Hey, everybody. Back with another chapter. This may be a bit shorter, but hopefully it'll still be good.
Let's get to it.
Stand with Ward and Queen: Usually, you might be right. But, since Grodd was killed by the Hulk during the battle for the Mind Stone, we won't see anymore teamups between them. Still, I think you'll like who his partner actually is.
Shrbomb: Yeah, I won't be giving that kind of immunity. Thawne will finally meet his end in this series, and will meet his end at Barry's hand. Not sure when, but it will happen.
Chapter 7- Strike on the Baxter
Reed walks back into the lab after grabbing a bite to eat. He had just sent Johnny off to Germany a few minutes ago to reinforce Barry. Really, he would've liked for all of them to have gone. However, something held him back. For some reason, he just had a feeling that told him he, Sue, and Ben should stay here.
As he walks into the lab, he sees Sue sitting at a desk. She looks up as Reed walks in. "Did you send Johnny off?" she asks.
"Yeah. Hopefully together, he and Barry can deal with whatever this threat is," Reed says.
Sue just nods, but Reed can see the sad look on her face. He walks over and sits across the desk from her, reaching out and taking her hand in his. "What is it, sweetheart? What's bothering you?" he asks.
Sue sighs as she looks into Reed's eyes. "Ever since you proposed to me, it's been one crazy thing after another. I want to marry you, Reed. But, at this point, are we even going to be able to have a wedding? Or are our lives going to be forever crazy?" she asks.
Reed smiles comfortingly. "Don't worry, sweetheart. I promise you, no matter what, we are going to get married. This craziness won't last forever. We will be able to hold our wedding," he says.
"How do you know that?" Sue asks.
"Because. I know that if you and I work together, nothing is impossible," Reed says.
Sue smiles lovingly at him. However, right then, they hear what sounds like an explosion. A second later, Ben hurries into the lab. "Uh, guys, you might want to come see this," he says.
Reed and Sue jump up and hurry to follow Ben onto a balcony on the outside of the building. As they get onto the balcony, they look down to the base of the tower and see, to their surprise, about half a dozen robots encircling the tower. As they watch, one of them fires an explosive at the base of the tower.
"Sue! Raise a shield around the tower!" Reed says. Sue quickly raises her hands and generates a force field around the Baxter Building.
The robots try firing another explosive at the building, but it explodes against the force field. Then, one of the robots turns around and fires a volley of gunfire into the crowd, killing a man.
Reed grits his teeth, realizing that they're trying to bait them out. And it's definitely working.
"Ben! I'm gonna lower you down there before I lower myself. Sue, you follow us down once we're down there. We need to stop these things!" Reed says.
"Alright!" Ben says.
Reed wraps his arms tightly around Ben. Ben then climbs over the edge of the balcony, allowing Reed to lower him to the ground. Once Ben is on the ground, he lowers himself to the ground.
As soon as Reed is on the ground, Sue lowers the force field, instead transferring the energy into the form of a slide winding around the building all the way to the ground. She then leaps off the balcony and onto the force slide, sliding all the way down to the ground.
By the time Sue has reached the ground, the robots have refocused their attention on the three of them. Ben smirks as he rubs his hands together and says, "It's clobberin' time!" He then charges towards the robots.
Two of the robots charge to meet him. Ben throws a punch towards one of them, but the robot ducks under the punch and delivers akick that knocks Ben flying back a few feet.
"These things are strong!" Ben says loudly.
"Yeah, we noticed!" Reed says as he stretches and distrorts his body to avoid blows from two of the other robots. Meanwhile, Sue tries going invisible, which is fully possible since she's wearing her suit. She tries sneaking around the robots so she can attack them from behind. However, before she can, one of the robots whips around to attack her. Sue conjures a force field. At the same time, she recognizes that the robots are still able to track. They must be able to sense her body heat or the signature of the energy she uses to make herself invisible.
Two robots fire guns in their arms at Sue, who quickly raises a force field around herself. She then sends a volley of force spheres at the robots, but the robots are hardly even fazed. They respond by charging towards, but she sends force spheres bursting under their feet to knock them flying up into the air.
Ben charges towards his two robots again. The two of them charge to meet them. This time, he springs up into the air and flies over them. He lands behind them, and then turns around and tackles one of the robots before it can react. He pounds his stone fists into the robot's head repeatedly, smashing it to a pulp. Then, the other robot throws him off.
As Ben gets back to his feet and starts fighting the other robot, Sue raises another force field to block a volley of gunfire. She then sends another volley of force spheres at one of the robots. It doesn't damage it very much, but Sue sees a plate on its body loosen a bit from the attack. Deciding to try something she's thought of that she can use her powers for, but never tried, Sue conjures a small force sphere in the gap under the plate, then expands it. As the sphere expands, so does the robot's body, until it finally explodes.
At the same time, Reed dodges a volley of gunfire from the robots he's fighting. He then wraps his arm around a nearby trash can and sends it flying at one of the robots. The impact knocks it back a bit, but doesn't really damage it.
One of the robots fires an explosive which explodes near Reed, knocking him flying back. The robots stalk over towards Reed. However, before they can get closer, a breach suddenly opens up a few yards away. Reed looks at it, right as Johnny and Barry leap out.
"Reed!" Barry calls, right before he races over and plunges his vibrating hand through the chest of one of the robots, shredding its insides. The other robot tries to target Barry, but Barry dodges it, then deploys one of his vibranium wrist blades and slashes it through the neck of the other robot, slicing its head off.
At the same time, Johnny takes to the air. He flies over to where Sue is still fighting a robot, and unleashes a powerful extremely hot stream of fire towards the robot. The flames, well over 2000 Kelvin in temperature, begin to melt the robot's outer skin. By the time Johnny stops his attack, the outer skin is melted away and the interior is half melted. What's left of the robot falls to the ground.
Barry then speeds over to the robot Ben is still fighting, using his vibranium wrist blade to slice off one of the robot's legs. Ben then pounces on the robot and pounds his fists into its head, reducing it to twisted and flattened metal.
The Four and Barry take a moment to catch their breath and examine the battle site, then they all turn to face each other. "Well. That was hard," Sue says.
"You don't know the half of it. I think you're lucky that me and Johnny got back so fast. And thanks by the way. I would've had a much harder job of it in Germany without him," Barry says.
Reed nods in response, then looks down at the first robot that Barry destroyed. He looks at it so intently that the rest of them start to wonder what's going on. Barry is the one who asks him, and asks, "Reed? What's going on? Why are you staring at the robot like that?"
Reed looks back up at them, his face grave. "Because. I recognize these designs. I didn't see it at first, because I don't know the exact design. But, it's remarkably similar to a design I've seen before. Something designed by someone who used to be a friend of mine," he says.
"Who?" Barry asks.
Reed looks solemn for a moment before he says, "His name is Victor von Doom."
And, I'll end there.
So, yes. Thawne's partner that he's working with is Doctor Doom. I thought it would be interesting to see these two villains working together. I've already kind of hinted at why they're working together in Thawne's dialogue last chapter. But, you'll find out soon exactly why Thawne is working with Doom.
I considered a couple of Fantastic Four villains to be in this story, but eventually I decided on Doctor Doom, simply because he's one of the greatest villains in comic book history in my opinion. Also, I will confirm that Doctor Doom will not be one of those villains who comes and then goes quickly. He will be a reoccurring villain throughout this story, and I even plan to include him in my version of Crisis.
Also, I just realized that I haven't yet named an actor for Hydro Man. So, I will put forward three candidates here for you all to vote on. Here they are: Jason Mamoa, Bradley Cooper, and Ben Affleck. Leave your vote in a review.
So, next chapter will be up soon. Until it is, please leave a review, and stay tuned!