Johnny tapped his foot impatiently on the pier.
Johnny had already seen Namor rejuvenate and then swim to the depths of the ocean, so he wasn't worried about him drowning.
But now Johnny was getting tired of waiting, and he felt like he'd been ditched.
"Seriously… is he not coming back?" Johnny muttered. "The dude could've at least said thanks before swimming off dramatically."
Just as Johnny was about to fly back, he noticed activity in the ocean.
"He's back," Johnny said as he saw Namor's head popping out of the ocean's surface.
"Do not feel proud of what you have done, you young fool," Namor growled as he stepped out of the ocean's surface.
"The fuck?" Johnny said, confused. "Dude, did you perhaps hit your head when I dropped you in the ocean?"
"Silence, you insolent cur!" Namor bellowed.
Namor was entirely out of the water and stood in front of Johnny. He no longer looked like a derelict old man; instead, each of his moves showed regal majesty.
"By returning my memory, you have signed the death warrant of the entire human race," Namor declared coldly.
"Wha—"
Now Johnny was even more confused. "Dude, what the fuck are you talking about?"
"What am I talking about?" Namor said, repeating Johnny's words. "Of course, it is-"
"REVENGE"
"The surface dwellers," Namor hissed, "will pay for the destruction of my underwater kingdom."
"Humanity has created an enemy they will regret forming in the future," Namor said. The ocean water suddenly eerily calmed down as if bearing witness to the vow of its liege. "For now, they will face the ocean's wrath."
Johnny's face was solemn right now. Looking at Namor, he felt a creeping realization that he might have made a big fucking blunder. He might have awakened an enemy of humans, whom they might not be ready to face.
'Shit, I fucked up.'
Namor looked pleased as he looked at Johnny's solemn and fearful face. With a dismissive snort, he turned around and dived back into the ocean.
Looking at Namor's disappearing figure in the ocean, Johnny knew there was no time for being hard-headed. He couldn't handle Namor on his own. The Fantastic Four was needed to tackle this blunder he created.
He took out a flare and fired it in the sky without hesitation.
Time to call the team.
The flare created a massive "4" in the sky. It was big enough that the entire city saw it.
And with the city, the rest of the Fantastic Four members saw it too. They each turned towards the location where the flare appeared.
The three Fantastic Four members met in the middle and rejoined the sections of their Fantasticar as they followed the flare together.
"That must be Torch, let's go," Reed said in a hurry as he sped up the flying car.
"He must be in danger if he used the emergency signal!" Sue exclaimed, eyes wide with worry.
"It's coming from the pier," Ben said, looking at the downward trail forming from the gigantic "4" in the sky.
"Can't that brat stay away from trouble for just a day?" Ben muttered under his breath, but Sue and Reed ignored him.
Soon, they finally reached the port.
"There he is," Reed said, pointing towards Johnny, who was waving them from the ground.
"Thank Heavens! He's alright," Sue said. The relief was clearly visible on her face.
The Fantasticar landed some distance from Johnny. Sue immediately jumped out of it, ran towards her brother, and tackled him into a hug.
"You idiot! Do you know how scared I was?" Sue scolded—but her arms never loosened.
Johnny hugged her back, guilt written all over his face. "Sorry, sis…"
When the hug finally ended, Ben immediately cornered Johnny. "You flame-brained hothead, don't you know we only use that flare for emergencies?"
"It is an emergency, you pile of gravel," Johnny shot back. "Do you think I would have used it if it wasn't important?"
Before Ben could continue saying anything, Reed interrupted him, "Johnny, what happened?"
"It's Namor," Johnny said solemnly.
"The Sub-Mariner?" Sue asked in doubt.
"I thought he died ages ago," Reed said with confusion. "Isn't he from the time of World War II? Nobody had heard from him in years."
Johnny sighed. There was no point hiding it now. He recounted everything—finding Namor, the amnesia, the rejuvenation, and… the declaration of war.
"I knew we shouldn't have let him out of our sight," Ben snarled. "Just a few hours and he already created a life and death enemy for humanity."
Johnny opened his mouth to argue… but nothing came out. Even he understood how bad this was.
"Calm down, Ben," Reed said calmly. "Pointing fingers will not solve the problem we are about to face. Namor is a threat—and we have to deal with him together."
Sue nodded. "Right now, humanity needs us. At such a time, we shouldn't fight amongst each other."
Ben grunted but relented. "Yeah, yeah. Fine. Let's just clobber whatever needs clobberin'."
"That's the thing, rock-head. He isn't just 'anyone,'" Johnny said solemnly. "He's strong. And he's seriously pissed."
Reed's expression hardened. "Namor must be planning something, so we must be prepared." He suggested, "For now, let's contact the local authorities and have them evacuate the civilians so that they don't get caught up in the crossfire."
As the Fantastic Four prepared to face the threat from the ocean's sovereign, the said man had arrived at a depth beneath the sea covered in perpetual darkness. The pressure here was strong enough to crush submarines, yet he swam like a fish in water.
From a hidden location beneath an underwater cliff, Namor found a trumpet horn buried there by his ancestors centuries ago.
"This will do," Namor whispered, eyes cold.
After acquiring the horn, Namor swam even deeper into a trench and finally came across a colossal underwater beast. It looked like a giant whale, at least 100 meters long. But it was no ordinary whale, as it had four huge limbs that could allow it to walk the surface like any four-legged animal.
The gigantic monster had been slumbering peacefully at the location for ages. Only one thing could arouse it from its everlasting slumber.
Namor swam towards the monster. In front of it, he looked like a fly in front of a human.
Finally, with determination in his eyes, Namor blew into the horn. A soundwave inaudible to human ears travelled out of it, and the monster started stirring in its place.
"Arise, Giganto! Wake up, for your master calls for you. Arise and drown those arrogant surface dwellers forever beneath the ocean," Namor commanded as he continued blowing the horn.
The monster, Giganto, finally awoke. The ocean floor shook as the kaiju-sized beast stood up on its legs.
Namor looked at the monster with a pleased smile. Namor continued blowing the horn and started swimming towards the surface. Giganto listened to the sound and followed.
The gigantic whale soon reached the ocean surface as it pushed its head out of the water. Just this act created massive waves that shook the boats near the ports, which had been keeping an eye on the ocean for the upcoming attack.
Giganto was out of water and was continuously moving towards the pier. Tanks had already arrived near the location, but the shells did little to stop the monster.
"I've got to stop him somehow," Johnny muttered, seeing the monster getting closer. He turned into flame and flew towards the monster.
Human Torch was too small and too weak to do any significant damage, but his continuous harassment using fire attacks visibly slowed the monster's movement.
But Johnny overlooked one thing. The monster didn't just look like a whale; it had a blowhole on top of it, just like any other whale. The water spouting from the hole drenched him, and the fire was extinguished immediately.
Without the support of his fire, Johnny started falling helplessly. Fortunately, Reed stretched his hand and caught him in time. "Got you, Johnny."
With Johnny drenched, he couldn't turn into flame immediately again, and that allowed the whale monster to continue moving in its path unimpeded again.
Namor arrived at the shore while still blowing the horn. Listening to the horn, Giganto followed behind. It landed on the surface on its feet. Wherever it passed, it crushed all the buildings in its path like cardboard. The tank shells and bullets did little to stop it.
Fortunately, by that time, Johnny was already dry enough to turn into flame again.
"Alright, round two!" Johnny yelled and, once again, went into the skies, starting to harass Giganto. Now, he had learned his lesson, so he always flew far from the blowhole. This once again stopped the monster's advance, for now.
"Reed, think something," Johnny shouted from the sky. "I don't know how long I can keep it occupied."
Reed heard Johnny, but he had bigger problems. In front of him and Ben stood a muscular man in green trunks, holding a trumpet horn in one hand. Sue was standing at a distance, so for now Namor hadn't noticed her.
"Namor," Reed said, hands raised peacefully, "we can talk this out. You don't have to wage war on humanity. We can help you rebuild."
"Do not insult me," Namor spat. "I know what humans call 'help.' Chains wrapped in gifts."
"You humans are never worthy of trust," Namor snarled. "And it is your kind that has declared war. You destroy what you fear. You poison what you desire. You call it progress."
"Please understand, Namor," Reed implored. "War will only cause needless casualties. I promise if you stop it, I will make sure you will not be held accountable, and we will do our best to help you."
"Hold accountable?" Namor laughed. "You insects are not worthy to hold me accountable for anything."
"This war will not stop until I destroy humanity," Namor continued with venom in his voice.
Reed still wanted to convince him, but Ben interrupted him.
"That's enough, Stretch." Ben cracked his knuckles. "There is no use explaining anything to a hard-headed fool."
"You tried talking. Now let me talk in a language this barnacle-brained blowhard understands." Ben slammed his fist into the palm of his other hand.
"It's clobbering time."
Ben charged. Namor met him head-on.
Their fists collided midair.
BOOM.
The shockwave rippled across the pier.
Both men staggered back, eyes wide.
"You're stronger than I expected," Namor admitted through gritted teeth.
Ben smirked. "Buddy, I was thinkin' the same thing."
Before they could start the next round, they noticed a new arrival. It was Iron Man, who immediately helped Human Torch, who was getting pushed back. "Thought you could use backup!"
With the addition of Iron Man, the two heroes effectively stalled Giganto on its path. But even with both of them together, they weren't enough to defeat it.
For five long minutes, the battle raged in two arenas:
Johnny and Iron Man were hammering Giganto from above, and Reed and Ben were straining to hold off Namor on the ground.
Nothing was breaking the stalemate.
If they stretched for any longer, it would cause only more property damage and might even result in casualties.
"Mr. Fantastic, external attacks aren't cutting it. That hide is thicker than a bank vault. We're going to need internal damage."
Reed's eyes narrowed. "Meaning…?"
"A warhead," Iron Man replied. "Mr. Stark already had one prepped for deep-sea seismic testing. It just arrived by truck. I can get it into the creature's mouth."
What Iron Man meant by Mr. Stark was, of course, Tony Stark. Currently, no one knew Iron Man's real identity, only that he was Tony Stark's personal bodyguard. The public only knew that the bodyguard wore the suit of armor invented by Tony Stark.
Ben snorted.
"Hold on there, Tin Man. The kid needs you topside. And my hide's a lot tougher than yours."
"Lemme take the bomb in. I can handle a little monster dentistry."
Reed hesitated for only a heartbeat. "Be careful, Thing."
Ben nodded back. "Ain't planning on dying today, Stretch."
Breaking away from the fight, he lumbered toward the military truck where the warhead sat — a massive, metal beast of a bomb. Soldiers stepped aside, staring at him with a mix of awe and fear.
"Strap it on," Ben said.
The soldiers obeyed, fastening heavy steel clamps around the Thing's rocky torso. Even with hundreds of kilos strapped to his back, Ben barely felt it.
"Hey, Tin Can, I am ready. Help me enter the whale's mouth," Ben said in the earpiece.
"I will be back in a few minutes, Torch," Iron Man said and flew towards Ben.
Iron Man picked up Ben and flew towards the open mouth of Giganto.
"Alright, Big Guy," Tony said, "the moment I see an opening, I'm dropping you in."
Ben gave him a thumbs-up. "Just don't miss."
Giganto roared, maw opening wide as it tried to swat away Johnny.
"There's our shot!" Iron Man shouted.
He grabbed Ben beneath the arms, boosters flaring, and together they rocketed toward the gaping mouth.
"Ready?" Tony asked.
"Born ready."
In one smooth swoop, Iron Man hurled Ben straight into Giganto's open jaws—then blasted away instantly, peeling back to help Johnny.
"Start the timer and get out as fast as you can!" Iron Man yelled.
Ben tumbled into the darkness, swallowed by the massive cavern of teeth and flesh.
Ben travelled inside Giganto's stomach with only the light from his flashlight to guide him in the darkness filled with intense stench and hot breath.
While walking inside, Ben unexpectedly found broken remains of multiple sea vessels from various eras.
Looking for treasures among those broken vessels could be a great adventure; alas, Ben had no time for such an adventure. His teammates were dependent on him to plant the bomb inside the monster as soon as possible.
Ben continued his journey inward, but broken sea vessels weren't the only thing that was inside Giganto's stomach.
That's when he heard it.
A wet skittering sound.
Ben slowly turned.
From behind a broken tugboat, a creature crawled out — an insect-like monster. It towered over Ben at twice his height, its chitinous shell slick with digestive fluids.
"Oh, terrific," Ben sighed. "It's a freakin' motel for sea bugs."
The monster lunged.
Ben dropped the bomb carefully and slammed into the creature with a rocky shoulder, tackling it into the stomach wall. Teeth cracked against Ben's hide as the Thing drove fist after fist into its skull.
It screeched, thrashed, tried to impale him with a spiked leg—
—Ben snapped the limb in half and punched harder.
After a brutal few seconds, the creature stopped moving, collapsing into a steaming heap.
Ben wiped acidic goo off his face.
"Yeah, that's gonna burn later."
"I think this place is good enough to set the bomb; who knows how many more monsters may be present deeper inside," Ben muttered and started the timer of the bomb.
Ben sprinted across the slick, fleshy ground toward the faint glow of Giganto's mouth. The timer beeped faster.
"C'mon, c'mon—!"
He reached the entrance.
Just as Ben leapt—
BOOOOM!
The explosion roared through Giganto's insides.
The shockwave blasted upward, launching Ben like a projectile out of Giganto's mouth.
He crashed onto the ground, skidding across concrete.
Giganto shrieked — a deafening, gut-rattling wail.
Blood and smoke poured from its mouth as the monster staggered backward.
It wasn't dead, but it was done.
With a final groaning roar, the kaiju turned and limped into the sea, disappearing beneath the waves like a wounded mountain retreating to the abyss.
Likely not to rise again for centuries.
Reed and Johnny helped pull him back to his feet. Due to the impact, Ben had lost consciousness, but soon came to after Johnny and Reed pulled him up.
"I hate to admit it, rock-head," Johnny said begrudgingly, "but… that was badass."
Ben smirked. "Save it, matchstick. Get me a coffee, and I'll be good as new."
The three saw Namor standing in their path.
"You think you have defeated me," Namor snorted. "But I can call countless other sea monsters to attack you.
"How many can you defeat before you are overwhelmed?" Namor started laughing. He didn't mind the loss of one sea monster when he could call many more.
But as Namor said that, someone noticed him glance at his horn subconsciously while boasting about summoning more sea creatures.
Maybe Namor was too confident in himself, but his grip on his horn wasn't tight enough. Someone took advantage of that as the horn was snatched from his grip.
Namor's eyes widened as he looked at the floating horn in front of him.
Namor charged forward. "As I thought it was an invisible human," he said when he collided with Invisible Girl.
Sue tried to struggle, but physically, she was just a weak woman, so she wasn't able to free herself from Namor's hands.
"Quit struggling," Namor shouted as he directly picked up Sue so she couldn't run.
Feeling helpless, Sue became visible again.
"Well, hello. Now this is a prize worth catching," Namor said, clearly smitten with her on first glance.
"You are the most beautiful human of your kind I have seen," Namor said smoothly. "How about it? Become my bride, and I might show mercy to your pitiful race."
Sue swallowed, then lifted her chin.
"No," she said. "I won't be anyone's prize."
Reed adjusted his glasses.
"You mistake power for entitlement," he said calmly. "That's a common error among most kings."
"You fools!" Namor bellowed. "I graciously gave you a chance, and you dared to refuse ME? A king of the oceans?"
"But now, I will have both the girl and my revenge."
"I wouldn't recommend that," Iron Man said, hovering overhead with repulsors aimed at Namor's skull.
Namor turned.
That was all the opening they needed.
Reed's arm snapped forward like a whip, yanking Sue free from Namor's hold.
Johnny ignited instantly, spiraling upward. A vortex began to form — small at first, then swirling faster and faster until winds howled around Namor.
"What—?!" Namor was dragged off his feet, sucked helplessly into the forming cyclone.
Johnny shot toward the ocean, the roaring vortex following him like a tethered tornado. Once he was a safe distance out over the open water, Johnny veered sharply away.
The cyclone detached — and hurled Namor across the waves like a ragdoll.
He splashed into the ocean with enough force to send up a geyser.
The horn slipped from his grasp, sinking somewhere into the depths.
Namor resurfaced far away, treading water, hatred burning in his eyes.
"This is not over," he shouted, voice echoing across the waves. "You have just delayed your doom, nothing more."
He pointed at them like a king delivering a sentence.
"I will be back. Remember that."
With a final glare, Namor dove beneath the waves and vanished into the abyss.
"I will be back."