The following is a sequel to Fantastic Four: Disassembled issue #1. I hope you enjoyed the first issue, and I'm expanding on themes in the last issue. This is supposed to be based one year after Reed and Sue got married, and since the MU is always only 10 years old, that puts it at 1998 or so. I'll see if I can bring it up to date. I may rate this issue "M" later after several chapters, just in case some elements are only suitable for adults. Please Read, Review and Enjoy!
As always, this is a work of pure fiction and I do not own the Fantastic Four or any of the characters, they are the property of Marvel comics.
Prologue: Poor Reed!
The Baxter Building was quiet. It had been two weeks since the new Fantastic Four had tussled with Annihilus in the Negative Zone. Plans had been made to rescue Susan from Blastaar's clutches. A few loose ends needed to be tied up before the team reentered the Zone. Crystal and Johnny slept soundly in his room. Crystal had taken to Johnny rather quickly, despite her ties to Quicksilver. She had tried to make amends, but the speedy mutant had gone hopelessly insane.
Across from the Torch's room, Ben slept on a bed still too small for his hulking mass. He dreamt of Alicia. Recently, he had made amends with the blind sculptor. The Thing had always resented his monstrous form, but Alicia had always been a shining light in his life.
Henry Pym slept in the master bedroom, which was usually reserved for Reed and Sue. He felt weird about the arrangements at first, but Reed had assured him that he was welcome to make the Baxter Building his home for the time being.
In the main laboratory, the disembodied brain of Reed continued his work on a weapon that would hopefully save his wife. Reed currently inhabited the form of a H.E.R.B.I.E. robot. The bounty hunter known as Huntara watched over his shoulder. She seemed to rest even less than the robotic scientist. "Will this work Richards?" she inquired.
"I hope," the metallic voice answered. Reed was worried about the time difference between the Earth and the Negative Zone. Sue must have been in the Zone almost a year now. He wondered at the horrors she must have experienced.
Six floors above the lab a strange phenomenon occurred. Within the large bathroom of the master bedroom, the toilet began to bubble ferociously. Hank Pym was too tired to awake to the noise. The toilet slowly overflowed. A puddle formed at the base of the bowl. Soon, the floor was covered in an inch of water. The water moved with a sentience and rolled out of the bathroom.
A voice, familiar to the Fantastic Four mumbled quietly, "I can't believe I'm in here." The defenses in the Baxter Building were strong, but the security was never equipped to check the very pipes entering the building. The Hydro-man easily slipped through the water works of the building. "If I had known I could enter so easily, I would have done this years ago!" Morrie Bench, the Hydro-man, poured his form slowly along the carpet of the master bedroom. He held a laugh as he noticed Pym sleeping in the bed. Morrie knew of Sue's fate. The Frightful Four's new benefactor had filled the entire team in on the situation. Morrie's job was simple.
Morrie poured slowly down the hall. His target was a small room on the living quarter's floor of the Baxter Building. His watery form left a trail of wet. Normally, Morrie would cover his trail, knowing that Mr. Fantastic could link his DNA to the water left behind. Morrie laughed. In his current state, "Mr. Fantastic" would be useless. The new benefactor claimed to know the Baxter Building by heart. This character's story was under question by the entire Frightful Four, but until know, his tale rang true.
The console was not far from the master bedroom. Morrie continued to remain in his watery state, at the request of his new leader. If he reverted to human form, the buildings defenses would awaken. Anyone watching would see a living puddle moved with stealth. A watery hand moved to the console. Bentley Wittman had created a disc that would conform to Morrie's unique powers. The villain manifested the disc from his puddle and entered it into the console. Morrie was happy to see the screen light up with a "downloading" signal. It was just as he had been told. He was surprised that this new leader's story was true. It was almost shocking.
Meanwhile...
Down in the lab Reed's robotic form had suddenly stopped. Huntara began to shake the scientist's metal form. "Dr. Richards?" She received no response from the superhero. IT was as if the man had been turned off. Had Huntara been only two flights up, she would have witnessed the cause of the problem. A puddle of water quickly flowed down a hall back towards the master bedroom. Morrie had reached the pipe system without any trouble. He had downloaded the brain of the great "Reed Richards", and now he would return to his team and hand over the disc for a hefty price.