Ben Grimm yawned lazily, scratching his chest while watching some old sitcom rerun. Seemed like a marathon of them was on, and sense the brass wasn't letting him outside he figured it would be a good chance to take a break from working out and training. One thing he would have to talk to Reed about though; the stress suit was itchy. He laughed absently at some joke, stopping for a moment to inflect upon the fact that he didn't laugh much anymore. He supposed it came with the territory of being a giant rock thing. His train of thought was broken by a news flash interrupting his program.

"Hello, your regularly scheduled program will return after this news break. At 7:00 this morning the Triskelion suffered a massive blackout. It is currently unknown if this was simply a malfunction or a terrorist attack. As of right now no communications are being broadcasted or received from the complex. General Nick Fury was contacted earlier and declined to make any comment other than the situation was being dealt with. More on this story later."

With that the rerun came back on and Ben was left with unanswered questions. Frustrated, like he was so often now, he threw the remote at the TV, the small piece of black plastic blasting through the glass and out of the back of the set, slamming against the wall behind it with a large crack.

"Opps….. Sue is gonna kill me.."

He didn't have time to ponder the implications of what that meant, for only a moment later two soldiers stepped through the door and moved to him. They stopped short of the granite couch Ben was sitting on and told him that his presence was requested by General Ross. Ben heaved a sigh and stood up, waving to the soldiers to show that he was following.

As soon as he entered General Ross's office, he knew something was wrong. Johnny, Reed and Sue were already there, as well as Dr. Storm. He moved to the chair which was obviously meant for him, the one made of stone, and sat down.

"Well, now that we are all here, I have been instructed to brief you on the current situation. This has not been released to the public, so I trust you will keep it in confidence. This morning the Triskelion suffered a power outage which could have been written off as a minor glitch in the system. This should have been fixed within minutes, but it was not. The building itself goes on automatic lockdown in such situations, because of the number of high risk prisoners in the lower levels. We have had no communication from within the Triskelion, and General Fury believes it is time to send in a recon team. Namely, you."

Reed, looking troubled, leaned forward, "But General, don't they have the Ultimates for these kinds of situations? I thought that we were to keep out of the public eye?"

Ross glared at the too smart boy and replied curtly, "Where the Ultimates and what they are doing is not your concern Richards. You do as you're told. You four will be going in through the audience hall, where most of the staff and personal should be gathered. You are to assess the situation and aid S.H.I.E.L.D in recapturing those inmates who have left their cells. As for the media blackout we had on you, it's over. Your name, as ridiculous as it sounds, is the Fantastic Four."

Ben and Johnny looked at each other for a moment, blank stares between them, then burst out laughing. Sue put a hand on her forehead in dismay and Reed simply smiled. His smile evaporated when he saw the look on the General's face.

"This is not a game!" the general shouted, slamming his fist on the desk. " Report to the 35th floor armory for your gear, dismissed."

With that, the General looked to a paper on his desk, ignoring the four teens still sitting in front of him looking dumfounded. After a few minutes Ross looked up and coughed, sending them scurrying out of the office. As they walked down the wide hallway to the elevator, Reed and Johnny were talking hurriedly. Reed did not want Johnny to use his flame power too much, but Johnny insisted that it was not going to hurt him. After a little while Reed, fed up with arguing, just sighed.

The elevator ride down was short. The doors of the elevator slid open, revealing a large circular room with scientists milling out. There were soldiers stationed at every entry point, making sure no unauthorized persons could stroll in. These four however, needed no identification cards. A small scientist with black hair ran up to reed and extended his hand quickly.

"Reed Richards? I'm Melvin Stewart, head of development here. General Ross sent down the report, and I'm to show you the new gadgets you four will be outfitted with for your mission."

Melvin motioned for them to follow him. He led them to a closet near the far right of the room. Smiling widely he punched in the number code on the lock. The doors to the closet slide open revealing four blue suits, each with a large four situated in the torso.

"Now I know these look like your standard containment suits, but added a few new things to them. They still have all the standard features, with the addition of a communications array built into the logo on the chest, and equipment for analyzing and cataloging data. They also are Kevlar lined, brining some measure of protection from small arms fire. Not that you..uh…need it."

Shrugging, Ben moved forward and took his suit, the largest one. Johnny, Reed, and Sue followed, each taking their own specific uniform. Ben scoffed openly at the four on the chest of his suit and then, shaking his head, made for the changing room near the closet. Once all four of them were suited up, they thanked Melvin, and made their way back to the elevator. Up to the helicopter pads they went, stepping out of the elevator, all feeling just a bit silly about things. A pilot in a green jumpsuit waved them over to a large helicopter, showing them in. All strapped in, the helicopter fired up its engines and took off, soaring across the city, making for the Triskelion.

After a few minutes the helicopter was circling the complex, waiting for the order to set the team down. Ben looked out of window of the chopper and grumbled something, unbuckling his straps. He stood up, causing the helicopter to lurch suddenly, and walked over to the sliding door. He opened the door and looked down. They were over the auditorium, and he figured that was as close to the spot Ross wanted them as they were likely to find. He gave Reed a thumb up sign and leaped out of the helicopter. Sue cried out at the sudden movement, and Johnny stood up looking positively elated. He moved over to look out the door and saw Ben crash right through the glass panes of the skylights. The impact also shattered most of the all glass auditoriums windows, and what survived, shattered when Ben slammed into the floor, kicking up a huge cloud of debris.

Johnny, not one to be outdone, leaped out after Ben had hit. He screamed excitedly and waited till the last second before shouting "FLAME ON!" and igniting. He made a complete circle of the auditorium building before flying in through one of the shattered window panes, setting down next to Ben. Reed just looked at Sue and shrugged. He stuck his leg out of the doorway and let it stretch all the way down to the floor of the building, then gave a little waved to sue and stepped out of the helicopter. He reached the floor in moments, smiling. Sue sighed and stepped out of the chopper as well, letting a force field lower her gently down to the others.

"Ya know..despite bein a freak, this is kinda cool", Ben said with a grin.

The others could only smile and nod at that.