Morden Man — Roleplayer Guild

"Reed, Susan! This is a surprise. I didn't know you were back in town." He said as he shook each of their hands. "What if I told you that I've found a power source more efficient than any fossil fuel that could be burned without any of the adverse effects?" He smiled again gesturing at the machine in the center of the room. "And what if I told you that the room you're standing in now is being powered by that very energy source?@Vandy

Reed’s eyes widened as he let Sue’s hand slip from his and he walked towards the hulking green machine. It emitted a green glow that seemed to soak everything in the room in it. There was no heat, no sound even, only the slightest sign of vibration to show that whatever fuelled it was active. Reed seemed transfixed by it, the gears in his head were clearly grinding away as he tried to figure out what was powering the machine, and he looked to Lex with an intrigued frown.

“I would say you’ve been keeping very busy since last I saw you. What is it? Some kind anti-matter particle? Dark matter from the Negative Zone?”

Sue watched on as her fiancé floundered around trying to work out what was powering Lex’s machine. From the look on Luthor’s face he seemed to be enjoying having some degree of power over Richards. There weren’t many men on Earth that could outsmart Reed, even if only for a moment, but Lex was one of them. Fortunately for her fiancé, Sue Storm wasn’t a man and she knew the second she saw the machine what was powering it. She tried to cut her husband’s floundering short by calling out to him.

“Reed.”

Reed smiled at Sue.

“Darling?”

Storm lifted one of her hands, allowing it to fade in and out of view for a few moments, as it basked in the glow of the machine. It was green, the same colour as the meteorite that had crashed to Earth and led Nick Fury to send Reed, Sue, Johnny, and Ben on the expedition that would change their lives. She wasn’t sure how she knew for certain that it was the rock, but she could, and she knew Reed would exhaust himself before making the connection. Occam’s razor – the answer was right under Reed’s nose. And it was green.

Sue looked to Lex confidently.

“It’s the meteor rock, isn’t it?”

Before Luthor had a chance to answer Reed interjected with a bemused smile.

“What? That would never work. I tried for weeks to extract some kind of energy from it, darling.”

Lex’s smug smile broadened a little and finally the penny dropped for Reed Richards.

“Wait, it is the meteor rock, isn’t it? How on Earth did you do it, Lex?”

Downtown, Metropolis

A flock of people followed after Johnny Storm and Benjamin Grimm as they made their way through the park. It had been fifteen minutes since Reed and Sue had departed for the Watchtower for Reed’s meeting with Lex and Johnny was already starting to get restless. Finally the Thing came to a stop beside a gaggle of elderly men sat in front of some public chess tables and gestured Johnny towards them. A derisive chuckle left Johnny’s mouth as he waited for the punch line. When it wasn’t forthcoming his smile twisted into a scowl.

“Chess? Are you kidding me?”

A camera flashed at Johnny and Ben and Grimm turned in its direction with a disapproving look. When he noticed the child behind the camera a smile appeared on his face and he waved to them warmly – then motioned Johnny towards one of the chess tables.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?”

The ground shook beneath Ben’s feet, knocking loose some of the pieces along the chess tables of those gathered, and he sat beside two elderly Jewish men. They smiled at him and Ben muttered a respect Shalom to them as he waited for Johnny to sit opposite him. Instead stood over him, his face a picture of incredulousness, as he tried to get his head around the fact that with all of Metropolis at their disposal Ben actually wanted to play chess to pass the time. 

“Since when do you play chess, Ben? I thought you didn’t even graduate from high school.”

The men beside them chuckled and Ben looked at Johnny sternly.

“I’ll graduate my foot up your ass if you don’t sit down, Matchstick.”

Johnny took the seat opposite Ben and watched whilst Grimm’s huge fingers moved the pieces with surprising deftness. Once the board was prepared he looked to Johnny with a smile.

“You hang around Reed for long enough you pick up some things. Maybe I can’t build a transporter to the Negative Zone out of an old vending machine and some Magic the Gathering cards like Stretch, but I can sure as hell play some chess.”

Johnny stared down at his phone and tapped out a short text message to Barry Allen: “Where are you? I’m in Metropolis and have some time to kill. Let’s hang out.” As he hit send he looked up to see Ben’s big blue eyes staring back at him.

“Now do you wanna learn or not?”

Storm looked around at the gathering of elderly men and vagrants playing chess and wrinkled up his nose a little. This was Metropolis, the city that never sleeps and the home of the Justice League, there had to be something fun to do.

“I’m not sure this is my scene, Ben.”

Ben let out a sigh and Johnny stood up from his seat and made his way out of the park. An eager elderly gentleman slid into Johnny’s seat and moved a piece on the chess table. Ben smiled, raked one of his rock fingers across his chin, and moved one of his own. Half stuck with Ben and half followed after Johnny as he wandered along the Metropolis sidewalk in his Fantastic Four uniform. Five minutes turned into ten minutes and ten minutes turned to fifteen – with Johnny checking his phone with increasing frequency with each one that passed.

“Damn you, Barry Allen, check your goddamn phone for once.”

Eventually Johnny’s feet began to hurt and he burst into flame and took to the skies to send a more unorthodox message. As Johnny had done with the past to catch Peter’s attention, he blazed through the skies leaving a trail of fire behind him in the Flash insignia. If Barry was in Metropolis he was bound to see it. Not even Barry Allen, as uncoordinated and forgetful as he could be sometimes, would be able to miss that. Or so Johnny thought for about ten minutes.

“Oh," Storm muttered as he saw the Justice League, Flash included, in action against a portion of the Brotherhood of Mutants across the country in California. “Well, I guess that would explain that then.”

Johnny let out a heavy sigh as he stared down at his phone and realized Reed and Sue were going to be busy for at least another hour or so. There was only one place he could go – it just so happened going there would involve Storm swallowing an awful lot of pride. He gritted his teeth as he entered the park once more and saw Benjamin Grimm where he left him, playing chess against an elderly man, though now with a smiling child in his lap. He smiled at Johnny as he noticed he’d returned and Storm stood beside his old friend and watched as he made a move on the chessboard.

*****

LexCorp Building, Metropolis

Susan Storm twirled around the lobby of the LexCorp Building with a star struck smile as she took it all in. It was modernistic, all glass and metals, and the afternoon sun bounced from surface to surface as freely as it might dance along a stream. Without her brother and Ben around, Susan was a different person – more carefree, more expressive, and, though she might be loath to admit it if asked, far more relaxed. She was so used to being the mother of the group that it was rare she could let her hair down. It was the real reason that Reed had insisted only he and Sue visit the LexCorp building. As he stood there watching his fiancé taking in the sights he couldn’t help but smile. She looked at him, slightly overawed, and gestured to the glass panels that lined the outside of the building.

“This place is wonderful. It almost puts the Baxter Building to shame.”

Reed smiled.

“It’s okay, Sue, my ego isn’t so fragile that you need to pretend. Lex always did have a flair for the aesthetics. It seems he’s outdone himself this time.”

Sue slid her arm beneath Reed’s shoulder and interlocked their arms as they walked. Her nose wrinkled, much like Johnny’s was wont to do from time to time, and she looked to Reed with a curious look.

“You never did explain to me how you know Lex.”

A man in a lab coat ushered Reed and Sue towards an elevator and Reed, sensing the man was listening in, gave Sue a knowing smile.

“Let’s just say that’s a story for another time.”

She squeezed his arm close to her with a mischievous look.

“I’ll hold you to that.”

The lift stopped abruptly and the glass doors slid open. The man in the lab coat gestured to Sue and Reed to step out and they did so after expressing their gratitude. On the outside they were meet by another man in a lab coat who led them through the corridors of the LexCorp building. The couple hung back slightly and spoke in hushed tones that were only audible to one another as they followed after him.

“It’s nice to get away from Johnny and Ben. Sometimes I can’t hear myself think around them. How you survived a lifetime cleaning up after Johnny I’ll never understand.”

From some men, Sue might have considered that statement an insult but she knew that Reed had long since considered Johnny family, as she did with Ben, and that sometimes, though he didn’t let on, sometimes he was envious of Ben and Johnny’s relationship. If Sue played mother too often, Reed had been cast as father almost by necessity, though he took to it less naturally than Sue had her role. Science was Reed’s passion, he kept irregular hours, often neglecting to shower or shave, and found little time for anything else. Luckily for Reed it was his passion that Sue had fallen in love with.

“You know, you aren’t the easiest person in the world to be around either.”

It was more of a tease than a dig but Reed’s face went red with embarrassment all the same.

“I guess I have been quite distracted recently.”

The LexCorp employee in the lab coat opened a set of large doors that revealed another reception room. Behind the desk of the reception was a woman with fiery red hair held together in a bun by a pen. Sue trotted towards the woman, leading Reed by the hand playfully, and leaned on the woman’s desk.

“Two to see Mr. Luthor please. It’s a Mr. and Mrs Rich-”

The red-haired receptionist smiled and cut across Sue.

“I know who you are, ma’am.”

She stood up from her seat and led the pair of them towards a large set of heavy doors. The sound of construction was audible from behind them as Reed, Sue, and the receptionist approached them. As they neared them Sue noticed a bashful smile across her fiancé’s face.

“Why are you smiling so much?”

“You were about to call yourself Mrs. Richards back there.”

This time Sue turned red. She felt her hands begin to turn clammy and the warmth in her chest as she scrambled to excuse her mistake.

“Oh, I guess I didn’t th-”

Reed shook his head.

“No, no, it’s a good thing. Maybe once we’re back in New York we can start talking about setting a date?”

Sue looked at Reed, the love in her bright blue eyes almost teeming out, and planted a gentle, tender kiss on his lips. It was soft and lasting and her hand clung to Reed’s face after they had pulled apart. She stared into the eyes of the man she loved and was met with a look equally as loving and caring – in them she saw her future, the family they would one day build, and knew their greatest adventure had yet to begin. Sensing the gaze of the receptionist waiting beside the door for them she let her hand slip from Reed’s face, taking him by the hand instead, and muttering to him.

“I’d like that.”

The receptionist hit a button that opened the doors and there was a whirring, followed by several mechanical clunks, as the doors slid open and revealed Lex Luthor stood in front of a large generator that had a vibrant green glow to it. Reed clasped Sue’s hand tighter for a second and then the pair made their way towards the waiting Lex.

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