Half Pint

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

I don't think I'll ever be wholly satisfied with that post, as its kicked around my head for the last two weeks, but there it is.

@Sep

It was a great post! The part at the start with the armour locking Rhodey in place was terrifying.

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

I thought the same, too. Adrian looks kinda clumsy. Worse now that Cindy’s caught him redhanded lol. Poor guy. I’ll probably have either Kingpin or Obadiah Stane hiring Slade (that, if nobody’s taken the latter). Tho, if I were to go with Kingpin, should I just have him tell Slade that he doubts Adrian can handle the gig by himself?

@Terry Bogard

I believe Stane appears in @Sep's last post so it might be best to check with him!

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

First post is out. Just let me know if there’s anything to revise, alright, guys?

Also, just curious, how frequently do you guys usually post? I saw that it’s normally once every two weeks in the IC section, but is there anybody who posts once a week?

@Terry Bogard

I try to post every Tuesday! We’ll see if I can keep up this rate, and of course when I start to work on collabs I expect this to slow down a bit.

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

Work's ramping up a bit now and I'll be travelling with work in a few weeks time, but I'm hoping to keep to the Tuesday schedule for my posts! I've been a post ahead until now, so hoping I can get some writing done when thing's are a bit quieter!

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

---

The figure stood in front of the two like some forgotten prophet dragged from the earth itself. He was draped in layers of worn leather and deep green cloth. His long, mottled coat hung open, revealing a tunic of strange, sage fabric beneath. A thick, tangled ginger beard spilled down over his chest, streaked with gray. His skin was pallid, almost translucent in places, as though the sun hadn't touched it in decades.

His eyes were hidden behind a pair of oversized green-tinted goggles and his nose was slightly flattened, his upper lip curled in a permanent sneer. His hands were what Sue noticed first. They were gnarled, clawed, thick-nailed, better suited for digging than handshakes. The figure only came up to Reed's waist, but he carried himself like a man ten feet tall. He smiled as he approached them.

Sue instinctively recoiled, meanwhile Reed observed the man. He felt cautious, but despite the situation something about him felt familiar. The man's smile twitched, his long front teeth catching the light in a flash of yellowed enamel. The sneer didn't drop so much as it spasmed, his upper lip quivering with involuntary motion, like a rodent sniffing the air. His head jerked slightly to the side in a sudden tic, a shiver of movement that made the folds of his hood rustle. He quickly regained his composure.

"You don't remember me." the man said. "That's all right. Time, after all, changes everything. Especially down here." His head tilted up to meet ther eyes, Sue was trying to avoid his gaze as if it was a prison spotlight. For a moment, there was silence. Just the slow drip of water and the soft shuffling of the creatures that loomed at the edge of the pit. "I remember you, though." the man continued. "Both of you. Brightest minds in the Think Tank. Reed Richards...Susan Storm..." His clawed hand gestured toward each of them like he was naming pieces on a chessboard. "You were always too clever for your own good. You especially, Reed. I used to think you'd surpass even me." He let out a high pitched laugh.

Suddenly memories flocked to Reed. The voice. The way he stood. The cadence of his speech. It hit him all at once. "Professor Elder?" he asked. He was sure he already knew the answer.

The man beamed, spreading his arms theatrically. "Harvey Elder, yes!" He laughed "Or...I suppose that name doesn't quite fit anymore, does it?" He chuckled. "Still, it's good to hear it spoken again, I suppose. It's been so long since I've had intelligent company."

Sue's tried her best not avert her gaze again. "What happened to you?" She let her hand drop to her side and took Reed's in hers. It gave her some small comfort as she glanced at the creatures in their tunnels around them once more. "I can't remember when we last saw you. After you were fired no one could track you down. God knows dad spent so long trying to find you."

His smile faltered for a moment. "Hm, yes, quite." For a second he looked pensive, lost in thought, before he spoke up again. "Do you know why they fired me? They said my work was dangerous, an affront to god. As if religion has any place in a lab!" He laughed again. "I remember it differently. I remember a lab full of breakthroughs, of beautiful questions...and a boardroom full of cowards. I pushed boundaries, yes, but only because no one else would. What I was building - what I am building - could've changed everything."

Reed stepped forward slightly, gesturing to the creatures around them. "Professor Elder, what are they? What happened to you? How have you managed to live down there?" A hundred other questions had flooded Reed's mind over their short conversation, but these three felt the most pertinent.

Elder smiled back to him, walking passed the two and gesturing for them to follow. "All excellent queries Reed! But I'd have expected as much from you. I'm glad to see the years haven't dulled your curiosity. They say age is the enemy of invention, I've never found truth in the saying! Come, come now. This is no place to talk. If you'd be so kind as to follow me I can answer any and all of the questions you have at my home."

Reed and Sue looked at each other. Sue felt a pit in her stomach, none of this felt right. She felt like she wanted to get out of here as soon as possible and hide her head in the sand, try to forget any of this had happened. Let Elder have his 'Hills Have Eyes' commune down here on his own. She glanced back at the way they came. More security would surely be waiting to meet them at the top of the lift. She realised quickly this was a decision between possible or certain death.

Reed shrugged back at her, decidedly less nervous about the situation. The more he thought about it the more fondly he remembered Elder. The rumours surrounding the reasons he was stricken from the think tank were numerous, and grave. The young folk at the time revelled in the drama, gossiping and inventing new stories of why their old professor was removed without ceremony. Reed never felt comfortable with this. Too many questions had been left unanswered, and in some small part he felt partially responsible for Elder losing his position. Although this was never the case, he knew about as much as anybody at the time and he still didn't know now.

For a while refusing to join in on the mockery made him a bit of an unpopular figure among his friends. In fact it was the only time that he and his rival, Victor Von Doom had ever agreed on anything. Neither of them had laughed when Elder was gone. Neither of them liked how fast the others moved on. Neither of them felt comfortable seeing eye to eye with one another.

Reed turned his eyes from Sue back to Elder, watching the man descend further into the cavern. He moved with a strange, almost gliding gait. Despite his height and his use of the walking stick he moved fairly quickly.

"Let's go." Reed said softly. "If there's even a chance he's telling the truth, we owe it to ourselves to find out."

Sue didn't answer, just gave a small nod and followed beside him, hand still gripped in his. Her every instinct was screaming to turn back, but she didn't let go. She trusted Reed, and more importantly trust in herself to be able to escape from here if need be. She'd have liked to call back a memory of worse situations the two of them had gotten out of, but hiking through the Amazon was nothing compared to this.

The two of them walked in silence behind Elder, deeper into the veins he and his 'children' had carved into the earth. The deeper they went, the more alien the world became. Rock formations twisting in impossible spirals, massive root systems humming faintly as if they were breathing, and the occasional distant groan of the earth itself shifting.

All the while, the creatures followed. Mole-things with their huge blinking eyes and twitching noses. They didn't speak, but their presence was constant, scuttling along the walls and ceilings, some moving like spiders, others like burrowing rats.

Eventually, the narrow passage curved and sloped into a low, earthen chamber. No taller than eight feet at the center, with walls that bowed inward like the inside of a ribcage. The walls glittered faintly with mineral growths and what looked like scavenged tech. Old lab equipment, control panels, antennae, shattered bits of drones, all reassembled into makeshift structures. Glowing cables wound through the rock like veins, pulsing with a dim, greenish light.

Elder's "home" felt oddly cosy despite it's location. There was an improvised lab in the corner, with a workbench housing a few broken terminals from various eras standing beside shelves of cracked books and journals. There was a small stove fashioned from what looked like the guts of a ruined repulsor engine. A tin kettle sat on top, whistling gently. Nearby, two chairs, one clearly salvaged from a subway train, the other hand-carved from limestone sat facing each other over a table made of repurposed plexiglass bolted to support beams. To their right sat an armchair.

"Make yourselves comfortable." Elder said, sweeping his arms as if he were unveiling a royal hall. "It's not quite the Ritz, but it's home." He moved over to a raggedy old armchair and climbed onto it. One of the mole-creatures entered through an entryway at the back of the room. He was taller, more humanoid than the hunched beasts from before. He seemed more refined, wearing scavenged clothing and walking with a straight back. He wore a belt stuffed with tools under a tattered lab coat slightly too small at the arms.

He stopped as he entered, catching sight of Reed and Sue. "Father, you have guests?" he spoke with a shocked expression.

Elder nodded, turning toward the tall, lanky creature at the chamber's entrance. "Belo!" Elder called, his voice rising in a melodic tone. "We have guests. Old friends of mine. Be a dear and bring us some tea - and the honey loaf, if those greedy twins haven't devoured it all."

The Moloid, Belo, straightened at once, nodding with stiff formality. "Of course, Father." His voice could almost be described as regal, like someone who had learned English by mimicking old British academic tapes. He quickly made his way over the stove, grabbing some mugs and never taking his eyes off of the couple.

Elder gestured over to the two chairs in front of him. The two cautiously made their way over and turned the chairs to face him before sitting down. Sue broke the silence. "You have tea down here?" As if that was the most pressing question.

"Tea, dear girl is the basis of any good civilisation. And I may be many things now, but a barbarian I am not."

Reed replied. "Please, Professor Elder-"

"Please, Reed, call me Harvey. We've enough history to eschew seniority."

"Alright, Harvey. You have to understand this is all very confusing for us. We'd appreciate an explanation for what is going on here."

Harvey adjusted in his seat, taking a moment to breathe as Belo brought over the tea and stood at his side. "I suppose I should start at the beginning. Tell me Sue, do you know why your father had me removed from the board?"

She shook her head. She'd like to have said her father never told her, but she'd honestly never thought to ask. Professor Elder was never one of her favourite teachers, in fact, quite the opposite.

"Hm, I shouldn't think so. Genius is so often seen as madness by the un-initiated." He took a sip of his tea, gesturing to the two to drink theirs. Reed took him up on the offer, and was surprised to find the tea to be delicious. Sue declined, she was met with a scowl that lasted half a second from Elder. "Your father and I disagreed on very few things, besides the one thing that mattered. My great work was to create life itself, to manipulate existing cells and molecules to create something entirely new. I wanted to skip evolution entirely and instead be the first to discover the greatest invention of all - life itself."

He began to start speaking again, but caught himself as he opened his mouth, glancing up at Belo. "Belo, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could find your sisters. God knows what trouble they're getting up to unsupervised." Belo began to argue, but was quickly silenced by his father. He left the room shortly after. As strange as this whole thing was, Sue couldn't help but see the family dynamic she grew up with between Harvey and his 'children'. He continued speaking.

"Your father saw things differently. He and the others thought it was unethical, that such things shouldn't be questioned. He feared the technology being used for eugenics. I, however, saw a different future." He gently placed his mug down on the table in front of him and leaned back in the chair. "After I was excluded from the Think Tank I was at a loss. You may not know this, but I am an orphan. I had no one and nowhere to turn to, all my ties were tangled up with the Storm Foundation, after what happened I'd managed to burn all my bridges without intentionally lighting so much as a match." He laughed to himself, a sad chuckle and looked down at his clawed hands.

"It wasn't too long after that when The Reach came. Everything changed as I'm sure you're well aware. I won't mince words here, you know as well as I what the meta-bomb did to many of us." He gestured towards the two. Both of them kept shtum about the true origin of their powers, it was best to let him believe what he wanted now. "Unfortunately I wasn't turned into a dashing Superman. I suppose it's ironic isn't it, I'm sure you all thought you were very sneaky referring to me as the Moleman back then. Well..." He spread his arms out, his claws spreading. "I suppose fate has a wicked sense of humour." Reed looked down in shame, Sue averted her gaze. There was silence in the room for a few moments, neither of them wanting to fess up or feeling like an apology was appropriate. The look on their face was apology enough.

"The transformation changed my biochemistry to such a level that I became more mole than man. You'll have noticed my flash new spectacles" He said tapping them with a claw "They are more than just a fashion statement. I'm quite blind in the light, they allow me to see in the deep darkness underground, and on the off chance I ever go onto the surface they protect me from the sun." He smiled. "Anyway, enough of the past, I'm sure the pressing question on your mind is less about the moleman and more about his moles, eh?" He rose to his feet, gathering up the two finished mugs of tea and the untouched one before moving over to the sink and leaving them there. "I count what happened back at the Baxter Foundation as a blessing these days. Because of it I was able to continue my research under duress, when all the greatest discoveries are made. I continued my work in these tunnels, and what I found would astound even the most tenured of archeologist." He moved back to the two. "These tunnels are in part dug by myself and my children, but many of them were here when I arrived. I found ancient fossils, bio-matter of an ancient underground race never discovered before. Once I'd sapped enough energy from the Baxter Building it only took salvaging the right equipment and voilà - life again!"

The couple sat in stunned silence for a moment. Absorbing all of the information they had been given as best they could. Before the invasion they would have called Elder a madman and locked him away. Nowadays anything seemed possible. Reed cleared his throat, standing up from his chair.
"Harvey, this is remarkable, you're saying there was sentient life before humanity?"

Harvey smiled back. "Humanoid, yes, sentient possibly." He continued "You'll have noticed the Moloids as I've taken to calling them - the ones back in the pit were decidedly more...feral than dear Belo. They display some semblence of free thought, but are closer to a dog than a human." He rubbed his face for a moment, choosing his next words carefully. "I'm not sure if this is their natural inclination, or it's as a result of the process - reviving a species from scraps and marrow is hardly an exact science. Most emerged simple, instinctive. Only Belo and his sisters have retained or perhaps developed a higher awareness. Language, logic, even emotion. It's as though I've reignited an evolutionary spark that had long since died out."

Sue felt a stirring in her stomach. This all felt oddly wrong, although she couldn't put into words why. Maybe the thought of bringing life into the world they lived in felt cruel in the first place, let alone life that would so obviously be beaten down by Lord's regime. She remained silent, this whole ordeal felt fun at first but the joke wasn't making her laugh anymore. She felt more dismay when her partner spoke up.

"Fascinating..." Reed exclaimed, scratching his beard. "And you've been down here all this time? Was the blip we found yours then I'd presume?"

Harvey looked puzzled. "What blip?"

Sue spoke up. "We didn't come down here by chance, Professor." She stood up from the chair, sidling up beside Reed. "Our scanners picked up a beacon at this location, you're telling us it wasn't you that triggered it?"

Harvey stood in silence for a moment, collecting his thoughts. "Even if I had the resources to create such a device why would I waste my time? The entire reason I'm down here with my Moloids is so we don't get found? Such an act would be counter intuitive to everything I'm working on!"

Reed nodded, arms folded. "That's what I thought. Something isn't right. It looks like someone else is tracking you, Harvey - and that makes this urgent. We need to find out who, and fast." Reed reached into his jacket, pulling out a small notepad. He scrawled a string of numbers and frequencies onto a page and tore it off. "This is our comm frequency. If you or your Moloids find anything - any equipment, any traces, don't hesitate to contact us. We'll do the same on the surface. We'll find whoever’s behind this."

Harvey took the paper, eyes scanning it briefly before nodding. "Very well. I'll assign Belo and the twins to comb the tunnels. Thank you both for your help."

Harvey guided the two through the tunnels and up into one that opened into a concrete spillway beneath what looked like an abandoned maintenance station. Rusted metal slats covered half-collapsed grates above them, and a faint trickle of daylight leaked in through the cracks. Harvey did his best to avoid the beam of sunlight.

"This one leads out," Elder said, his voice low and serious now. "It was a runoff channel once. We've kept it mostly clear for emergencies...or, in your case, exits."

"And entrances." Reed noted, running his hand along the tunnel's frame. "That hatch isn't sealed. If we leave it marked in our system, this gives us a clean way to return without drawing attention."

Elder nodded, but said nothing. He simply stood at the base of the stairs, his clawed hands folded over his staff. "I'll keep to the shadows, as always. But if you find who sent that signal... please come back. I would like to know who threatens my children."

Reed turned back to the mole-man, a faint shadow of guilt in his eyes. "You deserved better than what the Foundation gave you, Harvey. I know it's too late to fix that, but if this threat is real, you won't face it alone."

Harvey gave a crooked smile, and for a moment something very human flickered behind his goggles. "That almost sounded like an apology."

Reed smiled back, Sue was already making her way onto the surface.

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

@Half Pint Well I have absolutely no clue who showed up at the end, but I am sure excited to find out!

@Lord Wraith

Cheers! I actually originally had a description written that made it far more obvious but I thought I’d leave it a mystery for a week!

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

@AndyC Wow, that bit with Braniac at the end of your post is amazing!

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

---

Elbridge shouldered his rifle, taking up the rearguard after appointing the youngest member of his taskforce in the vanguard. He’d phrased it like a reward, but anyone who knew Elbridge understood it was more like tossing the kid to the wolves with a pat on the back. His reputation had preceeded him, anyone drafted into his team from another knew what they were getting in for. He was very much a man who believed that being feared was far better than being loved. He'd practically been licking his lips when Lord got into power and began setting up the checkpoints around the city, to him it was music to his ears. A return to order, his kind of order. The kind where a man with a gun and the authority to use it didn't have to explain himself. Lord gave him a leash, sure, but it was a long one, and Elbridge had every intention of running with it until it snapped.

He stalked through the cavern, boots stomping over each root that had the unfortunate luck of being in his path, floodlight sweeping left and right. The cavern's air was damp and dense, thick with spores. Every few steps, a subtle click from his wrist-mounted scanner confirmed his route, but no sign of the targets. Not yet.

Ahead of him, the squad swept their beams through the cavern's contours, arcs of light slicing through the shadows in rhythmic sweeps. The youngest at the front, Rogers, or maybe it was Ramirez - was already jittering under the pressure. His shoulders twitched with every half-seen glint from the wet stone. The others kept their spacing tight, disciplined, like good hounds. But Elbridge knew the fear was creeping in around the edges. That was fine. Fear sharpened the instincts. Broke the weak ones down. Separated the paper soldiers from the ones worth keeping.

He broke formation, moving up towards the young soldier and slapping a hand on his shoulder, giving him a startle. Elbridge guffawed as the kid flinched under his grip.

"Easy there, killer." Elbridge said, leaning in close enough that his breath fogged the boy's visor. "Don't jump every time a mushroom farts or you'll empty your mag into a rock and piss yourself in the same second." He laughed again.

The kid, Rogers, definitely Rogers - stammered something Elbridge didn't bother catching. He just smiled, all teeth, then gave the shoulder another squeeze that wasn't quite friendly.

"You're on point for a reason, Rogers. First eyes, first blood. Think of it like a rite of passage. Or a lottery. Someone's gotta win the first bite. About time you popped your cherry anyway"

He gave him a pat against the back, too hard to be comforting and turned to stalk back toward his position. Laughing all the while, a horrible sound that echoed through the cavern.

"Stay frosty. And if you see movement, don't freeze. Shoot. Then scream. In that order."

His unit continued their slow advance through the cavern. Silent except for the occasional crude remark from their commanding officer still taking up his cushy position at the back of the formation. Eventually they came to a split in the tunnel.

Elbridge whistled low through his teeth, scanning the fork with a practiced eye. Moss clung to one side like rot, the other looked cleaner, but narrower. He liked neither.

"Well, ain't this a goddamn buffet of bad options." He muttered, stepping up beside his second in command, Karras. Much more respected and reasonable, Karras couldn't have been more different than Elbridge as a leader. Unfortunately he was his junior in rank and experience, and while Elbridge mistankenly thought of him as a friend, his opinion mattered as little as anyone elses.

Karras glanced at the split. "Left path drops off quick. Could be a tunnel system underneath. Right one's tighter. Better cover, but no line of retreat if it goes bad."

"Beautiful." Elbridge said, smirking. He turned, raising his voice. "Alrighty then! Rogers, you're on a hot streak tonight, so guess what? You're choosing the direction."

The kid froze, visibly paling even behind the visor.

"I - uh...sir?"

"You heard me!" Elbridge said, stepping aside with a theatrical wave of his arm. "Pick a path. Left or right. This is what leadership looks like. Real character building stuff. You'll thank me for it later."

The squad stayed still, watching, silent. Karras looked like he wanted to object, but he knew better. Rogers hesitated for a painful moment, eyes darting between the two paths.

"...Left." He finally said.

Elbridge clapped his hands once, the sound echoing around the cave as his grin widened. "Atta boy! Decision made." He turned back to the rest of the squad, barking orders as he faced them. "Rogers, you and Grant take point down the left tunnel. Full sweep, check for breaches, movement, spores, whatever the hell. Radio in if you find anything worth a damn or if you start screaming. Rest of you, hold position."

Grant, a quiet, square-jawed soldier who'd done three tours in a Meta detention camp, gave no reaction. Just a curt nod and started moving. He was used to this kind of treatment. He'd done something to upset Elbridge in his first week with him and had never lived it down. Rogers, visibly scared, clicked his rifle into ready position and followed, one glance over his shoulder at Elbridge.

"Don't worry!" Elbridge called after them, cupping his hands mockingly. "We'll name a cafeteria sandwich after whichever one of you dies first!"

He snorted and leaned back against the damp wall, next to Karras, who wasn't hiding his displeasure.

"You keep burning through rookies like this, you'll run out of meat for the grinder."

Elbridge shrugged. "There's always more meat. Any hot blooded American patriot would kill to be part of my unit." He grinned. Karras couldn't tell how much of that sentence he meant as a joke.

They waited. A few minutes passed, no one daring to say anything. Elbridge had lit up a cigarette and was happily puffing away pondering over what the fillings of the 'Rogers Sandwich Supreme' could be. Then a burst of static through their radio, followed by silence again.

Karras stiffened, his brow furrowing as he looked down at his wrist mounted screen. "That was Grant's channel."

Elbridge tilted his head, listening. Then their comms buzzed again, half a scream muffled by static followed by a crunch. The squad froze.

"Elbridge-" Karras started, but the older man had already pushed off the wall, unslinging his rifle and motioning the unit to follow.

"Right path." Elbridge said, his tone decidedly less jovial than before. "We go now. Whatever took 'em, I want its goddamn teeth."

The squad fell in behind him, nerves tight, the tension could be cut with a knife. They swept down the narrower path, beams slicing through the gloom. None of them daring to question what had taken Rogers and Grant. The right-hand tunnel narrowed the further they crept down it, forcing the squad into single file.

Elbridge's earlier bravado had drained into something colder. He was quiet, professional - stalking like a cougar through the jungle. He moved in closer behind the lead man, no more lounging in the rear. They rounded a bend, and the tunnel opened wide.

The squad spread out instinctively, fanning across the lip of a broad, circular chamber. In the center of the room, the ground sloped down into a wide, bowl-like depression. Two silhouettes knelt at the centre of the chamber, maybe thirty feet down. A man and a woman, half-shrouded by the mist curling up from the cave floor.

The squad stood quietly, rifles raised and pointing at the two figures as they surrounded them from above. Then Elbridge stepped forward slowly, weapon lowered and clapping slowly.

"Well, well, well, lookey what we got here!" The two figures heads snapped around to face him, and quickly began glancing around at the group that had ambushed them. "Looks like we caught ourselves a coupl'a freaks!" He laughed to himself, throwing hand signs down into the pit to signal the unit to begin their descent down the slope. He followed not far behind, casually sliding down the dirt with his rifle hung lazily on his side.

The two metas raised their hands as the unit surrounded them. Elbridge took a sick delight in seeing the concern etched across their faces. They had escaped them in the lift, now they had them surrounded. Powers or not he was sure their little tricks wouldn't match up to a barrage of sustained gunfire.

"Now, you're gonna surrender nicely and let us lock these pretty little bracelets on you," He spoke, unhooking a pair of power dampening handcuffs from his belt. "Or we're gonna be dragging two corpses through the mud all the way back to base." He smiled.

The woman spoke first. "You know we're not going to let either of those things happen.

Reed didn't move. His eyes flicked over the squad's formation, cataloguing their spacing, the angle of descent, firing arcs, even now, the mathematician behind the man was at work. It didn't look good. This felt like a sum he couldn't solve. He leaned over to his wife and spoke as quietly as possible.

"Sue, this doesn't look good. You'll need to keep your shield up as long as possible."

"Naturally."

Elbridge narrowed his eyes. "What was that freaks? You spitting out yer last words?" He laughed again.

Reed back at Elbridge. "Shield. Now."

In one fluid motion, Sue dropped into position and threw up a bubble barrier around the two just as the first barrage of gunfire lit the cavern. Bullets slammed against the invisible wall, sizzling and sparking as if the air itself had turned solid. Reed crouched low beside her, already pulling apart the device in her hands they'd been using to trace the anomaly.

"We can't win a firefight." Sue muttered, straining under the pressure as fresh impacts made the barrier shudder. "We need another plan. This is too much for me to attack as well as keep the shield up."

"I'm working on one!" Reed called back over the thundering sound of the gunfire, his fingers pulling wires free with surgical speed. "I can pulse their magnetic cartridges, force a lockout. But I need a fourty seconds and a miracle."

The cavern trembled under sustained fire. Sue groaned, the effort of maintaining the shield clearly taking its toll.

"You've got ten."

Reed tried to work faster. His hands moving as quickly as they could. It felt hopeless, he couldn't connect everything fast enough. In his haste, his grip slipped, a key coupling clattered to the stone floor and bounced out of reach, vanishing through a crack with a sound that felt impossibly loud in the chaos. The shield cracked like glass. The light stuttered. Sue gasped.

Then they were sure they heard a sound behind all the chaos. A low, subdermal thrumming, like distant thunder. The gunfire slowed as even the soldiers noticed it. They could feel a rumbling beneath their boots.

"What is that?" One muttered, still maintaining his fire.

Another stepped back a pace. "It feels like something's moving!"

A soldier screamed as the earth split open beside him and from it poured things not born of the surface world.

Yellow, slick-skinned, almost child-sized but twisted, deformed. Huge eyes glistened wet in the dark, blinking in odd, insectile rhythms. Their limbs were thin but powerful, ending in claws better suited to tunneling than killing though they proved plenty adept at both.

They swarmed like ants, shrieking as they surged from beneath, dragging the man down into the pit they'd clawed open. His screaming cut off halfway through a breath. Another soldier turned to run, one of the creatures leapt onto his back, jaws widening far too much, teeth sinking in. Blood sprayed across the stone.

One by one, the squad was pulled apart some into the ground, others ripped screaming into side passages. Rifles were dropped. Orders turned into pleas. The cavern was chaos, a pit of teeth and panic.

Sue collapsed to a knee, the shield flickering out. Elbridge saw it all, and lost whatever bravado he had left.

"N-no, no, no, NO!" he screamed, stumbling backward, nearly tripping over one of the discarded rifles. The screams of one of his soldiers rang out behind him, and he spun like a cornered rat, weapon raised with his eyes wide. "What are those things?! Jesus Christ - what the hell are those things?!"

A shriek tore through the cavern, not from the creatures, but from the last man in his unit being yanked into a tunnel wall that hadn't existed a moment ago.

Elbridge broke, he turned and ran, dropping his rifle as his fingers began clawing at the damp rock for balance. He shoved past Karras, or what might've been Karras, his body half-draped over a stalagmite, staring with glassy, dead eyes. Elbridge didn't stop, he couldn't stop.

The walls seemed to close in around him. Every turn he took led to more darkness, more sound, scratching, harsh breathing, movement in the periphery. He could feel them behind him, under him, watching him. Something brushed his boot, and he screamed, a high, wheezing sound, almost childlike in pitch. A flashlight flickered behind him, but no help came. No voices. Only the scuttling. The whispering, chittering static of bodies scraping through earth.

He was hyperventilating ragged, quick breaths as he stumbled again and fell face-first into moss. He began crawling on his hands and knees. "Please, please, I didn't sign up for this! I didn't, I didn't know-"

A small, clawed hand reached out of the wall and grabbed his ankle. Elbridge shrieked like a scared child and kicked, boot scraping free. He ran again, sobbing now, incoherently begging for his life. He turned a corner too fast and slammed face-first into something solid and warm. Not a wall.

He staggered back, blinking tears from his eyes. A small, squat figure stood there, unmoving. Almost childlike, but inhuman. Pale yellow skin, too-wide eyes, too many teeth.

It blinked up at him. Tilted its head. Smiled.

Elbridge reached for his pistol, far too slowly. The light on his shoulder died.

---

Reed held one arm around Sue, supporting her in her exhuasted state as he held a stoic face towards the creatures surrounding them. They approached them differently from the soldiers, slowly edging their way closer and closer to the couple, tens of them, maybe a hundred all pouring out of the holes they'd dug and filling the pit Reed and Sue had made their last stand in. He was equal parts intriguied as he was terrified. Was this were their story would end? Miles beneath the surface torn apart by subterranean creatures? For a second he thought such a sci-fi way of ending things wouldn't be so bad. He knew Sue never felt the same.

The creatures got closer and closer, their hallowed breathing filling the room as they squabbled and bickered in some unknown language. Reed naturally felt his fist grow in size, if this was their last stand, he sure as hell wasn't going without a fight.

Just then, a figure appeared at the top of the pit. He was short, hunched, and cloaked in ragged layers of mismatched gear. For now just a silhouette as he waved a staff to the right and called down to the beings.
"Leave them, my children."

With one command the creatures looked up at the figure and grunted in affirmation. The majority of them scuttled back into their holes, but a sparse few remained around the edges of the pit or peeking out of their tunnels. The figure made his way down towards the two.

"Hello Reed, hello Sue."

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

After my next 2-3 posts I’ll be open to collab with anyone if it makes sense within their story! I don’t see the FF moving out of NYC for any adventures in the near future but for anyone else in NYC or who can get there for a storyline I’d be open to collab.

Ultimate One Universe: Resistance

@Half Pint made reference to Reed briefly if that's okay

@Sep

Of course! I loved your inclusion there I’m looking forward to Tony and Reed meeting again sometime in the future! Fantastic post also I had a great time reading it!