing something to you, Ms. Susan!"

"Boy, you saw exactly just what I was doing to her-"

"Dorrek, please!  Let me handle this!"

"He was taking advantage of you!  He had you-Had you enthralled!  With some kind of mind control!  Or some drug!  To force you to-"

"I don't need such tricks, you silly infant,"  Dorrek sneered.  "Not even when I do want to force-"

"He wasn't forcing me, damn it!"  Even if he had.  Forced her.  Yet again.  Like he had so many times.  Like back in his world, like out there, in the terrace.  And just now, here on the dance floor, he had forced her, again, into this.  All this.  Against all her protests and resistance.  Forced her.  To be in his arms.  To take his kiss.  To get into his kiss, too, and kiss him back.  He had forced her into that, too, hadn't he?  "We were just dancing and-"

"Dancing?"

"Yes, dancing."  She sighed.  "Rich, listen, please.  I know how all this... looks.  I know you're surprised.  I was, too.  But Dorrek...  Emperor Dorrek is an important guest here and he invited me to dance.  And I agreed.  Because this dance, this whole party, is all about the peace treaty.  So we have to be polite.  We have to get along.  To be nice.  For the greater good.  Because there's more at stake here than-"

Dorrek smirked.  "I thought you said before that you wouldn't ever play nice with-"

"You're not helping," she muttered at Dorrek, irritated.  "So we were just dancing and getting really close was part of it and I just went along with that and then...  then the emperor kissed me.  And I was surprised, sure, but I...  I went along with that, too.  I... let him.  I let him kiss me.  Because it may be part of it, here, too, and-"

"Part of it?"

"Of the dancing.  Of...  getting along in an event like this.  This is a different world, Rich.  With different customs.  We have to be...  accommodating.  Of the differences."  Her face was warm again.  "So we kissed.  While we danced.  For a while.  Maybe even a long while, but...  It wasn't that big a deal.  It was just a kiss."

"But his hands were also-"

"Damn it, Rich!  I know where his hands were, too!  I was there!  It was my-!"  Sue cut herself short, her face burning hot.  "It was just something that happened, alright?  Yes, Emperor Dorrek did take some liberties that would be rather too forward, on Earth.  But we're not on Earth.  We are at a different galaxy altogether!  So we can't just judge things here by our standards.  Things here are not the same as-"

"Oh, things here are certainly not the same.  At all,"  Dorrek said.

She glowered at Dorrek.  Why couldn't he shut up?  "They may just be a lot more... uninhibited here, than on Earth, with much closer... personal contact, for dancing and...  other things and...  I mean, look around!"

Hesitatingly, Rich did just that.  Certainly a lot of the people still dancing all about were not holding back from groping each other without much modesty, now that everyone had gone back to their own matters.  But they were aliens, after all.  And she...  she was not.

He looked back at Sue, frowning.  Had he been wrong?  Had he insulted her?  He had never wanted that.  "It's just that...  you looked like you had been crying, so that's why I thought that-"

"Crying?"  Sue raised a hand to her face, startled.

"Um, yes.  I mean, your, uh, make-up, it looks-"

"Oh, that?"  Nervously, she rubbed at her cheeks.  Her eyeliner must have run, what with her tears of anger and frustration and everything else, out there, at the terrace, before...  and during, too.  How could she have not cried?  With all that she...?  "That was just...  It got rather...  hot, here, just as-"

"Oh, yes,"  Dorrek said.  "It did.  She did."

Rich kept frowning.  "And your hair-"

"Yes, that, too."  She quickly brushed back her disarrayed blond locks from her flushed face.  Was she really such a mess?  How had Reed not noticed all that, too, just a while ago?  He hadn't said anything, had he?  But then, it was Reed.  Of course he wouldn't have noticed.  Not him.  "It-It was really very energetic at times.  The dancing and all-"

"Oh, very,"  Dorrek agreed.  "And all."

"But when you said that you WANTED to kiss him-"

"I just wanted-wanted things to go smoothly!  Between all of us!  That's why-"

"Are you really sure it wasn't that he, like, made you, made you think you wanted to, with some kind of hypnosis powers or-"

"Rich, will you stop?  It wasn't-"

"Because they always have some weird power you never knew about.  Specially the alien ones,"  Rich continued, glancing sideways at Dorrek.  "There was this-"

"No.  It was NOT like that.  Not at all."  Yet for a moment, she hesitated, wondering if there could actually be something like that.  To explain what had happened.  How she had behaved.  How she had reacted.  It would be a relief, wouldn't it?  But from what she remembered, only the Super-Skrull had anything like  such power, and he had certainly not used it on her.  And Reed had proved years ago that Skrulls were the ones highly susceptible to hypnosis, with that cow thing that still creeped her out.  So she could not justify anything that way, could she?  "I am... sure of it."

"Because you kinda looked like-not quite yourself, when you-"

"Maybe you just don't know me that well, Rich."  She closed her eyes, exasperated, fed up with all the questioning, the judgement.  And not just from him.  "Maybe unlike for you, it wasn't that big a problem for me.  Maybe I didn't mind it that much, sharing a kiss.  Even with... him.  Even if he had been...  an enemy.  I mean, why would that be somehow worse than what happened before?  With fighting each other?  We crossed vast distances of intergalactic space just to come close to killing each other?  And that was alright?  But having a kiss instead, having a moment of... togetherness, is that so... wrong?  Really?  To just do something we both enjoyed instead?  To just-?"

"Enjoyed?"

"Yes!  That is how kisses are!  Or should be!  I kissed you once, too, didn't I?  And you did not seem to mind it, or that I was married, did you?"

Rich felt his face burning, remembering.  "Um, yes.  That..  But that-that sure wasn't like that.  Not like you... Like you and he-"

Dorrek laughed.  "Oh, I'm sure it wasn't!"

Her lips had been so soft, so sweet, so briefly against his.  "I mean, you-you were so much more-"

"Much more WHAT?  Into it?  Into the kiss?"  She could just not hold back any more.  "Maybe I was!  Maybe it just was that good a kiss!  Would that be so terrible?  That it was a great kiss?  For both?  And that I enjoyed it?  That we both did?  Is it such a crime?"

"But that is what gets to you, isn't it, boy?"  Dorrek cut in, smiling smugly.  "That she enjoyed it that much?  And that it was with me and not with you.  That it could never be like that with you."

"WHAT?"

"Dorrek, please!"  How had she let this happen?  Let it get to this point?  "I mean, Emperor Dorrek, please.  Just let me sort this out.  Before it becomes any bigger-"

"Don't worry, darling.  I will let this go-"

"Thank you,"  Sue muttered, relieved.  "It's better if we all just-"

"For you," Dorrek added.  "Because he could have been made to pay a high price, for daring to lay hands on the Imperial Person.  A much higher price."

That was too much for Rich, on top of everything else.  "You and what army, grandpa?"

Dorrek's face darkened.  "I do have an army."

"Bring it!  I already kicked a bunch of your kind's ass tonight-!"

"STOP!  Stop it!  Both of you!"  Sue moved quickly between them.  "Don't start again-!"

"The boy needs to be taught a lesson-"

"Dorrek!"  Exasperated, she raised a hand to Dorrek's mouth, to bid him silent.  "Don't!"  Her fingers stayed against his thin, green, corrugated lips.  "For me.  Please."

Dorrek frowned, and took her hand in his, bringing it down between them.  "Fine.  For you.  Just for you."

Rich stared at them, eyes wide open, registering the words and gestures.

Just a kiss, she had said.  Just a kiss.

He had to believe her, right?  Surely it couldn't...

"Was there any problem, dear?"

Rich and Sue both turned about to see Reed Richards standing right besides them.

"Reed?"

"Mr. Richards?"

"Sorry to interrupt, but it seemed like there was some kind of commotion near here just now and I-"

"Commotion-?"

"Ah, Richards," Dorrek said calmly out loud.  "We were just now telling your fellow Earthman how different things here could be, like with your lovely wife-"

"Different?"

"Yes.  Quite different from Earth, how we do it here.  Much more demanding that what she expected at first.  But she kept up quite well, I assure you."

Sue's face was pale like a sheet of paper.  "Dorrek, don't-"

"Not everyone can adapt to this type of dancing that easily, I assure you."

"Oh, Sue is quite good, I know."  He looked at those still dancing all around.  "It's really very lively.  Energetic."

"Indeed!"  Dorrek smiled mockingly.  "So much more than how you do it on Earth, isn't it?"

"Excuse me, uh, Mr. Richards," Rich cut in.  "You knew that they were-?"

"Oh, sure.  Emperor Dorrek insisted to take Sue for a spin."

Still pale, Sue moved to her husband's side.  "Reed, it'd be better if we-"

Rich insisted:  "And you didn't mind?"

"Why would I?  It's great that we're building a new, more mutually productive relationship between all of us."

"Oh, our new relationship certainly produced great results.  Susan certainly made the most tonight of our time together, I assure you; truly getting much more from me than any would at first expect-"

"Dorrek-!"

"But how could I not give to her all that she asked for so passionately?"

"Don't!  Just-"

"The full, unconditional end to slavery in the Skrull Empire!  To be effective immediately, too."

Sue stared speechless at the grinning emperor, while Reed turned to her, beaming.

"Those are amazing news, Sue!"

"Yes.  Wonderful," she muttered, testily.

"Shall be officially announced tomorrow morning," Dorrek went on. "After Susan and I finally come together, ah, to an agreement on the last pending details."

Reed hugged Sue warmly.  "That is an extraordinary achievement, dear.  You must be so happy."

Sue managed something like a smile.  "Of course."

"I had just invited Susan to come join me at my quarters here in the palace, to better, ah, discuss those last fine points, without all the noise and distractions here."

Sue's forced smile vanished.  "At your quarters?"

"Of course, the sooner the better,"  Reed said.  "Sue already wanted to leave the party early.  Didn't you, dear?"

"To go home,"  she replied curtly.  "Not to go...  anywhere here.  Or with anyone-"

"But this is such a breakthrough!  I thought you'd want to get it finished right away."

She turned stiffly to Dorrek.  "I thought we had everything already...  settled, Emperor."

"Oh, but we wouldn't want to leave so much done half-way, would we?"

"Surely not,"  Reed agreed.  "Darling, you will have gotten more done in just one night than everybody else over the past weeks of talks!"

"Oh, yes.  Quite much more indeed.  In just one night."

Sue embraced Reed's arm, pressing against him, against his tall frame, so familiar, so comforting, so reassuring, so different from Dorrek's.  "Fine.  Let's go, then.  Together."

"Together?"  Reed frowned.  "Ah, actually, I meant to just interrupt your dancing for a moment, to tell you that Master Xar just proposed to show me an interesting new development at his laboratories so I-"

"WHAT?"  She had to have misheard.  She must have.  The music was still too loud.  She was still too shaken.  "You didn't just-?"

"See, the data on the-"

Her hold on his arm grew limp.  "Reed, you can't be serious.  You didn't come just to tell me that you wanted to leave me alone?  That you-?"

"Well, you wouldn't be alone, would you?  You'd be busy, too.  With Emperor Dorrek.  Finalizing-"

"Oh, she'd certainly be busy,"  Dorrek said.

She stepped back, frowning.  "Reed!  You'd have me go...  with him?  With HIM?  Without you?  To his-?"

"Why, I'm sure the Emperor will not mind if-"

"Oh, I certainly would not mind-"

"Shut up," Sue muttered at the Skrull, eyes fixed on her husband's face.  "Let me get it straight.  You'd have me go alone with the Skrull Emperor to his private rooms while you check out something at a lab.  Really?  REALLY?"

"Um, it would just be for a while, dear.  It's just that the shift in the oscillation readings could imply a drastic-"

"Sure!  So now the ending of slavery is not THAT important, right?  Not as much as your lab work?"

"But that is all YOUR accomplishment, dear.  You certainly did not need me at all to come to-"

"Oh, yes.  I certainly did not need you for that!"

"But if it makes you upset, I won't-"

"If it makes me UPSET?"

"I suppose I could tag along at least for a-"

"Tag along?"  She shook her head.  "You know what?  Go.  Just go.  Go mind your numbers, if that's what you really want to.  I-I don't know why I was surprised.  Why I even thought I could..."

"Um, Sue, I'm sorry if I-"

"Yes.  I'm sure.  You'd be.  And me, too.  Sorry.  Very sorry."  She turned from him, fists clenched.

Dorrek stepped towards her.  "Ah, Susan, if I may-"

"No, you may not."
 

Without a further word, she strode away, the party-goers in her path unceremoniously shoved aside by unseen force.

Reed scratched his graying temple and turned to Dorrek.  "Did I say something wrong?"

Rich just stared.

***************************************************

She would have slammed the door behind her, but there was nothing to slam, instead the entrance to the room smoothly irised to a close with a soft musical chime.

Not even that worked for her here.  Nothing did.  Nothing fucking did.

She kicked off her shoes and entered the adjoined bathroom, to stan before the wall-spanning mirror.  Her reflection stared back, hair disheveled, make-up ruined.  There were new dark streaks of eyeliner on her cheeks.

How could he?

How could he be willing to turn her away like that?  To leave her like that?  Leave her with HIM?  With Dorrek?

Did she matter so little to him?  So much less than his theories, his experiments?

Did he not care about her, at all?  About what she needed?  What could happen to her?  Happen to her with HIM?

How had he not even noticed?  That something had happened?  That something was wrong?  So very damn wrong?  That she needed to be protected.  Taken away.  Away from him.  From Dorrek.  From what had happened.  From what could happen.

How could her genius husband have missed that?  All that?

Was it not obvious?  How the damn Skrull emperor was all over her?  How he held her hand?  How he touched her?

Was Reed that blind?  That thoughtless?  About her?

Was he?

The mirror before her cracked, littering the counter before her with multiple pieces of the reflective material.

She was really the Invisible Woman, wasn't she?  Invisible to her own husband.  Who could not see.  Who would not see.  See her distress.  See her need.  See her.

Maybe she should have let him do just that.  At the terrace.  See her.  With Dorrek.  Getting fucked.  Fucked so hard and well.  By the damn Skrull emperor himself.  By someone so wrong.  By someone not him.

Or at least at the dance floor.  Being kissed.  And kissing back.  Kissing Dorrek.  Before everyone.

How long had that been?  That kiss?  That embrace?  Her mouth and body against his, shamelessly, before everyone.  Minutes?  Or much longer than that?  She could really not say.  It had felt so long, like it would not end, like it could not end...

Had that not been obvious enough?
 

How could Reed not have seen any of that?  Like Rich had?

Would that have made him...  react?  Look at her differently?  At least just... look at her?  Really LOOK AT HER?

Like Dorrek looked at her?

She began to clean her face with moist, silken-smooth pads offered by a floating dispenser, her reflection distorted in the cracked remains of the mirror; fractured.  Just like her marriage.  Just like her life.

She should take a bath, scrub herself clean of all that had happened, of all that weighted on her, all the shame, all the guilt.  But would that work?  Would that change how dirty she felt?  How dirty?  How remorseful about what had she had somehow allowed to happen?  She had cheated on Reed, with Dorrek of all people.  The same evil fiend who had first abused her those weeks ago.  Who had first forced her, forced her to submit to sex with someone but her husband, force her to submit to being raped, forced her to enjoy being raped.  But it was somehow even worse now, what she had just done, than what being raped had been, back then.  Unlike Kl'rt or Terrax, Dorrek had always given her a measure of choice, hadn't he?  But she was still always coerced, forced in position of helplessness to make an awful choice for the good of others.  Even at the terrace, that had partly held true.  At first.  But then it had gone beyond that.  Far beyond that.

She had wanted it.  Wanted to have sex.  With Dorrek.  Had wanted to feel him again inside her.  To be pleasured as he could pleasure her.  To come as he could make her come.  And she could no longer deny it.

Against her better judgement, she had been unfaithful.  She had cheated.

And she now felt angry that her husband had not found out.

She covered her face with her hands, leaning over the translucent slab of thick alien stone.

How absurd was it?  All of it?

Was there a part of her that always wanted to be found out, from the very start?  Wanted him to know?  To acknowledge what she had gone through?  What she had been driven to?  So he would understand?  Understand what had changed.  For her.  For them.   

Understand what she had realized.  What she now knew.  What she now needed.

Why wasn't he here?

Why hadn't he followed her?

How could he leave her alone facing this?

All of this?

She splashed water on her face and exited the bathroom.  She had to leave.  She had to gather her things and leave this place.  Leave it and everything that had happened here behind.

She had to tell him.  Tell him everything.  She could not hide it from him.  She could not let this fester inside her.  Not any longer.

Just not here.  She would do it back home.  Back were things made sense.  She would work it all out.  Later.  Somehow.  She always did.  She had to.

She went to pick her bags and noticed what rested in the center of the large silken-sheeted bed.

A chill of recognition rushed through her.  Had that been there before?

She had kept it in her hand throughout the events at the terrace, hadn't she?  But at some point afterwards, probably at the dance floor, she had let it slip from both her grasp and her mind.  How could she have lost track of the damn thing so completely?  Hadn't everything begun because of it?  Of that damn recording?  Had she been so caught up in Dorrek's attempt to seduce her that she had completely forgot about it?

She had told him to do with it as he pleased, hadn't she?

Was this a warning?  Of what was to come?

Next to the silvery holo chip there was also another small electronic wafer.  She recognized it as the key to a door, much like the one that, translucent when stuck to her wrist, gave access to these very rooms provided for them, for her husband and her.

She could easily guess whose rooms this other one opened.

Whatever the first chip meant, placed there, the meaning of the second was perfectly clear.

Damn him.  How had he even got those placed there, on the bed, unnoticed by her?  Or was it there already before even she reached the room?

Fury coursed through her, as she knelt on the bed to pick both objects up.  How dare he think he could still get to her?  Still keep after her like that?

She should shove it back into his...

At her touch upon the chip, the air instantly shimmered and quickly coalesced into images.

Sue stumbled back, her eyes opening wide.

CHAPTER FIVE:  POLITICS MAKE FOR STRANGE BEDFELLOWS

Perhaps he should have followed her.

But he knew Sue always needed time to let her anger cool down.  From whatever she was angry about.

Showing up now could just start another uncomfortable confrontation, the kind he felt he could never handle well.

It was best to give her space.

And he could meanwhile go to check those readings at Master Xar's labs.

She had told him to go, after all.

***************************************************

She was naked, thrashing wildly, arching her back, riding Reed wantonly, throwing her hair back as she cried out her delight.

It was her hair.  Her face.  Her body.

But it was not her.  She had never been there, doing that, doing any of that.

With her husband.  Because it was Reed.  Even if it was not her.  She could tell.

She was shocked and disgusted.  But she still could not look away.

It must have been the empress, impersonating him.

Sue thought she had been the only one who had been abused at the Skrull world.  But Reed was almost wholly unconscious there.  He was basically being raped.  Her heart ached for him.  Even as she bristled at what she was seeing.

And why was he so big down there?  So huge?

Was it like that for everyone but her?  What did that mean?  Just what he hell did that mean?

To her relief, it seemed to be over quickly, but then the images just changed.

Ben?

***************************************************

Benjamin Grimm walked away from Alicia's apartment building.  A nice dinner at a discreet Italian place and then an open-air concert with his lady.  Didn't get much better than that.  He was glad he had skipped that stuffy event at Xandar.  They had probably all been bored to death there with speeches and whatnot.

***************************************************

She had no idea.  No idea.  About Ben.  About...

Of course it wasn't her with him, either.  Ben must have figured it out, too, at some point.  Certainly had enough time to do it.  But still she felt perturbed, embarrassed, for both.  Even if she had nothing to do with it.  But it was still about her, wasn't it?

How had Ben dealt with it?  With seeing her, after...  How could she now look at him and not think that...  Think about...

She shook her head.  This was going to make everything so uncomfortable, back at home.  How much worse could it now get?

"Wait, what...?  Oh, my God... JOHNNY?"

***************************************************

Johnny Storm downed the last of his latest drink.  He had just struck out with yet another scantily-clad cutie.  Bright-red-skin this one.

The party did not seem to be anywhere close to winding down, but somehow he could not score at all today.

It seemed like that tussle at the terrace would be the most action he saw tonight, and Rich had done most of it, anyway.

Maybe he should look for that hot Skrull princess.  Apologize for the whole message thing.  Offer to do the right thing and all that.

Maybe he could still salvage the night.

***************************************************

Johnny?

Her baby brother?

How could he?

What was wrong with him?  How MUCH was wrong with him?

Now she had to kill him.  She had to.

Finally, the holo shut off.  Her mouth was dry, her body tense.

How could this have happened to them?  She could have never imagined anything like that.

How would this affect them?  If everything came out, openly?   If they all to face it?  How would it affect their relationships?  How they regarded each other?

It could change everything.  In many ways, it already had.  But to add public exposure?  Public judgment?  For all of them?

It had already changed everything.

It was no longer just about her, about her pride, or reputation, or self-regard.  Not anymore.

She could face Dorrek exposing her.  She could.  She knew she could.  But this...

She could not let this be known.

She could not.

***************************************************

He just could not stomach being at the party any longer.

He just could not trust himself to not punch that ugly goblin's smiling face and cause some big political mess or something.  Damn smug asshole.

He dropped onto the bed of his spartan, military quarters.  The Nova Corps certainly did not pamper its personnel.

The night had certainly not gone well.  First the thing with the alien princess.  Then the fight and all that mess.  He still smarted.  Maybe he had a broken rib.  And then that whole deal with her, with Ms. Storm, her and the alien emperor creep.  He still could not get his mind around it.

How had that happened?

How had that stunted green creep managed to get her?  HER?

Because there had to be something there, hard as it was to believe.  He did not know just what, but there had to be.  Because no girl would kiss anyone like that just for politics or whatever else.  Not like that.  Nothing like that.

He was not buying that.

She actually looked like she was having the time of her life or something, necking with the guy like that, rubbing against him, having her butt groped like...

Just how the hell had all that come about?  Had he missed something?

Sure, who could blame the old guy for wanting to put the moves on someone like her?  Wouldn't he have taken the chance himself if he had dared?  If she had not been married, and famous, and classy, and so, so damn perfect?  Someone who would surely never look twice at the likes of him?

Yet she had let that damn alien geezer not just make a pass at her, but also put his hands on her, kiss her, grope her, like there was no tomorrow.  Right before everyone.

What gives?

If he did not know better, he would have guessed they looked like they had been banging together or something.

Surely she couldn't have, could she?  She was Susan Storm!  The Invisible Girl!  She was married to Mister Fantastic!

If she wanted to fool around wouldn't she do it with someone like Tony Stark or someone like that?  Or that guy from Atlantis?  The one in the trunks?  That was what they always talked about in the tabloids and TMZ and all that.  Not that he would have ever believed it?

But that guy?  Short and ugly and green old dude?

She couldn't have.  Not for real.

She must have been trying to make her husband jealous.  Or getting back at him for the Adora chick.  Something like that.

But still, couldn't it have been anyone less creepy?  Anyone?  He had been there, too, at the party, hadn't he?  Not that he wanted to disrespect Mister Fantastic or anything, but if his wife wanted to make a point or something, would it have been worse?  Than with an alien?  An ugly old alien?

But even more strange, he really had not seemed to mind.  What was up with that?  His wife is getting worked over by that alien dude right before everyone and he is going on about wanting to go work or something?  Was he mental or what?  Was there something else going on?

Maybe he was like one of those older dudes who would rather watch or something?

He leaned back onto the mattress, facing up.

Who could understand married people, really?

But his wife was...  HER.  Susan Storm.  Who would want to see her with someone else instead?  How fucked up would that be?

To see HER, so beautiful and nice and...  being with...

Not that it made her look...  bad, or anything.  Like anything could make her look bad.

But that guy, the emperor, so old, and ugly, and...  alien...  touching her, kissing her...  like he had seen them kiss...

He had squeezed her butt so hard, really, and it looked so firm and round, squeezed and pressed up like that...

And her face, so lovely, smacked against that green, wrinkled alien mug...  Her lips open, her tongue going into...

The way she...

It had actually looked kinda hot.  Despite everything.  Despite how wrong it looked, her, looking like , with that alien, looking .

Not that she would have gone any farther, of course.  Not like she would have let that creep bang her, really bang.  Even if she looked like she would totally go for it, there, when kissing him, leaning against him.

But she was way too classy for that, too decent, too much a good girl, to ever let that ugly creep go all the way with her, to let that short green fucker between her legs, to let him get her naked and bend her over and...

The loud mechanical sound startled him and Rich sat up quickly, wiping his hand on his side.  The door was signalling that someone requested access.

Could it be another of those Nova jerks?  At this hour?  They had been giving him a hard time all week, what with his not being Xandarian yet bearing a high-level costume, going on about earning rank and all that, as if he had not saved their asses during the Skrull invasion.  Bigoted jerks.

Rich opened the door, ready to wish to hell whoever it was.

"I need you to help me,"  she said.

TO BE CONTINUED