End of Hope

Chapter 6

by Skytower

Damn but that felt so good. Sue thought. In front of her on the ground lay Namor, prince of Alantis and his sister Namorita. The energy discharge from the Kree plasma gun she used still lingered, randomly causing multicolored lightning bolts to dance around their bodies. Their faces were twisted in agony and that gave Sue an overwhelming feeling of pleasure.

"Damn. Damn that felt good." Sue said aloud.

"Sue!" Mary Jane asked. Sue looked at her and was amazed that she was not horrified by the sight in Mary Jane's eyes.

"They're not dead Mary Jane." Sue said. She showed her the plasma gun's energy setting. "Heavy duty stun. They'll be out for a while."

"But they said they wanted to talk." Rebecca cried, running up from where she and Simone had been standing ready.

"And I said if she showed up here again before we left I'd kill her and anyone with her." Sue said. She was feeling giddy, almost euphoric. "We both lied."

"But..."

"It's alright Rebecca." Sue said forcing herself to sound reasonable. "Namor is used to getting knocked out." She turned to Victor. "Can you check the drill machine and make sure it isn't going to broadcast a homing or distress signal."

"Of course." Victor said. There was a look on his face, Sue wasn't sure what it was. Victor was handsome, with brown hair and brown eyes. The only thing that marred his face was a slight scar. He moved cautiously toward the tunneling machine.

"Kinda harsh wasn't it?" Ben asked. In his Spiderman suit Ben Parker almost looked ready for Halloween, but his powers were the same as his fathers.

You bet it was! Sue smiled to herself but kept the thought to herself as well. And I enjoyed every second of it, and I'd do it again if I could. Just the way he said my name, as if he expected me to be reasonable!

Sue felt anger rising within her and forced it back down. She handed the gun to Mary Jane and bent down. Namor hadn't aged at all. His jet black hair was still cut short, revealing the aquiline face and pointed ears she had once found attractive. His body was slim but solid. He wore only a pair of belted green swimming trunks. Sue pulled the buckle off of the swim trunks and looked at it closely. At a thought from her the outer casing turned invisible, revealing a small electronic device. Sue put the buckle aside and then, ignoring the gasp of surprise from everyone else, she reached down the front of his trunks and moved her hand around. Her search turned up another, smaller electronic device. She put it with the first one and then leaned over to Namorita.

"You want help?" Ben asked.

"Ben!" Mary Jane snapped.

"Just offering." Ben said.

"It's alright Mary Jane." Sue said. She reached over and took the crown from Namorita's forehead. It was a tiara, well made from gold and it too was full of hidden electronics.

"The craft is shut down and there are no devices active or otherwise to worry about." Victor said.

"They had these." Sue said handing him the two belt buckles and the tiara. "They might have more."

"Doubtful." Victor said. "I will set the base scanners to warn us if any signal is detected and jam it before it reaches the outside world."

"They said they came to talk." Rebecca protested. "You didn't give them a chance."

"I gave her a chance when I told her not to come back." Sue said. "Namor's lucky I don't fry him now."

"Sue you can't kill them." Mary Jane said. "You know that."

Let me live the fantasy, please! Sue thought. Yet she knew Mary Jane was right. In combat, in different circumstances Sue could kill. But not this way, not with a person laying helpless at her feet. She looked and saw the fear in Mary Jane's eyes. That same fear had been there weeks ago, when Sue had pinned Mary Jane to the wall of her bathroom. That looked had been enough to make Sue sick then, now it was enough to quell her anger and shock and let her think.

"I'm not going to kill them Mary Jane." Sue said. "We've got about five days before we leave. They can cool their heels in the detention cells."

"What about what they were going to say?" Rebecca asked.

"I know what they were going to say." Sue said. "Not word for word, but close enough."

"Well I think we should hear them out." Rebecca said.

"You do." Sue said turning slowly to look at her.

"I do." Rebecca said. "Everyone deserves a chance to be heard. We did it with Nick, even Simone did it with Nick, who's to say that the White Queen wasn't affecting Namor as well?"

"That is very doubtful." Victor said.

"But possible." Rebecca said. "We have to be fair."

The hell we do! Sue wanted to scream the thought. She wanted to shove Rebecca to the other end of the cavern and then...

The anger broke as Sue looked at the younger woman. Sue was over forty, Rebecca was barely 19. But it was Rebecca who seemed linked to the past and Sue who faced the present and the future. She had made herself a costume, given herself a name. Just as Sue had once done.

Does she think it's that easy? Sue wondered. She can't think that, she's not an idiot. Neither were her parents, and damn if they wouldn't be proud of her right now? She wants to be fair? Because of that fairness her parents were murdered before her eyes!

"Fair can get us killed. Or worse." Sue said.

"We trusted Namorita to leave." Rebecca insisted. "I'd like to know why she broke that trust."

"That's simple." Sue snapped. "Atlantis is in trouble. And like he has done so many times Namor has come looking for help, even though he turned my son over to the Greys and has been smuggling drugs into Europe, food out of America and deals secretly with the Greys and the Kingpin. Do you really want to trust a man who does all that?"

"No." Rebecca said. "But I want to hear what Namorita has to say."

Sue's soul seethed with frustration at the calm and adamant tone in Rebecca's voice. She hadn't realized just how much the daughter of Captain America and the Scarlet Witch had grown.

"Ok." Sue said. With a thought she used an invisible force field to lift Namor and his sister of off the ground. "I'll put them in a containment cell and we'll listen, but no one sees them but me and they are not getting out of that cell until those ships are ready to go."

"If no one sees them but you how do we hear them out?" Ben asked.

"Victor can rig a link to the dining room." Sue said. "If I talk to them alone I might get the truth, but alone only. Namor loves an audience and he can talk when he wants to."

"Meaning you don't trust us to tell if he's telling the truth or not?" Simone asked stepping up beside Rebecca.

"Namor is stronger than anyone here." Sue said. "You get close enough to smell him and he'll grab you."

"If you are planning to move them Susan I think you should do so." Victor said. "Before they wake up. I shall put the audio/video link into operation."

"Thank you Victor."

Sue lifted Namorita and Namor on her force field and slowly limped toward the main building. Behind her they all followed.

______________________________________________________

Each detention cell was a small 10 foot by 10 foot room. They held two bunks, a small chemical toilet and nothing else. The walls were dull grey and the light source was outside the cell in the corridor. There were no bars. Instead the cell was enveloped with randomly shifting force fields. The place could have held the Thing, Sue knew it would hold the Atlanteans. She sat on a chair outside of the cell and waited for them to wake up. Simone and Rebecca had grumbled a bit more but Mary Jane had backed Sue up, as had Victor and Nick.

Are those two lovers? Sue wondered. Or is Simone just playing follow the leader? She was raised in Zemo's palace, she can't be as naive as Rebecca. Maybe it's just friendship. Maybe she's looking for a cause, and god Rebecca has one! She has principles, a cause and power, but she doesn't have enough of the last one to make the difference. If I leave her here she'll be in a Greys hell camp inside of a year, if she lives.

Namor and Namorita started to stir and Sue brought her mind to the pair of them. Everyone was watching through the link and Sue knew there was a lot riding on this conversation.

"Why did you shoot us?" Namor demanded his face angry as he climbed to his feet. Sue just looked at him coldly.

"Sue I didn't want to do this but we need help." Namorita said. She sat up but did not stand up.

"Where is Doom?" Namor walked up to the force field. "I demand to see him!"

Still Sue didn't say anything and the sub-mariner growled and lashed out at the force field. Sue didn't flinch and his blow had no effect.

"I made you a promise Namorita." Sue said. "And you made me one. You made all of us a promise."

"No one else knows where we are." Namorita protested. "But we need your help."

"Saving your life, rescuing you from the Red Skull, putting you and Mystique into Africa close enough to get to the ocean, risking my life... I was pinned down by Greys troops after you and Mystique left, for days I had to stay awake and keep the Quinjet invisible, and I still barely made it out alive. You still need my help?" Sue put all of her scorn in to the last few words of the sentence and Namorita looked away.

"We need Doom's help." Namor said. "Where is he?"

"Busy." Sue said.

"Get him." Namor commanded in a tone that wasn't used to being ignored. Sue didn't ignore it, she laughed at it. Namor's face turned red and again he pounded on the cell's force field.

"Sue please will you just listen to us?" Namorita pleaded. "I know your angry, but I wouldn't have come here without a reason."

"Anger is a pale word indeed for the emotions that are vexing the Invisible Woman." Victor said stepping into the corridor. Sue's head snapped around and she glared at him.

"Doom?" Namor asked, as put off by Victor's appearance as Sue was.

"Susan we must speak now." Victor said.

"Doom we must speak!" Namor shouted.

"You'll have to wait." Sue said. She got up and limped over to Victor.

"No!" Namor shouted and again attacked the force field. He kept doing it as they left.

______________________________________________________

"This is why I interrupted you." Victor said. They had all gathered in the briefing room next to the medical bay. On the screen a picture of an amoebae like creature floated. "When I went to the control room to set up the communications scan an alarm was sounding. The scanners had detected an alien organism in the air. Luckily the base defenses sterilized the air automatically."

"What is it?" Mary Jane asked.

"A variation on the China anti-mutant virus." Victor said. "And I suspect the reason Namorita broke her promise."

"That plague that is running up and down the East Coast of the United States?" Simone asked.

"Yes. Apparently it has infected Atlantis as well. That is why Namor insisted on seeing me Susan."

"He needs a cure." Sue said.

"Wait a minute." Mary Jane said. "If he and Namorita were infected... that means..."

"That means they knew there were bringing a lethal airborne virus into the base." Sue said. "What better way to ensure that Victor has to find a cure?"

"What about the rest of us?" Ben asked.

"Added incentive." Sue said. "Still think I should have been fair Rebecca?"

Rebecca looked away.

"There is a puzzle to this virus." Victor said. "As part of my investigations into the world I noted the plague that broke out of New York city, but that sickness was reported cured. As I said this is a variation of the China virus, but it is not precisely the same virus, and it would not produce the same symptoms as that virus. Also I checked yesterday and found that a new virus, this virus from the similarities I can observe is now active in New York and Europe and quickly spreading.

"So what is it?" Ben asked. "A cousin virus or something?"

"I believe it is a mutation of the China virus variant that first hit New York."

"Don't they put safety caps on these things?" Ben asked. "How did it get loose in New York?"

"I know." Sue said sadly.

"I suspect our minds have deduced in parallel Susan." Victor said. He operated the controls and a number of charts appeared next to the image of the virus. "You have noted the timing on the outbreaks?"

"Yea."

"Did someone skip a real on me?" Ben asked.

"Watch the link Ben." Sue said climbing to her feet. "Everything will be clear soon enough. Victor, can you come with me please?"

______________________________________________________

Sue limped down the corridor alone. Namor and Namorita were sitting on their bunks. This time when the Sub-mariner looked up there was a calm detached look on his face.

"Interesting timeline." Sue said. "I chop off the Red Skull's head. Drugs stop flowing into Europe. Then a few weeks later they start up again, then they stop a few weeks after that. Just after they stop a plague is stopped. Then another plague starts out of New York a few weeks later and spreads. Then it shows up in Europe and spreads. One thing in common; Atlantis."

Namorita looked away and Namor's face showed no emotion.

"Let me try to lay this out." Sue said. "You think Namorita is dead. You call off the drug shipments. The Greys don't like that, but they can't attack directly, Atlantis has gotten too strong for that. So they introduce a variation on the China virus. Your people start dying, the drugs start up again. Your scientist create a variation of the virus and you introduce it into the East Coast. Even trade, your cure for their cure. Drug running stops as part of the deal you make to give the Greys the antidote. Of course you keep the food smuggling operation going. But something happens that neither side counts on. The virus mutates again. Suddenly it's everywhere and no one can stop it. So Namorita remembers that the one person who is brilliant enough to solve the whole problem is here. She breaks a promise and just to be sure we have added incentive to help, you bring the virus here and infect us all."

Sue took a deep breath and looked at Namorita.

"All of us including the little girl who saved your life and nursed you and Mystique when you were sick."

"Hundreds of our people are dying." Namor said. "Thousands of the surface dwellers are dying."

"Since when have you cared about the people on the surface Namor?" Sue snapped.

"Sue we're desperate." Namorita pleaded. "I know you hate us but..."

"I don't hate you Namorita. I hate him." Sue pointed to Namor.

"I have no choice now as I had no choice then." Namor said.

"By my count Namor the Fantastic Four put you back on your throne 3 different times." Sue said. "We saved your world and your people."

"I was grateful." Namor said. "But when your son came to me for help the Greys were ready to attack."

"So you knocked Franklin out and put a neutralizer collar around his neck and gave him to them." Sue said. She was amazed at how calm they both managed to sound. "And then you started to trade with the Greys, run drugs for the Red Skull, the plague you introduced to the United States killed hundreds, the plague that came from that plague is killing thousands."

"I did not mean for that to happen." Namor said.

"But if Atlantis wasn't threatened by the same plague you wouldn't be here would you?" Sue pressed. For a second she started to go toward the force field but stopped herself. "Would you!" she demanded as he remained silent.

"I am ruler of Atlantis." Namor said in cold voice. "My only concern is my people."

"And the hundreds of innocent people who died in your first plague? Not an issue with you were they?"

"It was the only way to fight back." Namor said.

"Victor?" Sue asked. Victor walked into the corridor. For a moment he and the sub-mariner looked at each other.

"Was this truly what I was?" Victor asked. "I would ask forgiveness Susan but I fear you would not give it."

"You were a monarch Doom." Namor said. "You know that I did what I had to do. That I had no choice."

"There is always a choice Namor." Victor said. "But those in power as you are, and as I were, seldom see those choices. We are too blinded by our power."

"Can you find a cure?" Namorita asked.

"He has too." Namor said. "Or they'll all die."

"What if there is no cure?" Sue asked. "You know there's a chance of that."

"If so I will die as my people die." Namor said.

"What about us?" Sue demanded. "Did we do anything to bring this down on us?"

"You talk in riddles of morality Susan." Victor said. He faced Namor. "There was a time sub-mariner that I would have applauded this stratagem. A time when I thought no deed, however vile, could not be done in the name of a greater cause. Even now I can understand perfectly your motives. Perhaps I can even sympathize with them. Certainly I can not gaze down upon you from some great moral height."

"I can." Sue snapped. "Didn't Namorita tell you Namor? I'm out of the world saving business. I'm not risking my life or anyone's life here for your people or anyone else outside of this base anymore."

"She did tell me." Namor said. "That is why I brought the virus. You have no choice but to help us."

"The hell we don't!" Sue shouted and both captives took a step back at the tone in her voice. "This was an alien base Namor! The Kree know all about alien viruses. Your virus was detected and sterilized before it could infect us."

"What?" Namorita asked. "But we're..."

"Still infected." Victor said. "But the anti-virus sterilizing field makes sure that the virus can not survive even for an instant outside of your body."

"You can still find a cure!" Namor demanded.

"Why should he?" Sue snapped.

"He's going to stay isn't he?" Namorita asked. "Victor and Nick both wanted to stay."

"I do not know about Nick." Victor said. "But perhaps I was wrong in my desire to stay. I look at you Namor, I see what I was and what I have all too much potential to become again. A callous creature who would kill thousands and rationalize the deed. If I stay on Earth will I become that once more?" Victor shook his head. "No. Better that I find a new destiny in the stars."

"You're not going to help us?" Namorita whispered the question in shock. Beside her Namor stood trembling in impotent fury.

"I am not sure." Victor said. "I will study this matter and this virus. There are a few days left before the ships are ready to depart."

He turned and left without another word.

"Sue please!" Namorita cried. "Talk to him!"

Without a word Sue turned and limped down the corridor. Behind her she could hear Namor's frustrated roars. When she reached the elevator Sue was trembling so much she could barely stand. Victor was waiting for her and helped her into it. Neither of them said anything as they walked back to the medical unit. But Sue cried and Victor held her.

______________________________________________________

Everyone was waiting for them. Victor helped Sue into a chair and she fell forward and buried her face in her hands. In her minds eye she could see a graveyard that extended across the world. A little girl named Sheila was in one of those graves. Sue hadn't thought about Sheila since they had left the farm. It wasn't her fault, she knew that. But she saw the image anyway.

"Are we going to help them?" Rebecca asked.

Sue sat up and wiped the tears out of her eyes. Mary Jane went over and put her hand on Sue's shoulder.

"What if we do help them?" Sue asked. "Stop this virus and they'll make a new one. Its never ending Rebecca."

"That is true Mrs. Richards." Jarvis said. Everyone looked at him, amazed that he was speaking. "But ultimately it is a false argument. I suspect you know that."

"Is it false Jarvis?" Doom asked. "As a member of the Fantastic Four Susan battled me many times, yet in some opinion polls in the United States I was rated more favorably. You of all people know what happened on the Day."

"Yes sir I do." Jarvis said. "But I was in a position to see more than the Day. It was well known that I worked for the Avengers, and while I encountered much scorn in those last few months I also encountered support."

"Now that's a false argument." Sue said. "You know that if we cast the net wide enough we can find people to save."

"This is sorta like the Three Stooges where they spent the whole movie looking for an honest man." Ben said. "And found him in prison isn't it?"

"Was that a Shemp or a Curly?" Simone asked.

"Curly." Ben replied.

Sue laughed. She threw her head back and let out the loudest, wildest laugh any of them had ever heard. It was a laugh that was tinged with madness. It was also ringed with pain. Victor and Mary Jane both moved to comfort her, looked at each other and started to step back. Then stepped forward again and Mary Jane let Victor put his hand on Sue's shoulder. The rest of them stood in awkward silence for a few minutes until Sue finally stopped.

Sue took a deep breath and again wiped the tears from her eyes.

"Ben and Johny used to love those." she said. "I'm sorry."

"It's ok." Mary Jane said.

"It is a wide net to cast when you seek to judge humanity." Victor said.

"It ain't right that we make the call for the rest of the planet." Nick said. "Boil it down and I'm just a sergeant. I never wanted SHIELD and I wasn't happy there."

"My great grandfather used to tell me that a soldier bears the ultimate curse." Jarvis said. "Because he must protect not only the flowers but the weeds."

"Cute saying." Simone said.

"He was a man who gained his wisdom through hardship." Jarvis said. "My great grandfather was a private in the Great War. For nearly four years he fought in the most barbaric conditions under generals who considered him nothing more than a resource. One of his lungs was completely destroyed by mustard gas. After the war he found no work for many years, and only by luck survived. His pension was denied him for many more years by the government because of some book keeping error. He was jailed at times for vagrancy. There was little gratitude from the people and certainly no glory. In time he managed to become a butler to one of those families of the generals who had treated him so badly in the war. For them it was an act of charity. But he encouraged his son, my father, to go into the service and protect his country. In world war 2 my father lost a leg and for many years after the war our struggle was very hard. My great grandfather was once more out of work and once again the government did not treat my family very well. And yet he encouraged me to sign up as well when I came of age. So did my father. It is a lesson I have seen Mrs. Parker instill in her children and in Rebecca as well. No one can expect it will ever end, and all you can expect from such an enterprise is pain. Governments and the populace seldom have long memories in such matters. No matter how great the service given it will sooner or later be forgotten by almost everyone. But it all comes down to a fundamental question of conscience. Can you turn away when it is within your power to help those who need it? Be it a country or thousands of people you will never meet?"

"The Avengers." Sue said. "The Defenders. The Fantastic Four. The Xmen. They all died horrible, painful deaths. If we stay and help we'll probably go that way too. If we're lucky. If we're not there'll be years of torture. She looked at Rebecca, Simone, Ben and May. "I can't even begin to tell you the kind of pain you'd go through. Look at Jan, look at my face! That could be waiting for all of us if we stay."

"Or we could fix it all." May said.

"It's late." Mary Jane said looking at them all. "We're all tired. Everyone get some sleep. Think about it. We'll hash it all out tomorrow and then we'll take a vote."

"There is something I have to do first." Sue said.

______________________________________________________

Namor and Namorita looked up as Sue limped down the corridor.

"Did you know Namor that Franklin thought I was dead?" Sue asked.

"I thought you were dead as well until only a few days ago." Namor said.

"Did it give you any pleasure to give Reed's son to the Greys?" Sue asked. "After all it was a way to get back at Reed after I chose him over you."

Namor's face turned to stone.

"If you have to ask that question Sue then you never knew me."

"I never did." Sue said. "Because the man I thought I knew wouldn't have stood by and watched my son being tortured. He wouldn't have turned my son over to the Greys."

"Take your hatred out on me, not on my people."

"If I did you'd be dead." Sue said.

"Why aren't we dead?" Namorita asked. "You could have killed us."

"I wanted to." Sue said. "But then I remembered my son. HE wouldn't have wanted me to kill you. That's why your alive Namor. Because the man you betrayed was a better man than you'll ever be you self righteous pompous son-of-a-bitch!"

Sue had snarled the last few sentences. She had poured more than a decade of hate and pain and fury into the words, imbuing the syllables with every ounce of power she could muster. But she didn't; she couldn't, wait to see if there was any impact on Namor. She turned hurriedly away and limped back down the corridor. Victor stood at the entrance.

"More than ten years." Sue said trying to blink away the tears. "I thought I could kill him, I didn't realize until just now why I couldn't. Why I didn't. I thought telling him to his face would help. It didn't."

"You have cried too many tears this day." Victor said. "If you are not careful Susan you will drown in an ocean of them. Your son is dead Susan. You must grieve for him and release his spirit."

"Tears are a woman's right Victor." Sue said. "Did you ever cry? It was hard to tell through that silly mask."

Victor stiffened.

"I would appreciate it if you did not refer to the design of my mask as; "Silly" Susan. I spent much time designing and constructing it."

Sue giggled but stilled her laughter at the look on his face.

"I'll try." she said. "Are you tired Victor?"

"Not completely."

"Then I'd like to have your help in the control room please."

______________________________________________________

It was a lie that a computer could not lie. Sue Richards had known hundreds of computers and many of them could lie. But the computers of the Kree base could not lie, not with the skill which Victor used to coax answers from them. And Sue did not believe Victor would lie. She trusted him.

When did I start trusting him? Sue wondered. When did Victor and I become friends? When did I start crying on his shoulder?

The questions went un-answered and Sue turned her mind back to the screens. On them was a dozen charts and maps.

"I thought I'd find you two here." Mary Jane said walking into the control room. She walked over to them and pulled a chair along with her. "Is that what I think it is?"

"Projections." Sue nodded. "How far the plague will go, who it will hit."

"And?"

"No one will survive." Victor said. "Even the Mandarin's kingdom will be wiped out."

"He has a cure." Mary Jane said.

"For the last one." Victor said. "Since then the scientist that provided that cure have been killed by the Greys. The Greys did not want the Mandarin to have such a defense in the next war."

"So there it is." Mary Jane said.

"There it is." Sue agreed. "And we have to stop it."

Mary Jane turned to Sue and the question was easily read on her face.

"I was ready to leave." Sue said. "I didn't care about the Sentinels or the Greys or Zemo... they could have fought it out for the next few decades, hell the next few centuries... humanity made it's choice to go with them. But I can't let millions of people, children, get sick and slowly die. I just can't."

"I didn't think you could." Mary Jane said putting her hand on Sue's arm. "Not when it gets shoved into your face like this."

"I keep thinking about the little girl who hit Jan with the slingshot." Sue said. "About what I did to her. I took her childhood away. I could do that again, but I can't let her die. Which is worse? How the hell..."

"Sue." Mary Jane stopped her. "Don't beat yourself up. What you've been through, and what happened to Jan at that farm would have pushed anyone over the edge. That little girl is better off knowing the truth, you didn't screw up her life, her parents did."

Sue sighed and then she turned to Victor.

"You can come up with a cure of course."

"Yes." he said.

"But it will take more." Mary Jane said. "Getting a cure is one thing, getting it to everyone who needs it is something else again."

"That requires a world order." Sue said. "This is your chance Victor. We both know you've been making plans. Talk to us."

"No." Mary Jane said. "Not just us Sue. Everyone. We've come that far. After breakfast tomorrow Victor can lay out his plans."

"I guess." Sue nodded. "I'm tired anyway after all this. Tomorrow Victor?"

"I will be ready."

______________________________________________________

"Wait." Sue said as she and Mary Jane headed toward the room they shared. She gestured toward a different corridor. "This way."

With Mary Jane at her side Sue walked down the shorter corridor and past three half open doors. Sue paused before a set of double doors and pushed them open.

The room was as she left it. There was no dust. The past fourteen years might not have happened. It was carpeted, not a shag carpet, but still a soft and pleasant feeling under Sue's feet. A large double bed flanked by two night stands lay under a painting of some Kree city. The bed was made of course, even as fast as they had moved to get back to New York Sue Richards would not leave an unmade bed.

"The last time I made love to Reed was here." Sue said. She limped toward the bed and sat down.

Mary Jane didn't say anything as Sue ran her hands over the alien sheets.

"Do you think we were wrong to think of leaving?"

"No." Mary Jane went over and sat next to her. "Not then. I don't think there are any really right choices to make Sue, not for you."

"For us." Sue said.

"No." Mary Jane corrected. "For you. It's not just the powers Sue, it's what you are. Just like Peter, just like Reed. You're a heroine."

"I don't want to be one anymore." Sue said. She laid down and curled up into a ball. "Even if we save the world, even if we help Victor turn it into a paradise..."

"Reed and Peter won't be coming back." Mary Jane said. She laid down behind Sue and hugged her. "Nobody will. That part of our lives is over. But Ben and May and Rebecca and Simone are here. If you need to find a reason then there's four of them."

Sue sat up and then reached over and opened the draw of the nightstand.

"There's that number again." Sue said. She sat up and then reached over to the nightstand and pulled open one of the drawers.

______________________________________________________

The charge of energy that ran through everyone the next morning could never have been described by any of them. They all stopped and looked, even Mary Jane who knew what to expect. Sue limped calmly into the room and sat down.

If Reed was right and our unconscious desires provided the template for our powers than I guess I'm over my shyness by now. Sue thought. I knew they'd all stare.

The costume was modest by any standards. A pair of blue tights with a darker shade of blue gloves and boots and a belt. A blue shirt with a white circle with a blue 4 in it's center. It was the last of the costumes Sue had made so long ago. The costume of a member of the Fantastic Four.

They ate in a hushed silence; the air filled with the anticipation of what was to come. Jarvis cleared the last of the dishes and didn't even bother to wash them. Instead he sat down next to Nick and as he did so they all looked to her.

"Alright." Sue said. "You can tell by what I'm wearing that I've come to a decision."

"Either that or you've run out of clean robes." Ben said.

A small amount of laughter ran through all of them and Sue smiled at him.

"I have enough clean clothes." She said. "First things first, is there anyone here who does not want to save the world? This is your only chance to speak up. Remember what I said last night, the odds aren't good, if we fail the ones who get killed will be the lucky ones. One of those ships can take anyone who wants to go to Zen La."

Sue looked at all of them in turn but no one spoke.

"Ok then." Sue said. "Here is what I've decided to do; we are going to cure the plague, but then we're going to take over the world."

Nick nodded as if he expected nothing else and Jarvis mirrored his reaction. Ben blinked, started to say something, then stopped. Simone looked puzzled. Rebecca leaned forward, started to speak, the pulled herself back. Mary Jane's face was unreadable and May looked as if she didn't care one way or the other. A full sized Jan leaned on the table and the look in her eyes was one of complete trust.

"It's not enough to simply come up with a cure." Sue went on. "If we do and give it to the Greys or the Sentinels they'll shoot us afterwards. Then they will make sure that only those loyal to the cause will get the cure. What we have to do is make sure that everyone who needs the cure gets it, and that means we have to take out the Greys, the Sentinels, HYDRA, A.I.M., The TaskMaster, The Kingpin and probably Baron Zemo and the Mandarin as well."

"Should we each just pick a continent and go at it?" Ben asked.

"Nothing that simple." Sue said. She turned to Victor. "Your up Victor."

He's waited more than a lifetime for this moment. Sue realized. There are no heroes to stop him now, and the two heroines left from the old days will help him. God am I doing the right thing? I have to be. He has changed... Hell I've cried on his shoulder, he's wiped away my tears... Reed darling forgive me...

"Susan did not mean for this." Victor said. "Her desire to leave this planet was; as it almost always is with her, an unselfish one. She was far more concerned with the safety of all of you than her own. This I once thought was the definition of the word; "Fool", now I have come to realize that it is the definition of the world; "Heroine". And for her now to trust me, to ask that you all trust me is beyond the definitions of all the words in the English language."

Victor paused for his words to sink in then went on.

"The world at this moment is fragmented. We must unite it under one form of government. The laws of that government must be universal, with no power or influence allowed to sway it and with it's ultimate goal that of justice."

"Well that sounds simple." Ben said.

"If it were simple Ben we would not be here." Victor said.

"You were a scientist." Rebecca said. "Not a lawyer.

Before Victor could answer her the alarm sounded. The instant it did so Sue Richards realized what had happened.

Mystique! My god why didn't I think of her? She must have been on the ship with Namorita!

"The ships!" Victor cried and began to run toward the lift.

"Jan, Ben, Mary Jane and May got to the control room!" Sue ordered. "If it is Namor an Namorita use the environmental controls, turn the heat up and drop the humidity down."

"They need me to do that?" Ben asked.

"We forgot about Mystique." Sue said. "If she's around I want you protecting them. Everyone else find them, check the ships first."

______________________________________________________

Namor had taken one ship, Namorita the other. The look on his face was one of savage determination, the look on her face was grim sadness as they pounded into the metal hulls. Doom, Nick and Jarvis had gone to get weapons, Sue, Simone and Rebecca were the first ones on the landing field.

"Namor stop!" Sue shouted hitting him with a force bubble that sent him staggering off of the ship. Rebecca's shield hit Namorita in the back and stunned her.

"You will help us one way or another!" Namor shouted.

"We've already decided to stay!" Rebecca shouted, retrieving her shield.

"Lies!" Namor spat and turned to the ship once more.

Sue was about to hit him with another force field when a beam of red and grey energy hit her. Sue had time to glimpse Mystique hiding behind the wheel of the Quinjet before her world exploded in a pain that was nearly beyond agony. The weapon was of Greys design and Sue had never felt it, but had seen it's effects on other heroes. The grey part of the beam carried a megawatt charge, the red a form of radiation. When they hit the target the transfer of energy was enough to shatter a diamond. For Sue it was if an army of ants were tearing her nervous system to shreds. She feel writhing in pain, too far gone even to scream and stayed conscious only by a massive effort of will.

Too focused on staying awake Sue perceived the fight more as a series of impressions than actual sight. Simone and Rebecca tackled Namorita while Victor and Nick fired at Namor and Jarvis hit Mystique with a stun charge. The fight was savage with the Sub Mariner loosing all restraint as the weapons hit him. Namorita found herself nearly matched by Simone and Rebecca and completely overwhelmed when Ben showed up.

Long minutes passed as Sue's body began to recover and the chamber began to heat up. Namorita was the first to feel the heat and she was soon held by Simone and Rebecca and sealed into a web cocoon by Ben. Namor staggered under more energy bolts and Nick closed with him, hoping perhaps to take the Atlantean out with one blow to the back of the head. Sue tried to shout a warning that Namor wasn't weak enough, but she was still holding on by a thread. She was recovered enough to view the scene perfectly though. Victor was on the ground, stunned by a glancing blow from Namor. Nick Fury leapt and swung his gun, only to be met by a blow from Namor that sent him flying back. He sailed through the air and the crunching sound as his head hit the Quinjet's damaged wing was heard by all.

Everyone knew he was dead. The way he fell, the awkward way his head lay at a right angle to his body, attached only by the skin now, screamed death. That scream of death was answered by a scream that Sue had given so many years before when Reed had been hacked to death. But it wasn't Sue's voice. Rebecca's scream was followed by her shield and Namor staggered as it caught him in the stomach.

In two bounds Rebecca was on him raining down blows that Namor might have felt even if he were at full power. But the fight and the heat had weakened him so the Sub Mariner staggered and fell beneath Rebecca's blows. Not that his falling stopped her assault.

Sue dragged herself to her knees and focused as much energy as she could. She willed that energy into form and placed it between Rebecca and her victim.

"Stop it Rebecca!" Ben shouted catching one of her hands with a strand of webbing and stopping it from hitting Namor again. Simone had reached the other hand by then and was holding it.

"Let me go!" Rebecca screeched.

"Susan?" Victor asked, bending down beside her.

"Get me over there." Sue gasped out.

Victor picked her up in his arms and carried her over to where a sobbing Rebecca was barely being contained by Ben and Simone. Jarvis looked up from where Nick's body lay and shook his head. Out of the corner of her eye Sue saw Namorita crying.

"He's dead!" Rebecca screamed. "I want him dead!"

"But do you have the right to kill him?" Sue asked quietly.

The question sliced through Rebecca's rage as no other question could have. She raised her hands and saw the blood on them, then looked at Namor and saw that it was his blood. Then with a sigh Rebecca fainted into Simone's arms.

______________________________________________________

Namor looked up as Sue and Rebecca walked down the corridor. It had been five days since the break out and aside from food and water he, Namorita and Mystique had not been able to get any words at all out of their captors. Now they looked up expectantly.

Rebecca's eyes were un-readable behind her American Witch mask, but Sue's eyes were as dead as stone. She stopped in front of Namorita's cell and touched the control. The force field fell away.

"There's an explosive charge under Namor's cell." Sue said. "Try anything and he dies. Now come on."

"No!" Mystique pleaded from her cell. She threw herself at the force field as she had done many times in the past few days. "Please let me go with her."

"It's ok Mystique." Namorita said going to cell. She knelt down but was careful not to touch the force field or the control button. "It's ok." Namorita glanced back at Sue and Rebecca. If they were at all sympathetic to Mystique they weren't showing it. "I'll be ok."

"You will be." Namor said stressing the first word.

She stood and they heard Mystique's moans as they walked back down the corridor.

______________________________________________________

"Your brother is guilty of murder." Victor said flatly.

They were all in the main conference room, sitting around the table. Sue guided Namorita to a chair that faced all of them and then went and sat down next to Victor. Mary Jane, May, Jan and Ben sat on Victor's side, Jarvis, Simone and Rebecca sat on Sue's side. One chair beside Rebecca was turned away from the table.

He's guilty of more than that. Sue thought. But I'll let it stand there, Rebecca's pain is fresher and it's up to her to face this. She's handled it ok so far. At least she had time and room to cry. But her crying is done for now. All of our crying is done. What are the stages of grief? Anger, denial, acceptance? I should know, I've known enough grief. But then so has everyone else on the planet. It's time to stop grieving and start doing something about it. Into Sue's mind rose the memory of a large battlefield in a desert, when she and Jan alone had hidden. She had looked at out the wreckage of her life and decided to leave. To run. No more. No more running. This world needs fixing and if I'm not smart enough to fix it Victor is and I'm damn sure powerful enough to help him.

"So what now?" Namorita asked. "You said you were going to stay."

"And you ignored us and kept on fighting." Sue said. "Fight first, think later. That the Atlantean way?"

"We were scared."

"You planned it." Sue said. "Or Namor did. That's why you had Mystique hiding in the Mole Man's drill machine, shielded from scans. That's why she had a Greys weapon designed to work against me."

Namorita didn't respond to the accusation. Instead she asked a question.

"Are you going to stay?"

"Yes." Victor said. He stood up and walked behind Sue, putting a hand on her shoulder. Sue reached up and put her hand on his. "Susan had decided to make that sacrifice before your attack."

"But we're not just going to give you the cure." Rebecca said. Her voice was hard but under control. Simone quietly moved closer to her.

"We are not staying just to cure the plague." Sue said. "We are staying to fix things."

"Fix things?" Namorita looked at them all as if seeing them for the first time. Sue saw the change in her face as Namorita realized that this was not the same group she had left weeks before.

"We all think that Victor's plans will work." Sue said. "It will take years and I doubt we'll be applauded in history even if we succeed." Sue looked at Jarvis and they exchanged a look of understanding. "But who cares about history. We are going to reshape this world and humanity and whoever tries to stop us will loose."

There was no way Namorita could have stopped the look of fear from crossing her face and Sue doubted she even tried.

"What do you want from me?"

"Namor is guilty of murder." Victor said. "It was a needless death brought about by the Sub Mariner's refusal to listen. He will never again be free to roam the seas. He will be kept here, or in another prison to be decided upon by us."

"We won't kill him." Rebecca said. "That's not our way."

"But he has proven himself unfit to rule." Victor said. "Mystique will be allowed to go with you back to Atlantis. There you can distribute the cure to the plague and rule in his stead."

"Me rule Atlantis?"

"You can rule Namorita." Victor said. "You could always rule, you just did not wish to. That was why you never opposed your brother. You will go back, but your rule will be under our direction. To win the coming battles we have need of some of the resources of Atlantis."

"In a nutshell it's this." Sue said. "You rule Atlantis, you give us what we need, your people live. You help us. Namor stays in a cell."

"And rots." Rebecca muttered.

Victor sat down next to Sue.

"Do you agree?"

Slowly, looking at all of them and seeing no break in the line, Namorita nodded.

End.

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