[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center]
[b]Baxter Building, New York[/b]

[color=#ffffff]The Fantastic Four set upon Hector Hammond in unison. It was like poetry in motion. Every punch, kick, or blast from one was followed by an equally potent action by another – the years of fighting alongside one another clear to even the untrained eye. For his part, Hammond battled valiantly, but as each second passed it was clear that he was outmatched. He had little to no prior knowledge of the Fantastic Four and, perhaps most importantly of all, he was fighting towards selfish ends.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Hammond’s telekinetic constructs were weakening. Where once it took several of Ben’s punches to crack them, now they were shattering upon impact. The super-villain looked paniced, his moves had become frantic and badly thought-out, until finally they had subsumed him.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]A vicious punch for Ben sent Hammond sprawling across the laboratory into a heap on the ground. He struggled to lift himself with his mind before sinking into the corner with a defeated sigh.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“Give it up, Hammond. You can’t win. Whatever power boost you’ve been given by the Surfer is already fading. If [i]even[/i] we can see that, you must know it too. Stop this rampage of yours, return to The Raft, and we’ll give you all the help we can.”[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~Help me? How could [i]you [/i]help me? ~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed knelt in front of Hammond. The villain’s breath was so rancid it made the scientist take a sharp inhale. He did his best to disguise his discomfort and lent towards Hammond earnestly.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“I’ll do everything in my power to make you the man you were before again.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]At first Hector’s twisted features softened. It appeared as if he were considering his life before the experiment. As quickly as the softening occurred, it passed, and Hammond let out a laugh that reverberated around the room.[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~You mewling infant. I don’t [i]want [/i]to be the man I was. That Hector Hammond was weak – he stood by and watched while Franklin Storm stole [i]everything [/i]from him and did nothing about it. But now I am strong.~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben directed a derisive laugh towards their downed opponent. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“You sure about that? ‘Cause you’re not [i]looking[/i] strong at the minute, Hector.”[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~Strong enough to see through his lies. Do you [i]truly [/i]believe he could not fix you if he wanted, create? You are his plaything. A golem to be commanded into battle at a whim. Nothing more, nothing less.~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The comment stung Reed almost as much as Ben. Ever since the flight that had gifted the Fantastic Four their powers, he had toiled for a cure for his friend. Richards had untied all manner of Gordian knots over the years – curing ailments once considered deadly, inventing machines that boggled the mind, even managing to cross time and space – but Ben’s condition was the one challenge that he had proved unequal to. It was a source of constant guilt.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Yet it was Ben that bore the weight of Reed’s failure. It was Ben that arose each morning to be hit by the awful reminder that his body had been transformed into something monstrous – and now, thanks to Hammond, he bore an ungainly scar on the side of his face. Ben was determined not to let the super-villain know that it bothered him.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]There were some things Hector Hammond did not need telepathy to deduce. Despite Grimm’s best efforts, his displeasure showed on his face, and Hector seized upon it within seconds.[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~I know that he trained at Storm’s side. He may not be [i]of[/i] Franklin, but he is the inheritor of that philanderer’s lies all the same. When the time comes, he will betray you, just as Franklin betrayed me.~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue cleared a path between Ben and Reed. She placed her hand on her still-kneeling fiance’s shoulder and looked down at Hammond. From his vantage point, the couple looked the picture of love and support. They had been anything but in the past few weeks. Their encounter with Namor – and the argument that followed it – still loomed large over their every interaction. In the height of crisis, they had set aside their issues and come together, as all families did. [/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Hector, Franklin is dead. Let whatever grievance you had with him die with him. There’s [i]still [/i]a way back for you – but not unless you’re willing to put aside this crusade of yours and face the consequences of your actions.”[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~The consequences? And what of the consequences of your father’s lies? What of his thievery? Who will pay for those?~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny let out a frustrated sigh at the comment.[/color][color=#ea9999] “Didn’t you hear her, egghead? Franklin Storm is dead.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue shot her brother a disapproving look. He lifted his hands apologetically and took a step backwards. Convinced she was breaking through to Hammond, Sue reached her hand towards the villain. He flinched as it neared him but Sue’s reassuring smile seemed to put him at ease.[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Let us help you.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Hammond could not feel Sue’s hand as it gently cupped one of his but the gesture seemed to move him all the same. It was the first time in nearly two decades that he had been shown comfort. Greater still, it was a comfort that he did not deserve.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]A pang of guilt seemed to strike Hammond. He grimaced as he considered what he’d allowed his thirst for revenge to twist him into. He could feel Sue inviting him into her mind and followed the call. He appeared in able-bodied form, his head returned to normal size, and saw Sue standing before him, silently leading him through her memories. There was death, destruction, and a carnage the likes of which Hammond had never seen before – but there was also love.[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~You… you are not of this world.~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Hammond muttered as he snapped back. When he opened his eyes, he seemed to see Ben, Johnny, Reed and Sue in a new light. The villain’s newfound clarity was not lost on them. For all the rage he had felt earlier, Ben managed to muster something resembling a smile.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“Y’know, Hammond, for a guy that’s supposed to be able to read people’s minds, you’re pretty damn slow on the uptake, aren’t you?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed stood up and placed his arm around Sue.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“We know what loss is more than most. Whatever you’ve been through, whatever Franklin Storm did to you, it's as to nothing as to what the four of us have suffered through. There is [i]nothing [/i]you could do to us that could come close. So, as Sue said, why not let us help you instead?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Hammond was on the brink of a nod when a memory as sharp as a knife slipped into his mind. It was twenty-nine years ago, Franklin Storm and Hector Hammond were stood together at a dance sipping on fruit punch. There was a girl across the hall with blonde hair like woven sunlight. She made a beeline across the hall for Hector and asked him to dance. It was the happiest day of his life.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Or at least it was until Franklin cut in after a few minutes. Young Hector stood and watched while the couple danced late into the light. He felt his heart break into a million pieces the girl with hair like woven sunlight planted a gentle kiss on Franklin’s lips.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her name was Mary.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Hector burst into motion. He knocked his way past Reed and Sue, evading an attempt to catch him by Ben, and hovered in the centre of the lab beside the craft that Reed and Wells had spent weeks repairing. Hammond’s eyes locked on the four of them, bursting with renewed contempt, and the room began to shake.[/color]

[color=#ffff00]~No! This is another lie – another one of Franklin’s tricks. You’re liars! You’re trying to confuse me. I refuse to be taken for a fool. Not again! I’ll destroy this place and all of you in it even if it costs me my [i]own [/i]life.~[/color]

[color=#ffffff]The shaking intensified. What little of the power cosmic remained in Hammond’s system, he seemed determined to expend. Windows smashed, tiles from both the ceiling and the floor came loose, and the Fantastic Four found themselves bombarded by debris among the maelstrom. Suddenly a loud crack appeared in the ceiling above them and the ground began to crumble beneath their feet.[/color]

[color=#ea9999]“The whole building’s coming down!”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed glanced out through one of the Baxter Building’s broken windows at the city outside. He gasped as he noticed that Hammond seemed to have torn the building from its very foundations. Hector’s nose was bleeding profusely and the veins on his head looked like they were about to burst from the strain. Hector’s grimacing ended and Reed felt the rush of the Baxter Building being dropped to the ground. [/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“Suzie!”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben shot his the Invisible Woman a desperate look. Sue nodded and extended her hand towards Hammond, trapping him within a hard-light bubble, and erected one around the four of them. They braced themselves as their home hurtled towards the Earth with enough force to reduce the buildings to cinders. Only milliseconds before landing did Reed’s eyes lock on the craft – just in time to see it crumple on impact.[/color]