Hank Pym couldn't believe his eyes. He had heard of the sinister Negative Zone, and had been here on several occasions. He had never visited in this capacity. He floated with his three teammates. A new temporary Fantastic Four was formed. He was the unofficial leader, taking the role that Reed played. Crystal was now the distaff member. She seemed comfortable working with Ben and Johnny. They constantly bickered and she found it hilarious.
Pym was following the tracking device to find the lost Susan Richards. Judging from the time distortion, she had been in the Zone for over a week. The signal became strong around a large cluster of what appeared to be asteroids, though they followed no pattern. "There!" he said pointing down to one large grey colored rock.
Ben raced forward, "I can see her!" The other's eyes soon found her. "She is tied up!" Ben and Johnny raced forward. Sue's back was to them as they approached.
Pym landed last on the asteroid. He grabbed Crystal's arm. "I don't like this. Are we to believe she was just tied up and placed in a chair on the middle of a rock?"
Crystal sighed, "It's a trap, no duh, but you can't stop those two! It's Susie!" Pym nodded in agreement.
Johnny was the first to reach Sue. He grabbed her shoulder. He finally was able to see her face. Her skin was grey; the blonde hair was a wig. "It's not her!" he shouted.
From behind them, a booming laugh arose. "No it's not!" Blastaar clapped with glee. "You actually fell for this pathetic ploy!"
"Stay close," Ben instructed the team. While Blastaar liked working alone, he was a King after all. Ben Grimm knew he could hold the rest back, but Johnny had different ideas. The Thing watched as Johnny flamed on and soared at Blastaar, "Hothead wait!"
His shouts fell on deaf ears as Johnny hurled fireballs at Blastaar, "Where is my sister?" Crystal joined the melee and used the earth at her feet offensively. Huge boulders smacked off the Warlord Blastaar. "Fools!" He bellowed, "You can't defeat me here!"
Johnny was able to get a line of fire right at Blastaar's head. The villain fell to his knees. Johnny stood over Blastaar. He clenched his fist tightly, "Where is my sister?" Johnny expected fear, but instead was greeted with a grin by the alien.
A voice from behind the four resonated loudly, "RIGHT HERE!" The entire team was knocked off its feet by an invisible force field projected as a pummeling wall. Johnny looked up from a haze to see a figure clad in dark black tight spandex, black high-heeled boots and black gloves. She had jet-black hair, and Johnny's male interest was immediately peaked at this gorgeous villainess. Then he felt sick to his stomach seeing it was Sue.
Ben was the first to speak, "They really did a number on you Suzie-Q!" Ben felt his throat tighten with an invisible grip. All the team was being pinned down.
The woman known to them as Susan spat at him, "Susan was a pathetic creature! I will not go by that name again!"
Ben laughed defiantly, "Not the whole 'Malice' bull-plop again!"
Susan helped up Blastaar and patted down the alien's garb cleaning him, "NO!" she retorted, "Malice was a persona I needed to deal with the team's neglect!"
Blastaar petted Sue's jet-black hair. "A neglect she will not bear with me!"
Johnny screamed out, "You're out of your mind Sue. We'll fix this!"
Susan laughed, and behind her, an entire starship came into view. Her powers were amazing, even to the team she knew so well. "There is nothing to fix." She turned and held out her arms, "I AM QUEEN OF THE NEGATIVE ZONE, AND CONSORT OF THE MIGHTY BLASTAAR!" Johnny could see the change in her demeanor, so dark and vicious. She turned back to him, and spoke more softly, "My name is now Barriaar! But you can call me....Barrier!" She walked towards Johnny. "And now you will die!" Sue reached out ready to tighten her grip.
Pym asked, "Where is Reed?"
Blastaar thought for a second, "He is with Annihilus, on his flagship. Closer to the distortion area! You need not worry any longer about him!"
Ben was in no mood to deal with this. "Susie, I don't know what this character did to you, but Evil-Sue or not, we got bigger fish to fry." The Thing used his rock paws to bash against his invisible bonds. The sudden re-active force on Sue's field was too much. She fell to her knees. The momentary lapse allowed Pym to begin to grow, and again Sue was stretched to the limits. She fell back with a scream.
Blastaar's fists lit up, "You will pay for that!" Before he could muster his revenge, Pym had the team in his humungous hands. The Giant floated off the rock. Pym flew as fast as he could from the starship.
"My sister," Johnny screamed.
Pym tried to calm him as he began to shrink to normal height. "We don't have time; we need to get to Reed! If Annihilus has Reed, something major is happening. We can deal with Sue later."
Ben nodded; he was surprised how Pym easily fit into the role of leader as Reed had. They seemed to be of similar minds. However, Reed would have fought to the death for Sue.