3… 2… 1… Liftoff!
Within minutes, the rocket roared and shook across the ground of Cape Canaveral.
After years of hard work, determination, and dreaming, a flight to the stars was finally underway. The countdown of history has officially begun.
Inside the hurtling spacecraft, four brave adventurers glanced at each other, each with varied looks on their faces.
Reed Richards was trying to maintain the calm yet excited grin on his face, while his wife Susan Storm curiously looked over to her little brother Johnny who had nervously gulped, just a short moment ago.
Next to Richards, his best friend, Ben Grimm took a short deep breath as the shuttle launched into the air, now hurdling into the upper atmosphere of the planet, all while he was sitting back and holding onto the controls like Reed. Today was the day everyone had been waiting for, and now, it was finally time.
The whole world watched the launch of the shuttle live on TV and online closely with anticipation.
Reed and Ben piloted the shuttle together at the command console, while Susan and Johnny sat back to monitor the Particle-Wave's energy signature. As they exited the upper atmosphere, the crew all looked out to the vastness of space in awe.
"Primary circuits at maximum function. All systems are green for first-stage jettison." Reed stated, "She's behaving like how I thought she would. Everything is perfect." His smile grew wider as the team continued to gaze upon space each second.
Upon hearing that, the former test pilot let out a sigh.
"Yeah. Except for the particle wave. No one knows what it'll do." That may have sounded like he was trying to kill the mood to the others, but it was a good counterpoint to Reed's enthusiasm, they knew. "Especially since we don't know a thing about it," he continued.
"Not yet. But after today, we will," Reed replied. "And after today, every harmful energy or fuel source on Earth will soon be a thing of the past."
"You sure seem confident in this mission, Reed," Johnny commented, while he turned his glance toward the astrophysicist.
"I've studied the particle wave for years, Johnny. Of course, I am confident in what we are doing," Reed stated.
"I know. I'm just saying, what if-"
"There won't be any issues, Johnny," Reed said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "Everyone here doesn't need to remind you that we've been preparing for this for a long time. This is my life's work after all, so I would know if there was even the slightest miscalculation."
Johnny rolled his eyes, hearing that.
"Yeah sure. Whatever you say, Reed."
Without uttering another word, he turned his chair and simply went back to his post. It only took a few seconds for Johnny to be more preoccupied with taking in the beautiful view of outer space.
Soon, at an altitude of one hundred miles away from earth, they made the first stage jettison past the edge of space.
Now, the real work began.
Even for all of Ben's complaining and counter points-which he did a lot before and during this mission- Reed knew that they were the ones who could truly change the world, and he knew what they needed to do exactly to make it happen. They only had one shot at this, so they could not mess this up, they knew.
Something going wrong… Please, Reed thought.
"So, uh... what now?" Johnny asked. "Like, until we get to that cosmic storm thing, what do we do?"
"We sit back, prep that containment device the Egghead won't shut up about, and we take in the view," Ben answered.
Reed chuckled upon hearing Ben's answer.
"Anyone want to get a picture?" Johnny asked suddenly.
The rest of the crew all let out an annoyed sigh.
"Johnny. You know we can't get a photo in the middle of the mission," his sister said bluntly.
Johnny rolled his eyes, hearing his sister before he said, "sheesh. I just wanted to know if anyone wanted to get a picture before we get to the storm."
"Johnny," Sue said.
"Come on. It's just one picture. What's the worst that could happen?"
Reed rolled his eyes before he spoke to the young man. "If I take a picture with you, will you be quiet so we can focus on the mission at hand?"
Johnny nodded.
"Fine. Though, I was kind of hoping that we all could get one together. Y'know, to celebrate the launch?" He asked.
"I'm kinda busy right now, kid," Ben stated.
"Same goes for me, Johnny," said Sue.
Johnny rolled his eyes, but nodded understanding. "Alright. Suit yourselves, guys."
He quickly reached into his pocket to grab a small camera he took with him on the mission for this occasion and handed it over to Susan carefully. Reed sighed once again before he turned his chair, and Johnny stood next to him, with a smile on his face. He wrapped his arm around Reed's shoulder and made a peace sign for the camera.
Reed looked at the young astronaut annoyed before he opened his mouth once again.
"Just make this quick, Johnny."
Sue held the camera and gave her husband and little brother a smile before clicking to snap the photo. Ben could not help but chuckle, seeing that.
Soon, the four heard a small ping going off. They were finally close to the particle wave.
At that moment, both Reed and Ben slowly flew up to a massive, multi-colored cloud irradiating with large amounts of radiation, and pitch-black dots large and small crackling all around it.
"Heads up people, we're approaching the particle-wave area, so be ready," said Ben.
Sue and Johnny returned to their post quickly, while Reed faced the cloud in awe. His eyes went wide, amazed by the storm and its beauty.
"Great Scott!" said Reed.
Slowly, the shuttle entered the cloud. The rest of the crew all stared at it in awe. This was the only chance they had to harness the particle-wave cluster from the cloud and truly change the world. Ben was trying his best to steer the ship inside the cloud carefully.
Reed nervously gulped.
"Sue, activate the containment cube. We need as much of the particle-wave energy as we can get."
She nodded but instantly noticed the change of tone in his voice. One minute ago, Reed had seemed so sure and confident in the mission, and now, he sounded nervous. However, this was expected, she thought. This was his life's work, she knew, and messing this up could lead to disastrous results.
Johnny chuckled, "What happened to Mr. Confident?"
"Johnny…" His sister warned, like a parent talking to a toddler, "not the time."
The young astronaut rolled his eyes.
"Whatever. Just thought Reed had this in the bag."
"We have only one shot at this, Johnny," said Reed.
Sue did just as Reed asked, acknowledging what he asked. One of the hatches opened, revealing a large device Reed designed to absorb the Particle-Wave's energy. She glanced back and forth between the monitor and the window to see the cloud as she typed in the commands to turn it on.
The shuttle continued to fly into the eye of the storm slowly. Alyssa once commented that the storm was easily the most beautiful thing her and Reed had ever seen. She was right, Reed thought, and flying into the cloud made him believe that more.
"Ben," Reed began, "we need to fly right into the center of the cloud, so get the shielding ready."
Ben sighed but nodded, acknowledging the order. As much as he was concerned, he could not deny that this could be the key to humanity evolving forever, and he would no doubt be honored as an American hero for this, just like he always wanted to be.
He entered in the commands and the shielding quickly went online, encasing it in a thick layer of energy. To them, the cloud was like a bright sea of pure energy irradiating all around them.
On TV around the world, it was the most beautiful sight many had ever seen. Even in Times Square, no one could deny how gorgeous and vibrant the cloud looked. Reds, blues, blacks, white dust everywhere, irradiating large black and white dots outward into the vastness of the cosmos.
Suddenly, the shuttle began to shutter as her titanium alloy took a direct hit. The metal moaned and sent a splintering shriek into the team's ears.
"What the hell was that?" Johnny asked.
Ben glanced to his best friend before speaking.
"You hear that? It's the cosmic rays! I-I warned you about 'em!"
"Oh god!" Sue's eyes went wide with shock. The shielding was failing, and the cloud was making it weaker every second. "We have to get out of here! Now!"
"I know. Can you try to avert?" Reed asked.
"What do you think I'm tryna do?! Hang on everyone!"
The shuttle quickly veered to the left as Ben pushed hard to the left on the controls, hoping that could get them free from the storm.
However, things got murky fast. They are all shaken out of their seats. The shuttle continued to spiral out of control inside the cloud, its shielding taking more damage every second. It was a miracle the ship even remained intact. The cloud struck the shuttle hard with another blast of unknown radiation, breaking off one of its wings.
"Crap!" Johnny looked to the shuttle's life support system and saw it was barely online but was quickly going offline.
"Life support is still online, otherwise-"
"We gotta get out of here!" Johnny interrupted.
People quickly went from excited to concerned watching the crew trying to escape the cloud with their lives. Within an instant, the feed of the shuttle shut off, scaring many of the people watching back on earth.
"Ben! Sue! We need to get through the radiation belt and get the containment cube online!" Said Reed. "Johnny, try to get the shielding online!"
At that moment, a shiver ran up Ben's spine. The ship was rattling around, and everyone could feel her hull slowly tearing its armor apart.
"Too late, Einstein! The rays are penetrating the hull! The shielding isn't strong enough!" Ben replied.
Johnny gulped before he raised his voice. However, he quickly realized something. "Wait, if that's happening, then why am I not feeling anything?"
"They act just like light rays' kid! They won't do a thing."
Sue tried her best to help out her brother by typing in a series of commands on the shuttle's shielding, hoping it could give them enough time to get out of the cloud's path.
This has to work! It has to! She thought.
The alarms were blasting all through the crew compartment. Reed tried to pilot the ship with his friend as best as he could. He was furiously sweating, with thoughts of them possibly dying from the radiation being the only thing on his mind. But it pushed him to try to get out of this alive.
How is this happening?! Thoughts raced through Reed's mind as to what happened.
At that moment, Sue's eyes went wide in horror as she watched her brother's suit begin to light up on fire.
"Johnny!" She screamed.
The young astronaut screamed, seeing his suit begin to burn up. The fire burned through the legs of his uniform quickly, and peeling away his pants, revealing his bare flesh.
"Sue! Reed! Anyone, help me!" Johnny screamed. "I'm on fire! I'm on fire!"
Suddenly, the shuttle shuttered again, as it took another direct hit, knocking it off its course. Everyone was pushed out of their seats and floated in zero gravity. Both Reed and Ben tried their best to get to the controls quickly. But it was difficult due to the gravity and large amounts of raw cosmic energy.
"Mayday! Mayday! This is Kirby-1! We're going down! Repeat: WE'RE GOING DOWN!" Sue screamed to the intercom. On the other end, NASA scientists watched in horror, as their feed cut to black.
It went from bad to worse.
Suddenly, Ben was forced onto the ground, feeling another hit by the cosmic rays tearing more of the shuttle apart. The test pilot tried to push himself up, but it did not work. He was now forced onto the floor, suddenly feeling like he was being held down by The g-force. The engines were gone, the vertical stabilizer, which made things even worse for the crew.
"Someone… Listen to me!" Ben struggled to get up. He gritted his teeth and strained his muscles trying to get up. He winced in pain, merely trying to open his mouth. "Someone… Get the controls! I can't fly this anymore! My… My arms… Feel heavy… Too heavy and… I can't move!"
"Ben!" They all screamed in unison.
Now unpiloted, the shuttle breaks off from the cloud and quickly succumbs to the pull of Earth's gravity. Like a kite suddenly without a breeze, it plunges fast. As it strikes the thick blanket of the Earth's atmosphere, it begins to heat up, and burn down to the surface of the planet.
Reed tried to reach for the controls with all his might, pulling himself forward inch by inch. " Have to… Get the… Secondary thrusters online!"
From Earth, the signal returns and the once dazzled crowd now watches in horror as the shuttle began to burn up on re-entry.
Watkins Gate State Park, New York, Moments Later…
"Don't go too far, okay?" A kind woman asks.
"We won't!" Replied a pair of twin brothers in unison as they began to run through the forest ahead of them.
The brothers rush through the dense forest, racing each other, with nothing but the sun beaming down upon them harshly and large thick trees surrounding them. One of the boys ended up covering his head with his arms, trying to block out the sun so he could see where he was going.
At that moment, the other of the boys soon observed a small glowing object high in the skies above.
"Woah! A shooting star!" He said in awe.
Suddenly, the star-like object became bigger and bigger each second to the young boy. His eyes soon went wide, and his mouth gaped open with a gasp.
It was not a star.
Soon, the burning shuttle smashes hard into the trees, quickly plowing through multiple in seconds, and crashes into a rather small lake a few feet away from the picnic area.
A couple consisting of a middle-aged man and a woman quickly go to investigate what happened, when they suddenly see the shuttle in the middle of a large crater surrounding them. The hull was on fire, and it looked like the crew inside were all dead.
"Oh my god," the man gasped.
"What happened?" The woman wondered.
The two boys hurried back to the area, following the shuttle as it smashed through the trees, and saw the massive crater it created in the center of the lake. The two boys' eyes went wide, shocked to see what just happened.
"Oh my god," they both said.
What started as a day that could have been the next step for humanity turned into a complete disaster.