Fantastic Four

Interdimensional Crimes Part One:

Attack of the Androne

By Morgan Abbot & Tim Veselka

The Baxter Building

"Gas prices are actually dropping to record lows as the price per barrel of crude oil continues to plummet!" bzzzt "Gotta Catch'em All! Gotta Catch'em All!" bzzzt "While most stocks are plummeting Roxxon's shares have not only risen but have done so steadily now for almost three weeks." bzzzt "Okay kids, let's do the peppermint dance!" bzzzt "It makes a wonderful salsa, it dices to exactly how you want, watch as this amazing product" bzzzt "It's princess time!"

"Ugh," Johnny Storm groaned. "Over five thousand channels with Reed's special international satellite doohickey and there's still nothing on! Aren't most people home on Saturdays? Why's there nothing but cartoons and financial news?"

Johnny lay slumped in the couch in front of the Fantastic Four's 142 inch HD, 3D capable, big screen TV, remote in hand. He continued to flip even as he heard the heavy steps of his teammate and near-constant sparring partner, Ben Grimm. Johnny messed up his stylish blonde hair as he rested his head in his hands. Bored was no way to be on a Saturday.

"That's right, Aunt Petunia, I met the royal family," great, now he could hear that stupid pile of rocks' gravelly voice. "They were pretty nice. I'm sorry what was that? I'm sorry I can't hear you very well, Johnny has the speakers blaring!"

"Here we go," Johnny smiled a little at how predictable his old friend was.

"Heya, matchstick, turn down the TV, can't ya see I'm tryin' to talk to my sweet aunt Petunia?" Ben shouted at him.

"Go kick rocks, Ben," Johnny waved his friend away. "I was here first. You could hear the TV was on, go someplace else."

"Hello? Yeah I can't wait to see ya," Ben said sweetly into the phone as he tromped towards Johnny.

Johnny flamed on and rose into the air. Orange and red flames licked at his body without harming him, the Human Torch was always a sight to see, or at least in Johnny's mind. Ben wasn't quite as impressed.

"Come here you little candle wick so I can clobber ya," Ben growled, covering the mouthpiece of the phone with one rocky orange hand.

"Poor earth-bound Ben," Johnny laughed at his larger teammate. "You never stand a chance against me."

"Just wait 'til I get off the phone ya overgrown barbecue," Ben threatened quietly, trying to hide his angry voice from his aunt.

"What's the matter, Ben? You afraid your aunt is going to bend you over her knee and spank you?" Johnny laughed. "Fat chance, she'd break a leg."

"You keep her outta this," Ben shook a fist at the younger Storm. "Aunt Petunia? Yeah. Listen, I've got some pest control to do, I'll call ya again soon."

With a beep Ben hung up the phone and lunged at Johnny, who nimbly dove to the side, avoiding his friend's tree trunk arms. Ben landed on the floor with a thud. His weight should have collapsed any normal skyscraper floor, but Reed had long ago had the Baxter Building's floors and walls reinforced against such impact, as well as several other things while he was it.

With a simple wave of a finger Johnny shot a small stream of heat right at the Thing's bare back. Most people would have screamed in pain as their flesh cooked but Ben simply swiped at the small singe on his rocky hide and looked around for something to throw at Johnny. Spotting the remote Johnny had abandoned he grabbed it and chucked it at his friend's face. Johnny simply increased the temperature of the sheath of flame surrounding his body, turning the licking flames from red hot to a bright yellow. The remote melted before it ever reached him, it's slag dropped to the floor.

"Awww come on!" Johnny groused at his friend, his teasing smile evaporated. "Why'd you have to go and do that? Now I really can't turn the sound down."

"I'll turn it down for ya!" Ben turned his attention, and his temper, on the TV raising a fist to strike it.

"Please, Ben, not again," said a soothing kind voice through the fracas. "It took Reed months to find the time to fix the last one."

"Sorry, Suz," Ben lowered his menacing fist.

"And Johnny, stop teasing Ben," Suzan Storm glided into the room with an effortless grace that none of the other members of the Fantastic Four possessed. With a thought she used her invisible shields to shut off both the television and the sound system.

"Teasing him?" Johnny sounded offended. "I was in here minding my own business watching TV when gravel pit over there comes stomping into the room bellowing about being on the phone. It's not like we don't have plenty of other places he can go to talk to his old aunt Petunia on the phone. Talk to him."

Franklin came following after his mother, his messy blonde hair and tired blue eyes indicated he had just woken from a nap. "What's going on?"

"Uncle Ben and Uncle John were playing again," Sue patted Franklin's head and glanced at the two now sheepish men. "Johnny it's Saturday, there are plenty of girls out on a nice day like this, why don't you play outside? Ben –"

Sue was interrupted by the chime of the doorbell. She sighed. "Ben, would you mind helping Franklin get back to sleep?"

Franklin walked slowly over to his enormous uncle and placed one small hand in the man's large stony mitts and led him back toward his room. Sue went made her way to the door as Johnny flamed down and stared sadly at the pile of melted plastic that had been the remote.

"Willie!" Susan smiled largely as she opened the door to find their elderly mailman waiting for her. "How have you been?"

"Oh," Willy said gently. "I've been doing pretty well for myself. I just wanted to say thanks, again, for giving my nephew a chance. He's not always had the best opportunities in life and I really appreciate it."

"Oh Willie," Sue waved it off as if it were nothing. "We're more than glad to help our friends in any way we can." Willie smiled back at her. She could see him misting up. "Let us know if there is any more we can do."

"No," Willie reassured her as he handed her a bag full of mail. "You all already have done so much, how could I need anything else?" With a wave the old man walked back towards the elevators with a kind smile on his face.

"Johnny –" she began as she closed the door, but she was interrupted by her beeping cell phone.

"Sue! It's Reed," her husband said anxiously in her ear.

"Hello, Reed," she replied calmly, she had learned long ago that anxious tone meant Reed was waiting impatiently to explore somewhere new or try out a new invention.

"I've made the most fantastic discovery!" Reed exploded. "I need every available member in my lab as soon as possible!"

"We'll be there," Sue assured him as she began rapidly walking toward Franklin's room hoping Ben was still in there.

Baxter Building, Reed's Lab

"Thanks for coming," Reed said without looking up from his microscope, or at least what looked like a microscope to Johnny. Everyone stood around waiting for Reed to look up. Finally, after a moment, Sue cleared her throat delicately. Reed didn't respond.

"Reed, honey," Sue said with a touch of firmness.

Reed looked up from his work as if he just realized he had called everyone up. "Sorry, everyone, but once you understand what we have done you'll see why I am so intrigued."

"We?" Sue asked.

"My other counterparts and I," Reed said as if they should already know whom he was talking about.

"Excuse me?" Thing looked at Reed in confusion, he wasn't stupid, but they dealt in the world of the impossible and Reed was the only one who understood it.

"From the multiverse," Reed continued to try and explain. "Not all of them mind you, not anywhere near a fraction of them it would seem . . ." he trailed off when he realized everyone was just growing more confused.

"Why don't you start from the beginning," Sue said with a kind smile. Reed breathed in deeply and exhaled slowly. He had been holed away in his lab for quite some time talking equations with alternate reality versions of himself, most of them the smartest men of their worlds, he had to slow down and realize that he had a different audience now.

"As you all know this universe is but one of many in a connected and much greater multiverse. For example we recently visited that world where Johnny was the leader of the Fantastic Four and Sue and I had already retired. Now, part of the problem with exploring and understanding the multiverse is that each universe lives in a different vibrational alignment and so far no pattern has been discernable enough for me to predict the location of another universe."

"So the only way to know the location of another universe is to either be in that multiverse to study it there or by sheer luck?" Susan asked.

"Or find an object from that universe and study it here," Reed nodded. "On our travels I have been keeping in communication with my various counterparts. They have all lived different lives and you never know when their expertise might save us from our own ignorance. We, the other Reeds and I, have formed a loose association and have been attempting at discovering a way to find other dimensions through more efficient methods. We've been working on this for months with no significant advances, that is, until last night."

"Don't hold us in suspense, dear," Sue urged him to continue, but her downward cast eyes betrayed she was thinking about something else altogether.

"Last night we finally penetrated the radial access, basically the string of energy that connects all of these universes together. Using the data from it we have been able to form a mathematical equation, which only takes up about 100 megabytes on a normal hard drive. That allows us to predict and locate universes where we thought there were none!"

Reed waited for their reactions or to see even a small reflection of the excitement he himself felt. Everyone looked at him, waiting for the part where they came into the picture. "Thanks to this new equation we have discovered an impressive number of new universes. Some of which are more intriguing than others. In fact, we discovered one universe with a habitable Earth where there should be nothing but desolation. It exists in a place amidst cosmic implosions that simultaneously hold and separate the fabric of the multiverse."

"You want us to go there, don't you?" Sue surmised with an eyebrow raised.

"Bring it on!" Johnny grinned, rubbing his hands together nothing better than an adventure to get rid of the Saturday doldrums.

"I didn't understand whatcha said or where you want us to go, but count me in," Ben said, smashing one fist into his palm.

"Wonderful!" Reed grinned largely, pushing a button on his console. On a raised dais within the room a bright white energy portal opened with a "whoosh". Johnny flamed up and flew through the portal, eager to be on his way, Ben wasn't far behind.

"So," Sue said shortly once the other two had gone. Reed, who had been busy sticking various inventions into his lab coat, stopped what he was doing. He knew that tone. "This is what you were so busy doing last night."

Reed looked at her, for one of the smartest men on the planet he sure felt stupid at the moment. What was Sue so upset about?

"During our date night," Sue finally clued him in after letting him squirm for second.

"Sue, I-"

"Shhh," Sue shook her head and smiled. "Let's not let the boys have all the fun, shall we?"

"Let me just finish logging out of my multiverse chat," Reed clicked a few buttons, then turned and grasped his wife's hand and stepped into the portal.

Earth 2718

Reed K. Richards saw his other-dimensional counterpart disappear into the portal with his wife. It struck him as funny how the other Reed had stuck with little Susan Storm of all people. Of course that Reed wasn't a movie star such as himself, how the man could be strictly a scientist was beyond him, though he supposed parading around as a superhero might be fun. Reed K. straightened his dyed-blonde hair and shut off the monitor. He turned to discover his newest girlfriend waiting for him in a beautiful dress and a large smile. How many men would pay a fortune to be in his shoes?

"Another movie premier, Angelina?" Reed asked, standing up removing his lab coat revealing a muscular physique underneath.

"I can't help it if we're both so popular," she came close and kissed him gently on the lips.

Earth 569827

Reed "Crazy" Richards watched his counterpart depart with his wife with jealousy. It seemed that most of his other-universe counterparts had normal or even good social lives, but not him. He had been picked on as a child, even by his own parents, for his intelligence. When he had first begun inventing six separate corporations had basically taken advantage of him, leaving him with nothing and keeping everything for themselves.

Now he kept to himself, he had a lawyer, Ms. Walters, who handled everything for him. He had been lucky in finding her, even if she did wrinkle her nose at him during each of their meetings like he was some sort of excrement on her shoe. He would build an extra-dimensional teleporter if he could afford to get the parts and space required without drawing attention to himself. No, he would have to watch from the sidelines while other Reeds grabbed the glory.

Earth 24

Dee Richards also saw her counterpart depart with his wife. She often wondered, if most of her other counterparts were male then did that make her more pure or more of an aberration? At least she still had the Fantastic Four, which a number of universes did not. Her husband Sander Storm, the Invisible Man, and his sister Joan were stable members while her best friend Bernice often didn't want to go out as she considered herself the ugliest woman alive. Her constant replacement the Hulk, Jeff Walters, would beg to differ but getting Bernice to listen was next to impossible.

She would call in her team to do some exploring of their own, but first she had to put her daughter Francine to bed, the baby Valor was already asleep. Perhaps, if she didn't find something interesting herself, one of her counterparts would discover something.

Earth 721

Reed mashed the keypad on his multidimensional interface to shut it off. His lack of dexterity was a constant thorn in his side while trying to invent the tiniest of microchips for his robots. He had invented machines to help, but it wasn't the same. The rest of the Reeds were probably ecstatic at the thought of going to these new dimensions, but this Reed had a completely different purpose in mind. Ever since his transformation into his rocky Thing-like body he had been on his own and it was the same for him now even among other Reeds.

Months ago he had found his once full storage room of Andrones completely empty. His security cameras showed no one and no thing leaving the room so he knew that they had to have teleported in. After a quick energy sweep of the room he had determined that the remaining energy signature was extra-dimensional in nature. He had spent months searching the known universes for a clue to his Andrones, in the wrong hands they could be deadly and Reed didn't want that kind of blood on his hands.

While studying the multiverse with his many counterparts he had been developing a technology of his own. He grabbed it now. It looked, for all the world, like a cell phone. It had once been a multi-dimensional traveling device made easy so that someone not as adept as Reed would be able to safely travel between the dimensions and know the dangers of each.

He had adapted the homing device so that it could be used in reverse and search a dimension or universe for a particular energy pattern. In other words, it could tell which universe an object was from and could search an entire universe for objects that did not belong there. He called it his Quantum Signature Tracer. It was one of the more complicated and astounding devices he had created and he was very proud of it.

He hadn't told the other Reeds about it, yet. He didn't want to have to share with them until he could be sure of a few things first. On top of that list of things to do was find his missing Andrones, he had no luck within the known multiverse, and it was time he set his sights on the unknown multiverse. He turned the device on; it beeped at him when it was ready.

The display showed an almost spiral staircase representation of the multiverse, or at least what he and the other Reeds had been able to uncover. Using his large craggy fingers he pinpointed the lowest point in the multiverse that they had recently uncovered and set it to search. A search bar came up and showed 1%.

Placing the device back down Reed grabbed a cloth and began to towel himself down. The rocks that made his skin constantly ground against each other, forming a pale orange dust that, if left unchecked, could contaminate his experiments and his lab equipment. After rubbing most of his body down he placed the towel on a dirty table reserved for such things and sat down.

Beep beep! Beep beep! Reed opened one of his eyes, his prominent rocky brow shaded them. He had fallen asleep while waiting for his tracing device to finish its search. Beep beep! Beep beep! Which alarm was going off? His security alarm was much more, well, alarming. Beep beep! Beep beep! He stood up, stretching his arms. He didn't remember falling asleep, but it felt good to get some rest after the long talks with the Reeds. Beep beep! Beep beep! Then it hit him. That was the quantum signal tracer.

He stumbled over to the tracer and shut off the alarm and looked at the multiverse map. A single glowing blue dot highlighted one of the new universes, then, to his surprise, another appeared, and another. Suddenly a multitude of the new universes were highlighted across the map. More and more filled in the longer he watched. Reed clenched his jaw. With a snap the screen of his tracer cracked, he had squeezed it too hard. Someone, whoever had stolen them, had been spreading his Andrones across the multiverse.

Pocketing the tracer Reed stalked off toward his pan-dimensional teleporter room. He was going to have to set this right, and find out who was behind it all.

Earth ?

With a flash and subtle boom the Fantastic Four arrived at their destination. They were surrounded by impossibly large trees whose branches raked at the clouds in the sky as if trying to seize their moisture for themselves. Their bark was slick and obsidian, hiding in the shadows of their blue and green alien foliage. Strange sounds emanated from the branches above the explorers resembling something in-between an owl and a howler monkey.

"Wooo!" Johnny swooped in low over Reed and Sue. "You should see this! We've seen some crazy stuff in our time but some of these animals look crazy! James Cameron should have brought his camera out here to film Avatar!"

"I rather doubt he could have, Johnny," Reed said as he held a small device over a bright orange and red lizard with white feathers running down its back. "Unless I am gravely mistaken we'll be the first people from our universe to access this dimension. I doubt even Doom has found a way to access this place."

"It's beautiful!" Sue smiled, taking in all of the vibrant life around her. Vines were strewn about the area like streamers at a child's party. She approached an enormous yellow flower at least two-feet in diameter, as soon as her shadow fell over it the flower snapped shut revealing the bronze leaves and stem beneath. She moved away and the flower immediately opened back up again. "You might want to take a look at this, Reed."

"What is it, Sue?" Reed asked in a distracted tone, holding a large normal looking rock in his hand.

"This flower is more photo-sensitive than anything I have ever seen!"

"I'll take a look at it in a moment," Reed was using a tiny drill he had invented to drill into the core of the rock. "I want to see if the rocks here contain any minerals alien to our Earth. Though likely I'll have to dig much deeper to discover them."

"I dunno," Ben shoved an enormous fat teal leaf aside to peer further into the jungle. "This place kinda gives me the creeps."

"What's not to like?" Sue eyed a jewel-bright insect landing on the flower she had discovered. The thing had three separate sets of wings and two antennae on its lower thorax as well as its head, she reached out to touch it and it flew gracefully away.

"Awww," Johnny laughed as he circled above his teammates. "Is Ben scared of a few plants and insects?"

"Bad things live in the jungle," Ben kept pushing aside thick vegetation to scan the land around them for any potential danger. "Bad things always live in the jungle, no matter what planet you're from."

"Lighten up, gravel pit," Johnny floated above his rocky-hided friend. "You're going to bring Reed's "new discovery" excitement."

The team slowly moved forward looking at every new thing that crossed their path. A creature that was as long and lanky as a weasel, but with the ears and tail of a rabbit squealed when it saw them and ran. They almost ran into an enormous web that stretched between dark branches. The thing that skittered across it was all legs and a single headless body. A fly like insect was trapped in the web, the alien spider quickly wrapped it in a web then opened a fanged maw in the bottom of its body and began to gorge itself.

"Ew," Johnny made a face.

"Fascinating," Reed surmised holding up a simple video camera, he had recorded everything.

"Not if you're the bug," Ben grumbled, he had stopped looking around to see what had captured his friends' attention.

He was about to regret that choice.

A laser blast slammed into Johnny, sending him flying into a thick tree trunk. "Johnny!" Sue cried out. Before them stood a large humanoid robot with a laser gun for a right hand. Ben immediately attacked.

"I've been itching to clobbering somethin'!" Ben told the robot as he lunged toward it. "Thanks for volunteering!"

The robot dodged Ben's attacked and fired another blast right at him. At such close range even Ben was pushed back the power of its gun. He stumbled back a few feet and looked down at a small scorch mark on his rocky hide.

"Now you're gonna get it!"

The robot didn't hesitate to open fire on him again, one blast after another. Ben did his best to shield his face with his arms and fought against the force of the laser fire taking steady steps forward. Meanwhile, Sue had already gone invisible and begun to sneak around the hostile machine. Boys always love a brawl, she thought with a smirk. They always leave me to figure out the easy way around the problem.

Reed meanwhile had narrowed his eyes in recognition at the attacking robot. He pulled out a handheld device that served as a number of things, including a chronal scanner. He was sure he had seen the robot before, or at least one just like it, he just couldn't remember where he had seen it. "Try not to get in the way, Ben."

Ben finally reached the robot, holding one forearm in front of his eyes he pulled his arm back and laid a powerful blow on the machine. It blocked his blow with both arms, though Ben could see small dents already forming.

"In the way? You wanna come tussle with this thing?"

"I'm trying to get a reading off the robot," Reed explained. "Haven't we had to fight these things before?"

"Gee, Stretch, I dunno." Ben brought one fist after another down on the robot's sturdy torso. "Let me ask him."

The machine used both arms and brought them down on Ben's shoulders, knocking the hero off balance. It then raised its gun and shot directly behind itself at seemingly thin air. Sue cried out and fell back when the blast hit her in the shoulder. She had been invisible and the robot had still detected her.

"Alright, it's my turn!" Johnny yelled as he flew up from where he had been blown. "I'm going to turn him into bubbling goo!"

Johnny raised both hands in front of him and fired a very concentrated blast of heat right at the machine's head. The robot raised its arm to fire but Ben grabbed it and made the blast go wide. As the two struggled Johnny kept pouring on the heat.

"Johnny, don't burn down the forest!" came Reed's annoying voice. Some leaves and plants had caught fire. "It can't be, but I think this is an androne!"

"Just one good smack oughta do it," Ben grunted, ignoring what Reed was saying and smashed his fist into the robot's overheated head. The super-heated metal crumpled under his large rocky fist like warm clay and the robot's body dropped heavily to the ground.

"Sweet," Johnny landed and turned off his flame. He smiled down at ruined robot with a look of glee. "I think he had you on the ropes, rock for brains. If it wasn't for me you'd still be trying to land a good shot."

"Uh, Johnny," Ben growled quietly.

"Oh come on," Johnny examined the melted head. "Don't try to take credit for this one, Ben."

"Johnny, look up!" ordered Reed's tight frightened voice. Johnny looked around.

They were completely surrounded by eight foot tall aliens unlike any he had ever seen and they were all holding spears in their faces.

"Hi!" Johnny smiled.

Earth ?

Sue had been only mildly burned by the androne as she had a weak forcefield up when it had shot her. The strange natives had marched them along the jungle floor while more of them appeared in the tree branches above them and sneaking about the dense underbrush of the jungle beside them. Sue wondered what the natives thought of them, strange creatures that they had likely never seen before wandering about their land. She imagined it probably really wasn't all that different than the European incursion into the Americas.

"Any bright ideas?" she mumbled at her husband. They didn't want to hurt the natives and they had no way of knowing how their powers would affect the aliens' physiology. "I could make us all go invisible."

"No," Reed kept his voice low as well. "I want to see this ride out a little longer; maybe they need something from us."

Their guards led them through the dense jungle deeper and deeper as the trees grow larger and everything grew darker under the branches. Soon some signs of civilization were becoming apparent: a few tree houses, a rope bridge here or there, art in the form of painted leaves being strung together to form intricate designs.

The guards around them halted, before them sat a large circle of aliens all crouching around a small group of three leaders of some sort. Sue wandered what it was they were doing, a ceremony or just some sort of meeting or something perhaps that she couldn't fathom. One of their guards silently approached and knelt down just outside the circle then he prostrated his long upper body flat against the ground.

At first it seemed as if the leaders hadn't noticed them, they continued talking with the circle, it seemed a mixture of growls, purrs and actual vocalizations to Sue. She wasn't overly worried about their situation as they had powers that these poor low-tech aliens couldn't possibly stand up to. She was worried, however, about how long Reed might try to drag this situation out for the sake of science.

"I swear, Reed, if I don't make it back in time to cook a decent meal for the kids I'm going to keep your lab in a force bubble for a full twenty-four hours!"

"I won't make this long, honey," Reed never even glanced at her, he was busy studying every movement and sound of the leaders.

Finally, after about a minute of talking, one of the leaders turned and delicately made his way through the circle of natives and in front of the prostrated warrior. Sue listened carefully as the two growled and spoke in their strange tongue. Though she didn't understand it at all she could tell a lot about what was being said. The warrior spoke softly but with urgency while the leader spoke agitation and finality.

"So," the leader said to them in perfect English. "The greedy earth-killers have returned to pillage us once more." His fanged mouth was curled back in a snarl his yellow eyes blazing hatred toward them. Sue could not believe the alien spoke English.

"Earth-killers?" Reed began. "I'm afraid you've . . ."

"Silence!" the leader roared at them. The rest of the natives aimed their spears and strange bone swords at them. "You will not speak unless I ask you something. You are enemies of the people and we tire of your lies."

Reed, thankfully, was silent. Sue slowly relaxed her muscles, she hadn't realized she had tensed them when the leader had roared.

"You come here with your strange technology and your promises of cures for our ailments and plentiful food, but all you do is savage the land with your devices and when we protest you have no regard for our lives! Then when we do retaliate you take our families from us and make them work for your destructive lusts!"

It was then that a thin short warrior leaped forward, and though it prostrated itself in front of the leader, it was obviously interrupting and rather loudly at that. At first the leader snarled and reached for the little warrior, but it stopped mid-swipe. It glanced at them with eyes wide with surprise, but then once again narrow with suspicion.

"It seems my son here says that you destroyed the Soulless One," the leader walked closer to them. "You do smell of battle. Explain yourselves."

"Wise leader," Sue began talking before Reed could ruin this small chance at peace with talks of science and technology that would probably offend this group. "We are simple explorers who have found ourselves on your strange land."

"Why do you let the small male speak for you?" the leader approached Ben, probably assuming the largest to be the leader.

"I'm no male!" Sue protested.

The leader turned its suspicious gaze on her. "You are awfully small to be female, unless of course you are a child."

"Are you female?" Sue asked, suddenly grasping the nature of the confusion.

"Of course!" the leader pronounced with indignation. "Have you ever seen a male with such broad shoulders or large fangs?"

"Among our species the female is the smaller of the two," Sue smiled.

"Perhaps that is why they are so greedy and vile," the leader observed.

"We had no idea that others of our kind had ever reached this land. What has happened here?"

"Come with me," the leader made some hand gestures at her warriors and they lowered their weapons. "I will show you."

They turned around and followed the path back where they had come from. Most of the other aliens followed them excitedly, their purring voices rumbling in the background. Sue couldn't believe Johnny and Reed hadn't given into their obvious desires to ask questions or, in Johnny's case, make a bad joke.

"A long time ago a number of your kind showed up in our jungle. We tried to become friends and allies, in our efforts our gods granted some of us the ability to understand them and even communicate, I was among them. At first things were wonderful, they showed us some of the wonders of your technology, promising some of it to us in exchange for letting them explore our lands and study."

"We became enchanted by your technology as we saw many of its wonder, it is too bad we never realized at how high a price it must come. We let them explore and study but soon it became apparent they were doing more than studying as more and more of them showed up with new technologies that harmed our land. Then the large machines came and we protested their fires and destruction."

"They killed many of our leaders when they brought forth their complaints to the leaders of your kind. My mother was among them. My people would not stand for such a gross disregard for life, especially as they continued to ravage our forest. We attacked them, warning them to go away and leave us peace. They agreed, but it was a lie."

"The very next night they returned with many Soulless Ones, like the one you four destroyed, and took many of our strongest and bravest females as well as many of our children and disappeared. It wasn't until much later we discovered that they had taken them far South and enslaved them to work in the dirt, digging up bright stones and retrieving a strange liquid from the ground."

Reed and Sue looked at each other with worry, sounded an awful lot like a mine, and maybe even crude oil.

"They worked our people until most of them had died. Then they took what my people had retrieved from the ground and vanished. By the time they left my once large proud tribe has shrunken to a mere shadow of what we once were. The few survivors of their ravages have either gone mad or lay broken and useless."

They arrived at the still smoking remains of the androne. "I am so sorry for your loss, is there anything we can do?"

"You have destroyed the Soulless One, that alone is a great kindness, for it hunted my people. However if you truly desire to help then beyond that big rock lies an area that the Soulless One protected with all its might. See what danger they have left behind to poison our land with and remove it."

"We will," Sue was so angry at this point that she barely could choke those words out. This was worse than the slaves being brought to America, did humans not learn anything from history?

"I feel like clobbering something," Ben stated simply as they nodded at each other. "Or someone."

"You just might get your chance, Ben," Reed advanced on the small boulder the native had pointed out. Nothing seemed to be there as far as Sue could tell, but just to be safe she went invisible and put up a weak shield over herself. It had paid off last time.

"Be on your guard, everyone," Reed whispered.

"Just as they got past the rock their entire bodies tingled and the landscape changed before them. They had passed through some sort of invisibility shield. Inside were several temporary structures and a small stockpile of equipment with the jungle slowly growing over it. Despite the vegetation the they could clearly see bright red lettering on the side.

"Roxxon," Reed said grimly. "Johnny, Ben, scout the area and check for any more andrones, I wouldn't want another of those sneaking up on us."

"What are you going to do?" Johnny asked as he flamed on and slowly rose into the air, careful to avoid any plant life.

"I'm going to crosscheck this equipment's quantum signature with my mobile database and see if I come up with a match."

"In English, Stretcho," Ben grunted.

"I'm going to see what dimension these guys came from."

"Their whole world is going to have some explaining to do," Sue chimed in.

Reed pulled out his device while Sue dropped her invisibility and kept an eye out for danger so her husband could focus on his device.

"Reed, do you really think that we haven't gotten past slavery? That we really are no better than the men who fought for slavery in America?"

"Well, just a glance at a despot like Doom will tell you we haven't" Reed answered in a distracted voice. "Honey, call the boys back, I have something we all need to see."

"Here they come now."

"The whole site checks out," Ben came first.

"I think that androne was the last lone guardian." Johnny agreed.

"I've identified the quantum signature of most of this equipment. All of this comes from our dimension. It was our Roxxon that perpetrated these crimes."

Sue looked at Reed in shock and alarm.

"Oh man," Johnny's flame extinguished and he fell the remaining foot to the ground in surprise.

To Be Continued . . . in Fantastic Four #2: The Fantastic Four begin an aggressive campaign to stop Roxxon from destroying more lives across the multi-verse.