"Remind me again why I'm here mindin' the computers, Suzy. Without Stretch's permission." Ben's raspy, grumpy voice sounded in Sue & Ozai's earpieces. Looking at Reed's PDA that displayed the faces of two renowned supervillains, Leopard X studied the streets they walked, watching for any signs of trouble.
"What? Who says we need his permission all the time?" Sue smirked. "It was urgent, anyway. Those Kronotrackers were beeping like crazy." Therefore, although Reed was absent from his lab at that funny hour, she'd rounded up the other two & entered the alternate timeline displayed on the Kronotracker screens before hopping into the time machine.
"We got a lock on Ronan & Diablo. Let's move!" Ozai urged them.
Ben muttered, "Stretch scares me with his brainpower…the facial recognition thingamajig, his timeline tracker gizmo….Before ya know it he's gonna invent something that literally changes history."
Just as his two teammates hurried up an alley they recognized (despite their travelling to New York which was twenty years younger), Sue made a point, "I wonder who's past their trying to interrupt this time."
"Ronan!" Leopard X called out. From his knuckle armour out came his sharpened claws in preparation.
"Surprised to see me so soon?" the Accuser let his voice reverberate about the area. It wore in & out of nooks, crannies, & crevices of the buildings packed together. His back remained turned to them, though, as he curled his fingers tighter around his staff.
Sue was no more than already bored, "Not just surprised. Thrilled…" She nailed the sarcasm well, the way she loved doing it to hopefully set off a bad guy's short fuse. Yet Ronan's wild hunger for the "destruction of the Fantastic Four & their friends" was simply mind-boggling. She found it a little puke-inducing that the hunger seemed to be pushing him to harm innocent children.
"Help me, please! They won't leave me alone," a meek & mousy but clear child's voice pulled at everyone's attention. Cornered by Ronan & Diablo & stuck against a wall like paste was a small boy of approximately nine years. Incredibly innocent amber eyes peeked out from beneath his slightly shaggy fringe, & he was clad in a rather semi-formal white jacket with a black t-shirt underneath & beige pants.
"Reed?" Sue focused her gaze on the child. Gosh, was he so cute. Just as cute as she thought he was now, & when she'd first met him.
"You would be a fool to lay a hand on him," sneered Diablo, complete with freaky glowing eyes.
"Young little Mister Fantastic belongs to ME. Leave, or be dealt with," Ronan gave ample warning. His laser-beam eyes flashed to a shaky little Reed.
Leopard X fastened his helmet then crossed both arms, "I can do 'dealt with'…what say you, Susan?" She needn't answer; all she did was signal to him with a smiling look. The very first move was hers - with fluid, flexible hands she shoved the baddies to the sides with pulse attacks.
"Every effort you put in will be wasted. Face it, you can't mess with us. Just give up already," she confidently told them. But their faces, especially Ronan's, were peppered with a stubborn side of evil.
"On the contrary," the Kree flaunted his arrogance, "I am not only persistent in destroying you & your team. I believe in honour! Dignity! & above all, in fair punishment."
"Can we just skip to the fight?" asked Ozai, now crouched on four paws.
A big cackle left Ronan's lips, "Then it should be enjoyable start. You see, I've brought you a little playmate or two…" At a snap of his fingers there were growling noises thickening the air with their nearby rumbles. A pair of deadly borg hounds emerged from a smaller darkened alleyway, taking their stations beside their master.
The beasts were really roused by Leopard X's snarl & one of them suddenly pounced, landing onto Ozai. The second hound sprung for Sue but she stopped it in mid-air with an easy force field.
Ben was booming through the comm. devices, "Awwwww, shouldn't Dr. O be the one stayin' behind? I haven't clobbered somethin' in ages!" Ozai was accustomed to how he always spoke in volumes about missing a good tussle. He teased, "Sorry, Ben. I beat you to it. Besides, Sue pulled me into the Fantasticar first."
They heard a sigh & mumbling from the receiving end of the line, "Now I'm stuck with makin' up excuses in case Stretch pops in…"
Ozai rolled & struggled with the steel-hard, snapping jaws of the animal threatening to gnaw him dead, whilst the Invisible Woman had thrashed the other by hurling it at Diablo. However, Ronan was swift to knock her off both feet after he aimed his weapon at her back. Meanwhile, Leopard X had successfully thrown off the borg hound with a concentrated laser beam. He continued to snarl & snap, which intimidated the beast.
"Why am I always the first to be shamed…," whined Diablo.
"Get up. We can bring this battle to another level..," the Kree motioned to him. Ronan noticed that Reed had escaped; a flicker of a thought - then he called for the pair of hounds to follow. He could still hear the child's irregular breathing as he sprinted down the street; that meant he wasn't too far ahead to catch up with…The four of them were off in a split second to hunt down the kid.
"They're heading for Chinatown!" Ozai alerted Sue. He helped her up immediately, & they sped after the group of baddies into a sea of colourful patterns, lights & events.