Author's Note: This chapter can be read in conjunction seamlessly with the first scene of Chapter 120 (Arc 8, Ch 13): Project PEGASUS. For Patrons, a second version of this chapter will be posted, as a bonus, that begins with that scene.
Side Note: If you're reading this chapter on a non-Patron site, you can always hop over and read the Patron versions. When they go up publicly on RR, FF, or SH, they're also available for free on the Patron site.
Chapter 154
Arc 10 - Ch 3: Marvel-1
Tuesday, May 01, 2012.
Location: Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York
Tyson had used his sling ring to return to the library with Jessica and Jean. They claimed a corner devoid of cameras and people. He cast his illusions around their small group, creating a bubble of privacy that made other patrons unconsciously avoid their section. He settled into one of the chairs, Jessica taking the seat beside him while Jean perched on the edge of a nearby table.
Jessica leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling. "It's finals week at Empire State," she said. "I've got two exams tomorrow. Organic chemistry and statistics. I studied for weeks." She laughed, short and humorless. "Was planning to pulled an all-nighter tonight. Made flash cards. The whole thing. Doesn't really matter now, does it?"
"It matters," Tyson said. "We're going to stop Thanos. You'll take those exams."
"Come on." Jessica shook her head. "You told us that if we lose, half the universe gets dusted. That kind of thing puts organic chemistry in perspective."
"That's exactly why it matters. The whole point is to keep the world where organic chemistry exams exist. Where people get to worry about normal shit."
Jessica was quiet for a moment. "You know what's weird? I used to swing through Manhattan after patrol and stress about homework. Like genuinely stress. It didn't bother me as much after we got attacked during class by the Sinister Six. Now, I can't even remember why a GPA felt important."
"It's the scale thing," Tyson said. "Once you've fought someone who could level a city block, a bad grade just... doesn't register the same way."
"Yeah." Jessica pulled one knee up to her chest. "Peter used to think about that. How hard it was to care about detention when you'd just stopped a mugging. The disconnect." She caught herself drawing on her memories of being Peter and moved past it. "I guess I thought I'd figured out how to balance it. Turns out I was just pretending the big stuff wouldn't come knocking."
"It always does," Tyson said.
Somewhere closer to the large room's entrance, someone was photocopying pages, the rhythmic thunk-thunk of the machine filling the silence. Jean had been listening, arms folded, one foot swinging idly where she sat on the table's edge.
"How can you be sure?" she asked.
Tyson turned to her.
"That this Thanos is coming," Jean continued. "I've seen the future before. Fragments. Impressions. But you're talking about something else entirely. You know who you'll be fighting. You know that we lose. You know when it happens." She unfolded her arms, palms open like she was weighing something invisible. "It was the same back at the Institute. When Stryker and his soldiers came. You said it happened when you had my power; you saw the invasion like a month in advance. That's not precognition. So what is it?"
"I didn't want to say it in front of Emma Frost, but the reason I'm certain that Illyana couldn't be saved is that I was sent back in time using an Artifact of power. If I change anything, it'll change our timeline. I can't save her no matter what. It wasn't a vision, it was real."
"You were actually sent back in time? Like physically there?"
"Yeah." Tyson nodded. "Physically there. Lived through it. Fought, lost. Then got thrown back to before any of it happened."
"I found him in the middle of the street," Jessica said. "Adamantium suit shredded, crying." She glanced at Tyson. "I didn't know what had happened. I thought he'd been attacked. It took him a while to even get words out."
Jean was quiet. Her foot had stopped swinging. She looked down at her hands in her lap, then back up at Tyson. "Then it's true," she said. "If we don't do something, there won't be any finals."
"No. There won't."
The photocopier across the library had stopped. The only sound was the low hum of the building's ventilation and the distant murmur of someone asking a librarian a question. Jean's fingers tightened around the edge of the table. "So what are we going to do?"
"We're going to follow the breadcrumbs I left. The first one is that there's a shuttle launch happening soon. Inside the shuttle was adamantium, and the only adamantium around is Logan and me, along with whatever I've created. That means I was inside the shuttle, even though I wasn't. So that's our destination."
"Where is the shuttle going?" Jessica asked.
"Unknown. I worked with Reed Richards, the scientist on the project. One thing he said before the launch was that we never..." Tyson's words died in his throat as the implications hit him. Something cold settled in his chest.
"Never what?" Jessica prompted.
Tyson went quiet. "Fixed the temporal-spatial translocation formula." He mumbled the next words, as if speaking them too loudly might make them more real. "The Fantastic Four might not be going anywhere... it might be any... when?"
"More time travel?" Jessica asked.
"It's as good a guess as any." Tyson looked between Jessica and Jean, his face serious. "This changes things. I'm not sure if you guys should be coming now. This might be more than a three-day trip."
Jessica shook her head without hesitation. "I'm with you, no matter what."
"It changes nothing," Jean said, sliding down from the table.
Tyson had told her, before any of this started, what he could and could not promise her. He didn't know if he'd ever be able to do anything about the thing the helmet was holding back, that the plan he had for everyone else might not have a Jean-shaped footnote in it. She had agreed to come anyway. Her words were a complete answer to questions he had not learned to stop asking.
"Do you remember when we first met?"
Tyson blinked at the shift in the conversation. "Of course. I'd just gotten to the Institute, and Jubilee brought you to my room when she grabbed me for dinner."
"You made me blush," Jean said. A smile crept across her face, small and genuine. "Because you were thinking about whether your dick was bigger after absorbing Sabertooth."
Tyson burst out laughing. Jessica laughed too, caught completely off guard.
"I can't believe you remember that," he said, still grinning.
"How could I not?" Jean turned to Jessica. "The next day during gym class, Illyana banished Tyson to Limbo. They weren't lovers then. She was like the second supervillain he fought."
"I wouldn't go that far..." Tyson started.
"Do you remember what I did?" Jean asked him.
"You compelled Illyana to go and get me."
"That's right. And as I said, nothing has changed. You needed help to make sure you were safe then. You need help making sure you're safe now. The stakes keep going up, but nothing has changed. It's still me." She gestured at Jessica. "Us. Keeping you safe. It's what Illyana did after the whole Limbo thing. It's what Jubes did before she died." Her voice didn't waver. "And it's what I'm still going to do. If Illyana really is going to die, it's just us left, Ty."
Tyson looked between them. Jean had every reason to walk away from this. She'd been wearing Magneto's helmet for months, like a psychic muzzle strapped to her skull, and nobody knew what that kind of prolonged suppression was doing to her. What she hadn't said, what neither of them had said, was that everyone at the Institute got hurt because of him. Jubilee died fighting Magneto, and Magneto had been targeting Tyson. Thanos came early, and Illyana died, would die, because of something Tyson had changed in the timeline. Was Jean any better off? She was walking around with a bomb in her head and no way to defuse it.
Jessica read his uncertainty. "I wasn't there at the Institute," she said. "And I wasn't there when Jubilee died. I wish I had been, but I was off chasing Kaine, trying to save Gwen." She waited until he looked at her to continue. "I know you. You're thinking that they died protecting you. That they died because of you."
Tyson looked down at his hands. He couldn't deny it.
"They didn't die because of you, Tyson." Jessica's voice was steady, certain, as if she'd already thought this through from every angle and had arrived at the only conclusion that made sense. "They died for you. That's different. Think about it. You're the one here, now, sent back in time to stop half the universe from being wiped out of existence. Did you think, just now, that maybe they died so that you could be here? To give us a chance?" She let that sit for a moment. "Do you think the others wouldn't do the same? I know Logan would. So would Peter. And Felicia. Hell, most of the Morlocks probably would too." She held his gaze. "I know I would. And if it comes down to it, I will."
Tyson shook his head. "You sound like Nat. Don't say that."
"That's what being a hero is about," Jessica said simply. There was no drama in it, no grand declaration. "Putting yourself on the line so that everyone else gets to go home. Gets to take finals and learn organic chem, as torturous as it is. And I'll sacrifice myself for you, because you're the strongest of us all, and if you can't stop Thanos, then he can't be stopped."
"I'm not the strongest." He looked at Jean.
She shook her head. "Don't look at me like that. You always say I'm the strongest. It hasn't been true for a while."
"You're just holding back. You beat me in Vegas."
"That was before Times Square," Jean said. "Think back to the first time you fought Magneto. You had all of my power then, and you still lost. In Times Square, I only beat Magneto because of the collar. You have all of his strengths now, and it's been a year, so I'm guessing you have more?"
Tyson nodded.
"She's right. You're the strongest." Jean continued. She reached up and touched the side of the helmet, her fingers tracing along its edge. "And even if I took this off tomorrow and all my power came flooding out, I still wouldn't be the one who got sent back in time. You were chosen." She dropped her hand. "I'm coming because Jessica's right, and because I've been sitting in that school for months doing nothing. Wearing this thing. Waiting." She looked at Tyson directly. "You never treated me like I was fragile. Even when everyone else did. Even when Xavier built walls in my head and told me it was for my own good. You looked at me like I was still Jean. So if you're going somewhere dangerous, somewhere that might kill us, I'd rather die being useful than sit in Westchester or Massachusetts being safe and useless for the rest of whatever time we have left."
Jessica put a hand on Tyson's shoulder. "Did you hear that? Stop moping, nerd. She just said you were the Chosen One."
Tyson gave her a side-eye glance. "What are you, channeling your inner Flash Thompson?"
But Jessica hadn't finished, she needed to get in the last word.
"Anakin."
Tyson groaned. "That's terrible. Anakin? Really?" He rubbed the back of his neck. "I hope that's not an accurate comparison. Like I have to turn to the Dark Side and kill all the other Jedi before I stop the Emperor years later. Why would you even say something like that?"
"You're smiling," Jessica said.
"Nerd," Jean added.
Tyson huffed, but he couldn't kill the grin pulling at the corner of his mouth. He tried. He pressed his lips together and looked away, but Jessica was already pointing at his face like she'd won something, and Jean had her arms crossed but looked pleased with herself.
"I hate both of you," he said.
"No, you don't," they said, almost in unison, and that made it worse.
"I know you won't kill the good guys," Jessica said. "But it's agreed, you're the strongest. You absorbed Magneto. He's stronger than Jean. And you absorbed Kaine, who was the strongest of all the spider-people."
"Kaine was the strongest?" Jean asked.
"We all have different strengths. But Kaine was the physically strongest of us. Best fighter, too. And he had those stingers from his wrists that the rest of us don't have. Bone blades. None of the others got those."
Tyson was intrigued. "Wait. So if Kaine was the strongest, what did Peter have that no one else does? And you? And Gwen? Nat?"
"I couldn't say about Nat," Jessica said. "I never met her. Peter is the best, most well-rounded of us all, above average everywhere. Stronger than everyone except Kaine. It's like he's the template. The rest of us are variations." She ticked off a finger. "Gwen was the most agile. She could dodge things the rest of us would eat head-on." Jessica paused. "As for me... I'm different."
"Different how?"
Jessica didn't answer immediately. She looked at her hands, then at Tyson, then at Jean. Something passed across her face that Tyson couldn't quite read.
"I have a power that none of the others have," she said. "I used it on you. On everyone. By accident, before I even realized it."
"What are you talking about?"
"Remember the first time we talked?"
Tyson looked about as sheepish as he had when Jean mentioned the dick thing. "Yeah. I attacked you. Thought you were Kaine when I was hunting him."
"To save Jubilee from becoming a vampire," Jessica said.
"Right. What about it?"
"Do you remember what it was like for me when I was abandoned by Dr. Warren? Everyone hated me. I was an outcast. Like everyone knew there was something wrong with me. Like I was wrong. Until I met you."
"I kind of remember that," Tyson said slowly.
"It's because I give off pheromones," Jessica said it plainly, ripping off the bandage. "Strong ones. So strong that people were driven away from me in disgust. Until you." She pointed at him. "You were the first one who was interested in me. I remember. You couldn't keep your eyes off me. You went from wanting to kill me, to realizing your mistake, to checking me out in ten seconds flat." She smiled faintly. "You're easy, Tyson. But you're not that easy."
He thought back. She was right. The moment he'd caught Jessica's scent up close, thoughts of Jubilee had fallen away, replaced entirely by Jessica. He'd chalked it up to her being beautiful, to the adrenaline crash. But it had been immediate. Like a switch being thrown.
"I don't know how long I could've gone on if I hadn't run into you that day. I didn't feel like me then. Not really. I was just Peter trapped in this body. I was wrong. An abomination. Dr. Warren made me and threw me away. Peter had his life, his friends, and his aunt. I had his memories and nothing else. I walked around for weeks feeling like a photocopy someone crumpled up and tossed in the trash."
Jean's hand found Jessica's arm in a brief, comforting touch. "I remember," she said.
"The pheromones made it worse. People would get close and then recoil. Like their bodies knew what their minds didn't. That I wasn't supposed to exist. I started to believe it. That the disgust was justified."
"Jess," Tyson said.
"I'm not fishing for pity." She waved him off. "I'm telling you this because it matters. I thought you were going to kill me. It was my final punishment for living. Everyone hated me, and I'd be killed by the best friend of the man I was cloned from." She swallowed. "But instead, you were the first person who didn't pull away. It was the opposite. You ended up flirting with me. And yeah, maybe part of that was the pheromones working in reverse on you, attracting you instead of repelling. But you also talked to me like I was a person. Not a clone. Not a mistake. Not Peter's leftover." She looked at him. "That was the first time I thought maybe I could be Jessica. Not Peter-but-wrong. Just Jessica. I... I desperately needed someone to save me. And meeting you, again, as me, did. After that, people weren't repulsed by me anymore. It was like all it took was meeting the one person I wanted to like me, and then everyone started liking me. And then you walked into my class at ESU and pulled me into your life. That same day Jubilee died."
Jean nodded. They'd had lunch together that day, the four of them. Tyson had shared his past with Jessica, and Jessica told the story of her short life.
"I still wonder if you'd killed me, if she would've lived. It would've gotten you what you needed to save her from becoming a vampire. If she didn't have the speed, she would've never made it to Times Square in time. She wouldn't have—"
"You can't think about it like that." Jean interrupted firmly. "Hundreds of things could've changed, and Jubes would've survived. It wasn't your fault any more than it was mine."
"I manipulated him," Jessica said.
"I've manipulated a lot of people." Tyson countered.
He leaned forward, elbows on his knees again, hands clasped together. He looked at the floor between his feet for a long moment, then back up at both of them.
"Guys, there's something I need to tell you. There's more to my story than what I told in the restaurant that day. A lot more."
Jessica's phone rang.
It was Wednesday. She put it on speakerphone. "Significant movement detected at the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility. Satellite imagery confirms that evacuation procedures have been initiated, and a helicopter has arrived on site. Likely Director Fury based on your accounting."
"Right on schedule. Keep close watch, it's almost time. I'm, I mean, the me from this time is going to launch the spaceship. Let me know the moment I jettison the ship."
Tyson paced. His past self was about to be left adrift in space while the Marvel-1 activated, powered by the Tesseract. The adamantium he'd sensed wasn't a hallucination.
It was a temporal loop of his own making.
"Satellite feed shows the launch hatch opening," Wednesday reported. "Energy readings are beginning to spike around the vessel." She continued narrating, "You're sending both the ship and yourself skyward at tremendous speed."
"Official edge of space reached. The ship is still accelerating," Wednesday reported. "Your past self has released the vessel. The Tesseract energy signature is increasing exponentially."
His past self was out there, lungs emptying, consciousness fading, giving one final push to send the Marvel-1 further into space. He was suffocating in a vacuum so that this version of him could portal into the Marvel-1 and be the adamantium signature that he'll sense just as he loses consciousness.
A full circle moment.
"Energy surge detected," Wednesday continued. "Tesseract fully activating. Lightspeed engine powering up."
Tyson knew what came next. "Now boarding the Marvel-1," he muttered, "Thanks for the help. I'll see you soon, Wednesday." Wednesday, usually quick with her replies, was quiet for a beat too long.
"That is both true and not. Godspeed."
It was an odd way to say goodbye, but she wasn't wrong. Once Amora dropped him off at Natasha's apartment in Russia, Wednesday would see him again.
But the phrasing was off.
Tyson didn't have time to dwell on it.
He rotated his hand in a circular motion, focusing on the Marvel-1. Golden sparks erupted from his fingertips, forming a portal that revealed the interior of the ship. Tyson stepped through first, followed immediately by Jessica and Jean. The portal snapped shut behind them.
Sue looked up from the navigation panel, her face pale. "Reed, if we engage lightspeed now, we'll lose Tyson completely. We have to shut it down!"
But it was too late. The ship hummed with power; the vibrations increased in intensity. Outside the viewports, the stars began to stretch into long, brilliant streaks of light.
"Brace yourselves!" Reed shouted.
"No worries, guys, I'm here," Tyson announced.
Ben Grimm whipped around in his restraint harness. "What! And who the hell—"
"Where did you come from, dude?" Johnny Storm nearly unbuckled himself in shock, looking between the three arrivals. "And who are they?"
Tyson, Jean, and Jessica hovered in the zero-g of the shuttle. "Strap in before—" Sue's warning cut short as the ship shuddered violently.
The Marvel-1's engines roared to life. Panels across the command deck lit up in sequence, displaying readouts in rapidly changing figures that even Reed struggled to track. The Tesseract energy containment module at the rear of the ship pulsed with an eerie blue glow, sending power cascading through the specially designed conduits.
Tyson planted Jean in the empty seat, the straps coming together under his magnetic power. He pulled Jessica into his arms, and she wrapped hers around his neck.
"Systems redlining across the board," Sue reported, frantically working the controls. "Stabilizers failing. Reed, the structural integrity—"
"I see it!" Reed worked multiple interfaces at once. "Rerouting power to compensate!"
The lightspeed engine engaged fully. The hull of the Marvel-1 creaked under the strain, glowing faintly along the seams. Temperature gauges spiked as heat built up around the engine core, triggering emergency cooling systems that hissed to life.
Ben gripped his chair tighter, knuckles white. "I knew I shoulda stayed in the Air Force. At least planes crash on Earth!" He shot a look at the newcomers. "No offense to you mystery folks, but this day just keeps gettin' weirder."
Jessica squeezed Tyson's hand tighter. "Should we be worried about this thing holding together?"
"Probably. But if it comes to it, I'll use my powers to keep us in one piece."
The blue energy from the Tesseract-powered engine room began seeping through the ventilation system, filling the command deck with its glow.
"Hang on!" Reed shouted over the crescendo of mechanical protests from the ship. "The—"
The team barely had time to grab onto the nearest stable surface before the Marvel-1 lurched forward with incredible speed. The stars became a blur. A blinding flash of blue-white light engulfed the cabin. For a moment, time stretched, each second extending. Through the windows, space itself warped and distorted.
Jessica's grip on Tyson became almost painful. Jean was pulled back into her seat as the spaceship punched through the fabric of conventional physics, tearing open a hole in spacetime.
The Marvel-1 disappeared from above the Earth sensors in a flash of impossible light, carrying not four passengers into the unknown, but seven.
— Rogue Redemption —
The Marvel-1 shuddered as it dropped out of hyperspace, the hum of the faster-than-light drive fading to silence. Warning lights blinked urgently across the cockpit.
Reed Richards hunched over his instrument panel. He tapped the main display, hoping to coax some sense from the malfunctioning equipment.
"I can't tell where we are!" Frustration edged his voice as the stellar cartography system showed nothing but static, and the gravitational sensors registered gibberish.
From his position floating above their seats with Jessica Drew cradled in his arms, Tyson glanced up. His senses had been picking up an unmistakable electromagnetic signature.
"We're orbiting Earth," he said.
Reed's head snapped up. He gestured at the chaos of his readouts, data streams cascading in meaningless patterns across multiple screens.
"How could you know that?" Reed demanded, his scientific mind rejecting any conclusion not backed by empirical data. "The navigation array is completely scrambled. Stellar positioning is offline. Even basic telemetry is—"
"Try the window," Tyson interrupted, nodding toward the main viewport.
It was absurd, given their sophisticated instruments. Reed moved toward the window anyway. Johnny Storm pushed back from his pilot's station. Sue followed.
Below them, painted in brilliant blues and swirling white clouds, hung the unmistakable curve of Earth.
Johnny pressed closer to the glass. "What's that?" he asked, pointing downward.
Reed followed his gesture to the landmasses below. "The Eastern Hemisphere," he replied, identifying the distinctive shapes of Africa and Asia visible through the cloud cover.
"Not that. That," Johnny's finger wasn't pointing at the planet below but out into the void of space beyond Earth's curve.
The others followed his gesture, and what they saw made every instrument failure seem minor.
A massive disturbance roiled through space above Earth's atmosphere, a cosmic maelstrom that defied easy description. Streams of exotic matter spiraled in deep purples, sickly greens, and brilliant oranges that flickered like flames in the vacuum.
The phenomenon stretched across thousands of kilometers. Within its depths, lightning arced between the storm's layers, but these weren't electrical discharges like Earth's weather.
Reed went pale. "That's a cosmic storm."
Johnny turned from the viewport, wonder shifting to accusation. "A cosmic storm! Before launch, you said the chances of us hitting one were zero!"
Reed had been certain. Certain enough to stake their lives on it.
"It should be," he said. "I don't understand."
Tyson recognized this. Expected it. The storm was supposed to come. The Fantastic Four were supposed to change. Could he grab the ship with his magnetism, redirect it, and wait out the storm?
Sure.
But he wasn't going to stop any of it; the opposite. He was going to make sure none of it was stopped. He was tempted to let himself be the audience, watch four people become the legendary characters they were meant to be. He'd done that before in this life. Just let things play out. But he couldn't just watch if the ship came apart around them. So he kept his hands ready and let it happen the way it was supposed to. This only happened once. He might as well enjoy it.
He needed a little fun.
The cockpit suddenly filled with the driving rhythm of electric guitar and thunderous drums, the music emerging from the very air around them. The heavy metal created an almost surreal soundtrack to their cosmic predicament.
Reed's head whipped around, scanning the control panels. "There's no radio in here," he said, his voice cutting through the music.
Everyone turned to look at Tyson, who hovered calmly, Jessica still secure in his arms. He shrugged.
"There probably should be," he replied, as if the absence of entertainment systems was a serious design flaw in their spacecraft.
"Is that Metallica?" Ben asked.
Tyson nodded and smiled. "Ride The Lightning." He gestured toward the cosmic maelstrom churning outside their viewport. "Seems fitting." He paused, then added with deadpan delivery, "Johnny Storm, Sue Storm." He pointed out the viewport and finished, "Cosmic Lightning Storm."
The others stared at him. The joke fell flat in the face of their mounting terror, the cosmic phenomenon growing larger and more menacing by the second.
"You might want to strap in," Tyson said, his magnetic field strengthening around himself and Jessica while he glanced toward Jean.
She sat rigid in her restraints, Magneto's helmet still on her head. "I'm not going anywhere."
The warning came just as the first tendrils of the cosmic storm reached their ship. What had seemed like a distant threat suddenly accelerated. The Marvel-1's hull began to vibrate.
Reed lunged for his harness, working through the physics even as his hands fumbled with the restraint system. "Everyone, secure yourselves! The gravitational distortions alone could—"
His words were cut off as the storm's leading edge struck the ship.
The Marvel-1 bucked like a wild animal, throwing its occupants against their restraints. The cosmic energies didn't simply wash over the hull; they penetrated it, passing through the reinforced metal as if it were tissue paper. Streams of impossible light flooded the cockpit, bathing everything in shifting hues.
Death in the air,
Strapped in the electric chair,
This can't be happening to me.
Who made you God to say,
"I'll take your life from you"?
Tyson's magnetic field created a protective cocoon of controlled electromagnetic force around himself and Jessica, keeping them floating comfortably while the ship shook around them.
Her bare wrist was pressed against the side of his neck. He hadn't meant to read her; it just happened. The contact opened everything at once, her power, her thoughts, memories he hadn't gone looking for, but once the channel was open, he didn't close it. Underneath her steady grip, he found a controlled fear, but there was more.
I trust you to keep us alive. Not framed as words. Just certainty. He pulled her closer.
Sue cried out as the first wave hit her, her body suddenly becoming translucent. She could see through her own hands, watch as her molecular structure phased in and out of existence.
Johnny's skin began to glow with an inner fire. Heat radiated from him, the temperature around his seat climbing rapidly. His hair flickered between its normal brown and brilliant orange flames that danced without consuming.
Flash before my eyes.
Now it's time to die.
Ben's transformation was the most dramatic. His flesh hardened and cracked, orange stone spreading across his body. His muscles bulged and expanded, the restraints of his harness straining against his increasing mass. The metal groaned as his body completed its metamorphosis into living rock.
Reed's arm stretched involuntarily, reaching across the cockpit in a way that should have been impossible.
Jean remained eerily calm as the cosmic lightning struck her. The helmet resonated with the energies, but instead of transforming her like the Fantastic Four, something deeper moved within her consciousness. Inside the helmet, behind her eyes, a red glow.
Burning in my brain.
I can feel the flame
Through it all, the music continued to play, the driving beat of the guitars matching the rhythm of the cosmic lightning that arced around their ship. The storm's energies pulsed in time with the heavy metal soundtrack, as if the universe itself was keeping time to the music.
Wait for the sign to flick the switch of death.
It's the beginning of the end.
Sweat, chilling cold as I watch death unfold.
Tyson didn't change like the others, but something shifted. His sense of the Earth's magnetic field grew stronger, sharper, like looking at it through corrective lenses instead of through fog. Strength flooded his muscles.
Warning klaxons blared as systems overloaded and failed, sparks cascading from control panels as the exotic radiation interfered with the ship's electronics.
Consciousness, my only friend.
My fingers grip with fear.
What am I doing here?
Reed tried to reach for the controls, his newly elastic arm stretching toward the navigation panel. The cosmic energies interfered with the ship's systems. The engines sputtered and died, leaving them at the mercy of the storm's currents.
Sue's visibility flickered off and on like a broken light bulb.
Ben's rocky hide continued to thicken and spread, his human features becoming increasingly obscured by the orange stone that now comprised his body. His voice, when he tried to speak, came out as a deep, gravelly rumble. "I can't even use the controls."
Flash before my eyes.
Now it's time to die.
Burning in my brain.
I can feel the flame.
The storm's peak hit them like a tsunami of pure energy, flooding the cockpit with intense light. They found themselves changed, enhanced, their bodies adapting to forces that should have destroyed them.
Time moving slow, the minutes seem like hours,
The final curtain call I see.
How true is this?
Just get it over withIf this is true, just let it be.
Wakened by horrid scream,
Freed from this frightening dream.
The music reached its crescendo just as the cosmic lightning reached its most violent intensity.
The Marvel-1 tumbled through space like driftwood; the storm dragged it along currents of exotic matter. Warning klaxons shrieked as the storm's forces overwhelmed their inertial dampeners.
Flash before my eyes.
Now it's time to die.
Burning in my brain.
I can feel the flame.
Then, as suddenly as it had seized them, the storm released its hold. The Marvel-1 shot free from the cosmic disturbance like a cork from a bottle. Through the viewport, Earth loomed larger and larger.
Reed struggled to pull himself together, his newly elastic body making even simple movements feel alien and wrong. The readouts flickered before going dark entirely.
"The instruments are out."
Johnny's hands moved frantically over the pilot controls, his skin still radiating heat. Wisps of smoke curled from his fingertips.
"I can't steer," he said, panic in his voice. "There's no controls."
Reed studied their approach vector through the viewport, watching the curve of Earth's atmosphere grow closer with each passing second.
"Our approach angle is wrong," he said.
"I've got it," Tyson responded.
The others turned to look at him. He maintained his position floating above his seat with Jessica still in his arms. The chaotic tumbling stopped, replaced by a smooth, controlled descent.
Tyson's magnetic senses were sharper than they'd ever been. The planet's electromagnetic signature spread out before him in three dimensions, precise and clear. The Marvel-1's metal hull responded to his will, the ship's entire structure becoming an extension of his consciousness.
Reed pressed closer to the viewport, studying their approach angle.
"Listen to me. For a successful atmospheric reentry, a spacecraft needs to approach at precisely the right angle. Between 5.2 and 7.2 degrees below the horizontal."
His arm stretched involuntarily as he gestured toward the planet below. "Too shallow, and we'll skip off the atmosphere like a stone across water, bouncing back into the void of space. Too steep, and we'll plunge directly into the dense atmospheric layers, subjecting ourselves to crushing deceleration forces and temperatures that could melt titanium."
Sue asked. "What's our angle?"
"Nearly fifteen degrees below horizontal. We're approaching like a meteorite. At this angle, we'll hit the atmosphere at roughly 400,000 feet above sea level. As we descend, the air will grow progressively denser, creating friction that will heat our ship's surface to thousands of degrees. Without proper heat shielding and attitude control, we'll become a brief, brilliant streak across the sky, like a shooting star."
"So we're gonna burn up?" Ben's gravelly voice rumbled.
"The physics are unforgiving. Our mass and velocity will convert to heat energy through atmospheric friction, and that energy has to go somewhere. In our case, it will go into melting our ship and everything inside it."
The music that had accompanied their transformation faded, transitioning into another track, still heavy on the guitar.
Ben's rocky features twisted into what might have been a scowl. "Really, kid?" he grumbled.
"If I'm driving, I get to pick the music," Tyson responded calmly.
The Marvel-1 carved through Earth's upper atmosphere, its hull beginning to glow cherry red from the friction of reentry. Through the viewport, the curvature of the planet spread out below them, vast and unforgiving. Reed studied their descent path.
"Tyson, I need you to adjust our trajectory by three degrees," he called out. "We're coming in too hot over populated areas."
The ship responded immediately to Tyson's magnetic manipulation, its course shifting. He could feel every rivet and bolt in the hull, the entire vessel becoming an extension of himself.
Welcome to our fortress tall,I'll take some time to show you around.
The driving guitars of Tyson's illusory music matched the intensity of their plunge through the stratosphere. Below them, the familiar outline of the Mediterranean began to resolve, the coastlines of North Africa coming into focus.
"There," Reed pointed with an arm that stretched impossibly far toward the viewport. "The Sahara Desert. Minimal population density, flat terrain for landing. Can you bring us down in that region?"
Tyson nodded, guiding their trajectory toward the vast expanse of sand and rock.
Impossible to break these walls,
For, you see, the steel is much too strong
Sue flickered between visible and transparent, still unstable from the cosmic radiation. "How are you doing this?"
"The cosmic storm changed us all," Tyson replied. "I can feel the planet's magnetic field so clearly, and it's taking hardly any focus to run my illusions at the same time. You all got powers, but I think mine just got a serious upgrade."
Johnny's flames had subsided to a low burn, but heat still radiated from his body in visible waves. "This is impossible. People don't just develop superpowers."
"Tell that to the cosmic lightning that rewrote our DNA," Ben rumbled.
Computer banks to rule the world,
Instruments to sight the stars.
Reed watched Tyson guide their descent. "Reduce our descent rate," he instructed. "We need to bleed off more velocity before we reach the surface. The atmospheric friction should help, but we're still coming in too fast."
The Marvel-1's trajectory flattened as Tyson adjusted their approach angle. Through the viewport, a desert spread out before them like an endless sea of gold and brown.
"There," Reed pointed toward a relatively flat expanse of sand dunes. "That area looks suitable for landing. No visible rock formations or settlements."
Possibly, I've seen too muchHangar 18, I know too much.
Tyson's enhanced senses reached out across the desert landscape, feeling for any magnetic anomalies that might indicate structures. The sand was clean, free of major metallic objects that could interfere with their landing.
"Beginning final approach," he announced.
Foreign life forms, inventory,
Suspended state of cryogenics
The Marvel-1 descended through the lower atmosphere, its hull still glowing but no longer the brilliant white-hot of their initial reentry.
Reed checked the altimeter readings, still black. The desert floor rushed up to meet them, individual dunes becoming visible as distinct features rather than abstract patterns.
Selective amnesia's the story.
Believed, foretold, but who would suspect?
The military intelligence,
Two words combined that can't make sense.
Possibly, I've seen too much,Hangar 18, I know too much.
"Three thousand feet," Reed called out. "Tyson, you need to slow our descent rate further. We're still coming in too fast."
The ship's hull groaned as the music led into an extended guitar solo. Tyson applied magnetic braking, using the planet's field lines to create resistance against their downward momentum.
"One thousand feet," Reed announced. "Looking good. The landing site appears clear of obstacles."
Sue's form solidified as they approached the surface, finally able to maintain visibility. "I can't believe we're actually going to make it."
"Don't jinx it, Susie," Ben called.
The Marvel-1 descended through the final few hundred feet, Tyson's magnetic control making adjustments.
"Fifty feet," Reed called out. "Prepare for touchdown."
The landing was surprisingly gentle, the ship settled into the soft sand with barely a tremor. Tyson's magnetic control cushioned their final descent. The Marvel-1 came to rest in a small valley between two large dunes.
The music faded, matching the ship's systems; completely silent. Through the viewport, endless sand stretched in every direction.
Tyson gently lowered himself and Jessica to the deck, his magnetic field dissipating as he released his hold on the local electromagnetic forces. She didn't let go. He didn't ask her to. Through their contact, he caught the small, triumphant pulse of "we made it" that she hadn't said out loud. She was already past the relief and onto what came next.
After the chaos of reentry, the silence was absolute. The Marvel-1 sat in the Saharan sand, its hull ticking softly as the superheated metal began to cool.
Johnny stared out the viewport at the endless expanse of golden dunes, his mind struggling to process what had just happened.
"Did you just land a spaceship with no effort while blasting a metal song about aliens?" he asked, turning to look at Tyson with awe and disbelief.
Tyson leaned back against Jessica, a satisfied grin spreading across his face. "Hell yeah. What, did you think all those flight simulations at Project PEGASUS were just for you guys? I learned a thing or two."
Reed's elastic form was still adjusting to his new physiology, his arms stretching without conscious control. "Those simulations didn't cover magnetic manipulation of spacecraft hulls."
"No," Tyson agreed, "but they covered descent rates and landing procedures. The method was different, but the principles were the same."
Johnny unbuckled his restraints and stood up. Heat radiated from his body in visible waves. He took a tentative step toward Tyson.
"That was incredible," he said, extending his hand for a high five. "Seriously, that was the most amazing piece of flying I've ever seen."
Tyson grinned and reached up to meet Johnny's offered hand. A brilliant flame sparked between their palms. The heat made him yank it back.
"Ouch, hot!" Tyson shook out his hand. The skin was reddened but healed instantly.
Johnny stared at his own hand in shock, watching small flames dance across his fingertips before dying out. "Sorry. What the hell is going on with us? Do we really have superpowers?"
"Yeah," Tyson said simply. "Take a few minutes and try to get used to them."
Jessica moved to one of the viewports, studying the desert landscape. "We're going to need to figure out how to get back to civilization. This isn't exactly friendly terrain for a long walk."
Sue flickered. "Get used to them? Tyson, we're talking about fundamental alterations to human physiology. This isn't like learning to ride a bike."
"No," Tyson agreed, "but panicking about it won't help anyone. We need to understand what we can do and how to control it."
Johnny held up his hand, watching small flames flicker across his palm. The fire didn't burn him; if anything, it felt natural, like an extension of his own body heat. He concentrated, trying to make the flames grow larger, and was rewarded with a burst of fire that reached nearly to the cabin ceiling.
"Whoa!" He quickly pulled his hand back, the flames dying instantly. "Okay, that's definitely not normal."
Ben shifted in his seat, the metal frame groaning under his increased weight. When he spoke, his voice emerged as a deep rumble.
"Nothing about this is normal, kid."
Jean unbuckled her restraints. "Normal is overrated. Some of us stopped being normal a long time ago."
Reed extended his arm toward one of the instrument panels, his limb stretching across the cabin.
"The cosmic radiation must have triggered some kind of genetic mutation," he said, already cataloging their transformations. "But the specific nature of each change seems to be unique to the individual."
"Why?" Sue asked, her form flickering again as her concentration wavered. "Why are we all different?"
"Maybe it has something to do with our personalities," Reed suggested. "Johnny's always been hot-headed; now he controls fire. You've always been the one who wanted to disappear when things got tough; now you can turn invisible. Ben's always been our rock, our foundation."
Sue mumbled, "Well, that's nice."
"Then why can you stretch? You're the least flexible of all of us." Ben's gravelly laugh rumbled through the cabin.
Reed's arm snapped back to normal length. "We need to establish some basic safety protocols. Until we understand the full extent of our abilities, we could be dangerous to ourselves and each other."
Johnny nodded, still staring at his hands with wonder and apprehension. "Agreed. I nearly set the cabin on fire just now."
"And I could probably crush someone without meaning to," Ben added, his rocky fingers leaving small gouges in the armrest of his seat.
Jessica checked her watch, then looked around the cabin. "Before you all start your superhero training montage, we need to figure out our situation. Someone's going to notice a ship crash-landing in the desert."
Sue's form stabilized as she focused on the practical concerns. "How do we even begin to learn control? It's not like there's a manual for this."
"Trial and error," Tyson said. "Start small and test your limits gradually."
"I suppose introductions are in order. Ladies, this is the Phase 4 team, whom I'm now dubbing the Fantastic Four. Deal with it, it's your name, you're now a superteam." He pointed to each crew member in turn. "Reed Richards, Sue Storm and her brother, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm. Meet Jessica Drew, Spider-Woman, and Jean Grey. You're going to have to figure your powers out through trial and error, practice, and patience. I wish I could shortcut that for you, but I can't."
Ben shifted in his seat, the metal frame groaning under his weight. His rocky exterior had continued to solidify, making even simple movements feel foreign and clumsy. "Great. So we're flying blind."
"While you guys practice," Tyson continued, "I'm going to scout and try to figure out where we are and where the nearest city and supplies can be found. You worry about practical powers, I'll handle the survival piece."
Johnny nodded. "Makes sense. We're going to need food and water eventually, and this ship isn't exactly equipped for extended desert camping."
Sue managed to maintain her visibility for nearly thirty seconds before flickering transparent again. "How long do you think we'll be stuck out here?"
"Won't be long. I could fly us all back now, but I want to give you a little while to practice. Reduce the risk of an accident," Tyson replied. "But we should plan for at least a few hours, maybe longer."
Ben's voice rumbled from the cabin. "Sure, kid, go have a look around. We'll figure this out."
Reed was already moving through the ship, his elastic form allowing him to inspect damage in areas that would have been impossible for a normal person to reach. His arms stretched into cramped spaces behind instrument panels, checking for severed connections and damaged components.
"Hey, Reed, make sure you practice, don't just spend all the time trying to fix the ship."
"The ship is our priority."
"The ship won't matter if you accidentally stretch yourself into a pretzel because you don't know how to control your powers," Tyson pointed out.
Reed's head emerged from behind the panel, his neck extended several feet longer than it should have been. He seemed to realize what had happened and quickly retracted to normal proportions. "Point taken."
"Just don't get so focused on the technical problems that you ignore the biological ones."
Johnny had managed to create a sustained flame that hovered about six inches above his palm. "This is so weird. It doesn't hurt at all, but I can feel the heat."
"Try making it smaller," Sue suggested. "Start with control before you worry about power."
Ben attempted to stand up, his increased mass making the simple action feel like lifting weights. The metal floor groaned under his feet as he took a tentative step forward. "Everything feels different. Like I'm wearing a suit made of rocks."
"Because you basically are," Reed called out from somewhere in the ship's systems. "It's going to take time to adjust to these new physical parameters."
They were taking it seriously, working together. Johnny was making progress with flame control, creating smaller and larger fires at will. Sue was managing longer periods of visibility, though she still flickered unpredictably. Ben was learning to move with his new mass and strength, taking careful steps to avoid damaging the ship's interior.
Reed continued his inspection of the ship's systems, though Tyson noticed he was also experimenting with his elasticity, stretching his arms to reach components that would normally require tools or ladders.