Earth-717: Fantastic Four Vol 1

Chapter 11: Fifty Move Rule

Lucia walked into a room with several computers and a containment unit. The unit was a large

mechanical device with multiple arms spread out in a circular fashion, simulating the tentacles of an

octopus. Each arm had a glass, spherical orb on the end of it, roughly two meters in diameter. Most of

the orbs were empty, except for one, which held Gyrich in it.

He pounded against the walls of the orb as Lucia walked past, ignoring him. The orb was

sound-resistant, and all she could hear was a soft thud whenever he hit the glass. Reaching a computer

console, she began typing into it. After a few minutes, she took her fingers off the keyboard and began

to walk out of the room. Once she had taken a few steps into the hall, she heard a crashing noise.

Lucia gasped and turned around. She ran down the hall and back into the room to see that

Gyrich's containment orb had been broken. She then turned her head to see Gyrich running down the

opposite hall, away from her.

“Meddlesome pest,” said Lucia, activating her left arm cannon.

She fired a blue laser blast at him, but he turned around a corner, narrowly escaping it. Gyrich

regulated his breathing as he ran, with a small, green pistol in his right hand. Entering another room, he

saw what appeared to be laboratory equipment. His eyes wide, he looked to the right to see a computer

screen, displaying genetic data from four vials. He took off his sunglasses as he looked at it.

A minute later, Lucia barged into the room. Gyrich looked up from his watch and gasped as she

fired a blue laser blast at him, stunning him again. Walking forward, she reached down and grabbed the

green pistol out of his hand. She looked at it with a raised eyebrow.

* * * *

Reed slammed his fist against the ground as his eyes closed. Shaking his head, he then slowly

looked up as the last remaining pieces of the ship fell out of the sky. The sinking of his heart filled his

entire body with excruciating pain, but he made no more sounds. Tears welled up in his eyes as he sat

back against the wall of the containment cube.

Laughing to himself, Doom placed the rocket launcher against the stone wall and turned to face

Reed.

“So ends the tragically short career of the formerly Fantastic Four.”

Doom walked up to the containment cube. Reed kept his face down. For a minute, nothing was

said between the two. Then, Reed looked up at Doom with a scowl on his face.

“So you got your revenge,” said Reed. “Are you happy now?”

“Revenge? My revenge on you is nowhere near complete.”

Tears fell out of Reed's eyes as he glared at Doom.

“Then kill me.”

“Kill you? Who said anything about killing you? Do you truly believe that I would allow you

the pleasure of such an easy way out? I think not.”

Reed raised an eyebrow.

“No. You shall suffer much more than you already have, Mr. Fantastic. You will be my witness;

a powerless, insignificant whelp who will watch as I bend this world to my will. I shall be victorious in

my campaign of conquest, and then, once I have crushed all of my opponents beneath my iron boots, I

will cast you out . . . . a fallen icon, the one who could not stop this future from coming to pass, and I

will revel as the disenfranchised people who called you 'hero' . . . . tear you apart, piece by piece.”

Reed's mouth fell slightly open.

“Then, and only then . . . . will my revenge be complete.”

Reed shook his head and looked away from Doom.

“You are a psychopath.”

“Once again, you are mistaken. A psychopath would seek to destroy the world. I wish to save it.

From itself.”

Doom threw up his cloak as he turned around and walked back up to his throne. Reed watched

him sit back down, and then laid his head down against the floor. Breathing slowly, he stayed still for a

few minutes.

“Ben. Johnny.”

Reed closed his eyes.

“Susan.”

Reed's body shook as he inhaled, reopening his eyes.

“You have no idea how sorry I am . . . . I failed you . . . . all of you . . . . and there's so much I

wish I could have said said, before . . . . before . . . .”

Reed closed his eyes again.

“Before what?” whispered a female voice, with a hint of playfulness in her tone.

Reed's eyes widened. Doom turned around and narrowed his eyes. After watching Reed for a

second, he fired a green energy blast from his hand, which was aimed to the right of the containment

cube. It struck an invisible Susan, who screamed as she became visible and landed on the floor.

“Ooof!”

“Susan!”

The broken window lit up with orange light as Johnny soared into the room.

“I hope you broke out your asbestos armour, Doomsy, because now it's time to flame on!”

Ben clambered into the window, panting.

“Next time you want to let go of your levitating disc, Suzie, make sure it's after I'm already in

the room!”

Reed looked around at his team as a smile appeared on his face. Susan recovered and pulled

herself up. Johnny flew up to Doom, blasting him with two massive streams of fire. A green energy

shield formed around Doom's body, deflecting the flame as he stood still. Ben ran over to the

containment cube.

“Get back, Reed! I reckon that it's time for a breakout!”

Ben smashed the top of the containment cube with both of his fists, and the cube shattered.

Reed grinned as Ben pulled him to his feet.

“It's good to see ya, Stretch.”

“How did you . . . .?”

“Survive? Heh. Suzie-Q's force field, of course. Kept us safe and invisible. Those things got a

lot of uses.”

“Ben, I . . . .”

“Egh, keep your mush locked tight until we recycle this tin tyrant, alright?”

“What?”

Raising an arm, Doom fired another energy blast at Johnny, who broke off his attack and

dodged to the right. Doom then fired another from his other hand, hitting Johnny in the chest and

knocking him away. Ben shoulder charged towards Doom as Susan flew over him, casting a force

shield in front of Ben's movement. Doom tried to fire an electricity blast, but it was absorbed by the

shield. Ben charged right into Doom, knocking him backwards.

Doom crashed into the stairs in front of his throne.

“None lay hands on Doom!”

Doom blasted into the air on his rocket boots. He fired an array of yellow photon shots down on

Ben before forming his legs together and boosting forward. His foot dive collided with Susan's chest,

knocking her off her levitating disc and back onto the floor. Recovering from the photon shots, Ben

watched as Doom absorbed two fireballs from Johnny before activating a wrist rocket. Eyes widening,

he lunged at Johnny and pushed him out of the way of the rocket as it collided with the floor.

Reed stood still and watched as his teammates recovered and braced themselves for another

round. Doom opened his palms and charged them with green electricity as he glared at the team.

“Come, Fantastic Four . . . . and meet your doom.”

“Enough!”

Everyone turned to look at Reed.

“Everyone, just, just stand down.”

“You're joking, right?” asked Johnny, reverting out of flame form.

Susan looked at Reed with a confused face.

“Reed . . . . he kidnapped you . . . . he tried to kill all of us.”

“Tried, yes,” replied Reed. “But he didn't succeed.”

Reed looked up at Doom, who stopped charging his energy. He slowly descended from the air

and landed in front of his throne.

“We stopped his plan. He can't threaten anyone with the geothermal extractor, and we're all

okay. As far as I'm concerned . . . . it's over.”

“You didn't blow a fuse in that big brain of yours, did you?” asked Ben. “He's Doctor Doom!

Threatened to take over the whole world, sent a giant monster to eat us?”

“And his name has Doom in it!” yelled Johnny.

“He's also the monarch of Latveria, which means that he has diplomatic immunity. We're

assaulting him on his territory.”

Doom sat down on his throne, narrowing his eyes.

“Look, I'm not condoning what he did, or saying that he shouldn't have to answer for his

crimes . . . . but we have nothing to gain by fighting him here. To be honest . . . . I'm just thankful that

you three are alive.”

Reed walked past his teammates and looked at Victor. Johnny leaned to Susan's ear.

“Is he serious?”

“I think so.”

Reed and Doom stared at each other for several seconds.

“Victor, we're not going to attack you anymore. Your plans have been foiled. There's no point in

continuing this fight . . . . at least right now.”

“I agree. I have underestimated the tenacity of your team, Richards. That is a vulnerability that

you will not be able to exploit again.”

“We're going to leave your country. We're going back home. But if you ever attack us or anyone

else again, we will be back for you.”

“Keep your empty threats to yourself Richards, and leave my domain while I still allow it.”

Reed nodded before turning around.

“It's over.”

Susan created a force field disc large enough to hold herself, Reed and Ben. She then flew them

out of the broken window, followed by Johnny. As the team flew out of sight, Doom clutched the

armrests of his throne, gripping them so tightly that they began to buckle under the pressure.