Morden Man

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Shout out to @Master Bruce for managing to make me feel slightly less self-conscious about my absurdly long post by posting an even longer one.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Baxter Building, New York

Guy could smell Hector Hammond’s putrid breath from across the room. A long bead of drool left the corner of his mouth and dribbled down his chin. It fell to the ground and landed beside Reed Richards and Harrison Wells. They were unconscious. Guy scanned the lab for the others. Johnny and Reed were knocked out by the chairs. Only Ben Grimm was still standing. Truth be told, Gardner wasn’t sure he’d want anyone else by his side in a close-quarters firefight.

“Now there’s a face only a mother can love. This guy a relative of yours or something, Benji? That mug’s got Yancy Street written all over it.”

There was no response. Guy looked again to the Thing only to find that his famous blue eyes were the same sickly yellow as Hector Hammonds. From his seat, Hammond laughed, or as near to a laugh as he could muster – his fork-like tongue slithering between his rancid teeth as his cheeks expanded back and forth.

~I am afraid that your friend, poor ‘Benji’ as you called him, is no longer with us, Agent Gardner. You see, his simple brain belongs to me now – I see all his thoughts, his memories, his deepest, darkest desires. It's all mine for the taking.~

“Yeah, yeah,” Guy scoffed as his hand snaked towards the service weapon on his waist. “You keep talking, you steaming pile of crap.”

~Are you going to shoot me, Agent? That would be very unwise. I have placed your colleagues in the deepest of sleeps. One that only I can wake them from. Were some terrible accident to befall me, say, a bullet through the skull, they would never wake again.~

Guy sneered. Hammond’s breath was so bad that he was finding it difficult to breathe. He had nothing on him – if he was powerful enough to take down Reed, Johnny, and Sue in one swoop, there was no way Guy could take him down with a bullet. And there was definitely no way he could take down Ben with just a gun. Whether he liked it or not, Guy was backed into a corner with only one way out.

He swung his gun free and unfurled a bullet from it with a crack. It flew directly towards the space between Hammond’s eyes – stopping short only a milimetre from the villain’s bulbous head.

~You would risk your friend’s lives?~

“What can I say?” Guy said with a defiant grin. “I've always been a gambling man.”

With a squint, Hammond sent the bullet flying back towards Gardner and the SHIELD agent tried to leap out of its path. The bullet nicked Guy’s side and he cried out in pain. Hammond laughed again, as Gardner landed on the ground with a thud, and his sickly yellow eyes turned towards Johnny and Franklin Storm. He was about to lower his chair towards them when he heard the lab doors being flung open. Disappearing through them was Guy Gardner – leaving a trail of blood behind him.

~Intriguing.~

Hammond’s glance rested upon Ben Grimm. Without the usual warmth and colour to his eyes, Ben looked every bit a ‘Thing’ – his heavy, rock-like brow now twisted into something cold and uncaring.

~After him, you oafish creature. I didn't spend fifteen years dreaming of getting my revenge on Franklin Storm to have it ruined by a glorified babysitter.~

The Thing’s limbs lugged forwards. There was no life to the movements, no sign of the personality that had made Yancy Street’s favourite son beloved by those that knew him, only a vacant, yellow glare filled with Hammond’s murderous intent. Upon reaching the lab doors, he didn't bother to push them open, but burst through them instead. Wordlessly he followed the trail of blood through the corridors of the Baxter Building.

With each lumbering footstep it felt as if the building itself was moving. In the small room opposite Reed’s lab, Guy was taking shelter from the creature formerly known as Ben Grimm. He was coated in sweat. He figured several criss-crossing sprints through the Baxter Building’s many paths ought to keep Ben off his trail long enough for him to come up with something resembling a plan.

“Goddamnit.”

The tablet in his pocket had been crushed and with it went any chance Guy had of communicating with the outside world. Who was he kidding? The breakout at The Raft meant SHIELD was likely stretched beyond breaking point out there. The cavalry wasn’t coming. If Guy was going to get them all out of there, he was going to have to do it on his own.

~Is that how you see yourself, Agent Gardner? The lone ranger? The maverick going against the tide at every turn? Yes, I see it now ... an abusive father, how novel. You buried your head in comic books to escape the trauma. Is that why you joined SHIELD? To prove to the world how big and strong you are? That daddy can’t hurt you anymore?~

Guy could feel Hammond skirting around the edges of his mind. “Shut your mouth, you floating piece of shit, I’m trying to concentrate here.”

As quietly as he could, he rooted around the drawers of the dorm room in search of something useful. There were a few moth-eaten socks, a can of deodorant, and an old magazine in one. He picked up the can of deodorant and stuffed it into one of his pockets. In the next drawer was a half-empty bottle of whiskey and some ancient-looking condoms. Guy pushed them aside, grabbed the bottle of whiskey, and took a quick swig. He stared down at his wounded side and considered rubbing some alcohol into it, before dismissively shaking his head and taking another swig instead.

“Come on,” Guy muttered as he continued his search. “This could not have been the only school in America where kids didn't get high.”

There behind the back of the chest of drawers Guy spotted what he had been looking for – a lighter – and seized upon it with a grateful smile. Satisfied, he poked his head around the entrance to the dorm room in search of the Thing. There, swaddling at the other end of the corridor, was Ben Grimm. Guy gritted his teeth, preparing himself for what he was about to do, and stepped out into the open.

“Hey ugly! You looking for me? Because I hate to break it to you, but this whole strong, silent routine you've got going on doesn’t quite do it for me. Call me old-fashioned but I’m the kind of gal that likes to be wined and dined.”

The Thing came charging down the corridor towards him. Guy was thankful for having found the whiskey because he wasn't sure he would have held his nerve without it. Once Ben was within a few feet of him, he plucked the deodorant out of his pocket and used the lighter to send flames gushing towards his face. A rocky hand shot up to protect Grimm's eyes and Guy grinned, taken aback by how effective it was, until he noticed the other hand balling into a fist.

Had he not seen the punch coming at the last second, it might have caved in Guy’s chest. Instead he managed to roll with it – at least, as much as one can roll with a punch from strong enough to lift a fire truck. The force of the blow sent the SHIELD agent flying through a wall and into the Baxter Building's auditorium.

~Did you truly think that pathetic little pyrotechnic display of yours would work? You’re even dumber than you look, Gardner. No wonder your father didn’t love you. Who could love someone that stupid? That stubborn?~

A groan left Guy’s near-crumpled lungs as he attempted to pull himself to his feet. The pain was almost unbearable – but the sound of Hammond’s laughter reverberating around his brain was enough to force him to his feet. He was going to see that smug bastard get his even if it was the last thing he ever did.

“I’ll show you stubborn.”

Ben’s fist tore through the Guy-shaped hole in the auditorium wall and stepped through the clearing it created. Gardner was limping now, the wound in his side bleeding more heavily than before, and the pain in his chest was so searing that he was struggling to draw breath.

~If you knew what Franklin Storm did to me, you would be helping me, not trying to stop me. Everything Franklin has achieved is built on lies. All the fame, all the awards, all the admiration – it should all be mine. Do you hear me? I’m going to take it all from him and then, and only then, will I kill him.~

Suddenly Guy stopped in his tracks. His shoulders began to shake and, despite the stabbing pain in his chest, laughter echoed around the auditorium from deep within his beaten lungs. A single tear crept forth the corner of Gardner’s eye and he reached a blood-covered hand up to push it away from his face.

“Oh, this is rich.”

~What are you laughing at, you buffon?~

The Thing had frozen in its tracks. Guy was still laughing, now resting a hand against one of the auditorium’s many seats to support his weight. With each laugh, he could feel Hammond probing his mind in search of answers – and his frustration growing by the second.

After the last laugh had left his lungs Gardner let out a satisfied sigh and looked towards Ben. “You really don’t know, do you?”

~Know what? What are you talking about? There is nothing an ingrate like you could understand that someone with my intellect could not deduce.~

“Franklin Richards is already dead,” Guy laughed. “The guy you’ve spent the best part of two decades fantasizing about killing? Deader than disco. He put a sawn-off in his mouth and blew his brains out a few years back. ”

Though he couldn’t see Hammond, Guy could feel his outrage. The tendrils scurrying through his mind felt as if they had tensed up in shock. He doubted anyone had ever wanted to see Hammond’s face before, but in that moment he couldn’t help but picture what it might look like.

~You’re lying! You’re trying to distract me! Franklin put you up to this, didn’t he? He’s still out there somewhere, lying and cheating people, and all the while you spread misinformation to cover his tracks.~

Guy shrugged his shoulders and glibly tapped the side of his head. “Why not take a closer look if you don’t believe me?”

The auditorium started to shake. The light fixtures above Guy’s head rattled and the chairs flapped. What felt like a gust of wind passed through the building, but on second thought – or perhaps, second smell – Guy realised it wasn't wind at all, but Hammond's wounded howl.

~No! No, this can't be true.~

“Believe it, buddy,” Guy said through a pained smirk.

~He stole everything from me! Everything! Even my revenge.~

“Looks like old Frank was even better at killing himself than you were.”

~You think it’s funny, do you? I’ll bring this whole building down, and then I’ll bring that philanderer’s legacy down with it – but first I’ll kill you.~

Suddenly Ben Grimm’s unmoving limbs came alive. He tore across the auditorium, swinging his forearm like a truncheon as he went, sending chairs flying across the room. This time Guy did not turn to run. He stood his ground. He did his best to mask the pain his broken body was in and stood tall as the Thing reached him.

“No more running,” Guy said as he clenched his fists determinedly. “I’m done talking to that maniac. It’s just me and you now, Benji.”

~What’s wrong, Agent? No more quips?~

Gardner blocked out Hammond’s voice and instead stared directly into the Thing’s eyes. There wasn’t the faintest hint of recognition in his gaze but Guy spoke to him as he would a longtime friend.

“Ben, I know you’re in there somewhere. You’re going to need to wake up for me. Johnny, Reed, and Sue need you. They’re going to die – we’re all going to die – unless you fight the hold this scumbag has o-”

A backhand sent Guy flying across the auditorium. The SHIELD agent coughed and sputtered on the floor as he heard the Thing’s heavy footsteps making their way towards him. There was no escaping for Guy now – he had committed to this course of action and he was going to see it through to its bloody end no matter what.

~You are so very brave, aren’t you? So heroic. But heroism alone is not enough, I'm afraid. My powers are now limitless thanks to the power cosmic. You'll never break my hold on him.~

Ben’s craggy digits reached down and plucked Gardner from the ground. Though he wasn’t in any state to check, Guy was sure that last punch had broken his jaw in several places. From the blurriness that was setting in, his orbital bone might even have been fractured. It didn’t matter – all that mattered was making sure that Ben saw sense in time to save the others.

“Son of a b-” Guy muttered. “This guy thinks he’s stronger than you, but I know better than that. There’s no-one on Earth stronger than Ben Grimm. Not when the chips are down and his people need him – and they need you now, big g-”

This time Ben threw Gardner at the far wall of the auditorium. He passed through it as easily as sodden tissue paper. The shock had set in, he figured, as he noticed blood seeping from a newly-opened cut on his head he couldn't feel. He was on the floor out in the corridor again. That much Guy was sure of but there was very little else he could reliably claim to understand. He was barely breathing, let alone conscious.

And yet he could still hear Hector Hammond’s voice in his head.

~I want you to die knowing that your death will be in vain, Agent Gardner. All your sacrifice will amount to nothing. Once you are dead, I will have this monster rend your friends limb from limb – and then I'll force him to walk into the sea where creatures like him belong.~

It didn’t matter to Guy what Hammond thought. It didn’t matter to him what anyone thought. If he knew one thing, it was that the Fantastic Four were the real deal – the kind of heroes you read about in comic books growing up – and that his world needed them. If he had to lay down his life for them, he would.

Sprawled out across the floor, struggling to keep his eyes open, Guy felt the rock monster's presence looming over him. His yellow eyes peered down at his downed foe. There was nothing in them to make Gardner believe he could reach the man inside. And yet he persevered.

“You’re going to have to kill me, you hear me, Benji? I’m not going to give up on you. You know why? Because if the shoe was on the other foot, even though you barely know me, you wouldn’t give up on me. You’d sooner die. And guess what? So wou-”

A vicious kick knocked Guy unconscious – and sent him across the coridoor onto the staircase in the lobby. His broken nose was almost indistinguishable among the bloody mess Ben had made of his face and his orange hair had become matted brown with dried blood.

The Thing climbed the staircase and found himself stood over Guy ready to deliver the coup-de-grace. He lifted his foot once more, this time preparing to lower it on Gardner’s mangled head.

~Kill him.~

For the slighetst of moments a flicker of indecision crossed Ben’s face. Though every mental impulse was telling him to lower his boot on Gardner’s head, something else was compelling him not to – something deep within him. He silently strained against Hammond’s control. His leg shaking with the effort it took to resist the villain’s command.

~What are you doing? I told you to kill him!~

The boot came down with a crunch. It landed not on Guy’s head, but beside it. Suddenly Ben’s yellow eyes regained their sparkling blueness and the Thing recoiled in horror at the damage he had done to his friend.

‘Jesus, Guy, I’m so sorry, I couldn’t stop it. I swear to God I couldn’t stop it. Please be breathing, please be breathing, you stubborn son of a bitch. I’ve got enough on my conscious without you dying on me, Carrot Top.”

As if hearing Ben’s voice had dragged him from unconsciousness, Guy’s swollen eyes slid open. He looked up at Ben and shot him a feeble smile full of smashed and missing teeth.

His voice was so weak Ben had to bend down to hear him. “I knew you were still in there, Benji. Give him hell, you hear me? Save the others.”

Ben nodded, gently scooping Guy from the staircase and carrying him across the lobby with great care, before setting him down delicately on a couch. He muttered a quiet promise that he would come back for him and then set off towards the lab with a determined look on his face. Ben was going to drag Hector Hammond kicking and screaming into a world of pain that the super-villain would never, ever come back from.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Well, with that fairly feeble attempt out of the way, I can officially say that -- besides a season-ending epilogue -- my first (and only) arc is done.

Which seems as good a time as any to announce that I won't be continuing on as Captain America next season. Although I love the concept and am genuinely proud of my first few posts, I can honestly say that the rest of the arc has been a slog. Pretty much every post has been a rushed mess just to make the deadline, and even then, I wasn't nearly as productive as I hoped to be. So with that in mind, hoping that a change of scenery will do my creativity some good, I'll be picking up a new character in Season Two!

@Eddie Brock

You heard the man, folks. The Billy Batson as Captain America dream lives on!

In all seriousness, it's a shame you're dropping Cap. I really enjoyed your run, as short as it was, because I felt like you captured the tone pretty well. Every post felt like I was sitting down to watch an episode of a big budget TV show that I'd been anticipating all week. But if it was a chore for you to write, I understand why you'd want to move on.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Baxter Building, New York

A week had passed since Reed Richards had shown Victor von Doom the progress he and Harrison Wells had made made on the timecraft. Now as he had promised, it was completed. All the sleepless nights spent toiling away on the craft had come to an end. The once-smouldering heap of metal was sat at the centre of Reed’s laboratory, now fully restored to its former greatness, for all the world to see. At least, for SHIELD deputy director Maria Hill to see. She too was now wandering around Reed’s lab in hologram form inspecting the super scientist’s handiwork.

“I have to say, Reed, I’m impressed. I had Koul and the rest of the eggheads at the Triskelion look over the schematics you sent over and they tell me that what you’ve managed to do here is unprecedented. There’s no way that craft of yours should ever have got off the ground again.”

Reed smiled deferentially and gestured across the room. “None of it would have been possible without the help of Harrison Wells.”

“Then it sounds like you owe Mr Wells a great debt,” Hill said with a begrudging grin.

She had tried on several occasions to recruit Wells to SHIELD’s cause but the STAR Labs founder wanted no part of it. The last thing he wanted was to spend the best years of his life cooped up in the Triskelion's basement working on things that were destined to never see the light of day. Koul might have been satisfied by that, but he certainly never would be. It gave Wells some satisfaction that though Koul had been admitted to Franklin Storm’s prestigious Baxter Building, he had created something of his own – and proved himself every bit Reed’s equal.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Wells said through a knowing smile. “It’s been a pleasure to finally work up close and personal with the great Reed Richards. I finally got to see what all the fuss was about.”

Hill finished her inspection of the timecraft and then stood in front of Reed with her hands on her hips. “When do you propose to return home?”

For the first time in a long time, Reed Richards found himself incapable of answering.

“I can’t answer that question on my own. I’ll need to sound out the others. What we’re stepping back into, it’s a lot. I’ve been so busy trying to figure out how to fix the craft that I’ve not even considered putting together a plan for once we’ve landed.”

It was not as Maria Hill would have done it, of course. In Reed’s position, she would have planned for every eventuality – tried to compensate for every variable and control every actor involved – but this wasn’t a military operation, far from it, and travelling through space and time could not be treated as such. The fate of their world’s Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben spoke to that fact. All that mattered to Hill was that there was no repeat of what had happened – or worse.

“There can be no risk to our world, Reed.”

“I agree,” Reed nodded. “If the others are also minded to return home, we do the launch from a neutral location – somewhere there’ll be no chance of any loss of life should things go wrong.’

Wells leant forward from beside Reed. “They won’t go wrong,”

“With all due respect, Harrison, that’s what we thought last time,” Hill said through gritted teeth.

It was a stark – and unnecessary – reminder of the risks. Everyday that Reed had spent in the Baxter Building was another day spent walking in his counterpart’s shoes. That he innately knew his way around the other Reed’s laboratory was unnerving to say the least – and it was only the tip of the iceberg. They had burned, and so too might Reed and his family, if he and Wells had made even the slightest of miscalculations. It terrified him. But the fate of his entire world rested on their return.

A sudden knocking on the lab door caught Reed off-guard and he smiled politely at Hill. “That will be them.”

“Alright, Richards. Call me once you’re done – I want to know where we stand on this issue before close of play this evening. Hill out.”

The hologram disappeared. Reed felt his palms dampen with moisture. It had been a long time since he had been as nervous as he was now – not even preparing the craft while under siege from Darkseid had caused him such dread. There had been no time to think then.

“I’ll leave you to it,” Wells murmured as he began to gather together his things.

“You’re as much a part of this as the rest of us,” Reed said as he placed a supportive hand on his lab partner’s shoulder. “You should stay.”

The doors to Reed’s laboratory opened and through them stepped Sue, Johnny and Ben. Guy Gardner was several paces behind them. Reed noticed at once the necklace slung around Sue’s neck and the faint yellowing beneath Guy’s eye. It only dawned on him then how long it had been since he had seen the four of them. He’d been so concerned with repairing the craft that he’d barely left the lab other than to sleep – and from the dejected look on Ben’s face, that fact hadn’t been lost on his colleagues either.

“So are you going to tell us what’s going on, Stretch?”

“All in good time, Ben,” Reed said with a weary smile as he pointed towards some chairs huddled at the centre of the room. “Please take a seat.”

Ben leant in to Johnny and whispered to him as they sauntered to their seats. “Did ya hear that? ‘All in good time’ the man says, like it’s not been a week since we last saw him.”

Once they were sat down, Reed and Wells took their places in front of them. They both looked run-down, having barely slept or eaten since arriving at the Baxter Building, but did their best to hide it. The thick stubble that had begun to force its way through the pores around Reed’s chin seemed to have aged him even more than the tiredness had. His voice however, as calm and authoritative as ever, showed no sign of tiredness.

“I’m sorry that i have been absent over the past week or so. Well, more absent than usual. Harrison and I have spent every waking minute working towards the goal that the four of us set upon arriving in this world – returning home. And I’m proud to say that, after a great deal of work, we have achieved it. The timecraft that Doom and I built to get us here has been repaired. At least, repaired enough to get us home.”

There was no rapt applause, no cheering, only a silence that was pregnant with anxiousness. It was not quite what Reed had expected. As he looked at Sue, Johnny and Ben’s stunned faces, he wondered for a moment whether they ever truly believed he could return the four of them home, or perhaps, whether they were ready to.

“You’re saying that we can go home?” Johnny murmured in a voice that was so quiet it was barely audible. “Back to our world?”

Reed offered his brother-in-law to be a nod. “That’s correct.”

Johnny shot up from his seat, clapping his hands together excitedly, as the prospect of home flooded over him. Suddenly, however, his excitement was pierced by some thought that Reed couldn’t parse from his expression, and as if giving in to his conflict, Johnny slunk back into his seat.

Beside Johnny, Sue made no effort to conceal the conflict writ over her face. “Home when?”

“We can leave whenever we like. SHIELD have asked that we stage our departure somewhere … well, somewhere that’s not Manhattan, which I think is fairly reasonable on their part, but otherwise there’s no reason we couldn’t depart tomorrow if we wanted to.”

Sue shook her head.

“That’s not what I mean. You built that thing in the first place to send us back in time, Reed, and somehow we ended up here. Now you’re saying we can get home. Great. But home when? Home now? What if there isn’t a home now? What if there’s not an Earth to return to?”

It was, in not so many words, the same question that Victor von Doom had put to them on his visit last week. He had warned Reed of the risks of charging blindly into their old world without knowing what would be waiting for them. In the days that had passed since, the comment had stuck with Wells – and it had had been he, not Reed, that had found the workaround that they needed.

“It’s a good question. In fact, part of the difficulty in repairing the craft was working out how the four of you managed to travel across dimensions when you were, in fact, trying to travel through time. It wasn’t until Reed explained that your Victor von Doom was a magic user that it made sense to me. You see, unbeknownst to your fiance, as alien a concept as Reed not knowing something may be to you all, Doom imbued the craft with … well, let’s call it “chaos magic” for lack of a better ter-.”

Unimpressed by Harrison’s waffling, Ben cupped his hands around his mouth and heckled him gently. “Magic-schmagick, answer the damn question, Wells.”

“I was about to,” Wells responded spikily. “Although they might seem it on the face of it, magic and science aren’t too dissimilar, Ms Storm. It took me a few days to work out how Doom’s enchantment had affected the craft’s navigation system, but I managed it – and better yet, by manipulating the residual energy left behind from Doom’s enchantment, I managed to reroute it. With some deal of precision, I might add.”

The scale of Harrison’s achievement was lost on his audience. For a scientist completely unversed in high-level magic to be able to harness chaos energy as Wells had done, even if it had only been a fraction of it, was unheard of. Once it had become clear that Sue was not satisfied by his partner’s answer, Reed took the floor.

“It’s not exact but we should return home about a year before Darkseid’s arrival. That should to give us enough time to bring Superman and Luthor together and convince them of the danger of what’s coming. A year ought to be more than enough time to prepare. If it’s not, then I’m afraid that’s our lot. We’ve only got one chance at this.”

Ben and Johnny exchanged a hopeful look. Even Sue, who had been so quick to question her fiance and Wells, seemed to have her worries put to rest by that last response. They began to speak amongst one another, the first green shoots of excitement about saving their world starting to sprout through, when a pink hand shot up from within the crowd. Guy Gardner waved it around until Reed invited him to speak.

“And what about us?”

A bemused smile crossed Reed’s face as he considered the comment. “I’m sorry, Guy, I don’t quite understand what you mean.”

“All I’ve heard from the four of you is how bad things are going to get once this Galactus character shows up and how you’re the only people that can stop him. I mean, excuse me if I’m talking out of turn here, but I feel like it would be … what’s the word, remiss of me not to ask. What happens to us when Galactus comes calling and you’re not around?”

“Galactus is our problem,” Harrison Wells said as he sensed the mood turning once more. “We’ll face him on our own just as their world did.”

Unsatisfied by Harrison’s bluster, Guy shook his head and doubled down on his concerns. “Oh yeah, and what if we lose?”

“All the data I logged on Galactus, his consumption patterns, the Surfer – everything there is to know about Galactus – I have put at Nick Fury’s disposal. It’s more than we had when we faced Galactus down. Having seen your Superman at work firsthand, I’m more than confident that you’ll be able to repel Galactus.”

Perhaps Reed was confident of that fact, but Gardner was not – nor was he convinced by the feeble smile that Richards offered him by way of reassurance. For the first time since he had met the scientist, Guy had reason to suspect that Reed wasn’t sure at all. In fact, it almost seemed like he was bluffing – and it was a bluff that the SHIELD agent was determined to call.

“Are you willing to risk seven billion lives on that?”

Ben let out a sigh that seemed to signify that it pained him to ever have to agree with Guy Gardner in public. “I hate to say it, Stretch, but Carrot Top’s got a point. The four of us didn’t high-tail it out of our own world just to stand by and watch while another one gets destroyed.”

Sue nodded in agreement.

“If this craft of yours works as well as Wells says it ought to, surely we can leave whenever we want to? I want to go home just as much as anyone, but another month or two won’t change that much for us – but it could mean all the difference for this world. Maybe we should stay.”

Harrison Wells shook his head. He had been biting his tongue up to this point, uncharacteristically conscious of seeming rude given the context in which their conversation was taking place, but the crassness of Gardner’s question – and the fact it had affected Ben and Sue so strongly – had tipped him over the edge.

“No, this is not happening. Gardner does not speak for our entire planet. Your world needs you. It needs you more than ours does. From the looks of it, you people are barely holding it together here – and there’s no guaranteeing that even with your help we’ll be able to turn Galactus away. What happens if you stay and we still lose? Then your whole world is doomed. I won’t stand by and watch you trade your whole world away because of sentiment. You must return home.”

This time Wells found that his contribution hit home. The assembly fell into silence. Outside of Gardner, who was sat stubbornly at the back with crossed arms, each of them looked more conflicted than the next.

“Well, I’ll be damned if this ain’t a Sophie’s Choice if ever I heard one,” Ben muttered under his breath.

“What do you think, Johnny?” Reed enquired of the youngest man in the room. “You’ve been awfully quiet over there.”

Johnny shrugged his shoulders guiltily.

“I don’t know what I think anymore. I mean, this time last week I’d have been all for cutting and running the second that ship was fixed – hell, I even told you and Wells as much when you got back from Central City after the whole Surfer thing. But now that it’s time to decide… I’m not sure what we should d-”

A loud explosion cut Johnny’s thought short. The impact shook the Baxter Building. The group sprung to their feet, prepared as ever for action, but found their footing rocked against by another explosion in the distance. This one was nearest than the first and the impact sent the Baxter Building’s electronics into a tailspin. First the appliances shorted out, then the lights began to flicker, before the six of themselves found themselves stood in total darkness.

“Well, that’s not sound good.”

Johnny’s hand burst into flames and the laboratory lit up long enough for Guy to pull out his SHIELD-issued tablet from his pocket.

“What’s going on?”

Guy skipped through various CCTV streams being beamed into his handset from across America. There had been a breakout at the Raft, that much he could deduce from the grainy footage, but the scale of the breakout took a few moments to become clear. There had been in attacks all across the country – and the explosion they had felt was only a hop, skip, and jump away from them. Its point of origin a Godzilla-sized woman stomping through New York.

“You ever see that old black and white movie ‘The Attack of the 50ft Woman’? Turns out it's a little truer to life than the studio execs let on.”

Suddenly the Baxter Building’s lights began flickering. Guy turned to face Reed, hoping the scientist would be on the brink of barking out orders to his teammates, but in his place noticed an unfamiliar sight. There was something hovering where Reed had once been stood.

As the lights flickered on, Guy made out the features of a seated man with a large bulbous head. There were thick, pulsing veins across his forehead, almost as if his skull was struggling to contain his brain, and the man's eyes were matched in yellowness only by his jagged teeth.

~Oh, trust me when I say that Giganta ought to be the least of your concerns. Allow me to introduce myself – my name is Hector Hammond.~

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

If only to add to @Retired's disappointment, I regret to announce that I have finally succumb to the overtures of the coloured-text posters.

My family and I ask that you respect our privacy at this difficult time.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Baxter Building, New York

Victor von Doom couldn’t help but smile as he inspected the repaired timecraft in the middle of Reed Richard’s laboratory. It was nearly unrecognisable from the smouldering heap of metal that he’d worked on with Reed in Latveria. The pair of them had toiled away for the best part of a week on it and hadn’t managed a tenth of what Reed had done since. It was a marvel, one that Doom wished he was there to see in person, but for the time being however a hologram would have to suffice.

“This is remarkable. What you have achieved in such a short span of time is truly incredible, Reed.”

Reed’s smile betrayed the regard he had for Doom’s opinion. “Thank you, Victor, but I didn’t do it alone. I trust you know Harrison Wells?”

Wells was stood in the corner of Reed’s lab with his arms folded. He looked distinctly unimpressed by Doom’s presence – partly because he felt like Richards had invited him to check Harrison’s homework, as it were, but also because of a deeply held disdain for Victor von Doom that went back years. The existence of which neither Victor nor Harrison seemed the need to disguise for Reed’s sake.

“We’ve met,” Wells murmured in a voice dripping in contempt.

Reed’s brow furrowed at Harrison’s tone but he continued showing Doom around the timecraft. Where once there were cracks and burns, now new, seemingly improved, components had taken their place. SHIELD had been more accommodating of Reed’s requests for parts than he could have ever hoped. Now he stood on the cusp of doing truly something great.

“At the rate Harrison and I have been working, I have every reason to suspect we’ll have the craft up and running again by this time next week. What will be waiting for us on the other side is an altogether different question.”

There was an uncharacteristic trepidation in Victor’s response. “That is a very big risk.”

“Now I’ve heard it all,” Wells scoffed. “The man that lead a military coup against one of the world’s most repressive regimes is going to give us a lecture about risk.”

A wry smile appeared on Doom’s face. Reed feigned ignorance towards Harrison's hostility, instead skipping across the room to reach for a discarded set of blueprints that had notes daubed all over them. He held them up towards Doom as evidence might be held up in a courtroom.

“We spent the best part of two days working on drone projections. Every single one of them came back negative. Interdimensional travel is damn near possible on its own – but shunting an unmanned drone across time and space, and getting it back in one piece? It can’t be done.”

Harrison Wells let out a sigh. “What Reed is trying to say here is that no matter what happened, this was always going to be a one-way trip.”

“And I suppose my unease is not enough to deter you?” Doom enquired. “Perhaps more time? More tests? Given everything you have told me about what happened to your homeworld, to go charging in blindly seems tantamount to suicide, Reed.”

If it wasn’t meant as a rhetorical question, it was rendered one by the resigned smile that Reed offered Doom by way of response. Despite all that had happened since they had arrived in this world, despite even the Silver Surfer’s sudden appearance, not returning home still felt like a rank betrayal of everyone he’d ever known. All the science in the world couldn't guarantee that they weren’t being transported to their deaths.

That would require something that did not come naturally to Reed – a leap of faith.

“I’m sorry, Victor, I know you’ve got enough on your hands at the moment,” Reed sighed guiltily. “How are things coming along in Latveria?”

Doom shrugged his shoulders as he stepped away from the craft. He fiddled at the cufflink holding the sleeves of his white dress shirt in place. Gone were the fatigues Doom had been wearing when they had first met. Now a dark-green suit had taken its place. He looked every part the head of state he had become.

“Infant mortality has fallen through the floor since we introduced universal healthcare. Unemployment has halved. The living wage we introduced has lead to an increase in living standards across all demographics. Tomorrow we set about taking my people’s natural resources back from the clutches of foreign corporations. So, I suppose you could that say things are going very well.”

There was one lingering omission among Doom’s laundry list of accomplishments. When they had arrived in Latveria, after escaping Clyde Wyncham’s torture pits, they had been greeted by the sight of Doom deposing Latveria’s long-time dictator – Lucia von Bardas. They crowd had bayed for her blood and Doom had denied them their satisfaction.

Reed needed to know that he had not succumb to the pressure. “And von Bardas?”

“She stands trial in four months,” Doom said with a knowing smile. “Though I am disappointed to report that her lieutenant, the so-called Marquis of Death, Clyde Wyncham, is still at large – much to the chagrin of General Karadick.”

The super scientist wore his relief openly on his face. Perhaps no matter how different this world’s Doom was from his own, the creeping fear at the back of Reed’s mind would never quite leave him – despite the sacrifice his Doom had made in his dying moments.

“You should be proud of what you’ve done for your country,” Reed said wistfully as his Doom’s last moments replayed in his head.

A tender glance was exchanged between the two men. It occurred to Reed that where he had seen a Doom lay down his life for the world, Victor had watched on helplessly while a Reed had lost his life for nothing. Perhaps that was why each man sought the other’s approval so much. He had barely the time to consider the thought when stirring at the edge of the room distracted him from it.

“Alright, I think I’ve heard just about as much back-patting as I can take,” Harrison Wells sighed. “Reed and I have work to do.”

With a click of a button, Wells banished Doom’s hologram from the Baxter Building without providing either man with an opportunity to say goodbye. Reed was still blinking in shock by the abruptness of it all when he turned to face Wells. The STAR Labs founder had already restarted work on the craft.

“You know, Harrison, I’m starting to suspect that the two of you don’t exactly see eye-to-eye.”

Harrison shrugged his shoulders. “That is a very astute observation on your part, Reed. If this whole science thing doesn’t work out for you, maybe you should look into becoming a private investigator or something.”

Wells continued to tinker away at the craft. After a few seconds beneath Reed’s gaze, het let out a sigh and set down th tool in his hand.

“Look, the guy was insufferable enough when he was a scientist. Now he’s running an entire country – and worse still, he’s actually good at it. That doesn’t bother you at all? Because it bothers me. No-one should be that good at everything.”

A devilish smirk appeared on Reed’s face. “If you think that’s bad, you should meet my Doom.”

Wells stared at Reed blankly, then picked up his discarded tool, and set about working on the craft again. Richards watched him for at work for a few seconds before eventually making his way towards a workbench and grabbing a few tools of his own. He approached the tail end of the craft and inspected it one last time.

“Just one more week,” Reed muttered under his breath quietly. “One more week and then we get to go home. Well, whatever’s left of home.”

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Short of the user that played him coming back, I think we can reasonably allow for someone else to come along and reultimise Iron-Man next season. Unless you've made real waves in the IC thread and done something that's integral to the game's lore, I don't think simply posting in the IC thread a couple of times should mean your interpretation is enshrined forevermore.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Well... not my best work ever, and it's absolutely killing me to be too tired to format any of the dialogue at this time. But it's better than officially crossing the two week limit, of which I was a hair away.

@Master Bruce

Did you miss the "you can automatically format posts on Google Docs" discussion? Because finding that out has changed my life. You'll never have to manually wrap tags around anything ever again.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

The more the merrier. I figure the Fantastic Four will showbup at some point as well

@HenryJonesJr

Now that Wonder Woman looks set to be involved, I think I'll have the Fantastic Four sit this one out.

Lest too many cooks spoil the broth.

CLOSED - Ultimate One Universe: Season One

Baxter Building, New York

At the Fantastic Four’s kitchen table sat Ben Grimm and Guy Gardner. In front of Ben was a plate loaded with pancakes, scrambled eggs, and half a dozen pieces of bacon. Opposite him, Gardner was drinking from a cup of coffee while pouring through the sports pages of the New York Post. The quiet was broken when Johnny Storm, rejuvenated still from his encounter with Spider-Woman, entered and plopped himself down at the table between them.

“Good morning,” Johnny said with a smile as he reached over towards Ben’s plate. “What are we having?”

Ben tried in vain to swat Johnny’s hand away but the smaller man snuck a pancake and several pieces of bacon away with a cheeky grin. He slid them onto a small plate and began tearing apart the pieces of bacon with his hands and wiping them across the syrup-soaked pancakes.

Grimm gulped down a mouthful of scrambled eggs and then gestured to Johnny with his fork. “Someone’s feeling chipper this morning. Did your girlfriend call last night?”

“For the last time,” Johnny murmured with a roll of his eyes. “She’s not my girlfriend. Why won’t you people get that through your thick skulls? From the sound of her voice, she’s barely out of high school, for Pete’s sake.”

Ben shot Guy a mischievous look. “What do you reckon, Carrot Top?”

“Professional opinion?”

Grimm gave a solemn nod. “Of course."

Guy set his newspaper down on the kitchen table with a sigh. He stared at Johnny for a few moments, affecting all the inspective mannerisms he would whilst sat at a SHIELD interrogation table, peering over at Ben with a knowing smile.

“Sounds like Pyro-Boy’s protesting a little too much to me. There’s definitely something going on there.”

Johnny was about to protest when the sound of footsteps in the kitchen doorway stopped him in his tracks. His sister Sue had arrived home in the dead of the night. They had all gone to bed by the time she had arrived – at least, all but Reed and Harrison Wells, who seemed to be working around the clock in the Baxter Building’s lab. Sue sat between Guy Gardner and her brother and offered the men a warm smile.

“Good morning.”

Ben smiled. “And good morning to you, too. Sounds like you had a pretty big evening last night, even by your brother’s lofty standards.”

On the front page of the copy of the New York Post between Guy’s hands was the fiery Spider-Man logo that Johnny had burned into the New York skyline. The headline read: “FIREMAN FROM MARS?” – which didn’t seem to make a great deal of sense, but after the incident in Central City, everyone was on high alert on the ‘little green man’ front. Thankfully for Sue, SHIELD had managed to keep Creel’s attack on the Triskelion out of the news – a training exercise, they had said.

“You could say that,” Sue nodded modestly. “Helping Thor take down the Absorbing Man wasn’t on my to-do list when I set out for Washington in the morning. Right place, right time, I guess.”

Guy reached over and poured out a cup of coffee for Sue. “Sounds more like a case of wrong place, right time to me.”

“Yeah, well, at least you got a chance to give Hill a piece of your mind,” Ben chuckled. “God knows that highfalutin stormtrooper has had it coming for a while.”

Sue bristled at the comment. She wasn’t sure how to explain that their conversation hadn’t quite gone the way that Ben imagined it. In fact, nothing about the day before had gone the way that she had intended. She took a sip of her coffee and then placed the mug on the table, her hands wrapped around it for warmth.

“Any word from Reed?” Sue asked the table. “How’s work on the craft coming along?”

“We’ve not heard a peep since Wells got here,” Ben shrugged. “You probably know more than the rest of us put together. Even Stretch must sleep sometime, right?”

Sue shook her head.

“Your guess is as good as mine. He’s been staying in a room by the lab since we got here. You know what Reed gets like when he’s working on something. There’s no room for distractions – I’m not sure if he’s been eating or drinking, let alone getting any sleep.”

A glint of silver from around Sue’s neck caught Johnny’s eye. “You stop off at Macy’s on the way back from Washington or something?”

Sue slipped the necklace off from around her neck and tossed it across the table.

“Thor gave it to me. He said that if we ever needed to contact him, all I’d ever need to to do was touch that rune and say his name and he’d be there. Figured it’d come in handy in the event we ever found ourselves needing reinforcement.”

Johnny’s finger ran along the length of inscription. He couldn’t fault his sister’s logic. With the Silver Surfer around, there was every chance Galactus would be showing up soon enough. They’d need all the help they could get then.

“I speak to a girl one time and you never let me hear the end of it,” Johnny said as he dangled the pendant towards Guy and Ben. “But Sue gets given a necklace by a literal god and you say nothing?”

Ben snatched the pendant from Johnny’s hand. “Suzie ain’t got the kind of record you’ve got, Matchstick.”

Guy and Sue burst out into laughter at the comment. Johnny shook his head dejected and scoffed down the last few pieces of bacon. When the laughter continued, his cheeks began to redden with embarrassment. Though his encounter with Spider-Woman had helped him feel a little more like the Johnny Storm of old, he still wasn’t quite accustomed to being the brunt of every joke again.

The pointedness in his own voice caught Johnny off guard when he spoke. “Yeah, well, I think Namor might feel a little differently about that.”

As soon as the words had left his mouth, the laughter had stopped. A cloying awkwardness took its place – made worse by the sound of cutlery scraping against plates and Guy flicking through the pages of the New York Post. Johnny looked to Ben for help breaking the silence but was met with a bemused shrug. Eventually Sue emptied the contents of her coffee cup and stood up from the table.

She planted a sympathetic kiss on Johnny’s forehead. “It’s good to see you’re feeling better, baby brother.”

With that she made her exit and left the three men to their devices. Ben waited until he was sure that she was out of earshot and then shot Johnny an admonishing look.

“Well done, kid. You managed to piss off the only person in the whole world that has to love you unconditionally.”

Ben stood up from his seat and scraped what remained of his food into a waste bin. Once he’d rinsed his plate clean, he walked out of the kitchen and left Guy and Johnny sat at the table alone. Johnny’s biue eyes looked to Guy for reassurance.

“Don’t even bother,” Guy said without looking up from the sports section. “That little stunt you pulled yesterday has landed me with weeks of paperwork. So if you’re looking for someone to rub your belly and tell you that you didn’t overstep the mark, I suggest you look elsewhere.”

Johnny let out a defeated sigh. He eyed the rune-inscribed pendant on the kitchen table. What would Thor do? Probably down a couple of flagons of mead and wrestle a frost giant, Johnny thought with a smile. It wasn’t until his smile had begun to fade that he realised he hadn’t thought of home in over-twenty four hours – he wasn’t sure whether to feel happy about that or guilty – but he knew that it meant something.