[center][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center] [b][color=#ffffff]Manhattan, New York[/color][/b] [color=#ffffff]Reed could hear it in the distance. The sound of Ben Grimm’s voice gravelly voice shouting his name. But why couldn’t he see anything? What was going on? His head was throbbing and there was a pain in his side. In the dark he could feel a cold substance sliding down his leg which he quickly deduced was blood. Why was he bleeding? The last thing he remembered was being knelt in front of Hector Hammond. What had happened since? He racked his brains to remember but drew a complete blank.[/color] [color=#ffffff]When the large piece of rubble that Richards was trapped beneath was lifted, it came flooding back to him. Hammond destroyed the Baxter Building with them in it. Sue had managed to put up a shield at the last second but it had only managed to mitigate the impact of the building crashing down to Earth. How long had he been out? He was about to ask Ben but a sore throat killed the words dead.[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“He’s over here! Sue, Johnny, I’ve found him,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Ben called out as he reached down to lift Reed to his feet.[/color][color=#f6b26b] “From the looks of it he’s been cut bad. We might need a medic over here!”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Reed shook his head, finally summoning the strength to use his voice.[/color][color=#3d85c6]“I’m fine, Ben, it’s just a flesh wound. How are the others?”[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“Sue and Johnny are alright. Luckily Wells was clear of the building with Guy before Hammond brought the whole thing crashing down. Whole city’s on lockdown ‘cause of the breakout at The Raft so nobody else got hurt, thankfully.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]The scientist nodded his head as he started to process his surroundings. There was rubble as far as the eye could see. The windows of the surrounding buildings had been shattered and a few parked cars had been crushed. In the space that the Baxter Building had once stood there was now a crater filled with rubble. The only home they’d known in this world was now destroyed – and so too were the few possessions the four of them had to their name.[/color] [color=#ffffff]Sue came hurtling over some rubble and threw her arms around her husband. Reed held her closely, coughing a little as he did so, and smiled as he noticed Johnny Storm appearing on the horizon also. They both looked a little worse for wear – though perhaps not as bad as he was – but their happiness at having found Reed seemed to have pushed their own wounds to the back of their minds.[/color] [color=#9fc5e8]“I thought we’d lost you there for a second.”[/color] [color=#ea9999]“Man, can you imagine that?” [/color][color=#ffffff]Johnny said with a smile.[/color][color=#ea9999] “Survived the end of the world, travelled across dimensions, but some creep with a head the size of a fridge drops a building on you and you kick the bucket? What a way to go that would have been.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Reed let out a weak laugh. His lungs were filled with dust and god knows what else had been kicked up by an entire building collapsing with him inside of it. The rattling cough that pushed its way up through his throat saw to bring his laughter to an end. Perhaps the pain brought Richards back to reality some as their uninvited visitor suddenly came to mind.[/color] [color=#3d85c6]“Where’s Hammond?”[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“Don’t worry, Stretch, I found the ugly SOB trying to sneak away after the drop and put him down for good this time. He won’t be waking up again anytime soon – and when he does he’ll be in the infirmary at The Raft nursing more than a few broken bones, I’ll tell you that much.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Each second Reed spent upright he felt his faculties returning to him. He remembered more clearly what had happened, down to the words Hammond had used, and the way his god-awful breath had smelled. But there was still something bothering him. There was still a piece of the puzzle missing.[/color] [color=#ea9999]“You ask me,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Johnny started with a smirk. [/color][color=#ea9999]“Hammond deserves [i]more [/i]than a few broken bones. All that time Reed and Wells spent on rebuilding that timecraft? It’s going to take weeks to build that thing from scratch – maybe even months.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]The timecraft. Reed could feel his heart pounding in his throat as he remembered watching it crumple beneath the weight of the Baxter Building. Without a word, Richards pushed past his three teammates and began climbing up the rubble. His side screamed with pain as he lifted pieces of it aside, tossing them out of the way desperately, in search of the machine that would transport the four of them home.[/color] [color=#ffffff]One of Sue’s gentle hands grabbed his forearm and stopped him from lifting. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“Reed, honey, what are you doing? You’re going to get hurt.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]There was concern in Sue’s eyes – but she had chosen the wrong target for it. Reed was fine. At least, he was as fine as one could be after having a building dropped on them. He looked to Ben and Johnny, who had similarly concerned looks on their faces, and then let out a defeated sigh. Het let a rock that was resting between his hands fall to the ground.[/color] [color=#3d85c6]“Where is the timecraft?”[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“What are you talking about?” [/color][color=#ffffff]Ben said with a chortle. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“We were lucky enough to make it out with our lives, there was no way we were getting the craft out of there in one piece. It ate the big one, Stretch. That and just about everything else we owned.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Perhaps Reed should have known better than to respond with despair but he couldn’t suppress it. He sunk to his knees, his head in his hands, muttering defeatedly to himself under his breath. They didn’t understand. Sue knelt beside him, trying to prize one of Reed’s hands away from his eyes, as she inspected the wound on his side.[/color] [color=#9fc5e8]“What’s wrong, Reed? Is it your cut? Do you need help?”[/color] [color=#ffffff]When Reed removed his hands from his eyes, there were tears around them. He shook his head gravely as he fought them back, trying several times over to speak but finding himself without voice. There was resignation in Johnny’s face, as if he had grasped the seriousness of the moment, but Ben and Sue were looking at him with oblivious expressions.[/color] [color=#3d85c6]“Don’t you see? There [i]is [/i]no rebuilding the craft. The only reason we were able to repair it in the first place was because it survived the initial journey in relatively good shape. Without the craft, without [i]our[/i] Victor von Doom, there’s no way of rebuilding it. It’s gone. The timecraft is gone for good – and with it so too has any hope of us ever getting home. We’re stuck here. There’s no way back.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Sue staggered backwards in shock. Reed watched as her face contorted into a canvass of sadness and disappointment. Johnny stood, hands balled into fists and teeth gritted, taking long, deep breaths designed to calm himself down. Most heartbreaking of all was the bemused smile on Ben’s face. Before he even opened his mouth, Reed knew what his old friend was going to say to him. The titter that left his lips as he spoke all but confirmed it.[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“You’re kidding, right? You [i]must [/i]be kidding. You built that thing while Superman was breaking down the door to the Latverian throne room, Stretch. There’s [i]no way [/i]that you can’t do it again. I don’t wanna hear all this ‘there’s no way back’ talk. You hear me? You’re Reed Richards. You can do anything. You don’t need that bum Doom around holding your hands. Wells will help you again and … give it a month, maybe two, and we’ll be on our way home.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Reed wanted to be able to tell Ben all those things were true, that his faith in him would be repaid, but he knew better than that. Though the timecraft had been completed in Doom’s throne room, it was built on years of Victor’s work – and buoyed by his knowledge of the dark side of the arcane arts. They were trapped in this world for good. No matter what Ben wanted to think.[/color] [color=#3d85c6]“Ben, you don’t understand, there’s n-”[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“I said I don’t wanna hear it,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Ben growled as he grabbed Reed by the collar.[/color][color=#f6b26b] “You’re going to get us home, Stretch, because you [i]always [/i]get us home. That big brain of yours always comes through in the end. We’re going to see all of our friends again. Johnny’s gonna see Peter and I’m gonna see Alicia and the boys on Yancy St-”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Ben’s voice faltered slightly before giving out to a full on sob. Johnny’s anger seemed to wane, his hands unballing as he climbed over the rubble and placed a supportive hand on Ben’s back. Had he not cried a hundred times for their lost world already, he might have joined him in sobbing. Instead he stayed stoic.[/color] [color=#ea9999]“Easy there, big fella. If Reed says it can’t be done, it can’t be d-”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Acting on instinct, Ben unthinkingly struck out at Johnny and sent him hurtling down the rubble. His eyes widened with shock as he realised what had happened and went skipping down after him.[/color] [color=#f6b26b]“Jeez, kid, I didn’t mean it, I swear I didn’t mean it.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Johnny dabbed at his bloody nose with his sleeve and let out a pained sigh. He accepted Ben’s hand and climbed to his feet, brushing himself down of dirt, and then throwing his arms around Ben’s shoulders with a supportive smile. Relief washed over the Thing’s scarred face as he gratefully received the hug.[/color] [color=#ea9999]“Whatever happens, we’re always going to have one another, Ben.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Sue’s fingers knotted between Reed’s and the two held hands. He could see the shock in her fiance’s eyes. Though she had been in favour of staying to help this Earth defeat Galactus, the plan had always been to return home eventually and save their friends, but now the plan was gone. Their world was gone for good – but that didn’t mean they couldn’t save this[i] [/i]one. [/color] [color=#3d85c6]“Johnny’s right. This might not be [i]our [/i]world but there are billions of people on this planet that need our help. We honour the people we lost, the [i]world [/i]we lost, by protecting them from evil just as readily as we would protect our world from it.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]The shock started to melt from Sue’s face and a familiar phrase came to mind. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“With great power comes great responsibility.”[/color] [color=#ffffff]On the horizon a sudden explosion lit up the New York skyline. It had come from the direction of The Raft. With Hammond secured and the craft destroyed, the Fantastic Four had almost forgotten that the breakout was still ongoing – and that New York, as ever, needed their help. [/color] [color=#f6b26b]“Heh, looks like there’s still some ‘responsibilities’ that need taking care of over at The Raft. What do you say, Matchstick? You in?”[/color] [color=#ffffff]Johnny nodded, hands balling into fists once more, as he prepared to ignite. His trademark catchphrase was on the tip of his tongue but he stalled at the last moment. Even now Johnny noticed there were traces of guilt burrowed away in Ben’s wounded gaze. He knew the best way to put it to bed. He cleared his throat and erupted into a maelstrom of flames with a cathartic shout that echoed through the Manhattan streets.[/color] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/IsO32Ky.jpg[/img][h1][color=#ea9999][b]“IT’S CLOBBERIN' TIME!”[/b][/color][/h1][/center]