End of Hope

Chapter 3

by Skytower

"Sentinels!"

The word crackled in Sue's ear like a shotgun blast. She tensed and behind her Victor Von Doom, Nick Fury, Namorita and Mystique stopped dead at the change in her bearing.

"How many and where?" Sue asked.

"Five on the ground approaching the palace." May's voice sounded calm in Sue's ear. Sue was grateful that the 12-year old girl had not panicked. "Looks like about 8 in the air. The ones in the air are about five minutes away. The ones on the ground are about 2 minutes from the courtyard."

"Pick us up in the courtyard." Sue said. Turning she pulled a gun from her holster and handed it to Namorita. "Sentinels are heading this way, we have got to get to the courtyard if we're going to make it out of here."

"Mystique can't walk." Namorita said. "Neither can Nick."

"I know." Sue said. Of all of them only she and Namorita had any real strength. Victor Von Doom was, physically at least, a ragged shell of the man Sue had known. His brown hair was long and dirty and a beard covered most of his face. He wore only a torn pair of pants and scars crossed and criss-crossed every inch of his body. Nick Fury, one time director of SHIELD was in worse shape. His one eye looked around confused and the word "SPY" had been burned into his chest. His pants were even more torn than Doom's. Namorita was the only one not marked by some torture, infact she didn't look any older than when Sue had last seen her 14 years before. Namorita stood tall and slim with pointed ears barely visible through long blonde hair. She was nude and aside from marks left by the chains carried no scars. But Sue could tell Namorita was weak from the slow and unsteady way she moved. In her arms she carried a nude woman with white streaked red hair and blue skin. Mystique's all-yellow eyes darted from person to person, place to place, search for a hiding place. Her nude body was covered in scars and she trembled in fear.

They were in the center of the Red Skull's palace. A temple built to honor the memory of Adolph Hitler. The walls were lined with old weapons; useless in the modern firefight they faced. The Skull's lifeless and headless body lay at their feet.

"We will have to fight our way through the guards." Doom said picking up the gun that the Skull had been holding. He handled it well, despite supporting Fury with his other arm.

"Maybe not." Sue said. She slung Captain America's shield onto her back then rushed over to the wall and grabbed a long spear. Then she went over to where the Skull's head had rolled after she had cut it off. Not caring or even noticing the looks that they gave her, Sue stuck the head onto the spear. Then she walked back over to them. The skulls jaw gaped open grotesquely, the tongue sticking out. Some blood dripped down the spear. At a thought from the Invisible Woman a platform of invisible energy appeared bellow them and lifted them a foot off of the ground. Sue started them moving forward.

"I'll keep us invisible, everything except the Red Skull's head. Victor the front of the force field I've erected is open. Shoot through that if you have to. Everyone else just hang on."

The Red Skull's palace had been built as a series of rings. The outer wall was thick and well defended, but the further in you got the less thick the walls became. Sue found that out as she moved them steadily through the palace corridors. The doorways were not direct, forcing them to travel down corridors. At most doorways the sight of the Red Skull's severed head floating in mid-air was enough to get them through. Some guards ran away in terror, others cried in rage and grief, two guards shot themselves. But at others the guards opened fire anyway. To avoid a few of them Doom simply blasted a whole with the ray gun that they had taken from the Red Skull, but that became harder and harder. Soon they were forced to go through each doorway and each doorway was guarded.

"The Sentinels are at the walls." May said in Sue's ear. They had made it too a large dining room with stain glass windows showing nazi Germany it all it's glory. Around a corner ahead of them were a large set of doors and a group of guards. "We slowed down the ones in the air with some long range missile fire though."

"Are the Red Skull's men fighting the Sentinels?" Sue demanded.

"Yea, but the courtyard is a hugely massive firefight, Greys are down there!"

"Hell!" Sue swore. The Greys were a fanatical anti-mutant force that both served and were served by the Sentinel robots.

"We're cut off." Sue said to the rest of them.

"You have an aircraft waiting?" Victor asked.

"A Kree ship!" Sue shouted as the ground started to shake. "It's above us but there are Greys in the courtyard."

"Then instruct your ship to make us a way out!" Doom shouted pointing upward.

"May." Sue said into her communicator. "Can you tell where we are?"

"Yep."

"Tell Rebecca or Ben to blast away the ceiling, then get above the opening and get ready to open the hatch!"

"Everyone get ready!" Sue shouted as she moved them all against the wall and concentrated with all her might to strengthen her force field.

Sue was surprised by what happened next. Instead of a shock blast a solid beam of light cut a circle through the solid stone of the roof. The floor shook as tons of thick grey stone fell and shattered. The sound of breaking glass came seconds after the stones feel. When the dust cleared there was a pile of rubble in the center of the room and a round hole in the ceiling. Only a few of the windows survived.

"Everyone get together!" Sue called as she moved them into the center. Around them a firefight started between a group of the Red Skull's guards and Greys. She tossed the spear with the Red Skull's head to the floor. They huddled together and Sue found herself holding tightly to Nick Fury and Victor Von Doom. Directly above the ceiling was the arrow-shaped Kree ship that Ben Parker called: "Hero's Ark".

Sue concentrated and her invisible platform shot them into the air just as another group of Grey's burst into the room. They fired bullets that bounced off of her force field and rays that did not. Sue felt the angry buzz of a hornet in her ears as the disrupter bolts ate into the hyper-energy of her force field. She gritted her teeth and held on, pushing them higher and faster. Acrid smoke and dust swirled out of their way.

They rose past the roof level and into a vicious fire fight. Grey's fought against the black suits of the Red Skull's palace guard, something that even in her pain and the chaos of the fight Sue found ironic. Both groups shared so much in common; they practiced hate and egotism to a point that was nearly religious, they were natural allies against everything that was good and decent in the world, yet they hated each other.

"Open the cargo hatch now!" Sue shouted when they were only a foot away from the ship. The two sides of the doorway opened and Sue forced them in.

"Close it!" Sue screamed as even more pain was pounded into her head by the disrupter bolts.

"It's closed" Mary Jane said rushing into the cargo area. She turned and shouted: "Jarvis we have them! GO!"

In response to that desperate shout everyone felt the pull of gravity as the ship started to move. Sue let her self breathe for a moment, but the ship shuddered as something hit it.

"Sentinels!" Sue growled and headed toward the flight deck.

"There are about 80 of them!" May shouted. Sue looked over her shoulder at the display screen.

"Shoot them down!" Sue ordered Ben and Rebecca.

"We're trying!" Ben shouted. "We're hitting them but they don't fall!"

The ship rocked again and suddenly Sue found Victor standing beside her.

"Children?" he demanded incredulously.

"Shut up!" Sue shouted as the ship rocked again.

"Their weapons are getting through the shields!" Jan shouted from her co-pilot seat. "One of the atmosphere jets is damaged!"

There was a terror in her voice and Sue could understand why. The Kree ship lifted off the ground by means of an anti-gravity drive, but it used a form of jet engine to move through the atmosphere at any real speed. Once into space chemical reaction thrusters or the main engine took over, either them or the hyperdrive, but in an atmosphere the jets were it.

"We've got more Sentinels coming from the right!" May shouted. "HEY!"

May's protest was caused by Doom lifting her out of the seat.

"Take her!" he ordered handing her to Mary Jane. Mary Jane started to protest but Sue stopped her as Doom sat down and started to operate the panels.

I hope to God he's as good as he ever was, Sue thought.

"Jarvis evade them as much as you can!" Sue shouted. She turned to May and Mary Jane. "See if you can get everyone strapped down back there? This is going to be rough."

"Right." Mary Jane said. May gave Doom a sullen look but followed her mother.

"What can you do for us?" Sue asked leaning close to Doom as the ship rocked again.

"I need time." Doom said. "Minutes."

"I'll get you those minutes." Sue said. She concentrated and then gasped in pain as the energy beams that had been hitting the ship hit her force field. But her gambit worked and the ship settled down.

"Cease fire!" Doom shouted.

For a moment there was confusion on the flight deck as Ben and Rebecca looked at him.

"All of you do as he says!" Sue shouted, falling to her knees as another shot hit. Sue's hands clasped her head as if she could protect herself from the mental feedback caused by the energy-to-energy reaction of the rays hitting her force field.

"The Sentinels are using an older version of my own force field." Doom said. Sue heard his voice from far away. She was aware of Mary Jane kneeling beside her and of the other woman's arms around her. "And the beams they are using are a version of the repulser rays used by Iron Man. I must adjust our weaponry and shields to handle these problems."

"Hang on Sue!" Mary Jane said, hugging her tightly. Sue strained to stay awake and keep her force field up even as a red-hot splinter of pain was being driven into her head. She could feel it in her eyes and ears; the pain was like someone was pulling her hair out very slowly one strand at a time.

"Fire now!" Doom ordered.

"Got'em!" Ben shouted a second later.

"Shoot at the ones trying to cut off our escape!" Doom ordered him. "Jarvis there is an opening, adjust your course ten degrees!"

Sue heard the rest of the orders, but barely understood them. Somehow she was on her back and Mary Jane was looking down at her.

"You can drop your force field." Mary Jane was saying.

Sue blacked out before she could comprehend the words.

Sue Richards had long ago learned that there was a difference between sleep and being knocked out. Sleep was a calm restful place where strength could be recovered. Blacking out or being knocked out was like taking refuge from a fire in a block of ice. The type of pain was simply exchanged. Sue hated nothing more than coming too after blacking out, and the shouting didn't help her at all.

"HE KILLED MY PARENTS!" Rebecca was shouting.

"Rebecca calm down!" Mary Jane shouted.

"Hear him out, Please!" Namorita shouted.

Sue opened her eyes. She was lying in the cargo area with a cold compress on her forehead. A worried May was kneeling over her.

"Are you ok?" May asked.

"I'll be fine." Sue lied.

What the hell, patients are going to say that to her all the time someday anyway, Sue thought. She took a moment to take a deep breath and try to clear her head. Come on Sue, you're not out of it yet. You kept Ben and Johny apart.

"Quiet!" Sue shouted and her voice rumbled through the cabin. With May's help she staggered her to feet.

"He killed them." Rebecca said pointing at Nick Fury. Her young face was contorted with bottled up frustration. Rebecca was growing fast and her body showed that in a slight awkwardness of gait and bearing. Her curly brown hair was done in a ponytail but parts of it had escaped and crackled around her head. Deep blue eyes flashed with anger. "I remember him on the monitor screen telling my dad to give up and then the Sentinels broke through the wall and killed my mother and father!"

"Calm down Rebecca." Sue said putting as much force as she could into her voice. "First things first, are we safe?"

"We are at the moment passing the moon." Doom said. He stood by Nick Fury and to his left Namorita sat next to Mystique. Namorita was wearing one of the blue jumpsuits, but Mystique was still naked. Fury was leaning on the wall and Doom for support while Mystique trembled on the floor. "Though no one will explain where we are going."

"I still have your word don't I Victor?" Sue asked.

"You do Susan, but I can not fix this ship without knowing where you intend to take it. The hyperdrive is range dependent, merely fixing it a little will do you no good and fixing it completely may take more time than you have."

He hasn't lost his touch, Sue thought and a bit of admiration crept into her. Sue knew what constant torture could do to a person, she had been through it herself, but Doom seemed to have lost none of his knowledge or character. Which is part of the problem. How far do I trust him? Doom's word used to be an absolute, if you asked Victor's opinion that is, but how he keeps it... No, I can't go down that route right now, the best I can do is keep an eye on him and hope that he has enough mercy not to double cross us.

Sue looked around the cabin. Rebecca was not the only one looking at Nick Fury with anger. Mary Jane was holding Rebecca back, but her face held that anger as well, so did Ben's face. The only thing that seemed to be holding Ben back was a nude Jan who was perched on his shoulder whispering into his ear. May seemed to be the only one who wasn't mad. She had walked over to Mystique and Namorita and handed them glasses filled with water. She did not however give anything to Doom and studiously ignored him.

I better clear the air or we'll all kill each other before we get back to Earth!

"Ok." Sue said. "We are going to clear this up right now, I won't have everyone looking over his or her shoulder for the rest of the trip. Jarvis." Sue called. "Can you hear this?"

"Every word Mrs. Richards." Jarvis called back from the flight deck.

"If you have anything to contribute say it when you want to, this involves all of us."

"Is this to be a trial Susan?" Doom asked.

"Sort of." Sue said. "What's going to happen is this, we are going to go around and introduce ourselves, and we are going to give reasons, if any, for what we did. Then we'll decide what to do. Worst comes to worst Nick I'll pop you out of the airlock myself."

They all gave Sue stunned looks at both what she said and the way she said it. But for a moment Sue thought she saw a look of understanding on Doom's face. It was quickly hidden.

Ok, just like group therapy, and I did mean it Nick, I don't care what you've been through, I will throw you off of this ship, even if it's only to put you onto the Blue Area of the moon. But you're not the real danger here, Victor is. God look at him! I can see the wheels turning in his head! What have I started?

"I'll start." Sue said. "Everyone knows me anyway. First off; Mystique, you are not in any danger here. You can come with us or go with Namorita, your choice."

"How come?" Rebecca asked. "She was the one in charge of the brotherhood, she started it all."

"She's not to blame." Namorita said, putting her arm around Mystique who had curled up into a ball and pressed herself against the wall at the tone in Rebecca's voice. "Not all the way."

"Rebecca I can understand what you are saying." Sue said. "But Mystique had ideological reasons for what she did." Sue walked over to the blue skinned woman. "None of us may agree with the way she tried to do things, but she was acting out of fear, and believe me she paid for it." Sue bent down and gently reached over and raised Mystiques head. Yellow eyes filled with pain and trepidation looked back at her.

"I don't want pity." Mystique said, but her voice shook and her body trembled.

You not only want it you're desperate for it, Sue thought. But there is still something in there, just like Jan. You'll never be who you were Mystique, but your never going to be a danger to anyone either.

"Look at me Mystique." Sue said calmly. "Do you see pity in my eyes?"

For a moment the pain and the trembling stopped and the mutant seemed to regain a bit of what she had been.

"You know..." She said. Her voice held a pleading tone that tugged at Sue's heart.

"Jan and I both know." Sue said.

Mystique folded herself back into a ball and hugged Namorita who hugged her back.

"I don't get it." Ben said. At 14 he was still small, but solid and wearing a blue jumpsuit from the ships stores. Ben had brown hair and blue eyes, the former topping a round head and the later looking out at the world with curious optimism. "Wasn't she some big time supervillain?"

"The term; "Supervillain" was too easily applied in the years before the rise of the Sentinels." Victor said. "Often by those of limited imagination and intellect."

"Not that it wasn't accurate." Sue said rising and looking at Victor. "For many."

Doom nodded at her and Sue turned away from him, struggling to keep from continuing the banter. She faced Rebecca.

"Mystique was the leader of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, and yes they killed, and attacked and did a lot of damage. But she's been through what Jan and I have been through. What you had a taste of in the desert, and worse. Different people, same thing. That kind of hell washes away a lot of sins."

"I wasn't treated gently either." Nick Fury said in a quiet voice.

"You're a traitor." Rebecca snarled.

"She's right Nick." Sue said turning to face him. "We call it: "The Day." That's when Sentinel robots backed by Greys attacked the Baxter Building, Avengers Mansion and I think the headquarters of the Xmen. The Baxter Building defenses were holding them off, until they shut down. Just before we were forced to run Reed found the cause. A computer virus planted into the mainframe. A virus that could only have been put there by your hand picked computer expert when Reed was consulting on project Wide Awake. The expert you said had top security clearance. We trusted you on that. Without those defenses we were overrun. Reed, Ben and Johny died. Franklin escaped. I was thrown into a mob who nearly beat me to death. Nearby a group of SHIELD agents stood by and did nothing. Not even when the mob raped me."

Sue realized she was shaking with rage and forced herself to calm down. Nick Fury's one eye was focused downward.

"That's the least of what happened to me Nick. I won't tell you the rest. You can see that on my face. But I'm not alone in this." Sue turned to Mary Jane. "This is Mary Jane Parker, wife of Spiderman, these are her children Ben and May. Mary Jane you tell him what happened on the Day."

"It started out tense." Mary Jane said after a moment. Sue could tell she was wondering if her children should be there, but then Mary Jane seemed to realize that there was no protecting them, even as young as they were. She stepped forward as Sue stepped back. "Peter knew something was up, but he couldn't say what it was. He put on the Spiderman costume to look around. He found DareDevil being burned alive by a mob of Greys. When Peter tried to stop them Sentinel robots appeared. That's when Peter realized that the city was crawling with them. Worse the robots and the Greys were backed up by SHIELD troops."

May and Ben both come over to stand by their mother. Mary Jane's voice was strained with the effort to keep her emotions in check.

"You knew who Spiderman really was Mr. Fury." Mary Jane said. "I remember you'd drag him into one mission or another over the years. Peter wasn't happy that you knew, but he trusted you. When he saw the robots and the troops he was scared. He made it back to the apartment just as the Grey's started to swarm the place. His aunt got blasted by a stray shot, but Peter got the rest of us to Avenger's mansion."

"The mansion's defenses weren't as good as the Baxter Buildings, but the Avengers were holding their own. I was in one of the safe rooms with Jarvis, Ben and May. Then the whole place shook and Peter came in with Rebecca. He told us the Helicarrier had attacked the mansion. He got us through the sewers and out, and then we got to Dr. Strange's house in Greenwitch village. There was a mob behind us, Peter shoved us all forward and leapt into them so we could make it."

Both Ben and May were crying and Mary Jane bent down to hug them.

"We weren't safe for long." Mary Jane said. "The Greys had some sort of magic charm that got through Dr. Strange's magic. He opened up a portal and got us to Las Vegas, shifted us forward in time a few years too. He didn't make it though. For all of these years I've been forced to work for the TaskMaster, and every single day I've been worried that someone would find out who we really were. It turns out they did, and if Sue hadn't rescued us the Red Skull's men would have taken us to him."

Mary Jane was holding herself together because of her children, and the editing she had done almost brought tears to Sue's eyes.

"My turn." Rebecca said almost snarling. "Look at me!" she demanded. Nick Fury raised his one eye and looked at her. "I was with mom and dad in the communication room. Dad was telling you what was going on, telling you that the riot was killing innocent people, that he'd seen SHIELD agents working with the Greys. I'll never forget the look on his face when you told him that the President had ordered all mutants rounded up, and that the only way it was going to stop was if the Avengers agreed to turn me, my mother and the Beast over to the Greys."

Rebecca was shaking and Sue had to hold her back from physically attacking Fury.

"Dad told you to go to hell and you opened fire. Spiderman and a bunch of Sentinels crashed through the wall! One them raised his arm and some sort of spear shot out. It went through my father, went through my mother and it pinned them to the wall!"

Sue was holding one of Rebecca's arms and Mary Jane was holding the other one.

"My dad and my mom tried to say something to me as they were dyeing, but whatever it was I never heard it. Dad TRUSTED YOU!" Rebecca was crying and Sue was holding her, but watching Fury. His face was impassive, but she saw a hint of pain in his good eye. "Spiderman put my dad's shield into my arms and got us out of there."

Silently Mary Jane and Sue pulled Rebecca back and eased her into a seat.

"My mom always used to tease my dad that someday they'd put up a statue of him." Rebecca said. The anger had exhausted her but the pain that filled her voice filled the cabin as well. "But I've checked. He doesn't even have a grave. Neither does she. Mom's stuffed and mounted in the Grey's museum in New York. In school the guys used to pass around naked pictures of her. Dad's body was burned."

Even Doom was impressed by the words, Sue could tell that. Namorita was holding a quietly sobbing Mystique while a full sized and nude Jan was trying to comfort Ben and May. Ben was so grief stricken that Jan's nude body wasn't even noticed.

"There's our reasons for shoving you out an airlock Nick." Sue said. "If it weren't for Doom I would have left you in that cell. Now's your chance. Tell us why we're all wrong."

Nick Fury's face was pale under the beard and the dirt. His one eye was filled with pure agony. But his voice was as steady as it had always been when he spoke.

"I can't tell you it wasn't me." He said. "It was. When the anti-mutant party got the White House I was stuck between SHIELD and the Avengers. The White House wanted everything we had on them, on all of the superheroes. I couldn't turn them down. I fought'em for a long time, fought'em hard. But the timing was good for them. A lot of the people I started SHIELD with were retiring, the new guys weren't the same type. They weren't card carrying Grey's, but they leaned that way."

"Why didn't you quit?" Rebecca asked.

"If I had there wouldn't have been anyone slowing them down." Fury said.

"Like that helped?"

"Easy Rebecca." Mary Jane said. "Let him talk."

"Things got harder." Fury said after a deep breath. "Once Reed called me out on project Wide Awake. He'd spotted things in the plans for a world wide defense shield, things that weren't supposed to be in there. Somehow he spotted that the satellites that were going to generate the field would be equipped with mutant tracking units and neutralizers."

"It would be far easier to track and shoot mutants from space than to build Sentinel Robots." Doom said. "And far more economical, and the shield would prevent any from escaping."

"I thought it was a good idea." Fury said. "It was a way I could meet the White House halfway, and they liked it."

"But Reed knew what it could do." Sue said. "To groups like the Xmen. He also knew that to power the satellites would take fusion plants, and the technology for fusion plants wasn't ready yet. He wasn't about to something that unstable into orbit."

"It wasn't only that." Fury said. "Reed knew that a lot of the tech to start the project was stolen from Doom," he looked at Victor, "he was afraid you'd just come in and take it over when ever you wanted."

"I would have, had I been aware of it."

"That's when things started to go really sour." Nick said. "Reed blabbed to the press, the Avengers, the Xmen... He embarrassed the White House and nearly got me fired. I got mad. But it wasn't the usual sort of mad."

"I must stop you for a moment Nick." Victor said. "For at this point events and the masters of those events were reaching even into Latveria itself." he turned to Mystique. "Though at the time I did not know it, the seeds of Latveria's destruction were already being planted."

Mystique looked up at them and only Namorita's arm on her shoulder stopped the woman from curling up into a ball once more.

"I knew about the satellites." She said in an unsteady voice. "I was the one who stole the technology from Doom. I sold it to a black market tech broker."

"At that point I had given the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants sanctuary in Latveria." Doom said. "I was planning to use them for myself, and while I did not trust them, I did not realize just what was occurring behind the scenes."

"Behind the scenes?" Mary Jane asked.

"Yes Mrs. Parker." Doom looked at Fury. "But at this point Nick continue your part of the story."

Nick Fury took a deep breath and went on.

"After Wide Awake was exposed in the press I was ordered to drop it, but not drop it. I put the project underground, gave it to bunch of guys led by Agent Gyrich. Meantime I kept running into nuts with costumes, and I kept having to call on the FF or the Avengers for help. It ate at me, here I was the head of the best group of law enforcers in the world and all the time I had to call for help anyway!"

"Did we ever say no?" Sue demanded. "Or ask for a thank you?"

"It wasn't you." Nick said. "It was me. I kept feeling worthless, useless. I started seeing things different, I started wondering how come you were always there, and it blame near drove me nuts when you guys would catch someone and then destroy his weapons instead of handing them over to SHIELD. It got worse and worse and it broke to hell when They attacked New York."

"They?" Ben asked.

"A terrorist group." Sue said. "They" were devoted to getting back New York, claiming it was their kingdom 20 thousand years ago. They were led by Wenick, who the group thought was an immortal god, but who turned out to be a mutant with some fancy gadgets. He was insane too, wanted to turn New York into a mutant kingdom. It took the Avengers, the FF and the Xmen to beat him. It cost Ben the one woman who loved him."

"And it leveled 3 blocks." Nick said. "But Reed blew up the guys underground base."

"It was that or let a volcano erupt in Manhattan." Sue said. "As Reed and the rest of us explained endlessly to the government investigative panels."

"I started seeing a lot of things hard after that." Nick said. "I got paranoid, I saw mutants everywhere, I didn't trust anyone in a costume, and I didn't take anyone's word that some guy who could lift a building wasn't a threat. Thor and Hercules said they were gods, so that got me mad as hell."

"Is that why you harassed them so much they simply left?" Sue asked. "I remember Thor couldn't walk one foot out of Avenger's mansion without SHIELD agents asking him where he was going and what he was going to do."

"We wanted him gone." Nick said. "More to the point, they wanted him gone."

"The Greys? The White House?" Mary Jane asked.

"No." Doom said. "The true architects of all that has befallen us."

"I..." Mystique started to speak then stopped as everyone looked at her. Namorita put a hand on her shoulder and the woman went on. "In Latveria I was running the brotherhood, watching and planning and plotting. My only friend in the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants was a blind woman, her name was Destiny. Even though I was the leader I relied on her. Destiny could tell the future, not always accurately, but close enough. She saw all of this coming and told me how we could avoid it. While we were in Latveria Destiny told me that Doom was planning to sell us out. I believed her, for you see I had never been able to get Doom's word of honor that we would be safe."

"It is not something I will give easily." Victor said with a meaningful look at Sue.

"I was approached by someone who worked for someone who I trusted less, but whom Destiny said would work out better for us. He was an agent for Baron Zemo. The agent told me that Zemo wanted Latveria, that he had some ancestral claim to the country. I realized it was a trick, but I did not realize how much of a trick it was. The agent said that Zemo's plan was to join me in overthrowing Doom and then we could rule in his place. I knew that the plan also saw the destruction of the brotherhood, so my plan was to overthrow Doom, kill Zemo and rule Latveria."

"While I," Victor said "knew that she was plotting against me and I planned to eliminate her and rule the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants myself."

"That all sounded really dumb." May said. "No wonder it didn't work."

For a few moments there was stunned silence. Then Mystique laughed. It was a laugh tinged with insanity and thankfully it only lasted a short time.

"We were crazy May." Mystique said. "But we were also so scared. We couldn't admit that. Not even to ourselves. You have to realize child that we were playing roles, roles we chose and roles that were chosen for us. I was the greatest woman since Cleopatra, Victor the flawed genius who rivaled Alexander... We fancied ourselves so much better than everyone else, so destined to rule..."

"Sounds like that line from Bugs Bunny." Ben asked. "God what idiots these mortal-types are."

"The correct line is; 'Lord what fools these mortals be." Victor said and the ironic tone in his voice brought a smile to everyone. "And it is from Shakespeare.

"Who?" Ben asked.

"A writer who lived a long time ago." Mary Jane said.

"Oh."

"The Bard was correct." Doom said. "For while Mystique played her game, and I played mine, there were other players in the game. For Mystique was not talking to an agent of Baron Zemo, but to an Agent of the Red Skull."

"But how come your friend Destiny didn't know that?" Mary Jane asked.

"Because Destiny was under mental assault." Mystique said. "I learned this as she died in my arms. For years, almost a decade, Destiny's visions of the future had been corrupted by a powerful telepath. Her visions of the future were real, but instead of working to stop them we were part of their cause."

"The White Queen." Sue said.

"Who?" Ben and May asked together, even as Rebecca snarled and Mary Jane winced at the name. Namorita was surprised, as was Mystique and Nick. But not Victor. Sue saw him give a little nod.

"She's a powerful telepath." Sue said. "She and her husband were part of the ruling council of a group calling itself the: "HellFire Club." The other members I don't know, they were foes of the Xmen. Her partner, or husband, was Sebastion Shaw of Shaw Industries, the company that built the Sentinels."

"So it wasn't your fault Mr. Fury?" Rebecca asked.

"It was kid." Nick said. "And it wasn't. That witch pushed me down the road, but I should'a seen the way that road led. When they put you in charge of things you go no excuse for fouling it up."

"When Latveria was attacked the defenses were sabotaged by the Brotherhood." Victor said. "While I fought them troops of the Red Skull invaded the country, supported by the Greys and some Sentinel robots. They killed the Brotherhood, all but Mystique and captured me, spiriting us both out of the country before the Sentinels attacked with nuclear weaponry. Mystique and myself have been prisoners of the Red Skull ever since."

"Why did they destroy Latveria if you weren't there and the Brotherhood was dead?" Mary Jane asked.

"I don't know." Doom replied. There was a tinge of pain as he spoke. "That question has haunted me for many years. The Skull would often taunt me with it."

He shuddered slightly, so slightly that Sue was sure she was the only one who saw it.

"A few years after it all happened I woke up one day and everything was clear to me." Fury said. "It was like I was waking up out'a one nightmare and into another. I still don't know why my head cleared up."

"I can fill that part of it in for you." Sue said. "The newspaper account I read was sketchy, but it makes sense now. When the Sentinels attacked the White House it was because one of the President's closest advisers was revealed to be a mutant."

"It musta been Shaw." Fury said. "He was a mutant, able to absorb force and use it as strength."

"But he was in charge of building the Sentinels." Rebecca protested. "And he was one of the founders of the Grey party."

"What better place to hide?" Doom asked.

"But why did he do all that?" May asked. "It didn't get him anything but dead."

"Because child he wanted power." Doom said. "There is no one more qualified to know what type of man Sebastion Shaw was than I, because I was much like him. He acted for the same reasons I once acted, the lure of power, the personal conviction that you are so far above the rest of humanity that you have not only the right, but the duty to rule."

"It wasn't only that." Mystique said. "Shaw, like me, believed that the strong only should survive, that the weak deserved their fate."

"That's what the Red Skull believed." Sue said.

Mystique started to cry at the name and the hard way Sue had said it. Namorita bent down to comfort her and threw a harsh look at Sue.

"What it comes down to May is ego, inflated, overstuffed ego." Sue looked directly at Doom as she talked. "The attitude that your so much better at everything than anyone else that you have to rule, and anyone who doesn't believe that, who you even suspect of being as good or better than you... well they have to go."

Is this really helping? Sue wondered. Or am I just making things worse? I do feel for you Mystique, but... do I feel for Victor as well? They were both villains, supervillains... I was a heroine. God listen to me! A heroine! Did I just tell Fury that we didn't want thanks? Did we want the parade and just weren't honest enough to admit it?

"That's dumb." May said with the absolute conviction only a 12 year old girl could know.

"Such attitudes will not survive failure Susan." Doom said. "For both Mystique and myself were taught humility by a harsh tutor."

"So how did Shaw avoid being spotted as a mutant?" Rebecca asked.

"When his company built the Sentinels he worked a signal into their programming." Doom said. "A signal put out by a transmitter he and the rest of his group always wore. If the Sentinels saw that signal they would ignore that person even if he or she was a mutant. The Red Skull learned of this, he slipped an agent into Shaw Industries and made sure the newer Sentinels would not ignore that signal. Then he exposed Shaw and the rest of the HellFire club the to Greys. He boasted of it often. He played the video recording of Shaw's death often to amuse himself."

"Exit Shaw and the rest of them." Namorita said. "They must have gotten the White Queen too."

"The White Queen is still alive." Mary Jane said before Sue could stop her. "The Grey's have her as a slave."

Damn it Mary Jane, Sue said. These aren't friends yet!

Sue caught the quickly hidden look on Doom's face and hoped her own expression was just as quickly hidden.

"Like I said, one day I woke up and everything was clear." Nick said. "But by then it was too late to do anything. I tried anyway, but SHIELD was full of Greys by then, and they were watching me all the time. Not only Greys, but Zemo's spies, the Red Skull's spies, hell most SHIELD agents were drawing five paychecks from as many countries." Nick's voice had turned bitter and Sue realized just how badly he felt the agency's downfall. "I was on a secret mission to Russia, to see if the Black Widow could give me any help at all when Zemo's men grabbed me, but before we got far the Skull's men took me away from them."

"Plot to counter plot." Sue said and the rage in her voice stilled them all. "Spy to spy, backroom deal to dark alley to penthouse to boardroom to the UN to the White House... Giant's dancing... crushing lives with each step..."

"Charles Dickens put it more succinctly Susan." Doom said. "It was the Best of times, it was the Worst of Times. What he wrote of the French revolution easily applied to all of us."

"Well it's all over now Victor." Sue said. "We did not rescue any of you to battle the Sentinels or the Greys. We did it because we need your help."

"To fix this ship." Doom said.

"So what then, you're just going to leave?" Namorita asked.

I am not having that conversation with another person! Sue thought fiercely.

"You don't know what it's like out there." Mary Jane said. "None of you do. There's no freedom, no hope."

"I was the Atlantean ambassador to Europe. I know a little. Namor maintains relations with the Greys."

"That doesn't put him high on the scale as far as I'm concerned." Sue said. "While I was in the camp with Jan I heard about Atlantis deal with the Sentinels." Sue's voice was cold enough to make them all shiver. "Atlantean troops patrol the coast and make sure that no mutant escapes. How many has Namor handed back to the Sentinels? Do you have any idea what happens to them afterwards?"

"My brother's first priority is the safety of our people." Namorita said.

"Your brother's first priority is his own ego." Sue snapped. "Did you know that Franklin went to him for help after he thought we were all dead? After all the times the FF saved Atlantis your brother turned my son over to the Greys!"

Once again Sue found herself trembling and had to take a deep breath to calm herself down.

"But that's over now. Franklin is dead. He died in an attack on the Baxter building, almost a year ago now."

"Sue?" Jan asked, walking over to her. "You know when he died?"

"I never told you Jan." Sue said. "We've had enough to deal with."

Jan shrunk and flew up to sit on Sue's shoulder.

"Franklin and a group of fighters, the last of the Xmen, charged into the Baxter building." Sue said, realizing that she would have to tell them all. "I don't know the full story. Newspapers aren't very accurate anymore and the one I found had the Greys seal on it. The resistance plan was to cripple the Sentinel command network so the European powers could attack. The Sentinels were planning on moving their anti-mutant crusade into other countries and that would have meant all out nuclear war. They didn't cripple the Sentinels, but they did disrupt the command network." Sue reached up and let Jan hug her finger. "That is why our collars stopped working that day Jan. That is why we were able to escape." Sue looked back to the rest of them. "But the attack never came. Instead the European leaders made a quick deal with the Sentinels, allowing them to avoid war if they instituted their own anti-mutant programs. The deal was made in secret and would have gone through anyway. The editorial of the paper praised the European leaders for their recognition of the 'mutant threat' and listed the names of the rebels who died."

"He freed you." Namorita said.

"My son died for nothing!" Sue shouted.

Sue looked straight at Namorita and the force of that gaze caused the Atlantean to step back.

"But..."

"He and the last of those Xmen risked their lives for European powers and were betrayed by them! They died for nothing!"

Mary Jane was at Sue's side, holding her back and Sue realized that she was close to attacking Namorita. She stepped back and again bottled up her anger.

"I don't blame your brother," Sue went on, bringing her voice back to normal. "I don't think about him, I don't care about him. He is nothing to me anymore. The world is nothing to me anymore. Namor and Atlantis can stay safe at the bottom of the sea for the next thousand years if they want to."

"Sue I..."

"No Namorita I don't hate you. I don't even hate Namor, but I have plenty of reason too. I'm beyond the point where I can hate anymore. Victor." Sue turned to him. "Can you fix this ship?"

"I believe so." Doom said calmly. "In time, and with the proper tools. You plan to leave this solar system?"

"I've found 4 planets in the databanks that look good." Sue said. "And there are others I remember."

"And the world?" Namorita asked.

"Is on it's own." Sue said coldly. "Like I said any of you can come with us or not."

"That is a decision that should not be made quickly." Doom said.

"We have time." Sue said. She looked at Mary Jane and Mary Jane nodded. "Since there are a few more of us than I thought we'll have to take a chance. We'll continue on this course for another day or two, that is about the limit of the ships supplies, not a week like I first planned, then loop back and return to the Kree base."

"Where is that?" Fury asked.

"Earth." Sue said. "Antarctica. Once I'm sure the base hasn't been found."

"You intend to use the natural magnetic interference caused by the poles to hide our return." Victor said. "Clever, and that is why we are heading toward what is presumably deep space. Anyone tracking us will not believe this ship came from Earth."

"That's what I'm hoping." Sue said. "So we are going to be stuck with each other for a while."

"We got ice-cream though." May said.

"Good idea May." Mary Jane said. "Let's all get something to eat. We need to relax."

"I'll spell Jarvis at the controls." Sue said. "I want to keep an eye on the scanner in case the Sentinels have some sort of space travel they use."

And I'm too upset to be hungry. Sue thought. Damn it all I was only going after Victor, now I've got more people to worry about! I wish I hadn't had to tell them about Franklin. God how much more pain am I going to have to re-live before this is all over? Is showing people how much I hurt the only way to get through to them? Isn't my face enough? Do I have to show them my stomach too?

Sue was gazing into space a little while later when Mary Jane walked onto the flight deck and got into the co-pilots seat.

"Here you go." She said handing Sue a hot cup of chicken soup. Mary Jane and Jarvis had quickly learned that anything Sue or Jan ate had to be either soft or very well cut, neither woman had enough teeth left that were strong enough to chew well.

"Thanks." Sue said. "How is everyone back there?"

"Well Ben's asleep. Can we try from now on to rescue women who have their own clothes?"

Sue smiled as she drank.

"Namorita was bad enough, but Mystique is so... exotic to him... But her skin was so sensitive from the treatment she got... The fabric hurt her and I couldn't force her..."

"When men hold women prisoner they strip them." Sue said. "Maybe the medical bunk can help her."

"I guess." Mary Jane said. "Victor is in there with Nick and Mystique now. May is right there with him. She's hanging on his every word as he explains how the stuff works."

"How sick are they?" Sue asked, taking another sip.

"Not very." Mary Jane said. "The Red Skull used them both to test designer narcotics, to judge the reaction difference between human and mutant. He'd get them hooked on the stuff, then let them go through withdrawal. That is why they were so weak. He was just about to test another one when we showed up."

Sue winced.

"What about Namorita?"

"Jarvis is showing her the reports we've uncovered from project Wide Awake. I don't think things were as bad in Europe as in America before she was captured. She really might not have known."

"Namor did."

"Are you sure?"

Sue nodded.

"Are we in trouble Sue?" Mary Jane asked after a few minutes of silence.

"We may be." Sue said. "I only expected to find Victor, not the others. Now..."

"I think May is starting her first crush on Victor." Mary Jane said.

"That's understandable." Sue said. "What ever else Victor Von Doom is, he is a born leader. That is the danger Mary Jane. We've presented a born leader with the means to accomplish his life's goal."

"He promised to fix the ship."

"And he will." Sue said. "But in the meantime..."

"What?" Mary Jane demanded as Sue trailed off.

"Look at it from his point of view Mary Jane." Sue said, taking another sip and finding that she had finished the soup. She gazed into the bottom of the empty cup as if she were reading tea leaves. "A base full of advanced equipment and weapons, a former spy, a powerful mutant, a young woman desperate to be what her parents were, two small children, one of whom is already following him around...A group desperate for a leader... everything he needs in the battle he is planning."

"How do you know he's planning all of that?" Mary Jane asked.

"Because I know him." Sue said. She swung her seat around. "Don't I Victor?"

Mary Jane followed Sue's action and was shocked to see Victor standing at the entrance to the flight deck.

He used to be able to move quietly even with the armor, Sue remembered. Without it he's even more silent, but I know how to listen for 'silent' now.

"You both knew me and do not know me now Susan." Victor said.

"Can you honestly tell me the wheels in your head haven't been turning since you came on board?" Sue said. "Come on Victor, you've always wanted the world, you've never had a better chance to take it."

"Not with my kids he doesn't!" Mary Jane snapped. "Not with Rebecca either! I swore I'd keep her safe."

"And you nearly failed." Doom said.

Mary Jane started to rise but Sue held her back.

"Have any of us succeeded in being safe over the past 13 years Victor? Mary Jane sold her body to protect her family, they've lived in more or less comfort for the past 13 years, can you say the same?"

"No." Doom said after a long pause. "No I can not. My apologies Mrs. Parker."

"Where's May?" Mary Jane asked.

"Asleep next to her brother." Doom said. "With the Wasp between them. Rebecca is in earnest conversation with Nick. No doubt talking about her parents."

Mary Jane relaxed.

"I don't know much about you." She said looking at Doom. "Peter always said you were; "Just another super genius like the Coyote in the Road Runner cartoons, always chasing something and never catching it, but too dumb and stubborn to admit it."

That got ya. Sue thought watching Doom stiffen. Mary Jane took a deep breath and faced him.

"From the day Ben was born, and later when May was born, Peter and I talked about what they would do if they ever got powers like his. Peter knew that one of them would want a costume someday, it took me a long time to accept that. I saw the hell Peter went through as Spiderman even before the anti-mutant stuff started. I know what Ben wants, I can't stop him when he's older, just like I can't stop Rebecca now. But I can stop him now. And I know for damn sure that Peter would never want his son to help put you in charge of the world."

"I have not even stated that my intentions lay in that direction." Doom said. "Or do you think Susan is the only who has changed?"

"Then what are your plans Victor?" Sue demanded.

"Until 10 hours ago my plan was to survive the day." Victor said. "That has been my plan for over a decade now. Until you killed the Red Skull my plan was vengeance."

"There is no one left to take vengeance on." Sue said. "The president is dead, Shaw is dead, the White Queen is going through her own hell as a slave, you've obviously made your peace with Mystique. You don't have any enemies Victor. You don't have any country to use as an excuse, no more: "rule the world and Latveria will be safe."

That hurt him. Sue could tell in the way his whole body stiffened.

"Latveria..." Doom started but Sue cut him off.

"Is gone. Everything is gone. The stage we played on was wiped clean Victor, and I can't feel hatred for the Sentinels anymore than I could feel hatred for one of your Doom-bots."

"So what is left?" Doom demanded, anger in his voice for the first time. "To flee to some other planet and leave this one to its fate?"

"Would you rule it any better?" Mary Jane demanded.

"The country I ruled was a paradise." Doom said.

"If you agreed with the laws of Doom." Sue countered. "You had your dungeons and prison camps Victor."

"Were my laws unjust?" Doom demanded. "Ask Mystique and she will tell you that while the Brotherhood was allowed to live in my land they were accepted, not scorned. Ask Mystique if she herself did not make a friend while there? Did not relax in an inn and listen to the songs and tales of my people? You say I had dungeons and prison camps Susan, I ask what country does not? When once I was overthrown did not the Fantastic Four aid in putting me back on the throne?"

"Because Zorba was worse." Sue said.

"And how is that situation different from now except in scale?" Doom demanded.

Sue was silent but it was Mary Jane's turn to speak, but she did so in a stunned whisper.

"You really want to rule the world don't you?"

"I will not flee from it as you are planning to do." Doom replied. "Not a hundred years of torture would drive me from my home planet. But to fix it I must rule it. Left to its current rulers what sort of world will emerge in time?"

Now it was both Mary Jane and Sue's turn to be silent.

He's incredible. Sue thought. Ten hours ago he was in chains, now the old Doom is right back in charge. Or is he? What did I say to Mary Jane a few weeks ago? "But Humpty-Dumpty has fallen. If we had someone, someone like Cap, or Reed, or your husband..." My god Victor is someone like that!

Sue saw the same realization in Mary Jane's eyes.

Damn it he could probably do it. Mary Jane knows that, I know that, but at what cost? This is Doctor Doom!

Sue's thoughts and emotions flailed away at her like a cat-o-nine-tails, memories of the endless battles she and the Fantastic Four had with Doom competing with the idea that Doom could indeed destroy the Sentinels and the Greys.

I didn't want vengeance, I don't want vengeance! I don't owe humanity any more suffering... But...

Sue was floundering and it was Mary Jane who jumped in with her, but did not let them sink or swim to shore.

"Mr. Doom." Mary Jane said. "I won't lie to you, I didn't want to leave the planet. I'd like to fix things, but Sue said we didn't have a chance, and when I found out what was truly going on I agreed with her. The Greys are using hypnosis on children May's age, teaching them to hate, a whole generation is growing up that way. Maybe you could stop that. But rule the whole world?" Mary Jane shook her head. "That's impossible for any one man. Power in a central being is power that will lead to corruption sooner or later. One man, any man, will sooner or later make a mistake, and if he holds absolute power that mistake is magnified a million times. You ruled a country, but you ruled a small country. Do you really think what worked in Latveria would work world wide?"

"I would not be alone." Doom said.

"Ben is smart, he's a whiz at math just like Peter was, May is just as smart, I want them to grow up to be something, but I want them to chose what to be."

"Fate has limited their choices." Doom pointed out.

"Then I want to give them as much choice as I can." Mary Jane said. "Not just servants or henchmen of Dr. Doom. Peter and I talked about that too, talked about how dangerous it could be to have powers and not have any moral structure to use them in. He learned that the hard way. I've tried to teach that to my children. I've tried to teach them to help people when they can."

"Yet you are taking them to live on another planet."

"If the choice is between another planet and having them be part of some repressive government, then yes I will take them to another planet."

"And you think that any government I create will be repressive?"

"If she doesn't I do." Sue said. "I've seen you rule worlds before Victor, I remember that small world in the micro-verse you took over."

"And yet you would both leave me here, free to pursue my plans, plans that you are both sure I have, even after 13 years as a prisoner of the Red Skull? Do you really believe that I did nothing during those years but contemplate of new ways to conquer?"

"What did you do then?" Mary Jane asked.

"Ask Susan how she spent her days and nights." Doom countered.

Mary Jane looked at her and for a moment Sue closed her eyes.

"You wake up." Sue said, pulling all the emotion from her voice. "You eat, if you can, you do what the guards tell you to do, you go to sleep. You think of how to survive, maybe how to escape. That's it."

"And that is how we all spent our days." Doom said. "First Mystique and myself, then Nick, then Namorita. I have not spent any thoughts on how I would one day rule the world Mrs. Parker. My fantasies walked in another direction, and Susan closed that path when she killed the Red Skull."

"Do you really think your wise enough to fix the world?" Mary Jane asked. "Not smart enough, even Peter said you were super smart, but wise enough to know how to make a government for the whole world that's fair and respectful of peoples rights?"

My god she's testing him! If he gives the right answer... Comes up with the right plan...Sue hoped her astonishment wasn't showing on her face. She hadn't thought she'd underestimated Mary Jane, but now Sue realized she had. Maybe it's because she was so quick to let me lead them all, I thought it was just her way of realizing that I was the best one to lead... but now... is she saying that Victor is better than me? That Victor gives her kids a chance at a better life than I could? And could he? He's everything I said we needed; but he is Dr. Doom!

But maybe that's it. He is Dr. Doom. His mind matched Reed's, and Reed could have done it. But Mary Jane has done more than she realizes, she's challenged him. Doom would never back down from a challenge. She's asking him, no she's Daring him to save the world! Talk about a deal with the devil!

"If I can create such a plan will you listen to it or simply dismiss it as one more plot of Dr. Doom?"

"I'll listen." Mary Jane said.

"And you Susan?" Doom asked, turning to her. "Will you also put our past behind us and listen with an open mind?"

Sue looked at Mary Jane for a long moment before she answered. Mary Jane's face was passive, but her eyes crackled with same confusion and fear that were in Sue's spirit. But there was something more; there was hope.

And deep down I have that same hope. Sue realized. I can't deny that.

"I'll listen Victor." Sue said, turning back to him. "But I want your word that this stays between the three of us. If we do leave I don't want anyone having second thoughts."

"You have my word." Victor said.

Mary Jane I hope you know what you've gotten us into.

Mary Jane looked at Sue and the Invisible Woman realized that her friend did know exactly what she had started.

Space is infinite. That was a fact that Sue Richards had always known, but never taken for granted. She had stood outside of galaxies, even outside of the universe, on the decks of ships, on small asteroids and moons and even once floated above the rings of Saturn. Yet each time Sue was still overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of the universe. Namorita, who had been born and raised in at the bottom of the ocean, in a place where there was no sky, was even more staggered. The two of them stood on the outside of Hero's Ark, held to the hull by special gravity units in the boots of their spacesuits.

"Great Neptune!" Namorita whispered. Sue looked in the direction of her gaze. A blue and white half ball was receding in the distance.

"Don't worry." Sue said. "We're going back tomorrow."

"Yea, I guess." Namorita turned away from the sight slowly.

"Let's check the engine." Sue said.

They walked slowly down the length of the ship and Sue was struck again how little a space walk was like diving under water. Instead of an overall feeling of pressure you had a feeling of non-pressure, of emptiness, with only a heartbeat sounding in your ears to remind you that you were alive. The feeling was there, deep down, that one miss-step would spread a person's soul across the endless void.

"Victor are you getting the feed from my camera?" Sue asked.

"Yes." Doom said. "And from Namorita's as well or I would have alerted you."

"Ok." Sue said, and kept on walking. It had been two days since Mary Jane had laid down her challenge. Sue had hoped to be on their way back to Earth, but the Kree satellites showed increased activity in the upper atmosphere. The radio chatter they picked up showed a variety of nations, none of them trusting the other. The Death of the Red Skull had created a minor power vacuum, and everyone was rushing in at once. As a cover each nation claimed they were looking for alien activity.

Sue cut the food rations and hoped they could hold out. Another problem had been keeping everyone busy. Mystique, slowly recovering, spent most of her time asleep or with Namorita. Jarvis continued his lessons to Ben and May, and was joined by Doom. That surprised Sue. Not only did Doom seem to be a patient teacher he had an easy, relaxed attitude around the children. Sue wasn't sure how much of it was an act. Rebecca stayed with Fury, and he could not tell her enough of her father to satisfy the young woman.

Still Sue sensed tenseness in everyone. They hadn't gelled into a group yet, and Sue wasn't sure they ever would or even should. When Doom wasn't with the children he was studying the ship, and it was he who pointed out that one engine might not be good enough to get them into the Kree base safely. Ben and May had wanted to go, but Mary Jane overruled them and Sue agreed. She had pointed out that there were no spacesuits in the children's size anyway. She would go, and Namorita volunteered to come with her.

Now they stood on the outside of the ship, in grey Kree spacesuits. Sue was sweating and she had woken up that morning with painful cramps that had killed her appetite. The atmosphere engines were located on either side of the ball at the end of the ship that held the hyperdrive. Walking on the black skinned craft was a surreal experience; there was no pull of gravity when Sue put her foot down, just a little beep that told her the lock was secure.

They were near the engines when Doom spoke.

"Susan stop."

Sue stopped and behind her Namorita stopped as well.

"What is it?"

"Direct your camera down again, and use your light."

Sue angled her head down and used the light located at her wrist to follow it. A bulbous egg-shaped object protruded from the hull. It was grey and purple, nearly invisible. Sue looked more closely and saw that half of the egg was crushed, as if it were made of clay and had been pressed into the hull.

"That is not part of the Kree design specifications for this ship." Doom said.

Taking a scanner from her belt Sue held it over the egg.

"It's giving off a signal." Sue said. "Modulated carrier wave at 30 watts."

Namorita appeared next to Sue and bent down.

"Should I just rip it off?"

"No." Sue said. She looked more closely at it. "No markings."

"Can you make the outer skin invisible?" Doom asked.

"Yes."

Sue concentrated and slowly the egg shimmered. As the outer shell of the egg vanished a small circuit board and a large blue packet were revealed. Sue heard a slight hum and guessed that Doom was zooming in with her suit camera.

"It is a remote tracing unit and a small explosive." Doom said.

"Explosive?" Namorita demanded. "How small?"

"It doesn't have to be large." Sue said. "All it has to do is break through the hull. The Sentinels must have shot it on us when we got away."

"Why not just blow us up then?" Namorita asked.

"Better to follow and use the explosives later after the ship is in it's base or has met with a larger ship" Doom said. "Is that the only one?"

"I don't know." Sue said. "But if it isn't we'd better find the rest of them."

There turned out to be six of the eggs stuck onto to one side of the ship near the ball end. Finding the rest of the eggs hadn't been difficult. With Doom and Mary Jane shifting the ship to angle different parts of it toward the sun Sue and Namorita had searched every inch of the hull. They were tired after that, but Sue had decided to work on the atmosphere engine anyway. Doom needed the time to finish examining the design of the bombs.

Namorita hadn't liked that idea, but Sue overruled her. So for hours they pulled twisted and broken metal out of the turbine fans. Then Namorita straightened the fan blades as much as she could while Sue fixed a broken fuel line.

"You were out there too long." Mary Jane said as she and Rebecca helped Sue and Namorita out of their spacesuits. The two of them had been out in space for nearly 10 hours.

"We don't have a lot of time." Sue said. She ran her hand through hair that was soaked with sweat and took a deep breath. Inside the ship the suit weighed at least fifty pounds and she felt each one of those pounds. Her stomach was churning and Sue's eyes were burning. Mary Jane pulled off one of Sue's boots and Sue leaned her head back against the bulkhead. She closed her eyes and rested for a moment.

When Sue opened her eyes she was flat on her back and looking up at May's concerned face.

"She's awake!" May called.

"How are you feeling?" Mary Jane asked, putting her hand on Sue's forehead.

"I'm alright." Sue said, forcing herself to rise. She wasn't ok of course. Her head swam and her bones ached. The cramps were back and something seemed to have turned her tongue into sandpaper. "What happened?"

"You blacked out." Mary Jane said. "And you've got some sort of fever."

"A fever?" Sue demanded. The room whirled around her but Sue pulled herself together.

"Well you did spend half a night walking through a jungle." Mary Jane said.

"Good point." Sue said. She let herself slide off of the bunk and with Mary Jane's support stood up. "What's going on?"

"Everyone is talking about the eggs." Mary Jane said.

"Figures." Sue said.

The ship did not have a briefing room so once again everyone but Jarvis assembled in the cargo area. Doom had used a portable unit to project a hologram of the egg in the center of the room.

"Susan?" He asked surprised as Mary Jane helped Sue into the room. Mary Jane eased Sue down to the deck beside Jan and then sat beside her. Sue looked up and defied any of them to say something. No one did.

"How much of a problem are the eggs?" Sue asked.

"Not insurmountable." Doom said calmly. "They are designed to be nothing but remote signaling devices unless disturbed. Then they explode. They do present problems however.

"As long as they are transmitting the Sentinels will know we haven't left the solar system." Sue said.

"Yes." Doom said. I have adjusted our course so that we are now heading toward the asteroid belt, once there we can park the ship behind a suitably large rock and remove the eggs."

"How long will it take us to get there?"

"A day, I am not going to risk being more easily tracked by an long active burn from our propulsion systems."

"They might think we have a base out here." Rebecca said. "And come out after us, if they can."

"The Sentinels operate with a mechanical mind." Doom said. "If we appear to vanish into the asteroid belt rather than engage the hyperspace engine they will conclude that either a base exist or that we are meeting another ship. They will want to investigate, and I think they have the resources to do so."

"How do we disarm the eggs?" Sue asked. A cloud was starting to force its way into her mind but she fought it back.

Doom adjusted the hologram and it zoomed in on the circuit board. A tiny tube shaped object with colors on it was highlighted.

"This is the key. This diode is critical to the power supply, we need to focus a beam of heat onto it, a small laser from the repair kit should do, and fuse it solid. Once it is shorted out the battery will simply run down. That will solve the transmitter and explosive problem, but the skin of the egg can not be removed, and if the beam is off even by a small amount the device may detonate."

"I can make the skin invisible." Sue said climbing to her feet. "So that solves the..." Sue shook her head. She had fought off the cloud in her mind, but her legs were falling out from under her.

What was I saying? It was... oh no....the fever, feel weak, but... Can't let them down... Not Mary Jane, not Ben, Not May, Reed... Franklin! no! No! NOOOOOOOO!!!

Sue was still protesting as the fever dragged her mind back into a stygian abyss.

Dreams and fevers have many things in common but one large difference. In the midst of a fever, like a dream, you have no concept of time, no real stable reality to reach out and hold onto. There is only the moment. But in a fever the moment is filled with pain.

Sue woke up from that pain and was simply grateful not to feel like she was on fire.

After everything else I've lived through, Sue thought, to be killed by a bug, that would have been too sad.

At the same time she woke up she became aware of moans and screams, and of the fact that she couldn't move. Something held her arms and legs in place. Sue looked down and saw a sort of woven white string had been wrapped around her wrist and ankles and secured to the bunk. Under the light blanket someone had put on her she was nude. She looked around and saw that nearly everyone else was similarly secured. Rebecca, Mary Jane, Namorita and Jan all were laying in bunks, all tied down. Mystique was slumped in a chair asleep.

Sue tried to move and found that whatever the substance was it was very strong.

"Hey!" Sue tried to speak but all that came out was a croak. She cleared her throat and tried again.

"Hey!"

"Sue?" May asked, poking head in through the doorway. She rushed over to the bound woman and put her hand on Sue's forehead. "Fever's gone, how are you feeling?"

"Thirsty." Sue said, pulling at her restraints. "What is this stuff?"

"Webbing." May said. She took a knife and started to cut Sue's wrist free.

"Webbing?"

Sue blinked her eyes to clear them and for the first time saw the strain and fatigue on May's face. Lines that should never have been on the face of a 12-year-old. Sue's heart ached for that even as she marveled at how calm May was.

"Ben's webbing." May said. "Sorry about it, but everyone was thrashing around in the bunks, Mystique said you might hurt yourselves."

"It was a good thing to do." Sue said. "Who's well besides us?"

"Pretty much no one." May said. Mr. Doom, Mr. Fury and Jarvis are in the other room. "Funny, Mr. Doom and Mr. Fury keep calling out for someone named Val, or Valeria. Did they date the same person?"

"Same name, different people." Sue said, remembering Doom's love as a kind, gentle woman, completely overwhelmed by Victor's personality, and Fury's girlfriend; a seasoned spy.

"How long have I been out?" Sue asked.

"Two days." Mystique said pulling herself out of the chair. If May's face had lines on it Mystiques had valleys. There was a tinge of insanity in her voice and Sue could well imagine what she had been through. Mystique handed Sue a cup of water while May freed her ankles. "I'm glad you are awake. May, Ben and I were the only ones who were immune."

"Where's Ben?"

"Asleep." May said. "He wore himself out."

Completely free now Sue sat up, letting the blanket fall away from her body. She had lost weight once again, her ribs could clearly be seen. She stood up and waited a moment for the dizziness to pass. Her body wasn't at full strength, she could tell her muscles were loose, but she could move.

"What's been going on?" Sue asked taking the jumpsuit that Mystique handed her.

"After you collapsed the Victor and Nick tried to defuse one of the bombs." Mystique said. "They failed and it exploded inward, punching a whole in the hull."

"Ben sealed it." May said proudly.

"Webbing?" Sue asked.

"From his wrist." Mystique said. "He didn't even know he could do it, but when the air started to rush out he reacted instinctively." She smiled slightly. "That is the way it is with many of my kind."

"Then everyone got real sick." May said.

"It's contagious but not lethal." Mystique said.

"It may not be fatal but it takes you down a peg." Sue said leaning against the bunk.

A scream from across the way got their attention and Mystique crossed the distance in a flash. Namorita strained against her webbing, far thicker webbing than had anchored Sue down. Unlike Sue she was not covered and her skin was marked with grey patches that flaked off.

"Water!" she screamed. "Please great Neptune water!"

Taking a small cup Mystique poured a little bit of water over Namorita's brow and then into her mouth.

"More!" Namorita pleaded. "Please more!"

"There is no more for now." Mystique said and returned the cup to the dispenser.

"MORE!" Namorita howled and then feel back pleading and moaning.

"When the explosive detonated it damaged a few of the systems." Mystique said. "The water and food units barely work."

Into the fire. Sue thought.

The Kree ships did not store food exactly. Rather they stored blocks of solid protein matter that a matter replication system then turned into food. Water was recycled, but only to a point. Anticipating no more than a week in space with only seven people Sue had stored just a little more than needed. With the systems in working order the 10 of them could have lasted a week on thin rations, but without them... they were in trouble.

"Please." Mystique pleaded quietly and in her yellow eyes Sue saw the near total agony of a person on the brink of insanity. "She is my friend, more than... Please..."

"We'll make it through ok." Sue said calmly and Mystique fell against her crying. May quietly moved out of the cabin. After a few minutes Mystique pulled herself together.

"We have more problems." She said wiping her face. A craft of some sort is a day behind us, it came from Earth and seems to know where we are."

"Sentinels." Sue said. "Following the homing beacons, and maybe spotting the explosion."

"Yes." Mystique agreed. "I do not... I could not think of... what to do..."

"Don't worry." Sue said.

I killed the Skull too quickly. Sue thought, looking at the torn and broken woman infront of her. What did he do to you? You used to be one of the strongest, smartest women I ever met...

"I'm..." Mystique turned away and put her hand on Namorita's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm not very helpful. I haven't been for a very long time now, and I doubt I ever will again. I used to live for a great cause... so I thought... because of that cause I destroyed... everything... I thought I was so..."

"You were."

Sue took hold of Mystique's shoulders and turned her around.

"But that was then. It's over. It's been over for a long time. Whatever you did, you paid for."

"No, I'm damned... I have learned that, I will never stop being punished, I deserve... the Skull But..."

"Mystique I lost everything in part because of what you did. My family, my husband my son, if anyone has the right to hate you I do. I don't."

And I really don't, Sue thought. God that surprises the hell out of me. But the woman I would have hated died years ago, she died in the rapes, in the drugs, in the tortures. Now if I can only get her to believe it.

"Namorita has told me this as well." Mystique said. "I don't believe it. I have done things... Why I live is a mystery to me."

"Why any of us are still alive is a mystery." Sue said. "We probably won't ever know why. But we are here, we have to make the best of it."

"You weren't me. You weren't a supervillain." She turned to Namorita again and took hold of her hand. "My sins are not washed away."

"Do you love her?" Sue asked.

"What?" Mystique looked confused at the question.

"Do you love Namorita?"

"I... Yes. She protected, saved me. When the guards raped me, beat me, when they... when they..."

"Then do for her what she did for you." Sue said. "You take care of her, I'll get us out of this, but you take care of her."

"I will." Mystique said in a very small very broken voice. She took a damp cloth and moved it along the grey patches on Namorita's body.

"I'll go see what I can do about the rest of it." Sue said.

May was waiting outside of the small room for her.

"She'll be ok." May said. "She gets like that sometimes."

"It's hard for her." Sue said. She reached over and stroked May's hair. "And for you. How long has it been since you got some sleep?"

"A while." May nodded. "It's hard to sleep when everyone's screaming. Ben wanted to gag everyone..."

"Going nuts with the webbing isn't he?" Sue asked. She saw more webs scattered around the passageway.

"It's everywhere!" May exclaimed, completely exasperated. "I mean it's handy... but..."

"I know." Sue said and she couldn't help the smile that came to her face. "My little brother was a handful before he got his powers... afterwards... Well we had to get special wall paper to keep him from burning the house down."

The two of the giggled for a moment and May threw her arms around Sue.

"I'm glad your ok again."

"So am I." Sue said hugging her.

"Where is Ben now?" Sue asked once May let her go.

"He's in there." May said pointing toward the other room. Mystique said we should separate the girls and the boys... you know."

"I know." Sue said. "I've done my share of nursing. "I'll go see how they are, you go back and help Mystique ok?"

"Ok."

May went back into the room and Sue stood up. Going to the blanket she parted it slightly and peered inside. Victor, Nick and Jarvis were all lying in seperate bunks, with their arms and legs webbed down. Thin blue blankets had been thrown on them all and the blue fabric showed bright against pale skin. Ben was giving a drink of water to Jarvis. He looked up as Sue came in.

"Hi." he said. Like May Ben had lines on his face that he was far too young to have to bear.

"I hear you can cast webs." Sue said walking over to him.

"Yea." He held up his wrist. At the base, where the blue veins formed the letter K was a small grey mound. "I can do it with my feet too." he said proudly holding up a foot for Sue to see. On the top of the foot, just above each toe were similar grey mounds. "I can't get them to work right yet, first time I tried I stuck myself to the floor."

"It takes practice." Sue said.

Suddenly Ben threw himself toward her and hugged her, burying his face into her body.

"Are you really ok? Does that mean mom will be ok?"

"She'll be fine." Sue said hugging him back and hoping he'd let her go quickly. Ben was quickly developing spider strength and obviously didn't realize it yet. Still she said nothing for a few minutes as he held onto her. He didn't cry, but Sue didn't expect him too. It was a cliche that boys didn't cry, but it was true. Sue knew from experience that at a certain point boys turned into teenagers and teenage boys didn't cry. So Sue let him hold onto her and might have let him keep doing it for a while longer if Jarvis and Victor hadn't moaned.

Ben broke the hug and went to Jarvis.

"We could really use more water." was all that he said.

"I know." Sue replied as she took the small cup from the dispenser. She cradled Victor's head and held the cup to his lips. His face was pale and Victor's eyes were wild as he looked up at her.

"I will give you the world Valeria." he whispered through parched lips. "I will keep you safe in my world, those men will never touch you again. Please!" His arm broke free of the webbing and snatched Sue's arm in a vise like grip. "Understand! I must rule! Only if I rule are you safe! Let me rule!"

"It's alright Victor." Sue said quietly. "You can rule, but first you have to rest."

"Doom can never rest." Victor said bitterly. "The world will not let Doom rest. Doom must be supreme. No one is as brilliant as Doom! Doom must rule or all will die! Doom will command everyone to be content! Valeria you have to understand that! I must make you see... that is why I left... I wouldn't have left... if I had been there those men... I found them for you! I destroyed them for you! Them and their families! I did it for you!"

"I understand Victor." Sue said. "That's all over now, you just have to rest."

Ben appeared at her side and together they forced Victor's arm down. Once it was close enough to the edge of the bed Ben webbed it. Then he helped Sue pry Victor's fingers away from her arm. They had left deep marks. Doom sighed and passed out.

"He keeps saying that stuff." Ben said and Sue could tell that he was worn out. "He keeps talking about Valeria, Mr. Fury keeps begging everyone to forgive him and Jarvis keeps trying to get all the Avengers out of the mansion!"

"It's hard I know." Sue said. "But don't worry, they'll be ok. In the meantime you just have to be strong."

"I guess." Ben said. "I'm trying not to listen too, it gets really personal, kinda gross too."

"I think they'd appreciate it if you never told anyone what you heard." Sue said.

"I won't."

"Ok, you keep an eye on them, I'm going to the flight deck. We've still got to get out of here."

"Right." Ben said. "I forgot about the Sentinels."

Sue left and headed toward the flight deck.

I have got to get us out of this. Sue thought. Those kids have worked to hard to keep us alive and Mary Jane deserves a chance to be proud of her children.

Sue had long ago learned not to argue with computers. Be they advanced enough to harbor dreams of galactic conquest or simply obediently relaying information; arguing didn't help. That didn't mean she had to like what they told her. Six Sentinel robots had linked themselves and were heading out to them. If the hyperdrive had been fixed Sue would have used it. But it wasn't and that was a problem. Short range Sue could escape the robots, simply by outrunning them or shooting them out of space. But they were linked to the other Sentinel robots, and more would come.

"The safest place to hide is in death." Sue whispered as she started to scan the asteroids around the ship.

"Are you hungry?" May asked coming onto the flight deck.

"Yes." Sue answered. She took the cup of soup May handed her.

Just like her mother. Sue thought. Always a gift. Am I so remote that they need an excuse to come and talk to me?

"What are you doing?"

"Searching for the right asteroid." Sue said. "I have a plan, but I need the right one to make it work."

"Aren't they just rocks?"

"Not all." Sue took a sip of the soup and was extremely pleased when her stomach did not recoil. A warm pleasant feeling spread through her body. "Most of them are nickel, some tungsten, even a little iron. There's a supermarket in minerals out here. But I need one that has hydrogen inside."

"Hydrogen?"

"The most common element in the universe." Sue said. "It's not out of the ordinary for hydrogen gas pockets to be trapped inside an asteroid as it forms." The console beeped and the display changed to show an asteroid twice as big as the ship. Large green areas on the display showed against brown.

"Perfect." Sue said.

"What are we going to do?"

"Hopefully convince the Sentinels that we've blown ourselves up." Sue said.

Hero's Ark was in the shadow of the asteroid when Sue stepped out of the airlock. She could sense it even without looking, a large solid body spinning wildly in space. Sue switched on her suit lights and carefully walked across the hull. One thing Sue was very grateful to the Kree for; their spacesuits were self-cleaning. The air in the suit smelled as clear as it ever did, clearer than the air in the ship, and the fabric felt as fresh as the day it was made. Beyond her suit light was nothing but endless black vacuum. Sue walked down the hull until she came to the damaged portion. It hadn't been a big hole, but the force of it was enough to pierce the hull. Still the inside patch that Ben had put on was solid. Sue smiled and wondered if she should tell him the truth. Kree spacecraft were triple hulled with independent panels and pressure sensitive self-sealing foam located in between the first and second layers. Ben's webbing had merely started what the foam had completed.

I'll tell him when we're back on Earth. Sue thought. At this point he needs all the confidence he can get.

She moved to the first bomb and took out a laser torch. Starting a foot away from the bomb itself Sue cut into the hull, making a foot wide circle around the bomb. She moved slowly, watching her suit meter and being careful not to let the hull get too hot. Sue didn't know if the explosive was temperature sensitive, but there was no way she was in a mood to take chances.

It was almost a half an hour before Sue pulled the hull plating around the first bomb. As she pulled the plate away the foam sprang into action. Sue waited until she was sure it was sealed then walked back to the airlock and carefully anchored the plate to the side of the hull with a soft adhesive. Then she walked to the next bomb and repeated the procedure. When she had all of them off of the ship Sue pulled the plates off of the hull and used more of the adhesive to stick them together end to end. The adhesive had come from the ships repair kit; the instructions said it would stick quickly but take hours to become solid. Perfect for what Sue had in mind.

"Ben, May." Sue asked triggering her communications unit. "Are you ready?"

"Ben's putting it in the airlock now." May said. "It stinks."

"Good reason to get rid of it then." Sue said smiling. She watched as the outer door of the ship opened. Sitting on the floor of the airlock was four ten-gallon containers. With the recycling down most of the ships organic waste was sitting behind a panel. Getting it into the two containers could not have been a pleasant job but Ben did it without complaint. Sue picked one up, braced her self against the ship and tossed it toward the asteroid. Her suit light let her follow it until it impacted against the surface. She did the same for the rest of them. The cold of deep space had frozen them solid so the contents did not spill out.

"Perfect." Sue whispered. She took one of the plates with the bombs and, bracing herself carefully, sent it sailing past the asteroid.

"May what is the reading?" Sue asked.

"It's spinning once every 45.98 seconds reletive to us." May said.

"Right. Is Ben tracking the bomb I just tossed?"

"Got it." Ben said. "It's not moving too fast."

"Good. We don't want it too far away."

Sue pushed off of the ship and floated toward the asteroid. Time was getting short for her plan to work, but Sue let her self drift anyway, being ready with her suit thrusters. Landing on an asteroid spinning in space wasn't easy and it was even harder on one that was shaped only vaguely like a flattened wedge. If Sue came in to hard she might damage her suit, if she came in too soft the asteroid's spin would knock her back into space. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that she had to land while carrying bombs.

And just to make it really fun I'm still weak from the fever. And getting off of it should be a lot of laughs too.

The surface of the asteroid came closer and for a moment Sue thought she had miss-judged it. But at the last moment she triggered her suit thrusters and came to rest on the hard rock.

"I'm down and safe." Sue said into the com unit. "Everyone ok over there?"

"Were fine." May said.

The surface of the rock was pockmarked with thousands of large, small and mini-impact craters. Dust covered some of it, but not too deeply. Using some of the mini-craters Sue moved to the nearest large crater and pressed the deck plates with the bombs onto it. A little adhesive set it solidly and Sue breathed a sigh of relieve as she moved off. Creeping hand over hand across the surface of the rock she moved to the edge. Though there was no up or down in space there was the ship, and from Sue's perspective the asteroid was only facing it for 3 seconds at a time. Sue waited, timed herself and then leapt into space and triggered her suit thrusters. It was close, if there had been atmosphere around her Sue would have sworn she could feel the wind as the edge of the big rock whipped past her. She didn't relax until she was in the airlock and air was filling it.

"Mary Jane?" Sue asked in astonishment as she stepped out of the airlock. "You should be in bed."

"No beds on the ship." Mary Jane said. She was wearing only a robe and her skin was nearly grey. Sue pulled off the rest of the suit and went to her.

"May told me what you were doing, I wanted to help." Mary Jane said. She tried to step forward and Sue caught her.

"You helped enough by having them." Sue said. "Now come on, lets get you back to your bunk."

"Mom!" May asked coming down from the flight deck. "I thought you were in bed."

"Everyone thinks that." Mary Jane said with a smile that showed how sick and weak she was.

They got into the bunk room and Sue saw Mystique on the floor. The woman was curled up into a ball under Namorita. With a grunting effort May and Sue got Mary Jane back into her bunk.

"The webbing disolves after a while." May said.

"Mystique?" Sue asked. She carefully lifted Mystique's head.

"She must have passed out again." May said. "She does that a lot."

"I see." Sue said. Mystique was breathing softly but Sue noticed a small amount of blood under her. Puzzled she lifted the woman's left wrist and saw a slash mark that was already beginning to fade. "I really see."

"What is it?" May asked.

"Deathwish." Sue said holding up Mystique's wrist. "But she's healing too fast for it to work."

"Suicide?" May asked. "Why?"

Why not? Sue thought but she was not going to say that out loud.

"She's been through a lot May." Sue said. She lifted Mystique up and laid her into an empty bunk. Then she looked over at Namorita. Her skin was almost all grey now. The Atlantean was laying very still and for a moment Sue's heart stopped. Walking over she took the medical scanner and ran it over Namorita's body.

"She isn't dead." May said.

"No." Sue said, breathing again. "She isn't." Suddenly struck by the way May had said that Sue turned around and looked at her. "You know that don't you?"

May shrugged. "I always know. I just do. Sometimes if I touch them right, it helps. Makes me tired though."

Sue closed the scanner and looked at her. May looked back in complete innocence.

"Mystique must have thought Namorita was dead, or dying." Sue said. "We'd better get Ben to web her up until this plan is done."

"I'll get him." May said.

She left and Sue went over to Mary Jane.

"She's a little miracle isn't she." Mary Jane whispered. "I knew she was good at nursing small strays that came to our house... but Sue I never dreamed..."

"You've got two kids who can walk on walls." Sue said. "One of them can spin webs and the other heals people." Sue bent down and kissed Mary Jane's forehead. "I'm going to keep them safe for you Mary Jane. You get some rest."

Mary Jane sighed and closed her eyes.

Franklin. Sue thought as the image of Franklin when he first used his powers suddenly came to her mind. Darling... Why did you have to die? Sue realized she was gripping the bunk so tightly her knuckles were white. She let go and then wiped the tears from her eyes, fighting them back. A mountain of rage stormed through her and for a moment she hated Mary Jane. Mary Jane who's children still lived while Sue's only child was dead. The moment faded and Sue was left with a horrifying guilt over her thoughts. Her legs almost buckled beneath her but Sue closed her eyes and pulled herself together. She fought the rage and the guilt and the pain back, and opened her eyes just as Ben and May came into the room.

I'll keep them safe. Sue promised the sleeping woman quietly. God damn-it if I have to blow up the sun I'll keep them safe!

"I don't get it." May said as Sue gave a short burst on the thrusters to start the ship moving away from the asteroid. "Why put that stuff on the asteroid, won't it just all blow up anyway?"

"Very few explosions destroy things completely." Sue said. She activated the main engines at low power to keep them moving. "There is always something left, a chemical residue, a triggering device, I once saw a building blow up and all that was left was a desk with a flower pot on it. The flower was ok."

"So the Sentinels will look for leftovers?" May asked.

"Right." Sue said. "That's why I had you and Ben shove everything we could spare out of the air lock. When we blow the asteroid the Sentinels should assume that we blew up the ship trying to defuse the bombs. They should find metal residue from the asteroid, organic residue from the stuff we threw onto the asteroid and enough flotsam and jetsam from the ship to convince them."

"What about the bomb you threw away?"

"That is to show them how we were getting rid of the bombs." Sue said. "See if we just blew up the asteroid they'd wonder why there wasn't more wreckage, they know how powerful their own bombs are after all. But if they find the bomb still attached to the deck plate they'll hopefully decide that we were getting rid of the bombs that way and caused our own ship to blow up."

"What if it doesn't work?" May asked.

"We think of something else." Sue said. "You only fail when you stop trying."

"Hmmm." May said and Sue keyed the intercom.

"Ready Ben?"

"Ready. On thin shot on the gas pocket and a second later one on the bombs."

"Right, when I say so."

Kids with toys. Sue thought. We never covered the variable power ranges the guns have in the simulators, there wasn't time, then Ben figures them out in five minutes and slices through the Red Skull's ceiling like a master. God Mary Jane is going to be proud of them.

Sue waited for a moment for the stab of guilt and rage to come, but it didn't. Instead she had a flash of memory: Franklin, Johny and Reed building their first hovercar together. She only had an instant to re-live it then Sue had to push the image back.

"Almost there." Sue said. On the screen was a course chart. On one side of the asteroid were the Sentinel robots on the other was the ship. They were moving under power now, safely hidden by the bulk of the big rock. But the further they moved away the more likely the Sentinels would detect the engine emissions. The engine cut off point was tricky. Too soon and the blast from the asteroid would catch them with too much force, too late and the Sentinels would see them. Sue was going to cheat a little, using her own force field to cushion the blast so they could cut the engines sooner. Sue just hoped that she was up to the task.

"Ok May." Sue said. "In about 30 seconds it's going to be up to you. I might pass out and you'll have to steer the ship if looks like we're going to hit something."

"I'm ready." May said.

Would you tell me if you weren't? Sue asked, but kept that question to herself.

"Ok Ben." Sue said hitting a few switches. "You've got the countdown."

"Ready." Ben said.

Ten seconds later a nearly invisible beam of charged particles shot out of the gun turret on the left side of the ship. Precisely two and one half seconds later another beam, this one also invisible but hot enough to melt rock followed it from the right turret. The first shot hit the asteroid and sliced an irregular channel out of it until it reached a pocket of trapped hydrogen gas. The second beam hit the center of one of the egg bombs just as the gas was allowed to escape into space. The fireball that followed was silently spectacular. The cascade reaction Sue had planned for, with more and more of the trapped hydrogen exploding, birthed a small sun behind them.

Sue gripped her hands against the side of her seat, closed her eyes and concentrated on putting a thick force field behind them. She shaped it carefully, designing it to use the blast to push the ship to higher speeds. Then she screamed in agony as megawatts of energized plasma and tons of semi-solid super heated rock slammed into it. Her body convulsed uncontrollably and only the straps that held her to the chair stopped Sue from lurching through the control panel.

The blast caught the ship and punched it through space with only May's hands at the controls stopping them from going into a head over heels spin.

But while the agony was brutal it was also brief. After the first and second shockwaves passed them Sue let her shield down and was stunned to find that she was still conscious.

"We're safe." May whispered. Her hands were shaking and Sue was sure the girl had been scared stiff.

"We're safer." Sue corrected her. She reached over and switched on the radio. "Now we run silent." Sue switched off most of the active systems and reduced the others to lower power levels. "You and Ben go and check on everything, I'll listen into the Sentinels and see if they've bought it."

"Right." May un-strapped herself and walked somewhat shakily off of the flight deck.

Sue took a deep breath, fought off sleep and settled down to listen.

... To be continued.

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