FF: EARTH GIRLS AIN'T EASY, Chapter 10: And in this corner... (revised) (Patreon)

Multiple Nova corpsmen rushed into the rooms in tactical deployment, their weapons ready, their suits glowing with energy.

Thoran entered warily, surrounded by several high-ranked, battle-hardened corpsmen.

"Suzerain!"

Adora stood in a loose robe before the wall-wide windows, holding a narrow crystal vial of wine in her hand. She did not look away from her contemplation of the sprawling cityscape. "You did not announce yourself, Prime Thoran. Why such breach of protocol?"

"Please excuse us, Suzerain." He glanced nervously all about. The corpsmen had spread all about with strategic efficiency, but their leader shook his head in clear negation. "We were worried about your safety."

"Were you?"

"The watch that went missing from here, from your quarters... They were found, dead. All twelve of them!"

"How troubling. You must appoint more competent staff, then, Thoran."

"Yet no one appears in the security footage! It must have been tampered with!"

"I see. Who could have done it?"

"The Earthling! Who else? He was here, and has Centurion-level access, Rhomman Dey be damned! He must have killed the watch before we arrived! And you were alone with him! I feared that-"

She gestured dismissively. "I'm touched by your concern, Thoran. Quite touched. But you can see I'm perfectly safe."

"But he-?"

"He left." She drank. Slowly. "We only had a brief meeting. Nothing important."

"Did he say anything that-?"

"Nothing important," she repeated, lowering her vial.

"He must be found, and apprehended! He mus be made to pay!"

Adora turned at last towards Thoran, her eyes cold. 

"Yes. He must."

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

A figure dressed in a flowing light robe stood on the barren lunar surface, facing the bluish orb of the Earth.

Watching. 

He felt the shudders in the local space-time layers, and tilted his bald head slightly to a side.

So it began.

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

As soon as the swirling energies faded away, the Fantastic Four exited their protective capsule, stepping out onto the familiar floor of the Baxter Building's hangar space.

"Back on good ol' Earth," Ben muttered with relief, just before he stumbled forward, nearly losing his footing.

Sue reached for him, though she would have been of little use to detain his enormous mass. "Are you alright, Ben?"

He shrugged. "Just slipped, Suzie. Ain't nuthin'."

"Ben's probably hitting the sauce hard while we aren't watching," Johnny said, his teasing only half-hearted. 

"We were in lower gravity environs," Reed said. "We'll need a moment to adjust." He walked slowly towards a nearby control console, to plug his hand-held device into it. Hunched forward, he peered at the display, forwning. "He's here already."

"The Sphinx? On Earth?"

"Yes. He materialized on Egypt. At Giza, fittingly. Egyptian air forces engaged him but were easily destroyed."

"Dat sucks." Ben grimaced, sympathetic towards fellow armed forces airmen. "We gotta do sumthin'"

"As soon as Galactus arrives, we'll go there." Reed tapped the console furiously. "We have little time left."

Sue was pained by those words. Reed's hair was completely white now and evidently much more sparse. His outfit hung loose on his now bony frame. "Reed, did you contact Herbie? Any progress?"

"I did. But there's no time to-"

"There must be. Reed, what did Herbie report?"

He leaned on the console, eyes closed for just a moment. "Latest models failed. All of them. Herbie sent me the figures but I... I could not pinpoint the reasons. I-I don't know... All data in the Living Computers pointed to... It should have worked. A final model of the reversal process is now being run, but it may be the last one we can-"

"Reed. You must solve this. You must-"

"First we must save Earth, Sue. Galactus will stop the Sphynx, but what then?"

"Yer pretty confident da Big G gonna win, aintcha, Stretcho?"

"He will. He has to. But we must then stop him, stop him from-"

"Gobbling up da Earth, yep." 

Sue reached for her husband. "Reed, how can we save the Earth if you... if you...?" She could not bring herself to say the words. "You're the one who knows what to do."

He rubbed his deeply-lined forehead. "I think I do. Know how to. But what if I'm wrong in that, too? What if-?"

She hugged him from behind, hiding her anguish at his frailty. "You can do it. You will stop Galactus. You will find that cure. I trust you can. I trust you."

He took her hand. "I trust you, too." He placed in her open palm a small, battered notepad, the one on which he had been scribbling. "Sue, if I cannot-"

Sue shook her head, handing the notepad back quickly. "No. NO. Don't say that. You cannot give up. You can't!"

"Susan, you must be ready if-"

The console began to beep loudly, and Reed quickly turned to it.

"What's the matter? Is Galactus here?"

"No. It's the sub-space link with Xandar. There seems to be some kind of commotion."

Sue stiffened. "The Skrulls again?" 

"No. Master Xar is sending a message. Says it's.... Rich Ryder?"

"Rich?"

"Da kid?"

"The Nova Corps turned against him. There's fighting going on." 

Ben's heavy brow crumpled inward. "Dat don't make sense!"

"Reed. We cannot let-"

"I'm on it." Reed's fingers moved quickly over the input pad, although not as fast as they had once been. "I can control the Xandarian long-range transporter from here. I'm bringing him over. Herbie, too."

"Herbie? But isn't he working on-?"

"That may be compromised, too. I may make better use of him here."

The protective capsule they had vacated filled with light, and from within its shimmering outline two figures emerged, one after the other.

"Rich!"

Susan and Ben rushed together to help the slender young man stay upright. His Nova suit was blackened all over and letting off acrid-smelling smoke.

His voice was weak and hoarse. "Ms. Richards?"

"Hey, what'm I? Chopped liver?"

"You are Benjamin J. Grimm." Hovering, the just-arrived robot spoke in mechanical monotone, his optical apparatus scanning the surroundings. 

"The current locale corresponds to records of the Baxter Building on Earth."

"That is correct." Reed beckoned the robot to join him at the console. "Herbie, deliver status report."

"As the Creator orders." 

"You are among friends, Rich," Sue continued leading him to a bench to sit. "Tell us what happened. Are you hurt?"

He removed his helmet, his brown hair lank and matted with sweat against his head. "They called me traitor. Tried to kill me. I-I had to fight them-"

Ben clenched his fists. "Why, dose ungrateful bums... Next time da Skrulls come callin' we'll see-" 

The Baxter Building alarms blared for all of a second before being silenced by much louder noise as most of the hangar's south side suddenly crumbled away into rubble catastrophically, along with much of that side of the building.

Sue coughed. Dust filled the air and her ears rang, yet no debris had reached them, nor had the impact wave, thanks to her quickly-raised forceful. Yet she was pinned against the hangar floor by Rich's weight over her, as he had yet again jumped to bodily cover her, taking both of them down together.

"Rich, this wasn't necessary!" She unceremoniously pushed him off and rose to her knees. Two steps away, Ben also tried to get up, his sprawled massive body appearing more cumbersome to manage than ever before. "Help Ben!"

"Wot was dat?"

"We were attacked." She kept her force-field up, warily. "Reed? Johnny?"

"Here!" Johnny flame shone through the dusty air. "I'm alright, Sis."

"I'm... here, too, Susan." Reed's voice was weak. "Herbie, help me up."

"As the Creator orders." 

"Who da heck-?"

The clouds of suspended dust and smoke suddenly parted and cleared away drastically, as if cleanly cut away.

The hangar and several other floors of the building were now fully open to the city outside, and framed in the newly-created opening floated a large piece of meteoric rock, upon which arrogantly stood Terrax, the cosmic axe in his hand, as tall as he was, the massive wedge of metal of its blade glowing ominously with unbridled energies. 

Terrax smiled darkly. "There you are."

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

Ancient monuments of times long past stood under the scorching sun at the Giza Plateau, at the west bank of the River Nile. Worn down by the millennia, an aged construct of limestone in the shape of a reclining lion with a human face served as backdrop to the towering figure of its newly-arrived namesake.

The Sphinx spread his arms dramatically. "The glory that was proud Aegypt must be restored." 

The desert bloomed. Countless palms rose gracefully and wide green gardens spread, spotted by a multitude of wide pools of clear water that sparkled in the sun, while colorful birds sang sweetly among the foliage. The Great Pyramid of Khufu and its lesser companions were restored to their original appearance as their surfaces became covered by perfectly white limestone casing pieces and the long-missing gold-plated pyramidions were replaced. At their feet, an assortment of palaces, statues and obelisks spread in luxurious splendor.

"As it was and as it should have been."

At his command, the massive pyramids rose from the ground, millions of tons of stone floating high into the reddish skies under the setting sun.

"A fitting epilogue for this world's demise." 

The Sphinx spoke in a dialect so ancient no living local inhabitant would have understood, yet the nearby white-robed bald man of greater than human height nodded with understanding. 

The Sphinx turned toward him. "I know your kind, Watcher. As well as your mandate. Your presence here is fitting. To bear witness. To testify to the dawn of my ascendancy to Godhood. Marked by the end of this lowly orb."

The Sphinx strode down the golden-paved way between the restored structures, making a wide, sweeping gesture with his right hand.

"For here I was born centuries ago as Anath-Na-Mut whose name became stricken from the Books of Life. And here I shall be reborn, reborn in Holy Retribution, rightful retribution, for the endless years of pain and despair I was made to suffer as an exile, cursed and denied all joy or meaning, ever since that thrice-damned day when the Hebrew upstart stood defiantly before Great Ramses and demanded that his people be let go, shaming me and my hard-earned arts with the unknown power behind him, dooming me to wander the cruel desert as an outcast."

There were no clouds yet lighting streaked through the sky.

"And an outcast I remained, even after my discovery of the long-lost Ka Stone, which granted me its power and the subtle curse of immortality, which made life endless and unsavory. For I could not die or age or change, and as the world around me did what I could not, my own existence became more hollow and unsatisfying, a mockery that made me desire more and more my own release from the crushing burden of the ages."

The Sphinx then threw back his head and laughed, laughed with the sound of thunder.

"Such irony! I sought the hidden secrets of the universe in order to break my curse, but the knowledge I took from the Living Computers of Xandar tore away my blindness instead. Why should I seek to change, or escape into un-being, when instead I could reshape the cosmos itself around me to match my whims? When I could at last be truly a God? BE THE GOD?"

Uatu the Watcher did honor to his name in silence.

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

Ben grunted, throwing aside heavy fragments of masonry and damaged machinery. 

"Why ya bum! Ya coulda killed us!"

Johnny flew up, flaming brightly. "Our turn, then!" 

His fiery blast rushed at Terrax, but he casually swung his axe and the flames were split and deflected harmlessly to the sides.

The new herald of Galactus jumped off his hovering stone slab and landed heavily on the hangar's deck, the thick metal shuddering under his feet. 

"I was told to get you." He strode forward, the glowing cosmic axe in hand, and his deep-set dark eyes fixed on Susan Storm. "And get you I will."

Ben rushed at him, cocking back a massive fist. "Not while I'm-!"

Terrax's open hand caught Ben in a wide slap that sent him flying across the hangar, the impact with the metal wall at its end so great he was embedded into its surface.

"BEN!" Johnny unleashed his flames again. At such short range the conflagration swallowed Terrax completely.

Terrax laughed. "FOOLS! I was empowered to skim the surface of suns! Your fire is nothing to me!"

He lifted up his axe, and a flash of unleashed cosmic power struck out the flames. 

"You are nothing to me now! Nothing" 

A second wide blast of cosmic energies knocked Johnny off his feet, his fire snuffed out even before he hit the floor. 

Terrax turned to Susan. "Except for one of you." He started resolutely towards her. 

Susan quickly raised her force-field. When his extended hand struck the invisible barrier, his mouth spread in a wide grin. 

"Your parlor tricks again?" His hands gripped tightly the long shaft of his axe as he drew it back in a wide arc, high over one shoulder. "Can they withstand my Cosmic Axe?"

Before the question could be answered, Terrax was hit from the side, with enough strength to make him drop to one knee. Another blow struck his weapon from his hand, just before a brutal kick made his face twist aside, contorted in a grimace more of outrage than pain.

"WHO DARES-!"

Another punch hit his rocky face with a loud crack, before Terrax replied with a loud bellow and a wild swing of his own. 

Susan cried out: "RICH!"

The fleeting contact of Terrax's fist threw the slender figure in the Nova suit careening through the air to slam violently against a bank of heavy equipment.

Terrax stood, extending an open hand, and his axe flew back into his grasp. 

"YOU GNATS! YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME?"

Sue hesitated, not knowing where to run to, who to shield first, as everyone had been scattered all over the place. She set her feet, brow furrowed. "I beat you before."

His eyes narrowed. "Oh, I remember that, woman. But that was before. And now you will regret it. So much." 

"Susan, don't!" Reed's voice came from behind her, almost too weak to hear.  "He's too powerful now! Run! Get away!"

Sue clenched her fists. Reed was right. How could she face a Herald of Galactus on her own?

Terrax's axe glowed. "There is nowhere to run."

"Creator, it is not advisable to-"

"STOP."

The thundering word filled their minds as a vast shadow was cast upon them by a gigantic shape completely covering the opening to the hangar from the city behind it. 

Terrax quickly bowed down, lowering his weapon. "I was procuring the Earthlings as commanded, My Master."

Sue stood, outraged, facing the towering figure of Galactus. "He tried to kill us!" 

Terrax scoffed. "What matters whether they are dead or alive?"

"YOU EXCEED YOUR BOUNDS, HERALD. YOU WERE TO ESCORT THEM TO MY VESSEL."

"They assaulted me! To defy the Herald is not to defy the Master?"

Galactus's eyes were bright squares of fathomless cosmic power. 

"BE WARY NOT TO TEST THE PATIENCE OF GALACTUS, HERALD." 

Terrax kept his eyes low. "If I erred, please forgive me, Master!"

"THESE EARTHLINGS ONCE THWARTED THE WILL OF GALACTUS HIMSELF. AFTER THIS SPHINX IS VANQUISHED, THEY MUST STAND WITNESS TO THE FUTILITY OF THEIR RESISTANCE."

Cosmic energies began to swirl around all those present. 

Reed Richard's voice was barely a whisper. "Yet you will not give us the chance to prepare that resistance?"

The twisting energies stopped and then faded.

"LET IT NOT BE SAID GALACTUS IS NOT FAIR. GATHER WHATEVER WEAPONS YOU MAY, EARTHLING, AND PREPARE YOUR EFFORTS. THEY SHALL PROVE TO NO AVAIL."

"Thank you." Reed leaned on Herbie to stand straight. "You will find the Sphinx in the Plain of Giza, in-"

"I HAVE TAKEN THE LOCATION FROM YOUR MIND. MY HERALD WILL LEAD ME THERE."

"As my Master orders." Still bowing, Terrax cast a sideways glance at Susan Storm, his eyes dark and deep and full of malice. 

"ONCE GALACTUS HAS DEALT WITH THIS NUISANCE, THIS SO-CALLED SPHINX, HE SHALL RETURN."

Terrax's grip of his axe tightened, his eyes still on Sue, deep and dark. 

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

"He is coming," the Sphinx stated. "The Devourer of Worlds."

Uatu nodded.

The Ka stone on his dusky brow sparkled under the setting sun. 

"Good. Let him come. Let this be done."

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

Susan shivered.

Even after he and Galactus had left, she could still feel Terrax's eyes on her. So cold and cruel and threatening and... hungry. 

Much like back in his world, in his rooms, when they had been alone, and he had so arrogantly flaunted before her his power, his status, his strength, his size... 

And that had been... before. Now he was so much more powerful, so much more...

"What-What was Galactus thinking?"

Reed looked up, his frown accentuating the wrinkling of his deeply-lined features. 

"Thinking?"

"About Tyros! Terrax! Why-Why him? He-He's a evil monster! He enslaved his people, and oppressed them, and he... He wanted to... Why give such power to one like him?"

"It may be intentional. His previous heralds, the Surfer, Firelord... They were moral, noble beings. Yet they had to find for him worlds which could sustain life, and sometimes host intelligent life. So all eventually rebelled." Reed shrugged, and to Sue's alarm, even that small motion seemed to take great effort from him. "Maybe Galactus wants now a herald who will have no objections to finding such worlds for him." 

His hand slipped over Herbie's polished metal frame and he almost faltered forward.

Susan was quick to hold him up, first with her force field, then with her arms. 

"Reed, are you-?"

He shook his head. "No, no. I'm just... tired. Terrax's attack... knocked my breath out. That's all. Herbie, help me to my lab. There is much to do."

"As the Creator orders. Will we prepare the weapon-?" 

"Weapon? No. No. The last cure model. We must make a last run."

"Yes, you must. Let's go." Sue held his arm firmly. "I'll help you-"

"No, no. Help Ben and Johnny. See they're alright."

"But Reed, you-"

"I'll be alright. Herbie will help me. You see to them. And the boy. The boy..."

"Rich."

He nodded. "Him. Yes." He pressed his hand against hers, and gave her a faint reassuring smile. Her heart tightened at his concern for her, his always worrying about her and others first. "Alright. Herbie. The lab. Please."

"As the Creator orders." 

Even leaning on Herbie, his steps were short and faltering. Under the baggy bodysuit, his thinness was almost cadaverous. He looked like an old man now, in every way. Older than her own father had ever been.

As the door to the elevator closed, Sue glanced down at the small notepad he had left on her hand. 

Susan Storm lifted her hands to her face and began to quietly cry.

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

Master Xar stared, startled. "YOU?"

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

First her shoulders, then all of her, shook wildly with her sobbing, as her crying escalated, overwhelmed by fear and encroaching despair, until she felt hands take her upper arms from behind, steadying her, their grip firm and solid, comforting, helpful in her moment of need.

She turned and buried her face in his shoulder, welcoming his arms around her, slender but wiry, giving her the support she needed, as her whole body was still being racked by her outpouring of grief. 

"It can't be. Not now. Not like this. Not after everything." She hugged him back desperately, seeking to draw comfort from his strength, his warmth, his solid presence against her. "He-He's done so much. So much. It isn't fair-isn't fair!" 

Slowly, his hand ran over her head, through her long blond hair, while the other held tightly to her trim waist, keeping her close, tight in his embrace. 

"If-If he... Oh, God, please, no. No. I-I don't... I couldn't... I just-"

He stroked firmly up and down her side, her trembling torso and back, the rounded hip and outer upper leg, over the tight blue bodysuit.

"It can't be... It just can't be. Not Reed. Not him. Not HIM!"

She placed her hands on his shoulders and elbows on his torso, and looked up, her blue eyes shining wet, her flushed face streaked with tears, up at his young face. 

"Without-Without Reed... What will be of Earth? What will be of all of us? Of me-?"

He leaned forward and his hand, nestled in her golden locks, drew her head, her face, towards his. His whisper warmed her lips. "You have me."

"Rich-?"

His mouth joined hers.

Her eyes opened wide in surprise as he drew her tighter into the embrace and kiss.

His lips and tongue worked on hers and his hand pressing firmly against the small of her back slowly slid even lower, spreading to seize and squeeze her rear, while drawing her lower body closer against him, all while she remained startled into momentary passivity, frozen by the shock of such unexpected move just after her outpouring of unbalanced emotions. She floundered between embarrassment and disbelief, unsure of what to do, of how to stop him, of how angry or offended she ought to be, by his daring, his shameless taking advantage of her vulnerability. 

How could he? He was just a kid!

She quickly drew back, pushing with her forearms against his chest, starting to protest: "Rich, don't-!" 

But he pulled her back to him immediately, silencing her with his mouth. 

"Ri-!"

Flustered, she sought to break away repeatedly, but he held her with surprising strength, and she could barely start to gasp each breathless complaint before it was smothered relentlessly with a kiss, again and again, all over her trembling lips, in quick, insistent succession. 

"Ri-!"

How? How dare he? 

"Don't-!" 

Kiss her? Here? Now? 

"Please-!"

Like this? 

"Rich-!"

He was just a kid! 

"Stop-!"

Yet he was much stronger than she could have imagined, much, much stronger, and there was an undeniably manly assurance to that strength, and none of his previous shyness and awkwardness. Had the three former slaves girls taught him so well so fast?

She nervously recalled his bravely risking his life for her, for all of them, and his very obvious crush on her. And she had given him a kiss before, hadn't she?  Just a quick peck for his courage, she had decided. So was it her fault, then? For leading him on? For encouraging him? Making him think there was a chance where there could never be one?

In that moment of doubt, while trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings, Susan reluctantly relented and stopped resisting the kiss, and for that brief instant, there was a sudden flash of another kiss, another face. A harsh, alien, green face. His face.

And for just that brief instant, she trembled, and closed her eyes.

"What the fuck?"

The embrace was suddenly broken, as she was pulled away, gasping, a familiar face coming abruptly between them, so familiar yet also so different now. 

"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER!"

Her brother's face.

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

Master Xar cursed and tapped quickly into his command console the sequence of keys needed to activate the transporter yet again, retracing its recent transmission.

Thoran would throw a fit over this.

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

"Just what the hell was that about?"

Susan blushed fiercely, struggling to catch her breath, to clear her head. "Johnny, it's not-"

Literally fuming with anger, Johnny pushed roughly on the Star-emblazoned chest. "YOU BACK-STABBING SCUM! We took you for a friend and this is how you thank us? Putting the moves on my sister? She's married, you jerk!"

"Please, Johnny!" She tried to move between the two of them. "Calm down!"

Johnny sidestepped her. "Just after we saved your butt-?" 

"Look, Rich had helped us before, and now he-"

"Oh, and now he's charging for that, is that it? YOU STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER, HEAR ME?" 

"Listen to me! I-I was crying and everything was so wrong, and Rich just tried to-"

"Oh, I know what he's trying to. Trying to tap your ass!" He glared at the Nova-suited youth who stood now in such contrast to him, smooth-faced and spry compared to his now late-middle-age countenance. "He's had a hard-on for you from the very first time he saw you! Figures, really. Who wouldn't? But damn it! Reed was here just now! I am here! And he thinks he can manhandle you just like-? I really should-!"

"Look, Johnny, it was just a mistake, alright? It may be my fault for-" 

He turned to her, eyes blazing. "Your fault? Of course it's your fault!"

"What-?"

"Takes two to kiss! And you'd done it before, too! Right before all of us!"

"That-That was different!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"So you weren't kissing him right back just there? Cause it sure looked like it!"

Sue blushed even more. "That wasn't-"

"You didn't want to? He was forcing you, then? And you just weren't doing anything about it? Was that it?"

She shook her head, flustered. "It was just-"

"Were you kissing him back, YES OR NO?"

"No! I mean-I didn't mean to-! It-It just happened! It was just a moment that-"

"Oh, it just happened! We're in a damned crisis here and you just happen to be making out?" 

"It wasn't like that-!"

"Two cosmic-level threats are competing to see who destroys the world! Ben, Reed and I are turning into more decrepit geezers with each second! And you're here busy sucking face? With this snot-faced punk? WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Johnny, please! That's not what-!"

"What were you thinking? Reed looks like he may kick the bucket at any moment and here you-"

Sue paled. "Don't say that. Don't you say that."

"You couldn't wait to find someone else? Are you so-?"

"DON'T SAY THAT!"

"WHAT ELSE SHOULD I THINK?" 

"Why are you making this so-?"

"Look, him I... understand. He sees a hot piece of ass like you, of course he wants to hit that. Just like Namor, and Cage, and... Almost everyone, really! All staring at you, and hitting on you, and... But I thought you were always above all that! I thought you were different! So classy and smart and... Damn it, Sue, I-I've... I've looked up to you all my damn life. How could you-?"

"IT JUST HAPPENED! ALRIGHT? IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"

"Right." He shook his head. "So what else has just... happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just... I don't know what to think anymore. Everything has just felt... off, ever since all this started. The way you've been acting..."

"The way I've been acting? What way-?"

"Ever since back at the Skrull world-"

Sue stiffened. "The Skrull world?"

"At that party, when you danced and... stripped... For that green creep there, the ugly emperor guy..."

"Dorrek-?"

"First name terms? How cozy." 

"That's his name! Emperor Dorrek! What does that-?"

"Well, I thought you were just putting on an act, playing along... To earn time, to find a way out, all that... But now? Now I can't help but wonder if-"

"What are you talking about? I WAS playing along! I had to! To save all of us!"

"Were you? 'Cause thinking about it, you really looked into it. Way into it."

"It had to look that way! How else was-?" 

"Really? You needed to rub against him like that? Grind against him like that? Right before everyone! And looking at him like that? Like you-"

"LIKE WHAT-?"

"Like you really wanted to-"

"I WAS JUST PLAYING ALONG!"

"Right. And how far did you play along with him, then? Later? After the party? What happened then, when you-?"

"After the party? I escaped and then rescued you, remember? That's what happened! I busted your sorry ass out of-!"

"Hours later!"

"You thought it was easy? You don't know what I had to-!"

"That's what I wonder about! What you had to do! You showed up HOURS after going all dirty dancing on that creep and your clothes were half-gone! Who knows what could've being going on all that time while you-"

"YOU ASSHOLE! I SAVED YOUR ASS AND YOU'RE QUESTIONING ME?"

"Yeah. So did you fuck him? The damn Skrull emperor?"

"You didn't just ask me that."

"Oh, I did. Did you? Did you fuck him? YES OR NO?"

Sue stared at him, fists clenched. "I don't have to answer that." Her eyes shone with growing wetness. "How can you ask-?"

"WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSSED TO THINK! You looked like you could've fucked the whole damn Skrull empire!"

"You don't know." Tears filled , from anger and shame and too many emotions to label. "You just don't know-"

"No wonder you also wanted to go alone into that Tyron guy's rooms! Were you desperate to fuck him too?"

"NO!"

"How can we know? Or know who else you've been fucking all this time behind Reed's back? Namor? Stark?  Cage? Fuck, maybe even Doom?" 

She closed her eyes and shook her head. "Stop, Johnny. Please. You cannot-"

"I always thought my sis was so... perfect! And I was a creep for even... But what if it turns out she's just a damn horny slu-?"

The slap made Johnny's face twist fully to a side.

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT!" 

Johnny rubbed his face, eyes burning. "Why? Because it's true-?"

A deep voice cut into the tension between them. "Are you jealous it wasn't you?"

Johnny turned abruptly around, his body beginning to sprout flames all over. 

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP! OR I'LL FRY OFF YOUR DICK!"

"Rich, please! Don't make this worse!"

"He is jealous. Jealous of not getting to-"

"THAT'S IT!" Flames flared up. "IT'S WORSE NOW!"

"Fine." Disregarding the fire, his punch connected with Johnny's face with brutal power, throwing him several feet backward, to land face up, unconscious, his fire flickering and then fading away.

"JOHNNY!"

Sue moved to rush to her brother's side, but was held back by a sudden hold on her wrist. 

"Rich, let me go! This cannot-!"

He forcefully pulled her to him. 

"We were just starting." 

The kiss was equally forceful, violent even, simply brooking no resistance. His hand grabbed her bottom, his grasp reaching firmly through the tight elastic fabric into the gap between her tense buttocks, tugging her hard against him, so hard her bosom flattened wide against his chest.

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

Lodged in a twisted metal surface, Ben squirmed with discomfort, fighting the call to wake up. He was tired. So tired. It was so hard to move at all.

The sudden bright light bothered him even through his closed eyelids.

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

The force-field expanded suddenly, freeing Susan from his grasp and throwing him backwards. 

"Richard! What has gotten into you?"

He smiled. "It'll be the other way around."

"MS. RICHARDS! PROTECT YOURSELF!"

Sue instantly brought up again her force-field, just before a sudden force blast struck right before her. As dust and debris quickly spread about, she was startled to see it settle all around a perfect clean circle where centered stood the untouched figure of Rich Rider.

Sue blanched. Of course. She should have known. 

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

Johnny sat up, shaking his head and blinking repeatedly. "What? There's two now?"

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

"MOVE AWAY, MS. RICHARDS! THAT ISN'T ME!"

From where the protection transport sphere stood, a second Rich Rider rushed towards them, his Nova suit glowing with its golden halo. 

Not a second. The real one. 

Sue cursed between gritted teeth. 

She should have known. From his voice, from what little he spoke. And his attitude. And his kiss. Particularly his kiss.

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

He did not know what was happening at all, but he did not like any of it.

First a bunch of Nova corps broke into his room just when the girls were about to show him what that whole thing with one cup was, and it was all shoot first and shoot last, too. He had no idea why they were after him when he was supposed to be a big damn hero and all, but fighting back could get the girls hurt so he just ran for it, and then half of Xandar seemed to be after him, with that Thoran guy yelling that he was going to have to make payment or whatever. Wasn't the room and everything complimentary? Was he in hock now or what? 

He barely made it to where Master Xar was, somehow, and at least the old dude seemed to be the only one not angry at him, but seemed pretty startled to see him there at all. Then he insisted he had to get back to Earth right away, and considering everything, it did seem like a reasonable idea, though it was hard to think the girls would be left behind. He hoped nothing was held against them or anything. He could not figure why everything had soured up all of a sudden.

Then he got to what was presumably Earth and there was him necking mighty heavy with Susan Storm Richards herself, all lovely and hot as ever with those perfect curves and her blond hair and her hot everything, only it was not himself. Not really.

And he would have never kissed her like that, not squeezing her butt and boob like that, like she was some cheap whatever, not that he would not have wanted to, of course, but a lady like that you had to respect and you would never dream of grabbing her like that, unless of course, she really, really wanted you to, and asked him to in her sexy voice and all. Maybe then...

But it certainly was not him. And that sucked.

And that had to be a Skrull. 

THE Skrull.

The day had certainly gone to hell really fast.

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

The enormous spherical starship cast its shadow over Giza, the light of dusk coloring its silvery surface. 

The Sphinx stood calm, the floating pyramids at his back, his size now greater than even the largest of them. 

With a roar, Terrax rushed at him, riding a meteoric fragment like a chariot, his axe marshaling deadly cosmic power in its sharp edge. 

The Sphinx swatted him away like a gnat, shattering his platform and throwing him up and away, far beyond the horizon, at much more than mere escape velocity.

"Is that the best with which the Devourer of Worlds can open? I am disappointed."

"THE HERALD IS NEW. BRISTLES AT HIS BIT. HE WILL NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED."

Two mighty booted feet were set on the sand.

The Sphinx met cold eyes level with his. "Galactus, I presume?"

"YOU PRESUME TOO MUCH."

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

Throughout multiple galaxies, across distances unfathomable for most of mankind, in defiance of the paradoxes of simultaneity, mighty beings paused and turned their minds, through the cheating shortcuts of sub-space or other levels of reality, towards a small world near a minor sun in a spiral galaxy much like many others.

Watchers. Elders of the Universe. Celestials. Embodiments of cosmic reality. 

Even the Living Tribunal.

All turned their attention to Earth.

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

"YOU FUCKER! GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Rich's punch was blocked and his wrist seized in a mighty grip. His next swing met the same result, and then the other's face, so much like his, rushed forward with an impact was so hard he saw flashing lights followed by a brief moment of darkness. 

He fought to stay conscious just as he struggled to get free from the hold on his arms, while the other's smile him mocked him. 

"Are you jealous, too?"

"You-You don't deserve to even touch her!"

"Oh, I do. More than anyone. And I have. As you never will."

The second head-butt hurt even more, but Rich grunted and flew up, bringing both just under the high hangar ceiling before rushing back down as fast as he could, slamming the other's back against the metal floor.

"You bastard, it was you who-?"

The other Rich twisted him about and reversed their positions, before punching him so hard that the Nova helmet got dented, despite his protective aura.

"Of course it was me."

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

"What the fuck's going on?"

Sue stared attentively at the two wildly struggling figures, waiting for an opening. "It's the Super-Skrull." 

Johnny frowned, nursing his jaw. "The Super-Skrull?"

"Yes. He's using Rich's shape." She couldn't intervine. They were struggling too wildly, and remained too close together.

"Wait, so who was the one you were-?"

"Shut up, Johnny. Just shut up."

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

Reed Richards looked down from the screen.

"It can't be. It should work. It should. Why didn't-?"

"Should I run the figures again, Creator? Implement instead a-?"

"No. No." He slouched down, weariness catching up with him. "It's no use. No use. I-I'd need to check everything from the bottom up, but there's no time-"

"Should we not start building the weapon then, Creator?"

"The weapon?"

"To stop Galactus, Creator. Or the Sphinx. Whoever wins. The time-frame-"

"I know what the time-frame is. They should be clashing right about now."

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

"The universe is vast, Devourer. There are many, many other worlds for you to take. This, however, is mine. I was born here. I suffered here. I claim it. I claim it as my own. It will perish by my hand alone. THAT is my right."

"YOUR RIGHT? WHAT RIGHT DOES A PARASITE HAVE OVER ITS HOST?"

"I have no need to fight you. Let there be peace between us. Go and find another world among the countless ones out there. Leave this one to me."

"NO. THIS PLANET EARTH HAS CHALLENGED AND ESCAPED THE HUNGER OF GALACTUS ONCE ALREADY. THAT WILL MAKE IT PARTICULARLY SATISFYING TO CONSUME. IF A GNAT MUST BE CRUSHED BEFORE IT CAN HAPPEN, SO BE IT."

The Sphinx nodded, his Ka stone shinning like a star. 

"Then your hunger will end here. Forever."

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

"Was you who got the Xandarians pissed at me! And almost got me killed!"

They struck a wall, scattering stacked equipment all about. 

"Really? How amusing." 

"Amusing-?" He gasped as a knee dug into his stomach.

"I fuck Xandar's Suzerain and a foolish Earthling geta killed for it? Of course that would be amusing."

"What? You-?"

"Yes. Her, too. And you'll never know how hot she was, either. Unlike this."

Gripping his opponent tightly, a raging maelstrom of blistering heat exploded wildly from his body, swallowing both of them.

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

"Should it not be the proper time to start building-"

Reed waved his hand weakly. "We are not building any weapon, Herbie."

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

Even behind Sue's shield, Johnny had to cover his eyes. 

"Oh, shit! It IS the Super-Skrull!"

"I TOLD YOU THAT!" 

"Nova-flame-blast! Pretty ironic."

Sue had no idea if Rich's suit could protect him from such an attack, so in desperation she struck with two huge swiftly converging blocks of invisible power that caught the flame-covered Richs within a gigantic slap-like blow, before expanding backwards instantly, creating a sudden momentary pocket of vacuum.

Their flames snuffed out, both shaken figures fell the floor. The dented Nova helmet of the newly arrived Rich wobbled on the badly-damaged floor, having been knocked off by the mighty impact.

Johnny stared at Sue. "Damn. Didn't know you could-"

"Stop chatting and help!" She rubbed her temples, her whole head smarting from her extreme effort. "Take out the Super-Skrull while he's dazed!"

"How? Both look exactly alike now."

Sue looked up and cursed. It was true. Both of them were blackened by fire now, and wore no helmet. 

Johnny muttered, sing-song-like: "Will the real Rich Rider stand up? Stand up?" 

"What-?" 

"A song. Forget it." 

"That's the best you can offer?" Johnny looked decades older than Sue now, yet he was still as juvenile as ever, and she did not know if that made her feel better or worse now. "How can-?"

"Maybe you should kiss each one to-"

"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?"

Sue blinked. Johnny may not be far off, actually. She quickly glanced at the two seemingly identical figures, focusing on each one's groin. 

Her invisible force struck the one on the right, flattening him against the floor. 

"This one."

The asshole had been too vain to make his duplication fully accurate.

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

"Is the weapon already built then, Creator? Should I fetch it for you?"

"What? No." Reed covered his face, fighting growing dizziness. "There is no weapon."

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

"Ms. Richards?" Rich groaned, trying to move, but he hurt all over, worse than he ever had. "It's me. Rich. I'm Rich. Not the-"

"Don't worry. I know." She held his hand, smiling warmly. "Just rest. You'll be fine."

"That-That wasn't me. Whatever he did... Or tried to... It wasn't me." His voice faded into unconsciousness.

Sue sighed. "I know."

"Damn, Ben is still out of it all the way there. I'd never seen him go down and stay down like that!"

"Go help him, Johnny. We must take him and Rich to the infirmary."

"I'll have to cut him out of that wall. And he's the one who knows where the power-dampening thingees are stored. To get the Skrull-"

"Too late for that."

An oversized hand stretched over Johnny's head and lifted all of him up before slamming him viciously against the ground.

"JOHNNY!"

Her brother was thrown aside like a rag-doll, and Sue could barely catch him in a yielding invisible force-cushion. Before her, the Super-Skrull was back again on his feet and back in his native alien shape as well, his powerfully muscled body quivering with anger, his broad alien jaw set in a murderous grimace.

"No more subterfuge. No more delays. You will come with me. NOW."

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

"No weapon?" 

"No weapon." 

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

"Too much time was wasted already, woman. We'll use your transport equipment. Gather whatever-"

"What? You think I-I'll go with you?"

"You would rather die here? Your world is doomed. We must-"

"No! Reed has a plan. Galactus will beat the Sphinx. Reed will stop Galactus."

"Nonsense. The Devourer of Worlds cannot be stopped. Everyone knows that."

"We stopped him before!"

"Not for long, was it? It is just a matter of time for this planet to be destroyed." His eyes narrowed. "I should be pleased by that, really, after all the grief you and your kind have caused me, but... I would not have you perish as well. No. Not you. You're too-"

"No! Reed has a plan!"

"By now your former mate must have died of old age."

"NO!"

Her invisible force struck at him.

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

"Creator, how will Galactus be stopped then?"

"Could the molecular model be faulty at the-? But I-We..."

"Creator, how will-?"

"Ben, Johnny, I-I'm sorry. I tried, but..."

"Creator?"

"Susan, dear, I... I'm..." 

His voice grew fainter, much fainter. 

"Creator?"

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

Susan struck at the Super-Skrull, again and again, her invisible force shaped first into battering rams that bounced harmlessly off his defensive shields and then into infinitesimally thin fields used as impossibly sharp blades, to equal lack of effect. She also countered his own multiple attacks, using slanted planes of force to deflect his attacks with a minimum of direct opposition. He was far blunter in his use of invisible force, yet he complemented it with his aggressive use of his fire powers and the vast enhancement of strength and pliability his body could adopt.

While invisible, Susan could roughly feel the differently shaped implementation of their respective force constructs as they clashed and pressured against each other. Hers were more sharply geometric and defined, while his constructs grew like tendrils or tentacles in organic-semblance that sought to slither past her defenses to attempt seizing her.

"Why do you delay this? I am more than equal to of all your team. While you had... some luck as a group before, you cannot hope to match me alone." He smiled. "Unless it is in other uses of the flesh."

Sue grimaced with effort. "Fuck you."

"We will. Soon. To celebrate our new life together." He blasted a wide swath of raging fire all above her, that threatened to deprive her of breathable air. "You... You have cost me so much. So much. My station. My rank. My pride. My future. All in order to fuck you. To fuck your hot Earthling body."

"You should've fucked yourself instead, then." 

Sweat beaded her brow. It was growing harder and harder to concentrate under his multi-fronted attacks. A sudden blow almost got past her defense and she fell to her knees, barely keeping her shield about her. 

"So many times I cursed myself, for my weakness, for breaking with my duty and honor, for casting aside all I had, all I ever worked for, just for you, woman, just to fuck you and your damned hot Earthling body. I curse you then, too, for tempting me with your beauty and your stubborn defiance and everything about you that I just could not get out of my mind-!"

Fire encroached around her, and she had to contract her power all around her in a spherical shield, falling back to mere passive defense.

"But then I remember your cunt around me, so tight and wet and squeezing so hard and eagerly my cock as I was deep inside you, and when you came and cried out in pleasure in my arms, and I made you mine... I know then that I had to. I had to have you."

"You bastard! You think that just because you fucked me-?"

"You cost me an empire, Susan Storm of Earth. More than once. But it was worth it. You were worth it. Worth all of it and more. You still are." His dark eyes glittered. "You're a conqueror's prize. My prize."

"Fuck you!" She gritted her teeth with strain and anger. "I'm not anyone's-"

"We shall start anew, the two of us, in some suitably distant sector of space, where Empress R'Klll may not yet reach."

Sue laughed bitterly. "Scared of a woman? Seems fitting!"

"Oh, R'Klll will have reason enough to fear me, in time. I shall win my empire yet, but with you at my side."

"And you think I'll-?" She grimaced with disgust. "You're insane!"

"Insane is your senseless resistance. Stop this foolish charade and yield to me, so I may get you to safety. Yield, as you should, as you must long to!"

His fire grew in intensity, becoming nearly white-hot.

"NO!"

"Be honest! Don't you long to be mine again? Doesn't your body, your cunt, ache to feel my cock again? To feel-?"

"I'll rather die here and now with those I love!"

"Ah, them." His arms stretched far, expanded hands growing massive and rock-like, reaching for the fallen Rich Rider and Johnny Storm. "Their deaths can be expedited."

"NO!" 

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

"Creator?"

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

She reached out with her power to protect them, but the focus on her own shield wavered as result and his invisible power took the chance to crush through her weakened defense. An invisible vice-like grip seized her neck and Susan gasped in panic.

"I got you now." Smiling, he walked towards her, his hold tightening.

She closed her eyes, trying to focus, to counter his power, but dizziness closed in.

"GOTCHA TOO, YA UGLY!"

A thunderous noise filled her ears and the pressure on her neck vanished. She opened her eyes and saw Kl'rt tumble over the floor a dozen feet away, while Ben dropped heavily to his knees, his clenched fists falling to his sides.

She ran to him. "BEN!"

"Suzie." He did not move. "Twas clobberin' time, righta?"

"Yes, it was. Thank you, Ben." She hugged him. He could not even look up.

"Dat's all I hadda give, Suzie. I'm so tired. So tired."

"Ben, stay with me. Stay with-"

"Just gotta rest m'eyelids, Suzie. Just..."

He collapsed face first to the ground, his mass too heavy for her to hold back.

"BEN!"

"Your savior fell short," Kl'rt grunted, getting to one knee. "Now there's no one to-"

Sue's eyes shone bright with her tears. "There's me. Ben got me a moment. That will be enough."

Focusing all her anger and grief, she raised a hand. Her eyes narrowed and her fingers bent inward in a claw-like gesture. 

Kl'rt gasped and staggered back. His eyes bulged. His arms flailed in desperation.

"That's my power you feel inside your head, inside your skull. I'm going to crush what little brains you have into a nugget. Slowly. So you can feel it happening. Can you Skrulls survive that?"

Her fingers slowly closed in and Kl'rt fell to the floor, trembling, like in a seizure.

"We'll see." Her hand d towards a fist. "Perhaps THIS I hold now is not a vital organ for you?"

He clawed at one of his wrists, pulling away the fabric there, while his hand sputtered with erratic flames.

"Go ahead. Try to use your powers. Try, while I turn your brain into mush! JUST TRY!"

His trembling arm rose and metal flashed at his wrist, flames flaring up erratically. 

Susan was struck by the sudden recognition. Her stomach clenched. 

"Oh, shit." 

Could it be? Could it?

She opened her hand, releasing her invisible hold on him and ran towards him.

The fire on his hand went out, and she could see more clearly around his wrist the metal bracelet she had seen Kl'tr wear twice before, in the Skrull Throne-World, first at the judgment arena, and later while in Dorrek's quarters: The aging-ray bracelet.

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

In the lengthening silence, Herbie scanned carefully the frail body limply slumped over the worktable, analyzing the rapidly failing vital signs.

Something would need to done.

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

The trembling in the Super-Skrull's body began to decrease visibly. 

Kneeling by him, Susan reached for his wrist, for the bracelet, but Kl'rt quickly jerked his arm away, his motions still twitchy and unfocused. Small flames sputtered again around it.

Sue quickly pulled back.

It took a while for him to be able to speak. "You-You try that again, I de-destroy it. I-"

"No. Don't. Please. Please. Just give it me. There's so little time-"

He shook his head. "Try to take it. I destroy it."

"No. No. Don't. What... What do you-?" She could not even finish the question.

His bloodshot eyes fought to focus on her.

"You."

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

There was no response from Richards to any measure implemented.

Herbie hovered motionless, his facial display flickering in apparent random patterns, as it accessed all the Baxter Building computers and every portable device Richards had carried, but there was nothing.

Nothing.

No record of the weapon.

No data of how to successfully stop a cosmically-powered entity.

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

"Want it?"  The Super-Skrull blandished weakly his bracelet-covered wrist.  "You come. With me."

For an moment Sue felt a sudden sense of distance, of detachment from her body. It felt like it was not her who was there, kneeling right by this dangerous alien warrior who demanded such an outrageous, impossible decision from her, here, now. It could not be. It had to be someone else. Not her.

Someone else.

Then the cruel urgency struck her and there was nowhere to escape it. Her mind raced to her loved ones, those who meant the world to her: Reed, Johnny, Ben... and Franklin, her dear Franklin... She had not seen him for days now. Could she see him again? Ever?

Could she...?

If she...

But how couldn't she?

How?

A myriad arguments raced through her panic-clouded mind, yet it always came back to the same awful realization.

How couldn't she?

Tears filled her eyes.

It was for them. And the world.

She had to.

Her mouth was dry as she whispered: "Yes. I will." 

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

 Herbie vibrated with anger.  

With Richards gone, who would stop Galactus? Or the Sphinx? 

Who?

And how?

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

The Watcher retreated to the surface of Earth's moon. It was not safe to remain on Earth during the on-going confrontation, even for one such as he. 

To an Earthling or similar lesser being, Galactus and the Sphinx would appear to be motionless, standing still while merely staring at each other, but their combat was already underway in all its chaotic violence in multiple layers of this reality. The scale of the energies being deployed would soon be manifested even on the more mundane physical planes, but the damage already being done to the substrate of space-time was considerable, and could easily have serious repercussions on the Watcher's very perceptions. 

Even Luna may not be far enough to avoid injuries.

Yet it was his duty to watch.

This was a milestone in the course of the Universe.

He tried not to dwell on how statistically improbable the survival of the human species had become.

TO BE CONTINUED