[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center]
[b]Guest Quarters, Pegasus Helicarrier[/b]

[color=#ffffff]With their interviews concluded the Fantastic Four had finally been afforded the luxury of shared quarters. It was for all intents and purposes a small apartment. If not for the gruel-dispensing machine in the kitchen, Johnny might have been fooled into thinking they were in New York.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]He laid on his back on the couch and watched on while Ben paced around the living room. He had been seething ever since he returned from his interview with Gardner. For the most part Johnny’s had gone off without a hitch and the ginger SHIELD agent had been fairly accommodating. He’d even brought Johnny a root beer when he asked for one.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben’s seemed to have gone slightly worse.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“It’s not right, Suzie,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Grimm said for what felt like the fortieth time.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue nodded her head understandingly from beside Reed at the kitchen table. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“I know it’s not right, Ben, but you have to calm down.”[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“They covered the whole damn thing up like it never happened. Can you believe that? It’s like we never even existed.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny rolled his eyes. Was he meant to care that some other world’s Fantastic Four had bit the bullet before having their lives turned over by cosmic rays? He’d watched his whole world torn apart by Darkseid, seen friends die at his hands, why would he think the four of them were immune from death? They was nothing special about them.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]They could die just like anyone else. Perhaps they should have died there with the rest of their world instead of stranding themselves here.[/color]

[color=#ea9999]“They weren’t us,”[/color][color=#ffffff] he said to Ben dispassionately.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“They might as well have been,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Grimm fired back.[/color][color=#f6b26b] “What if it had been the four of us? You think our SHIELD would have dealt with it any differently? Cos if you do I’ve got some magic beans to sell you, Matchstick.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny bristled from the couch. Once upon a time he would have taken a comment like that in his stride. The past month had changed that. He could feel his temper rising – and his temperature rising with it – but a calming look from his sister Sue helped him check it.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed had stayed curiously silent throughout the conversation. Had he known already? There was no way someone of Reed’s intellect couldn’t have figured it out. He’d spent the best part of a week hobnobbing around with Doom and he hadn’t asked that question? It was hard to believe.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]As he so often did in times of need, Ben looked to Reed for answers.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“Say something, Stretch.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed’s sigh betrayed his indecision on the subject. Normally the Fantastic Four could rely on their fearless leader to provide moral clarity in these moments but the truth of the matter was that they had never been in a moment like this before.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]It was uncharted territory – but not the kind that they had built their career on discovering.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“At the risk of sounding detached: Johnny is right. We have to remember that this is not our world, Ben. We don’t know what lead to SHIELD’s decision. If Victor von Doom is on the side of the angels in this world, who knows what else is different? Who knows what perils SHIELD has to face on a daily basis? That doesn’t quite excuse covering up four deaths to avoid a public relations headache but I don't think we can afford to rush to judgement here.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben’s struggled to hide his revulsion at Reed’s facilitation.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“I think all that time spent with Doom in Latveria has rubbed off on you,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Ben said with a disapproving shake of the head. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“Because there’s no way the Big Brain that I knew would be alright with this kinda thing. But then again, the Big Brain I knew would never have got us stranded here in the first place.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]At that, Reed, Ben and Johnny erupted into a wholly avoidable argument. The three of them were talk over one another so loudly that they could barely hear one another, let alone themselves. Sue tried to interject to calm the situation down but they paid her no attention.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]A second time Sue tried to prise the men apart but found herself again treated like a spare part. This time it was Sue’s temper that frayed. She had finally had enough of being treated like she existed in Reed, Ben and Johnny’s stratosphere. Two large hard-light structures in the shape of giant hands pulled the men apart and pushed them to separate ends of the apartment.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Enough,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Sue shouted. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“I have tried to allow the three of you the time and space to deal with your grief in your own way but the bickering and the snide comments have to stop. We’re meant to be a team.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Guilty looks adorned the men’s faces.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed nodded acceptingly, as if Sue had revealed some truth that he already understood on some level, while Ben scratched his head nervously like a child that had been caught in the middle of some misdeed.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny approached his sister slowly and offered her his arm. [/color][color=#ea9999]“You’re right, Sue, we’re a team.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]She took it and nestled her head in her brother’s chest. She saw Ben and Reed walking over to them and slowly felt their arms wrapping around Johnny and herself in a group hug.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“No, we’re more than that,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Reed said tenderly. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“We’re family, Johnny.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]It was a rare moment of affection between the four of them. Since Darkseid there hadn’t been the time to appreciate one another quite like this. Perhaps on some level hearing that their counterparts from this world had perished had affected them more than any of them cared to admit.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Perhaps they were just all in need of a hug.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Out of the corner of Johnny’s eye he spotted a tear rolling down Ben’s cheek. [/color][color=#ea9999]“Are you crying?”[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“What?” [/color][color=#ffffff]Ben said as he drew away from the hug defensively. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“No, I’ve just got something in my eye, you little rat.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue punched her brother in the arm. She was about to complain about his ruining the moment when the four of them were almost knocked off of their feet by the Pegasus lurching without warning. After a second or two of listing the Pegasus corrected course.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben looked at Reed vacantly. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“What was that?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Before the scientist had a chance to answer there was another great blast. This time the Pegasus’ alarm system began to blare. The Fantastic Four’s quarters went into lockdown and metal coverings lowered over its windows and doors. Outside they could hear the sound of SHIELD agents running through the corridors.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny called to his sister as he pointed at the coverings. [/color][color=#ea9999]“Can’t you go through those or something, Sue?[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“[i]Invisible[/i], Johnny, not intangible,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Sue said, almost distraught with belief that her brother still didn’t understand her powers after all these years. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“The clue’s in the name.[/color][color=#ffffff]”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny fake-laughed obnoxiously and then gestured to his sister and Ben to stand back. Without a shout of his trademark catchphrase, Storm burst into flames. His breathing became laboured as he tried to channel his bottled-up rage to feed his flames.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]He was on the cusp of unloading on the coverings when they rose at the last second.[/color]

[color=#b6d7a8]“Whoa, whoa!”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Guy Gardner held two peace signs up to Johnny as he entered the room.[/color] [color=#b6d7a8]“Easy there, Pyro-Boy, I’m the one that gets to decide whether or not you end up in Area-51 with the rest of the intergalactic refugees. You don’t want to piss me off.“[/color]

[color=#ffffff]He looked around the room. The furniture had been scattered about by the Pegasus being thrown off course.[/color]

[color=#b6d7a8]“I like what you’ve done with the place.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The blaring alarms and SHIELD agents sprinting around behind him didn’t seem to phase Gardner at all. He was every bit as sure of himself now as he had been facing down Ben Grimm in the interrogation room. Were it not for the alarms it would have been hard to tell the Pegasus was under attack.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed placed a panicked hand on Guy’s shoulder to shake the nonchalance out of him. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“What’s going on, Gardner?”[/color]

[color=#b6d7a8]“Ah, yeah,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Gardner said as if he had genuinely forgotten.[/color][color=#b6d7a8] “We seem to have a bit of a situation on our hands.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed’s voice was firmer this time – more direct.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“What kind of situation?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Guy laughed the laugh of a man recounting a story he felt a great sense of pride in that knew he wasn’t meant to. It was clear as the laugh left his lips that he understood that the blame for what was happening lay solely at his feet.[/color]

[color=#b6d7a8]“The kind that involves an angry sea god wanting to tear you in half for sleeping with his cousin and not calling her back.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]He pulled a tablet out of his back pocket and pulled up some CCTV footage from the outside of the Pegasus.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Wrapped around one of its engines was a huge purple tentacle reaching from the depths of the sea beneath it. SHIELD agents were peppering the tentacle with bullets to no effect. Most worrying of all were the two figures walking patiently up the tentacle.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]It was Namor the Submariner – King of Atlantis – and Namora.[/color]

[color=#a2c4c9]“Where is he?!”[/color][color=#ffffff] Namor screamed until he was purple with rage. [/color][color=#a2c4c9]“Where is Guy Gardner?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The Atlantean smacked his hands together and a wave of force flew towards the camera. It shorted out and the screen turned to static. He looked up from it at the Fantastic Four sheepishly.[/color] [color=#b6d7a8]“So what do you say? You help me out with this one and I’ll put in a good word with Nick?”[/color]