"Ben, where's Hotshot?" enquired Azula immediately after they returned. She paced around the kitchen counter.

He gave a jolly reply, "The kid? I dunno. Dr. O was talkin' to him about spiritual stuff an hour ago. Haven't seen 'em since." She didn't acknowledge that, but he continued, "Anyway…you give any of 'em naughty Vault kids a good ole fashioned spankin'?"

"Nuh-uh. What happened was the opposite," she was close to snorting.

Reed abruptly joined them, arms resting on the countertop, "Meaning -"

Azula sighed, "We got our butts whipped by Diablo -"

"& of all supervillains, Ronan. Again," Sue sounded so sarcastic that people would've thought she meant it. But no recurring villain was ever called a boon to superheroes.

"He he, I thought it'd be easy as pie," came Ben's light laughter. Everyone else felt pinpricked, & the upstairs hangar beckoned them to retreat there for lessons &/or fundamentals on time travel.

"Reed, I think you would find this interesting: Ronan simply teleported himself & Diablo out of the prison. It's really quite a brilliant, never-before-seen escape plan," Sue explained.

Azula was quick to intercede, "Yeah, & he's never done that before when fighting us."

"Time…time…" Sue's eyes were on the ground for more than a mere while.

Ben asked in amusement, "Whatcha goin' on about there, Suzy Q?"

"Time!" Sue spoke in breaths, "Reed, what are the odds that the Kree empire can utilize time travel?"

The only scientist in the room rambled on, "Very likely indeed. I'm constantly fascinated by the possible coincidence that they mirror the Roman culture, & so much more than just that." "Uhuh," his best bud cut in. He sensed he was being robbed of attention.

"Reed, you've been updating your time machine, right? I remember you explaining about tracking…errrr…energy signatures left behind by other time machines," Azula wished to clarify.

"Yes. I've been working on such a feature in case…" Pin-drop silence lasted a few moments. "Doom…attempts to distort another timeline." Reed yearned to rid himself of the foreign, soapy-tasting name behind his lips.

Ben rushed it, "Maybe we could use that little upgrade to track down Ronan & Diablo."

"This is an incredible opportunity to test the feature," said Reed.

Sue muttered in fragments, "Erm…Reed? There's another problem I have to address," she was coy. "I kinda lost the Kronotracker you gave me in the fight."

It was like Reed hadn't heard her speak. "Oh, what? Uhh, right. That's okay, Susan. I have overridden the functions of the device you were holding. I should be able to operate the machine manually from this computer, once it is transported through the time vortex. If I can somehow get hold of Ronan's energy signature, I can lead the time machine to the timeline he is currently in. The outcome of the test should be good enough to locate Ronan because the device was absorbed into the vortex with him.

"H.E.R.B.I.E., scan all traversed timestreams using manual control for Kronotracker unit prime."

"Okie doke!" H.E.R.B.I.E. yipped.

Azula had just noticed that Reed was also attaching the time machine to the Fantasticar. "Then let's get moving!" she voiced out. "If you know what I mean, time travel isn't something you can just sit & watch."

"I couldn't agree more. I'd take this test as the real deal," Sue chased after her, as if racing to see who'd get into their Fantasticar cockpit first. After all, Johnny did say in the past that Azula was free to sit in his place if she wanted to. Both of them strapped on their temporal stasis devices that were already in the vehicle.

Reed held back a chortle, but was glued to his PDA & the special glasses he had on, "Both of you, hold on a second. I need to facilitate the sequencing of the -"

Azula had tapped a random button; the innards of the time machine got down to work. H.E.R.B.I.E. secretly failed to supply Reed with the earliest info that the machine was about to enter the vortex…

"Intriguing," was all Reed uttered when he realized the contraption (with its two passengers inside) vanished. Ben's jaw had dropped, but Mister Fantastic kept his cool as he was in full control of the machine. It was now on the pathway to a year long left behind - nineteen years back on a frosty night of Halloween.


The age where happiness overflowed in the form of mirth. Leaves apple green & mango yellow. "This is the place where I first played peek-a-boo with my baby brother." The precious mental image of Johnny's little red pram was safe-locked in her mind. The precious sound of his bright bell-like baby laughter was also stored intact. "& the first time he ever pulled my hair," she chuckled. It was a scarcity that people remembered such minute details, but this showed how strong Sue's love for her sibling was.

"It doesn't look like Central Park...," Azula scratched her head. Maybe the light snowfall made the place less recognizable.

"That's because it isn't. You're now walking through Glenville town's most famous park." Sue let out a sigh, "There're so many memories…" She recalled how she'd learnt after getting her hair pulled that hairs have roots - just like the park trees did. Her father had shared with her a gist of his field in medicine whilst she helped wheel her brother's pram home.

"I told Johnny he can talk to me or my dad anytime. Same goes for you," Azula shouldered her. Sue's uplifting smile greeted her in return.

They passed quiet streets where few people hung out. Soon Sue's head was clogged with negative retrospections, thus she made conversation, "We've got to find Ronan & Diablo, fast. I know the best place to start -" They turned a blind corner into a long, slightly sloped road lined with houses of muted tones. "I could show you around our old neighbourhood.."

"Hold that thought!" Azula abruptly lugged her backward. As distracting as the thin snow blankets & Halloween lights around them were, two rather colourful figures stood out. They were approaching a doorstep Sue knew all too well. She gasped, "They've found our house! They're gonna break in & kidnap Johnny!"

Painful silence ensued before at last Mary Storm answered the banging on the door, "Aren't you boys a little old for trick or treat?" Most unfortunately she was carrying her infant son at that time: Ronan treasured the opportunity, & snatched the adorable baby by the thick collar of his pale blue clothing.

"Stay where you are!" Diablo threatened with an open palm. A young four-year-old Sue & her father Franklin had rushed to see what was happening. Hurriedly Diablo dealt the three family members a blast of air using his silvery potion: & sent them hurtling onto the wooden floor. "My elemental shields should hold you in place long enough," snickered the alchemist before he blocked the house entrance with a wall of fire.

"Excellent, Diablo." Ronan's cackling began, "Now we have here in our care…Jonathan Spencer Storm - in a most helpless form." He laughed because of how his sentences came to rhyme. He tightly held Johnny but took care not to crush him with his strength. At least, not yet.

"Hmmmm…he does not seem to wield the fire elemental," Diablo interjected. "The boy is nothing but a mere infant!" He was studying the boy a little closely - his blue eyes were beady; he'd been smiling earlier until Ronan grabbed him. The alchemist humorously remembered that Johnny had sideburns. The baby had a tiny strand of hair grown down the each side of his sweet face, in front of the ears. The hair covering his little head was a little spiky. Furthermore his thin soft brows were of a much darker colour compared to platinum blonde.

There wasn't much sympathy though..when Johnny started wailing, shedding a tear or two. He hadn't been intimidated into anything like this before.

"That is NOT of my concern. In fact, it will make it easier to finish him off!" Ronan argued back.

A voice behind them interrupted, "I wouldn't wanna know how they could obtain a house address…" It was Azula. Ronan had actually stolen Kree technology from the Empire following his defeat in the Contest. After all, he was still banished but ravenous for the reclaiming of his good reputation as Public Accuser. His findings included the abilities of teleportation, time travel, even a memory scanner he had used on Sue during the prison battle. From her thoughts he could simply trace the place where she lived as a child.

Sue's sharp hearing captured the panicky words of her mother - from behind the thick flames blocking off the front door - "What have we ever done to make you do this?" Then her dad's fierce tone, "We're calling the cops!" She heard the sound of a crying baby & instantly, a violent love in her innards was triggered. Though it was funny at first (with villains time travelling just to catch a little kid), Ronan would easily wipe out the family she clung to as a bonus.

"Get away from them! Both of you!" she commanded. There was so much vehemence in her disapproval of Ronan & Diablo. The two were wrapped in a thick shield each & lifted up in the air. But Diablo initiated a Water Potion attack in the form of a wave. A large wave poured out of a chalice lying on the ground & swept Sue back.

"I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming!" cried young Sue behind the fire barrier. In tears, she ran upstairs for cover while Franklin remained at Mary's side. They watched for anything worse & hoped for the arrival of the police any minute. Neighbours were poking their heads out their front doors but too fearful to step in to help.