A few minutes earlier—
Having reverted to his human form, Ben Grimm scavenged a flamethrower from a fallen U.S. soldier's corpse. Using his immense strength, he created a blazing wall of fire to hold back the advancing horde of zombies while retreating into a nearby apartment building.
The roaring flames seared the air; even the newly evolved zombies, whose bodies were now reinforced with hardened bone shells, couldn't cross it. They surged forward anyway, throwing themselves into the inferno, burning their own flesh to exhaust Ben's strength.
Just as his fuel began to run low, a violent tremor rippled through the streets. A shockwave tore through the neighborhood, scattering both flame and corpse alike. The explosion had come from about a kilometer away—one of Reed Richards' earlier attacks against Marcus.
Ben seized the opportunity, ducking deeper into the building for cover. But his brief moment of relief didn't last long.
Through the shattered wall, two of Winter Soldier's Chasers arrived. One of the monstrous, musclebound creatures ripped the brickwork apart with mutated arms and leveled an electrified net launcher straight at him.
Ben immediately countered, aiming his flamethrower and unleashing a torrent of burning napalm. The firestorm swallowed the Chaser whole, blackening its flesh to ash—but the creature kept moving. Fire didn't stop it.
From his blind side, another Chaser lunged forward, its monstrous right claw slicing through the air. With a single swing, it shattered the flamethrower into six twisted pieces. The first creature then fired its electrified net, the crackling mesh wrapping around Ben's body and sending thousands of volts coursing through him.
His muscles locked. His body convulsed. He fell helplessly to the ground.
By the time Reed Richards—now bearing the fused power of the Fantastic Four—returned, it was already too late. Ben was being carried over the shoulder of a Chaser, the creature's other claw poised to tear his throat open.
Even powerless, Ben Grimm refused to show fear. "Reed! Don't worry about me—just kill them all!" he bellowed, his voice ragged but resolute.
He was a veteran hero, a man who had long since accepted death as part of the job.
Reed's burning eyes narrowed. "So that's your plan, then?" he murmured. "Using him as bait."
Yet instead of anger, his tone held an eerie calm. The man who always calculated ten moves ahead had already considered this possibility.
"Then as you wish."
In his hand, a ball of molten fire and stone formed, swirling like a miniature sun. Without hesitation, Reed hurled it toward Ben.
The fiery projectile struck with a deafening boom, engulfing both the Chasers and their hostage in a sea of orange flame.
Even Marcus, watching from the distance, was taken aback. "...So he's willing to sacrifice his teammate that easily?" he muttered. "Didn't think Richards had it in him."
But he was wrong. Reed hadn't lost his humanity—he had simply anticipated this outcome.
As the inferno cleared, a colossal silhouette rose through the flames—The Thing, reborn.
Ben Grimm's rocky form towered over the burning rubble. Each of his massive hands clutched a Chaser by the throat, squeezing until their skulls shattered like eggshells. Their bodies detonated in twin explosions, but the fiery shockwaves washed harmlessly over his impenetrable stone skin.
Marcus's expression darkened. "So that's it… he can reassign abilities at will."
Reed hadn't destroyed Ben—he'd simply returned the stolen power. That was why he had dared to let his teammate be captured. He knew that once Ben regained his stone form, no mere creature could kill him.
But that also meant something else—Reed no longer possessed The Thing's invulnerability.
And now, he was vulnerable.
Marcus moved.
Bursting from cover in a streak of crimson light, he lunged toward Reed with blinding speed, his Adamantium katana crackling with lightning and Bloodflame. He swung downward in a lethal arc aimed straight for Reed's skull.
But Reed had expected this. The faint hum of energy filled the air as an invisible barrier materialized behind him—a force field born of Sue's power. He turned, raising his arm to intercept.
The two collided in a cataclysmic burst of light and sound.
Lightning and flame met energy and elasticity. The shockwave tore across the ground, scattering debris like leaves in a storm. The crimson and blue lights clashed violently, neither side giving an inch.
Meanwhile, Ben tried to rush to Reed's aid, but Marcus's reinforcements had already arrived. Killian, wreathed in searing orange plasma, fired his Extremis death beam, scorching Ben's rock armor. From the other side, the unstoppable Juggernaut charged headlong into him, his momentum forcing even The Thing to stumble backward under the impact.
For a moment, both duels locked in deadlock—power against power, flame against stone.
But Marcus still had the upper hand. He had recovered while Reed had spent everything on his last devastating strike. Bit by bit, the balance tipped.
The Bloodflame surged brighter, the katana pressing deeper into Reed's shimmering force field. Cracks spidered through the invisible barrier, glowing red from within.
If Reed wanted to survive, he had only one option left—to pull The Thing's powers back into himself, reclaiming his stone armor to withstand Marcus's blade.
Yet when Reed looked toward Ben, he saw his oldest friend locked in combat, barely managing to hold his ground. To drain him now would be to doom him completely.
Reed understood the logic—if he died, the fight would be lost anyway. Pulling back the power was the rational choice.
But he couldn't do it.
Not to Ben. Not after losing Sue.
He could not become the kind of man who sacrificed his team in the name of victory. That was not who the Fantastic Four were.
That was not what it meant to be a hero.
Even in the face of certain death, Reed Richards refused to abandon that ideal.
And so, the Bloodflame blade finally broke through.
With a blinding flash, the sword pierced Reed's arm, carving deep into flesh and elastic muscle. The crimson fire surged inside him, igniting his blood itself. The blue flame of his force field flickered, then dimmed.
The red lotus of Bloodflame consumed him whole.
Reed's body fell from the sky like a dying star, crashing into the shattered earth below.
_____
T/N:
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