I'm trying to put this in dialogue form, just to make it different. Hope it hasn't ruined things.


NAMOR: "They say the hardest part of any process is beginning it. Somehow we all have to get our heads around a way to infiltrate this place…"

AZULA: "I'm not sure we're equipped enough to try."

IMPY: "I have a question: how are those made?"

He pointed to the well-concealed surveillance cameras lining the main doors, pillars & grotesque statues.

REED: "Hmmmm…if we could somehow use the closest equivalent of a signal jammer, we might just be able to buy time & get Ben, Susan & Johnny out."

NAMOR: "On a smaller scale, we must reach them first. Should any of Victor von Doom's minions ambush us, we'll fight as a stronger unit if we manage to reunite."

REED: "We'll split up - given the number of members of the team, we can break up into three groups.

OZAI: "& each team is to perform a task differing from the others."

NAMOR: "I would be happy to search for clues on how this place operates, for instance a power source, or important locations."

AZULA: "I'll band with Impy. We'll be able to handle the less thorough. Provided that doesn't come across as too slothful."

OZAI: "No worries, daughter. It's a good choice. Reed, you & I shall work to disrupt the prison's surveillance. If my calculations are correct, I may be capable of getting my suit to function as a cloaking device. The resulting frequency would have to either match or exceed that of the radio & infrared waves emitted by the security cameras."

REED: "With the small window we have, it would not matter that we do not appear wholly invisible. We'd have to even it out by being as quick as we possibly can."

AZULA: "Easier said than done, huh?"

Later, the group had discovered what looked like a manhole on the outside, which turned out to be an abandoned trapdoor leading to some dried up sewers. It was a place not generous in offering light, but safe to hide for at least a short time. Ozai & Azula each managed to spare an earpiece, one for Impy & the other for Namor. Ozai thought it funny when he realized you didn't have to have both ears equipped when you had a teammate's message to listen to. The two scientists began to take Leopard X's suit apart.

OZAI: "I'm going to need your earpiece, Reed. It should still function properly when I finish."

REED: "The field covered by the sound projection ought to be at least a ten metre radius. & the frequency generated by the suit should be high but undetectable by anyone's ears. Doom is bound to have devices that pick up the waves, but we could even inflict damage on such machines."

OZAI: "I am curious too to see whether our little invention would be lethal to Kree technology.

REED: "Ozai, it is absurd, really…what has happened. What we're doing."

OZAI: "Are you sure it is not incredible? Fascinating? Or intriguing or interesting?"

REED: "Very funny."

He forced a smile successfully.

OZAI: "I may be borrowing heavily from someone, but sometimes your life boils down to one insane move."

"I worry about what my daughter would be up against…if Jonathan…well, you can grasp the idea."

REED: "I have a confession. I never told Susan…Sue…about what's true. I've bottled up. I have been a failure at expressing this one fact: that I would gladly take a bullet for her."

"That is one 'insane move' I'd be making today if I had to."

The other three were getting some rest, quietly seated at the other end of the space.

AZULA: "Impy?"

The alien put on an alert expression, turning to face her.

AZULA: "What if I said you could talk to me about anything?"

IMPY: "I…well, uhm.."

AZULA: "What brought you back here? To Earth?"

Her sympathetic tone was a balm to him. He swallowed hard, struggling to keep calm while he spoke.

IMPY: "My planet was attacked two Earth years ago. By the Kree & Skrull Empires. But they were both under his control. He…& Ronan…& the Skrull Commander…they all wanted us gone!"

"After they used that machine to blow our home to bits, my friends who survived - we were finding a place to rest -"

She could see he was shivering.

"Our powers were also fading away." "I'm the only one left."

AZULA: "Hey, we'll try & make them pay it all back."

Minutes & minutes elapsed, but the thoughts were feeling more like a torrent, along with more vivid images flooding her head.

AZULA: "Hotshot…"


It was a remarkably fast chain of events. It was as if no one depended on time any longer. The team of five officially began their rescue mission at a secret tunnel leading into the bowels of the Vault. Even the weapons of the guards turned out to pale in comparison to the darkness painted upon the prison's quarters. From what they saw, Doom placed an amount of importance in matters as small as decorating walls. The elegance of his designs had elements of malice & perfection woven into them.

Reed & Ozai sped down long corridors drowned in dim glows of red & green. Above them, prisoners stretched out quivering hands & pleaded repetitively, their wailing going on like machines. The scientists silently made promises to free all these citizens.

Impy's energy was waning, but he & Azula had trapped a good number of guards underneath the rubble. It was far more imperative to be fast than to have brute strength. They carried on with their search for their friends, the suspense as bitter & thick as gall.


He scaled the great heights of some walls, gliding past cell after cell. The horrible red light, glowing from the top floor, was enough of a distraction anyway. Guards threatened to shoot, barking orders to one another, but he pushed on. The whole place was built in a labyrinthine fashion.

NAMOR: "Everyone, I have news."

The others froze, spines chilled with what was on the tip of his tongue.

"I've found them."

Both of them were clad in dark green prison uniforms, or so he thought. Perhaps the lighting was so poor that it was a useless guess. Power-nullifying collars clamped around their necks, appearing to weigh them down.

He first looked at the dark rings under Sue's eyes, & the hauntingly hollowed shape of her countenance. She was clutching her throat, as if stopping herself from letting out her breath.

Ben had his back to the Atlantean but Namor studied how tightly his fingers were gripping the bench he sat on. The Thing sat as still as an actual stone statue, his great shadow cast over some cracks in the concrete floor.

Next was to locate Johnny - why on earth was it that difficult - when the holding cell of these heroes was no more than nine by fifteen feet in size? He saw how parts of the floor were blackened - likely to have been burned - & it occurred at last to him to observe the far corner of the room. He squinted to almost see a silhouette shifting in the shadows, bending rather low & very slowly.