The Infant Terrible
Disclaimer: "Hey, where's that Peter Griffin? He said he'd give me a hundred bucks if I took off all of my clothes off." - Peter Griffin, Family Guy
Chapter 4: Leap to Action!
New York City
"Check it out, yo!" Todd Tolensky, the Misfit Toad, grinned as he looked down at the city. "Man, this is so cool!"
"I can't believe it either, Todd!" Althea grinned in agreement. "We are actually in the Fantasticar!" The Fantasticar was the Fantasticar's main form of transport. Essentially made up of four airplane-esque pods that could split apart, the blue-and-white vehicle was the second version of the vehicle. The first resembled a flying bathtub, and it was only used for a brief period after the FF debuted. Todd and Althea were sitting in the back pod with Mister Fantastic, as that pod was the one most capable of carrying guests.
"It never stops being a thrill for me myself." Reed smiled at the two young mutants.
"I can imagine." Althea nodded. "So, do we know anything about this creature we heard about?"
"No, we haven't." Reed shook his head. "I've been in contact with the police, and they're unsure exactly what they are dealing with. They're barricading the Times Square area, and decided to let us deal with it."
"You know, Toddles, if this guy turns out to be a mutant, he or she'd be a great recruit for the Misfits." Althea whispered.
"Yeah." Todd nodded. He then realized something. "Wait, yo. If this thing turns out to be a mutant, you know those damned X-Geeks are gonna go after him, too."
"We'll have to keep an eye out, then." The hydrokinetic answered.
"Approaching Times Square now." Up in the front pod, Ben Grimm was piloting the Fantasticar. Before becoming the Thing, Grimm was in the United States Air Force, and was considered one of the finest men to ever sit in a cockpit. And right now, his blue eyes were narrowed.
"Whut the hell?" Ben noticed that the Fantasticar was flying towards a rather large bottle. "You guys, we got a bottle ahead!"
"A bottle?!" Sue blinked.
"Man, this is just getting weirder and weirder." Johnny shook his head.
"Is that bottle...moving?" Reed frowned.
"Flamin'-! It's heading right for us!" Johnny yelped. True to his statement, the bottle moved to the Fantasticar.
"We gotta separate!" Sue announced.
"Indeed." Reed agreed. "Prepare to-!"
"Too late!" Althea yelped. The Fantastic flew into the bottle.
"Why couldn't we be fighting Dr. Doom? He never puts us through this crazy crap." Johnny groaned, flopping forward on his console.
"Of course not, Matchstick." Ben retorted. "He only tries to maroon us on an island during the Golden Age of Piracy."
"We should worry about getting out of here." Althea reminded as the six heroes emerged from the Fantasticar.
"Not the way we came in, yo." Todd announced, examining the mouth of the bottle. "It's sealed shut."
"If this thing is airtight, then we're in big trouble." Sue frowned in thought.
"Not to worry." Reed reassured, pulling out what appeared to be a group of futuristic blue scuba tanks with large face coverings attached to them. "With these aero-tanks, we'll be able to increase the time we can stay here. Each of these tanks carries an eight-hour supply of purified air." The group took the tanks and put them on.
"You guys think of everything, don't you?" Althea grinned. "We'll have plenty of time to figure a way out of here."
"Maybe we can have Rocky over here just simply smash his way out." Johnny shrugged. "This is just a giant glass bottle."
"It is worth a try." Reed concurred.
"Heh." Ben smirked, cracking his stony knuckles. "Now yer speakin' my language, kiddo. Everybody stand back."
"Be very careful, Ben." Reed reminded his teammate as Ben cocked back his fist.
"No prob, Stretcho." Ben smirked. He threw the punch...
KRESH!
The glass bottle's side smashed wide open, allowing the group to leave the bottle.
"Hey, whaddaya know? That actually worked." Todd remarked, removing his breathing apparatus.
"Told ya." Johnny smirked cockily as he leaned on the Fantasticar, crossing his arms and making a cool pose.
"Quit clownin', Matchstick. We got business here." Ben scowled.
"I hope you guys wanted some business..." Althea pointed ahead. "Because we have plenty to deal with. Take a look at that!"
"Ho-lee..." Todd gaped.
"My God..." Sue mumbled.
Times Square had been turned into a funhouse. The center of the square itself had been turned into a maze. The many screens, instead of playing their usual endless advertisements, were now playing cartoons. Large and strange-looking stuffed animals littered the streets. The signs and streetlights were now candy canes. The area was cordoned off by the NYPD, who seemed to be dumbfounded as to what to do in this unique situation. The confused crowd reacted the way typical New Yorkers did: Loudly.
"What the hell, man?!" A pedestrian yelped, nearly running into a wall.
"Get me out of here!"
"There's a radio in my fingernail CAR!" A homeless man screamed, grabbing a stuffed animal.
"Repent! Repent! The end is nigh!" A preacher wailed.
"I gotta get to work!" A driver screamed from his car.
"When are those damn superheroes gonna do something?" A businessman grumbled as he tried to climb through a wall of stuffed animals.
"Friggin' mutants..." A woman grumbled.
"Oh, the times they are a changin'-!" A street entertainer sang, playing a guitar.
"Can somebody please shut that guy up?!"
"This is Obama's fault!" A woman wearing a triangular hat roared as she tried to escape the maze.
"Oh, no..." Sue mumbled.
"Great, this city has enough congestion problems." Ben grumbled. "Those damned bike lanes King Bloomberg added already raised hell."
"What kind of power could create something like this?" Sue wondered.
"We have encountered several beings with great power since the formation of our group." Reed reminded. "However, this modus operandi does not seem to match any of them..."
"Worry about the who later!" Althea whipped out her staff. "Our first priority is helping these people out!"
"Indeed." Reed nodded in agreement.
"Let's get to work, yo!" Todd cheered, whipping out his own staff. The six heroes went to work. Quickly and efficiently, the group helped calm down the populace and get them out of whatever jams they were in.
"What kind of power could create something like this?" Sue asked as she created a slide out of invisible force and let people slide down from a maze wall with it.
"A power that could rival Galactus, dear." Reed surmised, using his stretching powers to pluck people out of the maze.
"You know, I can't help but wonder..." Todd smirked at Althea as the two young mutants worked together to rescue a family from an upturned car. "The guys who is behind this...if we find him...maybe we can use him to prank the X-Geeks."
"Somehow, I don't think that'll be a good idea, Toddles." Althea shook her head. Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, was flying overhead, acting as a spotter. The cocky young blond man noticed something up ahead.
"What the-?!" He then realized what he was seeing. "Flaming Fireballs!"
"Whut is that thing?!" Benjamin Grimm, the Thing, blinked.
"It appears to be..." Reed blinked in amazement. The object revealed itself to be a large spinning top, green and yellow in color, and several stories tall. The oversized child's toy whirred as it spun, and Johnny noticed the top heading towards the crowd. "...a giant top."
"It's heading for the crowd!" Althea gasped in shock.
"How in the hell do we stop that thing?!" Todd groaned.
"I got it!" Johnny grinned. He streaked towards the top, a large fireball growing in his hands. Larger and larger it grew, until it reached the size of a small beach ball. "Here's the windup..." He cocked his arm back. "The pitch..."
Fwoosh!
Johnny pitched the fireball as hard as he could.
Boom!
The fireball slammed into the top, causing it to explode in a huge burst of smoke.
"Aw, yeah!" Johnny whooped, triumphantly pumping his fist. "Derek Jeter, you should just reitre now, cuz Johnny Storm is joinin' the Yankees."
"Gotta give him credit." Althea remarked to Sue. "Johnny came through."
"Yup." Sue smiled proudly. "He may be a goofball sometimes, but my little brother can really get it done sometimes." Ben narrowed his eyes at the smoke.
"Hey..." He pointed a rocky orange finger. "What's that in the smoke?"
"Huh?" Johnny looked down and saw a green robot, the size of the top, slowly walk out of the smoke. The robot was humanoid in shape, with a head that had rudimentary features. The hands only had two fingers and a thumb each. "Where'd that thing come from?"
"I got this." Ben smirked cockily as he marched towards the robot, cracking his knuckles.
"Is that a good idea?" Althea blinked.
"That's how we do things." Todd shrugged.
"Ben, wait!" Sue reached for him. "Let's not do anything rash."
"Yes, Ben." Reed concurred. "Let me examine that robot! It could be booby-trapped."
"Ah, ya worry too much." The Thing chuckled, cocking back his fist. "Not much can handle my best Sunday punch! This is gonna be a beaut!" He threw the punch.
Wham!
"Ahhh..." Ben smiled in delight. "Now that's what I call poetry!" He opened his eyes... "What the-?!" He noticed there were now two robots. "How'd this happen?!"
"Now there's something ya don't see every day, yo." Todd scratched his head.
"Yup." Althea agreed.
"What gives?!" Ben roared. He punched the robot again, creating another duplicate robot.
"Ben, stop!" Reed exclaimed. "You're just making it worse!" However, the Thing was in no mood to hear his old teammate and friend's pleas. He continued punching, until he grew frustrated and gave up.
"Ah, crap..." Ben grunted as he now saw a large group of robots in the street. "I really gotta watch my temper..."
"Nice job, rocks-for-brains!" Johnny taunted. "You're a real help sometimes, pal!"
"I didn't hear you offer any ideas, Matchstick!" Ben snapped.
"Now, what do we do?" Todd blinked. Althea frowned in thought.
"...I...I don't know."
Well, well, well! Looks like the problems are just going up! What insanity will happen next? Can our heroes stop the robots? Will Ben learn to watch his temper? Find out in the next chapter!