Loosening the zipper on her blue uniform, Robin Grant leant back from the control panel she had been monitoring in Victor Von Doom's space station. With seven hours until the cosmic storm hit them, she figured she had time for a break. She pushed back her desk chair, climbing up the steps out of the command centre. Being there for assistant purposes as a System Monitor, she was sure she wouldn't receive such high profile attention as the other five travellers would upon their return to Earth. But, this was an opportunity she would have been crazy to miss, even if on loan from NASA.
Robin made her way through one of the space stations many corridors, eyes glancing out at the amazing spectacle of the Earth from one of the corridor windows. The colossal sight of it was more than what any pay cheque could give her for this mission. However, as she turned from the window, she missed something else spectacular. Dangerously fantastic. A sudden acceleration in the distance. A strange orange cloud shimmered as it progressed forth; it's seven-hour distance suddenly being belittled to a mediocre amount of time.
But Robin had gone through the automatic doors, heading on towards the living quarters. First up was the kitchen, a likely stop in Robin's opinion. Whilst their range of edibles was limited the on-board refrigerator at least opened up possibilities that didn't involve paste in tubes. Robin pulled open the fridge door, peering in as she inspected the different packages, all labelled in some assistant's squiggly handwriting that was hardly legible. Smooth move.
Robin was just about to reach for one currently unknown packet, when the space station gave a shudder. Robin quickly pulled back, peering round the open door of the fridge. What was that? "Mr. Richards?" she called uneasily as she heard sudden footsteps run by. Leaning back, Robin saw Susan Storm run by the corridor, disappearing from sight. "Miss. Storm?"
A low rumble was progressively getting louder. Robin looked over her shoulder, away from the inside of the refrigerator to see an orange cloud mask over the windows. "That's impossible.." The entire space station groaned and creaked, the ceiling splintering its metal connections. With a loud explosion, the space station jerked furiously and with a surprised cry, Robin fell against the fridge. Her head hit heavily on the top shelf and she collapsed back to hit the floor in an unconscious state.
There was a calming silence around her and a stillness that she savoured. No sounds of the explosion, no space station rocking and shuddering from the impact of the storm. Robin slowly opened her eyes to discover that she was in a very different place than the Von Doom Space Station. She was in a small room, with the blinds drawn at her window. She found herself comfortably in a bed with a few bandages covering the worse of any cuts from the damage of the space station. Robin quickly assumed they were back on Earth and in her recollection of her trip the memories of the storm hitting them came back to her. She closed her eyes, partially angry with herself for not staying at the controls and partially upset that the trip had been a failure.
But she quickly told herself that she was lucky to be alive. They had been exposed to dangerous radiation during the storm and the fact she was here in once piece was something she had to focus on. She quickly wondered if the others who were on board were safe and began sitting up in order to go and find out. But she then realised how cold the room actually was and she quickly settled back under the covers. Surely it hadn't been this cold a few minutes ago? Even the bed, once feeling warm and comfortable felt drafty and cool, enough to make the goose bumps on her arms stand up and a slight shiver to come over her.
The heating in the room had to be malfunctioning. She quickly threw back the covers, making her way to the door and grabbing the dressing gown off the hook on the door. Throwing it about her, she made her way into the corridor outside, peering around. It felt warmer out here. Satisfied, Robin made her way down the corridor, lightly moving on bare feet. She was yet to see anyone else –
"Oh!" Robin quickly stopped as she came face to face with one of the nurses.
"Miss Grant! You're awake!" The nurse quickly took one of Robin's arms and steered her into a nearby seat, "What are you doing out of bed?"
"I just wondered how the others were."
"Everyone is fine and conscious, Mr. Grimm only awoke this morning himself."
Robin looked relieved, "Are they up and about?"
"They are now, in fact I think they are just about readying themselves to set off back to New York."
"Can I go home too?"
The nurse eyed Robin for a moment, "A general check-up first, then we'll see."
Robin sat on the edge of her bed in wait, eyes glancing up at the clock on the wall every so often. Doctors sure took their damn time. She shivered again, pulling the dressing gown closer around her. Why did she have to have the room with the faulty heating? She brought her hands together, rubbing them together in a bid to warm up. But she made a gasp of shock as her hands touched each other. They felt so cold. Ice cold. She stared down at her fingers, which should have been blue judging by their temperature, but they were healthy coloured and completely normal.
Outside her door, she heard a commotion and footsteps running by. She quickly jumped off the bed, forgetting her own troubles for the time being. She pushed open her door, glancing out to see Reed, Susan and Johnny all running towards the main entrance. Curious, she turned her head, noticing three nurses a short distance away. Pulling herself back out of sight, she listened in on their conversation.
"They've gone to find Ben Grimm, apparently he trashed his room and ran out!"
"No, he didn't run out, he destroyed the window!"
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, I'm sure!"
Robin closed her bedroom door, shutting out the nurses' gossiping. She frowned to herself, wondering what would cause the normally gentle giant to go on such an uncharacteristic rampage. And why was it so cold! She couldn't concentrate on the worries for the others as she stood shivering once more. She walked slowly towards the window, staring out into the darkness of the landscape. Her arms folded against her chest, a bid to try and warm herself up. Just then, behind her she heard a light crackling, and turned slowly. The room was being covered floor to ceiling in a spreading coat of ice. The intricate patterns of the ice spread out from where her bare feet stood on the floor. Everything was coated in the layer making the room a temperature to match her cold body.
She gave a terrified gasp, quickly making her way to her door, skidding on the ice uncertainly. She ripped back the door, running out onto the corridor. Behind her, ice followed her running footsteps, leaving a glistening trail after her. She glanced down at the track that appeared to pursue her; she screamed and only ran faster.
"Miss. Grant?"
But Robin burst through the double doors of the main entrance and disappeared from sight.
The doctor who had called after her slowly walked forward, looking down at the icy trail on the floor. He turned to the woman's room, face falling at the ghostly mist inside that rose from the brilliantly white spectacle.
I purchased this on dvd yesterday and since I write many X-Men fictions, I decided to try Fantastic Four! Please review for me!