FANTASTIC FOUR: EARTH GIRLS AIN'T EASY
by JR / ksennin 
 
 
DISCLAIMER: The following story is an adult-themed parody of the Fantastic Four comic book, issues 204-217, by Marv Wolfman, John Byrne, and others.  The Fantastic Four and all related characters are property, copyright and trademark of Marvel Comics.  Go buy their comics.  No copyright infringement is intended.  The author received no payment for this story, and no money shall be earned by its distribution. 
 
WARNING: The following story contains adult themes and explicit descriptions of extreme sexual events.  MINORS MUST NOT READ THIS.  Many so-called adults shouldn't, either.  If you are below your country's age of legal majority, kindly bugger off.  
 

 
FANTASTIC FOUR: EARTH GIRLS AIN'T EASY
PROLOGUE:  THERE SHE WAS JUST WALKING DOWN THE STREET
 
 
"Damn-!  Wouldja look at that?" 
 
"Man, she stacked or what?" 
 
"Cosa ma' rica, chico!" 
 
"Whatta rack!" 
 
"Whatta everything, man!" 
 
"Oh, yeah, girl got back, too." 
 
"Y semejante culo!" 
 
"And legs, and everything!" 
 
Leaning precariously over the metal scaffolding's guardrail, the construction workers stared towards the sidewalk many stories below. 
 
"Que coisa mais linda!" 
 
"Yo, Blondie!  Look up!" 
 
"Wanna date, babe?  I'll lay ya some pipe!" 
 
"I'll rivet ya good!" 
 
At the busy New York sidewalk, a young boy pulled on his mother's hand.   "Why're they yelling, Mom?"  
 
The beautiful blue-eyed blonde smiled at her five-year-old son.  "Oh, it's nothing, Franklin.  Don't mind them.  It's just their way of being friendly."   
 
Still waiting for the pedestrians' green light, Susan Storm arched her back, deliberately pushing her chest forward, knowing how the tight jacket and form-fitting skirt of her designer ensemble flattered her contours.  She was no stranger to drawing attention for her appearance, and there was no harm in giving the workers something to appreciate, was it?  Compared to being leered at by murderous super-villains, they were almost charming.
 
"Nena!" 
 
"Yo!  Supermodel!  Look up!" 
 
Her smile grew wider at the flattery.   
 
Since early adolescence, the obvious appeal of her finely-drawn features and trim yet curvy figure had brought frequent offers in the entertainment industry, and she had taken tentative steps into modeling while in college.  Could she really have become a supermodel if she had kept at it?  She may have been too short at five-six, but had height stopped Laetitia Casta?  Didn't she have just as good a figure, if not better? 
 
Of course, that had been before her relationship with Reed, and before the fateful rocket launch.  Before the Fantastic Four.  
 
Ironically, becoming the Invisible Girl had made Sue's worldwide media visibility the equal of any star of screen or walkway.  While nowhere as media-pandering as her brother Johnny, she still had been featured in countless magazine covers and television talk shows, and received more endorsement and glamour contract proposals than she could count.  She had just been featured again in People's list of the world's most beautiful people, and Hefner's people kept making offers, increasingly larger ones.  And she could not say that she did not honestly enjoy the attention.  She knew she should not let it go to her head, but it was always flattering.  Was it wrong for a woman to want to be seen, and be appreciated? 
 
She was, after all, proud of her looks, particularly of her body, and certainly she worked hard for it. Despite being a mother, she was now in even better shape than in her teens, or ever, thanks to intensive regular exercise and the physically demanding adventures she experienced regularly.  And she was surely a more useful member of society that most celebrities.  How many others in People could lay claim to have helped save the world?   
 
"Pretty Woman!" 
 
"Eso si me para la columna!" 
 
"Te empotrare mi voladizo, nena!" 
 
Again indulging the workers, she glanced up and over her shoulder, and gave them a quick, playful smile.   
 
The whistles and catcalls increased exponentially in return. 
 
"Girl, you so FINE!" 
 
"Damn!  She's too young to be a MILF!" 
 
Franklin frowned.  "Mom, what is a 'milf'?" 
 
"Don't repeat those words, Honey. It's not polite." 
 
"RUBITA!  TE AMO!" 
 
A certain someone could take a hint from these gentlemen, she thought.  Someone who had been particularly distracted lately. 
 
"Kid!  Can ah meet yer sister?" 
 
Franklin frowned.  "What sister?  I don't have a sister!" 
 
"Maybe someday you will, dear."  If a certain someone quit thinking only about his work all the time.   
 
The light changed, and Susan deliberately let considerably more sway into her walk than usual as they crossed the street; the shouted comments grew in volume and crudity in their wake.   
 
"MAMMA-MIA!" 
 
"MAMACITA-!" 
 
That was better, Franklin thought.  At least they now knew she was his Mom. 
 
 
 
PART ONE:  HOME INVASION 
 
 
Typically, Reed Richards was working.   
 
Dressed in a white lab jacket over his one-piece blue and black bodysuit, the slender scientist stood before a dozen quickly changing holographic displays, typing on a keyboard several paces away from him, reached by effortlessly stretching his right arm through a six-foot distance.  His other hand was at his chin, as he thought, and thought. Thinking was his work. 
 
He spent most of his day at his many laboratory and workshop spaces doing just that: thinking; thinking in silence, thinking as he typed commands to his custom-designed computers, as he sketched and scribbled on notepads, electronic boards or random pieces of paper or walls.  Then he would go into furious frenzies of activity in order assemble devices of complexity seen arguably nowhere else on Earth.  Afterwards he would return to thinking some more. 
 
For him, the many daring adventures experienced as the leader of the world-famous Fantastic Four were short rest-periods between his real work, between the thinking.   
 
It helped him be more productive. 
 
The same could be said of several other things. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Casually carrying several tons of unusual mechanical parts in an open container over his left shoulder, the rock-like-skinned Benjamin Grimm walked into the laboratory.  Despite the echoing stomp of each of Ben's steps, Reed never even looked away from his screens. 
 
Ben just shook his head, placed the container at a corner, and strode out. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Dad, what's a 'milf'?" 
 
Reed frowned and turned around, frowned again and then looked down.  "Sorry, Franklin, you asked-?" 
 
"I asked what's a 'milf'?" 
 
"Excuse me-?" 
 
"Never mind, dear."  Susan gave her son a small box of grape juice with a straw.  "Franklin was just surprised by some unusual vernacular heard on the street." 
 
"Oh, I see."  Reed returned to stare at the screens. 
 
"Whaddaya mean?"  Ben walked in, carrying a roll of cables thicker than an arm. 
 
"Some workers at a nearby construction site were a bit... vocal as we walked by." 
 
"WHAT?  You got harassed?  Where-?"  He dropped the cables, incensed.  "I'll go and-!" 
 
"It was harmless, Ben.  Nothing to get worked over."   
 
"A dame oughta get some respect!  Jerks like that make it hard for any decent broad to walk the streets without feeling threatened!" 
 
She smiled.  "The indecent ones don't count?  Who makes the distinction?" 
 
"Uh-?" 
 
"Johnny got you reading websites again, right?" 
 
Ben looked away, embarrassed.  "Yeah, but-" 
 
"Of course, I'm less likely to feel threatened by some men on a street.  I have the advantage of powers.  Still, a girl sometimes likes being...  noticed."  She walked towards Reed and leaned bodily on him.  "They did get very, very vocal about it, you know." 
   
"With good reason."  Reed stated, working on a tactile-sensitive display.  "Clearly men of good eyesight and excellent taste." 
 
Sue smiled broadly, hugging him from behind.  "Oh, Reed, you know how to say the dirtiest things..." 
 
"Woah!  Kid's righta there by you guys!"   
 
Sue turned around, hands on her hips.  "Well, Ben, then be a darling and please take Franklin to the playroom.  We just got a new Japanese animated film he was anxious to watch." 
 
"YAY!  You gonna love it, Unca Ben!"  The young boy ran to grab the DVD case from the shopping bag.  "There's a big, friendly forest spirit that-!" 
 
"Er, Reed kinda needed me to-" 
 
Sue kept smiling.  "Ben.  Now.  Please." 
 
"Fine, fine.  Got it."  He picked up the massive cable roll.  "Where'd ya wan'this?" 
 
Reed pointed to a corner.  "Over there, please." 
 
"Oh, I'd want it there.  And right here, too."  Sue pressed against her husband's back.  "Right now." 
 
"KID'S STILL RIGHT HERE-!" 
 
Sue did not turn around.  "Benjamin J. Grimm, didn't I-?" 
 
"Fine, fine, dontcha get yer panties in a bunch, sheesh..."   
 
Ben kept his eyes on her, just for an instant, before quickly looking away.   Even after all those years it was an exercise of will not to stare at Sue.   

"Com'on, shrimp, let’s go." 
 
"Unca Ben-?" 
 
"Yeah?" 
 
"What's a 'milf'?" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"I'm stuck." 
 
"I can see that.  Can I help?" 
 
He pointed.  "I don't know how this got there." 
 
"You didn't do it yourself?" 
 
"No, no.  I didn't touch it.  Just happened on its own." 
 
"From inside?  Or outside?" 
 
"Depends on how you see it.  It seems like a probe." 
 
"This was from Quasimodo's tampering?" 
 
"No, I had already removed all traces of what he did.  This happened today, after a sudden surge." 
 
Sue nodded, and leaned closer over his shoulder, while sealing the seam of her skintight bodysuit, its blue and black design matching his, her booted feet supported above the floor by apparent nothingness, her power creating a raised platform of tangible but invisible force.   
 
"So it's something on the other side, inside the Negative Zone?" 
 
Reed shook his head, glad to have Sue present so he could vocalize his concerns.  "That is the strange thing.  I had extensive security measures in place precisely against that, but the pattern completely shifted from my programming, and it's no longer synched to the Negative Zone at all, but rather is oscillating erratically between space-time quantum-shift-patterns-" 
 
"Like a radio searching for a station?"   
 
"Yes!"  Sue was not just an excellent listener, but also one of the smartest people Reed knew, and knew how and when to ask the right questions.  "There is a non-aleatory quality to the-" 
 
"So someone is turning the dial then.  But who-?"  
 
"That I would like to find out, so I am tracing the-" 
 
"Wait."  Her practicality overrode her standard patience with her abstract-minded husband.  "Whatever it is, can it take over your systems?  Is it dangerous?" 
 
"I've restricted access to all sensitive parts of my network, and blocked all known critical configurations, as well as its original Negative Zone setting, but-" 
 
There was a loud noise, and all screens flickered wildly.  Graphs spiked dramatically. 
 
"The zone portal-!" 
 
"I'll contain it!"  Without hesitation, Sue rushed out, surfing on air a foot above the floor, moving on a thin disc of invisible force she sustained with her concentration.  "Tell Ben not to leave Franklin alone!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The dimensional portal that normally granted access to the Negative Zone was spewing bursts of coruscating energy, the bright eruptions blotted by scattered points of infinitesimal dimensional-shunting that drew away visible energies, creating the dark spot effects Ben called Kirby Dots. 
 
Amidst this spectacle of chaotic energies a shape took place, a human-like shape. 
  
Susan jumped down to the ground, focusing on the intruder, ready to enclose whoever it was, and the portal behind if necessary, in her shield of impervious, invisible force. 
 
The faux-fire of lingering quantum fluctuations faded, and the figure stumbled forward.  Long slender legs wrapped in angled straps under a short wispy skirt buckled, and slender arms clasped by gold bracelets and armlets failed to stop the fall. 
 
The air near Sue grew hotter, much hotter. 
 
"It's a girl!"  Johnny Storm hovered near the door, his flaming figure the source of the sudden, intense heat.   
 
"Can see that.  Now flame off before you cook us all." 
 
"Wow, quite a babe, too."  Johnny let his flames go out, his short blond hair the last part to stop smoldering. 
 
The long, auburn hair of the fallen girl covered her face, but her body was young and shapely, and scarcely covered.  Sue frowned at her faint, jerky motions.  Her nearly-transparent top was torn and ominously stained. 
 
"She's injured." 
 
Johnny stepped forward quickly.  "I'll give her mouth to mouth-!" 
 
"Step back," Sue chastised her brother.  "I'll get her." 
 
Her force field carefully enclosed the girl and lifted her up like on an invisible gurney. 
 
She activated her wrist communicator.  "Reed, we'll need the infirmary ready."   
 
"Already done, Sue.  Be careful-!" 
 
"She appears human, but-" 
 
"No!  I'm reading another coming surge-!" 
 
Wild energies flared again, filling the room.  Sue covered her eyes by reflex.   
 
Johnny flamed on again.  "Woah, Kirby Dots galore!" 
 
The figures that stepped through the portal, wielding menacing weapons, were green-hued, with pointed ears and corrugated chins.  
 
"Skrulls!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"IT'S THE ACCURSED EARTHLINGS!  PULL BACK!  PULL BACK!"    
 
The Skrull warriors yelled in their guttural language as they ran back towards the still pulsing portal, firing their energy weapons to cover their retreat. 
 
"YEAH!  TAKE THAT! YOU GREEN B-E-M-S!" 
 
"Johnny!  Don't be cocky!  Just drive them back!" 
 
"Aye, aye, Sis!" 
 
Taking advantage of the large open expanse and high ceilings of the portal's vestibule chamber, Johnny Storm flew in wildly changing patterns, easily dodging the enemy blasts, while trusting that his superheated plasma form would protect him from any stray near-hit.  At the back of the room, Sue used her force field to protect her and the unconscious girl from the random blasts.   
 
The Skrulls however had no such protection.  Neither their armor nor their race's shape-changing abilities were of use against the fiery blasts of flame driving them back to the portal that had spawned them.  
  
Mere moments after the fight had started, it was over.  The Skrull squadron had fled and the portal dulled into dormancy. 
 
"HA!  Felt good to cut loose like that!  Can't wait to rub into Ben's face that he wasn't-!" 
 
"Johnny, I've got to take her to the infirmary.  Reed's already waiting there.  You stay here and watch the portal in case it activates again." 
 
He followed his sister to the doorway.  "Can't we just pull its plug?  I'd like to see how the girl-" 
 
"I know you would.  Just stay here, ok?  Until Reed can help her, and we're sure she isn't a threat herself." 
 
"Come on!  Anyone fleeing from the crummy Skrulls has to be on the side of the angels!" he shouted after them, leaning on the metal doorframe while they vanished down the corridor.  "She certainly looked like one, too," he added out loud to himself. 
 
Behind him, the portal flared briefly, unnoticed, and then dulled again. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Reed glanced from screen to screen, reaching out with his elongating arms to adjust knobs and type commands.  "Well, I cannot detect any potential hazards, and can confirm that she's certainly not a Skrull." 
 
Sue nodded. Skrulls reverted to their original shape when unconscious.   "Could she be Kree?  Or any other known humanoid race?" 
 
"No match with my databases, except in the most obvious generalities.  Genetically she's off Earth parameters by just a few fractions of a percent, just enough to be hardier than local norms.  Perhaps even compatible enough for miscegenation." 
 
"Oh, really?" 
 
"Most likely.  There should be no adverse reactions to medication." 
 
What use was there in teasing someone who missed it?  "How bad was her injury?" 
 
"Surprisingly minor.  She was hit by a glancing energy pulse, but got just superficial damage and her metabolism is reacting well to the treatment.  Natural healing processes appear quite more efficient than base-Earth human standards." 
 
Sue stood outside the plasteel division of the infirmary's quarantine module, observing the unconscious girl.  She had removed the torn clothing, exposing flawless skin, while Reed quickly took tissue and fluid samples to confirm basic chemical resemblance to humans and compatibility ranges with Earthly pharmacology.  Then she had covered the girl with a sheet, both out of consideration for modesty and normal caution.  Reed was a man, after all, and those breasts had looked too perky for comfort. 
 
"So how did she get here?" 
 
"Well, from my readings during the event, I can speculate that some kind of trans-dimensional teleport system latched onto the local space-time discontinuity of our Negative Zone portal and high-jacked it, using it as the exit gateway to a wormhole effect that-" 
 
"That means an army could have just jumped into our home through it?" 
 
"The Skrulls do have the technology of intergalactic teleportation, but unless they have achieved significant new breakthroughs they should have never been able to take over the Zone portal.  The calculations necessary to synch with the patterns involved are far beyond what-" 
 
"She's ok?"  Johnny walked into the infirmary, focusing immediately on the unconscious girl covered only by the blanket.  The fabric displayed clearly the raised knobs on the swell of the bosom.  "Ok, she's clearly a mammalian female." 
 
"What are you doing here?  You're supposed to be watching the portal!" 
 
"Cool down, Sis.  Ben dropped by, to check what had happened, so he relieved me-" 
 
"But Ben was watching Franklin!  Did he leave him alone?  After we just had a security event-?" 
 
"No, Ben brought him along, and-" 
 
"What?  Ben took him into a potential combat situation-?" 
 
"Er, I did tell Ben to not leave Franklin alone," Reed said.  "But I was too busy interpreting the readings to add just what-" 
 
Johnny fidgeted in place.  "The alarms didn't ring or anything, too, and I-" 
 
"The first EM pulse may have fried them! What are you all THINKING-?"   
 
"Er, Sue, I-" 
 
She activated her suit's communicator.  "BENJAMIN J. GRIMM!  DID YOU TAKE MY SON INTO THE LOCATION OF A SKRULL INTRUSION-?" 
 
The reply came immediately.  "Skrulls?  What Skrulls?" 
 
"The ones who attacked us moments ago!" 
 
"Watcha talkin'bout, Suzie?  How did Skrulls-?" 
 
"DIDN'T JOHNNY BRIEF YOU?" 
 
"Match-head saw me walk in and raced away, tellin' me to stay put." 
 
"WE JUST HAD A DAMNED SKRULL ATTACK VIA THE ZONE PORTAL!" 
 
"SKRULLS?  Thru the N-Zone?  How did-?" 
 
"JUST GET MY SON OUT OF THERE!" 
 
"But he ain't here!" 
 
"WHAT?" 
 
"-Johnny took him!" 
 
Sue turned to stare at her brother.  "Johnny?" 
 
"I was trying to tell you!  Yeah, I got him, but he had to use the toilet so I dropped him off there before I-" 
 
"JOHNNY!  GO FIND HIM-!" 
 
"Who's the pretty lady?"   
 
"Franklin-?"  Sue turned to see her son standing right before the plasteel division.  
 
"She's nice.  Is she a 'MILF'?" 
 
"What-?" 
 
"A 'MILF'.  Unca Johnny was 'plaining to me-" 
 
"Er, Franklin, you don't need to repeat everything I-" 
 
"-So Mom's a 'MILF'.   
 
"Franklin!" 
 
"And Auntie Crystal's a 'MILF', too."   
 
Johnny stood before Franklin.  "Alright, I can explain..." 
 
Sue stared icily.  "You've done enough explaining already." 
 
"Is the sleeping lady a MILF, Mom?  She's really pretty like you." 
 
Reed frowned, turning to his wife.  "That is an acronym, isn't it?   
What does it stand for?"  
 
"Oh, I'm sure my brother here would be happy to explain to my dear husband what MILF means and why he thinks I'm one." 
 
"Come on, Sue, I didn't mean-" 
 
"Me be excused?  Please?  I..."  The weak, halting voice changed from heavily accented English to a sibilant language between gasps.  "Is I-?" 
 
Everyone turned to see the alien woman sitting up weakly, apparently baffled by the IV-drip on her arm.  The sheet that had previously covered was now fallen to a side. 
 
"Where is I?  Is I at Earth-?" 
 
Franklin guessed from his uncle's expression that the lady was a 'Milf" after all, but his mother did not seem happy about it. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Please, drink this."  Susan spoke slowly, carefully enunciating her words, as she handed the young woman the cup of steaming herbal infusion.  "It will make you feel better." 
 
The girl smiled weakly.  "You be thanked."   
 
Her eyes were golden, and her face around them was decorated with a pale blue cosmetic tint, giving her an exotic look.  Her long neck sported stacked choker-like thin bands of golden metal, much like those on her upper arms, and the tiara holding her flowing hair back.  She wore the loose lab coat Sue had procured for her, but had not tried to use its buttons, so it remained open.  Leaning on a wall a few paces away, Johnny Storm silently appreciated each time that she shifted on her seat and the open coat parted aside, showing the firm body underneath. 
 
"You asked if you were on Earth."  
 
"Yes.  Is I?" 
 
"This is planet Earth, yes.  Are you from... somewhere else?" 
 
"Xandar.  I is from Xandar.  My home world.  What is left." 
 
Sue exchanged glances with Johnny. 
 
"What is left?" 
 
"Xandar was...  attacked.  Almost not survived." 
 
"The Skrulls?" 
 
"Not before.  But now yes." 
 
Sue sighed, it may take a while to get the full explanation, and she did not know how far she could press the girl.  "How did you learn our language?" 
 
"Master Xar, must has-had it imprinted on me, at the last...  so I could better find contact.  Make contact.  Be better the more I speak it." 
 
A metal door slid to a side and Reed entered the room.  "The portal is stabilized now, with new safeguards, so it cannot be forced to sustain the wormhole again from the other side." 
 
"Couldn't you cut all power to the portal altogether?" Johnny asked.   
 
"Yes, but then we'd cut the synchronization with whatever place she came from, and we may never be able to return her to-" 
 
"Chased by Skrulls, remember?  She may not want to go back at all." 
 
"But she may need to," Sue said.  "Her name's Adora, Reed.  She says she's from a place called Xandar, and-" 
 
The girl's eyes opened wide.  "Reed?  Reed Richards?  The Great Single Mind?" 
 
Reed blinked in surprise.  "I am Reed Richards, yes, but-" 
 
Suddenly, the girl stood up and grabbed his hands. 
 
"Oh, Greatest Single Mind of your Galaxy, I am Adora, Suzerain of Xandar, and I beg you to help me, to help us." 
 
Sue stared.  "Greatest single mind?"   
 
"Please!  Our world is being destroyed!  Again!  Only you can save us!" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"THE SKRULLS!  THEY ARE HERE!" 
 
Explosions rocked the laboratory, and Adora gasped, almost falling.   
 
"Tanak!  You said this outpost would be safe for-!" 
 
"DAMN THEM!"  The Xandarian Centurion Tanak Valt drew his side weapon, his face grim as his helmet provided him data full of panic and despair.  "They are crushing my men!  We can't-!" 
 
"Master Xar!  Do it!  Contact the Earth NOW!" 
 
Shaken, the purple-robed scientist fumbled with his controls, activating a bright field of energies.   "But if Centurion Tanak-?" 
 
Tanak shook his head.  "I cannot leave you, Suzerain!"   
 
"Master Xar must work the machine!  You must-!" 
 
"I must stay to protect you!" 
 
"Our world is more important!  There's no time-!" 
 
A wall exploded, showering the room with debris, and Skrull warriors rushed in, firing their weapons.  
 
"ADORA!"  Tanak jumped before the fallen Suzerain, returning fire, while his Nova Centurion armor lighted with power.  "DIE SKRULL SCUM!" 
 
"Beloved," Adora called out, staggering to her feet.  "Our duty to our world is more-" 
 
"NO! I WILL NOT LEAVE YOU!  I'LL SAVE YOU FROM THESE-!" 
 
"You will?"  The deep voice cut in mockingly, as a huge, orange-hued rocky fist struck Tanak with brutal power.  "And just how?" 
 
"No," Tanak muttered weakly, struggling to rise, his armor feeding energy to his battered body.  "I can't-" 
 
The tall, heavily-built Skrull nodded.  "Yes, you can't."  He raised his arms and both of his fists became enlarged rocky masses, before they fell with savage power upon his fallen opponent, again and again.   
 
Adora screamed at the sickening, wet sound of the repeated impacts.   
 
The Skrull turned towards her.  "Suzerain Adora, I presume." 
 
She stared with panic at the powerful, green-skinned warrior, now striding towards her.  
 
"I can see why that deluded fool would consider you so... valuable." 
 
She tried to turn and run, but green hands stretched elastically around her, binding her body with impossibly elongated fingers that tightened suggestively on her flesh. 
 
"NO!"  The old man in the purple robes stood up clumsily from behind the control console, the Centurion's handgun blazing in his hand.   
 
The energy blast grazed the Skrull's elongated limbs.  By reflex, he released his grasp and drew back his arms to normal length.  Grimacing with anger he aimed a hand at the old scientist while flames sprouted from his palm. 
 
"SUZERAIN!  GO!"  Master Xar yelled, slamming a hand on a control pad. 
 
The energy field welcomed the fleeing girl.  
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"That's quite a story," Sue said, troubled. 
 
Johnny spread his arms.  "What're we waiting for?  Her people are in danger, and need our help!  We must go there and kick Skrull butt!" 
 
"Please, yes!  They must have launched further attacks now.  Xandar cannot last long without your assistance!  We already faced extinction once; we shall not survive again-!"   
 
Her legs weakened, and Reed had to catch her arms, steadying her.  "Careful, Miss, you're still too weak."   
 
"She should sit down," Sue said. 
 
"Of course we will help you," Johnny stated, itching to take Reed's lace in holding the girl up. 
 
Gently, Reed led her back to the bed.  "Suzerain, we have indeed fought and defeated the Skrulls before, but not in a large-scale military deployment.  An off-Earth full war may be beyond even our abilities-" 
 
Adora shook her head.  "But you are your galaxy's Greatest Single Mind!   Our Living Computers chose you!" 
 
"Living computers?" 
 
"The Living Computers of Xandar hold our entire race's accumulated wisdom, and they calculated that our world's only hope lies in the great Reed Richards of Earth!" 
 
Sue shook her head.  "Great Reed Richards-?  That is-" 
 
Adora leaned forward and threw her arms around Reed.  "Please!  Come!  Come with me!  Come to Xandar!  Save us!  Xandar shall give you all you desire, without limits!  Forever!  And so will I-!  So will-!" 
 
Her voice failed and she collapsed into Reed's hastily extended arms.   
 
He stood speechless, holding the unconscious girl, and glanced at his wife.   "Er...  I think she's unconscious again."   
 
"I can see that, oh, Great Mind." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Reed rubbed his graying temples.  "I'm sure she did not mean anything...  improper." 
 
Sue stood silent for a moment.  Johnny had remained with Adora in the infirmary, a task he had been happy to perform.   
 
"Do you believe her?" 
 
"Her story matches my readings.  Andromeda is within the range of the wormhole data, and there is where the Skrull Empire is also located.  We know of their expansionist drive, their conquering ways." 
 
"But that whole story?  A planet previously torn apart, its surviving people living on a linked arrangement of its major fragmented remains...  Is that even possible?" 
 
"If they can tap the quantum substrate under our layer of space-time, it can work.  Self-sustaining habitats, enclosed by force-fields, tethered to each other, like pearls on a cosmic string."  He began calculating in his head the magnitudes of energy that would need to be involved.   
 
"Such technology would surely be of interest to the Skrulls.  Enough to go to war for it." 
 
He nodded.  "And who knows what other invaluable knowledge is held by those living computers she mentioned, what other stores of invaluable-" 
 
"Oh, so you are interested, aren't you, oh, Great Mind?" 
 
"Sue, please." 
 
"She painted you as some kind of Savior.  And when the hero saves the princess, he's supposed to marry her and inherit the kingdom." 
 
"I'm married already." 
 
"How nice of you to remember." 
 
"We cannot let these... unfortunate choices of words from a justifiably distressed person affect what we must decide." 
 
Sue sighed.  "What is there to decide?" 
 
"Well, it is something we must all discuss-" 
 
"Of course."  She shrugged.  "Alright, tell Ben and Johnny to join us in an hour at the meeting room, so we can discuss it and all that.  Meanwhile, I'll take Franklin over to Alicia's place and arrange for Agatha Harkness to pick him there.  We don't know how long we may be away." 
 
Reed stared at her.  "Oh.  So you-?" 
 
"For God's sake, of course we're going to Xandar to fight the Skrulls as soon as Miss Leggy Damsel in Distress there can safely make the trip.  Just stay well away from that hussy while I'm out, alright?" 
 
"Sue, you know you can trust-" 
 
"Of course I trust you, honey."  She quickly pecked him on the cheek and walked briskly away.  "Her, not so much." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
With the extreme care of someone who finds the whole world around him far too fragile, Ben Grimm opened the door, and leaned inside.  

"Hotshot, Reed wants us in the meeting room by nine." 
 
Johnny looked up from where he sat.  "Ah, right.  I'll be there right away." 
 
Ben scratched his rocky brow.  "Er... Johnny, shouldn't ya...  I mean, she's asleep, right?  Shouldya really be... here?  Watching and all?" 
 
"Hey, she had a big traumatic experience and got hurt.  She fainted as she talked to us.  And Skrulls just tried to kill her and all, you know.  I think she could use some watching over, really." 
 
"Ok.  Just saying." 
 
"And she's really gorgeous, isn't she?"   
 
Ben's vast shoulders shifted in a shrug.  "She's alright, I guess." 
 
"Movie star kinda alright!  Who would think an alien could look like that?" 
 
Ben shook his head as he left.  "Yer ain't making it any less creepy..."  
 
Johnny stood up, knowing he had to join the others.  He stared again at the sleeping girl, and smiled.  All he wanted was an honest chance, and he would surely get one. 
 
His sister had gotten all worked up, but then, she was used to always be the officially hottest chick around; it was unusual for her to have any real competition ever.  But this Adora gal was certainly more than hot enough to make even Sue jealous. 
 
Seriously, who could worry about anyone fancying Reed over the more obvious choice?  
 
He stretched and went to the door, brimming with confidence.  They would clobber the Skrulls and save her world; that would make Adora feel grateful enough, wouldn't it?  He would be her hero. 
 
And the hero always got the princess at the end, right? 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Johnny Storm's steps faded away, followed by the sound of metal doors closing.   
 
After a cautious lapse of time, a different set of footsteps sounded in the corridor, moving towards the infirmary, where Adora, escaped Suzerain of Xandar, lay asleep. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The individual Fantasti-car module rose from the rooftop slab of Alicia's Manhattan apartment building.  Franklin had been sullen at first, but the idea of having to describe his new movie's visuals to Alicia had finally gotten him fired up.  It would only be for a short while, after all. 
 
She had just needed to get Franklin out of the Baxter Building.  For all of their advanced security, they were hosting a high profile political refugee on the run from an evil extragalactic empire.  Things could blow up catastrophically at any moment.   
 
Alicia's place had its own Reed-designed security system, so they would be safe there.  And Agatha Harkness, Franklin's formidable nanny, had agreed to pick him up within an hour, and few would dare to face against Agatha.  That made one less active concern for the moment.   
 
Still, Sue could not help but feel the same unease of each time she had to leave her son and go marching into adventure, into danger.   
 
One day, she may not return at all.  Maybe none of them would.   
 
She knew their powers gave them an extraordinary responsibility, far beyond normal considerations.  But they were also a family.  Franklin was her son.  There was the risk that one day he may become an orphan.  Why did he have to face such a danger? 
 
Sue adjusted the module's flight plan, returning to the Baxter Building. 
 
That alien floozy better be telling them the truth.  And she better stay away from her husband, too. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Roused from her sleep by a strange feeling of foreboding, Adora, Suzerain of Xandar, sat up on the bed at the same strange, alien medical room where she had woken before, but this time without any of the previous dizziness or lingering weakness.  
 
The Living Computers of Xandar held the medical knowledge of hundreds of different humanoid cultures accumulated over untold millennia; as result, the higher echelons of Xandarian society benefited from many genetically engineered physiological improvements, like extended life-spans and enhanced self-healing processes.  This had enabled Adora to recover from her injuries and traumatic shock.   
 
In the subdued lighting, Adora could make out the tall and lean figure standing by the nearby door, and recognized the high forehead and short brown hair graying at the temples.  His arms were crossed before the chest, while he stared intently at her. 
 
Before she could speak, he silently stepped forward, and her eyebrows rose, words forgotten, as he came fully into view.  He wore no clothing, and between his legs dangled rigidly the largest penis she had seen on a human or other kind of sentient.  Shockingly long and thick, the member stiffened visibly as she stared at it. 
 
She felt both relieved and let down by the obvious implication. 
 
In her desperate need to ensure the help of this Galaxy's Greatest Mind, the exalted Reed Richards, who the Xandarian Living Computers had named their only hope, she had made clear that he would greatly benefit from both the gratitude of her people, and of her person.  If he could truly save her world, she would gladly take bestow upon him the highest honors Xandar could give as well as everything she could offer personally.  His presence at her bedside indicated that her overture was successful, which meant her world may still survive, yet she had somehow expected something different from such a lauded figure.   
 
He could at least have chosen a later, more convenient moment.  The war still raged, and mere hours ago she had seen her lover, faithful Tanak, cruelly beaten to death by a horrible Skrull monster.  She could have been afforded some time to grieve.  After all, she was the Suzerain of her people, not a lowly courtier or mere enlisted warrior.  Surely, it could have waited for a more suitable, formal moment. 
 
Yet all of Xandar was in deadly danger, and she had a duty to her world.  If this man, on whose choices so much depended, required her to provide as further encouragement, some outright demonstration of her willingness, she would not let her people down.  She would accomplish what she had come here for, ensuring her people's survival, fulfilling her highest duty as Suzerain.  
 
She breathed deeply, and slowly, shrugged off the clothing the Earth woman had given her. 
 
He came to her, silent and purposeful, and she spread her legs apart, trembling with nervous tension.   
 
Caring and gentle, poor, doomed Tanak had certainly not been anywhere as enormously hung.  But surely she could manage.
 
She gasped, sharply, loudly.  Very loudly. 
 
And then did it again, and again.  And again.  Louder and louder. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Johnny packed his travel bag, remembering to take his best personal care products.  He should make the best impression on Adora, if he wanted to have a chance.
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"OH, FUCK-FUCK!  FUCK ME, YES!  YES!" 
 
She shook and tossed in wanton delight, legs spread as wide apart as physically possible, while she eagerly sought to accommodate deeper and deeper the shockingly oversized phallus that brutally ravished her formerly tight sex. 
 
"YOU'RE SO BIG!  SO HUGE!  OH, YES!  YES!  SPLIT ME APART WITH YOUR BIG COCK!"  
 
Her cries in gutter Xandarian rose higher and higher as she rushed to the most intense climax of her life.   
 
"OH, FUUUCK-!  FUUUUCK-!" 
 
He grunted, and his arms stretched beyond human limits to wrap around her spread thighs, spreading them wider as he thrust powerfully between them.  His hands grabbed and bound her wrists together above her head in pliable holds, and his head leaned forward on an elongated neck, so he could bite roughly on her sensitive nipples without breaking his thrusting rhythm.   
 
Adora's cries signaled her peaking orgasm and he drove even harder into her while his phallus expanded in diameter, filling her to a capacity she had never believed possible, just seconds before he grunted his own culmination, his swollen member erupting into her with powerful jets of hot jism. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Yeah, I'll take care of myself, I swear.  Ya be good, babe, alright?" 
 
Ben grudgingly ended his call to Alicia.  With a sigh, he put away the phone, specially-designed for his oversized hands and digits.   
 
He hated it, hating leaving poor Alicia a nervous wreck each time they went off to some dangerous mission.  He should have gone to say goodbye in person, but that generally left Alicia even more worried, by giving it a semblance of finality.  And he couldn't bear to see her like that. 
 
Sweet girl like her deserved better.  Much better than a lunkhead like him.  Deserved some kind, nice fellow she could depend on. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Susan carefully landed the flying module on the Baxter Building's landing pad and activated her costume's in-built communication node.  

"She isn't up yet?  No, no, you go find Reed and get it ready.  She'll be better taken care of by her own people, so if she can move, we should take her to them.  I'll just pick up my travel pack and go to infirmary, and check if she's feeling well enough to come." 


************************************** 
 
 
"OH, FUCK!  FUCK!  I'M COMING-!  I'M-COMING-!"  

 
************************************** 
 
 
Pack slung on his back, Johnny bounded cheerfully down the corridor.   He had a good feeling about how things would work out. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Adora gasped weakly, her body still trembling with her echoing pleasures.  She had known many lovers before, fashionable nobles and courtiers, witty highly-ranked intellectuals, and strong, gallant Nova Corpsmen, but none had ever fucked her anywhere as well as this.  She had never imagined she could actually come so hard. 
 
"You...  You must rule Xandar by my side, as my husband, my mate, my master..." 
 
He smiled, his quivering erection still rampant, fluids dripping from its tip. 
 
"You must.  And afterwards...  no one will ever have me but you." 
 
This unique Earthman was the acknowledged Greatest Mind of his Galaxy.  In her culture, founded upon the boons of advanced technologies and the exaltation of all kinds of knowledge, his intellectual standing would afford him the highest status among the ruling class, making him a most suitable possible consort, thus her expressed willingness to offer him a place by her side in the ruling of Xandar and in her bed.  Yet those particular qualifications were now utterly gone from Adora's mind.  Dazed as she was by his complete conquest of her body, she could only think of the expert caresses from his pliable, elongating limbs and tongue, and his astonishing, oversized phallus. 
 
Without a word, he then roughly turned her around, to seize her firm, compact buttocks, fingers stretching to encompass their curvature.  Spreading her flushed cheeks, he exposed her rosy anus, and his tongue stretched to aggressively lick at it, before eventually forcing its way boldly inside.   
 
Adora gasped softly. 
 
He licked and probed her anal entrance, one thumb stretched to rub at her moist labia, finding her swollen, oversensitive clitoris, and she shook under the twin stimulation.  Her pleasure had begun to rise again, building towards a new orgasm, when he drew back and rose behind her.  His thumb probed her anus twice, making her whimper, and then, without further warning, he pushed his thick hard cock into her ass in single, relentless thrust, the large, bulbous head making a popping sound as it forced its way past her clenching anal sphincter.
 
Her gasps turned into loud cries of pain and excitement. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Yes, if she's up to it, we'll go immediately.  The faster we get this done, the better." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"YES!  YES!  FUCK THAT ASS, YES!  OH, YES!"   
 
She was face down on the bed, legs bent under her body, as he wildly sodomized her, while his stretched fingers worked on her clitoris and vagina to maximum effect. 
 
"YES!  SPLIT MY ASS IN TWO WITH YOUR HUGE COCK!  OH, FUCK!  FUUUCK-!   
I'M COMING AGAIN-!" 
 
"WHAT THE FUCK-?  WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" 
 
For several seconds, the two frenzied lovers continued without pause despite the interruption, and Adora screamed loudly throughout her newest climax, while her lover thrust faster and faster into her rectum, ignoring the newly arrived Sue Storm, who stood in shock by the open door. 
 
"DAMN IT!  I ASKED WHAT THE FUCK IS-?" 
 
He pulled out abruptly, showering her ass with glistening ejaculate.  Adora moaned softly, her eyes closed, her rear still held high, her buttocks and legs trembling in orgasmic throes.  Smiling without any apparent concern, her ravisher turned about to face the enraged Susan, his big, erect penis swinging before him, drops of thick semen still clinging to its tip. 
 
Sue stared incredulously at his size and hardness.  He had obviously used his shape-malleability powers to drastically stretch and thicken his penis into that huge monster there, something that only she, and she alone, should be allowed to experience and enjoy. 
 
"HOW COULD YOU-?  HOW-!" 
 
He grabbed her upper arm and pulled her to him. 
 
"WHAT-?"  Furious, she twisted against his hold, but to little effect.  "DON'T YOU DARE TRY TO-!"   
 
Roughly, he drew her body to body against him, covering her open mouth with a hungry, insistent kiss, his arms stretched to hold her tightly in place.  A hand grabbed roughly at one of her buttocks, its roundness firm but yielding under his strong, elongated fingers, while he ground against her, so that his big erection firmly wedged between her legs and pressed against her mound. 
 
She squirmed and struggled, trying to break free of his pliable limbs, until suddenly he turned both about and roughly threw her towards the bed where Adora was, still laying spent from her exertions.  His hand went to his mouth and he stared hard, frowning, at the dark thick fluid left on it.  He then smiled, at licked at the blood, suggestively. 
 
"Please, don't... don't be angry," Adora said softly in English, reaching out weakly towards Sue.  "Join us.  I don't mind... sharing him with you.  It must be like this.  He's so...  He's enough for both.  Oh, yes...  We can both-" 
 
"Oh, shut up, you damn slut," Sue spat, and raised her right hand up, palm facing forward, as he calmly stepped towards them, his smile wide and confident. 
  
The wedge of invisible force rushed forward like a runaway locomotive, slamming him against the infirmary wall, his body deforming in flaps and bends from the brutal impact. 
 
"And that is not my husband." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Stretcho, we really gonna need all this-?" 
 
"They may be waiting, ready for our powers.  We need all the-" 
 
The alarm blared loudly everywhere in the building. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The Reed doppelganger stood up, unharmed, and flame erupted from his hands. 
 
"Fuck."  Sue grimaced.  She was afraid of this.  She spread her arms, standing before Adora.   
 
With the intensity of a small solar flare, the fire blast struck at them. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"What the-?" 
 
Johnny fell on his rear, surprised, thrown off his feet by the heat blast as the corridor was bathed in flames, the infirmary walls instantly destroyed.  Sprinklers bathed the area immediately but ineffectually. 
 
He shook his head, angry.  What was going on here?  Flames were HIS thing. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"What-?"  Adora cried out in panic.  "Who-?" 
 
"That's a Skrull."  Sue walked forward through the infirmary's charred ruins, pulling the mostly naked girl behind her, protecting both with her force field, while willing it to expand, to push the enemy back.  
 
"What-?"  The girl stumbled, shocked.  "A...   Skrull?" 
 
"A Skrull, yes.  Impersonating Reed." 
 
"So I-?  With a-?" 
 
"Yes!  With a Skrull!  You fucked a damn Skrull!"    
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"HEY, YOU!  WHAT-?" 
 
A flaming hand stretched through the superheated air and turned to orange rock before it slammed Johnny Storm against a wall. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Sue stopped for a moment, and breathed out slowly, trying to hold in check the anger that still smoldered like the room around them.   
 
"I'm...  sorry, alright?  But, yes, you were deceived.  By a Skrull.  One named Kl'rt, to be exact.  We call him..." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"The damned Super-Skrull," Ben muttered, squinting through the glare.  The fiery figure retreating through the flames was just too tall and heavily built to be Johnny. 
 
He breathed deeply, crouched, and then jumped, swinging his massive fist. 
 
It was clobbering time. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Sue heard the girl's gasps turn to outright crying, and wished she could feel more sympathetic.  The Xandarian had just been tricked into having sex with one of those very enemies intent on taking over her world and likely killing most of her people.  She had been the victim of a form of ape, really.  But then, she had also believed to be fucking Sue's husband.   
 
The slut. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
He grabbed with one hand, and with the other punched, and punched, and punched again.  His opponent fell back, face and body deforming under each impact, and Ben followed, pressing the attack, keeping his grip.   
 
Flames wrapped around both of them. 
 
The nearly impervious, rock-like orange hide that covered Ben Grimm's body, and made the media call him The Thing, allowed him to withstand enormous damage, but breathing in fire or even super-heated air could still harm him, so he held his breath, and kept his mouth and eyes closed, as he continued to punch blindly, holding tightly to his foe to keep him close enough to hit. 
 
He had to beat this crummy alien before running out of air. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Sue saw the Super-Skrull stretch around Ben and wrap all about his body, while still fully ignited.  Even if Ben could survive the superficial burning, she knew it would still hurt, and his inner organs could still be cooked alive by the focused heat once it got past his thick skin. 
 
She ignored Adora's loud sobs and focused. 
 
Her force field surrounded the two struggling combatants as closely as she could visualize it.  Then she willed it to expand suddenly, blowing it up to several times its original diameter.  The force of expansion shattered the nearby walls, ceiling and floor, but the sudden thinning of air snuffed most of the flame and shocked both fighters. 
 
She then collapsed back the force field bubble to original size and threw it through the damaged floor, breaking through the level beneath, aiming for the Zone portal room. 
 
"REED!  OPEN THE DOORS AND ACTIVATE THE PORTAL!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Ben gasped loudly as the force field vanished and both he and the Super-Skrull fell to the metal floor.  He coughed wildly and sucked in air with relish.  It had been close, too close.  He turned about, looking for his opponent, but there was nothing there.  
 
With a roar that came out of apparent empty air, the Super-Skrull kicked out, his body turned to massive, yet invisible rock.  Cursing, Ben struck the farthest wall and bounced back to the floor with loud thudding noises. 
 
An energy blast struck the Super-Skrull, breaking his concentration, and making him visible again.  Only his having taken on the Thing's resilience kept him standing.   
 
Wearing goggles with range beyond the visible spectrum, Reed Richards fired the energy blaster again, but its pulse dissipated harmlessly against a quickly-risen force field.  An instant later, he had to duck, twisting fluidly his body out of the way of a blast of flame. 
 
Ben got to his feet and ran.  "LEMME AT HIM!" 
 
"Ben!  Look out!" 
 
The focused fire blast struck the wall behind where Ben's head had been, melting a deep hole through the thick metal layers.  Ben cursed, face down on the floor again after his sudden trip over Reed's outstretched leg.  
 
The Super-Skrull turned to Reed Richards, releasing a wide swath of flame, one that could not be easily ducked, but an invisible wall contained the attack. 
 
"LET'S FORCE HIM BACK!"  Sue kept the shield up while slamming again the alien foe with a wedge of invisible force, making him stagger back.  "BACK THRU THE PORTAL!" 
 
"I WANNA CLOBBER THIS JOKER HERE!" 
 
"We cannot risk damaging the portal!"  Stretching one arm, Reed tapped a control panel, and with a near-blinding release of uncanny energies, the portal opened behind the Super-Skrull. 
 
Sue grimaced with effort, and with a gasp, fell to a knee, as her force casting was repelled by an even stronger push of invisible might. 
 
The Super-Skrull let out a laugh of triumph.  "That is a measure of my power, woman!  Power you shall soon get to know more-!" 
 
"Oh, shut, will ya?"  Stabbing his fingers into the floor at his feet, Ben seized the thick metal plate and tore it up with a mighty heave, making a long strap of flooring rise and undulate with a wave that raced along the room and threw the Super-Skrull off his feet and several paces. 
 
Furious, the green alien got to his feet.  "Pathetic Earthlings, that won't-!" 
 
A sudden blast of fire struck him right in the chest, sending him through the portal.   
 
Punching the air with a laugh, the Human Torch landed by his teammates.  "FIRE'S MY THING, YO!"   
 
Ben shook his head.  "Took yer time, Match-head."    
 
"He almost knocked me out back there.  Couldn't get my head straight. 
 
"Ya never do!" 
 
"How did he get in here, anyway?"  Johnny began, flaming off.   
 
"Please, we must follow, quickly."  Adora walked into the room, naked, her face set in a grimace of resolve.  "Or he will have a death trap waiting for us." 
 
Johnny's eyes bulged.  "Woah.  Why is she-?" 
 
Reed had lifted his goggles, and removed his lab coat.  "They may be ready for us, anyway."  
 
Sue pursed her lips.  "The longer we wait, the worse it may be.  And we'll lose initiative." 
 
Ben cracked his knuckles with thunderous noise.  "Got the sucker runnin', let's keep it that way." 
 
Taking the lab coat Reed offered with an elongated arm, Adora covered herself before turning to Sue to plead:  "Please.  Whatever happened...  my world may still be dying as we speak." 
 
"What happened?"  Johnny frowned.  "Did I miss something?" 
 
Sue turned to meet Reed's eyes.  "I'm ready." 
 
Reed nodded, picking up a pack full of assorted devices.  "I'll set the portal to seal and deactivate in thirty seconds." 
 
Grinning, Ben grabbed a couple of much bigger packs.  "Hell, yeah." 
 
Adora fought back tears.  "Thank you, thank you all." 
 
As they stepped forward into the portal, Johnny shook his head.  "Still feels like I missed something." 
 
The portal flashed and they were gone. 
 
 
 
PART TWO:  A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING NOT TO SAVE 
 
 
It was just one small step for the Fantastic Four and Xandar's Suzerain, but as they exited the dimensional portal's transition buffer, over two and half million light-years separating Earth from the Andromeda galaxy had been spanned.  The floor where their feet landed was cracked and covered with debris, and the air was filled with smoke and shouts. 
 
"INCOMING!" 
 
Susan raised her invisible shield just as half a dozen figures turned towards them, hand-held weapons firing energy discharges. 
 
"Dose ain't Skrulls."  Ben Grimm said.  The men and women facing them wore gold-and-blue outfits with golden helmets, and their figures were as human-like as Adora's own.  Some were on the floor wielding weapons, while others hovered in mid-air, surrounded by a faint golden glow. 
 
"Nova corps!"  Adora cried out. 
 
Several more in similar dress could be seen running ran or flying near the opposite side of the enclosure.  A wall exploded in the distance and the situation became even more chaotic. 
 
Adora called out in the Xandarian language, but while the invisible shield allowed passage for low-kinetic-energy vibrating air, the prevailing noise of the ongoing combat was too loud for her voice to be heard, and the Nova corpsmen firing at the group clearly did not recognize the young woman in the oversized lab coat. 
 
"Dem grunts ain't listening.  Lemme at 'em, Suzie, so I can-" 
 
Adora held up a hand.  "Please."  She removed the lab coat, letting it fall. 
 
Ben looked away.  "Damn.  Shoulda warned first!" 
 
"Not complaining here," Johnny said. 
 
Susan rolled her eyes.  What was with this girl and stripping? 
 
Reasserting her regal demeanor, Adora threw her hair back from her face, and raised both arms high as she stepped forward, fully nude but for the decorative golden rings on her neck and arms.  The Nova corpsmen reacted instantly and lowered their weapons. 
 
"Her adornments must be some kind of badge of office," Reed commented. 
 
"Or everyone's really familiar with how she looks naked," Sue muttered. 
 
An elderly man in torn purple robes hobbled towards them, calling out Adora's name in a weak, hoarse voice. 
 
"Master Xar!"  Adora ran forward, but was stopped by the invisible force surrounding them. 
 
"They may be Skrulls in disguise, again," Sue warned, with an edge to her voice.  "Reed?" 
 
Her husband studied the screen of a handheld device.  "The scanner doesn't detect the characteristic Skrull mutable-" 
 
"Alright."  Sue removed her shield, allowing Adora to rush towards the stumbling man.  They spoke quickly in Xandarian while pointing excitedly at the Fantastic Four, and Reed in particular, as Sue noticed. 
 
"So where's the damned Super-Skrull-?"  Ben strode forward and several of the Nova corpsmen retreated with uncertainty in their faces at his massive bulk, hands clenching weapons nervously.  "He came before us!" 
 
"I suspect the fighting going on was due to him." 
 
Ben tried to peer through the smoke curtains still blanketing the view through several collapsed walls.  The noise had died down. "Seems over now." 
 
Adora walked back to them, now covered with Master Xar's ragged purple cape.  "The Skrull warrior did come..."  She blanched, hesitating for an instant, but did not lower her eyes.  "Before us, but the Nova Corps had already secured the outpost from the Skrulls.  He... fought through their ranks, and is now trying to escape, with the Corps in pursuit." 
 
Dressed in a stained under-tunic, Master Xar approached Reed Richards, taking his hands in a trembling grip, before bowing solemnly.  "Wee-Welcome, oh, Greatest Mind of your Galaxy."  His voice clearly struggled with the sounds of English language.  "Xandar re-rejoices at yon-your arrival." 
 
Reed had the decency to look embarrassed, Sue saw. 
 
"Er...  We are glad to be here.  We... shall all help as we can." 
 
"To Xandar's Living Computers must go, then.  Important is." 
 
"Master Xar!" 
 
A young man in Nova uniform flew towards them, three golden starbursts emblazoned on his chest as opposed to the sole or twin ones of most of the surrounding corpsmen.  The faint golden nimbus enveloping his lean figure faded as he landed a few steps away. 
 
"The damn bastard broke through the perimeter-!  Um, sorry."  He switched to the sibilant language of Xandar, only to stop abruptly and stiffen in in obvious surprise as he registered the presence of the new arrivals.  "Woah!  The Fantastic Four?" 
 
Ben nodded.  "Got eyes under that helmet, dontcha?" 
 
"THE Fantastic Four!  That's awesome!" 
 
"Gotta a fan here, folks." 
 
"You speak English fluently, without any accent," Sue said.  "Who are-?" 
 
"I'm Rich-Richard Rider."  He removed the golden helmet, revealing the face of a very young man, with brown hair and brown eyes full of awe. 
"From New York!" 
 
Reed aimed again his device.  "Genetic scan confirms his being an Earthman, though his body is apparently being augmented by some kind of overlapping energy field effect-" 
 
"Yeah.  The Nova suit, it kinda gives these powers..." 
 
"Not from Yancy Street, aintcha, kid?" 
 
"Er, no, Sir, sorry." 
 
"You'd be sorry if you were!" 
 
"Don't mind Ben, he's just kidding."  Smiling, she extended a hand. 
"Pleased to meet you, Richard.  I'm Susan Storm." 
 
"The Invisible girl, wow,"  Rich muttered, fumbling with his helmet before taking her hand awkwardly, his eyes wide as saucers as he looked straight at the blue-eyed blonde with undisguised awe.  "You're even...  I mean...   You...  I have your poster in my room.  I mean..." 
 
Sue blushed, surprised.  "Oh, please, don't remind me about that one!  It was so cheesy.  I should have never-" 
 
Reed frowned.  "The one you did for that magazine-?" 
 
"Sports Illustrated.  Swimsuit issue," Johnny confirmed. 
 
"You looked great in it, dear.  Tasteful, too." 
 
"Yeah, everyone bought that one.  EVERYONE." 
 
Rich nodded vigorously in agreement, still staring intently at Sue's face, framed by long flowing blonde locks, a her large blue eyes with long thick lashes, the delicate nose and rosy lips.  Realizing he was staring, he looked down nervously, but that meant staring at her chest instead, the tight bodysuit showcasing how large and perky her breasts were.  He quickly looked up at her eyes again.  "Sorry, I didn't-" 
 
"It's alright."  Sue smiled pleasantly at the young man's nervousness, not having missed his wandering eyes.  "You're a long way from home, Rich." 
 
"Guess so, yes." 
 
"There will be time for introductions later," Adora interrupted, having exchanged several quick words with Master Xar.  "We must-" 
 
"Kid beat us here to a different galaxy!  Least we can do is say 'hi' to a fellow Earther!"  Ben gave the young man a friendly slap in the back, a slap that shook dust and debris off his uniform and made him stumble forward, towards Sue. 
 
"Oh, sorry!"  Rich started back.  Susan had needed to place a hand against his chest to keep him from crashing bodily against her.  Against her body.  His face had come very close to hers.  Very close. 
 
"Don't worry."  She smiled at him.  Again. 
 
He realized he was still holding her hand and let go, self-consciously. 
 
"So, Rich.  How did you get here?  How is it that you're part of the Xandarian military?" 
 
"It's a long story.  We barely arrived today and kinda got recruited-" 
 
"The Living Computers await we!"  Master Xar spoke up from a nearby console where he had activated various controls.  "First to the ship go must!" 
 
"Yoda teach this guy English, too?" 
 
Johnny frowned.  "What ship?" 
 
"The one we came in.  With the others." 
 
"Others?" 
 
A shimmer of light suddenly surrounded them and they were gone. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
The surroundings blurred, changing shape and color, and the space about them contracted into a smaller, yet still spacious volume, bounded on all sides by metal bulkheads.  Nova corpsmen stood in attention and technicians rose from their seats before a complex navigation console, bowing their heads towards Adora. 
 
Ben staggered, disoriented, and reached for a nearby chair for support, but its back crumpled into twisted metal in his grip.  "Oy...  Sorry.  What's happened?  Where're we?" 
 
"Short-range teleportation."  Reed glanced quickly at the control console.  "Localized warping for dimensional displacement, apparently.  Your body's mass means greater inertia and makes it harder for you to adjust to the relocation, especially in a group displacement." 
 
Johnny smiled at Ben.  "Told you about dieting, but did you listen?" 
 
"Shut up, match-head." 
 
Master Xar spoke briskly in Xandarian to the navigators, who sat back at their controls promptly.  A faint humming coursed the ship as engines activated. 
 
Reed Richards stretched his torso to better peer at the navigation displays.  "Warp-drive technology?" 
 
Master Xar nodded.  "We reach Xandar short." 
 
"Shortly," Adora corrected. 
 
"At last."  A deep voice resonated, filling the whole room.  A tall, massive figure approached from the edge of the room, followed closely by a golden-plated robotic figure.  "The end of this long journey." 
 
The Fantastic Four stared in surprise.  "The Sphinx?" 
 
Ben crouched immediately into fighting posture.  "What’s dis guy doing here?" 
 
Standing over seven feet tall, with an aloof, arrogant bearing that spoke of power beyond even that apparent in his heavily-muscled figure, the one known as the Sphinx stepped calmly towards the new arrivals.  "As always, I seek...  a personal fulfillment." 
 
Flames sprouted over Johnny's body prompting looks of alarm among the Xandarians.  "Didn't Black Bolt get rid of him, months ago?" 
 
A faint, dismissive grimace appeared in the Sphinx's dusky countenance.  "Indeed, last we met, my encounter with the monarch of the Inhumans proved fruitless, as had so many other previous attempts to find enlightenment.  But now-" 
 
"You want light?"   Johnny raised a flaming hand.  "Try this-!" 
 
Richard Rider stepped before him, hands raised in a placating gesture.  "Wait, wait-!  He's on our side!" 
 
"He is?" 
 
The Sphinx remained impassive, hands held behind his back, his face expressionless. 
 
"I fought against him before, too," Richard explained.  "But we joined forces to get here." 
 
"He has great power, Suzerain," Master Xar muttered to Adora in Xandarian.  "He offered his assistance against the Skrulls." 
 
"I see," Adora said. 
 
"He's who figured it out about my suit and this ship," Rich continued.  "He gathered me and the rest.  We are here because of him." 
 
"This was the flagship of the Nova Corps.  Our most powerful vessel," Adora said.  "It was believed lost." 
 
"We brought it back as soon as we could."  Rich turned to the Fantastic Four.  "The ship belonged to the dying alien who gave me the Nova suit-" 
 
"Nova Centurion Prime Rohmann Dey," Adora stated.  "Nova Corps Leader. He chased the Luphomoid Zorr to your galaxy, to your world, to make him pay for the destruction of Xandar." 
 
Johnny frowned.  "Destruction?  Weren't we going there to save it-?" 
 
A vast holographic display spread suddenly before them.  Shimmering in the combined light of a trinary star system, partially translucent spheres the sizes of moons stood out like Christmas ornaments against the backdrop of a crowded asteroid field.  Enclosing irregular planetary fragments the size of continents, the vast orbs were interconnected by multiple tubular sections of the same diaphanous construction. 
 
"There."  The Sphinx's eyes glowed, as did the red gem set on his brow.  "Xandar." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"Kl'rt?   You dare show your face to your emperor, you cur?" 
 
The warrior known as Super-Skrull to the people of Earth held back his anger and bowed his head.  "I just report what happened, My Emperor.  If we-" 
 
"SILENCE!"  Dorrek VII, ruler of the Skrull Empire, rose to his full height of almost five feet and a half.  "You failed to capture the Xandarian bitch, Kl'rt, disappeared for half a rotation without any explanation, and now you return only to bear news of further failures?" 
 
"My Emperor, it was the Earthlings-" 
 
"Oh, yes, of course!  Again the accursed Fucking Four From Fucking Earth!"  Dorrek sat back on the padded command chair at the bridge of his Imperial flagship.  "Tell me, Kl'rt, whose shame will now tarnish his House forever, can't you even fucking fetch a drink without getting beat by the Earthlings again?  You must secretly work for them, somehow involving them in all of our glorious plans, you traitor!" 
 
"My Emperor-!" 
 
"How else can they show up here NOW?  Right in the middle of our campaign against Xandar?  What the fuck do Earthlings even have to do with Xandar?  Tell me, you scum, how long have you been their thrall-?" 
 
"I'm not-!" 
 
"It is the female, isn't she?  The comely one with golden silken hair, and the large, round milking jugs...  She has subjugated you with her secret Earthling sexual skills, hasn't she?  Just what does she-?" 
 
Kl'rt stood up, interrupting:  "The Xandarian ruler went forth to summon them!  It wasn't-!" 
 
Instantly, a dozen warriors leveled their weapons threateningly at him from various points in the ship's bridge.  He held back his words, just as he held back the urge to use his powers and crush all these fools, particularly that greater fool now ranting before him.  Oh, how would he cherish that. 
 
"That is impossible.  The accursed Earthling Richards blocked direct teleporting access to his world and you know it." 
 
"He blocked OUR access, My Emperor, by disabling the relay satellites that our scouts had placed in orbit and-" 
 
"So how could the Xandarians do it, then?" 
 
"The Xandarians master other space-manipulation technologies, My Emperor.  Remember that was one of the reasons why it was decided that the Empire would benefit from conquering-" 
 
Dorrek shook a hand dismissively.  "Ah, yes, that was what we said." 
 
Kl'rt pursed his lips.  Dorrek was not one to care much about technical details.  "Once we have the knowledge of their fabled Living Computers-" 
 
"Yes, yes, all that.  Very useful.  We have many plans for all that...  information.  And their fixed-shape females, too." 
 
Kl'rt begged their gods for patience. 
 
"You were to get that Adora bitch for me, Kl'rt.  I told you explicitly.  We paused our attacks, pulled back the fleet to create a lull, just to allow this to happen.  Yet you failed, as you always do."  Dorrek shook his head.  "I had...  such plans for her." 
 
Kl'rt stared at Dorrek non-commit-ally, his expression concealing a deep, personal satisfaction, that of having beaten Dorrek to the enjoyment of the delectable Xandarian ruler.  Like the emperor, and most male Skrulls, he also found considerable sexual appeal in the females of fixed-shape humanoid species like Earthlings and Xandarians; as elite warrior of the highest rank, he had enjoyed many times the privilege of such morsels.  He was glad to have possessed Adora before her delightful body could be tainted by the Emperor's revolting touch.  Everyone in the higher circles knew about the tyrant's perverted tastes, about his indulgence in sick, extreme practices exceeding even the wide leeway of Skrull sexual mores.   Anyone with less political clout would have been long ostracized for such wasteful behavior.   
 
"The Xandarian Suzerain came... back.  With the Earthlings." 
 
"She did?  Are you sure?" 
 
"They followed me, bringing her with them.   It was confirmed by the sensors of the ship that I commandeered to escape." 
 
Amusing as it would be to know that Dorrek had gotten only his seconds, Kl'rt was pleased that Adora had escaped.  It would be a pitiful waste for such an enthusiastic, memorable fuck to ultimately fall in Dorrek's hands.  She was far too tasty a treat for such a maggot, one he would not mind having again.  But not after Dorrek had his way with her.  No one would, after that.   
 
"The Four are then to aid Xandar now?  What else can now go wrong?" 
 
Kl'rt recalled how close he had been to also having the luscious blonde beauty of the hated Four, having her literally, at long last, only for her to escape his grasp, yet again.  So close.  Closer than ever. 
 
"It may have its advantages." 
 
Dorrek grimaced in anger.  "Advantages?  Are you mad?" 
 
"The Earthlings will go to Xandar, My Emperor.  But this time, Richards will be away from his devices, his resources.  They will be vulnerable.  We must attack now, with all our power, before he can arrange any defenses.  We can now take out two targets with one blast:  Xandar and the Earthling Four, both now ours to take." 
 
Dorrek's broad mouth spread in an ugly grin.  "Yes.  Mobilize the fleet."  He gestured for Kl'rt to approach him.  "And their light-haired female.  Oh, yes, her.  You must get her, as well.  For me." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"Oh, crap."  Benjamin Grimm winced, closing his eyes and crouching down, reaching for the floor with one oversize hand for support.  "Can't take much more of dat." 
 
Johnny tapped him on a shoulder with mock helpfulness.  "Don't puke on our hosts' foyer, Ben.  Would be bad manners.  Extra-planetary incident risk and all that." 
 
Susan was at Ben's side with more honest concern.  "Just breathe deeply, Ben.  Breathe." 
 
He shook his head.  "Gotta be better way to do this." 
 
"Come on, look up.  You are missing the view, Ben.  It's beautiful." 
 
"So is all of Xandar," Adora said. 
 
"I'll live witha loss, Suzie," Ben muttered. 

They had been transported to a vast hall located high in a towering building in the Xandar capitol city, where a transparent wall many stories tall and without apparent support afforded an extensive view over an endless sprawl of graceful buildings and other structures with complex, daring shapes, joined by wide flowery walkway ribbons in almost arrogant disregard for gravity that mocked all Earthly construction practices.  High above, the sky showed a shimmering bluish tint thru which could be seen the spheres of the other sections of the sundered planet, all in perfect balance as they orbited the gravity center of the trinary system. 
 
The Sphinx looked down with disdain at the Thing's crouched body and walked several paces away, studying their surroundings, while conferring in hushed tones with his golden robotic companion. 
 
Sue moved next to her husband.  "Straight out of a Michael Whelan illustration, isn't it?" 
 
Reed nodded.  "Impressive.  The structural engineering necessary to keep aloft those connecting walkways-" 
 
"Suzerain!  We were so worried!"  Dressed in ornate crimson tunic and leggings, a bearded man came to them, followed by a sizable entourage of armed guards and servants, all bowing deeply before Adora.  He cringed at the robe covering her.  "We must get you cleaned and dressed!" 
 
"Later."  She continued in English:  "Prime Thoran, meet Reed Richards, Greatest Mind of his Galaxy." 
 
Thoran bowed formally again and spoke in English as well:  "Xandar is honored to greet you." 
 
"Er, thanks." 
 
"And his companions." 
 
"You are welcome as well." 
 
Sue held back her discomfort at the backhanded courtesies.  They were clearly only interested in Reed's presence.  But why?  The strength of the Fantastic Four was in their teamwork, their joined abilities. 
 
"We could start by reviewing your defensive arrangement with your staff in charge," Reed said.  "See in what ways we may be helpful-" 
 
"Yes, oh, in time.  After your quarters you see." 
 
"Strange sense of priorities," Sue said quietly. 
 
Reed shrugged.  "Well, I do need a place to set up my devices." 
 
The Sphinx walked briskly towards Adora and Thoran.  "No, there must be no delays.  Take us to the Living Computers now." 
 
Thoran exchanged a quick glance with Adora and Master Xar before bowing yet again with a gesture of appeasement.  "First you must be properly welcomed.  Our honored guests have traveled far and our Suzerain and Science Master have returned from a dangerous ordeal.  Refreshments and rest are in order before any serious matter can be properly addressed." 
 
Servants in glamorous livery and generously exposed skin approached each of those present, but the Sphinx stared unmoved.  "There is no need." 
 
Adora stepped close and gently placed her hand on the Sphinx's forearm.  "Please, allow us...  to follow the proper protocols." 
 
"Look, dude, you have no idea what she went thru, just to get us here," Johnny said, while Sue looked to a side, lifting an eyebrow.  "Cool it a bit, will you?" 
 
The Sphinx frowned.  Not replying, he turned away and walked several paces away to stare again at the urban sprawl. 
 
"Gotta be loadsa fun at parties," Ben muttered. 
 
Richard Rider shrugged.  "He's certainly not... friendly.  But he got me and the others together, brought us here and helped us break thru the Skrull blockade." 
 
Sue turned to him.  "Who are these others?" 
 
"Other guys from Earth with powers.  They joined the Xandarian defense forces when we arrived.  There was Crimebuster, Diamondhead, Comet...  Powerhouse was another Xandarian who was on Earth.  There was also this yellow robot guy, Doctor Sun."  Rich glanced about quickly.  "He was here a moment ago, but I don't know where he got to now..." 
 
"Well, I could get to a restroom, myself," Ben said, while the servants beckoned them to follow with more insistent gestures.  After exchanging glances and nodding in agreement, the Fantastic Four followed them. 
 
Walking next to Richard, Johnny kept his eyes on Adora, who was being fawned over by several servants even as they exited the hall, having her torn robe removed and scented wipes solicitously rubbed over her graceful limbs without breaking stride.  "Damn.  She's really a knockout, isn't she?" 
 
Rich nodded.  "Oh, she's beautiful.  Really beautiful." 
 
But he was not looking at the Xandarian ruler. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Ignoring the servants, the Sphinx stood still and impassive.  His mind reached out.  Probing.  Asking.  Demanding. 
 
The security measures were considerable.  It had yet to find the location.  But it assured him that he would.  It was just a matter of time. 
 
The Sphinx drew back his probes, for the moment.  It was again, all about time.  Always about time. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
At the royal quarters, once the servants had removed the last adornments, Adora shook her hair loose and walked into the waiting bath.  The hot, perfumed waters in the recessed tub welcomed her tired body.  She sighed, wishing she could relax without reservations in the water's warm embrace. 
 
"Can we fully trust him to help us?" 
 
"Trust and complacency brought us where we are now, Prime Thoran." 
 
Thoran nodded, chastised. 
 
"I brought him this far."  Adora closed her eyes as the maids cleaned and massaged her thoroughly.  "I will get him to do what is needed.  I shall...  convince him.  At whatever cost it takes." 
 
"And his... companions?" 
 
"Keep this Sphinx under close watch.  He is an unknown factor and may be dangerous.  Arrange distractions for the others.  Can the Nova Prime power be reclaimed from the youth?" 
 
"It seems to be deeply bonded." 
 
"He seemed capable, and willing.  Let's use him as he is, but monitor him closely, as well.  If necessary, be ready to arrange for his passing and the transfer." 
 
"There is... something else, Suzerain." 
 
"What is it?" 
 
Thoran kept his eyes low.  "It is... Tanak." 
 
She opened her eyes and looked at him, startled.  "Tanak?  Tanak survived?" 
 
"Just barely.  His injuries are too severe, even for us, even for our means.  He may not live past this rotation.  He... called for you." 
 
Adora's muscles tensed under the hands of her attendants. 
 
Poor Tanak.  Handsome, loyal Tanak, pride of her guard, her lover and confidant, how bravely he had rushed to his doom to save her. 
 
"Have him sedated.  Make it... peaceful for him.  Give him full honors." 
 
She pursed her lips.  How useless he had also proved ultimately against the other.  And how useless all his past performances now seemed, too, compared to that one.  How useless all Xandarians now seemed, actually.  No wonder their world had come to such straits.  No wonder they had to seek help elsewhere. 
 
"The woman in particular must be taken away, Thoran.  Keep her from interfering." 
 
"As you order, Suzerain." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Johnny paused at the door of his assigned quarters.  "So, is there any way I could get a word with Adora?  In private?  I mean, once she is, you know, presentable?" 
 
The young servant raised her thin eyebrows, the blue tinted area around the eyes emphasizing her look of bafflement. 
 
"Adora?  The queen, or princess, you know?"  Johnny mimed the shape of the Suzerain's tiara and other adornments, trying to get his point across.  "Adora?"
 
The servant replied in Xandarian, and noticing Johnny's incomprehension, turned to exchange several short sentences with her equally young companion. 
 
"Just for a moment, see?  I think we had kind of a connection back-" 
 
The two girls shared a knowing smile, and walked into the luxurious room, proceeding to remove their already scanty outfits. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
In an out of sight corner of the extensive network of corridors coursing a gargantuan Xandarian building complex, a golden metallic body leaned, cold and immobile, against a rack of tubing. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"Look, I said I'm not dat kinda guy!" 
 
With deliberate care not to use too much strength, or make contact with any bared jiggly parts, Ben Grimm pushed both serving girls out into the corridor.  He quickly gathered and threw their clothes at them. 
 
"No offense, ok?  I dunno how ya gals roll around here but yers truly's inna steady relationship, and happy innit!  So thanks, but no thanks-!" 
 
The door closed and the two girls glanced at each other with furrowed brows, their expressions mixing both a sudden sense of relief and nervous concern. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Myriads of complex devices filled the benches and shelves of the large factory-like space.  "This can be your... place to job?" 
 
"Work," Reed corrected absentmindedly, dropping his packs on the floor and stretching his body from one direction to the other, studying with rapt interest the available resources.  "I may not need any of the tools I brought.  I can certainly make better ones with these." 
 
Sue realized that Reed was close to sidestepping from the here and now and turned quickly to their guide.  "Master Xar, what is this war about?" 
 
"About?" 
 
"Why are you in war at all?" 
 
"The Skrulls... attacked!" 
 
"Yes, Adora told us that.  But why?  What are the Skrulls after?" 
 
Master Xar frowned, clearly annoyed.  "They want to conquer us." 
 
"That is the action, but not the cause," Reed added, retracting to normal proportions.  "Your world was already crippled, barely surviving as four fragments, with many catastrophic consequences.  With your planetary resources thus compromised, your importance as desirable conquest target or as political, economic or military rival should also be minimized.  The Skrulls are war-like but not foolish.  Cui bono?" 
 
Sue nodded.  "Exactly.  What do they have to win?  Why start a costly campaign?" 
 
"Knowledge," said Prime Thoran, walking in with Rich Rider and half a dozen lower ranked Nova Corpsmen at his side.  "The riches of Xandar are not material goods or physical resources.  They never were.  It is all about knowledge." 
 
Sue did not fail to notice Thoran's unexpectedly fluid mastery of English.  "What knowledge in particular?" 
 
"All of it.  For countless millennia, the intellectual heritage of every known civilization has been collected and saved in our Living Computers.  The Skrulls have been recently losing status in their long-standing rivalry with the Kree, and the power inherent in the knowledge which Xandar safeguards, could tip things in their favor decisively." 
 
"Are you talking about weaponry?  Military technologies?" 
 
"In part, yes.  The Living Computers are the core of all that is Xandar.  They empower our Nova Corps.  They enabled our survival after the attack of the Luphomoid.  They must not fall to the Skrulls, or the whole Universe would be at risk." 
 
Holding his helmet at a side, Rich ran a hand on his hair.  "So we have to help for Earth's sake, too." 
 
Thoran nodded in agreement.  "Indeed.  Acting Nova Centurion Rider, take our honored guests to meet with the Nova Corps strategic command, to be briefed of the current defense strategies." 
 
That was more like it, Sue thought. 
 
"Yes, sir," Richard replied, and quickly stepped forward before Sue.  "Ah, can you please come with me?  I mean, not come as in...  I mean, can we get together, ah, get together with the brass at the War Room?  Please-?" 
 
Sue smiled, halfheartedly.  Things kept getting more uncomfortable.  In every sense. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Woah...  Wait...  I didn't mean...  Not that I don't... Or that you're not...  Because, wow, you're both...  really...  fit and..." 
 
Johnny breathed deeply before continuing, thinking that he probably should look away to emphasize his point.  He really should. 
 
"See, it's actually Adora who I'm really...  And I wouldn't want to mess my chances of...  Wow.  Are you-?  Oh.  Oh...  Sure, you can...  start with each other.  I'll just stay over here and...  watch.  Yep.  I'll just watch." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
The door opened for two young, slender youths, the flimsy, barely-there outfits showcasing their lean, toned physiques. 
 
Ben palmed his craggy head with an oversized hand.  "Jeez, I'm not dat kinda guy, either!" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Johnny stared, impressed.  And he was not that easy to impress. 
 
After all, he was a celebrity, and got around, far beyond what most others called getting around, too.  Also, he had grown up with Sue, and since the earliest he could remember every guy around already wanted into his older sister's pants, for reasons pretty hard not to notice, so he had rather high standards of beauty and hotness. 
 
He did not get flustered by just any two cute girls messing around.  He did not. 
 
"Wait, what is she doing with her-?  Oh, damn!  DAMN!" 
 
He stared a while longer, in respectful silence, and then threw up his arms. 
 
"Oh, what the hell!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
"We need to get Ben and Johnny," Sue said, frowning.  "But they aren't answering their comms." 
 
"There may be locally interfering wavelengths," Reed said, holding up another device.  "There seem to be several overlapping energy fields that-" 
 
"We can get them on the way there," Rich said, putting on his helmet.  It covered his head but for his mouth and chin, providing instantly translated two-way communications, allowing him to consult quickly in Xandarian with the other Nova Corpsmen, and also hiding his still flushed countenance.  "This way." 
 
He led them out and through a series of branching corridors, softly-lit and high-ceiling-ed.  After a few minutes of walking, he moved closer to Sue, looking at his feet while muttering:  "Um, Ms. Storm...  I wanted to say I'm sorry.  About all that before." 
 
"Don't worry, I understand.  You're just nervous.  It's normal." 
 
"Uh, thanks.  I really didn't..." 
 
"Rich, you are in another planet, in the middle of an alien war zone.  Anyone would be on edge.  I know I am, too, and we have been at this before." 
 
"Really?" 
 
"Of course.  Many times.  It's natural.  It does get easier.  Like with everything.  But it never really goes away.  Not completely."  She smiled.  "How long have you been at this?" 
 
"This?  With the Nova suit, you mean?  Uh, couple of months now." 
 
"My God, Rich, you're barely starting out.  Look, you're a normal, decent kid, who suddenly had your whole life changed, and suddenly needs to step up to dangers and demands never before imagined...  Believe me, I know how that feels." 
 
He glanced at the others and lowered his voice even more.  "But did you ever get... scared?  Truly scared?" 
 
"All the time.  Still do.  Rich, this is a scary thing, for all of us." 
 
"That's what...  What if we don't-?  I mean, it could happen that..." 
 
"We just try our best, Rich.  Do what we can, try to..." 
 
"It's that-I got all these powers now, but I'm still...  You just said it, I'm still just a kid, and-" 
 
"I didn't mean to put you down-" 
 
"No, I am.  Really.  I'm still in high school.  I'm flunking high school!" 
 
"You are?  High school?" 
 
"Yes!  And now I'm here, and it's actually another planet, and it's a war!  And I am not old enough to vote, or drink, or-!" 
 
"God.  You're a minor."  She stared forward, honestly surprised.  She had figured him as a college student, from his height and how the Nova suit hugged his athletic body very, very tightly; everywhere, too.  Now she felt more uneasy about his obvious attention towards her, and about her casually having checked out his cute behind.  "You... really don't look that much younger than my brother." 
 
"But there's so much I've never seen, never even done..." 
 
"Look, I'm sure you'll-" 
 
"I've never even done it.  With anyone!" 
 
Sue shook her head.  "Rich, that's not-" 
 
"Suzie?  SUZIE!" 
 
"Ben?" 
 
They stopped as the Thing ran out of a branching corridor to their side, his rocky feet thundering on the floor. 
 
"SUZIE!  I was trying to get back to ya guys, but comms ain't working and no one spoke English, and they kept bringing to that room first these gals, and then guys, and then all kinda crazy things-!" 
 
"Things-?" 
 
Ben shook his head.  "Believe me, ya don't wanna know." 
 
"Alright, let's go.  We have to pick up Johnny and start making some-" 
 
"And Reed?" 
 
"Reed-?" 
 
Susan turned around.  Only the Nova Corpsmen were behind her. 
 
"REED?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Reed Richards blinked fast, as the sudden shimmer resulted in a complete change of environs. 
 
"Wait, what-?  Sue?  Where-?" 
 
"Only you are allowed here, Reed Richards, Greatest Mind of Your Galaxy." 
 
He frowned, and then registered the full reality of what surrounded him.  His eyes grew wide and he stared speechless for a lengthy while, before finally whispering:  "Are these-?" 
 
"The Living Computers of Xandar, yes," Adora said, standing several paces away from him. 
 
Her long hair flowed back from the gleaming golden tiara at her brow, just as her dress fell down to her feet from the golden circlets of her neck-piece, made of dozens of thin strips of sheer, gauzy material that enveloped all of her body without occluding it from view.  Under the see-thru, shifting curtain of her gown, she wore only the golden bracelets and armlets on her graceful arms and the thin, metallic straps that rose from her golden sandals to wrap around her long, shapely legs in coyly spaced spirals that reached to her upper thighs, calling attention to the bare, fully-shaved junction above. 
 
"Only you are worthy of being here, of seeing this." 
 
She began walking towards him with long, resolute strides, her hips swaying aggressive as her proud, perky breasts bounced freely, unbound and fully visible under the translucent cloth strips, the erect nipples and swollen aureoles carefully painted a vivid blue that matched the areas around her bright eyes and the circle drawn around her delicate navel. 
 
"Only you are worthy of this.  All this." 
 
She stopped two steps away, on the long strip of floating walkway that stretched far before and behind them, eventually fading from sight while reaching for the distant, gently shimmering surface textures of the colossal cylindrical space that enclosed them, a gigantic tube that seemed to continue endlessly towards the celestial distances above and the fathomless chasm below. 
 
Reed stared, and cleared his throat.  "Beautiful...  So...  beautiful." 
 
Arcs of coruscating radiance sprouted in apparent random intervals from distant locations over the inner circumference, the drastic shifts showcasing in greater contrast the contours of Adora's body under the transparent gown, as well as the fractal complexities of the millions of metallic strands of delicately patterned techno-fabric comprising the tubular construct surrounding them.  The patterns of lights changed again and again, and Reed's eyes were full of their shifting complexity. 
 
"I had not imagined it...  To be so beautiful." 
 
Adora stepped even closer, her back arched, lips parted, as she spoke breathlessly:  "All can be yours, Reed Richards.  All this.  All that Xandar is.  All that we are.  All that I am.  You can have all of it.  All the knowledge.  All of Xandar.  All of me." 
 
Reed did not look down, but continued to stare at their surroundings, his eyes full of awe.   "Holographic patterns.  Billions and billions of them.  Of pure thought. Pure...  minds.  Complete minds.  All there. Stored as holographic patterns.  Self-perpetuating, interlacing.  Joined into a greater whole.  Your computers are indeed...  living." 
 
Adora threw her arms over his shoulders and pressed her body against him, flattening her firm breasts against his torso, lifting one leg up to rub her thigh on his side. 
 
"You can end this war.  End our... need.  By joining us.  Joining Xandar.  Joining me.  Becoming one with us, with me, with all." 
 
"Join-?" 
 
He looked at her, surprised by her closeness, the pressure and heat of her against him. 
 
"Yes.  Now.  And forever."  She pulled his face close to hers. 
 
"Oh.  Uh, I don't think..." 
 
"But you do.  You do.  You think so deeply, so widely...  Your mind is so vast, so boundless.  That is why deserve this.  Why you deserve me.  And I deserve you.  It is why you must be here.  Why you must join us.  Join me." 
 
She kissed him, forcefully. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"He was just here!  Behind us!" 
 
"Uh, I don't know, I wasn't-" 
 
"WHERE IS HE?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
 
He knew he had to stop.  Knew he had to pull away.  Break away.  Break the connection. 
 
He tried to.  Tried to get away. 
 
It was wrong.  It could not be. 
 
He tried, with all his will.  Tried not to succumb to the temptation, to the draw that pulled at him with such terrible strength. 
 
He had to break away.  Get away.  Stop.  Stop. 
 
But the patterns taking shape before his eyes, before his mind, became more and more complex, their connections growing exponentially, fully irresistible in their multiplying associations.  It was all about the order, the truth beneath all things. 
 
Unable to voice words, his mouth trembled, lips partly open, as Adora met them with her own in a ravenous kiss, while multiple shifting tendrils of partly visible energy surrounded him, more eagerly, more forcefully than Adora's limbs ever could. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"I am not getting any answers," Rich said. 
 
Sue turned to the accompanying Nova corpsmen, her eyes blazing. 
 
"Take me where Thoran is, then.  Or Master Xar.  Or Adora.  Now." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Adora violently pulled down his waistband, releasing him.  She took him in her mouth and worked his length with furious energy.  He was ready enough in no time, and after pushing him backwards, she moved over his prone body, full of furious need. 
 
She had been ready for him to resist, ready to seduce him, as wantonly as needed, both physically and intellectually, appealing to his body's urges with all of her beauty and skill, as well as to his mental vanity, his curiosity and ambition, with the vast treasures of arcane knowledge that only Xandar could offer to one like him.  She had not been ready for it to be so easy, for him to actually plunge himself into the waiting psychic net on his own, lured merely by the quick flashes of pure thought that routinely coursed through the Computers' core, impossible for most to grasp or decipher through mere visual impressions. 
 
Yet she would not be denied her due in this.  She had anticipated it far too much, needed it too much.  And she had to help bind him to them, bind him to Xandar, claiming him as their own, using her body to own him, to make him hers at the most primal level of his awareness, just as the Computers would do to his higher mental functions. 
 
She had to fuck his brains out. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Adora does not need to know about this, right, girls?  This can remain just between us, right?   Right-?" 
 
Johnny then gasped.  Winced.  Groaned. 
 
"Oh, fuck.  Fuck!" 
 
Who trained these girls?  They were artists.  Truly artists. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Reed stared at nothingness, finding it harder and harder to focus, to think, to doubt. 
 
It all called to him.  Pulled him in. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
She needed it for her own sake as well; she had to conquer this most worthy of men, this most suitable consort for a Xandarian Suzerain.  All to free herself, to be cleansed of that other, most improper need, that most unworthy hunger that had consumed her over all the long hours past, ever since she had been cruelly wronged by that hateful fiend, that cursed enemy of her people and all that was right and proper, who had dared to so thoroughly deceive and abuse her, to ravish her body with such violence and power, rendering her helpless, unable to resist enjoying every second, every instant of it, of being utterly owned by a damn, filthy Skrull, and then be left desperate to experience it again and again. 
 
Adora impaled herself violently on his erect manhood, resolute to force away from her mind those memories she despised, to keep from tainting this taking of a new, proper consort with the deep, lingering lust for her unknown ravisher that should have no place in her. 
 
She dropped forward, whispering breathlessly in his ear.  "Larger, please...  Make yourself... much, much larger...  longer and thicker.  Oh...  Yes.  Like that.  Yes!" 
 
As he had been, she added in the dark recesses of her mind.  Just as he had been. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
At some level below the pure, order thought, there were faint requests, simplistic sensorial input involving contingent interactions at some distant level of physical reality.  Despite their irrelevancy in the larger scheme, he complied, simply to remove any possibility of distraction. 
 
The data waited.  The order.  The truth. 
 
Beckoning.  Connecting.  Demanding. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Oh, yes!  Yes!  Bigger!  Make it even bigger!  Fill me up!  AH!  YES!  YES!  IT'S SO BIG!  SO BIG!  Hurts so good!  HURTS SO FUCKING GOOD-!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
It was beautiful, the depth, the breadth, all the connections of sheer, pure information, pure thought, all slowly coalescing into a larger order, a larger, fractal structure of meaning. 
 
There were just some points, some discordant elements that clearly implied further questions, consequences that still needed to be worked out... 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"FUCK!  YES!  FUCK ME!  HURT ME!  FUCK WITH YOUR BIG COCK, YOU BIG BRAIN!  MAKE ME SCREAM!  MAKE ME COME SO HARD-!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Prime Thoran paced nervously, biting at his knuckles while Master Xar fumbled with the display control of the psychic flux monitor. 
 
"What the hell is happening?  Why is it taking so long?" 
 
"I don't know!  It has never been like this!  We should have had complete subordination by now.  His mind should have been fully holo-patterned and bound into the World-Mind-!" 
 
"Is he resisting?  How is he resisting it?  THAT CANNOT HAPPEN!" 
 
"He is not resisting...  He is interacting...  It's like...  It somehow was happening the other way around..." 
 
"WHAT?" 
 
"He is... questioning, challenging the data.  How complex is this man's mind-?" 
 
"THAT IS RIDICULOUS!" 
 
"That is the mind that stopped the Devourer of Worlds!  That is why we had to have him, remember?  It couldn't have been just any simple genius life form-!" 
 
There was a buzz, interrupting. 
 
Thoran angrily spoke at his wrist communicator.  "Didn't we say we were not to be interrupted-?" 
 
The voice that replied spoke hesitatingly.  "My apologies, Prime Thoran, the guests from Earth request-" 
 
"NOT TO BE INTERRUPTED!" 
 
The chamber's heavily reinforced door was torn off its hinges by the sudden impact of an invisible force, narrowly missing the two startled men before crashing against the opposite wall. 
 
"WHERE THE HELL IS MY HUSBAND?" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Still at the hall where they had been welcomed, the Sphinx stood with eyes closed, ignoring the nearby guards as his senses roamed, augmented by his mystic Ka stone, seeking, searching for patterns of energy that could lead him to what he sought.  There were many energy grids about, complex systems keeping in operation the multitudinous habitat, as well as powering many layers of protective fields.  Patiently he probed and tested, until he located a concentration of energy shifts of unusual complexity.  He focused on these particular patterns and their rising tension, clearly building to a cusp as he pondered the teleological implications. 
 
He smiled.  He had found them.  He just to follow the techno-neural energy pathways, racing towards the goal. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Thoran cried out in protest, first in Xandarian, then switching to English:  "YOU-YOU CANNOT COME IN HERE!" 
 
"I just did."  Behind Susan, Ben spread his big arms to block the doorway, while the Nova guards outside argued angrily with a flustered Rich Rider, their weapons drawn.  "We came here in good faith.  But my husband has suddenly gone missing.  Where is he?  What have you-?" 
 
"Please!  All will be explained in-" 
 
"Wait."  She stepped towards the multiple holographic displays.  "Is that-?" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"OH, FUCK-FUCK-!  YOU'RE SO BIG!  SO HUGE!  I CAN'T-CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE! I CAN'T-!" 
 
With a loud cry, Adora began to convulse violently, just mere instants before the very walkway under them began to shake in clashing rhythms.  

As did the whole cylindrical chamber.  As did all of Xandar. 
 
 
************************************** 
 

 Johnny gasped, fighting for breath.  "Damn... felt the earth move and everything!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The sky filled with fiery conflagrations and the whole city shook violently; metal and plastic and all kinds of exotic materials cried out loudly under exponentially rising stresses while energy fields shifted and overloaded and failed.  

The Sphinx frowned, his focus lost.  The Ka stone on his brow blazed in echo with his anger at the untimely interruption of the hundreds of Skrull warships now attacking the Xandar capital habitat. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Alarms blared discordantly, while multiple displays filled with daunting depictions of the enemy forces and their attacks. 
 
"THE SKRULLS!" 
 
"Skrulls?  Now?  It can't be!" 
 
"How could they breach our defensive perimeter so-?" 
 
"Speak in English!  Were those Reed and-?" 
 
Thoran looked back at the smaller displays.  "The Suzerain!  She must be taken to safety!" 
 
"Ah!  SO IT WAS THAT SLUT-!" 
 
"Did it take?  Did he-?" 
 
"What?  What did he-?" 
 
Master Xar shook his head.  "No!  NO!" 
 
"NO WHAT?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"What the hell is happening?  This is not normal here, right?"   
 
Johnny scrambled to his feet, looking for his clothing, while the two girls cowered at the foot of the bed, whimpering with fright.   
 
He faced the wall-wide windows and grimaced at the view.   
 
"Oh, fuck.  FUCK." 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"LOOK!" 
 
"The Corps are being massacred-!" 
 
"THE SHIELDS WILL NOT HOLD!" 
 
"KEEP IT IN ENGLISH!  AND GET MY HUSBAND BACK HERE NOW!" 
 
"WE'RE DOOMED!  WE MUST EVACUATE!" 
 
"SUZIE!  Da place is shaking apart!  We must get outta here-!" 
 
"NOT WITHOUT REED!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Blinding-bright energy surges filled the air as the walkway shook wildly, and the still breathless and dazed Adora cried out, flailing for balance, roughly thrown off her unsteady position over Reed Richards.  He remained silent and limp but for an obvious body part, his eyes open but unseeing, while his body was buffeted randomly by the violent tremors, taken closer and closer to the walkway's edge.  
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Sue?  Reed?  ANYONE-?" 
 
Cursing, Johnny switched off the comm device and hastily finished getting his clothes on, while the building trembled with rapidly escalating violence.   It was not for modesty, but rather for the protection that the unstable molecules of his sleeves and gloves would provide. 
 
"OK, girls, this won't be easy, but I'll get you both down to safety.  Don't be afraid.  Just grab my hands and don't let go, alright?" 
 
Flames burst all over his body, except for his arms. 
 
The girls backed away screaming. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Rich looked up and instantly cried out:  "MOVE!" 
 
The violent tremor brought down ceiling panels, ducts, and lengths of wildly sparkling wires, all crashing down over the center of the room, followed instantly by a snapped metal frame that violently cracked the floor where it hit. 

"Suzie!"
 
"Uh...  Sorry."  He lay bodily over Sue, having thrown himself at her, racing against the collapsing debris, trusting his Nova suit to take the brunt of the impact.  "Had to get to you before..."   
 
Realizing that the expected blow had never arrived, he pushed himself up and turned to see several feet of the twisted metal armature hovering two feet above their tangled bodies. 
 
"Invisible.  Force.  Field," Sue grunted, squirming uncomfortably under Rich's body. 
 
Ben grabbed the metal frame and casually flipped it away.  "Ya guys alright?" 
 
"Still alive, but...  Ow!" 
 
"Ya hurt, Suzie?" 
 
"No, but...  Rich, could you please-?" 
 
Rich realized where his hands were placed.   
 
"Sorry!  Sorry!"  He turned bright red with embarrassment and scrambled to stand up, his first hurried, ineffectual motions prolonging instead the awkward contact with her body, so firm yet at once also so yielding and soft under him, under his palms.  Getting off her and to his feet seemed to take an eternity of fumbling.  When finally on his feet, he nervously offered a hand to help her up, only to immediately pull it back, self-consciously remembering just where his hands had been mere seconds before.  "I-I just tried to-!" 
 
"Yes, yes, I know.  Thanks anyway, Rich."  Still wincing, she got up on her own, to glance at the displays still working, at which the Xandarians gaped in horror.  "But I can take care of myself.  You, however, need to go out there." 
 
"But-" 
 
"Out there, Rich.  Now.  We'll get Reed.  You must go fight the Skrulls.  We'll join you shortly." 
 
Rich doubted for just an instant, then clenched his fists, nodded, and rushed out with the other Nova corpsmen following him. 
 
"Alright, now get my husband and the slut back here.  NOW!" 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
There were countless soundless voices, countless opinions, all arguing, defending their ideas, their knowledge, their life's work in complex fields of pure and applied science.  Reed sorted through the multiple levels, debating, cross-referencing, elaborating, challenging. 
 
The more was known, the more questions arose. 
 
Several voices interjected into the abstract interactions with references to the physical world, referencing axiological positions like duty and the morality of the preservation of cultures and species. 
 
Yet the survival of individuals and even whole cultures could be argued to be contingent, an arbitrary process of probabilistic selection that had no intrinsic worth beyond the arbitrary one assigned by chemically-driven sentimentalism. 
 
There were more important things.  More pure, more true. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"-Cannot get a lock!  Their location signatures are being affected by the energy surges-!" 
 
"Let's go get them, then.  Where are they?" 
 
"It's-It's a high security-" 
 
Another shock-wave made the room groan, and dust fell over their heads as the remaining ceiling above cracked ominously. 
 
"WHERE IS IT?" 
 
"It cannot be accessed physically-" 
 
Ben grabbed Thoran's arm.  "Betcha I can get to 'em!  Just point me in the right direction!" 
 
"It's miles beneath the city!  We only access it through teleportation!   That's how it has always been done!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"There you go!"  Gently, Johnny lowered the second girl on the grass of the park's lawn.  "Stay away from any tall structures, alright?" 
 
The girl ran away, her companion already out of sight in the chaos of the crowds looking for safety. 
 
"Damn.  Didn't get their numbers or anything." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
An even more powerful impact wave raced through the slender walkway, and its frame twisted in response.  As the surface tilted sideways, Reed Richards' unresponsive body slid towards its outer edge. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"REED!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Adora grunted, holding onto the Earthman by the fabric of his outfit.  He was slender but tall, and she struggled both against his weight and the smoothness of the floor that allowed little purchase for stability.  She felt both of them sliding more and more with each new tremor, and knew that once his weight went over the edge she would be unable to hold him. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"GET 'EM BACK!" 
 
"-CAN'T FIX ON THEIR-!" 
 
"THEN SEND ME TA 'EM!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Flying high above the city, Johnny Storm stared with frustration at the continuous explosions flaring against the Xandarian protective barrier.  He had to fight to keep from being buffeted all about by savage shock waves coursing through the air as result, racing towards the city below, the concussive force too powerful to be fully absorbed by the energy fields.   
 
He could see Xandarian ships and even single flying corpsmen engaging the attackers outside, but he had no way to go there, and his flame would go out even near the higher atmosphere, not to say in outer space.   
 
He had no way to help. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"You're too heavy, Ben!  That thing would just collapse under you!  You may survive it, but they won't!"  She turned towards Master Xar.  "Send me instead." 
 
"We won't be able to bring you back, either!" 
 
"DO IT ANYWAY!  DO IT NOW!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The barrier recognized his Nova suit and let him pass, the multi-layered energy fields turning permeable around him. 
 
In the distance, the battle raged, the Nova Corps engaging the Skrull fleet.  There were so many Skrull ships. 
 
He closed his eyes and bunched his fist.  His hands were clammy.  He felt cold. 
 
He had no idea how long the suit could let him survive in space.  Perhaps he would not even get the chance to find that out. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Adora cried out, as her grip failed, and he tipped over the walkway's edge, his body falling limply towards the endless depth of the shaft. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Dorrek smiled, watching the tactical displays.  He left the hassle of the management details to the proper underlings, but it was easy to decipher the graphics representation of the weakening defensive barrier. 
 
"Soon," he muttered.  "Soon." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
There was a light thud as Reed Richard's body hit something unseen a few feet under the walkway. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
It was alright to be afraid, she had told him.  Happened to everybody.  She had told him so. 
 
He opened his eyes first, then his hands.  He stared at his them, his fingers spread. 
 
She had been right there under those very hands, with that famous symbol centered right between, her bodysuit's fabric feeling so taut over her packed fleshiness, so round, and soft, and cushion-y under his weight, with just a point of hardness noticeable there, right under his palms.  Could she have been...?  He shook his head.  It had been an accident.  He hadn't meant to.  Really.  He was not a creep.  Really. 
 
He looked at the battle raging in the cold, silence of space.  Waiting. 
 
But at least, if he had to die today, he could go knowing how it felt to touch what had to surely be the most perfect breasts there were, on the most beautiful woman there was.  He had that.  And it had been awesome. 
 
Richard Rider breathed deeply inside his sealed Nova helmet and dove towards the Skrull fleet. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"Come on!  Jump!  Get off there!" 
 
Adora stared with surprise.  Next to the Great Mind's limp body was his Earthling mate, both floating on nothingness. 
 
"That thing will fall in the next big shock.  JUMP!  NOW!" 
 
Adora hesitated, and then complied.  She hit the invisible force field with her behind, and slid down the curvature of its half-dome shape. 
 
The blonde was checking his vital signs, concerned. 
 
"Is he alright?" 
 
Sue nodded, stood up and struck Adora's jaw with a right cross. 
 
"That's for messing with my husband, you painted bitch.  And what the hell are you wearing?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Ben grinned.  "Dat's our gal." 
 
"Did she hit the Suzerain?  The Suzerain?  You can't do that!" 
 
"Looked like she could ta me." 
 
The building groaned under another shock-wave and the rest of the upper floor collapsed on them. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Other Nova Corpsmen around him dropped like flies under the enemy fire, their lower-rank Nova suits having obviously much weaker defenses.   
 
More than half their ships were already destroyed or heavily damaged. 
 
He glanced back at the wreck of the Skrull ship he had just flown through.  Guilt stung him, viscerally.  There had been living creatures there. 
 
He had killed them.  He had killed everyone in that ship. 
 
And he had to do it again.  His was the most powerful Nova suit. 
 
It was up to him. 
 
She had told him so. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"And STAY DOWN!" 
 
Sue shaped her force field into a sphere surrounding them, and made it rise, flying up through the gigantic shaft, its upper end too far to see. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Ben threw away the massive slab section, and looked down at the two men crouched at his feet. 
 
"Everyone ok?  Good.  Let's get outta here." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Bright flashes of energy raced through the curvature of the protective shield after a barrage of powerful blasts, and for a moment, a pattern of blue and white grids became visible and then faded.  In its wake, dozens of Skrull ships pierced through into the skies above the Xandarian capitol. 
 
A flaming figure rushed thru the air to intercept them. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The wall-spanning windows had shattered and fallen, their remains now spread all around the Sphinx, but he still stood impassively, watching the incoming onslaught. 
 
This would not do. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The shaft walls rushed past them, complex patterns of light racing wildly over the complex surfaces, flare-ups bursting randomly as the shaking became more and more violent. 
 
Adora whimpered weakly:  "They cannot fall, not the Living Computers, they can't-!" 
 
"We'll worry about them if we survive." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Rich dodged enemy blasts from multiple sources.  He had to find his way back near the regrouping Xandarian forced, but there were Skrull ships all around him.   
 
>>Richard.<< 
 
The voice had sounded inside his head.  He frowned, checking the inner display of audio channels in use, but the source was not identified.  "Who's this?" 
 
>>Who?  Ah, this...  This was...  I was...  I am...  Reed... Reed Richards.<< 
 
"Mr. Richards?" 
 
>>I think so.  It is... hard... to think individually...  The World-Mind is not structured in simplistic hierarchical-<< 
 
"The what?" 
 
>>The World-Mind.  Collective gestalt consciousness of the Xandarian Living Computers.<< 
 
"What again?" 
 
>>What powers the Nova Corps, Rich.  It powers you.  Connects all the Corps.  Connects me directly to you, now, to your suit, and your mind.<< 
 
"What?  My mind?  You're connected to-?  Er, look, Mr. Richards, I didn't-I mean, about your..." 
 
>>The Nova Centurion suit you wear draws more power from the World-Mind than those of other ranks, in an arrangement that can be represented by a finite series like-<< 
 
"Excuse me, I'm kinda being shot at, right now, you know..." 
 
>>The Nova suit.  Can be made to channel more power if needed.  It is now.  The World-Mind is self-aware, the gestalt of multiple individual, residual consciousness.  Interfacing with it is... not easy.  The World-Mind is complex.  The World-Mind is Xandar.  And it wants to continue existing.  It wants to survive.<< 
 
"Same here!" 
 
>>You must stop the Skrull fleet, Rich.<< 
 
"That's what she said, too, but-" 
 
>>Your Nova power will be now exponentially magnified by a factor of-<< 
 
"Expo-what?" 
 
>>You shall have only a brief interval of time, Rich.  Too long may burn out the suit and probably your mind and body, as well.<< 
 
"WHAT?" 
 
>>So make it count.  In five, four, three...<< 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The Ka stone blazed on the Sphinx's brow, and a red blast pierced the first Skrull vessel, making it explode before it could reach the city. 
 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Sue crouched down, hugging her still immobile husband.  The force-field around the three of them contracted into the smallest volume possible, forcing their bodies into close contact.  

"READY FOR IMPACT!" 

The shaft's end rushed at them.

 
************************************** 
 
 
There was no time for doubt, or fear, or reason, as the power surged through him, vast and unfathomable, raging for release; the protective nimbus around his body became a blinding-bright flare and Rich Rider sped through the Skrull fleet, a living projectile, a literal Human Rocket. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The Ka stone glowed brighter and brighter, and another Skrull surface raider went up in flames, followed by another, and another. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
Contracted to the smallest diameter capable of holding its three living passengers, driven by Susan Storm's sheer strength of will, the force field bubble crashed through layers and layers of metal, circuits, and rocks, before erupting through the grassy surface of a natural preserve area at the city's center. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Cutting through shields and reinforced hulls alike, Rich zigzagged in unstoppable patterns across the Skrull attack formation, a glowing stiletto of destruction, leaving bursting vessels and panic in his wake. 
 
Mere seconds afterwards, the Skrulls ships began to disperse, retreating in disarray, away from Xandar, before vanishing in hasty warp-drive jumps. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Blood dripped from Sue's nose, and her head pulsed with pain.  She fought for focus, to land the force bubble gently enough on the grass below them, before it dissipated into nothingness. 
 
Collapsing to her knees, she let her breath out, spent. 
 
Adora stood up, her hair and insubstantial clothing in disarray.  She turned about, watching with horror the chaos in the city beyond the tree line.  

"What-What happened out here?  Why-?" 
 
"Me, I'm more wondering what happened down there." 
 
"The Living Computers couldn't have been damaged-!" 
 
"Sue?" 
 
Susan looked at Reed's face, his eyes now open, yet still glassy and uncertain.  "Reed, how are you, dear?" 
 
"I-I don't know...  I was...  thinking...  Thinking...  It was... so much... thought... It was rather... absorbing..."  He blinked repeatedly in confusion.  "What-What happened?" 
 
"You ask ME?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
The remaining Skrull ships turned tail and fled, vanishing in the distance. 
 
Rich slowed down and ultimately grew still, his energy nimbus fading. 
 
"Rocket Man burning out his fuse up here alone," Rich muttered.  "Where did I hear that before?" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Dorrek battered his armrests in rage.  "How could this be?  We had secure knowledge of all their defenses!  We could not lose!" 
 
"It's a setback," Kl'rt said, walking into the flagship's bridge. 
 
"A setback?  A SETBACK?  THIS IS A FUCKING DISASTER!  WE LOST ALMOST HALF THE FLEET!" 
 
"But we may have gained something else."  He gestured, and two other Skrull warriors brought forward a heavily shackled figure, his body still exuding smoke as he was thrown at Dorrek's feet. 
 
Dorrek frowned.  "Is that-?" 
 
Kl'rt kicked at the unconscious blond youngster, turning him face up towards Dorrek, the enclosed figure four on his chest unmistakable. 
 
"One of the accursed Four, yes, my Emperor."  Smiling, he blandished a small coin-like device in his hand, with a four inscribed on its surface.  "And having one, we can have all." 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Benjamin Grimm kicked a large pile of debris away and walked out of the now compromised building, with Thoran and Xar under each arm, into the daylight of the plaza before them.
 
He scanned his surroundings.  There had not been any further tremors.  "Well, at least the worst seems over now." 
 
"Please, could you let us down now?" 
 
"Ya betcha."  He dropped both unceremoniously.  "Looks like lotsa rescue work's in order now.  Gotta find my friends and-" 
 
Ben stopped and stiffened.  There was a sudden buzzing in his ears, and a growing sense of vertigo.  "Oh, no, not again!  Not-!" 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Her jaw still smarting, Adora stumbled towards the now empty patch of flattened grass where seconds before the two Earthlings had been; their glowing outlines were still there if she closed her eyes, that residual impression the only reminder still left in Xandar of the Fantastic Four. 
 
 
 
PART THREE:  CRIME AND PUNISHMENT 
 
 
Ben Grimm strained uselessly.  Massive restrains of thick metal with complex locking mechanisms immobilized his limbs and torso.  Normally he would have torn them apart like wet paper, but now, his repeated exertions were to no avail.  His strength failed him, just as he had failed his friends.  He was helpless, just as they were, and they could all die here, now, and it was his fault. 
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
"The most infamous terrorists in modern history!  Now here, before us!  Before Skrull justice!  Ready to pay for their countless crimes!" 
 
The audience filling to capacity the Skrull High Judgment Court cheered loudly at the dramatic, well-rehearsed words of the High Judicator Hagar, as did the multitudinous crowds teeming outside the building, and all over the city, the planet, and the whole empire.  Holographic displays hundreds-of-feet-high at every public space were broadcasting the live proceedings, transmitted by scores of hovering camera-drones capturing every detail, every angle of the highly-publicized event, an event the commentators now called the Trial of the Age. 
  
Dorrek reclined comfortably on his seat at the luxurious imperial booth that overlooked the arena at the Court's center.  He dismissed servants offering him delicacies, wanting to savor instead every instant of this, his moment of triumph.  Skyrocketing approval rates were registered all over the empire following his personal announcement of the capture of the hated Earthling Four, his popularity was at an all-time high; their public trial and execution would forever cement his rule as unshakable.   

The ceremony was beginning to grate on his nerves, however, as the High Judicator continued with his lengthy litany of charges.  Long-windedness seemed to be part of the job description.

"Unsatisfied with compromising the security of the glorious Skrull Empire, the Earthlings conspired against the officially appointed Skrull representatives on their planet, and being too cruel and savage to simply arrange merciful deaths, they forced these poor martyrs into slavery and their fated consumption as actual foodstuffs for their primitive people's ravenous hunger-!" 
 
Dorrek made a mental note to discipline whoever had drafted the list of charges, while sensationalism was always useful, it was best not to go overboard into the outright ridiculous.  Foodstuffs?  How tasteless.
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
All four Earthlings were on their knees at the center of the open space between the noisy audience and the High Judicator's elevated platform.  All but the female showed obvious evidence of recent interrogation and torture, and all were restrained with massive metal shackles and chains.  Yet those were mostly for show, for the visual benefit of the audience.  What truly held them prisoner were the less noticeable bands encircling their necks; the thin surface of each inhibitor torc was covered in complex patterns of glowing circuitry that shone brighter whenever each one tried to use their powers.  For added security, heavily-armed Skrull squads lined the area perimeter, and automated weaponry stations remained locked on their targets.

While the High Judicator droned on and on, elaborating on the notorious viciousness of the Four and their menace to all that was just and noble in the Skrull way of life, the Court's main holo displays featured edited scenes of the many confrontations between the Earthlings and the Skrull forces, including those featuring Kl'rt. 

He ignored the melodrama, the boring political pandering to the mobs, yet watching the reminders of his past failures, of his humiliations at the hands of the Four, made him stiffen and clench his fists.
 
His eyes focused on his long-time foes, now helpless. 

Soon.
 
 
************************************** 
 
 
Droplets of sweat slid down Susan's brow, as she concentrated, focusing to create a miniature instance of her invisible force inside the thin neck-band around her neck to attempt disabling it.  Finally her head dropped forward with exhaustion and frustration.  

"It's not working."  She could still feel her power, but muted, barely there, at the edge of her consciousness.  Useless.  "Damn.  DAMN."

Johnny muttered a curse.  "How could take away our powers so easily?"

"They artificially duplicated them long ago, remember?  Neutralizing them probably wasn’t much harder."
 
Ben grunted and for half a minute trembled with obvious effort, only to slump down once again.  "I'm sorry, Suzie.  This...  It's all my fault."

"Ben, don't say that."

"Shoulda taken out the whole crummy lotta o'em, justa soon as they got me onto their damn ship.  Before they coulda put the kibosh on us."

"You were disoriented.  We all were.  You couldn't-"

"I shoulda been stronger.  I hadta be!  Ya guys were pretty wiped out already, I wasn't.  We're in this whole mess cuz I couldn't keep my head straight when ya needed me ta!-"

Johnny shook his head.  "Don't be silly, you big lug.  I'm who got caught like an amateur.  They got you all because of me.  I should've burned out the comm thingee somehow before-"

"They're designed not to burn, ya stupid match-head."

"Safeguards."  Reed Richards did not look up, his eyes were still closed and his words remained slurry and weak.  "There should've been safeguards against high-jacking the comm device signal as nodal focusing for forced teleportation-" 

"Look, there's no use in blaming anyone!  Reed, we're in real trouble.  Can you do something about this tech holding us?  Anything?"

"I-I don't...  I can't seem to...  It's so hard to think..."

"Stretcho's brains're still scrambled, Suzie, worse than mine were.  Got lots more of 'em to sort out, I guess."

Sue nodded.  Whatever had happened to Reed, aside from what she didn't want to think about, he had yet to fully recover.  They had always been far too dependent on Reed's genius to solve anything involving technology, and now were paying for such complacency.  "We have to do something."

The words resonating throughout the court grew louder than ever:  "-AND THE VERDICT IS-!"

"WAIT!"  Ben lifted his head and shouted out loudly:  WAITTA FREAKIN' MINUTE!  AINTCHA GONNA GIVE US A CHANCE TA DEFEND OURSELVES?"

Loud booing came from the audience.  From his platform their accuser sneered in disdain.  "THERE IS NO POINT IN HEARING ANY OF YOUR LIES!  YOUR GUILT IS BEYOND ANY DOUBT!"  

"AND YA CALL DIS JUSTICE?"  Fueled by indignation, Ben Grimm got one foot up on the ground, and with a painstaking grunt, he stood up before their captors.  "IT'S A MOTHER-LOVIN' JOKE!"

Susan winced at Ben's effort.  His bounds were thicker and heavier than all the others combined, and with his strength dampened, just managing to move the sheer weight of his rock-like body alone should have been nearly impossible.  

"YOU DARE INSULT THIS COURT?"

"I DARE YA TA KISS MY ROCK-COVERED-!"

"SILENCE THE PRISONER!"

A dozen blasts of neuro-disruptor energies converged on the Thing's body and he fell forward with a throttled groan, shaking uncontrollably.

Johnny lurched forward.  "BEN!"

"THIS COURT'S RULING IS THE ONLY SENTENCE POSSIBLE:  DEATH!  DEATH TO THE FANTASTIC FOUR!"


************************************** 


Kl'rt crossed his arms.  He should be pleased with this.  He should.  But he wasn't.



************************************** 



"WE CHALLENGE THESE PROCEEDINGS!"  Sue lifted her head high, defiantly.  "WE DEMAND THE RIGHT TO A DEFENSE!"

"WE DECLARE THIS WOMAN IN CONTEMPT OF THE COURT!  MAKE AN EXAMPLE OF HER COMPANIONS!"

"NO!"  

Having steeled herself to facing without flinching the consequences of her words, Sue watched with horror as the neuro-disruptors instead struck all except her.  

Why?  Why was she spared?

They had different plans for her, she realized.  

"No.  No.  We are in this together," she muttered.  "Together."

Following Ben's example, she stumbled to her feet despite the weight of her restrains.  "I THOUGHT THE SKRULLS WERE A RACE OF WARRIORS!  A PEOPLE PROUD OF THEIR HERITAGE!  WAS I MISTAKEN?"

An angry murmur ran through the crowds.

"THIS COURT SHALL TOLERATE NO FURTHER INSULTS!"

"PROVE THAT THE SKRULLS ARE THE WORTHY WARRIORS THEY ARE CLAIMED TO BE!  PROVE IT TO THE WHOLE UNIVERSE!"  


************************************** 


Dorrek threw his drink aside.  What was the woman trying to do?
 
 
************************************** 


"I DEMAND THE RIGHT OF COMBAT!"
 
 
************************************** 


Kl'rt smiled.  That was more like it.


************************************** 

 
High Judicator Hagar, conferred hurriedly through secure, tight-beam communication with the Skrull Emperor, while the tumult from the audience rose in volume with every second, the overall tone expectant, demanding.  The people wanted violence.  They wanted catharsis.  

And they would have it, Dorrek agreed.  With the pre-arranged caveats.


************************************** 


"SO BE IT!  SKRULL JUSTICE IS NOTHING BUT FAIR, EVEN FOR SUCH UNDESERVING SCUM AS YOU!"

The shackles binding the Fantastic Four snapped open, letting the restrains fall away.

Johnny jumped to his feet.  "That's more like it!"

A gate opened, and Kl'rt walked into the arena.

The audience roared its approval.

"Good thinkin', Suzie."  Ben shrugged off the now open restrains, and reached for his neck, to remove the thin band still there.  "Just gotta clobber again the Super-Skrull and-YEOW!"  He jerked his hand back, its surface smoking, the rocky digits numb and unresponsive.  "What gives?"

"FLAME ON!"  Johnny's flames flickered around him erratically.  "Won't burn off.  Can't seem to get hot enough!"  He ran and jumped, only to stumble forward, flailing for balance.  "Fuck!  Can't fly, either!" 

"The bands are still affecting our powers.  Limiting them."  Perhaps not enough.  Sue closed her eyes, focusing again into forming a bubble of invisible force inside the band and then expanding it.  Instantly, a shock coursed her entire body and she cried out, dropping again to her knees, trembling with neuro-feedback.

"SUZIE!"

"So much for a fair fight," muttered Johnny, as the Super-Skrull approached.


************************************** 


Next to a minor planetoid in the Drox star system, space itself suddenly manifested a small tear, almost short-lived enough to be attributed to natural quantum fluctuations, were it not macroscopic enough to allow the passage of a human-sized body.  

Using the planetoid's mass as cover from the multi-spectra monitoring going on in the proximity of the busy orbit of Tarnax IV, Rich Rider contemplated his strategic options.  They were rather scarce.  

There were a lot of Skrulls down there.  Really a lot.

Of course, Prime Thoran had loudly forbidden any attempt to rescue the Fantastic Four, even threatening to arrested Rich and strip him of the Nova suit, but Thoran could fuck off.  Let them chase him here, Rich thought, right into the damn ThroneWorld itself, the very core of the Skrull Empire.

There was a real shitload of Skrulls down there.

But what is a hero to do but save the girl?


************************************** 


It was never a contest.  Despite their experience and the attempts at teamwork, the difference in power levels was too high.  Reed Richards never even rose from his knees before being knocked out by an impact of invisible force.  Johnny Storm exchanged only a few tentative flame blasts before an invisible force field surrounded him and quickly expanded in size, drastically thinning the air around him so his weak flames were snuffed out and he lost consciousness.

Benjamin Grimm, however, refused to stay down, no matter how obviously outclassed.  The Super-Skrull battered at him, duplicating the Thing's own fists to deliver blow after blow of earth-shaking power.  Yet after each fall, the stubborn Earthling would stand up again, slower each time, but always without hesitation.  

Sue tried to strike with her invisible force, but the Skrull champion had shrugged it off almost derisively, focusing on his brutal combat with the Thing.  When Ben desperately lunged under the swing of a punch, going for a waist-high tackle, Sue quickly formed an invisible block behind the Skrull's legs, helping topple him backwards.  

Slammed onto his back with the Thing on top and going for a wrestling hold, Kl'rt instantly became pliable and his torso and limbs elongated, stretching around his opponent, looping again and again until he had completely wrapped the rocky brute in the green, purple and black straps of his flexible body.  With his head completely covered, the Earthling strained against the elastic wraps, his efforts only stretching their lengths ineffectually, while his struggling for breath became weaker and weaker, until finally, it stopped.

Releasing the unconscious Thing, the Super-Skrull regained his humanoid shape; tall and heavily-muscled, he exuded confidence as he calmly strode towards the only member of the Fantastic Four still standing.

In desperation, Sue visualized a small force-field bubble forming in the blood flow to the Super-Skrull's brain, to stop him with an embolism, but despite everything at stake, she still hesitated at taking a life, and her focus wavered just enough for him to stamp his foot down so hard that the shock-wave made her stumbled and nearly fall.  His hands reached then for her, stretching into wide curtains to encompass her, but instead struck her hastily-raised shield.  Unfazed, he cast a thick blanket of fire around the protective dome, forcing her to cover her eyes from its blinding blaze.  He sustained the intensity easily, but the effort of holding the invisible barrier against it drained her reduced power faster and faster, and the oxygen inside the shield would run out soon.

Kl'rt smiled when the female collapsed, quickly drawing back the flames before they could harm her with the fall of shield.  Acknowledging the loud applause and cheering of the audience with a simple nod of his head, he moved into the circle defined by the scorch marks and grabbed one of her limp arms, to pull her up from the ground.  Assured in his victory, he was startled by her sudden disappearance, and doubled over, gasping with pain from an unseen blow at his groin.  But his hand had not lost its hold, and with irresistible strength he bodily swung the invisible woman in a wide arch that slammed her against the ground.

She became visible, her limp body on its side on the ground before him, her golden hair covering her face.  He was almost too impressed by the woman's slyness to even feel anger at her.  He easily flipped her over to face up and lay on her back, and her buxom, wide chest rose and fell, expanding rhythmically with her breathing.  Holding her down, he reached out and grabbed at the circular symbol centered there.  With a sharp tug, he easily tore away the handful of cloth, its highly-resistant fabric of unstable molecules not a match for his enhanced strength, leaving behind a wide, semi-circular tear through which a white undergarment was seen.  

Raising his hand high, Kl'rt displayed for the audience the torn-away symbol of the Fantastic Four, held now in his grasp.

The audience's acclaim became deafening.


************************************** 


Dorrek fidgeted in his seat, annoyed.  It was understandable for the people to celebrate Kl'rt's performance, a dramatic victory over their enemies, but that loud chanting of his name in particular was too much.  Too much.  It could make that oaf forget he was just a weapon his emperor's hands.

He would need to be reminded.


************************************** 


Sudden, sharp pain brought Susan back to consciousness, as she was being dragged by her hair.  She tried to reach up and free herself, but the tugging ended as quickly as it began, being unceremoniously dropped down her still unconscious teammates, all having been gathered and lined up a few step away from each other.  She sat up, trying to clear her head, her scalp still smarting; there was also a dull ache at her side, but it was mild enough to probably involve no broken ribs.  

Standing with his back to them was the Super-Skrull, facing another of his kind who held up an open case to him as if for inspection.

She tried to vanish again into invisibility but it was like trying to grab water inside a fist, it just slipped away from her.  The power dampeners were clearly back to full effect.

The Super-Skrull removed a metal bracelet from the case and snapped it around his right wrist.  He then lifted that arm high, summoning more loud cheers from the audience, and turned about.

Susan watched in horror as he aimed his fist at Reed, the patterns on the bracelet glowing a bright red.  Before she could even speak up, much less move, a blast of energy struck her fallen husband.  He spasmed violently for a moment and then became still again.

Her scream was drowned by the roar of the crowd.

As Sue scrambled desperately on hands and knees towards Reed, the Super-Skrull also blasted Johnny and Ben in quick succession, with the audience's noisy approval spiking at each instance.  The Super-Skrull then turned calmly towards her.

And fired. 

Every nerve ending in her body seemed to burn, to char into cinders.  Voiceless, she collapsed on top of husband.


************************************** 


Rich approached the Skrull ThroneWorld warily.  His helmet's internal displays identified a mind-boggling spread of military ships, automated drones and surveillance satellites.  The Nova suit was cloaking its energy signature and his small mass and low albedo had helped him avoid being detected so far. 

Now he had to achieve planet-fall unobserved and find where the Fantastic Four were being held, in a whole planet full of several billion Skrulls.

Piece of cake.


************************************** 


Susan twitched and shifted, grimacing at the agony it meant to move.  Yet she was breathing, and so did Reed, still unconscious under her.

"We-We are alive?" she muttered with honest surprise.  "But you said-"

The loud voice of the Judicator cut her off.  

"INSTANT DEATH IS TOO MUCH OF A MERCY FOR THE MAGNITUDE OF YOUR CRIMES, EARTHLINGS!  INSTEAD YOU FOUR SHALL KNOW THE DESPAIR OF WASTING AWAY, OF SHRIVELING INTO DECREPIT INFIRMITY IN THE BRIEF SPAN OF THREE DAYS, SO YOU CAN FACE THE INEXORABLE APPROACH OF YOUR FATED END!"

Susan blanched.  "Wasting away?  Three days?"

The crowd's clamor became nearly deafening.



************************************** 


"The Skrull fleet was at least halved, Prime Thoran.  Their greatest attack, their largest mobilization, yet it was repelled and they were forced to flee in disarray.  Should we not count this as a victory?"

"A reprieve, Suzerain, just that.  A reprieve.  Even at a third of their strength, the Skrulls can still crush us.  Our Nova Corps also endured significant casualties, the Earthlings were abducted, and now we have lost the Nova Prime suit, too, because of that damned kid running off!  
We are far from safe!"

"I dare not dismiss your concerns."  Adora turned towards Master Xar. 

"We can still reach out to the Kree.  They are enemies to the Skrulls."

"And become their subjects?  Have Xandar become a vassal state?"

"A protectorate, perhaps.  We could negotiate..."

"No.  You can negotiate with the Kree only from a position of power."  She turned to Science Master Xar.  "Did the Living Computers manage to access and save any of the necessary data from the Richards brain?  Anything about the...  weapon?"

Master Xar looked pained.  "I fear not, Suzerain.  Most of the download was corrupted when the connection was broken abruptly.  The Computers were in great distress, and it was a wonder more was not lost.  Whether consciously or not, the way he engaged and debated the World-Mind, discussing and challenging in multiple fronts, he effectively established a remove, remaining transcendent in his interactions instead of melding, immanent, keeping large parts of his mind, of his memories and rational structures, sealed off from the parsing and imaging."

"Selfish, self-centered asshole."

"Excuse us?"

"Forget it."  Adora walked towards the edge of the balcony overlooking the leisure space where the Sphinx stood, oblivious to the many luxurious amenities being offered.  She "What about him?"

Thoran followed her gaze.  "The Sphinx?  We know next to nothing.  The Computers had no data at all."

"He proved to be quite...  powerful, didn't he?"

"You all saw the holos.  He protected the city.  We may be alive because of him."

Xar rubbed his chin.  "But does that mean we can trust him?  His constant demands to be taken to the Living Computers are-"

"We can trust no one, Master Xar.  You should know that already.  Not the Earthlings, not the Kree, not this... Sphinx, whoever or whatever he is."

She leaned forward, holding onto the balcony's floating handrail, her hands gripping the metal tightly.  "But that does not mean he cannot be... of use."



************************************** 


The star-studded night sky over Tarnax IV was seen clearly through the translucent dome covering the multi-tiered ballroom.  Richly dressed in luxurious flowing robes and baroque adornments, and lavishly attended by barely-clothed slaves from a dozen subject worlds, the very highest echelon of the Skrull ruling elite drank and gossiped and laughed under the starlight and the soft indirect light from many decorative plasma tubes of gently shifting subdued colors.

High Judicator Hagar presided over a busy corner, loudly aggrandizing his participation in the day's trial, holding a slim Xandarian slave under each arm, the distinctive blue makeup around their downcast eyes.  The sycophantic attention of his peers endorsed his every word.

Then all the laughter and carousing faded, first into stunned silence and then quickly rising applause.

Surrounded by an entourage of ceremonial guards and personal assistants and bearing his most ornate robes and full symbols of office, Emperor Dorrek VII entered the room triumphantly, basking in the applause and grinning broadly while proudly flaunting the stunning presence of the fair-skinned companion held arm-in-arm at his side.  

Her neck bore a dark metal band as choker.  Her fair hair was pulled back from her temples with twin silver adornments at each side, leaving two long locks hanging in front, framing her comely face, while the rest of its length flowed straight down her back like a golden curtain.  From behind her neck and over shoulders, two gauzy strips of sheer light-blue cloth dropped to partly cover the wide, milky curvature of the large breasts jutting high and proud despite the obvious lack of support.  The strips stretched down tautly from the prominence of the chest over her flat midsection to gather low, just under the navel at a fastening chip displaying a figure four, inscribed in a black circle, where four thinner horizontal black strips joined after wrapping around the generously curved hips.  From there another sheer blue strip flowed down all the way to the floor between her legs, exposing the full length of her well-toned legs, bare for the blue and black stripes circling about her calves, of high-heeled sandal-like footwear.  Another blue strip fell down from where the horizontal strips met at her front, just under the dimples above her pert buttocks, failing to cover most of her firm rounded cheeks.

Whispering excitedly at the shocking development, the crowd parted and made way for the deliberately slow entrance of Emperor Dorrek VII and his newest concubine:  Susan Storm of Earth.



PART FOUR:  CAPTIVE OF EMPIRE


Heavily armed Skrulls guards led the four condemned prisoners to the special prison module annexed to the Imperial government complex, still weighed down by thick restrains, and de-powered by their respective inhibitor neck-bands.  Cautiously, each was securely locked inside a separate holding cell, a narrow cylindrical enclosure with minimal, Spartan furnishings, plated with thick metal on every surface, obviously impervious to any escape attempt within their diminished powers.

There was no doubt that they were being monitored by their captors, yet Susan tried again to remove the neutralizer neck-band, scraping it against the metal edge of her cell's sleeping cot.  It only earned her another nerve-shock that left her briefly unconscious.  After waking, she pondered during the following hours any available options, in ever growing desperation.  Shortly before they had left for Xandar, Reed had sent a quick routine communication to Avengers Mansion informing of their intended trip and the associated events, as was standard custom between the two groups, but there was very little likelihood that the Avengers would become alarmed enough to investigate their absence within the very limited time-span of three days, their only time remaining if they were to believe the Skrulls' claims about their aging ray.

Sue crouched to touch her face with the limited range allowed by her restrains.  Were there wrinkles around her eyes?  Was the skin on her neck loosening already?  Or was she imagining things?   They should be showing some signs within a day at most.  Or was it all a deception?  Psychological torture or some kind of elaborate manipulation, to try to extract information or coerce them into assisting in some manner with the goals of conquest?

Tempting as disbelief was, why would the Skrulls lie?  They had all the advantages.  They were a vast and resourceful civilization that could even duplicate all the powers of the Fantastic Four.  What could they need that they could not achieve on their own?

But then, why hadn't they been just killed outright?

Was it just cruelty to prolong their suffering?  Or something else?

What did the Skrulls really want?

With a soft hum, the door to Susan's cell slid open.  Framed in the open doorway, the Super-Skrull stood, tall and haughty.

"You will come with me."


**************************************


After waking, Johnny Storm paced nervously in his cell.  He sat on his cot, rose, and paced some more, the featureless walls adding to the claustrophobic sense of entombment.

He wondered how the others were doing.  He hoped one of them had some idea of how to get out, as he had none.

Suddenly, seams appeared in a wall and a door slid back.  An armed Skrull stepped in, pushing him back with the muzzle of his weapon.

"Alright, alright, I'm moving back.  See?"

To his surprise, a female Skrull entered the cell next, a young, slim, and surprisingly comely female Skrull.  She wore a one-piece dress of carefully designed simplicity that flattered her trim waist and gentle curves, and a side slit revealed a nice length of leg.  Her long, shiny dark hair was held in a simple ponytail, behind a trim golden headdress.  Her dark eyes were large and expressive and the corrugations on her chin were so faint that it would be easy to mistake her for an earthling if not for the pointed ears and light green skin.

She was really very pretty.  And Johnny had seen her before.


**************************************



With the Super-Skrull as sole escort, Sue was taken through secretive, labyrinthine pass-ways of the Skrull imperial complex; his presence was enough at all security checkpoints to allow them passage unchallenged.

Finally, she arrived at a vast lounge room, with walls alternately covered by tall mirrors or flowing draperies, where flanked by guards, Emperor Dorrek VII sat smiling, drink in hand, his robes casual and his bald head bared uncharacteristically.

"Ah, good."  He gestured with distaste at the heavy shackles on her wrists and ankles.  "Remove those."

A quick tap of a control device opened the locks of the restrains, which the Super-Skrull then had removed from the room.  Only the thin metal band around her neck remained; the one that kept her powerless.

Dorrek rose and walked towards Sue.  "There is no need of such ugly hindrances, not between friends, right?"

"Friends?"  The automatic translator at her collar was programmed with the Skrull language, but Dorrek was speaking English directly.  He had clearly gone through the trouble of having it direct downloaded into his brain, as the Xandarians had done.  "Are you mocking me?" 

"Oh, no."  Dorrek poured an alcoholic spirit from a nearby flask into another glass and offered it to Susan.  "There is no need for our relationship to start on the... wrong foot, is there?"

"Relationship?"  She ignored the offered beverage.  "Of captive and captor?"

"Such lack of manners."  Dorrek threw the glass to shatter against the draperies covering a wall, staining the fabric dark.  His eyes blazed with the quick anger of those who always have their way.  "You are a guest here, for now.  At my discretion."

"Most hosts do not condemn their guests to death."

He shrugged.  "You four were too long a thorn in our side."

"We also helped you, last time we were here, in your world.  Without us, you would've been overthrown by your own warlord Morrat."

The Super-Skrull stiffened visibly at her mention of the name.

"Ah, Morrat, yes.  Crafty, he was.  He had the plan to have you four executed to gain public support.  A good political maneuver.  However, he failed.  I didn't."  Dorrek turned towards the Super-Skrull, looking into his eyes.  "Morrat wanted to marry my daughter, as Kl'rt here also did.  But Princess Anelle preferred Morrat.  Why was that?  What...  lack did Anelle sense?"

Kl'rt ignored the taunting, his eyes revealing no emotion.

"You have a strange way of thanking those who help you," Sue stated.

Dorrek went back to his seat.  "Your assistance with Morrat was noted.  It earned you four the safe passage back to your world, that one time.  But even our gratitude can only stretch so far.  You have interfered with us, again and again.  Xandar was the last straw, woman."

"Why Xandar, anyway?  Why conquer a world that was already almost destroyed?"

"Why not?"  Dorrek refilled his glass.  "Sometimes, we do things just because we can.  To show we can.  Show everyone."

"Only those insecure in their power need to show it off."

"Power is to be used.  To be exerted over others.  That is the right of the mighty.  Otherwise why have it at all?"  He pointed a finger at her.  "Take care of her.  As I told you.  Now."

The Super-Skrull nodded.  He tapped at the bracelet on his wrist and aimed at Sue.  Before she could attempt to duck, a discharge of energy struck her, making her gasp and fall to her knees, trembling, her whole body seeming to burn from the inside out.

Dorrek spread his arms genially.  "See?  That is power.  The power to put you on your knees before me, my dear.  The power over life and death.  Your life.  Or your death."

Susan shook her head, confused.  Had that been the same energy weapon used on them, on the arena?  Why use it again on her? 

"The-The aging ray, again?  Why?  Do you want to watch me die faster?"

"Die?  Of course not."

Faint after-shocks still ran in her body, but somehow, she felt better than before, not worse.  Sue stood up without difficulty and lifted her hands to her face.  The wrinkling around the eyes noticed previously was gone.  If anything, her skin felt smoother, younger, than it had in years.

Dorrek leaned forward.  "The aging effect has been reversed on you now.  The accelerated cellular degeneration was not just stopped, but undone, restoring your body back to an optimal state.  As ordered by me.  THAT is power.  MY power."

Sue glanced down and frowned, flustered.  Was it her imagination or was her chest somehow higher and more out-thrust than before?  She would not think of cupping herself in front of the Skrulls, but it seemed she back   the perkiness and firmness of her teenage years along with all of the size she had gained after birthing Franklin.

She was not the only one looking at her breasts, either.  Dorrek also had his eyes focused on that area, to her discomfort.

"You see, you're far too precious a prize to let go to waste."  He stood and gestured to the guards behind him.  "Leave us.  Now." 

Both guards raised their weapons and bowed formally before exiting.

"Far too precious," he repeated, walking to her, and extending one hand towards her chest.  She immediately sought to cover herself or step back, but found it impossible to move her arms or legs.  An invisible force she easily recognized was now keeping her still.

Dorrek's fingertip reached through the opening torn in her top, at the center of her chest, and traced the curved contour of her upper breasts, bunched up together as they were by her sports bra.  His finger then ran around the edges of the circular opening. 

"And this prize, too, was not for just anybody to take."  He turned his head towards Kl'rt, with ice in his voice.  "It would be proper for such things to be remembered.  Or further chastisements may not be in private.  Or lenient.  Do I make myself understood?"

For an instant, Kl'rt was painfully aware that Dorrek had no guards with him anymore, yet he quickly bowed his head, in apparent contrition.  "My apologies, My Emperor.  I... overstepped myself."

"Yes, you did."  Dorrek placed his hand lightly against Susan's chest, over the opening where missing symbol had been.  "THAT was mine to take. Not yours."  His eyes moved back to Sue, his hand pressing more firmly against her bosom, against the soft flesh under his palm and fingers.  "As is... everything else.  Understood?"

"Go to hell," Sue spat.

Dorrek slapped her face sharply.

"And you talked about gratitude?  Didn't I give you back your youth?  Didn't I spare you the agonizing loss of your beauty, of your very life?  And how do you thank me?"

Sue sucked at the trace of blood on her lip.  "Just tell your watchdog to let me go and I'll show you 'thankful'."

Dorrek grimaced with distaste.  "Females.  Always needing to be shown their place."

"Oh, I'll show you-"

"Others would wish to have my benevolence."

A holographic control panel appeared above a band on Dorrek's wrist, and he traced a series of shapes on it.  As response, a large holo projection appeared before them, picturing the remaining members of the Fantastic Four, still shackled as they had been last Susan saw them.  Before she could speak, their displayed images began to quickly change: skins wrinkled, hair lost color and volume, and began to disappear, backs bent and muscles shrank.  The craggy surface of Ben Grimm's body grew more and more cracked, his massive frame drawing into itself, becoming desiccated and brittle.  Each weakened more and more before her eyes, until first Reed, the Ben and finally Johnny, all collapsed to the floor to remain still, ultimately crumbling to dusty remains.

Sue trembled, aghast, shaking her head in denial, her eyes full with tears.

Her voice faltered in a feeble protest, as did her very posture, only the restraining invisible force bounds keeping her upright.

"See, you were right," Dorrek said, conversationally.  "The premature aging can be accelerated even more, if so I decide."  He gestured again, and the process was suddenly reversed in the displayed images, returning each of Sue's loved ones to normal.  "This was merely a simulation, of course."

"You-You hateful MONSTER-!"

"Choose your words carefully.  What you saw could easily become reality.  And it WILL become reality, in the span of three days, if I do nothing to stop it."  He came closer to her again.  "If YOU do nothing to stop it.  Do you understand?"

"But how-?  What do you-?"

"You have to prove yourself properly thankful, my dear.  Thankful TO ME.  Do you understand?"

Sue stared at him in disbelief.  "You can't mean-?"

"Oh, I can.  And I do."  He smiled.  Under the bony, protruding brows, dark eyes shone with wicked, obvious hunger.   "And you are a smart female.  I am sure that you DO understand."

Susan clenched her fists, breathing in deeply.  Part of her wanted to scream and curse this odious creep to hell, but another part understood, understood far too well.

This vile thing wanted her.  Wanted to have her.

Sue knew well that it was a risk that could arise in their adventures.  She was repeatedly told to be very desirable sexually, exceptionally even, by most everyone around her, and she was frequently involved in quite dangerous situations fraught with physical conflict, against powerful enemies of dubious morality.  The danger in such a combination was obvious.  And to her chagrin, villains had often captured and held her hostage in the past, particularly in the early years when she was less experienced and less assured of herself and her powers, before becoming more confident and capable of defending herself.  Several of those villains had at times tried to take advantage of her captivity; some still would, even now.  It rarely went beyond rude leering and threats, but a few times she had needed to endure being forcibly kissed, fondled, or both, or becoming partially undressed.  And Namor was not the only one who had openly wanted with repeated insistence to make her his mate or bride.  There was also the Brute, Reed's duplicate from another dimension.  And even among others that she considered deadly enemies, many had tried to seduce her, or coerce her, including a few close calls that actually involved attempts to force her through outright violence.  Very close calls.  Too close for comfort.  The kind that left her feeling disturbed and nervous for long afterwards.

Yet she had always escaped, even if narrowly, by various combinations of circumstance, last-ditch efforts, or opportune assistance.

She had perhaps, been lucky.

Until now.  Until the luck ran out.

Dorrek waited, expectantly.  A short, coarse-featured humanoid, his deep green skin was mottled with unsightly darker spots, and his weak chin was more densely and deeply corrugated than in other Skrulls, making him seem almost as a mockery, a cruel caricature of the Skrull physiology.  The Super-Skrull, tall and powerfully-built, appeared handsome and virile despite the alien-ness of his features and coloring when compared to this repulsive midget.  An evil, repulsive midget who wanted her, who was now blackmailing her into surrendering to his whims, surrendering to him, blackmailing her with the lives of her loved ones.

"Will my... family be...?"

"Their fate depends entirely on you, my dear, on how... well thanked you make me feel."

She sought to speak, but her mouth and throat felt dry, parched.  She swallowed with difficulty.

She felt like throwing up.

But there was really no question.  Without any other way out discernible, she had to do whatever was necessary to protect those she loved.

Whatever it was.

She looked down, choking on her anger, and nodded her agreement.

Dorrek clapped slowly.  "Good, good."  He turned to Kl'rt.  "See?  Didn't I say she would come around?  Females can always be made to know their place.  If you know how."

Sue kept her eyes on the floor, her cheeks streaked with lingering moisture.

It had to be done.  For Reed, and Ben, and Johnny.

Another solution may appear later.  It had to.

Dorrek sat back, beaming.  "Summon the help.  She must be made ready.  For tonight.  For the celebration."

Sue frowned.  A celebration?  She had expected the worst to happen at short notice.

One of the draperies in the walls then parted to let several servants into the room.  Dressed in scanty, vaporous clothes, all were young, attractive humanoid females, all of different planetary origins.  The taller, athletic blue-skinned girl was most likely Kree, a buxom redhead with skin a bright hue of pink was most likely Krylorian, and a slender pale one whose jet-black hairdo resembled stiff plumage had to be Shi'Ar.

"She must be readied quickly for tonight's event.  Clean and dress her."  Kl'rt pointed at Sue, hating his part in what was happening.  He was a warrior, not a servant.

The three servants approached Sue, eyes modestly downcast, reaching tentatively, their voices low as they addressed her haltingly in the Skrull language.  Her outfit's translator reported their words as preemptive apologies for needing to remove her clothes.

"No, no, NO!"  Dorrek sat up.  "Doesn't anyone here know ANYTHING?"

The servants stopped, obviously frightened.

Dorrek turned to Kl'rt, shaking his head as if reprimanding a child.  

"With a new male slave, the proper way is to order that his clothes be taken away by others, violently, by force.  Males need to feel secure in their power, their personal sense of self-determination.  So you strip that away from them."  He sat back, eyes focusing again on Susan.  "With a female, you tell her to remove her clothes herself.  You tell her to bare herself to you, by her own actions, so when she does, she accepts your authority over her, your ownership of her.  THAT is how you do it." 

Dorrek's mouth spread in an ugly smile.

"So go ahead, my dear.  Take off your clothes.  Get naked.  For me."

Sue blanched.  There was no invisible force binding her anymore, yet she remained motionless for a moment.

"And be thankful," Dorrek added, emphatically.

She glanced at those around her, the cowering servants, the grim-faced Super-Skrull, the leering emperor.  An audience.  Did that make it worse?  More humiliating?  Or was it preferable to doing it before Dorrek alone? 

It did not matter.  One or many.  She just had to get through it.

With quick, decisive motions Sue removed both of her dark gloves, which a servant promptly took from her.  She walked to one of the cushioned benches near, and sat to unzip her calf-high soft-soled boots, lifting each leg up and removing each boot in turn, handing them to the same servant as she stood up, barefoot.  She then reached to her waist and ran her fingertips along the wide waist-band, opening the seal that kept her top attached to the matching pants to resemble a continuous bodysuit.
Grabbing the lower edge of the form-fitting material, she pulled on it, sliding it up and over her flat, toned abdomen, only to snag where her bosom bulged out prominently from her torso.

Dorrek leaned forward with interest.

With a series of quick, wiggling motions, Sue edged the top's tight fabric inch by inch over the generous volume of her jutting breasts, stretching it taut across the wide expanse of the sports-bra-bunched mounds, until a last sharp tug got it past that considerable obstacle.  The abrupt motion made the large globes jostle noticeably despite their snug elastic support, as did her finally pulling the top past her head, shaking her long blond hair as she freed her arms from its sleeves.

Kl'rt crossed his arms before his chest, his eyes fixed on her.

Susan placed her removed top on the bench, and after a quick, angry glance at her Skrull spectators, placed her thumbs in the waistband to slide her skin-tight blue leggings past her womanly wide hips and down her legs, swaying and wiggling as she bent to move the material along her fleshy thighs.  With the leggings at her knees, she sat down again on the bench, to finish sliding fist one leg out and then the other, freeing her lower limbs completely.

Kl'rt noticed the athletic mass and solidity of her legs with approval.  Worthy limbs for a female warrior.

A servant gathered the two parts of her outfit, and obeying a gesture from Dorrek, took both to him.  The emperor rubbed the cloth between finger and thumb, though his eyes did not leave Sue's figure.

"Unstable molecules.  Of high quality, too.  Perhaps Richards stole its design from Skrull infiltration combat attire.  We Skrulls had this for centuries and centuries, to accommodate our shape-shifting.  But it is not...  unflattering on your shape, too."

Without changing his gaze, he tossed the garments towards Kl'rt, who caught them by stretching his arms.

"Have this promptly modified into something suitable by the imperial tailor.  Be sure to have put back that which you took."

"Is the emperor sure that a completely new garment may not be better-?"

"I stated what I wanted.  Why would I do that if I wasn't sure?"

"It will be done."  He gave detailed instructions to a newly summoned servant, who hurried away with her charge.

"But please, dear,"  Dorrek told Sue, dressed before him now only in her tight white underwear, the slight cold in the surroundings making noticeable twin points poke through her tightly-fitting sports bra.  "Continue by all means."

Again Sue hesitated.  How long had it been since anyone besides Reed had seen her completely nude?  Even the Brute had been Reed, too, in a way.  These however were Skrulls, their enemies, her enemies.  Literally deadly enemies.  But she had no other acceptable choice.

With her lips pressed tightly, Susan breathed hard through her nose, and tossed her blond hair back off from her shoulders.  Tugging at the left side of her bra, she drew it away from her skin until she could reach with her left hand through the resulting gap and push her arm completely under the elastic fabric, so she could then tug it up over her shoulder, releasing from its confined hold first her left teat, and then the right.  As the now loose article was drawn up to her right armpit and the left of her neck, both creamy globes bouncing free while she completed sliding her right arm out and then drawing the bra over her head.

Kl'rt stared, impressed with the symmetry of her mammary masses.  All accomplished Skrull shape-shifters were careful students of forms and anatomies, and there was truly a lot to admire in the Earth-woman's outstanding proportions.

Dorrek licked his lips lasciviously, his eyes following attentively the jostling globes, eagerly thinking of those creamy mounds under his teeth.  The Earth-woman was everything he had anticipated and more.

"Your species too signals physical excitement with a hardening of the milking buds, doesn't it?  Yours seem to be becoming quite stiff, no? Are you enjoying this?  Displaying your exceptional body for us?"

She did not look down, but a quick glance to a side towards the mirrors lining the walls confirmed Dorrek's observation, and her face grew red with a sudden mixture of anger and embarrassment.

"The air here is cold," she replied curtly.

"Ah, yes.  That must be it."

She tossed the bra aside with barely contained anger, and her unbound breasts shook fluidly but without the looser jiggle of recent times.  They were noticeably steadier and firmer than before, she realized.  Her reflection showed them to be clearly more high-set and thrust-forward than in many years past, and the undeniably stiff nipples clearly pointed proudly upwards where their roundness became slightly conical.  While retaining her more recent athletic proportions and muscle mass, the aging reversal effect had somehow restored the youthful suppleness of her skin and other tissues to perhaps those of her early twenties. 

Best of both worlds, she thought bitterly, looking away from the mirrors.  She could perhaps be looking at her best in years, but knew too well for whose appreciation were any such improvements in her appearance.

"Whatever the reason, the view is very pleasing."  Dorrek's smile was wider than ever.  "However, you have yet to finish."

Sue clenched her fists.  There was no point in delaying.  Drawing her legs together, she hooked her thumbs on the sides of her panties and began to slide them downwards, her breasts swinging in pendulous fashion as she leaned diagonally from side to side.  They fell to her ankles and she stepped out of them.

Fully nude at last, she stood before the evil alien despot and his enforcer, feeling their eyes run greedily over her exposed skin, over every private part of her body now on forced display, here on this strange room, in this whole strange planet, surrounded by enemies.  Her instincts screamed for her to cover up, to shield with her arms her chest and sex from their scrutiny, their leering, humiliating contemplation, but instead, she firmly set her legs shoulder-width apart, crossing both arms just under her chest, and stared back at Dorrek defiantly.  That was all she now had left. 

Dorrek gripped the armrest of his seat, inching closer to its edge.  Her pubic hair was neatly trimmed into a small golden wedge pointing to her sex, like an arrowhead defining a target, daring just where to go.  Had she done this on purpose to excite her suitors?  How many others besides her Earthly mate had enjoyed this delectable view as he now did?   How many had enjoyed more than just a view of her, as he soon would?  

And were those her lips, her delicate pink lips, peeking out of her snatch?

"Oh, my...  How... inviting."

Dorrek gestured meaningfully to a servant, and the girl quickly picked up and brought him the discarded panties.  Slowly, he pressed them to his nose, to sniff carefully.  Sue looked away, grimacing.

"Nice... very nice.  You have a rich, fetching scent."  He put the panties inside a fold in his robes.  "But I think that for a formal occasion you may need to be properly scrubbed."

He gestured at the holo pad forming over his wrist, and the complete farthest wall sectioned and retracted into the corners, revealing another room, also lined with mirrors, where a striated stone floor held a large sunken pool full of water, already deeply heated, from the dense vapors rising above it.

"You said you were cold, right?  Please, go ahead, get properly... warmed up."

Obeying the unspoken command, all three servant girls unclasped their gauzy clothes and let them drop to the floor.  Nude, they walked to the bath area and stopped at the tub's edge, waiting.

Kl'rt compared with interest their bodies.  These were the emperor's elite servants and concubines, and very few ever had the privilege of admiring them so openly.  Their respective contracts were likely worth small fortunes, yet he felt that even they were easily outclassed by the combination of unforced poise and earthy sensuality of the blond Earthling's figure.  The Kree was much taller and more athletic; the starkly pale, raven-headed Shi'Ar had a delicate fragility and aloof grace, while the redheaded Krylorian was softer, rounder, and even more buxom that the quite curvy Earth-woman.  But somehow Susan Storm managed to embody a fetching balance between those different appeals, being fit and firm while still lushly voluptuous, with a relaxed and effortlessly self-confidence that still could not hide a strong semblance of shy, feminine vulnerability and intense, even needful sexuality that seemed to demand attention, to beg for forceful conquest and subjugation.

Even Adora of Xandar, whose charms were famous over various galaxies, and who Kl'rt had verified as matching fully her exalted reputation in both appearance and performance, now seemed too simplistic in her appeal compared to this fascinating Earthly female.

Her belonging to Dorrek was nearly unthinkable.

Dorrek did not even register the other females present; while they were still fairly recent additions to his harem, he had already dismissed them from his concern, banished by the draw of his new acquisition.  His eyes remained fixed on Susan Storm, and her alone. 

Sue hesitated for a brief moment in following the servant girls.  Their sudden, unexpected nudity held no relief for her discomfort at her own nakedness.  Instead, their bared bodies, their proximity, made her even more painfully aware of how exposed and vulnerable she was, and of how charged with tension the very air around her remained.  She felt the Skrull eyes roam her nude skin, their unwavering attention a louder, more ominous threat than any spoken words could be.  But pursing her lips, she squared her shoulders and turned about, walking resolutely towards the tub.

Dorrek licked his lips.  Her swaying hips and rear drew his interest just as much as her bouncy chest had.  Her cheeks were high and solid, tightening into more compact globes that shook tautly with each stride she took towards the bath.  Those big, tempting mounds would soon know his touch, and that of his tools, too.

Yes, he had some many things he would want to try on them.  On her.  On all of her.

Kl'rt shifted his weight from one foot to the other.  The woman could not have been more sensuous in her motions if she had willingly tried.

Susan stepped down carefully into the water, welcoming its heat on her bare flesh.  She moved to the deepest point and sat on her heels so the water covered her to the shoulders, then, leaning forward, submerged her head.  She had felt dirty, soiled, for so many reasons, and the hot immersion afforded a much needed sense of cleansing, a brief relief, even if merely momentary.  She remained completely under for as long as she could bear, and then rose, arching her back and throwing her wet hair behind, while drawing a deep breath that made her breasts rise just above the water. 

The servants had followed her into the tub, carrying various containers bearing aromatic substances.  Sue reached for what appeared to be soap, but Dorrek cut in:

"No.  Let them wash you.  And don't hide under the water.  Stand up, so I can better see you and be sure you are properly... readied."

She winced.  Of course he would want that.  And there was no point in trying to hide, to pretend there was no danger or humiliation in store for her.  She stood, moving towards the shallower section of the pool, leaving reluctantly the water's warm, protective embrace, until its level was a mere hand span down from the top of her thighs.  Water ran all over her body, down along her torso and legs, dripping from the tips of her chest and from the gap between her thighs.

The girls waded closer, intentionally avoiding her eyes.  When the bright-pink Krylorian reached for her arm, involuntarily Sue flinched away, tensing violently at that first touch, that sudden reminder of how open and vulnerable she was.  Yet these women were guiltless, harmless, surely victims just like her.  They may even be punished if she did not let them do what they were told.  With eyes closed, Sue breathed deeply, willing herself to be strong, and endure, for the sake of those she loved.  With renewed determination, she opened her eyes and nodded towards the servant.

The redhead slid her hands along Sue's upper arm and shoulder with tentative gentleness, moving behind her to gather and shift over her shoulder the wet blond hair, before starting to rub her back with a wet, soapy pellet, from shoulders to the narrow waist and upper hips.  A different set of hands joined in, using a soft sponge to further rub at the now slippery skin with firm pressure.  Another poured a dense scented gel over her head and with expert fingers began to work it in, all along the gathered length of hair, and down to her scalp. 

The three girls rotated around Susan in nearly silent coordination, exchanging barely a soft whisper or hum between them while working.  Sue remained tense at first under their touch, but soon her muscles began to relax under their attentions.  The Krylorian's slid the soap slowly all over her back, arms, and down the sides of her hips and legs, in fluid circular motions that felt almost playful.  As she moved from one area, she was followed with energetic rubbing and kneading by the Kree, whose hands through the sponge squeezed on Sue's sudsy flesh perhaps with more strength and insistence than seemed necessary, but without being really unpleasant.  Meanwhile the Shi'Ar ran skillfully her fingertips not just through Sue's hair, but also brushing delicately at her neck and ears, long fingernails occasionally grazing her nape and lobes.

Of course Dorrek's servants would be well trained, Kl'rt thought, impressed by their skills.

The initial shared reserve gradually gave way to a far more assured handling of Sue's body, as she also became more comfortable with the multiple touching.  She did not protest when the Kree girl began to knead her buttocks more vigorously, squeezing the round cheeks with greater aggressiveness, making Sue thankful of all those squats at the weight room.  Now at her front, the Krylorian's hands moved up from the flat abdomen to the curved undersides of the breasts, which rose and fell as Susan's breathing grew faster.  Gently, with small circular motions that grew in diameter with each stroke, the servant girl began to encompass more and more of their yielding flesh, until she covered the full roundness of each sizable teat with each flowing pass, though taking deliberate care to avoid touching the nipples, still obviously stiff despite the bath's persistent heat.

Dorrek and Kl'rt stared attentively, caught in the graceful dance of hands over gleaming, wet flesh, made more captivating by the visual contrast of the different stroking hands, light blue, nearly-cherry pink and pale, almost white, against Susan's creamy, lightly tanned skin.

Leaving Susan's chest glistering with sudsy fluid, the Krylorian knelt down and slid both hands down the torso and hips, barely missing the pubic mound before reaching to massage carefully along the sensitive insides of the thighs.  In response, Sue let out a barely audible gasp, only to quickly follow it with a louder one, as the Kree behind her reached under her armpits to cup the blonde's now available chest, lifting and kneading both slippery globes, her strong fingers spread wide to grab the most mass as possible, the sponge previously held now discarded. 

The Krylorian's hands moved along Susan's inner thighs more daringly, reaching to slide in quick, teasing fashion along the union of leg and private parts, and back-tracking until the start of the butt-cheeks, making both legs and buttocks tremble softly, while above, the Kree fondled Sue's teats with now open roughness, massaging them with wide complementary motions, the abundant flesh soft enough to be forcefully squeezed, pressed down, and tugged in many directions, though still too firm to be either stretched or flattened too far beyond certain limits past their normal roundness.

When the Shi'Ar at her side also nuzzled warmly against her neck, her lips brushing her skin, Susan let out a deep sigh and closed her eyes. 

There was little doubt that they were doing more than bathing her.

The Kree pressed Sue's teats firmly against each other, and brushed a thumb around each rosy nipple, grazing each slightly even while groping the surrounding flesh with even greater aggressiveness.  The Krylorian rose from her knees, and with her hands still at Sue's uppermost thighs, extended her tongue to gently lick, first at one of the nipples, then at the other, moving back slowly to let a trail of saliva stretch for a moment between the fully erect nub and the tip of her moist tongue.

The Kree squeezed Sue's breasts, pushing them out, her forefingers and thumbs pressing the base of each nipple, presenting them thus to the Krylorian, who leaned back to repeat her slow, careful licking, again and again.  Sue trembled with each touch, and gasped when the licking suddenly turned into quick, delicate nibbles.  Not to be outdone, the Shi'Ar girl bit at a soft earlobe, before sliding her tongue into Sue's ear, making her shiver.  She was always too sensitive there.  But she did not try to avert her head.

Dorrek and Kl'rt stared, fidgeting with tension.

The Krylorian seized with her teeth one of the nipple and held still, letting the Kree move the breasts around her bite instead, like in a mock, playful struggle for control of the desired morsel.

Sue's breathing had become faster, more labored.  As she gasped with her mouth open, the Shi'Ar pulled her face to hers and kissed her.

Flustered, Sue hesitated briefly before returning the unexpected kiss.  It had been a couple of years since last locking lips with another girl, and she let the other do most of the work for a while before shyly becoming more involved, her lips and tongue returning the caresses with greater enthusiasm, enjoying her taste, distinctly different, but just as pleasant, as that of Medusa, or Crystal, or Tigra, or Thundra.

The pale brunette relinquished her mouth only for the Kree to reach up and pull Sue's head to her instead, kissing her with greater intensity.  The dark blue tongue dove forcefully down her throat, while the Shi'Ar now bit at her shoulder.  When Sue drew away, gasping for breath, the Krylorian rose up, leaving the well-nibbled nipples, to press against the blonde on tip-toes, and claim her own kiss.  Sue's mouth was taken from one deep kiss to another in rapid succession, while their caresses of her body, the relentless fondling and licking, the scraping nails over sensitive skin, grew in urgency.

Sue had thought she could face anything forced upon her, endure whatever happened with cold detachment, but as she reluctantly felt more and more affected by the relentless caresses of the three servants, she almost wished that she could relax and bask in the simple sensual enjoyment of the moment, forgetting for just a moment the abusive circumstances of her situation, the coercion that had brought her to this. 

And for a very brief instant, perhaps she almost did.  Almost.

"Yes, yes, kiss, all of you," Dorrek muttered.  "Use your tongues, exchange spit, you sluts..."

Sue stiffened at the words, drawing back abruptly from the latest kiss of the Shi'Ar, sharply reminded that no matter what these girls made her feel, she just could not afford to lower her guard, to forget why she was here, what was at stake, and the threat of what was yet to come. 

Noticing Sue's rekindled reticence, the Krylorian let her hand slide from the blonde's thigh to her mound, grazing up the pubis and then diving for the cleft between the legs.  Sue gasped and squirmed when a finger parted her soft, moist labia with a long stroke that ended at the toned butt-cheeks and then retreated between the swollen folds until finding the small, delicate nub nestled under its fleshy hood.  Despite her original intention to refuse giving Dorrek the spectacle he obviously wanted, Sue could not deny her body's natural reaction as her clitoris was suddenly fingered with expert skill, and she let out a loud, undeniable moan.

Matching her companion's escalation, the Kree knelt down to lick and bite hungrily at Sue's creamy pert rear, exploring with one hand the deep crevice behind the trembling cheeks, teasing with a fingertip the puckered anal entrance.  Startled, Sue jerked her hips forward, away from such probing, but that made her push against the girl's fingers at her front, and she also quickly pulled back, so that her nervous squirming back and forth just made her grind against both of their hands.  The redhead smiled and moved down to her knees again, to complement the work of her hands with her mouth, while the Shi'Ar took over Sue's upper body to worry her nipples and neck with a barrage of bites and licks. 

While their hands and mouths worked on Sue, the Krylorian and Kree bade her move to her legs further apart with firm guidance, to better access her private parts, their tongues reaching as far and deep as Susan's standing position allowed, fingers sliding and meeting again and again in the wet valley between the labia.  Once well-coated in her moisture, two index fingers, one blue and the other cherry-pink, zeroed onto the contiguous intimate entrances to the blond Earthling's body and penetrated her simultaneously, vaginally and anally at once.

Sue moaned and reached for their heads, seizing blue and red hair in each hand, trying ineffectually to hold back the assault on her core.  The two girls ignored her half-hearted attempt and focused on thrusting their fingers knuckle-deep into her tight openings.

Sue's face was flushed so deeply that her color approached that of the Krylorian.  Her breasts heaved with her fast breathing, and her lower body began to tremble in response to the fingers and tongues working her loins.  Flustered, she realized that no matter how much she tried to hold back, soon she would be made to climax, and not softly or quietly, by the caresses of these girls, these doubtlessly slave servants of the Skrull Empire, while its evil emperor and deadliest warrior watched her.  But instead of derailing her excitement, this disturbing awareness, and the nervous discomfort, anger and near panic that it brought, somehow matched with the intense physical stimulation, and actually edged her even closer to her imminent moment of release, to her orgasm.

To her shame, she knew that she would not just merely come.  She would come hard, come loudly, come while these evil alien monsters watched her.  In some perverse, disturbing way, she would perhaps come even faster and harder precisely because of that.

"Enough."

The three servants immediately stopped and withdrew with eyes downcast at Dorrek's curt order before Sue could reach that point of no return.  She looked up, surprised, her breathing coming in hurried gasps, her body trembling with the accumulated tension, the close proximity of its release almost making her dizzy.

She did not know whether to feel relieved or shamefully disappointed.


**************************************



What was her name?  Why could he never remember those?  How many really cute alien green chicks could one meet?

"Johnny Storm, from Earth?"  She spoke decent English, with an exotic accent.

"Er, yes...   Sorry, we have met before, right?"

"Yes.  We have.  You and your friends fought against Morrat, my betrothed."

"Uh, I remember that.  Didn't he-?"

"He died, yes.  Executed.  As ordered by my father."

"Oh, well, sorry about that."

"In hindsight, he wasn't a very good boyfriend.  It was kind of a teen crush, really."

"And your father-?"

"Emperor Dorrek VII.  I am Anelle.  Princess Anelle.  I needed to speak to you."  She glanced at the Skrull guard, who stood impassive, showing no understanding of their conversation in English.  She then tapped quickly on her wristband.  "In private."

Johnny began to smile.  A real Skrull princess?  Things were looking up.

The last couple of years had certainly been good to the young Anelle here.  He did not remember her being this hot last time.

And the hero always gets the princess, right?



************************************************************


It would not be that easy for her.  No, it wouldn't.

He would make sure of it.

Dorrek stood up and walked towards the bath, his nervous fingers fidgeting with his robes.

He had planned to wait, to first allow other parts of his plans to play out, and extend the preliminaries much further, but the woman had proved even more exciting than he had expected, so much more exciting.

He could not wait.  He would not wait.

Hurriedly, he discarded all of his clothes and came to the pool's edge.



************************************************************


Sue blanched.

Dorrek's thin, gangling limbs sprouted from a stocky body with a bulging, low-hanging belly, the mottled shades of green of his skin even more pronounced in those areas normally hidden from sight.  But much more low-hanging was the pendulous member dangling heavily between his legs and reaching close to his knobby knees, its dark green mass coursed by thick veins and throbbing with its slowly increasing rigidity.  The massive bulbous head bore multiple corrugations deepening as they ran from its tip to the irregular rim of the glans.

She stumbled back, aghast, almost slipping on the pool's floor, too shaken to look away, her eyes locked on the dangling alien member, her mind full of horror, disgust and disbelief and too many other reactions to name.

It had to be a trick, a Skrull shape-changing deception, a deliberate, gross exaggeration meant to shock her, to frighten her with the sight, with the menacing prospect of such monstrosity.

It just could not be really THAT big.  Nothing could.  Nothing natural.  Nothing human.

But Dorrek was not human.  Dorrek was a Skrull.

And he wasn't even fully erect yet.


**************************************


He was thirsty and sore and tired, dead tired.  Channeling the full Nova power while fighting the Skrull fleet had taken more out of him that he thought at first, and it was barely minutes after returning to Xandar that he had needed to go space-borne again, to chase after the Fantastic Four, all the way here, to the Skrull Throne-World.

At least he was not feeling hungry anymore, nobody would, considering the smell all about, here in the depths of the sewers under the Skrull imperial citadel.

But his side still hurt like hell, having been clipped by that warship when first entering the capitol's airspace.  Despite his suit trying to shield him, some impact still got through.  He would need to get it looked after, when he got back to Xandar.  If he got back to Xandar.

But he could not rest. Not yet.

At least he was close now, at last, after all those hours and hours of wandering through the capitol's darkest underbelly, hiding, from the authorities and the general populace, keeping to the shadows as well as he could.  But the communication his helmet had intercepted and translated said that this was the place. The fucking Skrull imperial citadel.  It had not even been encrypted. The Skrulls had broadcast openly the news of the Fantastic Four's trial and death sentence, so everyone in this galaxy would know.

Three days to live, it had said. Three days.

So Rich now had to find them in the Skrull's most secure installations, a place the size of an Earth city.  Before the three days were over.

Piece of cake.

The hero always saved the girl in time.  He had to.


************************************************************


"My emperor, if I may-?"

Dorrek turned to Kl'rt, frowning with annoyance.  "What is it?"

"You ordered that the celebration was to start immediately.  It must be already well under way by now."

"Yes, so?"

"Your plan was to make an early impression upon those attending by entering in the company of-"

"I know what my plan was!  I came up with it!"

"You said it was all about creating the proper political statement.  Sire."

"I know what I said!  Why do you have to remind me?"

"But if now you-?"

"I know.  I changed my mind.  I'm changing the plan.  I can still do all that later.  Afterwards."

"Are you certain, Sire?  The effect may be...  spoiled if-"

"SO WHAT?  CAN'T I DO AS I PLEASE?  AM I NOT THE EMPEROR HERE?"

A soft buzzing suddenly rose from Dorrek's silvery wristband, the last extraneous item still on his body.  Kl'rt silently looked at it.

"Now what?"  With annoyance, Dorrek swiped at the wristband, and above it appeared the holographic projection of a Skrull wearing an elaborate ceremonial head-dress.   "What the fuck do you want?  I said I was not to be interrupted!"

The Skrull's holo image lowered his eyes nervously.  "Er, My emperor, your entourage is already assembled and waiting by-<

"You interrupt me for that?  Let them wait!"

>Sire, your orders were to prepare your entrance for-<

"I know what my orders were!   But I'll be late, alright?"  He looked up at the blond woman still standing motionless before him.  "I have things that need...  to be taken care of first."

>Sire, half the Rim Warlords are already drunk and-<

"So what?  They always do that!"

>They are starting to argue.  The High Lord Chamberlain fears several death-duel challenges to be imminent-<

"Good!  Let them kill each other!"

>The emperor's presence would still be needed to officiate-<

"TELL THEM TO WAIT, TOO!  TELL EVERYONE TO WAIT!  I AM GOING TO BE BUSY!"

Kl'rt stepped one pace closer.  "My emperor."

"What do YOU want?"

"The effect that was planned may be impossible to achieve if the gathering has already deteriorated into-"

"I AM THE EMPEROR!  WHY SHOULD I WORRY ABOUT THAT CRAP?  WHY CAN'T I DO AS I WISH?"

"She will still be there, for you, at your discretion, all the time.  However, after..."

"I know, I know!"  Dorrek ran a hand over his face, shoulders dropping.  "Damn it!"

"She may no longer be...  Useful.  For the desired... impression."

"Ah, fuck it!"  Dorrek shook his head and turned about, walking away from the bath.  "Have her finish dressing and all that.  Then have her brought to me, as planned.  Without delay."  He stopped and glanced quickly back at her.  "It will be better anyway to... take my time." 

He stormed out of the room, naked, his phallus swinging grotesquely, while he called out loudly, summoning his attendants.

Kl'rt turned towards Susan Storm.  Color was barely returning to her face, and she was staring at him, a strange expression in her large, bright blue eyes.

Relief?

Gratitude?

Frowning, Kl'rt gave a curt series of orders to the slaves and exited the room.



**************************************



"Er... look, Miss, I really do not know the guy that well."

"But you do know him, yes?  And he lives in the planet Earth, as you do."

"Well, it's kinda a big place, really."

Anelle frowned.  For someone in the vast Skrull Empire, a single-world culture appeared really quite provincial.  "Please?  It is just a small request."

"Look, I dunno.  We're kinda in hot water with your father now."

"Hot water?  You are in water together?  In bath?"

"I mean...  He sentenced us to death, see?  We're supposed to be aging at an accelerated pace and all, and it's not-"

She muttered an angry word in Skrull that made the guard shift on his feet.  "Father ALWAYS does this!  He's such a jerk!"

"Actually, if you could put a good word in for us..."

"He NEVER listens to me, too!"

Johnny sighed.  Things weren't going as he had hoped.


**************************************


Rich had to get some kind of map somewhere.  His suit was scanning the surroundings and giving all kinds of information, besides warning him about the security systems and patrolling guards, but there were just way too many buildings and too many corridors in this place to make any sense out of them.  Even if he could remain undetected indefinitely, he could easily spend days here just searching.

And he had only three days.  Or less.  To find them.  To find her.


**************************************


The servants rinsed the soapy remnants off Sue's body, now with quick efficiency, before leading her out of the water and towards a corner translucent booth, where focused gusts of hot air helped them dry her.  The Shi'Ar servant took special care of her hair, using various exotic implements to style the long blond locks into silken softness. 

Susan let them attend her, acquiescent, trying to remain outwardly composed, yet still deeply shaken, unnerved by what she had just seen, and what it meant, for her, what was explicitly in store for her. 

That... thing.  That gruesome, monstrous thing.

She would have to...  It would...

She shuddered.

It was too much.  Just too much.  Too horrifying, too absurd to even contemplate.  It did not even seem physically possible.

Yet she had agreed to it.  She'd agreed for the sake of her loved ones.  No matter how disgusted and frightened she was, she could not back out, not now, not if she wanted them to survive.  Somehow, awful as it seemed, she had to go along with Dorrek, long enough to buy them time, enough to find some way out, some escape.  The Fantastic Four always found a way.

But she had only three days to do it.

Unless she found an escape within the following hours, she would soon have to somehow bear the revolting touch of that disgusting evil little green creature, of his hands, of his mouth, and of that horrible thing hanging obscenely between his skinny legs, nowhere little at all, but so outrageously huge and green and horrible and outright frightening that her legs trembled when even thinking of just having to touch it. 

She closed her eyes, willing herself to focus on the all-important need to seek and find their freedom, and banish from her mind that lingering horrid image, that very dreadful idea, which should be absurd for her to even contemplate, to even conceive at all, of touching that thing, and much less of taking it, of being taken by it, of having it touch her, enter her, penetrate her, so deeply and forcefully, hurting her so much, filling her with so much of that horrible, gigantic green alien cock.

For an instant, her legs weakened, and gave.  The strong hands of the Kree grabbed and held her, keeping her upright.  Embarrassed, Sue leaned on the blue woman only for a moment, and straightened, regaining her balance after her moment of weakness.  All three women looked at her intently, with apparent concern.

"Thank you," she muttered.  "It... passed.  I'm alright now."

It was the first time she had spoken to them, she realized.  But there was no comprehension on the Kree's face, only a calm questioning look.  The aural translator was gone, of course, along with her uniform, and she could not communicate with them any better that she had understood the fast exchange between Dorrek and the Super-Skrull before they left, sparing her, at least momentarily, from what had seemed about to happen.  She wondered what exactly had been said.  Was she correct in feeling the Super-Skrull was to be thanked for her reprieve?

How close it had been. How close IT had been.

"Thanks," Sue repeated, looking at all three servants, smiling weakly for reassurance.  "I'm... fine.  Really."

The bright-pink-colored Krylorian drew closer and smiled back, before speaking softly, almost in a whisper:  "Is alright.  You afraid.  Is alright."

Sue started, surprised at the words in English.  "What?  How-?"

"Is alright."  The Krylorian held up her hands and drew both mutually apart, nodding with a significant expression.   "Is...  big.  Lot big.  You afraid.  Is alright."

Sue's face warmed with a sudden blush, embarrassment following surprise.  "You can speak English?  My language?  Earth language?"

"Earth, yes."  The girl's smile widened.  "I... is good.  With tongues."

Sue blushed more deeply.  She would not dispute that assertion.

"You mean I'm alright to... be afraid?"

The Krylorian repeated the expansive gesture and arched her brows.  "Yes.  Is lot big.  LOT."

Sue's faced remained warm.  "He was...  big, yes.  Very big.  That just...  surprised me.  Just that.   He must have...  shape-changed."  She gestured uneasily, mimicking growth.  "Changed it.  Changed his...  member.  To unsettle me.  To frighten me.  Surely it couldn't be always so big, right?  Right?"

The Krylorian quickly spoke to the other servants in fast whispers.  All exchanged meaningful glances, and eyebrows were raised eloquently.

"Yes," the Krylorian whispered at Sue, while glancing at the sides with obvious reference to being monitored.  "Big.  Yes.  Always."

"Really?"

All girls nodded in reaction to her doubtful expression.  The Kree added something in a guttural mutter.

"Only good thing.  About him," the Krylorian translated with an even lower voice than before, before breaking into a nervous giggle.

"Only good thing?  THAT thing?  Are you joking?  How can that be GOOD?"

The girl made a quick gesture for Sue to lower her voice and shrugged.   "Is lot big.  Is good.  Fill you...  fill you good."

"You bet that must fill you up!   How can it even-?  Without-?"  Sue shook her head.  "Wouldn't it just... hurt?  Surely it'd hurt like hell!"

The girl frowned.  "Hurt?  Oh...  hurt.  Yes.  Hurt.  Lot.  Lot hurt.  Always."

She translated for the others and all nodded in agreement.

"Always hurt.  But after... while?  Good, too.  Hurt, but good."

Sue stared at them.  "Oh, my...  You've all-?"

"He like.   He happy.  You hurt.  But like.  But good.  He like.  He happy.  You happy.  See?"

"What?"

The Kree muttered again, and the Shi'Ar shook her head.

"You... learn?  Learn.  Make he happy.  You happy.  Hurt, yes.  Lot hurt. Yes.  But he happy.  You learn.  Hurt good.  You learn...  like.  Lot.  Hurt?  Yes.  Hurt good.  Lot.  Then...  good.  Like.  Lot."  She pointed at herself, then at the others.  "You like lot.  Like good.  You.. come?"

"Come?  You mean you-?  You can-?"

The girl frowned.  "Cum?  Cum.  You cum.  Cum good.  Cum lots. You like. Lots."

Sue stared with disbelief at the three women, unsure whether to be sad, or worried, or both, for them, and for herself.  They had surely been forced to accept enduring what was demanded of them, in order to appease their master and make their lives easier.  Surely they could not really mean that they had actually grown to... enjoy that size.  It was hard to believe that it was possible to even take something that size and have it be anything less than actual torture.

She remembered her own experiences: how she had first playfully asked Reed to use his stretching powers to make himself bigger inside her, and how great it had certainly proved for her, that time and ever since.  It had truly given Reed a considerable advantage over Namor, sex-wise, back in those early days of her...  indecision.

But that had been just a couple of extra inches or so, not something... horse-sized!

She almost began pressing the girls further, but then shook her head.  Why was she wasting time on this?

Of course being worried was justified.  And she should be fully aware of each hardship involved in being forced to submit to Dorrek's designs, to be ready to face them.  But she had to move past that now.

Didn't she have more vital concerns on which she could use further information?

Before she could ask any further questions, one of the draperies at a nearby wall moved aside, and a new servant entered the rooms, holding aloft and before her a long metal tray bearing a carefully extended item of cloth and other bundles.  The Shi'Ar took this under her charge by merely holding to one corner of the tray and drawing it to a side, the whole thing floating effortlessly on air thanks to some gravitic component.  After a brief exchange of words, the new arrival bowed and left the same way she had entered.

Sue stared at that point of exit.  "Could it be possible to-?"

The Kree noticed her attention and quickly shook her head.

"Skrulls.  Lot Skrulls," the Krylorian confirmed, in her faintest whisper yet.

Sue pursed her mouth.  Of course there would be a heavy guard.

She tried to ask about other security arrangements, but her questions were either not understood or deliberately ignored.  Instead, the three servants began to fuss over the new clothing items, extending the pieces out for Sue while voicing words of obvious appreciation.  It took her a second look to realize that the long, skimpy dress made of seemingly barely-there light-blue gauze and black strips, was actually recreating the colors of her FF uniform, even including a chip reproducing their
"4" chest symbol as some kind of waist buckle or adornment. 

All other similar questions met equal indifference, while the girls began to dress her in the scanty outfit, which apparently did not include any underwear.

Sue could not blame them for not wanting to get into trouble.  They had to worry about their own survival, and at least for now, Sue was just another slave here.  But while she was currently powerless, that didn't mean she was helpless.  She had her mind.

Perhaps she could lead them back to matters they would be more willing to address.  She needed all the knowledge she could get, if she wanted to find a way out.

She had to understand the Skrulls.

She had to understand Dorrek.

"So... if Skrulls can change shape, why does Dorrek look... like he does?"

The Krylorian frowned at her.  "Emperor Dorrek is Skrull."

"Yes, but why look weak and small?  Not counting... there, of course.  But why not look tall and strong?  Like... the Super-Skrull?"

"Super-?"

"The warrior with powers."  She frowned, trying to remember the alien name.  "Kl'rt?"

"Kl'rt?"  The Krylorian nodded and repeated the word at her companions, both of whom lifted their eyebrows in assent.

"Yes, why not look like him?  Muscular and...  attractive?"  Sue blushed, suddenly realizing what she had just said.  "Well, not that I...  But he...  I mean, Dorrek is certainly much worse to look at!"

The Krylorian chatted quickly with the others, smiling.  She turned to Sue with a glint in her eye.

"Kl'rt good too.  Good look.  Strong, yes.  Big, yes."  She gestured low.  "Lot big too."

"Not that way!"

"Lot, lot big!  You cum, too.  Cum good.  Cum lot!"   She made very suggestive motions and they laughed.

Flustered, Sue looked away.  "That's not what I meant!"

Yet there had that moment in the infirmary, when it had briefly seemed like Reed had just cheated on her, and she reacted angrily at his having apparently become much bigger for Adora than he ever had for her.  Much, much bigger, to her shock and anger.  So she had certainly noticed the Super-Skrull's size, and the girls were not wrong at all in that.  Could that be something of the whole Skrull species?

Nervously, she tried to get back on track.  "What I meant is: why doesn't Dorrek improve his appearance with his power?  Why not shape-change to look...  better?  Or are their standards different?"

After some further elaborations, the servants spoke among themselves, and the Shi'Ar went on for a while, her expression turned serious, as did the Krylorian when finally addressing Sue.

"Bad...  manners."

"Manners?"

"Skrulls, all change.  More.  Less.  All change.  You look.  You are.  You... true.  True you.  Skrulls know."

"So they don't care about appearances?  It isn't important for them?"

"No, no.   Skrulls care.  Is manners.  Bad manners to...  lie?  Lie.  You lie.  No... respect.  No change, more true.  True you.  More respect."

Sue listened carefully to the halting explanations, trying to grasp the psychological implications, the effects for a whole society.  In a place where anyone could change how they looked almost as easily as what they said, where appearances could be manipulated as easily as words, then willingly sustaining a constant appearance even when unsightly could be perhaps a similar public gesture as keeping a given word when against personal convenience.  It could be a social or political expectation, especially for those desiring public respect or status.  Could Dorrek's position, his hold onto power in the combative Skrull society, be partly supported by his intentional showcase of his unchanged ugliness and the corresponding social leverage it afforded?

But if being faithful to their true natures was so important for Skrulls, then why have sex with females of other species?  Could it be less about personal desire and more of a gesture of dominance over an enemy? 

Dorrek's behavior seemed to indicate differently.

Taking the women here as a representative sample, the emperor's harem featured a wide range females of multiple human-like races, apparently held as indentured slaves, with Sue now to become its latest addition.  Also, the Super-Skrull had clearly used his powers to seduce Adora under false pretenses, effectively raping the Xandarian, without any discernible strategic purpose beyond his personal satisfaction, and had seemingly intended to do the same to her as well.

She felt uneasy recalling how he had forcefully held and kissed her, back there at the Baxter Building's infirmary, just after having taken advantage of Adora, not that the slut had protested at all at the time.  He had been... so forceful, so aggressive, so demanding.  So unlike Reed.

Had he always meant to abuse her that way if he had ever defeated them?  How close had she been to such danger during their past encounters?

He certainly he had wanted her, right there.  There was no doubt about it.  Much like with Dorrek.

So why did both want to fuck her?  A woman of a different species?

Sue had no false modesty regarding her sexual appeal, she was very desirable by most standards, whether of Earth or of other planets with similarly human-like inhabitants, but even ignoring their shape-changing abilities, why would a Skrull regard her, or any other female from a world with such obviously different basic physiognomies, as so physically attractive as to influence the way they handled their plans of planetary conquest?  Was it somehow a convergent evolutionary preference towards certain body proportions?  Was it only about the tits and ass among Skrulls as well?

Or was it perhaps some kind of fetish?  One not shared by all Skrulls?  Some personal deviance that could perhaps be exploited?  Allow her to better handle Dorrek?

Discomforting as the whole line of thought was, if she wanted to escape and free her loved ones, she had to make use of every resource she could.

The servants had finished lacing her footwear and arranging her hair.  One of them was choosing among what looked like perfume bulbs.

She extended a hand to the closest of the three.  "My name is Susan, Susan Storm.  Friends call me Sue."


**************************************




"But you ALWAYS escape!  You are THE Fantastic Four!  You have beaten that oaf Kl'rt like a thousand times, already!"

"That's the spirit.  But things aren't looking that good now.  Really, any help that you could give..."

Anelle looked down, unhappy.  "I don't know.  Maybe...  I could speak with my mother."

"Would appreciate it, really."

"Will you take the message?  Just in case you do escape and don't die and get back to your world?  It is really important that he gets it."

Johnny rolled his eyes.  "Sure, sure.  Just in case.  Give me the note for your Kree boyfriend."

Beaming, she gave him the small silver chip, about an inch on each side.  

"Thank you so much!  You're so nice!"  She hugged him quickly and then stood up.  "I must go now.  There is some fancy party going on and they may ask where I am."

"Yeah, sure."  

Not much chance of a goodbye kiss, he thought bitterly, as the door closed behind her.

Nice.  Nice.  So now he was being the NICE guy.  

Meanwhile that Mar-Vell dude had been the one boinking the cute teenage Skrull princess.

Things were really not going well at all.




PART FIVE:  THE EMPEROR'S DATE


The imposingly tall, baroque-decor doors slid apart.
 
After the initial stretch of stunned silence, excited whispers suddenly filled the air with a loud din, followed by widespread applause.  Those closest quickly made way, clearing a path that was immediately lined up at each side with armed guards, ceremonially securing the space for the triumphal entrance of Dorrek VII, Emperor of all Skrulls and Protector of the Galaxy, and his newest companion and announced concubine, Susan Storm of Earth, recently of the Fantastic Four.
 
With arms closely entwined, they walked together into the large chamber.  

Dorrek waved with his free hand, smiling broadly, shamelessly enjoying the adulation, while Sue walked stiffly at his side, keeping to the pace of his shorter legs, stopping whenever he did, each time some important personage exchanged meaningless words or some lesser Skrull official or courtier abashed himself in servile fashion before them.
 
Her unsmiling mouth was tightened into a thin line as she studied the luxurious surroundings.  Armed guards and automated security drones were everywhere, as were hundreds of party-going Skrulls wearing long, colorful robes, crowding the multiple terraced levels, alongside their much more lightly-dressed servants and companions.  They were probably most of the Skrull Empire's ruling elite, the highest-ranked of the alien enemies who had cheerfully condemned her loved ones to death.
And all were now staring at her.
 
She tried to ignore it, but each step, each second increased her tense, self-conscious awareness of those hundreds and hundreds of alien eyes, all fixed firmly on her, on her body, an almost tangible pressure that made her progressively more uncomfortable about the embarrassing amount of skin exposed by her flimsy, barely-there dress.  The twin strips of unsubstantial fabric stretching down over her chest did little to keep her unsupported breasts from jostling visibly as she walked, and the thin veils dropping between her legs at both her front and back flowed and shifted, risking giving revealing peeks at her most intimate areas with each step she took.
 
Susan was proud of her figure and did not shy about dressing to showcase it, within reason.  Her wardrobe for events and everyday use aimed for sexy but not vulgar.  While her Fantastic Four uniform was deliberately more skin-tight than those of Reed or Johnny, it also covered her fully from neck to boots, flattering her curves while being completely decent.  Despite being called the Invisible Girl, she had never minded being looked at, having her looks appreciated. 
 
But this was different.
 
Many Skrulls simply looked at her with loathing or contempt.  To them, she was an enemy, a long-time, irritating thorn in their collective side, now finally vanquished.  But many others looked at her much differently.  They leered at her, with clear salacious hunger.  Dorrek was showcasing her, flaunting her, as his trophy, his prize, his property, and Sue could see the envy and greed in the staring crowd.  It was not about admiring or appreciating something they liked; it was about desire for what someone else had.  It made her feel measured, rated, not as a person, but as a piece of meat, a morsel to be consumed, a thing to be used.
 
She recalled the construction workers and their catcalls, back on Earth, and how she had found them harmless, amusing, rather than threatening, as many other women would judge them, dismissing such concerns, secure in the confidence of her personal power, in the privilege of being Susan Storm, adventurer, part of the Fantastic Four.  But now, without that security of power, without the assurance of being capable of protecting herself, she understood how disturbingly vulnerable anyone could feel under such aggressive, hostile scrutiny, such obvious sexual menace.
 
She had felt humiliated and victimized while made to undress before Dorrek and the Super-Skrull, but that paled now, against the objectification of being displayed like this, to a vast audience of antagonistic strangers, this anonymous crowd of leering enemies who could just as likely kill or rape her, or being witness to its happening without concern.
 
She had never felt so exposed, so vulnerable, so helpless.
 
She had never wanted more to be invisible.
 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
The door opened and the guards beckoned with their weapons for him to come out, to follow them.
 
Johnny smiled.  Surely Anelle had come through.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
 
With his Xandarian slaves in tow and his bodyguards forcefully making way for his considerable bulk, Hagar advanced slowly through the dense throng of courtiers and high-ranking bureaucrats surrounding the emperor and his companion.  Many grumbled but no voices rose to openly protest.  It was not wise to antagonize the Imperial High Judicator.
 
Finally breaking through, Hagar bowed before Dorrek as low as his large, flabby belly would allow.  

"My Emperor, we are honored by your presence."

His eyes immediately drifted towards the slim but curvaceous Earth-woman.
 
"Indeed you are, High Judicator," Dorrek replied, smiling smugly.
 
Hagar rose slowly, to better examine up close the smooth light-cream skin of the woman's long legs, the hourglass-shaped torso and the large, jutting teats that nearly made his mouth water.  Could all Earthling females be so lushly endowed?  He must have his majordomo find out and scour the slave markets accordingly.
 
"It is admirable that the emperor is obviously personally... reviewing the Earth-woman's case," Hagar muttered pointedly once a few further empty courtesies were out of the way.  "Quite magnanimous!" 
 
"Of course."  Dorrek slid his arm out from around the woman's arm and embraced her slender waist instead, pulling her closer to him, in clear proprietary gesture.  "The imperial devotion to justice demands we must take all truly worthwhile matters into our very own hands."
 
Sue tensed but did not resist.
 
Hagar nodded.  "However, the allotted time-frame may not allow for too much thoroughness in...  reviewing the matter as it... deserves."
 
Dorrek smiled.  "An appropriate extension is already being decided after lengthy consideration."
 
"Ah, a wise decision, certainly.  Yet such ruling may fall under the jurisdiction of the Judicator Office."  His attention lingered hungrily on the woman, on her eye-catching fair hair, so unusual among Skrulls, and the fascinating blue eyes, a trait found nowhere among their race.  And the teats, of course, so big and round and high.  His hands ached to squeeze them, squeeze them hard.  "So surely for the proper public assurance, at least a cursory examination by this Office of the, ah, materials at hand may be needed to-?"
 
Dorrek quieted Hagar with a quick, dismissive gesture.  

"That won't be necessary.  The Imperial Seat is after all, the highest jurisdiction."  He smiled, but only with his mouth.  "Don't you agree?"
 
Hagar's face grew a much paler green.  "The-The Judicator Office of course recognizes the Imperial Seat as the highest authority in all matters.  All matters!  It was never my-!"
 
"I see you remain a spineless pansy, Hagar."
 
The voice, high and shrill, struck both Hagar and Dorrek with the shock of recognition, and Susan felt Dorrek's body tense right next to her.  All Skrulls surrounding them quickly bowed low, and the lined-up guards ceremonially presented their weaponry in unison.
 
Dorrek cursed silently.  What was the bitch doing here?
 
"So this is your new plaything, Dorrek?  This pale, washed-out alien cunt?"
 
Angrily, Dorrek released the Earth-woman's waist and turned about, and instantly regretted it, knowing he should have waited for her to move to face him instead, losing thus another bit of valuable public face, of political leverage, by falling into a knee-jerk reaction to her insulting disdain for ceremony, her lack of the proper reverence due to him.
 
Already Hagar and the rest of sycophantic floor-lickers around them were inching away, retreating like the spineless vermin they were, retreating as everyone always did before her. 
 
"Is that how you should address your emperor?"
 
"Is that how you should welcome your wife?"
 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Susan watched with interest as Dorrek argued heatedly with the tall, statuesque Skrull female that she recognized from past encounters as Empress R'Klll.  Her shiny black hair was gathered high, in a complex tower above her head, and her gold and purple robes emphasized generous curves as she towered over her husband, her body language during the argument making the most of their difference in height.
 
Susan had felt a moment of hope, of expected reprieve, upon the arrival of the Empress, yet despite the obvious animosity between her and Dorrek, there was no real sign of jealousy in her gestures or general bearing.  The conflict between them was preexisting, and marginal to Sue's presence.
 
Could she still make some use of it?
 
She noticed now that the Skrull crowd was evenly distributed by gender.  There were many female Skrulls also accompanied by male slaves.  Any trans-species feminine solidarity seemed unlikely.
 
She was still on her own.
 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
R'Klll spread her arms, her gesture encompassing the surrounding event.  "You celebrate?  Our fleet is in shambles and you CELEBRATE?"
 
"The cost of victory was high, but-!"
 
"VICTORY?  YOU WERE CHASED AWAY FROM XANDAR!  YOU WERE BEATEN!"
 
"We-We retreated strategically after the victorious defeat and capture of the Earthling enemies!"
 
"Oh, please!  Four prisoners!  Is that your great achievement?"
 
"The Earthlings had long-!"
 
"The earthlings!  Of course!"  She gestured at Susan with disdain.  "So this is what you now have to show after leading our forces into a catastrophic defeat before the numerically inferior Xandarians?  A new piece of alien ass for you to fuck?"
 
"THE EARTHLINGS' DEFEAT IS A LANDMARK EVENT!  AND I WILL HANDLE THE XANDARIANS SHORTLY!"
 
"Shortly?"  She laughed, and pointedly looked down at him.  "Of course you will.  How else could you do anything?"
 
"DO NOT MOCK YOUR EMPEROR!"
 
"YOU ARE THE ONE MAKING A MOCKERY OF MY FATHER'S THRONE!  STARTING A DISASTROUS WAR WITH FLIMSY JUSTIFICATIONS JUST TO-!"
 
"IT IS MY THRONE NOW!  TO THE CONQUEROR GO THE SPOILS!"
 
R'Klll turned again to the Earth-woman.  "So I see."  She pursed her lips.  "Comely spoils, in a bland, buxom way.  Was fucking her worth losing half our fleet?"
 
Dorrek's mouth twisted into a grimace.  "You were my spoils once, too.  After I got rid of your father."
 
There was a moment of silence.  R'Klll stared back at him icily.  

"Just because you grab something does not mean you can hold on to it."  
 
"You dare threaten-?"
 
"No, no.  You are your very own worst threat.  And the Empire's, too.  Perhaps it is better for all of us if you stay busy playing with your new... toy, instead of playing at being an emperor." 
 
She turned about and walked away, followed quickly by her entourage.
 
Dorrek quivered with anger.  No suitable retort came to him, nothing that would not make him look weaker.  Yet again, he promised himself to have her killed as soon as he could leverage the political results favorably.
 
No one in the crowd risked looking up, until he shrugged and loudly demanded a drink.  Several attendants rushed to offer him beverages, and he took the closest, downing it while moving towards a nearby couch arrangement that was promptly vacated for him.
 
Dorrek sat, and knowing he had to properly reassert his authority, his standing before all those around him, he gestured at the Earth-woman.  

"You, come here.  Sit.  With me."  He tapped his lap.  "Here.  Sit here."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Here, if you would join me."  Dressed in a flowing, diaphanous robe, Adora gestured at the open terrace, where a table had been carefully set for two, the Xandarian capitol's night skyline a glittering backdrop. 
 
The Sphinx remained unmoved.  "I have no interest in refreshments, or other frivolities."
 
She smiled.  "I see.  But perhaps I could offer you other...  amenities."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
The crowd's attention was again all focused on her, expectantly.
 
Susan reined back her disgust.  Dorrek was still fuming after the row with his wife.  It would be risky to give him reason to shift his anger onto her or her family.
 
Taking a deep breath, she walked over to where he sat.  Placing a hand on the plush couch's side armrest, she turned partly sideways, and with stiff discomfort, gingerly lowered herself over his robbed lap, settling her weight carefully over his upper legs, feeling his thin limbs against her bottom and the upper back of her thighs through the thin cloth of her flimsy dress and the thicker ones of his robes.
 
Smiling, Dorrek reached around her waist with one hand while resting the other over her thigh.  Susan placed her hands on her own lap, a gesture both dainty and defensive.  She hoped her weight was too much for his skinny legs to bear for too long.
 
Dorrek patted her thigh.  "I think most past campaigns have yielded much less worthy spoils, don't you agree, High Judicator?"
 
"Indeed!"  Hagar hurriedly replied, his forced smile hiding his jealousy.
 
At a gesture from the emperor, attendants brought and placed before them a hovering table shaped like a truncated spheroid, its level surface covered with appetizers and small containers of intoxicating substances.  Leaning forward closely against Susan, Dorrek helped himself to a handful of the exotic canapes, before reclining back.
 
"What some simple-minded... individuals cannot understand is that the Earthlings were much more than just another alien enemy."
 
His hand roamed casually, almost dejectedly, over the exposed skin of Susan's thigh.  Her skin was smooth and flawless under his touch and the tension underneath was not lost on him.
 
"They were a symbol.  A symbol of defiance, of irrational, stubborn resistance to rightful Skrull supremacy."
 
His right hand moved to the outer side of her upper leg and hip, closer to her rear with each casual stroke, while his left hand moved inward instead, caressing along her inner thigh.  But Susan kept her legs close together, not letting his hand pry between or force them apart, while fighting her revulsion at the sensation of the Skrull's clammy touch on her body.
 
"That is why they had to be taken down with the proper care, the right...  visibility.  To be made instead into a different symbol, a symbol of the futility of opposing the Skrull Empire."
 
Stymied on one front, Dorrek moved his hand lower on the other, sliding over the roundness of Susan's right buttock.  His long, thin fingers spread wide to encompass as much of its curvature as possible, and her whole body tensed with barely controlled anger at the affront.
 
"And what better symbol of Skrull power, of Skrull dominance, that this?"
 
He squeezed forcefully the firm flesh of her bottom, delighting in her response of clenching of the gluteus muscle under his touch, making her rear tighter and rounder for his fingers to grab.
 
"Watch!  The proud and powerful Invisible Girl of Earth, one of the renown Fantastic Four, a fearsome enemy of the Skrull Empire, now here, on my lap, for everyone to see."
 
His hand squeezed her harder, and his thumb aggressively sought the start of the deepening crevice between her round, muscular cheeks. 
 
Susan closed her eyes, wincing.
 
"I can think of none better," Hagar agreed.  Many other voices joined to murmur agreement.
 
"For EVERYONE to see where she belongs now," Dorrek added.
 
Suddenly, capitalizing on his firm grip on her flesh, Dorrek tugged Susan sideways, pulling her nearer to him, and shifting her to face forward, so her rear rested with one buttock on each of his spread upper legs.
 
"And to WHOM she belongs now."
 
When moved about, Sue had to quickly place a hand on the couch's armrest for balance, so while Dorrek's right hand moved up her waist, the other slid unimpeded down her thigh, closer to where her legs met.  She pressed her thighs together again to block his access, but abruptly stiffened in surprise upon becoming very aware of a different source of concern, of another kind of stiffening, one that she could feel growing underneath her now shifted position.
 
Dorrek's hardening phallus became irresistibly noticeable through his robe, right under her, as a thick, ever-more-rigid mass, pushing up against her bottom, right against where her legs and buttocks joined, right where she could feel it the most.
 
"Because you do, don't you?"  Dorrek had shifted to English, whispering in a low hiss now for Susan's sole benefit.  "You know who owns you now."
 
He pressed his face against her back, mostly bare under the curtain of her golden locks, inhaling deeply her scent.  Shivering at the contact, she arched her back, drawing away, but his hands, set now on her hip and thigh held onto her lower body, pulling her back while pressing her down.  To her further surprise, he then pushed her away slightly, before again drawing her back, repeating these motions again and again, while pulling her down at the same time, making her rock back and forth repeatedly over and against his lap.
 
She tensed, shocked, as each of these motions forced her to clearly feel him under her, all of him, long and thick and hard, so shockingly long and thick and hard, feel him as she was forced to move, to slide over him, to rub against his huge endowment with her most vulnerable nether parts, his robes and her flimsy attire affording such negligible protection that she could feel almost all of the corrugated texture of his member against the sensitive of her sex.
 
How could it feel so big?  So huge?  She felt like she was almost astride a third leg!
 
"Aren't you glad?"  His breath was hot against her back.  "Glad to know you are now my property?"
 
Disgusted, she tried to rise or change her position over him, to lessen the pressure against the rigid bulge below her, but she was impeded by his forceful grasp, his slender, ropy arms surprisingly proving much stronger than they had looked.  Her squirming motions just added to the friction against him, and to her chagrin, her attempt to re-position actually parted her legs momentarily, letting his bulge push up higher between them, separating her thighs from below with its thickness, so she felt her sex press harder against it, felt her nether lips made to spread and rub around his massive rod. 
 
"Glad to know you belong to the most powerful ruler in two galaxies?"
 
She desperate tried to be still, to stop the rubbing motions, but his hands forced her rocking to continue, despite her resistance, forced her to rub harder and harder against that huge, hard ridge protruding just below her.
 
"Glad to know you will soon enjoy all of this, much, much more intimately?"
 
Flustered, she dared not reply, squeezing her knees as close together as she could, and using her arms to cover her lower body as much as possible, feeling thankful for whatever visual concealment was provided by the floating table before them, that kept at least partially from general view her embarrassing position, her obscene motions over the emperor's lap, her being forced to rub, to grind against his monstrous erection.
 
"I do think you are glad, woman."  He leaned to a side, his face close to her left shoulder, his hot breath making her skin rise in goose bumps.  "Glad to finally have found your proper, most fitting place.  And you... do seem to be growing more...  amenable.  Down there.  As you should."
 
Susan blanched.  He was wrong.  Or lying.  It could not be.
 
Surely she was just discomforted, irritated by the friction, the forceful rubbing of that monstrous bulging thing against her private parts.
 
Surely the fabrics there could not be growing...  moist.
 
"Aren't you happy to have found your proper place?  Here?  With me?"
 
Red-faced, Sue tried to get up, to get off Dorrek's lap completely, but his grip held her, and as he roughly pulled her back down, his right hand seized her breast, cupping its roundness over its thin cloth strap, squeezing cruelly its soft, sensitive flesh.  Sue gritted her teeth, fighting back a cry, as Dorrek's hold on her teat became too forceful, too aggressive, his fingers finding her nipple and twisting it through the covering fabric, first one way, then the other, making it hurt, making it hard.
 
"Just as I will soon find my cock its proper place inside you."
 
He leaned forward, his open mouth aiming for her neck.
 
The crowd gasped as Dorrek's head snapped back.
 
Susan staggered to her feet, the floating table oscillating away behind her, its contents strewn about, while Dorrek groaned in pain, lifting his hands to his face, where her elbow had connected.
 
Dozens of guards surrounded her, weapons leveled at her head.
 
Dorrek got his feet, rubbing the side of his face, eyes blazing with fury.  His anger at his wife had been a slight annoyance by comparison.
 
"I see you are not ready to do my bidding.  Not yet."
 
Susan stood still, conflicted.  She knew she should apologize, but the words refused to come to her, blocked by her anger, her disgust and her embarrassment.  She knew she had to endure being a prisoner, to endure his demands, his awful touch and the threat of even worse, but how could she apologize to this monster?
 
He tapped the command strip at his wrist.
 
The crowd erupted in cries of surprise and their eyes went high, towards the center of the large chamber.   A translucent hovering platform had appeared in mid-air, teleported right above the heads of those in lower tiers, and nearly level with the eyesight of those in the area where Susan and Dorrek were.
 
Sue gasped, recognizing those borne aloft in the platform.  "Reed-?  REED! Johnny!  Ben!" 
 
They turned to her, following her voice.  All wore still heavy restrains.
 
"Sue-?"
 
"Sis?"
 
"Suzie, where-?"
 
"You clearly need further...  motivation."  Dorrek tapped his wrist again, and a dozen hovering drones surrounding the platform unleashed at it a barrage of bright, furious arcs of electrical discharges.
 
"NO!  NO!"
 
Her yells grew louder even that those of her family, while the guard restrained her, keeping her from rushing towards them.
 
Dorrek still rubbed his face, grimacing.  "You shouldn't have misbehaved."
 
"PLEASE!  STOP IT!  I AM SORRY!  I AM SORRY!  I APOLOGIZE!  STOP IT, PLEASE!"
 
The discharges halted and all three of Sue's teammates collapsed limply to platform's see-through floor.
 
"Thank-"
 
Abruptly, the discharges started again.  The figures on the platform shook and contorted in pain, to Susan's horror.
 
Laughter rose from the Skrull crowd.   There was even clapping.
 
"NO!  PLEASE!  STOP IT!  STOP IT!"
 
Dorrek shrugged.  "Only you can make it stop."
 
"How?  HOW?"
 
"Prove to me that you are contrite.  That you are ready to be... obedient."
 
"I WILL!  I SWEAR!  BUT STOP THIS NOW!"
 
Dorrek tapped his wrist, nodding.
 
"Strip, then."
 
"What?"
 
"Strip.  Now.  Here."
 
"Strip?  You mean-?"
 
"Yes.  For me.  For us.  For all of us."
 
"All of-?"
 
Dorrek's finger approached his wrist.  "Am I not being clear-?"
 
Susan lifted a hand, her face pale.  "Wait.  I-I understand.  I will... do it.  I will... strip for you."
 
"Fine!"  Dorrek smiled, and sat back on the couch.  "Glad we got an understanding now."
 
Susan glanced briefly at the crowd surrounding her, and then looked up at the platform holding her family.  Without averting her eyes from them, she reached angrily for the clasp at the back of her neck.
 
He shook his head.  "No, not like that.  Not like you did it before, at the bath.  So...  angry and abrupt.  No.  Not like that.  You can do better, I'm sure."
 
She stopped, frowning.  "How-?"
 
Dorrek leaned forward, waving his hand in elaboration.  "Make it...  pleasant.  Fun.  For everyone."
 
"Everyone?"
 
"Yes.  Make it slow.  And entertaining.  Stimulating.  Make me enjoy it.  Make us enjoy it."
 
Susan clenched her fists, but nodded.
 
Dorrek reclined again, smiling.  "And at any time I feel displeased with your performance, the punishment will start again."
 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Shit.  Shit.  That was harsh," Johnny winced, getting to his knees on the translucent platform.  "What're they trying to do?  Barbecue us for their damn party?"
 
"Maybe."  

Ben shifted slowly, grunting with effort.  With his strength drastically muted but his body mass as great as ever, merely moving his own bulk was a greater struggle than he let on.  But at least his rocky hide still provided some passive protection, and he had been able to partly shield Reed and Johnny, taking the brunt of the electric shocks.  The effort needed to move also helped him to focus away from the lingering pain.  That helped, somewhat.  

"Reed's still outta it.  Check him out, willya?  Can't trust my hands, not like dis."
 
"Woah."
 
"What now?"
 
"Er...  It's...  Sue."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Susan had a few times in the past teased Reed playfully while undressing in their bedroom, stripping for his benefit, back when recently married, mostly, back when their sex life had been at its most active.  But that had been merely a brief private play-acting, done in light-hearted fashion, for her husband, the man she loved.
 
Now she was expected to perform a full, real strip-tease, before a full crowd of alien enemies.  She had to bare herself in public, before a completely antagonistic audience, had to openly shame herself for their obscene entertainment.
 
They waited.  Their eyes weighted on her.
 
Dorrek waited.
 
Susan breathed in deeply.  Was this really worse that previously having to get naked before Dorrek and those few others?  What made it different?  Did the anonymous nature of the crowd not actually make them feel distant, instead, detached, a backdrop of faceless strangers to be ignored?
 
She closed her eyes, for a moment, collecting herself.
 
She should not feel ashamed.  Shame meant self-judgment, guilt, remorse.  Whatever she had to do, she did it for the sake of her loved ones.
 
She should instead focus on her anger, and the need to find a way out of this.
 
Do what had to be done.  And improvise.
 
She could do this.
 
She had seen movies, after all.
 
She opened her eyes.
 
Alright, how would Tigra do it?
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Uh?  What is she-?"
 
"Ok, better let Reed stay under."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
She began to sway, sway slowly, shifting her weight from side to side, loosening her shoulders and hips, letting her body rock and flow, gently, to a silent rhythm.
 
Her hands went to her head and removed the adornments drawing her hair back, freeing its long locks.  Her head then arched back while moving side to side, in time with her body's slow undulations, letting her hair also flow side to side in slow swipes, a shifting cascade of shiny gold.  Her hands rose before her face, past her forehead and back through her hair, back and down and onto her shoulders, where her fingertips moved inward over her collarbones to join just under her neck, forearms held now before her chest.  They slid up her arched long neck, to her chin and mouth.  Then her lips parted slowly, very slowly, under her spread fingertips, as she breathed out in a slow, extended exhalation.
 
Her hands then slid back down her chin and neck, and spread apart when reaching her chest.  She looked down at her pushed-out torso while her nails grazed the straps of thin cloth over her breasts, her deliberately slow and heavy breathing making them rise and fall under the hand's slow progress.  Following the stretched fabric, her hands reached her abdomen and then backtracked up between the straps, along her flat midsection and up her cleavage, before moving down again towards her waist and lower, her body still swaying all the while.
 
The muttering of the crowd had subdued, as the party-goers gradually became silent, following Susan's motions with more devoted attention.  Whoever was in charge of ambiance showed instinctive understanding of the situation and changed the background music to a slow, rhythmical cadence played with random unearthly alien clicks and vibrations.
 
Upon reaching the circular, brooch-like buckle with the four-symbol low under her stomach, her hands spread to the sides following the strips radiating over her hips, before running up and down her sides, repeatedly rubbing the heel of her hands from lower rib-cage to the upper sides of her thighs.  Her hands then repeated the same vertical movements closer to the center of her body, from the front of her thighs up to her breasts, slowly squeezing and lifting each up under their coverings before moving back down.  A last squeeze was slower and with more pressure, bunching her breasts together to form deep cleavage before sliding her hand low and to the inside her now spread thighs.  There they gently rose under the front cloth strip hanging her legs, towards the junction above.
 
Dorrek leaned forward, smiling with anticipation.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Ben looked, frowning.  "Oughta be a good reason or sumthin'"
 
"Wow.  That's...  something, yeah."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Abruptly, Sue spun about, facing away from the emperor, and leaned forward, low, hands sliding down her legs all the way to the ankles.  Her hair fell to the floor, with her bottom, covered only by its thin strip of hanging cloth, oriented towards Dorrek.  She rose slowly, sliding her hands along her legs, until she was again upright, hands moving back from her hips over her butt-cheeks, fingers spreading to squeeze her firm rounded flesh.
 
She let her head fall back, arching backwards until her hair reached to her bottom, her gluteus muscles tightening, and then she jerked forward again, dipping low, her hair pooling on the floor again, but with her hands remaining on her now raised bottom, before they slid down her legs again, with deliberate slowness.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Gotta be some kinda distraction, I tell."
 
"It's sure as hell distracting."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
With each dip forward and consequent straightening up, Sue spread her legs further and further apart, while letting her hands slide up and down along different paths over her legs in each instance. 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Dem gotta be making her do dis.  Bastards."
 
"Yeah.  Bastards."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Grabbing now her ankles while peeking back between her spread legs, she swayed her bottom side to side.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Er...  Kid, maybe ya shoulda just...  look away."
 
"Look away?"
 
"It's yer sister, ya shouldn't be watching her like-"
 
"And you should?"
 
"Didn't mean dat!"
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Sue did wide rotations of her torso, her hair sweeping energetically over the floor, and then she straightened up and turned about, striding resolutely towards Dorrek.
 
The emperor frowned, as she stopped before him, hands on her hips, breathing hard.  His hand moved towards his opposite wrist.
 
Calmly, she lifted one foot and placed it on the couch by his side.  She then leaned forward, bending deep at the knee, running one hand slowly along the length of her leg, from ankle to thigh, and then moving back to upright position before leaning forward and doing it again, leaning lower and closer to Dorrek with each motion.
 
Smiling, Dorrek reached up for her leg, but Sue then sprang back, hands on hips, shaking her head with a faint smile.
 
She then lifted her other leg and repeated the process.
 
Again Dorrek tried to grab her and again she pulled away.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Really none shoulda!" 

"Hey, I'm not telling."
 
"It ain't dat!"
 
 
**************************************
 
 
When Dorrek tried once more to grab her, Sue seized his wrist firmly instead.
 
He tensed, but she smiled calmly at him and rotated her hand around his so they faced palm to palm, opening her fingers to interlace with his.  Reassured, he leaned back and let her grab his other hand and do the same.
 
Holding onto him by both hands for balance, Sue brought her knee down to the couch by his side, and then placed the other by his other side, effectively kneeling over him, astride his legs.  Still gripping him tightly, she began to sway, pushing her hips forward and back above him, and leaning forward and settling lower over him, so her chest bounced and jostled fetchingly above his face, precariously held by the twin thin straps, and her rocking lower parts occasionally brushed over the growing bulge on his lap.
 
Her motions brought her body lower and lower, so that she swiped hard against him, and he could feel her tremble slightly at the contact, yet not disengaging, while her chest jiggled more tantalizingly close as well.  He pushed upward with his hips in her next pass, and she rose high, avoiding him at first, but then moved low again, and slowly let her lower parts rub with greater pressure against him.  He felt the tension in her body and saw her close her eyes tight, as she actually pushed forcefully against him now, grinding with deliberate pressure, rubbing vigorously against him, letting him feel her softness against his hardness. 
 
He smiled.  The bitch was an even hotter slut than he had expected.  He could feel the cloth over his hard member actually getting wet from her juices.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"Oh, damn.  Damn."
 
Ben just stared, voiceless.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
She pushed down harder than ever, grinding her hips now in shorter arcs, rocking faster in jerking motions, her hands squeezing his own tightly, her arms quivering with visible tension.  Her torso arched back and then forward.  Her breathing grew faster.  And faster.
 
Dorrek stared.  Was she...?
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"DAMN!  Is she-?"
 
 
**************************************
 
 
She jerked all over, harder than ever, and then stopped, leaning over him, her head low, close to his, her long, loose blonde hair falling forward over him, her mouth opened as she breathed fast and hard, making her breasts shake slightly with each intake of air.
 
Dorrek could feel her trembling, against him.
 
He pushed forward, his wide mouth aiming for hers, for those rosy lips spread open, so invitingly, so near him, demanding attention with the labored breaths escaping them.
 
Abruptly, Susan jumped back, leaning hard against his hands to push her whole body off his and the couch, her feet landing on the floor, spread apart, her legs straight and her hips and rear thrown as far back as possible, while she still held onto his hands with her arms stretched out, still leaning forward before him.
 
Her weight on his hands made his bent arms rest against the back of the couch, so that she leaned forward even lower and closer, her face coming closer to his again, temptingly, but making it hard for him to lunge forward to meet it.  Her face was partially covered by her hair, flushed under the golden locks, and her breathing was still loud and fast.
 
He smiled, his own breathing reflecting his excitement.  "Did you-?"
 
Before he finished the question, she threw herself forward and lower, with her legs still straight and her rear held high, her head turned to a side, until her chest brushed against his thighs.  She then began to inch backwards while wiggling her shoulders, so her cushion-y bosom rubbed against his legs as she retreated, their hands still joined as she let him push her back.  Still holding to him, she then let her legs bend and knelt down before him, with her chest resting fully on his knees, the large globes bunched and lifted high, jiggling softly as she still rocked her shoulders, while looking up at him with bright blue eyes peeking behind her curtain of blonde hair, her mouth still open.  He could feel her heart beating fast through her chest pressed against his knees.
 
She surely had, he knew.  The slut.  The beautiful, hot slut.
 
She bent forward slightly more, her face, her mouth, her open lips, approaching the place where his robe bulged up visibly. 
 
He held his breath, expectantly.
 
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Ben shook his head.  "Gonna do sumthin'."
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Sue turned her head, throwing her hair to a side, so only her cheek brushed, gently, against the raised ridge on his lap, pressing against its hardness just barely, while she pulled his right hand up, towards the now exposed nape of her neck, drawing his fingers just below the neutralizer neck-band and towards the clasp that joined there the two upper body straps of her dress.
 
Dorrek winced with disappointment, but understanding, quickly unfastened the clasp.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"We gotta do SUMTHIN'!"
 
Having struggled to his feet, Ben stumbled towards the edge of the floating platform, but as soon as he reached it, a sudden violent flash of energy threw him backwards, repelled by the security field that activated upon proximity all about the platform's perimeter.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Sue heard Ben yelp briefly and then turn silent, but she drew her lips tighter and did not look back.
 
As the twin straps loosened and fell from her shoulders, she let go of the Skrull emperor's hands and rose, stepping up and back, while holding her arms before her chest, covering herself.  She turned her back to Dorrek, swaying again as she moved, and let each of the strips fall off completely from her upper body, one after the other, so the lengths of cloth now hung down from the fastener just under her waist, joining the front length already hanging between her legs.
 
She spread her legs apart and dipped forward again, letting her breasts jostle fluidly against the barrier of her arms with her motions as she swayed vigorously in that position for several seconds.  Then she stood up straight and turned, walking again towards Dorrek, her arms now held horizontally before her chest.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
"I'm going to say: I never, ever thought Sue had this in her."
 
"Gotta do...  sumthin'," Ben muttered again, straining to get up.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Standing now right before Dorrek, Sue extended one hand out, leaving only one arm to partially cover her bosom, her considerable exuberance making it inadequate for that task.  She was still breathing hard, and her bunched breasts rose and fell considerably behind her forearm.
 
Dorrek complied to her unspoken request, extending his hand, which she took by the wrist and drew towards her body.  She placed it, palm-first, against her now exposed stomach, moving it down so his fingers brushed against her navel, reaching the circular fastener set low just under her stomach and above her pubis, then drawing it back up, over her taut, trembling midsection, towards her chest.  Slightly arching forward at the wrist the arm holding her bosom, to allow space, Susan then slid Dorrek hand under it, and onto her breast. 
 
His hand was dry and rough over her soft, smooth skin.  Her nipple was stiff and tender under his fingers.
 
Leaning forward against his grasp, pushing against his hand as it firmly cupped her teat, she lifted a leg and stepped again up onto the couch, placing her foot on it, by his side, her leg bent at the knee.  Her other leg went to his other side, knee down on the couch, half-kneeling over him, while she held his hand against her chest.
 
She pushed her hips forward, closer to him, and his eyes moved down, focused hungrily on the treasure faintly visible behind the thin cloth hanging low under her waist.  His other hand moved to the outer side of her thigh, sliding up, pulling her closer to him.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
There was no going back now.  It was time to do what had to be done.
 
After taking a deep breathing, with both hands clenched into fists, Rich burst through the reinforced doors, scattering the Skrull warriors packed behind it.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Susan's free hand slid slowly along his outstretched arm, caressing his forearm, as his hands squeezed now both her teat and one buttock.
 
His face moved forward, towards the nearby junction of her legs.  He could smell the heady fragrance there.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
With a loud roar, Ben Grimm turned and rushed towards the farthest edge of the platform, its surface level shifting as its gravitic field sought to accommodate his displaced weight.  At the last moment, he twisted and threw himself backwards against the perimeter energy barrier, which flashed brightly upon contact, repelling him with brutal force, throwing him away and across the shifting surface.  He fell but clumsily rolled to his feet, grunting with effort, but using the newly acquired momentum to run even faster against the opposite edge now facing him closer. 
 
The barrier flashed anew with the impact, but the Thing's great mass and the additional kinetic energy proved enough.
 
Yelling hoarsely about a time for clobbering, Ben Grimm fell onto the crowd underneath.
 
 
**************************************
 
 
Susan smiled.  Good old Ben, always dependable.
 
As all guards rushed towards the spot where the Thing had thunderously crashed the party, Sue twisted nimbly before Dorrek, throwing one leg over his arm and pulling him down and off the couch, while holding his right arm tightly to her chest, locking both legs against his body in a jumping arm-bar, using the leverage and strength of her legs, just as Colleen Wing had taught her in ne-waza, the floor grappling practice of her jujitsu classes.

With a wet noise, Dorrek's arm snapped at the elbow.
 
The emperor screamed, flailing in pain on the floor, but his voice was lost in the loud chaos of multiple panicked party-goers fleeing and guards shooting at the stunned Thing in the center of the wreckage from his fall.  Susan held onto Dorrek's limp arm, twisting it even more, and quickly tapped at the control band on his wrist, repeating the patterns she had watched him use and had carefully memorized.
 
The holographic sensor pad, however, did not accept her commands.
 
She cursed between her teeth.  She had feared it was keyed to Dorrek's specific genetics, but had hoped that retaining contact with his wrist would be enough.
 
Dorrek kept yelling in the Skrull language, and his arm, locked between her legs and wedged against her hip and torso, suddenly jerked and twisted, shifting and reshaping itself, undoing the dislocation and then slipping from her hold with the ease afforded by shape-changing.  Still hollering for his guards, he tried to get up, but Susan pulled a foot back and quickly kicked him in the face, repeating the blow again and again, until he fell back unconscious, all while dozens of Skrulls and humanoids of many other species ran wildly around them.
 
Quickly, Susan rolled to her feet and taking advantage of the confusion, joined the fleeing mob.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Battered by multiple neuro-blasts, from the dozens of Skrull guards and security drones surrounding him, the exhausted Ben Grimm fell, face down, limp, unconscious even before he noisily hit the shattered floor.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Where were his bodyguards?  His slaves?  Useless traitors, all of them!  

Hagar stumbled, wheezing with the effort of moving along with the pressed mass of bodies.  Twice he had almost tripped and fallen.
 
Someone forced way before him, and he saw hair the color of gold.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
She ran barefoot and bare-chested, again holding her bosom with her arm, while forcing her way through the multitude crowding the exit, but many of the female slaves all about were also topless, so she hopes she would be able to blend in.
 
She had to get away, and quickly.  Despite her self-defense training, Sue held no illusion about being able to fight a trained warrior for a weapon, so her priority was to get out of the palace complex before the chaos subsided.
 
She had to escape the neck-band's range, by gaining enough distance or having dense obstacles in-between to mute its reception.  If that did not stop its dampening effect, she would need to disable its functions some way, perhaps improvising something at some clandestine hardware shop.
 
She would then return to free the others.
 
A heavy hand fell on her shoulder.   "YOU!  EARTHWO-!"
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Adora, Suzerain of Xandar, smiled and stepped back.  Her dress slipped down around her graceful figure, dropping to the floor to pile around her feet.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Crying out with recognition, Hagar grabbed the woman's shoulder.
 
He would take her into his custody and make the most of this stroke of luck.
 
He turned her about, to face him, and her bouncing bare breasts came into full view, so big and round, the hard nipples pointing up, just as the heel of her hand came up towards his face.
 
Dazed, his back somehow now against the floor, Hagar saw the Earth-woman stand above over him, all long legs and heaving breasts, their underside view proving quite flattering to their size and shape.  She lifted one leg up, affording Hagar a quick, exciting peek at her private parts past the shifting lower cloth strap.  Her foot then connected with his face and he saw no more.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Standing on tip-toes, Adora leaned forward, pressing her unclothed body against the Sphinx's muscular frame, raising her face towards his.
 
"You can have anything you want from me."
 
The Sphinx met her eyes, the Ka stone on his brow shining brightly.
 
"I will."
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
 
Quickly, Susan tore off a piece of dark cloth from Hagar's robe and covered her head, gathering her blond hair under it, its hue being probably the most distinctive part of her appearance in this place.  She could not risk being recognized again.
 
She then rushed among the frantic party-goers crowding the corridor, forcing her way through their numbers, leaving the unconscious fat Skrull behind without a second look.
 
Suddenly, the fleeing crowd stalled, their advance abruptly halted, as they piled desperately into a stacked, struggling mass that could not advance, blocked by something before them, something sealing the corridor, damming their escape.  Some cried out in fear, others struck wildly against it, their blows harmlessly halted by a barrier that could not be seen.
 
An invisible barrier.
 
Susan cursed, and turned to run the other way.
 
The Super-Skrull stood there, arms crossed before his wide chest.
 
"Going somewhere?"
 
 
Dorrek angrily waved off the nervous servants and medical personnel trying to attend to his nose, as if he could not reshape it himself to its original state.
 
He also ignored the multiple frantic reports from the protocol staff.  He did not need to hear them to know it had all become a disaster, a complete disaster.  It would take extensive political maneuvering to sort out this mess without losing face completely.
 
He should have killed the damn earthlings instantly, that lumbering brute first.  He should still do it now.  He really should.  No matter how useful they still were for propaganda.  Maybe he could accelerate their aging even more and have their deterioration and final death projected live all over the empire.
 
And the woman, oh, how he would deal with the woman.
 
His wrist band projected a holo message, and he smiled.  A warped, ugly smile.
 
"Good.  Take her to my private quarters.  NOW."
 
 

PART SIX:  FIFTY SHADES OF GREEN
 
 
Thick, heavy metal chains hung down from a vertical shaft opening in the artistically decorated ceiling, their primitive, unsophisticated nature a harsh contrast with the luxurious surroundings, the indirect lighting, plush cushioned surfaces and racy holographic art displays.
 
Susan knew better than to tug against her restrains.  She would just chafe her wrists further on the metal manacles to which the chains connected to keep her arms stretched high above her head.  Another set of restrains kept her feet spread apart wider than her hips.
 
The metal bounds, and the power-neutralizing band on her neck, were now the only things on her body.
 
A door slid open between the tall mirror panels and draperies covering the walls, and Dorrek entered the room.
 
He approached her slowly, his deep-set eyes fixed on her.
 
"You...  You had to disappoint me.  Again."
 
Susan did not reply.  Dorrek's face made it clear there was little she could say.  She did not dare risk angering the tyrant even further.
 
"How foolish."  He pursed his mouth into a grimace of disgust.  "How rude!"
 
He circled around her, shaking his head.
 
"Did you think it was clever?  What you did?"   He stopped before her, face to face, leaning close, his eyes narrowed to slits.  "What you did... to me?"
 
His hand abruptly grabbed her face.
 
"TO ME!"  His fingers dug at her cheeks, pulling her face closer to him.  "BEFORE EVERYONE!  EVERYONE!"
 
His inhumanly large eyes were enlarged with rage, but Susan held his stare without flinching.
 
After a moment of tense silence, he released her and stepped away, frowning with disdain.
 
"Did you really believe you had a chance?"
 
Susan had pondered the same question.  But she just had to try, whatever the odds were.  She was not foolish enough to believe Dorrek would ever let them go unharmed, no matter what she did, no matter how she debased herself for him, so it had been a matter of gaining what time she could, waiting.  Waiting for any opportunity, and then making the most of it.   

But that time had come, and she had made her attempt, without success.

"You see, there was no chance.  Never was.  Never will."  He stood with his back to her.   "No last moment rescue.  No heroic escape."
 
He tapped his wristband.  A door slid open and two burly Skrull guards came in, dragging behind them an unconscious, brown-haired young human, his slim body naked but for a faded and torn set of briefs.
 
"See what I mean?"
 
Susan frowned.  "Who-?"
 
One of the guards kicked at the young man's side, turning him face up.  He moaned in pain, still unconscious.
 
"Xandarian Nova Centurion."  Dorrek waved dismissively.  "Or so he was.  Now he is just another captive, to be enslaved, or killed, at our whim."
 
Susan stared, focusing on controlling her reactions, trying to mask her shock and concern.  She had almost cried out Rich's name.
 
"Surely another one who believed in the popular narrative fictions of your silly, mindless human cultures.  Brave hero rescues the beautiful damsel in distress.  Maybe gets to fuck her afterwards."
 
He turned towards Sue, smiling coldly.
 
"Was his the heroic rescue you were waiting for?  Hoping for?  Were you to reward him generously for his courage?"  

His hand again went for her face, grabbing her by the jaw.  She tried to twist her face away but he held her fast, fingers closing in to squeeze her lips into a forced pout.  "Were you planning to suck this hero's cock with your sweet lips?"   His other hand aggressively moved over her body.  "Maybe yield to him your hot, juicy cunt?  Or your tight, virginal anus?"
 
Sue squirmed, and jerked away as far as her chains would let her, trying futilely to escape his roaming touch.
 
"He cannot be blamed for his foolishness.  You are, truly, quite a prize to win, my dear.  But one already won.  One already owned."

Dorrek looked down with disdain at the limp human youth, whose slim body was covered with ugly bruises and scrapes.  "Perhaps I will send him back to the Xandarians.  In pieces.  I have to ponder it."

He gestured, and the guards left, dragging the battered youngster with them.
 
He leaned closer to whisper in her ear:  "Just like I may still make each of your companions crumble to dust before your eyes for what you did."
 
She closed her eyes, her mouth drawn tightly shut.  She had to remain silent, contrite, no matter what he said.  She could not risk spurring him to act upon his threats.
 
"But what fun would be there in that?"
 
With a casual shrug, he released her, and walked to a nearby table where a tray held various implements.
 
"They are already dead, after all.  It is just a matter of patience."
 
He weighed a shiny metal cylinder in his hand, its length coursed by ridges and studs.
 
"And I have lots of patience."
 
He walked back to her.  Placing the cylinder's blunt end under her chin, he made her look up.
 
"Enough patience to wait for you... to learn... the proper manners."
 
The metal end moved down her neck, and between her breasts.
 
"To learn properly who is your rightful master."
 
She bit back an angry retort, while he pushed with the rod against one of her breasts, lifting it up, before letting it drop to jostle freely.
 
"Your rightful owner."
 
The cold metal end then traced slowly a tight circle around her nipple.
 
"Owner of your body."
 
Dorrek then inched his tool down her torso, over her tense, trembling abdomen and the delicate navel, until it reached the soft golden curls of the trimmed bush on her mound.
 
Sue jerked her hips back, but Dorrek tapped on the wrist-band of the very hand that bore his tool and immediately the chains holding her wrists tensed and pulled her arms higher, while the bonds at her feet stretched apart and became rigid, forcing her feet farther apart.
 
"Owner of your very self."
 
She tried to wiggle her hips in resistance, but Dorrek held her firmly while he aggressively pushed the cylinder down and forward, rubbing its cold, hard length against her sex, steadily sliding the ridged and studded curved surface back and forth along the tender slope of her core.
 
"Owner of everything you are."
 
After several slow, forceful swipes, he pulled back the implement and lifted it up between them, smiling at the sheen of glistening moisture faintly visible on one side of its length.
 
"Seems that your body already knows it.  Your mind will soon follow."
 
Opening wide his broad, thin-lipped mouth, he licked at the thin film of wetness on the metal surface with his dark green tongue. 
 
"I can taste it, your willingness to learn, to accept your ownership."
 
Sue looked away in disgust.
 
"I just need to instruct you with more adequate...  severity."
 
Holding the cylinder horizontally before Susan, Dorrek thumbed one of the raised studs in its length, and a brightly glowing length of shaped plasma sprang from its metal end, falling in fiery, writhing coils to the floor between them, flowing and shifting in rhythmic waves.  With a brisk jerk of his wrist, Dorrek made the plasma arch high, passing right before Sue's face, lighting her surprised features with its glow.  

"Of course, the neuronic whip will cause no lasting physical damage."
 
His eyes stayed on hers, while he stretched out his arm towards her, letting the quivering length of plasma hang down and inch close to her, right before her prominent breasts.
 
"It will leave no mark at all on your smooth, lovely skin."
 
The whip swung slightly as he moved it around her, from one side of her to the other, following the contours of her softly trembling chest.
 
"No sign on your luscious flesh."
 
He drew the whip up vertically, right along and before her centerline, just over the narrow gap between her wide, round teats, so close she could almost feel its unstable puissance.
 
His mouth spread in a wide, ugly grin.
 
"But it will hurt.  Oh, it will hurt."
 
His grip tightened on the whip's haft as he pulled it back.
 
"So you may learn.  So you may learn well."
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Adora stormed angrily into her rooms in the Xandarian palace, her dress open, hastily put on.  Her servants rushed to her side, concerned.
 
Her oldest, most trusted maid took her hand.  "What happened, Suzerain?"
 
"Nothing!  Nothing happened.  That was the problem!"
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Sue gasped, legs buckling under her.  Her shoulders and out-stretched arms protested, being forced to bear her limp weight yet again, as she hung from the chains, her whole body trembling from the latest vicious strike of the neuronic lash.
 
Her reflections on the tall mirrors lining the walls confirmed that no bloody stripes were left on her body, yet her flesh still smarted with the intense pain of each lashing, her nerves still burned with the deep echoes of each fiery stroke of the neuronic whip.
 
And it had been less than a handful of lashes.
 
How much more she could take?
 
Dorrek's eyes shone bright, and his smile was a fixed rictus of glee.  Her cries and gasps were music to his ears, her pain was his and his alone to enjoy, to savor and to cherish.
 
"How do you like the whip's caress, my dear?"
 
She whimpered weakly, but she had yet to beg him to stop.  She still defied him with her silence, refusing him the pleasure of her total surrender.   Yet for him it was better that way.   He could then look forward to slowly breaking her.  

The stronger her will, the greater his pleasure at conquering it.

"You will soon learn to love its tender touch, to long for it."

He would let her regain her breath, let her recover her strength, just enough before the next lash.
 
"Does your body not feel more sensitive now, more aware?  More on edge?"
 
The pause between lashes was all too important.  He had to stretch the interval between them just enough, so her fear could build up, so the tension of knowing what was to come could rise properly, as she waited longer and longer for her next dose of pain, so she could find with it release from the tension, the fear, so she could soon learn that pain meant release, relief, and she would gradually look forward to it, anticipate it, and enjoy it.
 
"The whip will teach you.  Teach you how pain and pleasure are the same.  Soon, you will beg me for it.  You will beg me to make you come with it."
 
Sue held her breath, tense, waiting for the pain.   When it struck, she cried out, loudly, and her head fell forward, gasping.
 
He was fully hard now, so his thick robes rose before him.  Casually, he removed and discarded all of them, before circling to face her again, with the whip flowing from his hand.  The plasma fluidly contorted by his side, contrasting with the hard length that stretched far before him, bouncing rigidly with each of his steps.
 
With deep satisfaction he noticed how, despite her weakness, her eyes grew large and she gasped noticeably, all upon seeing him again. 
 
He smiled broadly.  She was clearly not looking at his whip.
 
"Ah, this will teach you, too.  The same lesson.  The very same lesson."
 
He turned to a side so she could better see him, all of him.
 
"And you will beg me for it, too."
 
Her face grew pale, even more than before, after the lashing.
 
"You fear it already, as you fear the whip, don't you?"
 
She did not reply, but her eyes did not stray from him, from his all too prominent member.
 
"I wonder which one you will learn to fear the most."
 
Pleased by her sustained gaze, he slowly walked to her, noticing how she nervously followed the stiff oscillations at his every step.
 
"I wonder which one you will learn to love the most."
 
She fidgeted, uneasily, as he stopped at an arm's length away from her.  She was unnerved by his proximity, by its proximity.
 
"But then, you do long for this one already, don't you?"
 
Flustered, she looked up from his erection at last, and met his eyes.
 
"You must yet learn to desire the whip, but you already know that you long for my cock."
 
Her bright blue stare was full of panic and anger, and she spoke at last, her voice hesitant and tense:  "You...  must be insane."
 
He moved closer, his eyes matching hers.
 
"You know you do.  You long for it, to have it touch you.  Teach you.  Teach you what you need.  What you want, what you are so anxious to know, to accept...."
 
She grimaced.  "In your dreams."
 
"No.  In yours.  In each one of yours, from now on."
 
He moved another step closer and she flinched nervously.  

Something hard and hot had grazed her midsection, just above the navel, something very hard and hot.  She had instantly drawn away, as far as she could, and held her breath, startled, shocked to realize that he still stood some distance away, yet had somehow reached her, poked her, touched her.
 
That thing of his had touched her.

She trembled.  Was it THAT big?

He drew even closer.  "You do want it."

Again she felt him, felt it, but this time, she did not attempt to draw back.
 
What was the point?   He would just keep coming forward.
 
She remained completely still instead, despite the distasteful contact of his hard flesh against her.  She kept her eyes fixed on his own, breathing with deliberate steadiness while both stood motionless, joined by the localized touch of him, of his member, on her lower body.
 
"You do need it.  I can tell."

She tried to dismiss the unsettling realization that now she was finally feeling him, truly feeling him for the first time, not through cloth, but bare skin to bare skin.  She tried to ignore that it was truly his oversized cock pressing now against her, without anything between, without anything shielding her from its hot, hard reality.
 
"I can truly tell now."
 
He pushed his hips forward, increasing the pressure against her.

Her face grew warm, flushed with discomfort, as she grew more and more physically aware of the insistent hard push against her lower belly, of her muscles there, tensed against the pressure, its pressure.

How could it be so big?  So hard?  Too big and hard to ignore?
 
He smiled.  "Can you deny it?"

Before she could even ponder any kind of reply, Dorrek pushed forward even harder.  Her stomach contracted instinctively as his rigid member jerked and rose up, skidding along her, against her, pressing more and more of the thick shaft's underside against her flat stomach as he drew closer and closer to her.  She shivered with revulsion at the proximity of his gangly frame, of his touch.
 
He pressed first against the points of her chest, then the rest of her, his torso finally coming fully against hers, so she felt his wrinkled, naked skin while caught between both their bodies stood the hard thick mass of his upright erection.  To her astonishment, its bulbous head rested not far below the bottom of her heaving breasts.
 
"Can you?"
 
She could hardly believe how big it felt, caught between their bodies.  How big, and hard, and thick.
 
"You cannot deny that you want it.  All of it."
 
She could not move back away from him, away from it, nor did she even try.

She was too startled.
 
"All-?"
 
"All this.  All of it.  Do you like feeling it like this?   Against you?  Touching you?"
 
His nearness, the pressure of his body against her, and the sheer mass of thick, hard Skrull meat pressed between them, against her, now made it hard for her to even breathe.
 
How could he be so big?  How was it even possible?
 
Was he even fully hard yet?   She could swear she felt that huge mass get even harder, even stiffer, as it pressed against her.
 
"How-How can-?"  Her voice faded, and she quickly regretted speaking at all.
 
"How can you take it?"  He raised his eyebrows meaningfully.  "Deep, of course.  Very deep."
 
He pushed with small lunges against her, rocking against her, making his phallus fractionally slide up and down along her torso, rubbing against her.
 
"So deep inside you."
 
Her lips pressed tight together.
 
"I know it must scare you.  For good reason."
 
He drew back slightly, relieving some of the pressure of his massive member against her.  She should have breathed easier at this, but she could not, not really.
 
"Perhaps it is all that you should be afraid of."
 
The whip in his hand deactivated, the plasma instantly vanishing.
 
"All you need to be afraid of."
 
He moved away from her very slowly, letting his phallus slide down her torso, its long, solid dark green mass bending slightly in its retreat along the surface of her tense abdomen, as if reluctantly relinquishing contact with her.
 
"As you should be."
 
Sue did not look down.  She did not look at the phallus sliding down her front.   She willed herself not to do it.
 
"Afraid.  Very afraid."
 
She dared not.
 
"Afraid of being unable to take it.  Take all of it.  As you long to."
 
Instead, she kept her gaze locked with his.  Firmly, resolutely.
 
"You must be afraid of being too tight for it.  Too damn tight."
 
Soon only his bulbous glans rubbed against her lower belly, and she felt its deeply corrugated lower ridge grazing her skin lower and lower until it reached the edge of her trimmed bush.  But she remained still. 
 
"Because you are tight, aren't you?"
 
He was now against a foot away from her, and his glans, almost fist-sized now, rubbed amidst the soft golden curls over her mound.
 
"I know you're tight.  So tight.  So tight you must be scared.  Scared a lot."
 
He began to push forward again.  As she had feared it might, his phallus now rubbed downward, against her, under her.
 
"Human females are tighter than Skrull ones, see?  Much, much tighter.  Your males are surely pathetic in size, and you are never stretched properly, as you should."
 
His glans began to slide under her mound, pressing firmly up against the curvature of her soft flesh, against the start of the cleft there.
 
"You remain un-stretched, untested, waiting, waiting for the properly endowed male you need, to show you, show you how a female should receive her male, how deep and wide she should open for him."
 
She gasped as the swollen head pushed up and forward, forcing her tender flesh to spread around him.
 
"And maybe you're even tighter than most human females, aren't you, my dear?"
 
He pushed forward between her legs, taking advantage of their being held spread wide apart by the rigid bounds on her feet, giving him full access to her nether parts.
 
"I am sure you are."
 
She winced, and her legs tensed and trembled as his rigid member rubbed fully against her shy labia, in a long, slow swipe.
 
"You look like you have never known a proper, tight fit, one that stretched as you need to be, as you really want to be."
 
He thrust forward, back and forth, against her, feeling her soft tissues spread over him, again and again.
 
Sue fought back the urge to fidget, to shift her hips.
 
"Are you as tight as you seem?  Or even tighter?"
 
She had to remain still.  Any motion of her hips would just increase the friction against him, against that frighteningly huge thing rubbing against her, under her.  And there was too much of it already.
 
Of friction.  Of it.  Of him.
 
"How much tighter?"
 
Too much.  Far too much.
 
"Are you scared to find out?"
 
He lunged forward until his body again pressed fully against her, torso to torso, and his member went all the way through between her legs and past her rear, its engorged head actually projecting behind her, beyond her round buttocks.
 
She breathed in sharply as her soft tissues registered the full range of his motion, his size and hardness, all along her, all of her.
 
"Or desperate to find out?"
 
His naked, wrinkled body was flush with hers, bare skin on bare skin, mottled green on pale pink.  With both her legs forced apart, he was at nearly her same height, his face just a couple of inches away from hers.  Her full bosom was now bunched wide over his sunken chest, and the hard buds centered at each round teat poked him stiffly.  Her toned abdomen was flat against his slack belly, just above where her mound reluctantly pressed over the thick base of his phallus.
 
She felt his body heat clearly against her.  Before her, and under her.
 
"To know if you can take it?  Take all of it?"
 
Sue had had yet to relinquish his stare, and his green eyes were now closer than ever to hers, as was his broad, homely face, with the flat, wide nose, and the deeply lined green skin.
 
He was so ugly that she almost felt nauseous.
 
"To know its touch."

He rocked slowly, back and forth, his member against her loins, the frontal part of her nether parts pushing higher upward, grinding harder against her while his face loomed closer, his mouth approaching hers.
 
"It’s taste."

Defensively, she drew her head back, but his face kept moving closer, much closer, until the chains would not let her retreat any further.

She wanted to scream, to fight, to run, to escape, escape from Dorrek, escape from what he wanted from her, what she now knew she could not stop him from taking from her, despite her furious shame and growing horror.   

But it was no use.

His face, his mouth came much closer to hers.

"Perhaps it is time for that, now."

There was no way out, no escape.  She was trapped, held fully helpless before the threat of his power, and the very threat of him, of his very physical presence, his unexpected physical pressure on her, against her, under her, so...  troubling, so...  overbearing, beyond all she had ever imagined.  

His mouth was now so close to hers.

"To taste."

His eyes bored deeply into hers, shinning with all of his evil will, which he sought to impose, to exert on her.  Her breathing quickened in rising anxiety at the disturbing nearness of him, at the unsettling proximity of his ugly face, his wide mouth, his thin, corrugated lips.

"Taste... each other."
 
That mouth, those lips, just an inch away from hers.

So close.

Her mouth opened, slightly, just slightly.
 
He then leaned down abruptly.
 
She gasped as his teeth found her right nipple.  He bit and tugged hard at it, but quickly released it after that first fast bite.
 
He then moved to her left breast, but it was his tongue which touched her there, his broad, coarsely corrugated tongue, which began to lap slowly at the edges of her dark pink aureole, over, down, and at the sides of her left nipple, but not touching that tender nub.
 
After several seconds of careful, gentle licks, he returned to her right breast and again attacked its nipple with a single rough bite that made the full teat shake.
 
He then returned to her left breast and again licked carefully around the nipple, deliberately avoiding it.
 
She grimaced, uncertain, discomforted by the sharp contrast between his alternating actions.
 
As he moved to change breast, he spoke up:  "Ask me."
 
She frowned, and then winced at the following rough bite.
 
"Ask me," he repeated.
 
"W-What?"
 
"Ask me to bite your left teat.  To bite you, hard.  To bite and chew it."
 
"No!"
 
"You will."
 
He resumed, switching from one breast to the other, and Sue did not know which of her tender, rigid nubs ached the most, the one being roughly bit, or the one being ignored.
 
"Ask me," he insisted.
 
She shook her head in denial, but when his next bite left her right teat towards her left, without real conscious thought, she pushed her chest forward, towards his mouth, and he acknowledged the motion by closing firmly her teeth around that left nipple.
 
She gasped softly as he bit hard but long, now, nibbling and tugging and twisting the erect nub, his tongue licking its hard tip inside his mouth.  Her back arched further, and her soft breast pressed full against his face.  After an extended while of harshly worrying that now well chewed nipple, he sucked hard on it twice and then released it.
 
His eyes again met hers.  "I knew you would ask."
 
Her mouth opened with indignation.  "I didn't!"
 
"You did."  He smiled.  "Words were not necessary."
 
He reached down, and his hand slid past her mound, behind the spot where his phallus kept pressing against her, sliding against her.
 
"Everything about you did, and does."
 
His fingers moved aggressively between her lower lips, even as he kept pushing his member firmly against her lower mound.
 
An instant later, his prominent bony brow arched up.  "Ah...  You ARE tight!"
 
She had grimaced at the localized pain, but held back any protest.
 
"How insignificant is your human partner?"
 
As his hand pulled away, his member again pushed up, not giving her reprieve.
 
"No wonder you are in such need."
 
He lifted a shiny finger to his lips, right between their mouths.  He licked at its tip, slowly.
 
"Your sweet taste speaks of it.  So sweetly.  So loudly."
 
He then reached down again.  She pressed her lips tightly as he probed her again.  When his finger came up, it touched her lips instead.
 
"Taste it yourself."
 
She drew her head back, flustered, her shoulders pulled back as much as her chains allowed.  The dense wetness on the tip had surprised her.
 
His finger moved after her lips to lightly brush over them, first the upper one and then the lower.
 
"Taste it."
 
She hesitated, while his fingertip softly traced the shape of her mouth over her lips, then she nervously touched her tongue to the offered digit.  His fingertip then slowly pushed forward over her tongue, following it as a ramp-way into her mouth.  She fought back the urge to bite.
 
"Taste it well.  Suck it.  Lick it."
 
Reluctantly, she did.
 
Her lips reached to his bony knuckle and backed.  Slowly.  Again and again.
 
Was that how she always tasted?
 
His finger left her mouth, now also coated with her saliva.  It then pressed vertically over her lips, centered on their soft red plumpness, rubbing their soft surface, gently pushing with up and down motions, nudging them in each direction.
 
"Aren't you sweet?  And spicy?"
 
He leaned forward, his face again coming close to hers, until his mouth pressed lightly against that upheld finger, the thin, bony length the only thing now separating his lips from hers.
 
She breathed in sharply, but did not pull back, or close her mouth.
 
His tongue brushed at the finger between their mouths.
 
"Now we share your taste," he whispered.
 
She felt the heat of his breath as he spoke, surprisingly hot, hotter than a human's would be.
 
His heat was now everywhere on her.  Against her, under her, and now at her face, her mouth, as his breaths joined with her own, now turned labored, quick and short.
 
His finger slid down and her lower lip followed it, her mouth opening further in its wake.  It grazed her chin and then went away, so that nothing but a narrow fraction of space remained between their mouths.  And he remained there, facing her, eyes locked, not moving any closer.
 
His hand reached around her hips to grab one of her buttocks, its round mass clenching into tense hardness under his touch.  He pulled her hard, against him, against the rocking of his hips, to grind against his penis thrusting deep past and under her.  The top of his thick shaft rubbed and parted her soft, moist folds, while the ridges of the base of his glans bumped back on her ass-cheeks with each backstroke.
 
The friction between her and him increased.  The heat increased.
 
Her lips remained parted.  Before his.
 
She felt her face grow warmer, too.  Much warmer.
 
As they remained face to face, their bodies in close contact, mouths separate but in tense proximity, his other hand went to her back, still holding the now inactive neuronic whip, where the curtain of her fair hair ended.  She tensed at the cold touch of the metal cylinder on her skin, as it moved down over her spine, to pause on the small of her back.
 
She frowned, her eyes not moving from his, her mouth still open.
 
The metal rod slid lower, onto her rear end, and began to press into the crevice between both globes of now equally tense muscle.
 
She gasped.  "No."
 
The cylinder slid insistently between her clenched ass-cheeks, while his other hand gripped one of them and pulled its mass to a side, seeking easier access.
 
"No?"
 
She nodded, still not looking away from his eyes.
 
"Not that...  Not there."
 
She could not move away from the probing, held against him, astride his huge member over which she now slid more fluidly, enabled by an increased covering of moisture.
 
"Not this?"
 
He pressed the cylinder firmly along her narrow canyon, finding the faint depression around her anus.
 
"Not here?"
 
The cylinder's hard end rubbed against her anal sphincter.
 
"You...  bastard."  Wincing, she pulled her head back, away from his.  Her eyes flashed with anger and worry.
 
"Are you just as tight here, too?"
 
"Yes.  Too much," she muttered, nervously.  "Too much...  For that."
 
"Too much?  Really?"
 
"Don't.  Just don't."
 
"What else could you offer instead?"
 
"What?"
 
He drew the cylinder away from her rear, and raised it between them, instead, right between their faces.  He pointed it at her.
 
"Suck it, then."
 
"What?"
 
"Take elsewhere, instead.  Suck it."
 
She blinked, nervous, hating to obey, obey him, but finally decided it was the lesser evil, and hesitantly, opened her mouth.
 
Her lips trembled as Dorrek slid the cold cylinder past them.
 
"Suck it well."
 
She did.  As well as she could.  Under his watchful stare, for a tense, uncomfortable stretch of time, her mouth worked on the cold metal, lips and tongue slowly moving about the hard rod, coating it with her saliva, while the hard flesh rod under her kept moving against her, also being coated with wetness.
 
He smiled, and finally pulled it away, her saliva now glistening on the studs and ridges of its surface.
 
"Is it now wet and warm enough?"
 
She frowned, baffled.  "What?"
 
"Let us test it."
 
He again reached back around and under her.
 
"No.  No.  You wouldn't..."  She swallowed anxiously.  "Please... don't..."
 
He chuckled, again worrying her anal entrance with the hard cylinder's now moistened end, teasing gently but insistently.
 
"You sound so good begging me.  That's a good start."
 
"I'm not-not..."
 
"You are."
 
"No."
 
"Soon you will be begging for something much more than this, instead."
 
"No."
 
"Much, much more."
 
"No."
 
"So much more you that you ever dreamed you could take."
 
"NO-!"
 
Her sharp cry got stuck in her throat, just as the hard metal rod was shoved hard into her anus.
 
She rasped voicelessly, her eyes widened, his evil gaze reflected in them.
 
"You think THAT is too much?"
 
Dorrek let go of the cylinder, letting it remain in place.  The still visible metal length quivered as it protruded from her trembling buttocks.
 
"You-You bastard..."
 
"You don't know yet what really is too much.  But you will."
 
Tears gathered on her eyes, but she did not look away from him.
 
"It... It hurts."
 
"That is nothing compared to what you will feel.  Soon.  Very soon."
 
"You..."
 
"Compared to what you will take.  Take inside you.  So deep inside you..."
 
Both hands now squeezed and kneaded her buttocks, while he rocked against her, holding her to him, so tight he could clearly feel her slightest tremor, her soft spams of pain, while making her move with greater speed against him, over him, matching his thrusts.
 
She was slipping wetly now over his hard phallus.  It actually pushed up so forcefully against her that it almost moved her, lifting her hips up with his strength, with its impossible size and rigidity, its strokes fluid and relentless.
 
"I will show you.  And you will learn."
 
Her breathing continued to be short and fast.
 
"You...  monster!"
 
"You will learn well.  And you will learn to beg for it.  For all of it."
 
She shook her head, her eyes shining with wetness.  "No."
 
"All of it.  All inside you.  Deep inside you.  Making you scream and moan and cry and come."
 
"No!"
 
"And THAT will hurt.  THAT will really hurt.  You know it will."
 
"How-How can you be-?"
 
"It will hurt.  Hurt more than the whip.  Hurt more than your ass hurts now.  More than anything you have known.  Much more."
 
His face moved forward and up, towards hers, as he spoke, while their bodies kept rocking together, now in unison.
 
"And you want it like that.  You want it to hurt.  You need it to hurt."
 
"No.  No."
 
She was no longer trying to remain still.  She could not.
 
The constant throbbing pain in her anus made her every sensation sharper, much more intense.  She could feel the corrugations on his huge shaft as she was made to slide over it, while the abundant fluids now present made each swipe easier and gentler.
 
"You need it.  You need my big cock, deep inside you, to stretch you, and hurt you, hurt you like you've never been before.  Making you scream.  Scream and scream and come, and come again and again.  Come as you never have come before, either.  Come as you never knew you could come." 
 
"No!"
 
"Come as you only secretly dreamed you could come."
 
"No!"
 
"And you just can't wait for it."
 
"NO!"
 
Her blue eyes shone, fully moist, full of anger and fear and doubt and panic while still locked firmly on the cold green stare of this short and hideous and evil alien creature that had her so completely powerless in his grasp, so fully helpless, helpless to fight him, to resist his evil intent, his revolting touch, his very unbearable presence against her.  Right here against her.  So close against her.  So close.
 
He kept smiling, his face even closer to hers.  "You do."
 
"No."
 
She wanted to look away from him, but could not.
 
"You do."
 
"I-I hate you.  I really do."
 
His face drew even closer.   Their eyes were still locked together.
 
"Yes.  But that just excites you even more, doesn't it?"
 
"No!"
 
"It does excite you."
 
"No."

His mouth was again so close to hers that his hot breath once more warmed her lips.

He would now kiss her, she knew.  

And she could not stop it.  Could not stop him.

"It does."

His head tilted slightly sideways, and his mouth drew fractionally closer and closer.

Somehow, not even the forced contact with Dorrek's monstrous penis or his cruel abuse of her anus, seemed now as threatening, as frightening, as the idea of kissing Dorrek, of having to meet his mouth with hers, touching lips and tongues, sharing saliva, tasting him and being tasted.  

Her head tilted as well, angling the other way.
 
"No..."
 
A slight tremor ran through her spread lips as she muttered her latest denial.
 
His broad lower lip was deeply coursed by the characteristic Skrull corrugations that reached down to his chin, making it felt coarse and rough when it first brushed against the delicate surface of her soft open lips.
 
"No," she whispered again, faintly, not knowing whether she spoke to him or to herself, in a breath that mingled with his.

She closed her eyes as it happened.

Their lips merely brushed, at first, as did the tip of his fat tongue against hers, giving her a first, fleeting taste of him.
 
She should be disgusted, revolted.  She should.  She was.

His lips brushed against hers again, and her mouth parted farther, her breath halting.  Uncertain.
 
His wrist, and his hand on her ass, suddenly trembled.  Vibrated.
 
Dorrek threw his head back.  "WHAT?  WHAT NOW?"
 
The wristband vibrated again, an image shimmering with colors forming above it.
 
"FUCK THAT!"
 
Furious, Dorrek stepped back, away from Sue, his rigid penis swinging about after sliding out from under her.
 
"I SAID I WAS NOT TO BE DISTURBED!"
 
Sue fell forward in the wake of the retreating Skrull, her weight back on her outstretched arms, deprived of Dorrek's bodily support.
 
"Not again!"
 
He removed the band from his wrist, and turning and quickly glancing about, threw it towards the nearest couch.
 
"Not now."
 
Sue's mouth was still open, her lips still trembling, as did her legs and most of her, unsure of how to react to the sudden reprieve.
 
"Whatever it was, it must wait!"
 
Dorrek turned back towards Sue, and she nervously looked away from him.
 
"But some waiting has gone too long."
 
He moved behind her, seized her hip with one hand, and pushed her shoulders forward with the other, making her rear thrust backward.  He then touched the exposed end of the cylinder inserted in her.
 
"Too long."
 
For a horrible moment, Sue feared he would turn it on, inside her.
 
"What are you-?"
 
Dorrek knelt down behind her spread legs and raised buttocks, while his hands slid to her thighs.  His face dove forward.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Kl'rt shook his head.  "That... is treason."
 
"Only if we fail.  And we won't."
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
"Enough foreplay."
 
Dorrek stood up, licking his lips.
 
Sue looked up, her breathing still a series of fast, short gasps.  "W-What-?"

"We will not need this."  He reached for her buttocks.
 
She gasped, and a second later the metal cylinder clanged against the floor.
 
"For now."
 
She felt him slap his hard cock right between her round cheeks, its thick length reaching up to her back.
 
"This is all you will need."
 
"No," she muttered.  "No."
 
"All you ever will."
 
"NO!"
 
She tried to jerk her hips forward, away from him, but Dorrek held onto them with both outstretched hands.  His hard length rubbed down along the cleft between her tightly tensed buttocks.
 
She shook her head.  "No!"
 
His massive glans moved down, past her clenched anus, and then slid forward, again parting her wet folds, thrusting over them to slide past her mound, until his hips struck her rear and his swollen head protruded visible before her.
 
Leaning forward, Susan was startled to see the big corrugated glans and shaft slide out between her legs, thrusting forward and back, almost reaching to her dangling chest, as it shook with each impact of his bony loins on her butt.
 
She was again astounded by his size.  How could he be THAT big?
 
Her blond hair fell forward and danced in a spread of gold as she shook to his rhythmically thrusts.  Soon his shaft was glistening with copious fluids, and he pulled back, very far back. 
 
The huge glans slid back once more along her now engorged folds, and stopped.
 
Then it was at her gate, so hard, so big.  So impossibly big.  Pressing against it.  Pushing.  Hard.  So hard.
 
"No.  No..."
 
She squirmed, but her legs were too spread, her balance too precarious, and his hold on her hips was too strong.
 
"It's... too big.  Too big!"
 
"Yes.  Just as you need it.  Just as you want it."
 
She looked back at him, pale.  "I-I can't.  I just can't..."
 
"Nonsense.  You're tight, yes, very tight, but you're more than wet enough."
 
"No-NO!"
 
"Can you deny how wet you are?"
 
"I CAN'T!"
 
"Of course you can't deny it!  You're dripping with need!"
 
"NO!  I didn't mean that!  I meant-I just can't-I couldn't-!"
 
"Don't worry.  It will just hurt... every single second."
 
"Don't-!"
 
"And you will love it every single one."
 
"You'll kill me.  You'll tear me apart with that thing."
 
He grinned.  "Maybe.  But you will come before that.  Many times."
 
"No!"
 
He seized her hips firmly, and began to push.
 
She gritted her teeth, fighting back against the pressure, the panic.  "You-You'll pay for this.  I swear.  You will."
 
His only reply was a deep grunt as he bore forward.
 
Sue gasped hoarsely, lifted to the balls of her feet, her back arched, her legs stretched, trembling.  

"Fuck, woman!  You are TIGHT!"

"No-Ow-OW-!   NO-!"  

It couldn't.  She couldn't.  She just couldn't.  Couldn't.  Couldn't be.  Couldn't be so...  so...

So big.  So thick.  So hard.  So...

"No-No-No..."  Her head fell back, eyes closed tightly, mouth open wide as she rasped half-choked words of denial, words that became a single moan that seemed to stretch on and on, just as she was made to do, just as...
 
"Sire, please excuse me."
 
Startled by the interruption Dorrek jumped back, away from Sue, who let out a weak, breathless whimper at the abrupt disengagement.  

"WHAT?  WHO-?"
 
"You were not answering, Sire."
 
Susan slumped weakly, only held up by the chains, trembling uncontrollably, and gasping with shock and disbelief and much more, at what had just almost happened, at the unspeakable awful thing that had almost happened, and the sudden, unexpected reprieve from it.  At how close it had been.  How frighteningly, shamefully close.  And how she...   
 
Dorrek turned towards the figures standing before the room's exit.  "YOU?  HOW DARE YOU-?"
 
"My apologies, Sire."  The Super-Skrull bowed formally, as did the Skrull guards behind him.  "I know the orders were to not be disturbed, but-"
 
"YES!  I SAID THAT!  I SAID THAT LOUD AND CLEAR!  WHY CAN'T ANY OF YOU OBEY AS YOU SHOULD?"
 
"The lack of any answer to the communicator was a source of concern.  There could have been a-"
 
"THERE WAS NOTHING!  NOTHING HAPPENED!  NOT YET! DAMN IT!  WHY CAN'T YOU FUCKERS STOP INTERRUPTING?"
 
"The emperor's presence is urgently needed.  There are certain... serious complications."
 
"I AM BUSY!  I AM FUCKING BUSY!  CAN'T YOU SEE THAT?"
 
Still dazed, Susan finally managed to notice the exchange going on, and Kl'rt's stare fixed on her.  Was that disapproval in his eyes?  Or something else?  But the tears that she fought to keep back made her sight cloudy. 
 
"Sire, some of the more infirm nobles were trampled during the panic at the event.  Some did not manage to.... make it through."
 
"Good riddance!  Too many parasites in this court if you ask me!"
 
"Their families are demanding immediate answers.  To placate them, at least some symbolic gestures will be-"
 
"So what do I have staff for?  Let them handle it!"
 
"Under the circumstances, the presence of the emperor is the only-"
 
"Can't ANYONE do ANYTHING here without me holding their hands?"
 
"Many formal complaints are lodged already.  The economic compensations being demanded are in the highest figures. And the rim warlords-"
 
"FUCK THE RIM WARLORDS!  I have better things to do!"
 
He gestured towards the bound Earth-woman.  "I have HER to do, damn it!"
 
Susan looked down, blushing fiercely, angry and disturbed.
 
"If the emperor cannot allocate the time, perhaps the Empress may get to handle the matter."
 
Dorrek's brow rose.  "Oh, the bitch would love that.  Truly would."  He shook his head slowly.  "No, no.  Cannot have that.  Not at all."
 
He picked up his clothes and hastily put them on.
 
"I must get to it, before the crazy bitch gets any shit stirred.  She may have started tampering already.  Why didn't you get me sooner?"
 
"My apologies, Sire."
 
"Damn useless, all of you."  Already dressed, Dorrek returned to Susan, and placed his hand on her closest butt-cheek, then drew it up her hip, side, shoulder and neck, ending brushing softly her face.  "Don't worry, my dear.  I will be back.  Soon.  For you."
 
He grabbed her chin.
 
"We are barely starting, really."
 
His face approached hers.  His grip kept her from turning away in refusal.

Would he kiss her now?  Before the Super-Skrull?  Why did that make it seem worse somehow?
 
"My liege, they are waiting."
 
Dorrek turned to the Super-Skrull, his eyes cold.
 
"You keep interrupting, Kl'rt.  Again and again.  Why is that?"
 
To Susan's relief, Dorrek released her face.
 
"Are you jealous?  Jealous of my having this strong, desirable female under my power, under my will, she who you could never defeat before?  Are you?"
 
Kl'rt stood motionless, his face rigid.
 
"Do you wish you were in my place, Kl'rt?  DO YOU?"
 
Lowering his eyes, Kl'rt went down to one knee, and bowed, low, subservient.
 
"Of course you do, but you can't."  Dorrek pointed with one finger.  "You'd better remember, and remember well, that I will be the one to tame her, to master her.  She will yield to me and me alone.  For a reason.  And which one is it?"
 
Kl'rt did not look up.  "You are our Lord Emperor."
 
"Exactly.  Do not forget that."
 
The Super-Skrull stood, and retreated towards the exit, his head still lowered.
 
Dorrek stepped back towards Susan, shrugging.

"You see, you must always show them their place.  Always."
 
He abruptly grabbed Susan's hair, and roughly pulled her face to his, meeting her mouth with his.

Her eyes grew wide open, her protests muffled by his mouth, his tongue, as he kissed her forcefully, aggressively.
 
The chains shook and clanged as she struggled against her bonds, her whole body tensing and twisting ineffectually, unable to escape, and unable to break away from the contact with his mouth, his lips, his tongue.

Seconds turned to minutes, and the forceful kiss went on, and on, slow but unrelenting, growing longer and more insistent, more demanding and overpowering.  And Susan's fruitless resistance gradually weakened, faltered, and subsided.  

Her limbs loosened, the tension fading, and her weight slowly fell forward, towards him, against him.

Her brow relaxed, and her eyes closed.
 
After several moments of near limpness, her legs slowly stretched and pushed forward, alternating, one after the other, her knees buckled as she shifted her weight from side to side, hips swaying, then pushing firmly forward, while her torso also arched, first gently, then less so, and her head tilted from side to side, slowly but continuously, her body shyly swaying to match his motions.  Dorrek's motions.  As he kissed her.  As they kissed.
 
Finally, Dorrek released her hair and stepped back, breaking the kiss, and Susan again fell forward, gasping for breath, her mouth's parted lips subtly quivering.
 
Dorrek licked all about his wide smile.  

"That is to keep you warm and ready, my dear.  Ready and waiting.  Waiting for me."
 
Her whole body also trembled, hanging from the chains, and she quickly looked away from Dorrek.  By the door, the Super-Skrull stood impassive.  He had watched, watched Dorrek kissing her, Dorrek and her kissing...  

Why did this trouble her even more than what had already happened?  And what had almost...

She glanced back at the emperor, full of anger and shame, but no words of protest or complaint would not come.  What should she say?  What could she say? 

Dorrek picked up the cylinder on the floor.  His thumb pressed the activation stud.
 
"And this... is to remind you, too, of your place."
 
The neuronic whip's plasma arc struck her buttocks, once, then twice.  She shook violently with each strike, crying out loudly.
 
Dorrek bared his teeth in a snarl-like smile, enjoying the sight of her, twisting with the pain.

"Ah...  You look so beautiful, my darling, so fair and luscious and helpless, trembling so fetchingly, just like you trembled against me, so, so deliciously...  Oh, I have so much in store for you, my beauty.  And you have so much to learn.  So much."

The whip's plasma arc faded, and Dorrek casually threw the device onto a nearby couch, before going for the exit, not looking back.
 
"Don't go anywhere."
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Johnny sat on the cell's cot, worried.  He had seen Ben being dragged away unconscious, his escape attempt a bust, but Sue seemed to have vanished.  Had she managed to escape in the confusion?
 
That had to be the reason for the show she had put on:  to set up her escape, trusting Ben would be goaded into action by what he saw, while all others were being distracted by her, and very distracted, too.
 
It had been pretty eye-opening, really.

Of course, he should have found it disgusting, or horrifying, right?  It was Sue, his sister, after all.

Whatever her hidden intentions, she was still being in some way forced, threatened, or something like that, to strip naked and straddle some alien enemy.  Who knew what else was supposed to happen afterwards?  What perversions were to be expected, or demanded later of her?

He really should have been scared, disgusted, angry...   He should have.
 
He just had never imagined that Sue could ever appear to be so... uninhibited.

So...  So...

He had never imagined she could be such a good actress, too.

For a moment, he could have sworn that she was actually grinding her way to a huge, thunderous climax over that creepy uglier version of Yoda.

That was some real talent.

He breathed deeply.

So...  Maybe she did get away.  Maybe they still had a chance.

Perhaps even now, Sue was working to set them all free.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
 
Sweat fell from Susan's brow to the floor.
 
She had to catch her breath.  She had to gather her wits.
 
Pain echoed throughout her body.  Her rear and upper legs smarted beyond what she had ever imagined.  Just standing up was an effort.  But that was the least of it.

Painful as the unexpected lashing had been, the whip was the least she should fear now.  It had become the lesser danger, the lesser threat, compared to what now loomed larger in her mind, instead.  Much larger.  So much larger.
 
The whip was just more foreplay, really.

Dorrek had been right.  At least on this.
  
He was the threat.  Dorrek.  He was the biggest danger to her now.  Perhaps the biggest personal threat she had known.  Ever.  The biggest.  Biggest by far.  So big.  So damned big.
 
Sue was no stranger to bondage, to being held captive and threatened by an enemy, and she had known many beings much mightier than Dorrek, from Doom to Galactus, or even the Super-Skrull himself.  But never had she feared from them what she now feared from this vile, cruel, stunted fiend, who disgusted her so much, really disgusted her so much.  And that just made it worse.  Made it all much worse.

Soon, he would return, return to her.  And he would start anew, with her.  

He had said that he... that they, had barely started.

She trembled to even think of it.

How much more could she take?  Of it?  Of that?  Of all that?

What if it was just too much?  Too much for her?  Too much to endure?  To take?  Too much to be safe?  In every way?

It could not be.  She could not.  She dare not.

But what else could she do?  How else could she still strive to keep her loved ones alive?  She had to accept and endure Dorrek's demands, and hope to find a way to work something out of it, some reprieve, some way out.  Anything.

What other choice was there?

She had to bear it, just had to.  Had to take it, as long as she could, as much as she could.   Of it.  Of him.  Of Dorrek.

She had to, even if she was afraid to just think about it, to merely contemplate it, to think of him, and her, and it...  

Of it...  happening...  

Could she really?  Do that?  

Could she even dare?  Dare to...  try?  Even if it was too much?  Too much to not prove him...  right?

Too much to not...  not want to?
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
Ben groaned.  He hurt all over, and was really big, so it was a lot of hurting.
 
He had woken face up on the floor by the cot, legs and arms spread out.  Additional chains were fastened to the heavy manacles on his wrists, and to new restrains around his ankles, stretching out towards the walls, restricting his mobility.  He tried to rise, but his strength failed him, and the massive bindings dragged him back down.
 
He shook his head in frustration.
 
He had failed.  Again.  He had a chance to rescue Sue, to save her, save from whatever awful ordeal the damned Skrull had in store for her.
 
But he had blown it.
 
Without his strength he was useless.  Suzie had needed him and he had failed her.  He had failed.  Failed all of them.
 
The sound of the door sliding made Ben look up, and a slim but rounded figure, pink-skinned and golden-haired, rushed inside, towards him, collapsing over his chest, by his side, her legs folded under her. 
 
"Suzie?"
 
Her hair was disheveled, and to his surprise, she was completely nude.
 
"For Pete's sake, Suzie, what happened?"
 
She did not reply, but drew closer to him.  He felt her softness on him.
 
"Suzie, whatta 'em done ta ya?"
 
She did not look up.   Her voice was hoarse, halting.   "It...  It was...  Awful.  So awful.  I can't.  Can't-"
 
Ben felt his stomach knot.  He wanted to hug her, comfort her, but he could not even move.  He was useless.  So damn useless.

"Shhh...  It's a'right.  Dontcha needta say nuthin'.  Nuthin', hear me?"  He struggled for words.   "Whatteva...  It's over now, hear me?  All over."
 
She pressed her unclothed body tighter against him.  Her long fair hair fell down over his shoulder.

"Gonna be a'right, Suzie...  It's...."

Her big, soft breasts flattened wide against his torso.
 
"Suzie, I'm so sorry.  It's all m'fault.  I-I shoulda-"
 
Her mouth on his stopped his apology.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 

Johnny fell back on his cot, hands behind his head.

The only thing he could do now was to wait for Sue to make some move.
 

***************************************************
 
 
Her lips pressed and rubbed aggressively against his half-open mouth, and Ben's blue eyes widened with shock.
 
He had to get up, to push her away, to demand her to stop, to demand an explanation.  He tightened his fists and tugged against the restrains keeping him spread out on the floor, but it was useless, his strength was negligible and he could barely squirm under her might.
 
Her lips were soft and sweet, as was her tongue, insistently probing his mouth.  Her body pressed just as insistently against him, the taut belly, the firm thighs, and the full chest, that jostled and rubbed over his hard, craggy hide, the teats' fluid mass so soft, too, against him.
 
Still tense, he stopped moving, loath to press back against her naked body in any way.
 
Her face was before him, eyes half-closed behind long, fair lashes.
 
So beautiful.  As always.
 
Sue had always been beautiful.  Heart-aching beautiful, really.
 
Sue was also his best friend's wife.
 
When her lips fluttered briefly away between breaths, Ben quickly twisted his face away, breaking the kiss, wary of hurting her.
 
"Suzie, stop.  Stop."
 
She moved completely over him, straddling his thick body.  Placing one hand at each side of his head, she leaned forward to dangle her bare breasts enticingly just above it, wiggling her shoulders so both large globes swung closer and closer to his face, until the delicate nipples began brushing against his rough, rocky skin.
 
"Suzie!  Whatcha're-?"
 
Sue arched her back and Ben's nervous attempt to protest was cut short as his mouth was briefly plugged full of soft teat flesh and hardening nipple.  With his head flush on the floor, Ben could not pull back, could just twist his head aside, the soft teat on his mouth rubbing roughly against his hard lips, making her let out a soft moan of pain.
 
"Sorry-!"
 
His apology was also halted when her chest again squashed over his face, the abundant teat tissue almost smothering him.  For a lengthy while she kept pressing and rubbing forcibly against him, until she abruptly drew back and away, gasping softly.
 
"Ow..."
 
Ben gasped as well, for different reasons.
 
The soft skin of both breasts was visibly reddened and bearing many small scratches from the friction against his rough hide, both nipples clearly fully erect and tender from the insistent rubbing.
 
"That... hurt," she said, her voice low and rough, and pushed one breast upward while leaning forward, so her tongue softly licked her own nipple.  "Hurt so good."  She repeated the same with the other nipple.
 
Ben swallowed with difficulty.  "Just whatcha think yer doing-?"
 
Ignoring his question, she slid longitudinally along his prone body, again dropping her chest low, to sensuously rub it over him as she scrambled backwards, until she was on her knees between his wide-open legs and her chest rested on top of the large bulge stretching the elastic fabric of his tight shorts.  With a smile, she squashed and bounced her chest playfully over the still growing prominence of his crotch.
 
"Suzie!  Stop that-!"

She tugged on the elastic fabric forcefully, struggling for a while, before finally releasing him.

"SUZIE!"
 
She drew back, startled, with apparent honest surprise.
 
For moment she remained both silent and motionless, staring, then she muttered something unintelligible.
 
Ben tried to capitalize on the pause:  "Suzie, dis's crazy.  Just whatcha-?"
 
She drew close, and her open lips brushed against his rampant, enormous erection.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
In his holding cell, Reed Richards woke up, confused, his thoughts still troubled.

There was so much he had to work out.
 
A few seconds later he was unconscious again.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
"SUZIE!  NO!"
 
Ben squirmed and tossed about, straining against his bonds.  He HAD to shake her off.
 
"DON'T!  STOP!  STOP!"
 
His struggles being of little use, he closed his eyes, teeth gritted, trying to block away what was happening, what couldn't be happening.
 
It could not be.  It just couldn't.   Suzie could never do this.
 
She would never cheat on Reed.  Never.  Not willingly.
 
Something had to be making her do this, then.  Do all that, everything that she had been doing.  Something had to be.  Mind control?  

It had to be the Skrulls, the damned Skrulls, threatening her, forcing her.  Forcing her somehow.
 
Maybe she was doing this to save their lives, somehow.  To protect them.  That was how Suzie was.
 
"Suzie, no.  Don't.  Must be another way...  Must be..."
 
She stopped and her body eased off him.  He opened his eyes, hopeful.
 
Her lips and tongue had worked expertly on him, lovingly, even, leaving his quivering penis coated in glistening saliva.  Above it, above him, she now stood, her long, shapely legs spread apart, very wide apart. 
 
He shook his head, and muttered:  "No.  No."
 
Her hands worked between her legs, preparing.  Ben tried not to stare.
 
"Suzie, don't.  DON'T."
 
She began to squat down, reaching to his chest for balance with one hand, while grabbing him with the other, to aim him, guide him.
 
"NO!  SUZIE!  DONT!  IT AIN'T RIGHT!"
 
Her lower lips were soft and moist on the point of contact.
 
"REED'S MY BEST FRIEND!  AND YER HUSBAND!  DON'T-!"
 
He tried to shake his hips, to twist away, but she held firmly onto him, and then pushed down hard, forcing her weight against him.
 
"NO!  NOT TO REED!  SUZIE!  NO!  GET OFF!  GET OFF ME!"
 
She gasped and winced.  It took several tries, until Ben's glans finally slid past her gate.
 
"NO!"
 
She cried out hoarsely as she rode him, her legs trembling with effort, her voice shifting from low to high as she groaned and squealed, her sex swallowing inch after inch of his extraordinary size with each frantic up and down motion of her loins, until she finally settled completely over him, taking him fully inside, impaled to the hilt.
 
She dropped forward, her hair spreading over his chest.  He continued to stare, anguished.  Was she hurt?  Had she injured herself with him?
 
"Suzie...?  Aintcha-?"
 
She moaned softly, and she rose, trembling, rocking gently over him, straddling him in a wide cowgirl position, her eyes closed, her arms straightened with hands on his midsection before her.
 
Speechless, Ben stared at her, realizing that she had taken all of him, something that seemed physically impossible, especially for her, for dainty, delicate Sue.  Even Thundra had struggled with his size.
 
She began to rock more energetically over him, moving faster and harder, humping him furiously, riding his penis with anxious need.
 
"SUZ-!  STOP!  Ya can still stop!  Stop now!  PLEASE!"
 
Her breathing became a desperate race.  She felt impossibly deep and hot and tight around him, seizing him inside, squeezing his every inch.
 
"SUZIE!  NO!  SUZIE-!"
 
Suddenly, she screamed, loudly, and her contractions became violent spasms.
 
"SUZ-!"
 
Ben gasped and groaned and trembled.  His legs twitched for a long time, as he shot burst after burst of ejaculate inside her, inside Sue, inside lovely, sweet Sue, his best friend's wife.
 
"No... No...  I couldn't...  I didn't..."
 
He still could hardly believe what was happening, what had happened.  How could he have let this happen?  Why couldn't he have held back?  Somehow.  Anyhow.
 
How could he now ever again face Reed, his best friend?  After doing this?  After having fucked with his wife?   Having fucked Sue?
 
How could he?
 
How could she?
 
How?
 
It could not be.  It just couldn't.
 
His breathing slowed and his eyes filled with the realization.
 
"Ya couldn't.  Suzie couldn't.  Not Suzie.  Not our Suzie.  Not like dis."
 
She looked down at him, her chest heaving with her efforts, her hair falling wild over her face.
 
"Ya ain't Suzie.  Who're ya?"
 
She did not stop rocking over him.  "Does it matter?"
 
How had he mistaken her voice before?  "What?"
 
"Have you not wanted her?"
 
"Uh?"
 
She arched her back and spread her arms, flaunting her figure.
 
"Look at her.  Is she not desirable?  Have you not desired her?  Do you not still desire her right now?"
 
"Dontcha try to-!"
 
"Felt like you did."  Her sex tightened playfully around him.  "Feels like you still do."
 
Ben shook his head, flustered.  "DONTCHA SAY DAT!"
 
"Why not take advantage?  You can have her, this way.  Again.  And again.  As you want.  As you surely always wanted."
 
"No.  No.  NO!"
 
"Or is it more than just desire?  Do you-?"
 
"No.  NO."
 
"Really?"
 
Ben winced.  "I have... someone.  Someone else.  Someone dat I love."
 
"So?  You can have more than just one.  Want more than one.  You can love more than one, too."
 
"No.  Not me."
 
"Really? Why?"  She frowned.  "Why be...  so limited?"
 
"If ya gotta ask, ya can't understand."
 
"How ridiculous.  Are all earthlings so dense?"
 
Ben shrugged.  "Dunno about all earthlings, but yers truly's pretty dense, yep."
 
She smiled.  "Oh, I can feel that."
 
"So ya gonna tell me who-?"
 
She shook her head.
 
"Can ya help me?  Get me outta here?"
 
She shook her head again.
 
"Whatcha call dis, den?  Last cigarette for a condemned man?"
 
"Not exactly.  You don't need to understand.  Can't you just enjoy yourself?  Just enjoy me?  Enjoy her?"
 
"Nah.  No offense, but I'd rather not."
 
"But we could still-"
 
"Ma'am, thanks, but no thanks, ma'am."
 
She nodded, her rocking stopped.  "You're indeed... different, rock-human.  And stronger than I thought.  Far stronger."
 
He grimaced.  "I ain't got any strength now, sorry."
 
"Oh, but you do.  You do."  Wincing with pain, and maybe disappointment, she rose, sliding off him, their mixed fluids coating his erect member in her wake.
 
She stood, and the door opened for her to exit.
 
Then she turned to stare down at him, all of him.  "I rather like you, human.  For many reasons.  It really is a pity."
 
The door closed behind her as she stepped into the corridor.
 
"A pity that you must still die."
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
The door to the cell suddenly slid open, and Johnny looked up.
 
"Sis?"
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
The mystic Ka stone began to pulse rhythmically.  Its energies coursed through the Sphinx's body, making all of it pulse as well, in resonance with the patterns of energy underlying the local space-time fabric. 
 
Focusing on his objective, the Sphinx vanished.
 

***************************************************
 
 
"Please!  Hold me, just hold me!"
 
Her voice was so hoarse as to be unrecognizable.  She must have been weeping for a long time, Johnny thought.  She surely looked like she had been through a lot.

What could he do?

Sue was normally the serious, level-headed one, the one who took care of things, for him, for everyone...  Seeing her like this, so shaken, so vulnerable, more than at any time in all the recent years, really hit Johnny, driving deeper that awful feeling that this time they were all in really deep shit.
 
"Er... It's alright, Sis."  He stroked her hair self-consciously.  He did not know where to look, where to direct his eyes, except up, at the ceiling of the cell.  "We'll get out of this.  Somehow.  We will."

Sue being stark-naked, squeezing against him so tightly he couldn't help but feel everything, EVERYTHING, did not make anything any easier, either, especially with all that still jumbled around in his mind.
 
She shook her head.  "This...  may be the last time we have together."
 
He grimaced.  Sue was never so pessimistic!

"Don't say that, Sue, we'll-"
 
"We'll have to make use of it."
 
She grabbed his head and pushed her mouth against his.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
There were shields, protective layers of many kinds, on many levels of reality, but the power of the Ka store let him shift through them, brush them aside like mere annoyances.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
He was too shocked to react, at first.
 
Her lips were soft, her kiss hungry, so hungry.  Her tongue urgently demanded his attention, exploring his mouth.
 
Her lush body pressed hard against him, those big, squishy boobs most noticeable of it all.
 
Flustered, he pushed her back, scrambling backwards on the cot.
 
"SUE!"  Nervously he wiped at his mouth.  "What's the fuck was that about?  What're you-?"
 
"You know."  She tossed her head back, fluffing her hair with both hands, arching her back and thrusting her chest forwards as she did.
 
"Know WHAT?"
 
She licked her lips suggestively.  "What's it about, what's it all about.  You know it."

"I know?"

"You know.  And you want it, too."
 
"I do?  Wait, what-?"
 
She ran her hands over her body, from hips to chest, cupping and pushing the large teats up and against the other.  "This.  You want this."
 
"Shit."  His face felt absurdly hot.  "You got to be kidding me."
 
"Can you deny it?  Deny this?"  She placed a hand on the wall behind him and leaned forward, long blond hair falling by her face, large breasts swaying heavily as she shifted her hips, straddling him.  "ALL THIS?"
 
It was not just his face that grew hot.
 
He then remembered to look away, frowning with discomfort.  "Damn it, Sue!  That's not funny!"
 
"But it will be fun."
 
She slid down his body, rubbing herself against him, her big boobs spreading and bunching fetchingly as she wiggled downward.  He saw her nipples were erect, the pink nubs hard and long, the aureole from which each rose tightened around the protrusion, little nubs raised on the soft pink skin.  He had never imagined he would ever see Sue like this. 

"Look, I don't know what's the deal here, but this has gone too far, ok?"
 
She reached his waist and pulled down his pants.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
It had been, of course, a trap.
 
Reed had quickly realized it.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
 
"No!  No!  You can't-!  OH, FUCK!  I mean-I mean-!  REALLY YOU CAN'T-!  YOU SHOULDN'T!  YOU MUSTN'T!  YOU-!   SHIT!  SHIT!  THIS ISN'T RIGHT!"
 
Her mouth released him, saliva dripping from her lips and tongue.  "Am I doing it wrong?"
 
"NO!  YES!  NO!  I mean-!  IT IS WRONG!  TOTALLY WRONG!"
 
"I'll try to do better."
 
She swallowed him to the root in a single motion, and he groaned loudly.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
The Sphinx materialized inside an enormous cylindrical shaft buried many layers under the capitol city, the walls surrounding his hovering body full of complex flashing circuits that extended as far as the eye could see in all directions.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
He should push her away.  Back away.  Stop it.
 
He should.
 
"OH, FUCK!  FUUUUCK-!"
 
He really should have.

But then he could not hold back.  Not any longer.
 
With a loud groan, he came, and came, for far longer than he ever had.  She swallowed much of it, gulping it down, to his amazement, but had to relinquish him from her mouth to breathe before he was done, so his final spurts showered her face with his ejaculate, gobs of thick semen landing on her open lips and tongue, her chin, cheeks, nose, eyes and hair, landing all over.
 
All over her face.  Sue's face.
 
His sister's face.
 
"Oh, fuck, fuck..."  He tried to catch his breath.  "That...  That was so wrong.  So wrong."
 
She stood, smiling, slowly licking viscous fluids from her lips, her fingers gathering more of it for her to lick and suck, before finally swallowing all of it.
 
"Maybe that is why it's so good."
 
She straddled him.   His eyes grew comically large.
 
"And it will get even better.  Much better."
 
"What-What's gotten into you?"

She bore down firmly on him.  "You."
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
"Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck-!"
 
He gasped and cursed continuously, all while she rode him, buckling and tossing wildly, her tight, hot sex ravenously swallowing his hard penis.

He was amazed at how tight her sex was, how firmly it seized him inside, how good it felt.  He had never known anyone so tight and deep and hot, not any of his past teenage girlfriends, not any of the models or wannabe actresses, the groupies that celebrity life attracted.  None could even compare.
 
He could barely believe how hard he felt, too.  He had never felt so hard, so excited, so needful.  No sex had ever been this good, this intense.  

Not even with Crystal.
 
He grabbed her with desperate urgency, his mouth taking one of her big bouncing teats, sucking it, biting it, with the needful intensity of a hungry newborn suckling for the first time.
 
"OH-FUCK!  SUE!  FUCK!  SUE!  SUE!"
 
With eyes closed, Johnny climaxed, filling her depths with his seed, gasping loudly his sister's name.
 
 
***************************************************

 
This could take hours, Dorrek realized, surrounded by endlessly complaining courtiers and envoys.  He fought the urge to scream and rant and order everyone killed.

And where had that idiot Kl'rt gone to?
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
 
They had wanted him, his mind, what he knew, what he could do with it.
 
The Xandarians had centuries and centuries been uploading their minds into their Living Computers at the moment of death. The process worked on many levels, through various technologies that surprised even Reed Richards.  They even purchased and harvested brain tissue of recently dead individuals of multiple species to recover any remaining data fragments from trace neuro-chemical patterns.  However, the survival rate for healthy individuals who wished to continue with an incarnate life afterwards was extremely low.  Just the partial overlapping of the conscious mind with a fraction of the great psychometric stores that were the Computers could be enough to overload the subject and render him catatonic, mentally vegetative.
 
The Xandarians had been willing to risk this.
 
They also had not trusted awaiting a full imprinting.  Even as the mind-meld process had been in progress, even as Reed was already caught in the flow of information, in the multiple echoes of countless personality structures, a non-standard, invasive sub-routine had been working, bringing specialized archives of knowledge to the foremost level of awareness in order to stimulate sympathetic associations, to bring out particular memories they could grasp.
 
They were searching his mind, searching for very specific information.
 
He suspected, of course, what it was.
 
Even when interfacing with the Living Computers, serving as external focus for the Nova-Force in the defense of Xandar, and contemplating and analyzing the vast, astounding amounts of pan-universal data made available, absorbing and challenging the theories and abstractions of the prevalent mental structures and dominant personality patterns, he was also shielding his private memories and ideas by the simple, narrow-focus mathematical exercises of calculating an open-ended list of prime numbers, in parallel with a Fibonacci sequence with the limit "n" defined as Avogadro's Constant.
 
It had kept THAT information safe.
 
Xar, Thoran, or Adora did not really understand the Computers, nor did they realize their staggering potential.
 
The Nova-Force was just a part of it.
 
That such power could fall into the wrong hands, the wrong mind, was unthinkable.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
At last.  The Living Computers of Xandar.
 
Now he would find what he wanted.  Now it would all end at last.
 
The Ka stone began to shine brighter than ever.
 
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
She continued to rock over him, her amazing vaginal muscles squeezing his still throbbing member.
 
Johnny stared, breathing heavily.  "Wow...  You-You aren't finished?"
 
"Are you?"
 
To his surprise, he wasn't, not yet.  Not even after having climaxed twice, with such extraordinary intensity, in such short succession.  He remained hard.  Ready.  It was not really typical.
 
But then, this was hardly a normal situation.  Even for him.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
The energy pattern-construct that comprised the Ka stone began to hum and vibrate in synchronous patterns with the vast structures of information, of ordered thought, from the computers, exciting the energy states to higher levels of power, of awareness, of reality.

The Ka stone began to unlock the patterns of the universe.
 
 
***************************************************
 
 
"God, your tits..."  His hands kneaded the soft flesh, making her gasp and moan softly.  "They're so big, so firm, so bouncy...  So great!"
 
She smiled.  "Have you always liked then?"
 
"You bet!"
 
"Since how early?"
 
"Well, I'm not blind.  Some things are hard not to notice."
 
"Oh, poor boy.  How hard that must've been!"
 
"Oh, yes!  Really hard!"
 
"How you must have...  suffered!"
 
"Could you make them just a bit...  bigger, though?"
 
She frowned.  "What?"
 
"Bigger.  I mean, it's an awesome rack, and pretty big already, really, but...  well, I just wondered how it would look just a tad bigger, see?  You can do that, right?"
 
She stopped rocking over him.  

"You know."
 
"Uh, yes.  Sure."
 
"How-?"
 
"Well, I'm not stupid."
 
Her eyes narrowed, quizzically, turning green.  "When did you-?"
 
"Honestly, not at first, or...  It was pretty shocking, at first, and...  Well, I...  I couldn't...."  He breathed deeply.  "See, I know my sister.  It just couldn't be true.  It would've been too...  too..."  He shrugged.  "And well, this IS a planet of shape-shifters."
 
She was still over him, and his hands remained on her chest, still caressing her, gently.  "Yet, you do not seem angry."
 
"Angry?"  He frowned.  "Why should I be angry?"
 
"For being... deceived.  Being... abused?"
 
"Well, yeah, there's that, sure.  But it wasn't that bad on my end, if you know what I mean."
 
"That... bad?"
 
"Really not bad at all.  Actually, you're pretty great in the sack.  Awesome, even.  Really awesome."
 
She smiled.  "You're just trying to flatter me."
 
"Are you kidding?  You nearly fucked my brains out.  It was... wow.  I mean, WOW!"
 
"Really?"
 
"Really.  Honestly, best I ever had.  EVER."
 
Her smile grew wider and she began to rock anew against him.  "Was it because of... how I look?"
 
He grimaced, nervous.  "It's kinda weird to think about that, but..."
 
"But...?"
 
"But...  it didn't..."  He breathed deeply, and then blew the air out.  "Didn't seem to be much of a problem, at least.  Didn't... hurt."
 
"Ah."  She rocked harder and faster.  "So, should I remain... like this, then?"
 
He bit his lower lip.  "Well, it's kinda weird, but...  why not?"
 
"Why not, indeed."
 
"I mean, it IS weird.  But really, objectively speaking, Sue IS hot.  Really hot.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't notice it.  Who the hell wouldn't notice?  But you aren't really her.  You just look like her.  So technically...  Technically, it is alright, isn't it?"
 
She smiled.  "You tell me."
 
"It's like doing it, but not doing IT.  So, still kinda weird, but...  That it's kinda weird also makes...  kinda kinky, too.  Really kinky."
 
"Kinky?"
 
"Hot.  Good.  Wrong, but in a good way.  Or the other way around."
 
"Ah.  Yes.  I see."
 
"So...  about the...  small changes?"
 
"Ah, small changes, yes."  Her breasts expanded noticeably in his hands.   "
 
"Wow.  That doesn't feel that small to me."
 
"Too... excessive?"
 
"Oh, not complaining."  He grew busy, squeezing and tugging eagerly.  "Not at all!"

"Anything else?"

"Anything?  Well, if you're asking...  Could you... role-play, too?"

"Roleplay?"

"Like, pretend more to be... her.  Maybe... scold me?  Tell me I'm irresponsible and lazy and then be all bossy with me and all that?"

"You want to be scolded and ordered around?"

"Yeah, and tell me you are going to punish me!  And then you spank me!"

"Spank you?"

"Yeah, and then we switch around, and I tell you need to be punished for being too bossy and such a drag, and then I spank you!"

"You spank me?"

"Um, if that's fine with you, I mean.  Maybe only light slaps?"

"But I get to spank you first?  In the ass?"

"Where else?"

"Fine.  We can do that.  First I spank you.  Then you spank me."

"Oh, thank you, thank you.  You have... Sue has...  It's a great ass.  A great ass."

"Would you like to fuck that ass, too?"

Johnny swallowed slowly.  "That could work."


***************************************************


The secrets of the universe were now his.

 
***************************************************


"I have been such a bad sister!  I have been so mean to you!  Punish me harder!"

Johnny frowned.  As great as this particular view was, and how great it felt, there was something missing.

He pulled out and grabbing her waist and shoulder, turned her about, pushing her onto her back on the narrow cot, to face him, her long blond hair, just a shade lighter than his, spreading around her face, his sister's face.

That was better, to see her, all of her, her lovely face and awesome body, like that, all bare to him, under him.  He looked up from the enthralling bounty of her curves to meet the eyes, again as blue as his own.

"I can still call you by her name, right?"

"If you want to."
 
"Oh, yes," he grunted, staring down at her.

He spread her shapely legs apart and began to thrust, hard and fast, violently even, making her smile and moan in appreciation.

"Oh, Sue...  You're so hot.  So hot, Sue!"


***************************************************


It was too much.  Too much for him.  Too much for anyone.

Too much for the Ka stone to channel.

Too much to grasp.

The Sphinx began to scream.  And to change.


***************************************************


"And you know, maybe later....  you could be... someone else, too?"
 
"Someone else?"  She shrugged.  "Why not?"
 
"Cool.  Thanks...  Later, though.  Later."
 
 
***************************************************
 

The entity known as Doctor Sun realized what was happening and fled in panic, fled deep into the farthest reaches of the vast abstract cosmos of information and thought that was the Living Computers. 

He fled from the Sphinx, or what had once been the Sphinx.


***************************************************

 
"Oh, fuck!  YES!  YES!"
 
He came again, deep inside her, while she squirmed with her own pleasure, her body's contours leaner, less voluptuous than Sue's, but nowhere less attractive.  Her eyes, closed in delight, even had the characteristic blue tinted areas surrounding them, affected by the Xandarians.
 
She was really, really good.  At this.  At everything.
 
He collapsed on top of her.  "Oh, damn..."
 
"Mmm...  You really wanted her badly, too."
 
He gasped for breath, nodding.
 
"That silly Adora really missed out, dear boy.  Her loss."  She played with his hair.  "So...  Anyone else?"
 
He laughed.  She was insatiable.  But then, he was not about to quit, either.
 
"Well, how about...  Crystal?  Of the Inhumans?"  He licked his lips, thinking.  "Or Medusa, her older sister?  The Queen of the Inhumans?  She has a really great rack and this long, long red hair and-"
 
"Inhumans?  I don't know who they are."
 
"How about She-Hulk?  She's green, too.  Or wait, Drew, Jessica Drew.  Spider-Woman."
 
"Spider-Woman?"
 
"Oh, yeah.  She's really hot.  Aloof and distant, but slutty at the same time, see?"
 
She shook her head.  "I must know exactly how they look."
 
Johnny smiled.  He had a better idea.  One that should please her.
 
"You know, who I'd really, really love for you to look like is...  Anelle."
 
She tensed visibly.  "Anelle?  My-?  Princess Anelle?"
 
Johnny blinked, uncertain.  Was he making a mistake?
 
"Well, yes.  She is beautiful.  Really beautiful.  She is-"
 
"Yes.  She is."
 
He laid down the charm.  "So I think I'd rather... be with her now, than with anyone else.  See?"
 
She stared at him for a moment, and then smiled.  Her body began to shift shape and color.
 
"Right.  Anelle.  Why not?"
 
 
 
***************************************************


All of Xandar shook.


***************************************************



Casually, she stepped away from the cot, where Johnny lay, limp and fully spent.

"Not bad."
 
"Not bad?  NOT BAD?"

He had certainly tried his best.  He had worked as hard as he could, to impress her, win her over.  Maybe ensure that way that she would help them get out of this.  

"That's all I get?"
 
She shrugged.  "I enjoyed your enthusiasm.  It was... nice."
 
"Nice?  Again with NICE?"
 
"Again-?"  She looked at him, her delicate face breaking into a grin that changed her benevolent features.  "Oh.  You think I AM Anelle?  Really Anelle?"
 
Johnny blinked fast.  "You aren't?"
 
"Of course not.  Why did you think that?"

"Er...  I always kinda liked her.  Met her during that Mograt mess and..."

"Morrat, you mean?"

"Yeah, that.  Well, we kinda helped her with that bad boyfriend mess..."

"You helped get her betrothed executed, and saved that scum Dorrek's throne."

"Er, that, yes.   So, she's really, really pretty, and a princess, too.  And you know, the hero and the princess...  It's kinda expected that...  Anyway, I must have kinda...  wished it was her, see?   And I didn't know any other sexy Skrull babes, so..."

"I see."
 
"Is it alright?  I didn't... insult you, or anything?"
 
"Oh, no.  Actually, this was all was rather... interesting.  Being her.  Like this."  She stretched before him.  "What was the word you used...?  Kinky.  It was kinky."
 
Her body changed again, losing its greenish hue, becoming fuller, rounder.  The dark hair turned golden.
 
Johnny had again before him an apparently identical copy of his sister.  Of course, he could never know if it was perfect or not, as the real Sue had never stood naked like that before him, ever.  Would the real Sue's breasts stand like that without a bra?  That high and perky?  As big as they are?  

How close had this been to the real Sue?  In everything?

How would he ever really know?  

How could he...?

"Er...   So...  Can I ask who are you, then?"
 
She leaned closer and placed a quick kiss on his lips.  Her presence, her beauty, Sue's nearly pain-inducing beauty, made him stir again, despite his past exertions, despite everything.
 
"Let's just say, that it's...  all in the family."
 
 
***************************************************
 

The integrity of Reed Richards's complete mind structure had been drastically compromised when his mind-meld with the Living Computers of Xandar was abruptly broken by the forced Skrull teleportation.  Thus, he had spent hours and hours lapsing in and out of different levels of consciousness as he sought to reassemble his complete mental persona.
 
He was literally trying to get his mind together again.
 
His awareness of external, physical reality was limited and variable.
 
He did not register the door opening, or someone entering the cell where he was confined, becoming aware of her presence and actions only when his physical reactions to their interactions began to escalate in intensity.
 
Susan?
 
At some level, physical or mental, he expressed contentment.
 
Curiously, the sensory impressions providing conflicting information, recognizing the interactions as familiar, yet alien, at once.  It was an interesting conundrum that caught his attention.
 
Susan.
 
Sue.
 
His Sue?
 
A Sue?
 
What defined Sue?
 
Was it more his reactive conflating of several elements into an abstract idea of self?
 
He contemplated the metaphysical implications while she rhythmically oscillated and vibrated over his physical self, stimulating his sensory impressions towards a peak threshold.
 
At that crucial moment, he lost count of the prime numbers.
 

***************************************************
 

Dorrek entered the room and smiled at the view of the blonde Earthling beauty stretched upright by the restrains, naked and helpless.

Waiting.

So mouth-watering beautiful.

He had so much to catch up with.

He addressed his guards behind him, not looking at them, his eyes on her.  

"Stay outside.  This time, whoever interrupts me will be executed, along with all relatives, to the third degree.  No, fourth, the fourth degree.  Understood?"

The guards bowed and exited.  The door closed.

"That all took too long, far too long," he told his captive, out loud.  "You must have grown desperate, waiting for me.  Needing me."

He let his robes fall to the floor.  He was already hard and growing harder, just from the anticipation.

"I will spare you any further waiting."

Naked, he went to inspect the displayed implements of his collection.  He needed something less benevolent than the whip, now.

"We have to get back to checking how that delicious tightness of yours holds up."

He ran his hand over the specially-crafted metal surfaces.

"I am sure it will take a long time to stretch you properly.  A long, happy, painful time."

He picked up a couple of exotic choices, setting others aside for later.

"I bet you cannot wait for it.  Wait for this.  All of this."

He slipped on heavily studded cock-rings on his member, specially designed and made for him.

"You will grow to love every inch of this cock, just as much as you fear it."

He felt his flesh grow even harder under the rings' pressure.

"You will love having it stretch you, stretch your tight, wet, hot cunt, so, so much..."

His mouth spread in a twisted smile.

"So unlike that bitch of my wife who cannot appreciate a good thing."

He also studied various clamps and tweezers, verifying that their energy functions were in working order.

"She would... stretch around me, you see, but not the proper way.  Not letting my size do it.  No, she would not have it.  She would not let me, not ever.   She wasted this.  All of this.  Can you believe that?  She made herself looser and looser each time, always too loose by far, no matter how much I tried to catch up.  Always denying her husband and emperor the satisfaction of seeing her wince and moan and cry in pain, just as she should, denying me the rightful pleasure of making it hurt for her.  The fucking bitch."

He nodded.  These would do.
 
"But you will give me that pleasure, won't you?  You will hurt for me.  You will be so deliciously tight and will hurt, hurt so, so much for me."

He turned towards her, beaming broadly.

"And I may keep you, as my favorite, my official...  Uh?"

The restrains now hung open and empty.

She stood, blonde and beautiful, still naked as before, but unbound, her limbs free.  A weapon, a blaster, was in her hand.

"What are-?"

"What if I take the pleasure of hurting you, instead?"
 
He dropped everything to reach for his wrist-band, but the energy blast was there first, reducing his hand to fiery ashes, along with most of his lower forearm.

He screamed, staggering back.

"Will that be rightful enough for you?"

Another blast took his other arm off from the elbow down, and he fell to his knees.

"Will that be proper homage to your imperial privilege?"

He wanted to speak, to ask how, why, to demand an explanation of what was happening, but his voice failed him.  He could only let out a shrill whine of pain.

"Proper tribute to your great cock?"

The blast struck right between his legs.

He collapsed to the floor, crouching, his voice returning in a loud, primal scream, and squirmed on the floor, crouched around his charred crotch, flailing his useless, mutilated arms.  His eyes bulged, and his mouth struggled to form words.

"Will it?" 

She tossed aside the blonde hair from her fair face with a mocking smile.  Her eyes sparkled green, bright green.



PART SEVEN:  THE TARNAX-IV REDEMPTION
 

How long had it been already?  Hours?  How could she tell?
 
Standing spread-out in Dorrek's private play-chamber, Susan uncomfortably shifted her weight as far as her restrains would allow, seeking to ease her tired limbs.  Her leg and back muscles threatened to cramp from the extended forced posture.  

Her mouth and throat were dry, and she would need to relieve herself soon.  Would she be forced to do it right here?  To bear such a further indignity?
 
The wait was becoming almost as hard to endure as what had come before.
 
Almost.
 
The last-moment reprieve from Dorrek's threat, however temporary, should have been a welcome relief to gather her wits, her resolve, to overcome any lingering uncertainty and confusion, any trace of her worrisome past weakness.  But as the wait grew and so did her weariness, determination gradually gave way to anxiety, as her thoughts again drifted unbidden to what had happened and what had come so close to happening.  So close.  Too close.  Far too close.

She breathed deep.  She should not think of that.  She should not dwell on any of that, of what had come before.  On what was likely to come.  On all that she feared could come, or would come.  

She should not. She really should not.
 
She should focus only on what was necessary, focus on preparing to better face Dorrek again, with greater detachment and fortitude, no matter what he had done or would do, to her, or with her.  She should remember only the pain and the hatefulness of her ordeal, to retain the proper perspective.  But even that proved unsettling in unwanted ways.  

It had surely been the physical and emotional tension, the stress from the fear and anger, what had made her so vulnerable, so over-sensitive, so that even the sudden, sharp pain of the whip had made her react...  

Heavens forgive her, she had almost...  Just as it...
 
The door slid open with an ominous hiss, and Sue nervously twisted in her bounds, turning her head towards it, her body tense with worry, unsure of whether to feel fear or relief at the end of her wait, at the upcoming delivery of her fate.
 
But to her surprise, it was not him.  It was not Dorrek.
 
Tall and athletically-built, with massively muscled arms and shoulders straining his tight purple and black bodysuit, the Super-Skrull stood framed in the entrance, so drastically different in appearance from whom she had expected to see, feared to see.  

Shouldn't she feel relieved at that?

In the Skrull language, he addressed the armed guards posted outside and they bowed their heads in acquiescence, stepping back as the door closed, leaving him alone with her.
 
She stared at him, unsure of what his presence meant.

Why hadn't Dorrek come for her?  After such a lengthy stretch of time?  Had he sent for her instead?  Was the Super-Skrull to take her to him?  At another location?

The Super-Skrull walked towards her.

Would she have to wait even longer?  Wait even longer to face Dorrek again?   Wait even longer to...?

He spoke out loud and a voice replied to him, surprising Susan.  

High pitched and feminine, that other voice did not seem to come from any kind of nearby loudspeaker or communicator.  It was someone here in the room, next to them, someone who was not seen.
 
The Super-Skrull replied in turn, also in the Skrull language, and nodding, he extended a hand, his brow furrowed with concentration.
 
Between him and Sue a shape appeared from apparent nothingness, first as a faint outline and then settling into full solidity, into the semblance of a fair-skinned female, with blond hair falling past her shoulders, and who wore a long robe over a gracefully poised figure.
 
For an instant Susan stared at the new arrival, puzzled by the baffling sense of familiarity, before being struck by the full shock of recognition.  The face was the one Sue saw in mirrors and pictures, video screens or magazine covers.  

It was her own.

From the golden shade of the hair to the darker rose of the lips, the woman now before Sue looked like an identical copy of her.  She strode forward, chin held haughtily high, regarding Susan.

"Has he already fucked you?"
 
"What?"  
 
"Fucked you.  Has he fucked you?"
 
"He?  You mean-?"
 
"Dorrek, of course.  That pathetic, horny over-hung fool.  Who else?  Did he fuck you?"

It had to be a Skrull, impersonating her, yet it still felt unsettling to hear that voice, speaking in English, even, but so cold and different, coming from what looked like Sue's own mouth, asking her such a question.   

"Why-Why do you-?  WHO are you?  Why do you look like-?"
 
"You will answer questions, Earthling, not ask them."

Sue met her stare.  The eyes were blue as hers, but cold and cruel.  Whoever this woman who had taken her shape was, she was dangerous.  She could not take her threats lightly.

"So, did you two fuck?"

The Super-Skrull stepped forward, threateningly.  "Answer her."
 
Sue glanced from one to the other, hesitant.  What could she say?  Could she say that nothing had happened?  Say it to this woman?  To Reed?  

Could she honestly say that she and Dorrek had not fucked? 

She had been in his arms, in Dorrek's arms, a man other than her husband.  Even if technically, he was not even a man, but an alien, he was still a male, and so very, very male at that, as she had been forced to realize, to acknowledge, thoroughly, while being caressed and kissed and...  

Her face grew warm, but although it embarrassed and discomforted her, she could not deny his... maleness, his virility, his skill...  and what had happened... 

Hadn't they only started to...?
 
Could she say it had just been that...  just the start?  The start...  of sex?
 
Sue winced.  They had started.  Started to have sex.  They had.  She had.

She had started to have sex with Dorrek, with that awful, horrible fiend, she had felt him, felt his touch, his tongue, his penis, his huge penis, so big and hard and...

There had been no other choice, had there?  And if they had not been interrupted she would have...
 
But they were.  They were interrupted.  

She had to be thankful of that.  She had to hold on to that.  She had to.

"Come on, it's not that difficult, you slow Earthling cow.  Did you fuck, yes or no?"
 
Sue met again with unease from those eyes so like hers.
 
"No.  Not really.  It just...  He just...  We... didn't..."
 
"He could not get it up, then?"
 
Surprised, Sue looked up, frowning.  "What-?  No.  No, it wasn't that."  She could not even picture Dorrek any other way than erect, very erect.  So very erect.  "He...  He was... very...  able.  Very..."
 
"Oh, was he?"
 
She looked away, uneasy.  Why go on like that?  Why did she need to give further explanations?
 
"He really fancied you, then.  Reports said that rarely happened lately.  You must have really gotten to him.  Interesting."
 
"Reports?  You mean-?"
 
"Yet you say he didn't fuck you.  Despite being alone together for quite a while, and he being very...  able, as you said.  So what was going on?"
 
Sue grimaced.   "He... beat me.  With a neuronic lash."

"How kinky.  And else?" 
 
Could she explain it, to this one?  Or to Reed?  Or to herself?   "Then he...  fondled me, and... teased me, and...  kissed me."

"Oh, how dirty.  So just foreplay?  He did not get his cock into you?"
 
Sue's face grew hot again.  She remembered how she had felt him, pressing against her, pushing against her, so big and hard, so impossibly big and hard, beginning to force his way in, to force her to stretch so wide...

"Come on, did he fill up your tight Earthling cunt with all that big fat cock, yes or no?"

"All-?"  All of that big cock?  Filling her?  Could that even have been possible?  "No.  He didn't."  

"Really?"

Sue nodded, fretfully, red-faced.  She could at least say that.  That he certainly hadn't.  Not all of it.  Not filling her.  Not as he could have.  Not anywhere close.  Not anywhere enough...  

Enough for what?  For what this woman meant?  For it to be called full sex?  Or not enough... for her?  

"He-He began to...  but..."  How much more would have been enough?  Hadn't what she had felt not been bad enough?  Feeling that giant head begin to force its way in?  Feeling its hot, oversized hardness parting her flesh?  Hadn't it hurt enough?  Much more than she had ever imagined?  So much that she had even almost...  "But-But the Super-Skrull..."
 
"Super-?  Oh, you mean Kl'rt."  She exchanged quick words with him in their language and then regarded Sue again.  "How opportune.  And indeed, you do appear to be relatively...  whole.  Unharmed.  Nearly untouched, even.  At least physically.  So perhaps he truly did not fuck you as he meant to.  Not yet.  So he must be desperate to do it by now, then.  That is good.  Very good."
 
"Good?"
 
"Good for us.  For everyone.  For you, too, considering what you were spared."  She smiled mockingly.  "Or maybe you wish you hadn't?"
 
"What?"
 
"Been spared.  Spared what he had for you.  All he had for you."    Do you regret it?  Regret not having had it?  All of it?  All of him?"

"No!"

"How far did he really get?  With you?  Into you?  Enough to make you want it?  Really want it?  Want to be fucked deep and hard and long by all of that monstrous thing?  To be stuffed full of him and climax screaming in pain, such pain, yet begging in tears for more and more and loving him for each inch of it-?" 

"NO!"

"Maybe you both wanted it and feared it.  Or feared to realize that you did."   Her finger flicked at one of Sue's nipples, rising, obviously hard, above the curve of her heaving breasts.  "Does just thinking of it get you hot again, you slut?"

"Stop that!"
 
"Maybe you had already begun to love it?  To love being his slave?  To love... him?"

Sue blanched.  "What-?  No!  I'd never-!"

She regarded Sue from top to bottom.  "It's quite telling that he left no marks on you.  Very unusual, these days.  Speaks of a very special interest.  And I can understand that."  She reached for Sue's hair, but she jerked her head away.  "Oh, feisty.  He must have liked that, too.  Tell me, did he make you any promises?  Maybe to keep you as his favorite, first of his concubines?  Or maybe even as... his wife?"

Sue shook her head, at loss for words to deny such daunting possibilities. 

"Would that make you feel flattered?  Excited?  Tempted?"  

"NO!"

"So you say.  Maybe you even believe it.  Or want to."  She turned back towards the Super-Skrull.  "She truly has her charms, doesn't she?"
 
The Super-Skrull fixed his eyes on Sue, and nodded.  "She does."
 
"Such an exceptional balanced body mass distribution and tissue consistency.  Not easy to duplicate.  Not with that perfect symmetry and firmness.  Such an interesting challenge."  She opened her robe and let it fall to the floor, exposing her nude body.  "I think I did quite well."

Sue stared, discomforted.  A reflection in a mirror was one thing, but to stand by a full copy of your own self like this, in such solid, physical proximity, was very different.  Unsettling.
 
And was she really so busty?

"Among us, shifting is a very specialized skill.  Difficult to master, and highly valued.  An art.  Our highest art.  Very few can do accurate full body duplication.  Some can barely focus on shifting one single body part at once."  Her laugh held a mocking edge.  "Can you find any significant differences?"

The Super-Skrull spoke, and she smiled, pleased.

"Thank you, Kl'rt."  She spread her arms before Sue.  "You think we could be told apart?  By anyone you were close to?"
 
Sue frowned.  Surely Reed would know, wouldn't he?  Anyone who really knew her.
 
"Do you think he will be able to tell?"
 
"He?"  
 
She smiled.  "Dorrek."
 
"Dorrek-?"
 
"I think he won't.  He never cared much beyond appearances, really."
 
"You want to deceive Dorrek.  Why-?"
 
"Because this is the perfect chance.  Because the horny fool has played right into my hands at long last, and he is so eager to fuck your tight, hot Earthling cunt that he has not realized it yet.  Just like I want it."   She smiled broadly, and leaned closer, her hand reaching for Sue's face.  "So I guess I have to thank you for that.  And more."
 
Her mouth opened and covered that of her mirrored semblance.

Sue's eyes widened.  Rosy lips met in a slow, sensuous dance.

The other's torso pressed hard against hers, full breasts compacted tight together, matched in volume and curvature and pliability, each nude body a faithful reflection of the other, differing only in posture.
 
A significant while later, the other drew back, while both their mouths remained open, their breathing fast and hard.
 
"Oh, my...  Maybe the horny fool is not that foolish after all."   She licked her lips.  "You are quite the tasty morsel."

Sue blushed, flustered.  

"Now I wish we could linger together a while longer."  She reached to lightly caress Sue's cheek.  "To compare and contrast.  In depth.  Maybe to boast about it, too.  About having had what he now will not."

Sue breathed deeply.  It had been an almost surreal experience, the kiss quickly turning intense, overpowering, almost as much as that of...

"Maybe I could have even kept you afterwards," the other continued.  "As MY favorite."
 
At her gesture the Super-Skrull activated a remote control and the restrains around Sue's wrists and ankles snapped open loudly.
 
"But sadly, time is now an issue, and some things cannot be."
 
He seized Susan's arm, steadying her as her legs faltered, numb and weak from after the lengthy stretch of time she had been chained in place, with her limbs in forced extension.  He covered her with the robe the other had previously discarded and she welcomed its warmth.
 
The other watched coldly.   "See, there are things that are always more important, like ruling an empire, like the responsibility to a nation, to a legacy.  There MUST always be priorities above our petty desires.  That is what my husband never understood."
 
Sue looked back, startled.  "Your husband?"
 
She waved a hand dismissively.  "Kl'rt, take her away."
 
Before the Super-Skrull led her to the exit, Sue saw her duplicate step into position within the open restrains.  The metal closed around her, but without any snapping sound.  She held something in one hand.

The other smiled at her, just before she was taken away.
 
"It was a pleasure.  Meeting you.  And being you.  Really a pleasure."
 
 
 
***************************************************


Rich stirred, and groaned in pain, squirming on the floor of the containment cell.

He really did not want to wake up.  It hurt far too much to want to be awake so he wanted none of that.

But there was still pain as he drifted in and out of consciousness, pain and confusion, and the pain did not want to let him just zone out.  The pain demanded his attention.

Just what had happened?  Where was he?

Some kind of prison cell.  A metal dungeon or something.  Fuck.

The Skrulls had kicked his ass, he remembered that.  That damn Skrull with the multiple powers had handed him his ass so bad he winced to even think of it.  His Nova suit had taken so much damage it had to shut off for repairs, leaving him powerless.  Things got even worse then, from there on, there was just pain, and more pain.

Wait, he remembered something else.

Someone was kicking him, and she was there.  She was.  He heard her, and got a quick glimpse of her.  Naked.  She had been butt naked, hadn't she?

He tried to moved and gasped in agony.

That could not be.  He must have hallucinated that.

What was wrong with him?  He was having the shit kicked out of him, and he was having a wet dream?

Damn.  He could not even remember clearly how she had looked naked.

Couldn't he even get that right?



***************************************************


She walked out of the restroom into the small vestibule, the Super-Skrull close behind her.  

"You did not have to watch while I-"

"I did."

The guards were gone, the room empty but for the sparse furniture.  Items of clothing were set on a low bench near the main entrance.

She glanced back at him.  "I doubt Dorrek will be happy about this."

"He will not."

"What about my companions?"

"They still live, for now."

"He may vent his anger on them.  Whatever you-"

"He will not have the chance."

"May I see them?"

"If you cooperate."  

"How can I trust you to be telling the truth?"

"You can't."  He pointed to the boots and bundle of blue and black clothing set on the bench.  "Put that on."

"Is that my-?"

"Yes."

She quickly picked up the Earthling outfit, her body language showing relief, clearly comforted by its familiarity, but she quickly frowned. "It's not complete.  It's been cut and-"

"The integrated devices were removed, and some of the fabric was used to make the dress you wore at the event."

"Some?  The gloves are missing and so are the sleeves and most of the midsection and the waistband...  Look at it!"

He shrugged.  "Your symbol at the front was restored."

"Great.  You were the one who tore it off in the first place."  She placed the top before her chest, frowning at its failure to cover her midsection.  "It's too short now.  How can I wear it like this-?"

"Would you prefer to wear nothing instead?"

She glared at him, then spread the clothes and boots on the bench.

"Fine.  And my underwear-?"

"What?"

"Forget it.  Could you...  please turn away?"

"What is there to hide?  I've seen you unclothed."

"Does not mean I'm alright with that.  Not before, nor now."

"Just put it on.  We must get going."

With an angry nod, she turned her back to him and removed the recently borrowed robe, placing it aside.  "Can't see why so much had to be hacked off.  That damn dress was made of almost nothing."

She leaned forward to put on her leggings, and he watched, appreciating the roundness of her rear and the swinging of her heavy breasts.

"It was custom-made for you, by the best Imperial Court designers."

She scoffed.  "Made me look like a whore."

"It's craftsmanship could have paid for a light star-cruiser."

"An expensive whore, then."  She tugged the leggings up.  The trimmed waist hugged her hips much lower, emphasizing their curved shape.

"You Earthlings have awful taste.  It suited you and you wore it well."

Kl'rt had found her particularly enticing, despite the unworthy company at her side.  The artful suggestion of near-nudity being more appealing than simple full exposure.  "You looked as a beautiful female should look."

She turned away, dismissing his compliment.  "We'll have to disagree on that."

"Finish already, then.  We must go."

She tugged her top down, its fabric stretching over her breasts, pressing them together, the encircled "4" symbol centered on the tightly packed, prominent chest.  The top's abridged lower edge now ended snug around her rib-cage, just mere inches below the slight fold made by the settling down of her bosom.

She sat down to put on her footwear, extending each toned leg out in turn.  Crouched forward, her chest jostled under the confining fabric with each jerking motion needed to pull up her boots.

She stood and reached for the robe she had just worn, but he stretched one arm to place a hand over it, while shaking his head.  "Won't need this."

She gestured at her torso.  "I'm going to spill out of this after a couple of steps."

"That won't matter."

"Maybe not to you, but-"

"Nobody else will see you."

"Nobody else?"

"Nobody but I.  I will help you move unnoticed.  You will remain silent and stay next to me, if you want to stay alive."

"Fine."  She tossed her disheveled hair to a side and faced him, her eyes clear and still defiant despite her situation, despite everything she had gone through.  He had to respect that.

"So where are you going to take me?"

His dark eyes blazed.  If only there was more time.


***************************************************


"Oh, it's you?"  Johnny sat up wearily, scratching his hair.  "Damn.  Look, I'm sorry, but I don't think I can perform again, not so soon after-"

"Perform?"  Princess Anelle's delicately-shaped brow wrinkled with incomprehension.

"Maybe if you do all the work..."

She shook her head.  "I cannot do more for you.  I already risked too much to get this to you."  She pushed into his hands a nondescript container.  "Good luck.  Remember your promise."

Before he could speak up, she left.


***************************************************


The Super-Skrull had made her invisible and wrapped about her a tight band of invisible force, keeping her close to him while they walked through the many corridors and levels of the Imperial complex, passing unchallenged the multiple checkpoints, the authority of his high rank and reputation forestalling any elaborate scans.

The neutralizer band on her neck gave just the faintest tingling sensation.

Sue tracked their progress carefully, matching it as well as she could against the model of the place in her head, constructed painstakingly from the descriptions given by the servant girls who prepared her for the party.  She would need to find the way on her own if she managed to escape, unlikely as that seemed.

All around her milled scores of heavily armed Skrull warriors, the elite forces of the Empire, and she was held by its very greatest champion.

But she could not lose hope.


***************************************************


Johnny opened the container.  Inside he found a torn and stained blue and yellow uniform and a golden helmet.


***************************************************


Kl'rt pulled her much closer against him, to avoid making contact with the patrol marching in the other direction through the narrow corridor.

He could feel her warmth and the unique balance of softness and firmness of her flesh, pressing against him.

She pulled away, roughly, once they were alone again, but he grabbed at her arm, keeping her by his side.  His force field should have been enough to hold her, but it was not the same thing as actually touching.



***************************************************


The door slid open with a hiss.

Rich reluctantly turned about, still smarting everywhere.  "What now?"

Two heavy-set Skrulls walked in, their eyes dark under prominent bony brows as they stared down at him.  One leveled a hand blaster, while the other alternated clenching and opening his large hands very menacingly.

Rich sighed, tired.  "Look, you already worked me over.  Again and again.  It's kinda settled that I don't know shit about anything you people want to know, alright?"

Both Skrulls smiled and muttered to each other in gutter Tarnaxian dialect.

Rich did not understand any of it, or he may have grown concerned with the repeated mentions of the famed tightness of Earthlings.


***************************************************


"Is it worth it?"

"Be silent."

She had spoken in a low voice, and it would be drowned by the constant hum of the transport tube leading to the high security cell block, even if some monitoring device remained active after the carefully arranged tampering.  But there was no point in having needless conversation now, not when they were so close.

"Is it?  Worth the risk?  Of going against your rightful ruler's direct commands?  Of plotting treason?"

Rightful ruler?  He scoffed at that.  She was just baiting him.

He ignored her, checking on his wrist-band communicator the encrypted reports from their allies, confirming the gradual securing of all crucial power positions, ready to back the upcoming transition.

"It must be dangerous," she continued.  "Even if it involves his wife."

He turned off the link, satisfied; things were going well enough.  Perhaps he could humor her.  "It is."

"Worth it?  Or dangerous?"

"Both."

"And what is in it for you?"

"He is running the empire into ruin.  He must be stopped."

"Very patriotic.  But what is in it, really, for you?"  She emphasized the last two words.  "Maybe you and the empress-?"

"Don't be foolish."   He had no need to explain anything to this woman.  She should know her place.  "Stop asking questions."

"A higher position, then?  Greater status?  Riches?"

He shrugged, in non-committal fashion.

Of course, it was more than just about that, much more.

R'Klll had promised him command of the armada, in exchange for his support, and that of those others he could influence, but that was the least of it.

She had also promised him the greatest treasure in the Empire.  She had promised him Anelle.

Lovely, delicate, innocent Anelle, more beautiful even than her mother, who had once been the most widely-admired beauty in the whole Empire.  R'Klll had surely fucked someone else behind Dorrek's back, and faked the genetic records.  There was no way such an exquisite creature was sired by that pathetic worthless midget.

Anelle, who was next in line to the Imperial throne.

Their children would rule the galaxy.  What could be more worthy of any risk?

He looked up, and under his will the Earth-woman's invisibility weakened, her body becoming a curved contour more and more noticeable before the featureless wall of the transport tube, her body appearing clearer and more solid with each second.
 
Of course, he would have liked to keep this one for himself, too, as a permanent concubine, or at least for a short period.  But not everything could be had at once.

Her body began to vanish anew, fading into the gray wall behind.

One had to make choices, and as R'Klll had stated, and some things were more important than others.

There were always priorities.



***************************************************


Rich scrambled backwards towards his cot.  "Woah!  Wait!  WAIT A FREAKING MINUTE!"


***************************************************


"What if she turns on you?"

"I told you to be silent."

"What if she decides to get rid of you, once you are no longer useful?"

"That will not happen."

"Really?  Seems like she isn't above betraying those close to her."

His invisible force seized her shoulders, applying pressure to her.

"You are just wasting our time.  You want to create doubt and discord.  But it will not work.  You know nothing about us, Earthling, about the powers and influences at play, about...  Nothing.  You know nothing."

"What about Dorrek?  What if he has leverage that you don't know about?  That even she doesn't know about?"

"There is nothing he can do."

"What if he makes her change her mind?  If they reach a new political compromise, a new arrangement?"

"You do not know her.  Or how it is between them."

"I do know that Dorrek can be...  persuasive." 

"No.  Not this time.  There is no turning back now."

"He may surprise you.  He can be more dangerous than you expected.  I know.  Much, much more.  How else did he get his position?  Get to be emperor?"  

"Dirty politics got him the throne."

"What if that works out again for him?  Who would take the fall, then?"

"Nonsense."  

"How can you be sure?"

"Because before Dorrek can work out anything he will be dead."



***************************************************


Whimpering, he tried weakly to crawl over the floor, to get away, but his limbs were too damaged to be of any use.

He yelled and cursed and begged, but nobody came.  Nobody.

There was only her.



***************************************************


He felt her tense, startled, through the contact of the invisible force field.

"Dead?  Dorrek?"

"Yes.  Dead."  Kl'rt smiled.  It pleased him to state it out loud.  He just regretted not being there to witness it, or to do it himself, as he had so often wanted to.  

"I-I thought the plan was to overthrow him."

He shrugged.  "That is how that is done here."  

She looked down, confused.  "Then she-?"

"Yes."

"His very own wife-?"

"He did the same to her father, many years ago."  He shrugged.  "I thought you'd be pleased." 



***************************************************


She walked towards him, still blonde and fair, slim yet voluptuous, her large round breasts bouncing with each step, so like the Earthling, but the weapon was still in her hand, its muzzle smoking faintly.

Her now-green eyes sparkled.

"So, was it good for you, too?"


***************************************************


Should she?  Be pleased?  If it was true.  About him.  Dorrek.  Being dead.  Now.  Now that...  

Could he really be dead?  Just like that?  

Should that please her?  Make her feel better?  After what had happened?  After...  everything?

Hadn't she wished for it?  Didn't she have reasons enough?  Hadn't she thought of it?  Many times, even while he...?  

Her lips pressed tightly together.

Would it be wrong?   To have wanted him dead?  That hateful, cruel fiend?  To have wanted it?  Wanted...

She breathed deeply, and willed her fists to unclench.

He certainly deserved to be punished.  For everything.  Everything.

She should thankful.  Or at least, relieved.  If it was true, that meant one less threat to worry about.

Yet she found it uncomfortable to even think about it, think that Dorrek's own wife had killed him, and while looking just like her, too.  

Yet it would not be her.  It would not be her doing.  Nor her choice.  She should not feel troubled, or guilty.  

She should not feel guilty.  Even if she had wanted it.  Really wanted it.  Because she had.  She had.

But what if...  it had been her choice?  Would she have...  done it?

What if it still was?  What if it had not happened yet and she could still somehow...  stop it?  Warn him?  Would she?  Should she?  Or would she let him die?  Let him pay for everything he had done?  Let him be gone?  Forever.  

She pressed her head to the wall behind her.

Even if she could have warned him, or helped him, could that have changed things?  Made it different?  Maybe earned their freedom and safety?  But could she have trusted him to be thankful?  Trust his gratitude?  Trust him?  Afterwards?  Or ever?  Trust him to...?

She shook her head.

No.  Never.  Not with him.  Not Dorrek.  Not ever.  

Even as a conjecture, she couldn't have.  It was too big a risk.  Too big to take.

She breathed in deeply.

If Dorrek was really dead, then she never would need to, or have to...  fear him again.  Or hate him.  Or even think about him.  Or about...  About what had happened, and at all that almost had.  

Never.  Never again.  Right?

She looked up and saw the Super-Skrull staring at her.  She looked away.

But even if Dorrek was gone, were her chances really any better with the Super-Skrull?  

Could she trust him to spare their lives?

Could she trust anyone, anything now?



***************************************************


He barely gained an inch at a time, as his flesh twisted and shifted, down between his legs, trying desperately to mend the charred tissues, to fix his ruined anatomy.

"Oh, you're really trying to fix that thing?"

She aimed and fired again, and he screamed in agony, as the air filled with the cloying stench of burned meat.

"Maybe we should give it some encouraging stimulus, don't you think?"  She spread her arms out, turning about, flaunting her lush, nude body.  "Isn't she just gorgeous?  So busty and firm and golden haired..."

She tapped at her control wristband and a life-sized holographic image filled the room before his sight, an image of the very same blond woman now aiming a blaster at the fallen Skrull emperor, or one just like her.  Then the holo split in two views, spreading to cover more of the space before them, each half picturing different locations but with the same participant, all images changing in fast succession, showing different angles and distances.  Each then split into two views, spread across the room into four scenarios now, always changing, yet always displaying her, gloriously blonde and nude, each instance in different positions and with different companions.

"You wanted her so much, didn't you?  Wanted her fucked?"

His eyes were clouded with pain, with tears, but he still stared up at the holo images surrounding him.

"You should at least get to see her done.  Or the best next thing."

All holo images stabilized into a single scenario, taken from different angles, showing the blonde woman entangled in an embrace with an exact copy of her very self, one just as beautiful, spread upright by heavy, restrains, their mirrored mouths joined in a deep, sensuous kiss.

"And see it done well."

The image changed in the holos, the two women again one, as she slid provocatively over the big, rock-skinned creature stretched face-up over a bare, metal floor, her fair, bare skin contrasting with his coarse earthly hide.

"Done well, and hard, and long.  So fucking well, and hard, and long."

Dorrek moaned with mixed pain and bafflement.

"I knew you would like it.  I know I certainly did.  Every second of it."

He muttered faint, almost inaudible curses.

"And I am going to share every single moment with you, my dear husband.  Every single moment as I fucked each of these Earthlings, like this, in her shape, mostly.  For our pleasure.  Yours and mine.  But mostly mine.  And you will watch all of it, until the very end.  Until your very end."


***************************************************


At the lowest level in the Imperial complex, to the bafflement of the posted guards, the door leading to the maximum security cell block opened, despite no one being there, or no one being... visible.  

Scanner displays flashed wildly for a fraction of a second, before the security controls burst into fire, and all surveillance devices were shattered by some invisible force.

The guards scrambled in response, blandishing weapons, screaming out warnings, and reaching for communicators, but invisible rams of force slammed them brutally against the enclosing metal walls before they could accomplish anything.

Kl'rt walked past the security portal, followed by Sue Storm, both now becoming visible.

"Are they held here?  Reed, Johnny and Ben?"

"Yes."

She stepped over the bodies of the fallen guards, crumpled like refuse all around them.  "Won't this be noticed elsewhere?"

"The system will be reporting an unfortunate malfunction, to be dealt with the proper protocol by the maintenance bureaucracy under Imperial standard procedure.  That will take some time."  He turned towards her.  "More than enough."

"Enough for what?"

Their eyes met and remained locked for an extended moment.

"You said you would let me join them."

"Yes.  I did.  And you will."

Susan nodded.  "You mean to kill all of us now."

"Yes."


***************************************************


Behind the closed cell door, loud yells were suddenly drowned by the shrill sound of a blaster discharge.



***************************************************


"Wait.  You don't have to do that.  Dorrek started this war, right?  So if he's gone, does it need to continue?  There'd be no need to be enemies anymore.  You could free us, and we'd just go, I swear.  Or we could help to broker a peace with the Xandarians."

He shook his head.  "No."


***************************************************



"And why did you start that damn stupid war in the first place?  Oh, yes.  The Xandarian Suzerain.  Adora, right?"

In the holo the svelte brunette moaned and laughed, her blue-decorated eyes closed in delight as she rode furiously the young fair-haired human.

"You got us into that disastrous mess that cost us half our fleet and an absurd amount of resources all because you wanted to fuck this slut, this damned painted Xandarian harlot, and others like her.  Yes, look, look at her, look at her being fucked.  As you will never get to."

She fired at him again.


***************************************************


"But it doesn't have to happen.  It doesn't!"  Her clenched fists shook.  "Not like this!"

Kl'rt noticed how her eyes shone, how her body trembled visibly with nervous tension, her chest heaving with her anxiety, all of her so firm, lush and bouncy, so full of life in her desperate, hopeless anger.  So appealing.

It was a pity to waste her, waste such a delicious wench, but there was too much risk in delaying things without good reason, even if she seemed as good a reason as any.

But he had to do stay focused on his duty, and do as he had sworn.

It was about discipline.

"It does.  For the good of the Empire."

He raised his right hand and fire burst all around it.

She did not cower.  He liked that, liked her courage.  

Weapons were strewn on the floor before her, but even if she could use them, there would be no difference.  Not against him.

Instead, she shook her head, hands at her hips. 

"You want to blame it on us.  That's what all this is about.  That's why she took my place, looking just like me, and why you rushed me out of there, invisible.  So you could blame Dorrek's death on us.  On me."

"Someone must always be responsible."

"That's why you had the symbol put back on my uniform, too, to make me more recognizable as one of the Fantastic Four, when you restore the media feeds.  After you have killed us."

"The emperor must be avenged."

"And you will be the hero who did it."

"Someone must always take the credit, too."

"For a lie?  A fraud?  A damn fraud?  That is what you want?"

He scowled, and the fire around his hand blazed higher.  

"You have been our enemies long before this, woman.  It was just a matter of time for us to destroy you.  The time is now."

The flickering flames cast red light all around them.  

"But not like this.  We deserve better.  NOT LIKE THIS!"

"You will be given proper honors, as worthy enemies of-"

"Oh, great!  And this is what the proud Skrull race deems honorable?  To murder enemies held as helpless prisoners before slandering them?  Is that what an honorable warrior does?"  She grimaced with disgust.  "I thought better of the Skrull people.  I thought better of you."

He bristled at that.  "This is not about me."

"You are the one about to become a filthy, cowardly murderer."

"You are enemies of the Skrull Empire!  By our laws I have every right!"

"And we have fought before, fought you, personally, many times.  And each time you lost, we spared you!"

"That was your mistake.  You shouldn't have."

"But we did!  And you owe us for that.  You owe us!"

"I owe you nothing for your misguided weakness."  He aimed his flaming hand at her, trembling with anger, at her throwing his defeats in his face, at the shame of their mercy.  "Nothing!"

"You owe us at least a fighting chance!  You call yourself a warrior?  Then give us a warrior's chance to die fighting!"

"That is not mine to give!  And I already beat you in combat!"

"In a fixed match, without our full powers, and you know that well!  You would not risk facing us in a fair fight!  You don't have the courage to even fight me alone, you coward!  YOU DO NOT!"

The fire on his hand flared hotter than ever.  "YOU DARE-?"

"Yes!  I dare!  I dare you to prove me wrong!  Fight me!  Just me!  Get this thing off my neck and show me that you're not a coward!"

"NO!  This is too important!"  He quivered with barely contained fury.  "You will not goad me into-!"

"PUT THE FUCKING FIRE OUT NOW!  RIGHT NOW!"

Skrull and Earth-woman alike turned instantly towards the source of the unexpected interruption.

"PUT THAT OUT, I SAID!"

"Rich?"

To their left, standing naked in the entrance of the corridor that led to the containment cells, the young Rich Ryder dragged a portly, also undressed Skrull as a shield before him, roughly squeezing an arm around his captive's neck in a tentative choke while holding a blaster to the alien's head with his other hand.

"PUT THAT FUCKING FIRE OUT AND LAY FACE DOWN ON THE FLOOR OR THE GREEN DELIVERANCE REJECT HERE GETS HIS BRAINS LASERED OFF!"


***************************************************


Johnny stirred on his coat, irritated.

What was all that noise out there?  Why can't they let him get some rest?

He still felt like he had wrestled Ben.  And the Hulk.  Together.


***************************************************


"Ms. Richards!  I'm here to help!  We'll get out of here-!"

"Rich, no!  You need to run!  Get out!"

He stared, surprised.  What had happened to her clothes?  Her top was so short now, you could see all her stomach, so flat and toned, she must really work out all the time to look like that, and such a cute navel, too, and...  Damn, was that under-boob?  

"Get out NOW!" 

He looked up from her chest to her face, trying not to lose again his train of thought.   "Don't worry!  I-I'll keep them busy while you-!"

"No, Rich, you can't!"

His hostage muttered something and tried to squirm away.

"YOU STAY PUT, DAMN IT!  AND DON'T TRY ANYTHING!"

The big, over-muscled Skrull with one hand on fire barked out loudly in their alien gibberish, clearly pissed off, and the one he held hostage replied with a weak, hoarse voice, hands shaking as he ran his mouth off.

"SHUT UP AND DO AS SAY!"  He pressed the blaster's muzzle harder against its target.  "OR I SWEAR I'LL BLAST A BIG HOLE IN THIS SKRULL'S SKULL!"  

Had he gotten that right?  

"Rich, listen to me!  You can't face him!  Not him!  Not like this!"

He frowned, wondering what she meant.  Like what?

Then it hit him that he was butt-naked right before her and hugging an equally bared-ass green alien, too.  That did not paint a very heroic picture.  Embarrassed, he scrambled to a side, his back to the wall, dragging along the Skrull closer before him as cover for more than one reason.

"Rich!  Do as I say!  BACK OFF!"

His hostage began to again wiggle and mutter and Rich realized with further discomfort what the complaining was all about.

"WELL TOUGH IT OUT, DAMN IT!"  He had to stop looking at her completely.  It was not working out well.  Not at all.  Not now.  Instead everything was getting more awkward.  "You bastards were the ones wanting to poke me before!  SO BEAR IT AND STAY STILL!"  

The big Skrull then snarled something.

"RICH!  DON'T!  GO AWAY!  RIGHT NOW!  PLEASE!"

"Don't worry Ms. Richards, I got this, really, I already took out one back there, and I can-"

Fire blasted at them.


***************************************************


The incompetent lout fell to the ground, burning, screaming like a beast being slaughtered, failing also at dying with any dignity.

What a fucking disgrace.

What kind of pathetic excuse for a Skrull could let a powerless and barely mature human overpower and disarm him?  And even worse, take him prisoner instead?  A trained Skrull warrior?

What was happening to military standards?

Wishing he could kill the sorry vermin twice, Kl'rt strode furiously towards the human youth now scrambling on the ground, as obviously frightened as he should rightfully be.

At least the human knew how to behave for his place.


***************************************************


Rich's hostage was now thrashing wildly on the floor, roasting to a crisp right before his eyes.

He had barely jumped clear, just before the guy got lit up like a match, thankfully taking the brunt of the blast, yet Rich still felt like his skin had been nearly singed off.  He may have some serious burns all over.  Was his hair smoking?  

Damn, he could have gotten his junk charbroiled, too.

That big Skrull was really not kidding around.  When his hostage started to tremble it wasn't because he was afraid of him and the blaster.  

And where had the damn thing ended up, now?  He looked all about for it.  

He then saw the big angry green Skrull coming now for him.

"Oh, fuck.  FUCK."


***************************************************


He grabbed the Earthling youth by his thin neck and lifted him off the floor, holding up him up with one hand, disdainfully examining his weakly struggling form, and pursed his mouth after looking down at his groin.  He was barely more than a child, he confirmed with disgust.

To a side, the Skrull he had punished for his failure stopped his cries and whimpers and grew silent, his inert, charred body still smoking.

Good riddance.

Kl'rt began to squeeze.



***************************************************


Sue watched with horror as the Super-Skrull held Rich aloft by the neck.  His slender limbs flailed uselessly, his teenage body seeming so small and frail in its exposed nakedness next to the powerful muscular frame of the tall Skrull warrior.  

So small, so helpless...  So really small.


***************************************************


Kl'rt cursed.  He felt soiled, having to do this.  Like having to deal with the woman and her companions while they were powerless was not debasing enough.

She was right in that.  Yet he had to.

He tightened his hold on the neck and the human started to gurgle, his face changing color.

Behind him, Sue Storm picked up one of the dropped weapons and fired at him.


***************************************************


The dozen energy blasts flashed brightly, dissipating harmlessly on the invisible force field.

"No, no!"  She fired again and again, knowing now how it felt to be on the other side of that situation.  "NO, DAMN IT!"

The Super-Skrull turned his head to her, scowling, and extended his free arm towards her, stretching it through the distance between them with its outspread hand expanding to several times its size and taking on the rocky texture of the Thing's hide, against which all further energy blasts struck harmlessly.

The oversized hand grabbed her and slammed her bodily against the metal wall behind.  The impact made her drop her weapon.

Her enemy shook his head.  "It is no use to try to-"

Suddenly he released his grip, and Sue dropped to the floor.

Rich had grabbed the Super-Skrull's thick forearm for support and lifting his knees up, had kicked with both legs at his captor's midsection, making the Skrull stagger back and release both of his holds.  

Rich landed on his rear and scrambled for the nearest available weapon.

Sue did not attempt to the same.  Instead, while the Super-Skrull wheezed, crouched on one knee, trying to recover his breath, she ran behind them, rushing towards the corridor of the containment cells.

She had to free Reed.  And the others.  Even without powers, maybe all together, with the weapons at hand, they could...

There was a faint tingling at her neck and invisible force suddenly seized and lifted her roughly off her feet to again slam back-first against another wall, several feet above the floor, knocking out her breath.

Merely brushed by a swinging Thing-like hand-slap, Rich fell down without even a grunt.  His weapon clanged on the floor after sliding off his limp hand.

"You wanted a fight?  There was your fight."


***************************************************


Well, the ruckus out there seemed over, Johnny thought.  Perhaps he could finally get some rest.


***************************************************


Kl'rt stepped towards the young human's unmoving shape.  

"This ends now."  

"Oh, yes, your schedule.  Must stick to it, right?"  She scoffed.  "I thought you were a warrior, not a bureaucrat."

"Your pathetic taunts mean nothing to me."

"Then do it!  Kill me!"  Surely knowing it was useless, she still tried to lunge forward, struggling against the invisible force pinning her waist and limbs to the wall.  "If you're going to do it, damn it, DO IT!  Crush my throat with your force-field!  Use it to kill me!  DO IT NOW!"

He was struck by her ferocity and fearlessness.

Her hair fell, long and tangled before her flushed face and shinning eyes, her fine features lighted by the vivid force of her desperate fury behind the curtain of dirty gold as she berated him.  Her breathing, accelerated from her struggling and emotional strain, made her stomach muscles tense visibly and her chest rise and fall.  Her exertions had made her top slide up and off her ribcage to precariously stretch only over her bosom, exposing much of the fair-skinned undersides of her now heaving breasts.

"COME ON, YOU LAPDOG!  DO WHAT YOUR MASTERS HAVE ORDERED YOU!"

He stiffened.  In more than one sense.

Her challenge, her belittling of his power over her, made him bristle, made him eager to fully crush her arrogant defiance, to teach her the proper obedience due him from a defeated opponent and rightful slave, everything that could not be properly done with a mere execution, yet all this that so incensed him made her even more intensely attractive.

If only he could spare the time to properly deal with her, to teach her, teach her what was her proper place, and the rightful use of a female like her, for a real male like him.  To conquer her and make her submit as she should, as she was meant to.

If only there was time.

The invisible force released her, and she fell to the floor, to her knees.  That pleased him.

"I do what I must."

Flame burst again from his closed fist, and he aimed it at her.

"NO."  She shook her head.  "Not like that.  Use MY power, instead.  Use it on me."  

"What?"

"Use my power to do it.  That's how I want it done."

"Why should I care what you want?"

"I can tell you how to do it, if you lack the brains to figure out how.  You can choke me or crush all of me, or..."

"You cannot tell me what to do."

"Don't I get a last request?  Use my power, use invisible force, and let me fight against that, against you!  Let me go fighting at least that!"

"This is faster."

She stood up.  "Of course, use fire, then.  Let's you stay safely away, doesn't it?  So you don't have to get close to me, to a powerless woman.  One you could kill with just your own hands.  But you do not have the courage to that, either."

"My own hands?  Why should I even dirty my-?"

"To do it properly!  To stand here, face to face, with me, and look in my eyes as you do it.  As a real, honorable warrior would.  But you won't.  You're not brave enough for that!"

His fist clenched inside the flaming envelope.  "Be silent."

"Use your fire, so you can just cower at a distance, like the coward you are!"

"SILENCE I SAID!"

"Come here, get up close and shut me up if you dare!  Or are you too scared?"

"YOU CAN'T-!"

"Dorrek wasn't afraid to get his hands on me.  Oh, no.  But you're not half the man he was, are you?  In everything!"

"WHAT?"

"Even with all your powers, you are so less manly than he, so less-!"

With a roar of rage, Kl'rt rushed through the distance between them to grab her by the neck, pushing her back against the wall, his face darkened with anger.  

"DO NOT DARE TO COMPARE ME TO THAT SCUM!"

"Then... show me!"  His hold on her neck made speaking difficult.  

His grip tightened as he leaned even closer.  

"Just what did Dorrek show you?  While he held you bound in chains to use as his sex toy?  Respect?  Compassion?  What?"  

"And you... hold me... to kill me... and use me... as a decoy... for murder.  That's... respect?"

Frowning, he drew back, his grip on her neck loosening just enough to allow her to breathe normally again.

"He wanted you chained and whipped and broken, readied to be fucked.  Did you like that so much better?"

"At least he gave me a choice!"

"A choice?"

"Yes, he did.  Back at the bath, right before you, remember?  The choice to help my loved ones stay alive by accepting his intentions towards me.  Of course I hated it.  But I took that chance he offered.  The chance to bear whatever he did to me, and survive.  Are you giving me such a chance?  ARE YOU?"

"I can't!  That's not my choice to make!"

"Not yours, no.  But it was his!  HIS!  And he made it!  That was his power!  To do what he wanted!  To have what he wanted!  Even me!  But you can't.  Unlike him.  You would not even dare try."

"That isn't-!"
  
"That's why he got to be emperor.  Why he got to have me, to do with me as he chose.  Because he could.  And he did.  But you can't!  And won't!"  She smiled mockingly.  "It's not your choice to make!"

His hand on her neck quivered with barely restrained anger.  "Shut up."

"THAT's why he was so much better!  So much MORE than you could ever be!" 

"SHUT!  UP!"

Violently, he lifted her whole body up by the neck, high off the floor.  She grabbed his out-stretched arm as her feet flailed, uselessly seeking support on the smooth metal wall behind her.  

"I could," he snarled through gritted teeth, his grip tightening viciously.  "I could show you.  Show you how wrong you are..."

Her voice was a hoarse rasp.  "Then...  do it...  Show me."

Her open lips trembled as she fought for breath, and her face was flushed red with her distress, framed by the long golden hair in wild disarray.  Her whole body shook as she squirmed, fleshy curves jiggling with her frantic efforts, just before him.  

So close before him.

No.  He had a duty.  To his people.  

It could ruin everything.

He could lose so much.  The new position.  The new status.  And Anelle.  Beautiful, sweet Anelle.  Who he had wanted for so long.  So damn long.  Always out of his reach.  Always denied to him.  Denied.  
	
Just like this Earthling who had also evaded his grasp for so long, who had mocked him, belittled him, and made him seem lesser even than...

Less than...

Silent at last while struggling for air, she still stared back at him defiantly, her eyes daring him, repeating her challenge.

To do it.  To show her.

He could.  Show her.  Prove her wrong.  Prove it to her.  To himself.  Once and for all.

Fuck Dorrek, the worthless scum.

And fuck her.



***************************************************


She crouched low over him, to speak at him up close, in a soft, intimate voice.

"And how about I show you Anelle?  Yes, our Anelle, our lovely Anelle, our dear daughter.  Look.  Look at her."  

The holographic images changed.

"Never mind him.  He tries so hard, so earnestly, it is just endearing.  But doesn't it look just like her?  Our lovely Anelle?  Kissing him?  Fucking him?"

 

***************************************************


His grip relaxed, letting her gulp in air, and lowered her down so her feet found the floor, releasing her neck, but before she could even try to move away, he seized both her wrists and roughly spread her arms out, horizontally, against the wall, stepping forward, closer to her.

She looked up.  He towered over her, his dark, deep-set eyes shadowed under the furrowed brow.  His torso brushed her high chest as it rose and fell with each nervous breath.

"You asked for it."  

He lunged downwards, his mouth towards hers.  



***************************************************


"You ever imagined Anelle like that?  Doing that?  Looking so cute and innocent while being fucked?  Fucked hard, fucked up every hole?  Just like that?   Did you?  Imagine it?  Wanted it?  Wanted her?  Tried to have her?  Didn't I have to take her away, keep her locked up, secluded, for years, like a prisoner, just to keep her away from your disgusting hands, you damn bastard?  Keep my daughter away from your...  Oh, look at that.  Just as we were speaking, it comes up."

She stood up, looking down with disgust.

"Just in time, too."

The blaster fired again.


***************************************************


Sue turned her face away and shot a knee up, right between his legs, but it was like hitting rock, hurting her instead.  A desperate stomp on his foot proved equally useless.  Paying little heed to her attempt to fight him off, he went again for her mouth, and she twisted to avoid him, struggling to free her arms and squirm free, but he was too strong.  His hands felt huge, clasped around her wrists, and his body pressed heavily against her, solidly limiting her motions with sheer physical size, making her feel almost child-like in her impotence.

With a minimal shrug, he tugged her slightly towards him and pushed her back against the wall, slamming onto its hard surface.  As she gasped, his mouth found hers, the corrugated green lips rubbing with pent-up ferocity against her soft, rosy ones, forcing them to open, to grant access to his thick, coarse tongue.

She bit hard at the meaty intrusion, repeatedly, but it yielded, pliable under her teeth, unharmed, and twisted and stretched, probing down her still sore throat, much deeper than anything human ever could.  The muffling obstruction even kept her from crying out in sheer anger and frustration.

She could not hurt him.  Or even annoy him.  It was far too easy for him to turn rock-hard or rubbery before anything she could try.  Even without duplicating any of the powers of the Fantastic Four, just with his Skrull shape-shifting and massive muscular build, she had no chance.  Not against him.  Not that this.  Not without her own powers.

Why was she even trying to fight at all?  To ease her conscience?  To show she had least tried?  To put up at least a token resistance, useless as she knew it was?  But what else could she do?  What?

It was such a different feeling of helplessness than before, back when she was chained and tortured by Dorrek.  Now captor and restrains were not separate entities, but a singular oppressive threat, inescapable as gravity, more solid and immovable than the metal wall against which she was pinned.

He broke his rough, sloppy kiss and went for her neck.  She grimaced and muttered a curse, while he nibbled at her earlobe, as if mocking her biting attempts.

He was right.  She had asked for it.  For a chance.

A chance to do something.  Anything.  Unlike with Dorrek, she was mere steps away from Reed and the others.  It would only take one opening, one chance.  She had to find a way.  She had to keep him angry, unbalanced, so he would make mistakes.  Use what got best to him.

"Was that the best you could do?  Really?  Dorrek did it so much better."

He instantly drew back, glaring.

"You were there, you saw it.  Saw how he kissed me.  Kissed me so much better than you.  So much it almost made me..."

With fury in his eyes, he lunged at her.  

For an instant she wondered if she had pushed too far.


***************************************************


"What happened?  Are you no longer interested?"  She laughed loudly.  "Come on, look up. Let me shift these angles for you.  Look now at it from this view.   Yes, go on, look.  Look at that big craggy cock going in so deep.  So fucking deep.  Oh, wait, what is this?"

She held aloft a golden cylinder.

"See what I just found!"



***************************************************


He stopped, his face fractionally away from hers, his jaw tensed, his teeth gritted, his dark eyes blazing, focused on the bold challenge in her own.

Abruptly, he leaned down to her side, towards her outstretched arm, to bite low on her bicep.  He then bit higher on her upper arm, twice, and then on her shoulder, each bite short and rough, before his mouth moved to her upper chest, to the visible bump where her nipple pushed at the top's stretchy fabric.  His lips nudged the firm nub through the material covering it, and then left it to move higher, to bite first at her left shoulder, and then at her other outstretched arm, reaching just above the elbow.  Retreating with further bites, his mouth brushed at her other covered nipple.

Both now poked out much more visibly.

Her top had slid up even higher on her bosom, ending in a taut line not far below where the twin points poked stiffly through the tight fabric, symmetrically flanking that long-hated symbol centered on it.  Underneath that line the pale-pink surface of much of the rounded undersides of her teats was visible.

Still holding her arms wide apart, he leaned down to kiss at that exposed flesh, where the teats settled on her torso, covering their curvature with quick pecks, darting licks, and a brisk nibble or two.

Moving again to her upper chest, his teeth finally closed on one of the two nubs protruding from the taut blue surface, biting through the fabric to worry the firmness underneath.  It pleased him to feel the nipple grow harder as he tugged and rotated it, leaving a moist stain highlighting its location when he shifted to deal equally with its twin.

Once he judged her nipples were fully erect and could already feel her squirm with his every bite, he drew back and glanced at her obviously flustered face, pleased to see her defiance wavering.

He then kissed again the nagging bitch.

To show her.


***************************************************



His kiss was different now, much slower and deeper, not losing any of its previous urgency, but taking care to savor her with single-minded devotion, with a relentless ferocity that could brook no resistance or reserve.  

He was not tender, caring, or loving.  It was not playful or pleasant.  It was not even the seductive oral teasing and taunting from Dorrek which had to her bafflement somehow taken her from shock and distaste to uneasy endurance, then reluctant acceptance and ultimately to embarrassingly full participation.  Instead of such that slow, skillful taunting for indulgence, for guilty complicity in the shared caress and its erotic tension, the kiss from the Super-Skrull was rather a stark demand for total acquiescence, for passive, unconditional yielding to its power.  To his power.

So different.  From Dorrek.  Or her husband.  Or Namor.  Or anyone else, really.  

It quickly escalated into the equivalent of the complete domination of an enemy territory.  Of her.

She tried to struggle, squirming against him.  

Her arms tensed and strained over her head, and her legs shifted and bent up and straightened, and her heels rose for her to stretch up in either alternating or joint tip-toes.

Slowly, her arms had moved upward from the horizontal in lazily arching paths, until they were folded above her head, his strong hands still holding her wrists, so his thick, muscular arms pinned them there while framing the joining of their faces, of their mouths, of lips and tongues.  Had she lifted them?  Or had he?  She could not tell.  It had just happened.

For an instant she felt dizzy.  It had to be lack of air, as his mouth and tongue overwhelmed her so forcefully she could not really breathe.  When his mouth moved momentarily to her neck, just at her hairline, she nervously jerked her face aside, pressing it against her raised arm, and gasped loudly.  Yet her gasp held an hint of moaning.

He pulled back with a grunt, his torso expanding and contracting powerfully, matched by hers in a bouncy way.

Her eyes took several seconds to open, her long lashes fluttering, fast and nervous, much like her breathing.

"You are no longer complaining."  It was not a question.

She hesitated.  What should she say?  How honest could she be?  With him?  With herself?

About its effect, or her reaction?

Could it be a Skrull thing?  Because of their shape-changing powers?  Did their mouths and tongues change and adapt to best match and mesh with hers?  Was that what made them such...  memorable, formidable kissers?

Could that also...?

"Dorrek did not kiss me only on my mouth."



***************************************************


The moan was too low to be audible.  The stirring too weak to be noticed.

The lingering pain beckoned Rich back to consciousness, however unsuccessfully.


***************************************************


Apparently heeding the hint, he went down, lower than before.

But unlike what Sue had anticipated, he did not release her arms.

Instead, his arms stretched as he crouched before her, keeping his grip on her wrists, the resemblance to Reed's stretching giving her a pang of discomfort.  He kissed her exposed stomach and moved down, going from the bared skin there to the slow-slung waistline of her leggings, and then even lower.  Quick pecks brought him just above her mound.

He then detoured to her side, and he began to kiss at her upper thigh.

She could have kneed his face then, but knew it could just anger him.  She had to hold back, to endure what was happening, what he was doing, to her, until it could really make a difference.  Until it happened. 

He finally removed one of his hands from her arms, but his oversized left hand was enough to hold with ease both wrists at once, while his right hand went to her now trembling left leg, to run over it length in parallel to his continuous kisses on her right.  As his hand rose along her leg, approaching her pubis, she stiffened nervously, but it slid right over it, not lingering more than a pair of seconds, moving instead up, over her tense midsection, and onto her chest.  

His mouth followed his hand's lead, also stopping right before the junction of her legs, and for a moment his lower face threateningly pressed forward, but then he drew back and stood up. 

His hand rested over her upper chest, palm down, large fingers spread broadly over the circular emblem there, alien green over the dark-blue lines and white background of the Fantastic Four logo, covering it almost completely.

He let his hand linger there, with the symbol of the hated Earthling Four under his hand, just as they had been, fallen before him, before his power, just as she now was, and as she would end.

It was fitting.


***************************************************


She thought he would tear away her outfit's logo, as before, in the judgment arena, but he just increased the pressure of his hand on it, flattening her breasts forcefully against her torso, before reaching to grab and squeeze her left one so forcefully she did not notice that his other hand had released her wrists until it grabbed her other breast with equally cruel strength.

She immediately tried to move her arms, but could not budge them, held by something she could not see.

Invisible force.

She closed her eyes and frowned, while the Super-Skrull eagerly bunched her breasts together from the sides, kneading, pushing and tugging them roughly, his large hands encompassing almost all their curvature, only leaving uncovered the circular Fantastic Four emblem at the center, now framed between his hands like a target, a focus of all that he sought to batter and crush into submission.

She winced and squirmed with discomfort and frustration.  

Unrelenting in his kneading, he seized her nipples between his respective thumb and index fingers, twisting each rigid nub through the resilient fabric, with enough force to have torn a lesser kind of material.

"OW!  Not...  so rough!"

She instantly regretted her words.  His touch actually became more aggressive.

He roughly cupped each breast from below, his fingers digging into the bared flesh where her top no longer covered, squeezing, lifting, pushing them together from the sides, maximizing her lower cleavage.  There both his thumbs pushed up, along the deep cleft formed, under the taut lower edge of her top.  While his hands kneaded insistently, each thumb rubbed sideways, back and forth under that border, and pushing up, so the top began to inch higher and higher, until he was consistently grazing each nipple and the lower part of their aureoles became visible.

With greater force, he pushed upward at the center of her chest, tugging the top's lower edge into a stretched, inverted v-shape, lifting up with it her tightly-packed breasts, the top's slipping edge revealing more and more of their fullness, until even the highly adaptive fabric of unstable molecules reached a critical point and both globes were abruptly released, spilled out to jostle and bounce freely, while her top rolled up and contracted to gather just below her collarbones.


***************************************************


He had to lie to R'Klll, of course.  She was vain about those things.

While buxom herself, and highly skilled in her shifting, the empress had not really duplicated perfectly the Earth-woman's breasts, not with the right balance between the round and the conical, that pert teardrop-like shape thrusting outward so proudly, so pleasingly big, but not so big they became excessive, either.

Along with her exotic hair and eye coloring, those exceptional teats were to him the Richards woman's most outstanding features, and now they rose and fell fetchingly with her nervous breathing, fully bare, their rosy nipples hard and pointing proud at him. 

So beautiful.  So tempting.

With a brisk motion he slapped at them, making both teats violently jump to a side, making her cry out with pain.

Then his backhand slapped them in the other direction.


***************************************************


In sweeping arcs, at a steady pace, each stroke found its target, again and again, delivering its message of pain and retribution.

Though nerves inflamed painfully on its touch, the neuronic whip left no marks.  But nothing was perfect.


***************************************************


Pain still pulsed from the slaps on her breasts when he lunged to bite at a bare nipple.


***************************************************


The whip flashed, repeatedly, coursing the air, just as its echoes coursed flesh.


***************************************************


His mouth and hands worked on her chest, squeezing, licking, sucking, and biting with relish.  When he pulled back, both breasts were coated with saliva, the pink flesh spotted with reddish bite and suction marks.  Her nipples ached, sore, painfully erect.

His mouth moved lower, over her abdomen, and down to the junction of her legs, stopping before her mound.  He bit at her thighs twice, before diving for her crotch, surprising her with the feeling of his coarse tongue, intensely noticeably even through the material covering her private parts.

His tongue worked hungrily over her, fast and strong, inhumanly long and flexible.  The cloth there was soon drenched in wetness, wetness that she doubted she could blame alone on his saliva.

Abruptly, he stood up, and the hold on her arms loosened for an instant, before she was brusquely turned about to face the wall, her arms forced to spread wide apart, pinned to the metal surface by invisible force, applied equally on each of her wrists.

He pressed bodily against her, so much taller and thicker, his hips rocking and grinding, the rigid pressure against her rear end impossible to miss.  His face nuzzled at her hair, while his hands moved over her outstretched arms, then down the sides of her torso, hips, and the long, nervously shifting legs, using his stretching power to expand his reach and grasp as he groped her all over, leaving reddish marks on her skin.

He bit at her shoulder, at her back, and after moving lower, at her rear.

Her buttocks tensed as his teeth dug on her flesh through the fabric, instinctive clenching making them even harder and rounder before him.  His bites seemed to seize much more of her curved posterior than any normal mouth ever could, even a Skrull one.  Could he be also expanding his mouth to get bigger mouthfuls of her?

His bites became more aggressive the lower he went, lingering where her cheeks met her upper thighs.  His hands held her legs in place, rubbing their muscular lengths through her pants, traveling up to her buttocks, his palms and fingers stretching to encompass each round cheek in an impossibly wide handful, kneading and spreading them for his mouth to dive between, to taste her from behind through the fabric cover.

Her legs soon became as unstable as the molecules making up her outfit.

Her torso arched and her hips rocked and undulated.

To her surprise, his tongue extended and rose, snake-like, up her front, before her mound, to hook over the front of her waistline and then slide there, reaching back and down, a corrugated oral tentacle seeking access to her most sensitive parts, to her most private core.  The questing appendage explored her with irresistible strength, parting her folds and probing the entrance to her sex.

Sue gasped as it found the spot, and blushed fiercely at the loudness of her voice, and the tension in her body, in her hips, legs and rear, tension that his kneading hands surely registered.

Straining against the force on her wrists, she threw her head back, whimpering softly, her long hair cascading lower down her back.  One of his hands rose over her arched torso to seize one breast from behind, a green lengthening shadow over her fair skin.

Despite teasing her about it, his tongue did not enter her, but instead looped back even more, sliding all the way between her trembling cheeks, to finally peek out from the rear of her pants, and hook slightly over the rear edge of her waistband.  After much more insistent rubbing in that position, pressing hard all along her with its wet yet rough length, the tongue began to tug down forcefully, making her pants start to slide down her hips at each abrupt jerking motion, pulled down from her very crotch by the alien member.

Her pants were tugged mid-way down her spread upper legs, the blue fabric stretched tautly between her thick, toned thighs, his head, smooth green under its black skullcap, dove again to nestle at the base of her pale, trembling buttocks, and his even darker green tongue rushed to probe deep between her swollen bright-pink labia. 

Her footing shifted. Her hands opened and closed nervously.  Her hair swung with her head still thrown back, her mouth open with a constant flow of gasps and soft cries that she could not hold back anymore.

No normal tongue could move that way, or reach so far, so deep.  It had to certainly be a Skrull thing.

Dorrek had flaunted more skill, doing things to her that made even Tigra seem tame, but his tongue had not been so physically astonishing, not like this, in its range and power, in everything.  Everything.

More than once in the past she had shyly suggested to Reed stretching his tongue while giving her oral sex, but had been too embarrassed to insist too much, to ask for too much, to need too much.

Now this was just that:  Too much.  Way too much.  Too much to take, to resist. 

She tensed and squirmed, fighting against her invisible force bindings.

There had to be something she could do.  To make it happen.  Make him give her what she needed.

But she could not.  Not like this.  No.  Not yet.


***************************************************


After a last weak discharge, it faded completely, finally exhausted, spent after the constant, steady use.

She let the now-dead neuronic whip fall to the floor, no longer useful.


***************************************************


The Super-Skrull stood up, his hand on her rear, his thumb sliding along the crevice between her buttocks.  

Her now full nakedness making her feel more vulnerable before him, and then his hardness became more noticeable than ever.

Anger and shame and fear struck her at once, making her fidget nervously.  Dorrek had also wanted it that way.  Wanted her that way.  It made her feel even more vulnerable.

"No.  Not like that.  Not now.  Not... yet."

"Yes.  Like this."  He slapped her behind, hard.  "Now."

"Wait!"

He spanked her again, harder, making the firm cheek flesh shake, leaving bright red marks on her pale buttocks.  "No.  No more delays."

"Not from behind.  Not-"

His third spank made her cry out louder, throwing her hips sideways.

"You have no say in-"

"Not... without seeing you," she gasped.

"What?"

"Seeing you.  I...  I want to see you.  Face you.  Please.  While you...  Please?"

He smiled.

She was finally recognizing what her place was.


***************************************************


What?  Where?

Confused, struggling to clear his mind, Rich flailed weakly about him for support, trying to rise, but his hand failed him, and he collapsed, again unconscious.


***************************************************


The Super-Skrull turned Sue around, and his smoldering dark green eyes locked onto her liquid blue ones.  No words were spoken as his hand stretched to violently tug her pants the rest of the way down, to gather around her ankles.

Without looking away from him, she wiggled and stepped out of the fallen clothes, before kicking that aside, leaving her whole lower body uncovered except for her boots, her fair skin exposed fully to his hungry eyes.

Her stomach tensed with a hurried pace.  

Moisture glistened on the trimmed golden fuzz on her pubis.

Invisible force suddenly seized her waist and ankles, like that already holding her wrists, and she was hoisted several inches off the floor and set again with her back against the wall, limbs kept spread wide apart.

She tensed.  No.  She couldn't.  Not now.  Not yet.  She couldn't.

He pulled down at the lower part of his purple and black clothes, enough to release his member.

It sprang up, hard and green, and big, very big, its massive swollen head deeply coursed by ugly corrugations almost to its tip.

Sue felt the blood leave her face, startled by his size, his girth, his length, the very inhuman visual impact of it.

That was certainly a Skrull thing, too.


***************************************************


"What?  You did not enjoy that?  What a pity.  Well, back to this, then."

R'Klll lifted again her blaster.


***************************************************


The invisible force seizing her wrists and ankles was small, almost mockingly so.

Yet she could not break free.  

She struggled with all her strength, but was not enough.  Nowhere enough.  

The Super-Skrull stepped ominously towards her, his monstrous penis oscillating before him, green and hard, and she trembled with rising panic.

Unless something happened, something unexpected, some kind of miracle, even, he was going to rape her.  An alien enemy was going to rape her.  Rape her completely.  Rape her all the way.

How could it be happening?  How?

She was a heroine, a strong, independent woman.  It could not be.  Not now.  Not here.  Not like this.  Not at all!

But she had known from the very start that it could happen.  She took risks.   As an adventurer, as a fighter, as a heroine.  It had always been a danger.

But it was one she had always escaped, always surmounted.

How many close calls had she known before?  How many times was she threatened by foes who wanted her sexually?  The Mole Man, Attuma, Rama-Tut...  Even the Dragon-Man!  So many enemies had wanted into her panties at some time or another!  And how many had come too close for comfort?  Even before Dorrek?

Yet she had always gotten away, generally untouched, after just some leering and threats, some groping at the most.  Each time she had either proved capable of defending herself, or she had been saved in time by Reed or Ben or even Johnny.  

But she could no longer expect their help in this.  Not now, not this time.

Back in Dorrek's playroom she had been forced to face the idea that this time may be different, that the odds had finally caught up with her.  She had been at Dorrek's mercy and he had shown her none.  Yet despite everything, despite how far he had gotten with her, how close it had been to being fully in her, she had still been spared the full ordeal, at the very last moment, just before it had been too late.  Just before...  It had happened as it could have.  She had held onto that.

But now she was facing again the reality of her helplessness.  The very solid reality now quivering before her.   And now it was going to happen.  

At last, she was going to be raped.  Fully.  Completely.  Without reprieve.  

This dangerous fiend before her, this rabid enemy of the Fantastic Four, was going to shove his big green alien cock inside her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him, to stop it.

She trembled, with fear, and despair.  How could she bear it?  How could she take it?  How?

How could she ever face Reed afterwards?  

Would there even be an afterwards?  What if...?

She closed her eyes and steeled herself.

She could not crumble.  Not now.  She had to endure it.  Endure all of it.

After all, she had already had an enemy's penis inside her before, hadn't she?  She had already had full sex with an enemy once, while already married to Reed.  But it had not been the same, had it?  That time with the Brute?  She had not known that he was an evil version of Reed from another dimension, that he was supplanting HER Reed.  Not before having already shared a bed.  And many other places, too.  Yet she had been forced to cheat on Reed... with another Reed.  

Could that be called being unfaithful?  She had been deceived into sex under false pretenses.  Shouldn't that be considered rape?  Even if she had participated willingly?  Even if despite her misgivings at the obvious, the startling differences with their usual intercourse, she never really tried to stop it?  

She had never considered it could not be her husband, not until the very end, after she had already climaxed several times, and the Brute finally took on his monstrous shape, revealing himself.  He had tried to have her again like that, in that shape.  It had been mostly luck that she had escaped him then.  But it had been close.  Too close.  And she had felt so guilty afterwards.  About what had happened.  And about wondering what more could have happened.  

To her shame, she had enjoyed being raped, then.  By her own husband.  Or close to it.  It had been complicated.  

But now there were no such caveats, no technicalities, no subtleties to debate.  This man, or alien, who was not her husband in any way, was about to take her.  To rape her.

She trembled with desperation, with panic, wanting to escape, to scramble up the wall, to get away from what was coming to her, but it was no use.

There were no last minute rescues at hand.  

It would happen.  Now.


***************************************************


He wanted his hands free, so invisible force lifted and spread apart her legs, exposing to his eyes the fullness of her treasure, the soft moist folds nestled under a wedge of golden down that pointed at his target.

She was here, now, for him.  Not any others, not that most hated other, but him.  And only him.

He nearly shook with the tension of anticipation, with his long-delayed, his pent-up need.

There would be no more delays.  No more excuses.

It would happen.  Now.


***************************************************


Invisible force at her wrists limited her squirming, so she could not escape the swollen head pressed under her equally swollen labia.

Massive and hard, the corrugations on its dark green surface were much like those on his Skrull face, making it seem even more monstrous and alien than what its size and color already established.

She held her breath, shaking, tears threatening to stream from her eyes.

She could not stop it.  She could not.  Reed had to understand that.  She had to understand that.  

Then he thrust forward.  Hard.  Deep.  Into her.


***************************************************


In his cell, Reed Richards slept.  


***************************************************


It happened in just an instant.

In a single fluid thrust of irresistible power, Susan Storm, the Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four, was brutally penetrated by her Skrull enemy's massive alien cock. 

Her body seemed nothing more than an echo around that singular focused point of pain, unbearable pain that seemed to split her in twain.  

She gasped voicelessly as the massive shaft slid past her gate and her vaginal muscles closed desperately behind the lip of his enormous glans, her whole body shuddering violently as her tight depths were stuffed full of his hard, thick length, so full that she could not breathe, much less move, paralyzed by the sudden shock of the invasive pain, by the outrageous piercing assault at her core, that kept her pinned down, stuck bodily into place, ruthlessly impaled by all of the Super-Skrull's inhumanly large phallus.


***************************************************


She was even tighter than he had ever dreamed about, tighter than any Shi'Ar or Kree or Sakaaran or Krylorian.  Tighter than any female he had ever known, regardless of species.  So tight and wet and hot it almost proved too much of an aching delight to feel her, to have her, around him.  

He did not want this single moment to end, to rush past and be lost.  

The moment of his greatest triumph yet, of his greatest conquest.


***************************************************


What so many mighty enemies had sought but never achieved, what some had at most managed to only get close to, the Super-Skrull had at last taken completely, stolen from her without any possible caveat.  

This alien enemy, this most dangerous representative of a full race of equally antagonistic beings, this deadly, dark reflection of the very Fantastic Four, had finally done what no one else before had, until now.  He had taken her, claiming her body as his. 

He had raped her.

Tears filled her eyes.



***************************************************



It was a good thing to defeat his most hated foes in combat, but this, to claim and take and own like this their most delectable prize, their most valuable asset, and hear her moan and cry her lamentations, her surrender, this had no equal.  This was the best there ever was.

Fuck.  Yes.


***************************************************



It hurt.  Hurt so much.  So much.  

How much could she take?  How much more?

To her shame, she had been wet, already.  Very wet.  So wet she had thought she was ready.  For him.  For it.  For anything.  

But she hadn't.  Not really.  Not enough.  Nowhere enough. 

She found her voice and put it to use, to loud, continuous use.



***************************************************


He enjoyed her distress, her pain, her helplessness.

The damn Earthling Four had been his enemies for so long, enemies of his whole kind, a constant obstacle for Skrull ambitions, the constant thorn in the side of Skrull pride.  His Skrull pride.

Along with her hated companions, she had long defied him, personally.  In combat and much more.  

How often he had wanted her, for her beauty, her exotic fair beauty that drove him mad with desire, yet was so long denied to him.  Too long.  

It was fitting that she belong to him now, at last, just as was fitting that she be punished, for her defiance, her taunting, her remaining so long out of his grasp, her refusal to yield to him the pleasure of her tight Earthling cunt, of her soft pink flesh spread open to his power, to his cock, as it should.

She had to pay, pay with her pain, pay with her tears.

But he soon realized that she was too tight, even tighter than he had ever fantasized about, but far too tight to receive him properly, not as she should, not as he wanted, not without severely damaging her, and ruining her too soon, far too soon.

So he focused, making his penis thinner, reducing its girth partially as it withdrew and then returned to her depths, so it could enter her with more ease, so it could reach deeper into her.

Once he had buried most of its length deep into her, he let it revert to its full thickness, expanding drastically inside her, and did the same with each thrust, his phallus pulsing with its change of size in each aggressive stroke, becoming its thickest at the point of deepest penetration, letting her rhythmically stretch and contract around him, her bright pink softness wrapped around his dark green hardness, her Earthling surrender before his Skrull supremacy.



***************************************************


He was too rough, too violent.  Much more than Dorrek had been.  And he felt almost as huge.  And thick.  

It felt even thicker with each further inch he buried into her.  Buried deep, so deep.  So much deeper than she had ever had before.

How could they even be so big?  So huge?  So monstrously huge?  

Could all Skrull cocks be like that?  So big?  So thick?  So hard?  Hard to take?  To resist?

Her legs were lifted high, stretched stiff against his shoulders, as he pounded at her, faster and faster.  Her back was against the wall, each thrust flattening her violently against the hard surface, almost as hard as the monstrous thing piercing her, battering her with his vast strength, his enormous alien power.

She began to cry out loudly with each thrust.



***************************************************


Good.  She should scream.  Scream all she wanted.  All she needed.

He liked that.



***************************************************



"FUCK!  OH-FUCK!  FUUUUCK-!  OH-FU-UK!"

She rarely ever used profanity.  Not even during sex.  But nothing else would fit now, just as nothing else had ever fit her just like now.



***************************************************


He smiled at her words, her implicit encouragement, and thrust harder, faster, his cock swelling even larger upon each violent shove.

She was delicious to fuck.  Delicious like no other he had ever known.  The comparison was even unnerving.  Could Anelle ever be even half as good?  Could anyone?

Would he be doomed to forever settle for much lesser afterwards?  

After he had killed her?


***************************************************


"Are you crying?  Really?  Already?"

The blaster fired again.


***************************************************


Tears rolled down her face.

Even as she cried and gasped and moaned, Sue begged for forgiveness, for release, from all this, from the pain, and the guilt, and the pleasure.  Particularly the pleasure.

She did not want it, she was aghast at it, at how much of it there was, at how intense and vast and overwhelming it was, and how it was still growing and growing, inside her, over her.  More than she had ever known, or believed that could ever exist.

She was afraid of it.  So afraid.

The pleasure.  That was her enemy now.  Again.


***************************************************


He groaned and grunted loudly, and the metal wall behind them clanged loudly with each impact of their loins.  The noise echoed through the enclosed space, the noise of the frantic coupling between the captive Earth heroine and her ruthless Skrull ravisher.


***************************************************


What, again?

Johnny sat up, furious.  Was there no way to have some quiet here?


***************************************************


Two paces away, one of the Skrull guards stirred.  Shaking his head, and fighting numb limbs, he tried to rise to his knees.

Without turning about or stopping his frenzied thrusting, Kl'rt struck out with a wedge of invisible force, slamming the guard face-first against the floor, again rendering him unconscious, at the least.


***************************************************


Suddenly, her cries halted and she shuddered against him, around him, her mouth trembling yet uttering nothing but choked gasps.

But he just kept pounding her.  It was no real release, no relief.  

It would not be over, not so easily.  Not so fast.  Not yet.


***************************************************



He felt her tension rise and peak, then begin to ebb, to fade weakly into unconsciousness.

That would not do.

She had to stay conscious, to remain completely aware during every second of his full conquest.  His victory.  Over her, the vaunted Invisible Girl of the hated Fantastic Four, over everything they stood for, everything they represented, and everything she was.   

He would not let her off that easily. 

He pulled her away from the wall and threw her over the nearest console.  Her trembling body landed sideways, and he thrust powerfully into her for several long minutes in that position, before lifting one of her legs up, high against his chest, spreading her to reach deeper to her.  But she had wanted to face him, hadn't she?  

He grabbed at the bunched cloth over her chest, his fist closing where it folded and distorted the once proud symbol of the hated Four, now pushed up, obscured into meaninglessness, as it should.  Pulling her up by the fistful of fabric, he turned her up to face him, his invisible force hold on her legs spreading both wide apart, to give him a full unobstructed view of her, so he could see her breasts shake and jostle fluidly with the motions of his loins, their lush roundness elongating back and forth in the direction of his pumping.  He slapped at those tempting targets, making them move more violently, before grabbing her hips with both hands, pulling her harder against him, while his thrusts also grew in power, forcing her breasts to move even more each second, with his eyes fixed on their frenzied dance.

Under their frantic motions, the damaged console displays lighted up and beeped a loud cacophony of electronic protests.


***************************************************


The screams continued, on and on.


***************************************************


Her eyes began to roll, her gasps becoming fainter and fainter, so once again he had to ensure her wakefulness.

Firmly, he grabbed her breasts, one in each wide-stretched hand, and used these handholds on her firm flesh to pull her even more violently against him, tugging forcefully on both as he thrust with savage glee, ignoring her cries of pain and hoarse protests.

Lifting her off the console, he jerked her to a side and slammed her onto a nearby utility bench, scattering packets of ammunition and various sets of restraining devices, quickly returning to thrusting in earnest.

Her head shook wildly from side to side.  Her voice rose higher, and louder.


***************************************************


The screams rose momentarily after each new blaster discharge, only to again decrease, beginning to weaken, to fade away.


***************************************************


He had lifted her once more to slam her over yet another control console, each impact a call to attention, a signal that the fight had to go on.

But her struggles again weakened.  She could not stand much more.  

She had been through too much: The fight in the judgment arena, the extended bondage and cruel deprivation and tease and more under Dorrek, and now the violent abuse of the Super-Skrull, had all taken its toll.  

She needed to stay strong, to focus, to endure, but exhaustion sapped her strength, and her cries were subsiding into halting, weak whimpers.

It had to happen.  It had to.  Now.  It was her only choice.

Her only way out.

"I can't...  I can't...  It's too much.  Too much.  I can't take it.  Can't take it.  Not this much.  Not much longer.  You-You're going to kill me.  Kill me.  Like this.  Do it..."

He grimaced, and nodded.


***************************************************


He had to.  There was no other way.

It pained him, now more than ever, now that he knew how exceptional she truly was as a fuck.  How delicious she was to possess.  How tempting it was to want to keep her.  Keep her as his own.

But he had to do what he had sworn to do.  For the greater good.

Even if it meant wasting her, his greatest prize ever.  Wasting such a great fuck.

Such a damn waste.


***************************************************


"Do it.  Better.  Like this.  Do it.  My neck.  Finish.  Finish me."  

"What?"

"Finish me.  Let me.  Go.  Like this.  Choke me.  Hard.  End it.  Choke... me..."

He hesitated.  For a moment, his thrusting relented and his grip on her breasts became uncertain.  Then he nodded, grimly, and his thrusting resumed its pace.  His hands shifted but did not move away.

Instead, he focused, and invisible force shaped into a vice-like hold around her slender neck.  So he could still see her.  See her fair face reddening under the pressure, her golden hair spread behind her, her body shuddering with her last throes.  For him to see.  See to the end.

He knew some who practiced partial asphyxiation as part of sex, but he had never indulged in it personally.  Until now.

It would do.

It excited him even more, to think what would happen, how it would happen.  To think about her, taken to the brink in every sense, by his power, by his will, under him, even as he finished with her, finishing her.

With each lunge of his hips his invisible force tightened more around her throat, squeezing, as his hands squeezed her breasts.

Harder and harder.


***************************************************


Her face reddened and her eyes closed shut, brow furrowed with tension.

It hurt.  Hurt.  So much.  The pressure.  The tightness.

But it was close now.  Close.  She felt it.  Almost there.  Almost.

She tried to think of nothing else.  But it was so hard.  So hard.  So damn hard.

But she had to.  She had to take it.  Take it.  Use it.

And then it would be over.



***************************************************


It would not last much longer.  It could not.

There was barely a lingering tremor now.


***************************************************



He roared loudly and thrust with all his power, driving himself to the hilt into her, while he squeezed harder and harder, with hands and mind alike.

Her whole body began to tremble, all over, her mouth gaping wide open, and she tensed under him, around him, with greater intensity than ever before, in the throes of her final gasps, making him even more inflamed, rushing even closer to his own culmination.

He felt his member hit bottom, striking her cervix violently, and his grips on her, both visible and not, tightened more viciously than ever, throbbing with the start of his explosive climax.

And then it was over.


***************************************************


Invisible force exploded with such violence that the walls all around were visibly dented, particularly where the Super-Skrull hit, thrown with rocket-like speed, even as he shot bursts of fluid from his loins, the powerful jets of dense, milky liquid seeming to propel him through the air against the metal in that instant when it all happened.

He collapsed to the floor, the wall he had struck dented in his wake as deeply as if a giant fist had punched it.  He shook momentarily, even while his member still ejaculated several more bursts of semen, and his body shifted hesitantly between orange-like cragginess and pliability.  Some flames burst weakly at scattered spots in his frame, and then went out as he lay completely still.

Over the now flattened console, Sue gasped weakly for air, too spent, too sore, too dazed to move, or even think about moving.  Her arms and legs hung limp, and only an occasional shiver ran through her, the fading echoes of her having reached the brink, the edge of no return, and having prevailed, there, at the very last moment, the very last gasp of her strength, of her will.

At her neck, the power-inhibiting band had snapped, the once-faint silvery circuit lines now blackened, overloaded.


***************************************************


Johnny sighed.  Was that finally over now?


***************************************************


"I am actually disappointed, dear.  You really used to last much longer than this, much, much longer."

R'Klll kicked at the body, scattering ashes and bits of burnt flesh.

"What a pity."


***************************************************


Sue had noticed the tingling, the buzzing at her neck, whenever he used invisible force on her, the same invisible force her neckband had been calibrated to neutralize.  The closer and stronger his invisible force worked, the more noticeable the distortion became, and the more convinced she became it was her only hope for escape.

Each time he had used it on her, she had focused her own power, too, fighting the power inhibition, at the very same time as it reacted to the overlap of the one wielded by the Super-Skrull.  All in order to overtax it, to push it beyond its parameter.  But it had not been enough when used as restrains, on her wrists, waist and ankles.  The joint effect had not been strong enough.

She had needed to goad him into using it on her, much more aggressively, asking him to choke her with it, to kill her with it.  Only then, when exerted directly against her neck, with power enough to choke her dead, and matched by her focused, maximum effort, had it worked, overloading the tolerances.

It had taken everything she had.  She had to reach past her every limit, past all caution, past all safety.  Only there and then had it finally worked.  When it had been almost too late.  When she had been taken over that edge.  And she had almost been lost.  Right there.

She had almost lost consciousness, almost failed to pull it together, to marshal enough strength, enough resistance, enough power to strike back at him.  Almost.

But she had done it.

Grimacing, she fought the conflicting obstacles of simultaneous numbness and soreness, to sit up, to rise off the console, and then faltered, stumbling down to her knees.

She covered her face with her hands and crouched down.  

Her shoulders shook.

It took a lengthy while for her to stand up, weakly, her legs trembling and eyes downcast.  She held her chest with an arm, wincing, her halting steps making her tender breasts ache sharply from the recent mistreatment.  Bruises were already forming where his fingers had dug in her flesh.  

And that was nothing to compared to the ache, the soreness elsewhere.  She could barely walk.  She could barely stand.  How long would that last?  How had she even...?  

It was hard to even believe it, believe that she had had managed to take all that.  Yet she had.  All of it.  How had it been possible?

Did that mean she could also have... before?  Completely?  Even if it...?

She shook her head, brushing her hair back.  

She should not even think of that.

It did not matter.  

Not now.  Not ever.

With a deliberate effort, she reached up and threw away the now useless neckband, feeling a soft sense of victory, misplaced as it was.  She had won, but had also lost.  Lost so much.  

Warily, she approached where the Super-Skrull lay unconscious.  

He lay there, awkwardly, his penis still moist and partially hard, leaning to one side, so large it reached the floor, semen pooling under its still swollen head.

She swallowed with difficulty, frowning.  She wiped slowly at the dense gobs still on her hips and abdomen, at the trails of the travels of his fluids over her skin.  Was there more inside her?  How much?  Enough to be concerned?  Could something like that really happen?  Between her and him?  Even with their differences?

She could not to think about it.  Not now.  There was still much to do. 

Her eyes grew cold.  Her invisible force gathered around him.

No one could blame her.  Not after what he had done.  

No one.

But she was not a murderer.

Still, she had to be sure he posed no further danger.  

Her power lifted him up and slammed him hard against the metal ceiling, then brought him down with to strike the floor with equal violence.  She repeated it twice.  Just in case.

A faint groan rose weakly from the other side of the room.

"Rich?"

The young man was on his knees, or trying to stay there, unsteadily leaning against a wall and shaking his head.

"I-I'm here.  I think."

She went to him, concerned.  "Are you alright?"

"Must be.  I hurt too much to be dead."  He glanced around him.  "Oh, damn...  What hit here?"

The guard room was in ruins, devastated by the invisible force blast.  All the equipment, including that which had not been damaged before, was now completely destroyed.  Several of the Skrull guards were now piled over each other near a corner in a bundle of bent limbs. 

Sue frowned.  "There was... a struggle."

"Struggle?"  Rich muttered, looking up at her, his eyes seeking focus.  Then his eyebrows rose high and he quickly looked away.   "Sorry!"

"What?"

He kept his eyes on the floor.  "Er, Ms. Richards, you-you ain't dressed."

Sue looked down, and would have blushed at a different time or place.  She was too tired for it now.

"Oh, yes.  Thank you."  She pulled down her top, straining to have it cover her chest, while she shifted through the debris with invisible force, looking for her pants.  "Neither are you, by the way."

"Shit!"  Rich covered himself, embarrassed, not knowing what to do or where to look, while Sue walked all around him, bending over to move stuff on the floor, making him cover his eyes with his hands, then returning to cover his privates, then using one hand for each task.  "Sorry!  I'm really sorry!"

She did not glance back at him.  "There are bigger things to worry about, Rich.  Much bigger things."

"Uh?"

"Here they are."  Sue dusted off her leggings, the unstable molecules cloth cleaning off easily, not keeping wrinkles.  She sat to put them on.  "Were you awake?"

"Uh?"

"Before.  Just before the blast.  Were you awake already?"

He kept looking away.  "Awake?  I-I don't know.  I must've hit my head.  Lots of times, really.  I really don't.  Really...  I don't know..."

"Rich, really.  What do you remember?"

"The big guy there hit me and then...  I was out, then not, and then..."  He grimaced, nervously.  "I think I must've been hallucinating a lot...  I'm not sure I know..."

"Forget it."  She stood and stared at him.  "I mean it.  Forget it."

"Uh, I don't know what..."

"We don't know how long it'll be before anyone comes to check on what's going here.  We need to get out, quickly.  Are the cells over there?"

"Uh, yes."  He looked about, for something he could put on.

"We must free the others.  How are the locks operated?"

"Er...  The guy who got roasted opened the doors."

"I'll deal with it, then.  Get some weapons and ammo.  I'll be back."

She strode across the room, wincing at every step.  Near the corridor, with her force field carefully kept in place, she knelt briefly by the Super-Skrull's limp body.  He was out cold, and surely would not hear, or remember, but she still leaned down to whisper to his ear.  

"Dorrek barely started to get his cock inside me, but still was so much better than you, you bastard.  Oh, so, so much.  In every single way."

She stood up and kicked his head with all the strength she could.  

Just in case.

Then she ran to the cells.


***************************************************


Johnny looked up, letting his shoulders drop.  "What?  Again?"

Sue stood at the doorway, the metal door having been pried off.  "Again what?"

"Please, I'm spent.  Really.  That's a pretty cute version of her outfit, but I don't think I can..."

"What's the hell with you, Johnny?"

He recognized the familiar scolding tone, and instantly sat up straight, eyebrows lifted high.  "Sis?"

"Who else?  What do you-?"

"Nothing."  He stood up, shaking his head.  "Nothing happens.  Nothing happened.  Absolutely nothing."


***************************************************



"Suzie?  Dats ya?  Really?"

"Just what's the deal here?"  She turned back to glance at Johnny.  "Did they mess with your eyes or-?"

"Nope.  Nuthin'."  He rattled his restrains.  "Just get dem things offa me, willya?"

She pursed her lips.  There was no time to lose, but obviously something was not right.  Very obviously.

"Why are your shorts down?"



***************************************************


"Reed, wake up.  WAKE UP."

The words called him back from an immeasurably long distance, back from a vast structure of ideas, of complex interlocking theories still needing to be polished, debugged and cross-checked.  

"WAKE!  UP!"

The slap on his face made the trip back much quicker.

"I'm up.  I'm up."

"Reed, this is important.  We're escaping."

"Escaping?"

"The Skrull throne world.  We're getting the hell out."

"Oh.  Yes.  Good idea."

"We need you sharp.  Thinking."

"Thinking, yes."  He rubbed at his eyes, sitting on the cot.  "I can do that.  I think."

"Good.  Why are you naked?"

"I am naked?"

"Yes.  Oh, forget it.  Here.  Put your clothes on."

"Why am I naked?"

"That's what I asked you.  Alright, give me.  Let me help."

"Thanks.  This is all very strange.  I had a very peculiar dream, too."

"A dream?"

"Yes.  Quite vivid, too.  And you were there."

"Oh, really?  I was?"



***************************************************


R'Klll turned off all the displays and used her special clearance to access the room's systems and download a copy of the day's recordings into her wristband's storage, deleting the room's records afterwards.  

She would have them restored shortly, properly edited.

Of course, she would keep a copy of the originals for her own records, safely encrypted.  For re-watching.


***************************************************


Rich welcomed them as they exited the cell corridor, blaster in hand.  

"Ms. Richards!  Lights started to flash on that console over there!  May be bad news!" 

"Wouldn't surprise me," she sighed.

Johnny stepped up, smiling broadly.  "Rich!  Dude, have I got something to tell you!  You won't believe what...  Ah, well, maybe later, but...  Hey, why are you dressed like that?"

"They took my Nova suit.  I got what I could."  He wore a loose purple and black bodysuit, several sizes too big.  "Everyone here's too big."

Sue nodded, wincing.  "Yes.  I know."

Johnny raised his hands.  "Oh, yes, wait."  He rushed back to the cells and returned with a grayish box.  "Got this from ah, a friendly local.  Couldn't manage to get it to work, though."

"My Nova suit!  Oh, man, thanks!"  Rich grabbed the box and began to undress.  "Only works for whom it's attuned to-"

"Hey, dude, my sister is right here."

Sue waved her hand, exasperated.  "Never mind that.  There's likely an army of Skrulls on the way down.  Get whatever weapons you can and stand near me-"

Reed scratched his hair.  "Weapons?  What for?"

"Your powers are blocked, honey.  You need weapons."

"Blocked?"

"The neckbands."

"Dis gots me all weak as a kitty," Ben confirmed, tapping at his neck.  

"Ah, those?"  Reed looked carefully at the one on Ben.  "Interesting." 

He leaned down and picked a piece of metal debris, a mere sliver of metal shaved off a wall by a blaster scrape, like many others strewn all about.  Reaching up, he tinkered briefly with Ben's neckband.  It snapped open and fell to the floor.

Ben smiled, spreading his hands.  "Smooth, Stretcho."

Johnny stepped forward.  "Hey, Reed.  Do me!  Do me!"

"Sure, here.  There you go."  

"Sweet!"  

Sue frowned.  "Johnny, don't flame on here!"

Reed glanced about.  "I'll need a mirrored surface to do my own."

Sue turned to him, her mouth a tight horizontal line.  "So you figured out just now how to do that?"

"I don't know.  I think so.  How long have we had them on?"

"How long-?"

"Yes.  I'm a bit hazy on the details.  You got yours off yourself, right?"  He rubbed his eyes.  "What has happened exactly?"

"Woah.  You really, really missed a lot.  There was this party, and, er, alright, maybe I'll let Sue catch you up."
    
She closed her eyes.  "Reed, we really must talk.  Later.  Or not.  Maybe not."

"Sure.  Whatever you think is best."

Ben pointed down.  "Hey, ain't dat da friggin' Super-Skrull?"

"Yes."  Sue walked closer and kicked at his head again.  "Want a turn?  Be my guest."

Ben stared, surprised.

Reed picked up a few electronic remnants.  "I can probably jury-rig some comm devices.  You said we are on the Skrull home world?  Tarnax IV?"

"Yes.  We must fight our way to a spaceship now."

"Ms. Richards, I think the Nova suit's tracking can guide me to the vehicle docking bays."

"Then get on it, Rich.  Ben, can you pilot a Skrull ship?"

"It can fly, yers truly can pilot it."

"Good, let's go."

Johnny frowned, patting his clothes.  What had he done with that message?


***************************************************


In her luxurious quarters in the Imperial Palace, Princess Anelle stood at a balcony, watching the stars.  She lightly drew her hand over her midsection, wistfully.


***************************************************


They walked quickly out the corridor, invisible force protecting their vanguard.  They had clashed with only two patrols but their luck would likely not last much longer.

"We'll split up, here.  Rich, explain the rest of the layout to Reed.  Then you come with me.  We'll meet at the docks in twenty minutes or less." 

"Split up?  Why?"

"There's something I must do first.  At the imperial palace."  

"The imperial palace?"

"Yes.  I must help out somebody."  


***************************************************


The alarms rang loudly, and R'Klll strode quickly towards the military operations sector.

Surely that muscle-bound idiot had not blown it.  


***************************************************


Rich did not know where to place his eyes.  He had never seen so many good looking girls wearing so little.  And he had been at Spring Break in Fort Lauderdale.

Sue extended a hand.  "So are you coming?"



***************************************************


They were at least a hundred Skrull warriors, all heavily armed, standing between them and the docking bay doors.

"Flame on!"

"It's clobbering time!"



***************************************************


Muttering nervously in a wide assortment of languages, the many girls, of multiple colors and builds, in their barely-there clothes, fidgeted and retreated, most of them shaking their heads.

Only three stepped forward.

The Krylorian took Sue's hand.  "We'll go."  

Behind her, her Shi'Ar and Kree companions nodded their agreement.

Sue smiled.

Rich continued staring.


***************************************************



Johnny rained fire on the troops in pursuit.  "SUE!  OVER HERE!"

They raced into the open airlock, the invisible force field deflecting heavy blasting while it closed behind them.  

"Woah, who are the babes?"

"I made some friends."


***************************************************


"Hold onta yer panties!  It's going to be a tight one!"

The ship hurtled through the stratosphere's security perimeter.  

Blasts showered with sparks every bit of space around them.

"Damn it!  Shields failed and we got hit!  We're losing power!"

"Let me out!  I'll take care of it!"  Rich rushed to the airlock.  

The three scantly-dressed girls clustered around the viewport.  "What is he doing?"

"Kid's pushing us!  Fillin' in for da missing engine!"

"He's really brave," the Kree woman muttered.  

"And cute," the Krylorian added, smiling.  "Look at that butt."


***************************************************


The holos played on, and R'Klll tapped her fingers on her armrest.  

"So they escaped?"

"I am afraid so, My Empress.  A whole battalion was defeated-"

"And the orbital security perimeter?  The outer system stations?"  

The elderly Marshall lowered his head, waiting the inevitable execution order.  

"All failed."

"I see."  She had the holos vanish with gesture.  "Arrange an inquiry into why the systems were inadequate.  We must have them upgraded."

He looked up, surprised.  "Upgraded?"

"Yes.  We must fix what goes wrong.  Have a proposal for me tomorrow."

He bowed low.  "It will be so, My Empress."

She nodded.  She would have to fix a lot of things.  A lot.

She would supervise the most sensitive inquiry personally, of course.  

The Four could still be easily blamed.  They had waged war in the very Imperial complex, had they not?  The holo recordings could be doctored.  There was more than enough material to work with.

And Kl'rt.  He had yet to surface.  Was he killed?  Or just too ashamed to show his face, as he should?  He could easily shoulder the blame, too.  Everyone knew how he felt about Dorrek.

And there were the three missing concubines, as well.  So easy to blame an assassination on a trio of infiltrated agents, disguised as sex slaves.  One of them was Kree, even.  Quite useful coincidence.

She could use that as the first step to review that whole slave trade that fed the imperial concubine system.  And finally abolish the damn disgusting thing.  It was shameful to retain such crude customs in this day and age.  

All sex trade was much better, for everyone involved, when it was a free enterprise, carried out openly, and properly taxed, of course.

She crossed her legs, leaning back in her imperial seat.

There were going to be many changes around here.



PART EIGHT:  THE STORM IN THE CALM? 


The protective shells enclosing the Xandarian world-system wavered and became awash with shifting colors, unleashing panic among the populace.  If the shells failed, the planetary fragments would be unable to retain their atmospheres. 

Thousands of people yelled and collapsed, holding their ears, trying uselessly to mute the soundless voice resonating inside their heads.

"I DID NOT KNOW.  I DID NOT.  BUT NOW I DO."

The whole structure of Xandar shuddered. 

"IN MY FOLLY I SOUGHT AN ESCAPE.  AN END.  BUT IT IS NOW A BEGINNING."

Under the Xandarian capitol city, a tremor grew from deep below the surface, until tall buildings shook and fell, their thunderous crash drowning alarms and screams alike.

"BEGINNING.  OF MY GODHOOD."

A gigantic figure materialized over the city, humanoid in shape, its very presence seeming to distort reality all around it.

"AND AN END TO THAT PATHETIC ORB WHERE MY OLD SELF WAS DRIVEN TO DESPAIR."

The fabric of space-time itself quivered and changed.

He who had once been the Sphinx was gone.



***************************************************


The multiple displays in the ship's cockpit changed to abstract patterns as the warp drive activated.  Breathing out loudly with relief, Benjamin Grimm leaned back on the pilot chair. 

"We're off da star system now, folks.  Means we lost dem for good." 

Sue's tension loosened in her husband's embrace.  "Then we did it.  We got away.  We really did.  I'd feared...  I..."

Reed drew her closer to him.  "It was you, dear.  You got us out.  You saved us."

"Yeah, Suzie.  Ya sure did it."

"Good work, sis."

Unable to speak, Sue just buried her face in her husband's shoulder, her weariness catching up with her. 

Reed brushed her hair tenderly.  "You changed your outfit, too, didn't you?" 

Sue looked up at him, startled. 

He smiled.  "See?  I noticed."

Sue began to shake softly with silent laughter that soon gave way to racking sobs.

Ben and Johnny exchanged quick glances, while Reed just held her, frowning with concern.

"It's alright, darling.  It's alright."

"No, it isn't," she muttered.   "It isn't."

How could it?  So much had happened.  So much.  Too much.

Too much to ignore.

The cost had been so high.  And so much more remained to still worry about.

She hugged her husband tightly, aghast at how thin he felt, so much more than usual. 

She had to pull herself together.  "Reed, there-there's still the accelerated aging-"

"Yes, I'll get on it as soon as we arrive on Xandar."

"Hold on," Ben warned.  "Entering normal space."

Holographic displays filled with multiple views of the Tranta star system.  The linked masses of Xandar were prominently featured.

"Looks like da kid's data was kosher.  Gonna-"

The alarms startled everyone.  The displays filled with new overlapping schematic layouts. 

"Approaching vectors.  Gotta welcoming committee here or-"

Suddenly, the ship shook violently, lights flickering all over the boards.

"Whadda-?  Dem's shooting at us!"

Sue paled.  "We're in a Skrull ship!  Ben, hail them and explain that-!"

"Comm's onna fritz, Suzie!  Got damaged when-DAMMIT!  INCOMING!"

The displays blanked as the ship was hit.



***************************************************


"Fucking Skrulls." 

The Nova Corps Denarian leaned forward in the command chair, fists over his knees. 

"Keep firing.  Blast them to atomic ashes."

The Corpsmen manning the starship gunner stations complied.


***************************************************


The attack continued, and Sue fought to remain conscious, her eyes shut tight in concentration.  Any wavering of her focus would weaken the force field she had shaped around the ship, and would mean their destruction from the unrelenting plasma barrages.

"Can't reach them!  There's interference!"

Was that Rich's voice?  She winced.  She was so tired, and it was so hard to focus.  So hard.

"The blast density must be creating a-"

"Save it, Stretcho!  We ain't-!"

"Let me out!  I got to let them see me!"

"They'll blast ya to nuthin'ness first, kid!"

"I must risk it!  Open the airlock!"

Her sweat was cold and clammy on her skin.  Her exhaustion was catching up with her.

It could not be.  Not after everything.  Not like this.

Then everything turned black.



***************************************************


She wanted to move.  Really wanted to move.  But she could not. 

She could only stare.  Stare at him.

He stood before her, over her, so alien, so threatening, so confident in his power. 

His power over her.

She wanted to scream, to scream and curse, to scream for help. 

But she could not.

His hands grabbed her knees and spread her legs apart.

For him. 

For all of him. 

So much of him.

So much. 

Too much. 

Too much to take. 

Too much to endure. 

Too much to resist.

Only then could she scream.  Loudly.  At length.

Scream and scream.  Louder and louder. 

Her voice rose and peaked.  Again and again. 



***************************************************


She sat up abruptly, voice choked in her throat, her whole body trembling, covered in sweat. 

Bed sheets were wet under her. 

A hand pressed against hers, and she nervously cringed away.

The comely girl with bright pink skin spoke soothingly in a strange language, sitting at the edge of the large bed where Susan was.

"Breath.  Breathe," the girl added in English, leaning closer, reaching for Sue's hand tentatively.  "You safe.  All safe now."

Sue recognized the Krylorian girl but still looked all about her, unsettled. 

The spacious chamber held the circular bed at its center, sparsely populated with tasteful, softly-curving furniture, lightly-colored like the room itself.  At the distant door, the slender Shi'Ar stared at her with focused attention.

Sue realized with she was nude, and flustered, quickly drew up the silken sheets to cover herself. 

"Where-?"  What was the Krylorian's name?  "Daanua?"

She smiled, nodding.

"Where are we?"

"Your room of bed.  At palace.  Xandar palace.  Safe."

Sue's tension eased marginally. 

Xandar.  Then they had made it back.  "Did everyone else-?"

"Everyone safe.  Safe in Xandar.  Thanks to you.  And to cute young boy." 

"Cute young boy?"

"Yes.  Cute young boy."  Daanua gestured with her hands.  "Boy with cute...  bons.  Buns?  Bum?"

Still confused, it took Susan a moment to get it.  "You mean Rich?" 

"Yes.  Rich buns, yes."

Normally such a comment would have been about Johnny, as full, round butts were rather characteristic in the Storm family, but Susan recognized that Richard had even her brother beat there.  "He got through to the Nova forces, then.  Good.  Is the war still-?"

"War?  No.  No war now."

"Is the fighting over at last, then?"

The girl smiled broadly.  "No fighting.  Not now."

Sue breathed out.  "Where are the others?  Reed and-?"

"Boy came many times."

"What?"

"Rich buns.  Came here.  Last night.  Many times."

"Richard?  Came?  Last night?"

"Yes.  Many times.  Morning too.  Asking.  Very... worried?  Concerned?  Lots."

"Oh.  He asked about me?  Last night and this morning?" 

She nodded.  "Turned him away.  And others.  You needed rest."

Sue glanced at the large window showing the sun-lit cityscape.  It seemed near noon, yet she still felt tired.  "What time is now?  How long did I sleep?"

The Krylorian exchanged a few words with the Shi'Ar before replying.  "One day time and one night time and half-"

"What?  That long-?  Why didn't you wake me?  Why-?"

"You needed rest.  So we watched.  Watched over you."   The Shi'Ar muttered something with a sarcastic tone and Daanua nodded again.  "Xandar High Slut-"

"Xandar High-?  Oh.  Adora?"

"Yes.  She sent servants.  For you.  But we no trust.  Sent them away."

She nodded.  She did not trust Adora, either.  "And my family?  My-?"

"They came with you.  Then had to go.  First day.  Big meetings."

"Meetings?"  She frowned.  Was the war then not over?  What could still be wrong?  "While I was sleeping, did my husband come to-?"

"Who?"

"Reed Richards.  Thin, gray temples?  Did he-?"

"Cute buns boy came.  Almost as cute man with gold hair came.  Big orange thing came."

"And-?"

The Shi'Ar gestured with both hands. 

"She says big orange thing seems to have a huge-"

"Not that.  I mean, no one else came?"

"Yes.  Floating medicine robot."

She pursed her lips.  "I see.  Thank you."  

She glanced from one woman to the other, both so clearly concerned, so devoted and faithful in their gratitude.  They were nearly strangers, really, only recently brought together by circumstances, yet they were the only ones here, with her, right now, the only ones outside of her family who she could now trust, in this place, after all that had happened before.

After all that had happened.

She felt dizzy and reached with her hands for support.

Reed should be here.  She needed him.  Why wasn't he?  What meetings were those?  Why hadn't he returned?

What did he know?

She had to talk to him, about what had happened, about...

Susan closed her eyes, trying to gather her thoughts, to sort out her confused feelings and memories. 

She had been dreaming, just before now.  An unsettling dream.  

For a moment she wished it had just been a dream.  Just a nightmare, all of it, an awful, horrible nightmare from which she could wake up.  But it was real.  It had happened.  To her.

How could she deal with all that?  

How could she tell Reed?  Tell her husband?

Tell her husband that she had been raped?  That she had...

She drew her legs, and leaning forward to hug her knees, began to sob, softly.

Daanua moved closer and put her arms around her, muttering softly in her language, and stroking gently Susan's hair.
"It all right," she added, after a while.  "All right."

"I just...  I don't know..."

"First time?"

"What?"

"Was it first time?"

"First time?"

"First time...  fuck?  Sex?  Like that?"

Sue stiffened, and pulled away.  "Like...?"

"Yes.  First time?  Like that?"

She stared at the woman.  She did not want to talk about it.  Not with her.  Or anyone.  Even if perhaps she should. 

"Yes."  Her voice was a barely audible rasp.  "I mean, I wasn't...  I'd had sex before, but not...  Not like...  that.  Not being...   So, yes.  First time."

"First time always hard."  Daanua reached to touch her forearm.  "With Skrull, harder.  Much, much harder."

Sue trembled at that simple touch. 

"I-I mean, I'm married, I have a child...  And I...  I always knew...  Knew it could...   But I'd never..."

"Was...  emperor?"

Sue looked up, startled.  "You mean Dorrek?"  

The other nodded, and Sue frowned, hesitating momentarily.   

"N-No.  I mean, he did begin to...  And I...  I almost...  But..."  She shook her head.  "I mean...  He-He didn't...  And I...  I can't believe I almost...  But it wasn't..."   

Daanua leaned closer.  "Kl'rt, yes?"

Sue's body tensed again at the name of the Super-Skrull.  Then she nodded.

The Krylorian smiled.  "Ah.  Good."

"What?"  Sue frowned.  "Good?"
 
"Yes.  Dorrek too much.  Much too much.  For first time.  Kl'rt better.  Easier.  For first time."

"WHAT?  Better?  Easier?"

"Yes.  Kl'rt better first time.  Kl'rt good.  All girls say good.  Right?"

Sue wanted to scream and curse, to yell furiously at this foolish, sad, broken-willed sex slave who was giving her this bizarre commentary on who was the best choice to have been your first rapist.  She wanted to denounce in anger the very idea that any aspect of being violently raped by an alien fiend could be in any way termed 'good'.  

She wanted to scream that it had not been good at all.  She wanted to.  Maybe needed to.

Because it could not be.   It just could not.

Something like that could never be called good, right?  Something so awful, so despicable.

She had to fight back tears just thinking of it, what had happened, what had been done to her.

"I-I was raped."  Her voice quivered.  "It was... awful and wrong and... No matter what...  No matter how it...  Or how I..."

It had been violent and painful and humiliating and horrible. 

It could never be... good.  Right?

"I...  I must get up.  I must find Reed.  I..."

"Not worry."  Daanua smiled.  "Next time better."

"WHAT?"

"With Skrull, like that, better each time.  Much better.  If Do-"

"NO!"  Angrily, Sue got off the bed.  "THERE WON'T BE A NEXT TIME!" 

"But-?"

"NEVER!  HEAR ME?  NEVER!"

Daanua stared, surprised as Sue strode away, fists clenched, into the adjoined bathroom area.

The Krylorian turned to her Shi'Ar companion.  "Maybe next time Dorrek better.  Make happier.  Much."



***************************************************


"It's been a day and a half.  Hasn't she-?"

As tall as him, the broad-shouldered Kree woman stood before the closed door, muscular arms crossed.  "She rests." 

"She hasn't woken up yet, then?  What did-?"

"She rests." 

Rich shuffled his weight from feet to feet.  His Nova helmet translated for his benefit whatever language the big woman used, but perhaps his words were not getting across as well.

He began to make explanatory gestures as he talked very slowly:  "I-just-wanted-to-know-if-"

"SHE RESTS."


***************************************************


Standing before the wall to wall mirror, Susan forced herself to breathe progressively slower, while staring at her reflection, blinking nervously.

She was a mess, in so many ways. 

Her hair was tangled and her most recent sweat had mixed with some oily residue on her skin, likely traces from some healing salve that had been applied to the bruises and scratches all over her body while she slept.  Some of the red and purple marks were still faintly visible, particularly on her breasts and hips, but it was not as bad as she had feared.  Likely there would be no lasting marks on her.

Yet she still ached deeply in places she did not easily think about. 

Had she also been given medical aid for that?  By whom?

At least it was a comfort to think that Daanua and her friends had been watching over her all the while.  Unlike Reed.

She winced.  She felt awful about having exploded on the girl.  She should not have yelled.  It was not Daanua's fault; the poor girl had been forced into a life of sexual servitude.  What else could she expect? 

The girl just did not know any better.  

Sue shifted uneasily.   That was all nonsense.

She had to get herself together.  Despite what had happened, she had to get over it.  She had to.  

She peered hard at her reflection.  She should clean herself up.  That would be a start. 

She walked into a sunken area in the gleaming floor and in response to the pressure from her feet, warm water rose high from a central opening, a clear fountain rising up to rinse her from legs to head.

Flexible bulbs hovered at her reach, that when squeezed released pleasantly-smelling fluids with which she began to lather her hair and body, running her hands all over her slippery skin, slowly, carefully, mindful of the lingering aches on many still overtly sensitive parts of her body, from her recent ordeal.

From her recent rape.

She winced to even consider the word, and its reality.  To face it.  To face that she was now a rape victim.  

She wished she could wash all of that away, rub everything away from her body as she rubbed herself now, as she sought to clean her flesh from all the lingering echoes from the past events.  Yet she could not remove it that easily from her mind, if ever.  

What she had lived through.  What she had experienced.

Her rape.  Her rape by an evil, alien enemy.  By as Skrull. 

What had Daanua said?  That it was harder, with a Skrull?  

Harder.  Her first time.  Being raped.  Her first time.  With a Skrull.

It had certainly been...  hard.  Hard to face, and bear, and endure.

Surely it could have never been easy, not in any circumstance, to have to bear such a thing.  But knowing that it had been an alien being, an actual green-skinned evil creature not from Earth made it worse.  Worse to face.  Worse to remember.  Remember how rough, and brutal, and violent, and hard...  

Hard.  In every way.  Hard to think about.  Hard to...

The way he had hurt her, used her, abused her...

The way he had...

She forcing herself to stop shaking, to focus instead on the sensation of warm water jet against her legs, against her body, seeking solace from its heated touch, against her skin, between her fingers.

Of course he had hurt her, hurt her a lot.  What else could be expected?  From an evil enemy?  From a rape?  Skrull or not, what other way could it have been?

The water surged up her body with enough strength to gently push her breasts, yet even this proved painful.  Her whole chest remained too sensitive from the abuse at the Super-Skrull's hands, from how he had squeezed and tugged her there, right there, with both hands, with such cruelty, such disregard for her pain.

As he had been...  in everything.  Everything.

So rough.  So cruel.  So hard.  So hard to remember.  Or forget.

So hard.

Discomforted, she shifted her stance, the water rushing up legs.

She had doubted at times she could even survive.  Survive his touch, his thrusts, his...

She spread her legs apart to let the water rush up to the junction above, seeking to clean herself, to wipe from her very flesh the memory of the pain, of his touch.  There, right at her innermost core.

How could her rape have been any worse, short of being seriously injured?

How worse could it have been... with Dorrek?  Daanua said he would have been even harder to take.  How could that be?

Dorrek had been also dangerous and had hurt her.  Cruelly.  Viciously, even.  With his whip, and his...  But Kl'rt was just so much physically stronger, so much more powerful in every sense, much more dangerous, much more violent.  Dorrek had been slower, more measured, more controlled.  

If he had been the one to have her instead, have her completely, could it really have been worse?  For her?  Could she have been injured?  Harmed seriously?  By his size?  Hadn't just his head been...?

But had he really been that much bigger?  Than Kl'-the Super-Skrull?  Or had Dorrek's shorter, weaker body made his formidable endowment look even larger by contrast, while the Super-Skrull was instead so massive, so large and impressively built everywhere that his member seemed to be more proportional, more in scale, a better fit with his tall, powerfully muscled body?  Because he had been truly huge anyway.  Frighteningly so.   So huge she was still smarting from him, from his fit, his...  

Was it just about size?  Both had been huge.  But Kl'rt had penetrated her completely, all the way to the end, fitting his monstrous thing so deeply that she still shivered just to recall it...  so deep inside her...  stretching her...  Making her gasp, and cry, and...

She shook her head, closing her eyes, shifting nervously. 

Would it have hurt even more having all of Dorrek?  Would that have been worse?  Or... better?  Or would it have been better, for her, for it to be worse?  Or... the other way around?  She shook her head, confused, troubled.  Could she have had it?  Would she have-?

She closed her eyes tightly.  What was the use of wondering now?  Of second guessing?  It had happened as it did.  Kl'rt had raped her.  Thoroughly.  Completely.  And she had endured it, and survived it.
Hadn't that been bad enough?  To be raped by the Super-Skrull?  To be violently raped by his huge alien cock?  Did she have to wonder about another huge alien cock raping her, too?  Hadn't it been enough?  Had she not had enough?  Enough pain?  Enough shame?  Enough...  cock?

Enough to fill her sex with all that hard, thick alien meat.  Enough to fill her with its hot alien semen.  Enough to make her cry and gasp and come.  Make her climax.  To make her climax while being raped.  Climax while being raped by an evil, alien foe.  

Climax so hard and long she had almost passed out.

Climax as she had never climaxed before.  With her husband.  With Reed.  With Reed.  Or anyone else.

Climax as only a Skrull had ever made her climax.  Maybe as only a Skrull ever could.  

She fought back tears.

How could that ever be enough?  How could it be enough now?  Now that she knew?  Now that she knew how intense sex could really be?  Knew how intensely pleasurable beyond her wildest imaginings could be to be raped and raped hard?  Raped hard and well by an evil alien fiend's giant alien cock?  So hard and well that she had no choice but to love it?  Love being raped?  Raped by huge hard evil Skrull cock?  

She gasped and her legs faltered, so she had to reach with her left hand to the wall just before her for support, while her right remained nestled between the juncture of her trembling upper thighs, her fingers lost in quick, nervous motions, while dark shapes flashed fast behind her tightly closed eyelids, damp with her salty regret. 

Dark green shapes.

She began to shake her head, violently.

"No, no...  NO!"

Her right hand jerked away from her sex, wetness dripping from her fingers and core to the pooled warm water at her feet, just as it ran down her face. 

What was she doing?

She placed both hands on the wall before her, shaking with the tension denied release.  Her breathing still raced out of control, and she had to struggle to remain standing. 

At the door, the two former slave girls watched her attentively.



***************************************************


"SHE RESTS!"

Rich threw his hands up in frustration.  "Can't you say anything else?"



***************************************************



Her tear-streaked face was flushed red with a mixture or deeply frustrated excitement and fierce shame.

What had she almost done?

"No...  What was I...  What did I...?"

She had been touching herself.  And she had nearly climaxed.  From the pressure of the bath's water jet and her deeply probing fingers. 

And the memory of her rape.

"No.  No!

She had been masturbating at her recollection of being raped, of being raped and abused by her evil Skrull enemies, by their cruel hands and mouths, and their awful gigantic alien cocks.  Awful gigantic alien cocks that hurt so much and filled her so much and which she had loved so much.

She turned and rested her back on the smooth wall, covering her face with her hands behind the curtain of her wet hair.

How could this have happened?  How could she have grown excited?  Excited like this?  By this?  By thinking about being raped?  

How could she?   What was wrong with her?  

How could she have even enjoyed it at all?  Enjoyed it so much?  So much more than she had ever enjoyed sex with anyone else, including her husband?  So much she now had even dreamed about it?  Fantasized and masturbated about it?  About coupling with evil alien monsters, monsters that had threatened her loved ones and had cruelly abused her! 

What kind of slut had she become?

What kind of slut had she always been?

Her tears joined the water dropping to her feet.

What could she ever tell Reed?

"Let me help."   The voice startled her.   "Let us help."

Walking into the bathroom, Daanua and the Shi'Ar began to remove their clothing.

"No, no.  Stop.  Don't."   She straightened up, her legs still unsteady, but her resolution remained firm.  "Thank you, but... it is not necessary.  I can... manage."

Could she?

She breathed deeply.  She had to.  Had to face this, own it and move past it.  Get it out of her mind.  Out of her mind and body.

The women were both naked now.  "We can assist you.  We want to."

"Thank you.  Really. But it will be better if..."  She blushed, knowing well what had happened the last time in a bath with them.  "I don't want to be rude, or ungrateful.  Because I AM grateful.  Really.  For everything."

Naked and wet, she walked towards them. 

"And please forgive me for having yelled before.  You are good friends.  But I must get ready now.  I must get dressed." 

She placed a hand on one shoulder of each.

"And I must see my husband."



***************************************************


To Richard's surprise, the door suddenly slid open and Susan Storm walked out, followed by the two other non-Earthly women.

"Ms. Richards!"

"Hello, Rich."  

"I was just- Um, I had been asking...  I had..."

"I know.  Thanks for your concern."  She reached for his hand, gently.  "I feel better now."

"That's great.  Great.  You do look fine.  Really fine.  Um, I mean, I'm glad you're fine.  I mean..."  He blushed noticeably.  "Fixed your clothes, no?"

She let go of his hand.  "I had brought spares."

His face dropped.  "Oh, right.  My Nova suit kinda repairs itself."

"Really?  We should look into something like that for ours.   Would be useful.  As you know."

"Uh?"

"Now can you please take me-?" 

"UH?"

"Ms. Richards.  You are well."

Sue turned from Rich's bright-red face to face a silver-plated metal construct hovering a few feet away, a screen covering most of the wide head above the bulbous body showing lighted circles that resembled a child-like representation of eyes.

"I am feeling well, yes."

"It was not a question."  The floating robot had a shrill metallic voice, fittingly.  "My scan shows full recovery of functions."

"Good to know.  And you would be...?" 

"I am designated as Heuristic Experimental Recovery Biosystems Investigator."

"Your brother dubbed him Herbie," Rich said.

"He would."  Sue had turned back to him.  "I was asking you to take me-"

The robot interrupted:  "I will do that." 

"-To my husband," Sue completed, frowning. 

"You will come with me," the robot added.

"I will?"

"Doctor Reed Richards, my creator, instructed me to take care of you."

"Oh, he did?"



***************************************************



As the doors to the large workspace slid open, Sue hesitated, nervous.  She knew it had to be done, yet was unsure of what the right words would be, the right way to open herself to the man she loved, to come clean of her guilt and regret and save their marriage.  But she had to, through honesty, and full disclosure.  

"Mrs. Richards is here."  The robot indicated the figure sitting before a workbench stacked with complex, unfathomable devices, his back to them.

Sue breathed deeply and walked in.  "Reed, we have to talk."

Reed Richards stood up quickly from his chair, and removing a metal grid from his head, turned towards his wife, smiling.  "Sue, dear!"  He walked up to her and hugged her.  "It's great that you're here now!"

"Oh, my God."  She was struck by how thin he felt, holding her.  As he stepped back his appearance concerned her even more.  His hair, prematurely grayed at the temples since his mid-thirties, had now turned almost completely white, and the Fantastic Four costume hung loose on his now slimmer body.  Dark shadows underscored his red-rimmed eyes.  
"Reed...  It's been two days, now, hasn't it?  Please tell me you are about to solve it!"

"Oh, now that you are here we can go and-"

"Go-?  Reed!  The aging!  Have you solved it?"

"The accelerated aging process?  Oh.  I have looked into it, of course, and implemented palliative measures, to delay the effects as much as possible, while Herbie here runs some protein sequencing models I proposed, but there hasn't really been much time to-"

"MUCH TIME?  Reed!  They said you would all die in three days!  THREE DAYS!  You have to solve it NOW!  How are Johnny and Ben-?"

"Sue, we have been busy-"

"REED, DAMN IT! THERE IS NO TIME FOR ANYTHING ELSE!"

"There must be."  His brow furrowed with deep lines.  "For Earth."

"Earth?  What could be more important there than-?"

"I fear the Sphinx will destroy the Earth unless we can stop him."


***************************************************


HERBIE hovered by the couple, his electronic screen demeanor mechanically indifferent to their discussion.

He simply stared.


***************************************************



They walked briskly down the corridor, Reed and Sue at the front, with the others in tow.

"So the Sphinx found out from Adora where the Computers were located-"

"Really?  Does that slut take all her dates there?"

"Dates?"

"Forget it.  So what then?"

"The Sphinx forced a mind-meld and took in much of the information there.  Enough for him to boost his powers to cosmic levels."

"Cosmic levels?  Just by taking in information?"

"Of course.  Knowledge is power.  He knows now how the universe works and can exploit that."

"Weren't you connected to those damn things before, too?"

"I did bond with the mental gestalt, briefly, and it gave me temporary access to what they call the Nova Force.  But it was intentionally limited, too.  I compartmentalized it, for obvious reasons.  And I was more... impartial, I suppose.  And rational.  Knowledge needs to be structured.  It is not just about what you know, but how.  In an epistemological sense.  The Sphinx may not had the scientific training to integrate logically such an expanded, multi-dimensional understanding-"

"Reed.  Briefly.  Please."

"He was not ready.  It was too much for him and his mind could not handle the complexities-"

"He went nuts."

"Yes, that.  But he could magnify exponentially his energy-manipulating powers.  From his connection, he wanted to find a way to end his own existence, but now wants to end all existence altogether, starting with Earth.  And he may be able to do so, once he better assimilates what he-"

"So where is he now?"

"We tracked him last to a local Supernova, whose energy he seems to be absorbing, to further empower himself.  Soon he will not even need to find such power sources, if he can-"

"How much time do we have, then?"

"I don't know.  I already contacted the United Nations.  Alerted the Avengers.  But it will not be enough.  The Silver Surfer would not be enough.  We are talking Celestial-scale power."

"Then the Celestials-?"

"They will not act until he threatens the whole universe.  Earth will be gone by then.  But I know who can stop him now, and how to secure his help.  I have already located his current-"

Sue stopped, startled.  "Reed, you cannot mean-"

"Yes."  He smiled.  Sue could always follow his thoughts.  "Galactus.  We must get Galactus."



***************************************************


Rich followed as the Richards continued in hushed tones.

Who was this Galactus?


***************************************************


In the large hangar-like enclosure, dozens of Xandarian workers and automated equipment fussed around a widely-spread, complex device, supervised by Master Xar.

"Great Mind Richards!"  Flushed with excitement, Xar rushed to meet Reed and Sue as they entered the area.  "Your modifications were successful!  It is astonishing!  The tests prove that the gate will need no beacon or singularity to latch upon!"

"I told you the Skrull technologies could be compatible with your own systems."

"It has virtually unlimited range!  The whole universe is open to-"

"If there's a universe for much longer."  Johnny flamed down from a nearby scaffold.  "Hi, Sis.  Glad to see you up.  Looking good, too."

Sue stared at her brother, startled by his no longer youthful appearance.  It was like looking at a picture of their father, Doctor Franklin Storm; not the youngster she knew, who she had last seen before blanking out at the ship.

"We'll need that range," Reed said, looking a display full of cascading figures.  "If we are to reach him."

"Reed," she muttered.  "You said 'accelerated' before.  Then the aging is speeding up, isn't it?  Becoming faster the more time passes?"

"I'm afraid so.  We may not have much time left.  That is why we have to go now.  Right now."

"Suzie."  The booming footsteps of his approach contrasted with the gentleness of Ben Grimm's great, thick, orange-hued hand as it reached for her shoulder.  "Yer ok?"

She smiled up at Ben.  He seemed unchanged.  Maybe his skin was slightly more cracked, if she looked closely.  "I-I think so.  Thank you."

"No, really."  Ben kept his hand reassuringly on her, his touch light despite his size, his baby-blue eyes full of emotion under his rocky brow.  "Really ok, I mean."

She shrugged, placing her hand on his.  "Reed's robot says I'm fine."

"Dat piece o'junk?  Whadda heck dat thing knows anyways?  Look, watevah happen'd back der with da Skrull, I knows it musta been tough, Suzie.  If ya-?"

"We'll talk later, alright?"

"Ya spoke with Stretcho already?  He been der for ya?  Guy's head's sometimes up his-"

"We need Reed's head up where it is, now, Ben."  She turned to watch her husband as he tapped quickly on multiple control panels.  "Thinking.  That's what's important now."

"Sure, but-"

Sue placed her hand on Ben's chest.  "That's what's important now." 

"Okeydokey.  Gotcha."

"That is it," Reed spoke up.  "The coordinates of Taa II, his habitat, are in.  We'll be sent there instantly.  Let us go now."

"Now?  Right now?"

Reed turned to her, nodding.  "We have no time to waste, remember?"

"Of course."

"You know, the Watcher sent me there last time," Johnny said, landing on the central platform of the teleportation device, a circular transparent shell open around it.  "Wonder if he's redecorated."

Ben joined him.  "We'll find out soon enough, Match-head.  Always wanted to see da Big G's digs."

Stretching his hands to grab several devices, Reed addressed the floating robot.  "HERBIE, go back to the lab and continue running protocols 150 through 895 while we are gone.  Report to Master Xar, and have the bio-stores test all stable configurations.  Ready any viable results for application."  As it beeped acknowledgment, he stepped into the transporter.  "Sue?"

"Be right there, honey."  She extended a hand right before Richard as he stepped forward to follow them.  "No, Rich.  Not this time."

"Uh?"

"Galactus is strictly Fantastic Four business.  You must stay here."   She turned towards the former slave girls, who had also moved closer to her.  "You all must."

"Here?"  Rich's eyes filled with hurt.  "But I-I can help.  I was useful before, right?"

"I know.  You were.  And very brave."  She moved closer and took his hands again in hers, matching his eyes.   "I never really thanked you enough."

He stiffened, nervously.  "And anyway, who is this-?"

"But you're needed here, Rich, in Xandar.  The Skrulls may launch another offensive."  Her eyes turned to the three alien women.  "I need you to be here, for my new friends.  To keep them safe.  Can you do that?"

He also glanced at them, their hair colors as different as their heights and builds, each exotically eye-catching in their differences.  But his eyes quickly returned to Sue.  "If-If you want me to."

"Please?"

"Alright, then," he muttered, dejectedly, and then whispered hoarsely:  "I truly just wanted to-"

"I know."  

She leaned forward, taking hold of his helmeted head, and gently placed a light kiss on his exposed lips.  

Rich froze, eyes bulging out, struck by her proximity, her scent, the softness of her lips, the sweetness of their taste, and the fleeting brush of her chest, so firm and full, against his.  It was just an instant, an aching, delightfully painful and wonderful instant.  Were those hard points...?

Then she stepped back and it was over.  His face was beet-red under the Nova helmet, and he nervously crossed his hands before his lap.  

"That was just a token of my esteem, Rich.  I'll always remain grateful.  For everything."

She turned from Rich to quickly embrace each of the three girls.  "Daanua.  Wee-Nall.  L'onondra.  Thank you."  She then whispered something quickly to all of them, finishing with a quick, shared sideways glance at Rich, just before rushing to the transporter device to join Reed, Ben and Johnny.

Her brother was literally fuming.  "What was the meaning of all that?"

Sue shrugged.  Ben had made an obvious point of looking up and to a side, and Reed had still been looking down at his handheld control pad.  "Tying up some loose ends."

Reed looked up.  "Ready?"

Sue nodded.

"The habitat security measures will stop us at the periphery, but the containment sphere will protect us long enough to catch his attention.  Have your force-field ready, dear, just in case.  Starting activation."

"You didn't say how you're you planning to convince Galactus to help us."

"Oh, it's simple.  I will just release him from his sworn promise of not devouring Earth."

The device flashed brightly, filling the chamber.

And then they were gone.


***************************************************


The platform was empty. 

Rich let his shoulders slump forward, glancing at those still around him:  Master Xar, the hovering robot, the assorted Nova Corpsmen and workers, and finally the freed slave girls.  The three seemed to be looking at him.  And smiling.  

At him?

He stood up straighter, nervous.  

So who was this Galactus, anyway?


PART NINE: TO FIND A HERALD


Sights beyond common human comprehension surrounded the transparent spherical protection vessel, a startling panorama of myriad wonders of advanced technologies and unfathomable cosmic perspectives, as the vastness of the construct called Taa II dwarfed even the many planetary bodies overlapping its mind-baffling expanse.

Benjamin Grimm had piloted starships through both outer space and the Negative Zone, and still could not help but to stand open mouthed in awe, again the young boy who once dreamed of the stars.

"Niven's Ringworld's justa toy nexta dis." 

Johnny shrugged. "Been here, seen the sights."

Sue slapped at her brother's arm for silence.

But even the enormous scale of the artificial habitat surrounding the Fantastic Four was rendered commonplace -it was just a thing, after all- by the mighty presence right before them.  The gargantuan construct was a mere backdrop framing the towering presence that their eyes registered as an armored human-like figure several stories tall standing on widely-spread booted feet upon nothing but open space.

Galactus, Devourer of Worlds.

Yet there was more than his apparent humanoid shape. There was a nagging sense of visual uncertainty that made the massive armored figure somehow appear nebulous and contingent, while also having an almost ontological solidity, an overwhelming tangible sensation of power and sheer permanence that asserted its concrete existence firmly upon endless levels of reality far beyond their ken, like an ancient anchor settled deep in the waters of shifting space-time.

Thus was Galactus.

Before this anthropomorphic universal force, Reed Richards made his case, bartering with the life of Earth itself.

After he finished, there was a moment of silence, tense, deafening silence.

Then Galactus spoke.

The voice was not a voice. It was not made of sounds. It was in their heads, but not in actual words. Yet all understood clearly.

"YOU WOULD DO THIS, EVEN THOUGH IT SHALL MEAN GALACTUS WILL BE FREE TO CONSUME YOUR WORLD."

Clenching his fists, Reed Richards nodded. "Yes."

"YOUR PROPOSITION IS ACCEPTED.  THE BEING YOU CALL SPHINX WILL BE VANQUISHED, THEN THE PLANET CALLED EARTH WILL BE RIPE TO SATE THE HUNGER OF GALACTUS."

"Stretcho, ya really sure 'bout dis?"

"It's the only real option, Ben."

"YOU MAY ATTEMPT TO STOP ME BUT YOU WILL FAIL. YOU MAY RESORT TO TREACHERY AS THE HUMAN SPECIES IS WONT TO DO BUT YOU WILL FAIL.  AND YOUR EARTH SHALL BE CONSUMED."

Sue tightened her hold on her husband's arm.  "I hope you know what you're doing, Reed."

Reed Richards breathed deeply.  "I hope so, too."

"BUT BEFORE GALACTUS DOES YOUR BIDDING, YOU MUST FIRST DO HIS."



***************************************************


"Suzerain, there was a highest-priority message from the Skrull Empire."

Adora sat up, alarmed. "Another threat?  Now?  Can we already use the new long-range-transporter offensively?"

Thoran shook his head. "Actually, they want to negotiate peace."


***************************************************


At a barren desert landscape, with a gigantic ringed gas giant looming over the horizon, a scarlet helix of light suddenly shimmered into view, carrying four unique passengers.

"What the fuck?"  Johnny looked all about him, startled.  "Where are we?  What happened to our craft?"

"Galactus sent us here without it."  Reed examined their surroundings. "This appears to be a moon of a Saturn-class body, with a breathable atmosphere."

"No shit.  What if it hadn't one?  We could've choked to death here!"

"But we did not.  Galactus knew what he was doing."

"Did he?"  Johnny glared.  "And what about you?"

Sue stepped forward before her brother.  "Johnny..."

"No, really.  Because we just handed Earth on a platter to the Big G, which scares the crap out of me, so I sure hope you have a winning card game under your sleeve, Reed.  I trust you do.  But why are we here now?  Why are we running errands for Galactus?"

"Hate sayin' it, but da kid's sorta right."  

Sue winced at Ben's words.  Her brother looked now like a man in his early forties, not the youngster he had been just recently.  

"Couldn't da big guy pick up a new herald by himself?  Why gotta rope us in?  Why now?  How long's dat gonna take, anyways?"

"Time IS running out, Reed."  

"More reason to do what Galactus says, and promptly."  He looked up from his handheld console, forehead deeply lined with a frown.  His hair was fully white now and greatly receded from his high forehead.  Wrinkles lined all his face, their presence made more striking by his increased thinness.  "We need him.  Urgently.  All Earth is at stake.  Billions of people.  We are hardly in any position to refuse his conditions."  He pointed to their right.  "The city is in that direction."

"But still, what if this Tyros dude does not want the job?  What then?  Are we going to kidnap him?  Force him into servitude?"

Sue shook her head.  "We need to convince him, somehow. We must."


***************************************************


"Peace?"

"That was the actual word, Suzerain."

"It must be a ruse."

"A live-presence private conference with our Suzerain was formally requested, to discuss terms."

"A private live-presence conference?  With me?"

"Yes, Suzerain."

"If they're really after peace, they must know we'll soon have the upper hand.  Their spies must have told them about the transporter's new capabilities."  

She smiled coldly.  A secure, private live-cast, between her and that disgusting little emperor of theirs, one on one, of course.  The ugly green bastard must want to ogle her in person.  

She had heard the rumors about him. All of them.

"Arrange the conference, Thoran."

Thoran bowed his head.  "As you order, Suzerain."

There was even talk of his wanting her captured, just for him.  Was she really his target from the start?  Had the whole war been at least partially motivated by that creep wanting her in his bed at any cost?  That was something to really think about.

"They will have to make proper reparations.  They must pay for what they did."

"Of course."

Could she demand his being handed over as war criminal?  
Did she want that?  Did she want him?   

If he was so easy to goad into action, could he still prove to be... useful?  

"Call for my wardrobe assistants, now.  I must be presentable."

The ensemble of Cotati barely-there silk, perhaps?


***************************************************


Enclosed by high stone walls, and next to a muddy river, the city sprawled in an extensive, yet cramped jumble of low, nondescript clay-based constructions surrounding a much larger, foreboding stone structure that seemed to be equal parts temple, palace and fortress, its complex volumes seeming to have been carved out of a single granite mountain.  Many more ramshackle dwellings were stacked randomly against the outer surface of the city enclosure, adjoined by fields of parched crops barely subsisting in the dry, dusty environs.  Dozens of crowded roads connected to various city gates, heavily guarded by groups of warriors riding saddled horned quadrupeds, with armors made of boiled leather and ceramic plates, their thin, elongated weapons the only metal artifacts in sight.

"They don't seem very welcoming," Sue observed, from their secluded vantage point behind a rocky promontory.

"This place appears to be quite lacking in natural resources," Reed said.  "Scarcity breeds distrust, selfishness and conflict."

"So it may not be wise to march up to the gates to just ask for this Tyros guy," Johnny cut in.

Sue nodded.  "As obvious outsiders we'd likely be ill-regarded.  May be better to approach unseen."


***************************************************


Attendants fussed about Adora, and she smiled, pleased with the results, the Cotati silk a faint breeze over her skin.  

She would flaunt for that sorry green creep all he had failed to conquer, mocking him.  She would make him grovel for her, as he should, now that she had the leverage.

And afterwards?  

"We may ultimately need to meet.  Physically."  She arched her back, adjusting her thin dress.  "One to one.  To negotiate."

"That may be dangerous, Suzerain."

"It may be a risk, and unpleasant, too, having to...  face this odious little creature.  Up close."  Could those rumors be true?  All of them?  "But it may be necessary.  To find...  a fully...  satisfactory arrangement.  Between us.  Our peoples."

"You speak about... Dorrek, Suzerain?"

"Of course."  How soon could she have him?  Under her thumb, under her control?  Doing her will?  "We must evaluate what he offers, all he may bring to the table."

Could he make her Empress?  Absolute ruler of a much larger empire?  

Why not?

"Suzerain, it appears there was a... shake-up among the Skrulls.  Dorrek VII does not seem to be in command of their empire anymore."

"What?"

"The message was code-sign-validated by Empress R'Klll."

Adora arched an eyebrow.  "Ah."


***************************************************


"You almost blew our cover, Block-head!"

"But didn't, a'right?  Get off m'case!

"Quiet, you two."

Made invisible, the four had entered through the less crowded city gate, although Ben had been unable to avoid bumping against various vehicles and livestock, almost ruining their concealment.

"Cannot make out their language," Reed whispered, while a group of lightly-dressed locals passed near the narrow alley where they stood, their voices hushed.  The city's inhabitants were mostly short and slender, dusky-skinned, with hair uniformly black and shaved at the crown of the head.  "It's not in the neural translator's database."

"How'll we find this Tyros if we can't make ourselves understood?"

Reed tapped into his console.  "I'll contact the Xandarian computers for assistance."

"You can do that?"

"I established a securely encrypted channel of sub-space communication before leaving.  Sampling enough of the local speech, the translator should establish a working template based on matched linguistic structures from the Computers.  May take some time, however."

"Which we don't have."  Dropping the invisibility, Sue approached cautiously a nearby solitary pedestrian, using slow gestures to gain his attention, and smiling for reassurance.  "Excuse me?  Can you help us?"

The man stared, bewildered by the strange, golden-haired, blue-eyed, pale female speaking such strange words.  He spoke quickly a succession of guttural sounds.

Sue walked closer to him.  "Tyros.  We need to find Tyros."

At that name the man stiffened, shook his head and mumbled hurriedly a long unintelligible litany.

"Guy may not be dat well known, Suzie," Ben muttered from the shadows of the alley.  "Or da name's too common."

"Tyros?  TY-ROS?"

The man began to back away, still shaking his head, glancing at the surroundings nervously.

Ben strode forward into the fading sunlight.  "Dunno, but kinda looks like he's gonna make a run for it."

The man's face turned ashen, and he stumbled back, falling repeatedly before rushing away into the maze of narrow streets.

"Called it, didn't I?"


***************************************************


"Most gracious of you to see us in such short notice, Suzerain Adora." 

"It was our pleasure, Empress R'Klll.  Congratulations on your recent ascent to office.  Quite recent, too, wasn't it?"

"Quite."

"I suppose your husband became... indisposed?  Unable to perform his duties?"

"Quite."

"How unexpected.  And convenient."

"Indeed."

"A pity."

"Really? Why so?"

"Xandar may have wanted to have a few words with him now, regarding the recent events between our worlds."

"Oh, you may still have him."

"Have him?  Really?"

"If it will please you."

"It may."

"What's left of him, anyway."


***************************************************


The merchant and his assistants dropped their wares and hurried away, leaving all goods strewn on the street's stone cobbles.

"Ya sure we got dat name right?"

Johnny shook his head.  "Wonder what scares everyone the most:  The Tyros name or Ben's ugly mug.  Can't blame them for the last, though."

"Why ya lousy-!"

"Can it, guys.  And pick up those robes there.  We must cover ourselves to try to blend in."

"We got a multi-ton complication right here, Sue."

"Just do it.  Ben, could you...?"

"I know.  I know."  He covered himself, layering several robes.  "Got lotsa practice."


***************************************************


"She said we could have him."

"Him?"

"Dorrek."

"She did?"

"What was left of him, to be exact."

"Ah.  She was being sarcastic, then."

"I think not."


***************************************************


The streets became increasingly wider but also more crowded, yet everyone promptly made way for Ben's massive bulk without any remarks, until they finally reached an open plaza hosting a busy, sprawling market.  

In the midst of multiple stalls of baked earth wares and scarce foodstuffs, various elevated platforms displayed the huddling shapes of men and women dressed in rags, with eyes downcast and limbs restrained by thick ropes and the occasional light chain, while barkers cried out for the crowd's attention, their words still indecipherable to Earth ears.  Most of the people present made a point of looking elsewhere but at such sad display, but for a few who stood staring critically at the offerings, making sometimes comments out loud to each other.

"Darn it, ain't dose-?"

"Slaves."  Sue stated, disgusted.  "It's a slave auction."

Rocky digits cracked, making fists.  "Why, I shoulda-"

"Not now, Ben," she whispered, reluctantly.  "It's not the best-"

A voice suddenly rose, in the local language, and the barkers hurried towards it.  The name Tyros had been spoken out loud.

The crowd scurried away, and a much better-dressed figure was left standing before the platforms with plentiful room around him, a group of armored warriors at his back pushing away the few stragglers.  Quickly, the previously displayed groups of slaves were herded away and a much different set was brought up for consideration of the obviously important customer.  They were young women, much cleaner and better-fed, naked to better display their slim, attractive bodies.  Extensive discussion and obvious haggling ensued.

Johnny made his best to look away, disturbed by the situation.  "They mentioned Tyros, right?  Is he the one selling?  Or the one buying?"

"From the way both dropped the name repeatedly, while everyone else shunned it, I think Tyros is someone important and these girls are being bought for him."

"Then maybe you should get up there, Sis.  May be the easiest way to get taken to the guy."

Sue stared at him hard.  "Very funny."

"Er...  Sorry about that."

"Looks a deal got struck," Ben grumbled testily.  

Half a dozen of the slave girls were bound together in a line with a common metal chain and taken to a nearby waiting carriage, escorted by the armed men.

"Alright.  We follow.  Discreetly."


***************************************************


"She must know we are not yet ready to retaliate.  All her proposals were loaded and self-serving."

"All, Suzerain?  Even abolishing slavery in their Empire?"

"Perhaps she is sincere.  But what's that to us?  We have no involvement in such commerce.  It will not impact our economy."

"It would no longer be a threat to our citizens."

"How statistically significant was that anyway?  We have overpopulation as it is, with our physical growth limitations."  She shrugged.  "Let R'Klll can have her crusade.  Will make good propaganda.  But I want hard assurances that they will fulfill the economic sanctions and commit to the trade agreements.  And I want Xandar's cities rebuilt quickly."

"Even accepting Skrull construction teams here?  So soon after the attacks?"

"The Nova Corps will keep watch.  Sure, the people will grumble.  There may be incidents, as always.  But it will be useful, in many ways, for Skrulls to work visibly for us, under us.  Can be possible hostages, too."  The anti-grav lift carrying them stopped at the palace's highest level.  "These are new times, Thoran.  We must adapt."

The doors slid apart, opening to the well-lit foyer of the Suzerain's private rooms.

Thoran stiffened with surprise.


***************************************************


"Nothing yet, Reed.  Just armed guards.  Everywhere."

"Get out if you-"

"I may still find him.  Get that translator working meanwhile, ok?"  

She cut off the communication, uncomfortable to be again split from her family in a strange, hostile place, but she could move undetected better than the others.

The destination had been the large structure at the city center, obvious in hindsight.  The slaves and armed escort had used a back entrance and Sue had followed, invisible, bidding the others to stay behind and wait for the results of her reconnaissance.  

A hard-faced older woman had taken charge of the slaves, examining each with ruthless efficiency, before sending them to be bathed.  That brought back unpleasantly Sue's recent similar experiences, although the local process was much more clinically expedient than that at the luxurious Skrull palace.  These girls were scrubbed hard everywhere and quickly combed and frugally scented with carefully portioned perfume, before being dressed in thin tunics that barely covered their young bodies.  Sent to a higher level in the complex, another older and no less hard-faced, rail-thin woman inspected them carefully before leading all past a wide set of stone doors, into a large chamber whose luxurious decor clashed drastically with the previous austerity everywhere.
 
Against a backdrop of flowing curtains and tapestries framing monstrously proportioned granite statues, a tall, dark and broadly-built man sat on an ornate throne of joint-less marble, and glanced up from the shiny golden cup in his hand.  The handful of svelte, high-breasted, raven-haired beauties kneeling at his feet also looked up at the new arrivals, dull eyes filled with either distrust or pity.  

He stood up, smiling.  The thickly muscled arms and legs exposed by his tunic sported wide bands of precious metals.  His face was broad, and his bald upper head was circled just above his ears by thick black hair that joined his equally thick beard, underlining the cruel smirk of his wide mouth and upturned, bare upper lip.  Looking over the new slaves, he nodded his satisfaction, reaching out to squeeze a pert teat or slender thigh, while making out loud comments that brought quick laughter from the many armored guards present.

Sue frowned with disgust, struck by the unnerving familiarity of the sordid spectacle.  Hadn't Dorrek treated her much like that?  Wasn't she reduced to an object, a chattel for his consideration?  Yet even Dorrek had probably shown her more respect, in his own twisted way, than what these poor girls now found here.

Could this man really be the one they sought?

The old woman bowed deeply.  Among her very first words the name Tyros was clearly spoken.


***************************************************


Returning to his shift, the guard noticed the three figures lingering in the shadowed alley, one of them clearly much larger than a normal person, another apparently talking to himself.


***************************************************


Of course it had to be him, Sue thought, pursing her mouth.

"Found him," she whispered for her communicator, as quietly as possible.  "I need the translator working.  Right now."

"Uploading," replied Reed's equally hushed voice.  "Try it now."

She tapped the hidden stud in her neck and the sounds around her gradually scrambled and re-shaped into mostly recognizable words.

"Have all traveled to my mattress now."  His deep voice warped into roughly understandable speech.

"As you state with authority, Great Lord."

Sue stepped forward, discarding her stolen robe and becoming visible.  "Lord Tyros, I presume?"


***************************************************


Thoran pointed angrily.  "What is the meaning of this?  You-You should not be here!"


***************************************************


The young women cried out with sudden fright, scattering away, as did most of the courtiers and servants present, while startled guards leveled weapons at her.  To his credit, Tyros stood his ground, even if shock filled his face.  

"What witchery is this?" 
 
It was Sue's turn to be surprised when the enormous stone statues flanking the throne suddenly moved with loud creaking noises, to stride heavily towards her.  

"I come in peace," she stated out loud, lifting her hands up, having raised a force-field for protection.  "I just want to talk."

The massive figures were just a couple of steps away when Tyros held up a hand.  Immediately they stopped, limbs stalled in mid-movement.  At his signal, the guards also lowered their weapons slightly, even if still shifting nervously on their feet.  

"Who are you?"  His eyes were like shiny black stones, fixed fast on her.  "How did you get here?"

At least he had refrained from knee-jerk violence.  That was something.

"My name is Susan, Susan Storm Richards, Lord Tyros, and I've come from a great distance to find you."

His eyes narrowed.  "And so you did."



***************************************************


"Sue found him."

"Great!  What we waitin' for?  Let's go-!"

"Hold on.  First she'll try talking to him on her own.  To keep from unnerving or antagonizing him.  Get him to come as easily as possible."

Ben frowned.  


***************************************************


Adora remained perfectly composed.  "Didn't you say he was locked in his guest quarters with those cheap alien whores?"

"He was!"  Thoran barged into the room, glaring at the slender young man standing there in the skin-tight Nova suit.  "YOU!  How dare you intrude here like this?  You-You earthling!  These are the Suzerain's very own private chambers!  How could you even-?"  He glanced all about.  "Where ARE the guards?"

"Please excuse our Prime Thoran."  Adora moved gracefully between them, turning to Thoran with raised eyebrows.  "He forgets our Terran friend and ally is still an honored guest, and the hero of the Skrull War, too."  

"But to just break in here like that?  Uninvited!  Against all protocol?  And how-?"

"He's not used to our customs, Thoran.  We may relax the protocol, for once."   She glanced over her shoulder, smiling.  "Of course he is welcome here."

"HERE?  In your-?"

"Why not?  It is just the opportunity to express our gratitude to this young brave man for his extraordinary deeds."

"A ceremony for proper formal recognition is already scheduled for-"

"Oh, there will be time for formal events.  Later."  

"But-"

"Xandar is deeply indebted with our guest.  We can afford him a few minutes, can't we?  In a private audience."  Her smile grew warmer.  "To extend him the Suzerain's own personal thanks."

"Suzerain, this may not be the best-"

"Later, Thoran."  She waved a hand.  "You can leave us now."  

"Leave?  But-?"

"Later."


***************************************************


He strode forward, looking her over carefully.  "Who sent you to me?"

She did not like how that sounded, yet it was accurate; she had been sent here for him.  The neural-translator was working without any glitch now.  "There is a powerful entity who-"

"Powerful?"  His features hardened into a scowl.  "Only Tyros has power here.  Only Tyros is truly powerful.  Everyone knows that."

"I don't-"

"Everyone," he repeated, making a quick gesture.  With loud cracking sounds, the towering stone figures surrounding them gave one single further step forward, closing on Susan.

"I don't doubt your power, Lord Tyros."  Sue frowned, force-field still in place.  "I can see it.  Clearly."

"Good."  The stone figures remained motionless again, as he moved to only a few paces away, towering over her by more than a head, with his thick arms crossed before his broad chest and his dark eyes glaring balefully, the menace in his bearing greater even than that of the looming stone constructs under his control.  "Whatever trickery let you enter here like a ghost, it is nothing compared to the might of Tyros.  NOTHING.  Remember that." 

She stared back at him.  "I certainly will."  

"I could have crushed you where you stand.  Maybe I should have."  
He stepped even closer, and Susan had to pull her field back, to keep from him striking its invisible contour.  

"Well, thank you for that.  I'm here to-"

"I still may do it."  Moving to her side, he paced around her,  his eyes shamelessly lingering on her body, her chest and rear, while circling slowly, until he came back to stand face to face with her, his dark eyes examining every detail of her features.  "Unless you give good reasons not to.  Very, very good ones."

As he drew nearer, Sue had to reluctantly pull back her field even more, almost to her skin.  She didn't want to anger him, to make him suspicious or unreceptive.  "I have a proposal for you."

"What kind of proposal?"  

"One you may find interesting." 

"Perhaps I'm interested already."  He reached out to her, forcing on her a hurried, uncomfortable decision, just before his right hand's thick fingers grazed her cheek.  

It was an effort not to flinch at the contact, at being touched, deprived of the protection of her hastily dropped force-field.   
"I-I mean something completely out of the ordinary."  

"I can see that," he said, running his eyes up and down her body.  

She drew back, uneasy.  "I'm not talking about myself.  I-"

"But I am."  His fingers thrust into her hair, to shift, spread and lift up its flowing locks.  "Beautiful.  Like liquid gold."  He let her hair fall, and stared at her eyes.  "And ice of the farthest seas.  Never seen anything like that."  He then reached down to seize her breast.  "Or these."  

Sue immediately stepped back, pushing his hand away.  "Please!  There's no time for-!"

"I decide for what there is time."  His eyes filled with instant anger.  "Do you forget that?"

The people milling about in the periphery of the large chamber, the courtiers, guards, and slaves, all began whispering among themselves even as they bowed their heads, showing subservience to their ruler, while also surreptitiously watching this daring strange woman, with various degrees of wariness, curiosity or bafflement.

Knowing she could not afford to antagonize Tyros, and much less before his court, she uncomfortably emulated the crowd, bowing as she muttered an apology, then lifted her eyes and met his eyes.  

"Lord Tyros, this is an important and sensitive matter.  It may be better if we could speak in private.  Could we please-?"

He stared at her, frowning, before turning to the thin, stern woman who had led the slaves in, and pointing at Susan.  "Xalas, have her properly readied and taken to my chambers."

"What?  That's not what-"

"I'll be waiting."   He walked out.
 

***************************************************


"Suzerain, I can summon your assistants, so you won't-"

"That will not be necessary."

"But, you-"

"LATER."


***************************************************


"Talking didn't go well."

"You need our help?  We can zero in on your signal and be-"

"No.  Not yet."  Sue wanted so much to say the opposite, to ask Reed and the others to join her, right now, to give the support, the protection she craved; now more than ever after that odious asshole had made such a crass pass at her.  And so soon after everything...  "I will give it another try.  I have to."

She had to.  She had to prove to herself that she could do it, that she could face an enemy again on her own.  

Even one who obviously wanted to fuck her.  
Particularly one who wanted to fuck her.
 
"This may just take... a bit more time than I expected."

"We are short on time."

"I know."



***************************************************


Thoran almost protested again, but reluctantly registered not just the tone of her voice but also the set of her feet and hands, the tell-tale signs that he would do best to obey and keep his mouth shut.  Red-faced, he bowed. 

"As you wish, Suzerain."

"Yes.  As I do."


***************************************************


"I dunno, Stretcho.  Place like dis...  The way things are here...  Suzie shouldn't be on her own.  Ain't kosher." 

"I don't like either," Johnny added.

Reed breathed out slowly, looking up from a small, old-fashioned paper notepad.  "She can take care of herself.  Unlike us, she remains at full strength.  And it's her call."

One street away, a group of armored men gathered around the first guard, staring their way.


***************************************************


"I'm not wearing THAT."

The old crone named Xalas did not even look up, laying out the sheer dress.  "Displease Tyros at your own peril, foreigner.  But not mine."

"I just need to talk to him.  How can I-?"

"Many come to him.  So many come.  Again and again.  None lasts.  Not for long.  But I do.  I remain."  Her voice dripped disdain.  "You come.  You go.  Now dress."

Susan closed her eyes, annoyed by the woman's unhelpfulness, yet also understanding.  Those under Tyros could not afford risks. 

And she could not afford to waste time.

"Fine.  Let me alone.  I will change on my own." 


***************************************************


"What the fuck are you dung-eaters doing here?"  

The translators delivered every shade of belligerent contempt in the warrior's words.  With several other armed warriors standing behind him, he pointed at Ben, who tried uselessly to hide under the hood of his coarsely-woven, not-big-enough robes.  

"And why is that out of the Citadel at all?  None of the Lord's War-Golems are supposed to stray far from him."

Johnny shook his head.  "Knew you'd blow our cover."

"Wotta revoltin' development."


***************************************************


Adora watched the lift doors close, taking Thoran away.  

"It's just us now."  Her back still to him, she looked over her shoulder and smiled.  "That's what you wanted, right?"


***************************************************


Fighting back her unease, Sue walked in, and the doors closed behind her with a dry thud.

The room was spacious, its walls bearing heavy drapes that made it dark but for the reddish light of several scented braziers surrounding a table with several covered dishes.  At the far end of the room was, ominously, an enormous circular bed.

Tyros smiled.  "Better.  Much better."  


***************************************************


Adora walked forward, calmly appraising him.

"You are certainly bolder than I was led to expect, Richard.  May I call you Richard?"

He shrugged, and she turned away, to face the wall-wide windows showing the Xandarian cityscape.

"I mean, breaking in here uninvited?  In MY rooms?  That is... not done.  Thoran has good reason to be shocked, really.  But you've broken so many rules already.  A non-Xandarian using the Nova Centurion suit!  Who could have believed it?  Then facing the Skrull feet on your own, and WINNING!  Even chasing after the other Terrans, right into the very heart of the Skrull Empire, to rescue them.  All that, and you are barely more than a boy!"

She waited for his reply to her playful jab, but his silence raised her opinion of his self-assurance.

"Xandar is indeed in your debt, Richard Rider.  And I am Xandar."

She spread her arms apart, and the barely-there, translucent fabric of her dress caressed fluidly her graceful figure as she turned towards him.  

"So just how can I give you my thanks?"


***************************************************


His eyes ran down from her loose blonde tresses to her feet bare over the stone floor and up again, taking in the generous exposure of pale, flawless skin, so sparsely covered by the wispy set of nearly translucent veils flowing barely to her upper thighs, that revealed much more than covered by far, making her smallest motion a serious affront to her modesty.  Her breasts pushed high and out the thin fabric, and her mere breathing threatened to expose her fully.  Any less would be actually nothing.

Sue stood uncomfortably under his scrutiny.  "I-I dressed as requested, Lord Tyros, to show my good will, but I'm not here to-"  

"Your strange clothes were interesting; so tight, like a second skin, but still did not flatter your luscious body well enough."  He was bare-chested; his bulging pectorals and solid midsection were covered with coarse dark hair.  "This is much more suitable.  As would much less, of course, or even better, nothing at all."  

"Lord Tyros, it's an urgent matter which-"

"Come, let us dine."  He poured pungent dark wine from a bronzed flagon into two golden cups.  "Which land do you come from?  Is it beyond the Red Sea?"

"I'm not from anywhere on this world.  I-"

"You do look that way."  He walked towards her.  "I've had women from all over the three continents, yet I'd had never seen such hair and eye colorings, or such large-"  

"There's a much larger, greater universe out there, Lord Tyros.  One you may find worthwhile to learn more about."

"Some things I'd find worthwhile to learn much, much more about. Like you."

"No, I mean-"

"And I can teach you much, too, I'm sure."  He handed her a cup, which she took reluctantly.  "Let's drink to learning together."

She held it, without drinking.  "There are more important things at stake-"

"Perhaps.  Perhaps your life is."  He drained his cup and set it aside on the table, before walking back towards her.  "Perhaps I can show you what should be important to you."

"No, important to you, actually."  She stepped back, already exasperated.  She had to stop his digressions. "Have you heard about Galactus?"

"Is that where you come from?"  He followed as she moved back.  "Do all females there look like you?"

She shook her head, moving further back, trying to keep distance.  "Galactus is not a place, but-"

Her back hit the wall.


***************************************************


She stopped just short of touching, chest to chest with him, and looked up at his eyes, shinning under the golden helmet.

"How was it that the Terran woman thanked you for running into nearly-certain death for her?  For saving her and her family?"  Her head tilted quizzically.  "How generous was she with her gratitude?"

Her lips were open and moist as they moved up towards him.

"Was it like... this?"


***************************************************


"Please!"  She placed a hand on his hairy chest, pushing him away as gently she could, not wanting to anger him, to ruin the chance of convincing him.  Disgusted and angered as she may be, Earth was still at stake, and the demands of Galactus must be met.  "There's no time to waste-"

He smiled broadly, grabbing her wrist.  "I agree."

"Please, just hear me out.  There's an opportunity for you to have truly extraordinary experiences, if you only-"

He laughed.  "It'll be an extraordinary experience for you, too."

He grabbed her other wrist and forced her arms apart, lunging forward towards her.

The cup fell from her hand, its contents splashing on the floor.


***************************************************


Her lips danced on his, her tongue and teeth complementing her kiss, her expert teasing, her taunting caresses, always delivering just enough to incite, to promise more, deeper, greater pleasures.  Pleasures only she could offer.


***************************************************


Susan froze, unable to react, or even move, much less struggle, shaken far beyond anything she could have expected by the sudden, aggressive oral assault, that overwhelmed her into startled passivity, as for that moment, for her, everything went green.

She was struck into immobility, not by the actual presence, the actual touch, of Tyros against her, of his hands and mouth and tongue against her, but by the sudden flashback such contact brought:  the intense recall of a craggy green face and body filling her awareness.  

The forced contact, the heavy bodily pressure suddenly demanding her compliance, her surrender, brought it back, all of it back, all she had so recently experienced.  

Kl'rt.  Dorrek.  Even R'Klll.  

The terror.  The helplessness.  The futile anger.  

The unwelcome pleasure.   

Everything.


***************************************************


Finally, Adora drew back, her breathing quickened, lips and tongue glistening with warm saliva. 

"So?  How was it?  Compared to hers?   Was it as good?  Or better?"  

His eyes narrowed under the helmet.  

She licked her lips slowly.  "Was that enough to thank you?  Was hers?"   


***************************************************


Sudden force pushed Tyros away, away from her.  

"ENOUGH!"  Sue clenched her fists, her face pale, her pupils dilated.  "Don't-Don't you-!"

Tyros found his footing, frowning in anger, not knowing what had pushed him, having seen nothing.  "Witchery again?  How did-?"

"You-You shouldn't-shouldn't have..."  She closed her eyes, hands held up, breathing deeply.  "I just...  I'm sorry."  She hated having to apologize to this abusive jerk, but had little choice.  "Please, I just came here to talk, to explain that-"

"Talk?  Nonsense."  He reached out and grabbed her by the flimsy veils she wore.  "You're here to fuck."


***************************************************


"No, I don't think it was enough.  Not then, not now.  Like those three sluts she left to appease you cannot be enough, either."  She made a dismissive gesture.  "Shi'Ar, Krylorians...  are like their food, you know?  You may overeat, but in no time you'll be hungry again."

She drew closer again, the hard points on her chest poking clearly through her thin clothing.

"You see, there's much better to be found here, in Xandar.  So much better."  

Her hand slid down his torso, over the golden starburst symbol, over the taut chest and stomach, where the suit seemed merely painted.  "You can have a place here, Richard.  A future.  If you choose well."

She looked up, her face mirrored in his gleaming helmet. 

"So tell me, what would be enough?  For me to properly... thank you?"  Her eyes shone, daring him.  "How many rules would need to be broken?"

He moved his hands up, along her arms, to her shoulders, fingertips running over the silken, luxurious Cotati fabric and the even smoother skin under it.

His hands then tightened into grips.  With sudden power, he tore the dress completely off her body.



***************************************************


Tyros threw Susan violently against the floor, thin veils tearing in his hands.

"NO!  You don't understand.  You don't know what's at stake!"

"A good fuck is, woman.  As you shall see."

"Look, there's something much more important than-!"

"That's what all think, until they're fucked well enough.  As you will be."

She shook her head, in angry frustration.  Couldn't all these bastards think of anything else?  How could she convince him now?  How could she now...?   How?  Without...?  

No, not that.  She couldn't.  Never.  Never again.

But Earth was at risk.

"Billions of lives are in danger.  You MUST come with me-!"

"Oh, I will."

"NO!"  Sue scrambled backwards as he came closer.  "JUST LISTEN TO ME!"

He smiled, staring at what the torn veils partially revealed.  "What for?  What deceit can you offer from whoever sent you to me?  You think you're the first?"

"First?"

"The first to try to seduce me to make me lower my guard?  To try to assassinate me in my own bed?  You dumb wench, I've fucked the brains out of every single slut who tried and I'm still here!"

"NO!  I came here to offer you the chance for something new, something different!  A change!  A new life!  New power!  New-!"

"I have power.  Why change anything?"

Tears surged in her eyes.  "Why...  Why are you even doing this?  I DO NOT WANT IT!"

He laughed.  "Because I can.  Why else?  I have the power, remember?"

Earth.  Billions of lives.

But she couldn't.

She clenched her fists.  "Fuck you."

"Oh, you will."  

Looming tall over her, he undid the straps of his bulging, oversized metal codpiece, which clattered to the floor.  



***************************************************


On her knees before him, her eyes opened wide in surprise.

"Why, you're SO much more than I expected.  So much, much more." 



***************************************************


"Am I supposed to be impressed?"

Tyros frowned.  "You are, and you know it."

***************************************************


She gasped, releasing him at last from her mouth, her tongue lingering on the lower curve of its tip, just as thick, hot jism spurt all over her carefully made-up features, covering them.

She licked at the dense, still-warm gobs of semen still on her lips, making a show of swallowing with relish.

"Your blond Terran never did that for you, did she?"  

He pushed her onto the thick carpeted floor and spread her legs apart.


***************************************************



"Sure, you are big."  She rose to her knees, arching her brows.  "Very big, even.  So what?"

"You'll see what.  Once I am through with you, it shall be impossible for you to ever enjoy anything again."

"Oh, please."  Sue took the torn veils hanging on her, and standing up, pulled them off.  "I've had bigger."


***************************************************


"OH-FUCK!  You're so big!  FUCK!  SO FUCKING BIG!"


***************************************************


Tyros stared, baffled, at the skin-tight fabric of her Fantastic Four outfit again visible on her body, where it had always remained.

"You know.  I wanted to convince you, get you to come with us of your own free will, to help each other.  But you're scum, so I have no more qualms about doing what must be done."

Her invisible force struck him like a battering ram.
 

***************************************************


It thrust, violently, again and again, deeply into her.

She cried out, squirmed and moaned, loudly, enthusiastically, as he thrust and thrust, and her breathless words went on and on, praising his size, his length and thickness, yelling how much she loved every single fraction of it.

She came, screaming in delight, within mere minutes.  It was but her first.



***************************************************


Tyros groaned, getting to his knees.  "YOU BITCH!"

The stone floor, walls and ceiling all fractured into pieces that rushed towards Sue, converging in an implosion of boulders and sharp-edged gravel.


***************************************************


Shouting filled the air as the whole palace groaned and shook, earth trembling all over the city.

"What-?  It's an attack!"  The guards raised their weapons.  "Must be-!"

"CLOBBERIN' TIME!"


***************************************************


Her force-field expanded and tons of rubble collapsed all around her with a great cloud of dust, leaving her untouched in the middle of a circle of broken stones and pebbles.

"Best you can do?"

"YOU WILL SEE!"  The war-golems thundered into the debris-strewn rooms, massive limbs flailing wildly.

"Boys and their toys." 


***************************************************


Armored troops poured into the streets in countless numbers, their elongated weapons discharging uselessly against Ben Grimm's rocky hide.

"It's a rogue War-Golem!  TAKE IT DOWN!"

"Ya can't keep a good Thing down!"

"Man, that was awful!"

"Keep movin' n' blastin', Match-head, ya slowin' down!"

"In your dreams!"


***************************************************


The rocky constructs were sent to crash violently against the surrounding walls, one after each other, their shattered fragments mixing indistinctly with the pieces of broken masonry.  

While most others present ran desperately, seeking safety, the old woman stayed still, staring stoically, the deep lines etched in her face undisturbed even as shards of stone whizzed close by.  Finally she turned to the younger servants hiding nearby, speaking in a flat, emotionless voice.  

"Now.  It is time.  Tell everyone."


***************************************************


A small, back-bent laborer pointed to the orange-skinned Thing.

"Even his own stone demons have turned against him!  Tyros is finished!  IT IS TIME!"

From the multiple alleys, people swarmed, make-shift weapons in their hands, rushing to attack the armored warriors, shouting in a joint voice:  "IT IS TIME!"

"Waddaya know?  Reinforcements!"


***************************************************




He drew back and stepped away, breathing hard and fast.

Semen dripped to the carpet under her from her wet, swollen folds, and she weakly turned to her side, looking up at him, at his quivering member, still hard, glistening with their shared fluids.

With a long sigh, she turned face down on the carpet, raising her rear high before him.  She slid one finger slowly along her perineum, looking over her shoulder at him.

"What else did the Terran fail to give to you?"


***************************************************


Complete areas of the palace structure lay in jagged, smoking chunks all about them, a veritable mountain of rubble, exposing them to the outside city, as Sue walked towards where Tyros lay, dirty and bruised, crouched forward in pain.

"So, are you through with me already?"

"You deceitful bitch!"  Nearby rocks trembled and began to rise.  

"I'm not impressed yet, really."

"I'LL FU-!"

"Quiet down."  

She focused, contracting her force field in a localized stop.

"AAH-!  YOU BITCH!"

"The size at least makes for a good hold, you know."

He screamed again, and all the hovering rocks shuddered and fell down.

"YOU'LL PAY FOR THIS!"

"No, Tyros.  You will finally be the one who pays.  For everything."

Holding onto a helpful young girl, the grim old woman approached, stepping over the debris, hundreds of stern-faced servants and slaves behind her.

Tyros stared with disbelief at the encroaching throng.  "Xalas?"

"Your armies are being overwhelmed now.  They say strange creatures help us."  She glanced at Susan.  "Some call it higher intervention.  Others... luck."

"You shriveled old crone!"  He tried to aim a hand at her, but collapsed with another loud gasp, as Sue clenched her hand into a fist.  

"SUE!"

The flaming figure landed right next to her, and the onlookers stepped back in awe and fright.  

"Sis, you missed quite a fight!"

"Did I?"

"Who's that?"  

"That's Tyros, local warlord and ruler.  Formerly."

"The guy we came to find?  Oh.  Why are his pants down?"

"SUZIE!"  A giant boulder was thrown aside and Ben Grimm climbed over the heaps of rubble to join them, amidst renewed murmurs from the crowd.  "Ya awright?"

"Hey, guys, Sue found Tyros."

"Dat pantless guy?"

"Where's Reed?"

"He's comin', Suzie."  Ben looked back.  "He's... justa tad slower, ok?"

Tyros stared at them, eyes bulging with shock.  "What-What are you?"

"Convenient."  The old woman stepped closer, making her way through the debris.  "That's what they are.  You're powerless now, Tyros.  Now...  it is time." 

Hundreds of voices joined in:  "IT IS TIME!"

"We have waited for this.  Waited long enough."

"IT IS TIME!"

Tyros paled.

The old woman turned to Sue.  "We can take over now, foreigner."

"NO!"  Tyros crawled forward on all fours.  "Don't let them have me!"

Sue shrugged.  "Why not?  You wanted to have me."

Johnny's flames rose higher.  "WHAT?"

"YOUR PROPOSAL!  You said I had to go with you!  I will!  I accept!  Take me away from here!  From them!  I ACCEPT!"

"He does?"  Ben turned to Sue.  "Damn, girl, yer good."

The old woman stared at them, intimidated by neither the flaming man nor his rock-skinned companion.  "He must stay here, and pay for his crimes."

Sue stepped forward.  "We need him.  The life of our world is at stake, and he's to be a part of saving it."

"Is it far from here?"

"Very.  Far among the stars."

"Good.  Take him, then.  And let us never meet again."

Reed arrived, legs stretching slowly over the obstacles.  "Susan."

"Reed."  She smiled.  "Tyros agreed to go."

"Oh, good.  Knew you could do it."

The old woman seized Susan's arm.  "Do not trust him.  Whatever help you need, you cannot rely on him.  Remember that."

"I will.  Thank you."

"No.  Thank you, foreigner.  For all you did."

Sue smiled.  "I just came, and will now be gone.  But you'll remain."
  
"Not for long."  She turned to Tyros.  "But long enough.  To see us rid of him."

A scarlet helix of light appeared, enveloping five figures, which shimmered and vanished before the tired eyes of Xalas, who at long last, smiled. 



***************************************************



"What-?  Where-Where are we?  WHERE?  WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

In their heads they heard Galactus, as he towered over them.

"TYROS.  YOU HAVE BEEN SUMMONED TO SERVE THE HIGHEST CALLING.  YOU HAVE ACCEPTED SERVING GALACTUS."

"Wait!  I didn't-!  I DIDN'T KNOW!  I DON'T-!"

"YOU SHALL BE BESTOWED THE POWER COSMIC.  BECOME HERALD TO GALACTUS."

Energies of unearthly magnitudes filled the chamber, and Tyros screamed.



***************************************************


Adora screamed weakly and collapsed, her body trembling with the fading throes of her final orgasm.

He remained over her, throbbing inside her, for a lengthy while, until he finally withdrew and fell to the side and onto his back, next to her, facing up as opposed to her.

"Stay," she muttered softly, while reaching for him.  

He pulled away and got to his feet.  "I must go."

"You don't have to."  

"Where are they now?  The Earthling Four?"  

"Don't."  She looked up at him, still too spent to move.  "Stay.  Here.  You can have a place here, with me."

"Where?"  His voice was a low growl.  "Where did they go?"

"You don't need to follow them."

"I do."

"Why?  The war is over!  Peace is being negotiated!"

"I must."

"Your empire no longer cares about them!  Why should you?"

He drew still.  "You knew."

"Of course.  From the first moment you were inside me.  How couldn't I tell?"  She stretched languorously, her naked body glowing with the light reflecting in her sweaty, smooth skin.  "We can be together, like this, from now on."

"I cannot.  I-I must redeem my-"

"Oh, please!  What are you trying to prove?  To whom?  Your empress?  She will not care.  No one will!"

"I care.  I am a cast-out now.  A pariah.  All because of...  them."

"More reason to stay.  Here!  With me!"

"I lost everything!"

"No!  Not me!  You can have me!"  She moved to her knees, eyes shining.  "Take whatever shape you want, be whoever you choose, but be at my side!  We can rule together.  Xandar, at first, and perhaps more, later.  We could build our own empire, you and I, TOGETHER!" 

He stared at her, so beautiful in her nakedness, so willing and available and full of fire and ambition and desire.  

"Just stay with me," she continued.  "Forget about them.  Forget about HER!"



***************************************************



"THE POWER COSMIC WILL NOW SUSTAIN YOU AND BE YOURS TO WIELD.  YOUR POWER OVER SILICON-BASED MATTER WILL BE AUGMENTED A THOUSAND-FOLD, AS WILL YOUR STRENGTH.  IN YOUR HAND, THE COSMIC AXE SHALL CLEAVE ANY BARRIER IN YOUR PATH.  NOW TYROS IS NO MORE.  NOW THERE IS ONLY TERRAX.  TERRAX, HERALD OF GALACTUS."

Amidst the swirling energies of recreation stood the newly renamed Terrax, his features sharply-chiseled rock, his mighty body seemingly hewn from the dense nucleus of a collapsed star.  His eyes shone with his new puissance. 

Watching the dazzling display of energies, Sue winced, remembering the old woman's warning.


***************************************************


The Sphinx floated in the gaseous remains of the star he had recently consumed, focusing on balancing the enormous energies now coursing through him, just as his mind still grappled with the vast stores of information, layered and often contradictory knowledge that unfolded in ever-expanding complexity before his mind's eye, his ever-evolving consciousness.  

Soon, he would have tamed these twin streams within him, and he would then travel to the place where his life as a mere mortal had begun, to perform its rightful sacrifice to his newly birthed godhood.

Then he frowned.

Something had stirred, perceptibly, in the very balance of power of the universe.



***************************************************


Light-years away, Galactus had begun to move.




PART TEN:  AND IN THIS CORNER...


Multiple Nova corpsmen rushed into the rooms in tactical deployment, their weapons ready, their suits glowing with energy.

Thoran entered warily, surrounded by several high-ranked, battle-hardened corpsmen.

"Suzerain!"

Adora stood in a loose robe before the wall-wide windows, holding a narrow crystal vial of wine in her hand.  She did not look away from her contemplation of the sprawling cityscape.  "You did not announce yourself, Prime Thoran.  Why such breach of protocol?"

"Please excuse us, Suzerain."  He glanced nervously all about.  The corpsmen had spread all about with strategic efficiency, but their leader shook his head in clear negation.  "We were worried about your safety."

"Were you?"

"The watch that went missing from here, from your quarters...  They were found, dead.  All twelve of them!"

"How troubling.  You must appoint more competent staff, then, Thoran."

"Yet no one appears in the security footage!  It must have been tampered with!"

"I see.  Who could have done it?"

"The Earthling!  Who else?  He was here, and has Centurion-level access, Rhomman Dey be damned!  He must have killed the watch before we arrived!  And you were alone with him!  I feared that-"

She gestured dismissively.  "I'm touched by your concern, Thoran.  Quite touched.  But you can see I'm perfectly safe."

"But he-?"

"He left."  She drank.  Slowly.  "We only had a brief meeting.  Nothing important."

"Did he say anything that-?"

"Nothing important," she repeated, lowering her vial.

"He must be found, and apprehended!  He must be made to pay!"

Adora turned at last towards Thoran, her eyes cold.  

"Yes.  He must."


***************************************************


A figure dressed in a flowing light robe stood on the barren lunar surface, facing the bluish orb of the Earth.

Watching.  

He felt the shudders in the local space-time layers, and tilted his bald head slightly to a side.

So it began.


***************************************************


As soon as the swirling energies faded away, the Fantastic Four exited their protective capsule, stepping out onto the familiar floor of the Baxter Building's hangar space.

"Back on good ol' Earth," Ben muttered with relief, just before he stumbled forward, nearly losing his footing.

Sue reached for him, though she would have been of little use to detain his enormous mass.  "Are you alright, Ben?"

He shrugged.  "Just slipped, Suzie.  Ain't nuthin'."

"Ben's probably hitting the sauce hard while we aren't watching," Johnny said, his teasing only half-hearted. 

"We were in lower gravity environs," Reed said.  "We'll need a moment to adjust."  He walked slowly towards a nearby control console, to plug his hand-held device into it.  Hunched forward, he peered at the display.    "He's here already."

"The Sphinx?  On Earth?"

"Yes.  He materialized on Egypt.  At Giza, fittingly.  Egyptian air forces engaged him but were easily destroyed."

"Dat sucks."  Ben grimaced, sympathetic towards fellow armed forces airmen.  "We gotta do sumthin'"

"As soon as Galactus arrives, we'll go there."  Reed tapped the console furiously.  "We have little time left."

Sue was pained by those words.  Reed's hair was completely white now and evidently much more sparse.  His outfit hung loose on his now bony frame.  "Reed, did you contact Herbie?  Any progress?"

"I did.  But there's no time to-"

"There must be.  Reed, what did Herbie report?"

He leaned on the console, eyes closed for just a moment.  "Latest models failed.  All of them.  Herbie sent me the figures but I...  I could not pinpoint the reasons.   I-I don't know...  All data in the Living Computers pointed to...  It should have worked.  A final model of the reversal process is now being run, but it may be the last one we can-"

"Reed.  You must solve this.  You must-"

"First we must save Earth, Sue.  Galactus will stop the Sphynx, but what then?"

"Yer pretty confident da Big G gonna win, aintcha, Stretcho?"

"He will.  He has to.  But we must then stop him, stop him from-"

"Gobbling up da Earth, yep."    

Sue reached for her husband.  "Reed, how can we save the Earth if you... if you...?"  She could not bring herself to say the words.  "You're the one who knows what to do."

He rubbed his deeply-lined forehead.  "I think I do.  Know how to.  But what if I'm wrong in that, too?  What if-?"

She hugged him from behind, hiding her anguish at his frailty.  "You can do it.  You will stop Galactus.  You will find that cure.  I trust you can.  I trust you."

He took her hand.  "I trust you, too."  He placed in her open palm a small, battered notepad, the one on which he had been scribbling.  "Sue, if I cannot-"

Sue shook her head, handing the notepad back quickly.  "No.  NO.  Don't say that.  You cannot give up.  You can't!"

"Susan, you must be ready if-"

The console began to beep loudly, and Reed quickly turned to it.

"What's the matter?  Is Galactus here?"

"No.  It's the sub-space link with Xandar.  There seems to be some kind of commotion."

Sue stiffened.  "The Skrulls again?"  

"No.  Master Xar is sending a message.  Says it's....  Rich Ryder?"

"Rich?"

"Da kid?"

"The Nova Corps turned against him.  There's fighting going on."  

Ben's heavy brow crumpled inward.  "Dat don't make sense!"

"Reed.  We cannot let him down."

"I'm on it."  Reed's fingers moved quickly over the input pad, although not as fast as they had once been.  "I can control the Xandarian long-range transporter from here.  I'm bringing him over.  Herbie, too."

"Herbie?  But isn't he working on-?"

"That may be compromised, too.  I may make better use of him here."

The protective capsule they had vacated filled with light, and from within its shimmering outline two figures emerged, one after the other.

"Rich!"

Susan and Ben rushed together to help the slender young man stay upright.  His Nova suit was blackened all over and letting off acrid-smelling smoke.

His voice was weak and hoarse.  "Ms. Richards?"

"Hey, what'm I?  Chopped liver?"

"You are Benjamin J. Grimm."  Hovering, the just-arrived robot spoke in mechanical monotone, his optical apparatus scanning the surroundings.  
"The current locale corresponds to records of the Baxter Building on Earth."

"That is correct."  Reed beckoned the robot to join him at the console.  "Herbie, deliver status report."

"As the Creator orders." 

"You are among friends, Rich," Sue continued leading him to a bench to sit.  "Tell us what happened.  Are you hurt?"

He removed his helmet, his brown hair lank and matted with sweat against his head.  "They called me traitor.  Tried to kill me.  I-I had to fight them-"

Ben clenched his fists.  "Why, dose ungrateful bums...  Next time da Skrulls come callin' we'll see-"  

The Baxter Building alarms blared for all of a second before being silenced by much louder noise as most of the hangar's south side suddenly crumbled away into rubble catastrophically, along with much of that side of the building.

Sue coughed.  Dust filled the air and her ears rang, yet no debris had reached them, nor had the impact wave, thanks to her quickly-raised forceful.  Yet she was pinned against the hangar floor by Rich's weight over her, as he had yet again jumped to bodily cover her, taking both of them down together.

"Rich, this wasn't necessary!"  She unceremoniously pushed him off and rose to her knees.  Two steps away, Ben also tried to get up, his sprawled massive body appearing more cumbersome to manage than ever before.  "Help Ben!"

"Wot was dat?"

"We were attacked."  She kept her force-field up, warily.  "Reed?  Johnny?"

"Here!"  Johnny flame shone through the dusty air.  "I'm alright, Sis."

"I'm... here, too, Susan."  Reed's voice was weak.  "Herbie, help me up."

"As the Creator orders." 

"Who da heck-?"

The clouds of suspended dust and smoke suddenly parted and cleared away drastically, as if cleanly cut away.

The hangar and several other floors of the building were now fully open to the city outside, and framed in the newly-created opening floated a large piece of meteoric rock, upon which arrogantly stood Terrax, the cosmic axe in his hand, as tall as he was, the massive wedge of metal of its blade glowing ominously with unbridled energies. 

Terrax smiled darkly.  "There you are."



***************************************************


Ancient monuments of times long past stood under the scorching sun at the Giza Plateau, at the west bank of the River Nile.  Worn down by the millennia, an aged construct of limestone in the shape of a reclining lion with a human face served as backdrop to the towering figure of its newly-arrived namesake.

The Sphinx spread his arms dramatically.  "The glory that was proud Aegypt must be restored."  

The desert bloomed.  Countless palms rose gracefully and wide green gardens spread, spotted by a multitude of wide pools of clear water that sparkled in the sun, while colorful birds sang sweetly among the foliage.  The Great Pyramid of Khufu and its lesser companions were restored to their original appearance as their surfaces became covered by perfectly white limestone casing pieces and the long-missing gold-plated pyramidions were replaced.  At their feet, an assortment of palaces, statues and obelisks spread in luxurious splendor.

"As it was and as it should have been."

At his command, the massive pyramids rose from the ground, millions of tons of stone floating high into the reddish skies under the setting sun.

"A fitting epilogue for this world's demise."  

The Sphinx spoke in a dialect so ancient no living local inhabitant would have understood, yet the nearby white-robed bald man of greater than human height nodded with understanding.  

The Sphinx turned toward him.  "I know your kind, Watcher.  As well as your mandate.  Your presence here is fitting. To bear witness.  To testify to the dawn of my ascendancy to Godhood.  Marked by the end of this lowly orb."

The Sphinx strode down the golden-paved way between the restored structures, making a wide, sweeping gesture with his right hand.

"For here I was born centuries ago as Anath-Na-Mut whose name became stricken from the Books of Life.  And here I shall be reborn, reborn in Holy Retribution, rightful retribution, for the endless years of pain and despair I was made to suffer as an exile, cursed and denied all joy or meaning, ever since that thrice-damned day when the Hebrew upstart stood defiantly before Great Ramses and demanded that his people be let go, shaming me and my hard-earned arts with the unknown power behind him, dooming me to wander the cruel desert as an outcast."

There were no clouds yet lighting streaked through the sky.

"And an outcast I remained, even after my discovery of the long-lost Ka Stone, which granted me its power and the subtle curse of immortality, which made life endless and unsavory.  For I could not die or age or change, and as the world around me did what I could not, my own existence became more hollow and unsatisfying, a mockery that made me desire more and more my own release from the crushing burden of the ages."

The Sphinx then threw back his head and laughed, laughed with the sound of thunder.

"Such irony!  I sought the hidden secrets of the universe in order to break my curse, but the knowledge I took from the Living Computers of Xandar tore away my blindness instead.  Why should I seek to change, or escape into un-being, when instead I could reshape the cosmos itself around me to match my whims?  When I could at last be truly a God?  BE THE GOD?"

Uatu the Watcher did honor to his name in silence.



***************************************************



Ben grunted, throwing aside heavy fragments of masonry and damaged machinery.  

"Why ya bum!  Ya coulda killed us!"
 
Johnny flew up, flaming brightly.  "Our turn, then!"  

His fiery blast rushed at Terrax, but he casually swung his axe and the flames were split and deflected harmlessly to the sides.

The new herald of Galactus jumped off his hovering stone slab and landed heavily on the hangar's deck, the thick metal shuddering under his feet.  

"I was told to get you." He strode forward, the glowing cosmic axe in hand, and his deep-set dark eyes fixed on Susan Storm. "And get you I will."

Ben rushed at him, cocking back a massive fist.  "Not while I'm-!"

Terrax's open hand caught Ben in a wide slap that sent him flying across the hangar, the impact with the metal wall at its end so great he was embedded into its surface.

"BEN!"  Johnny unleashed his flames again.  At such short range the conflagration swallowed Terrax completely.

Terrax laughed.  "FOOLS!  I was empowered to skim the surface of suns!  Your fire is nothing to me!"

He lifted up his axe, and a flash of unleashed cosmic power struck out the flames.  

"You are nothing to me now!  Nothing"  

A second wide blast of cosmic energies knocked Johnny off his feet, his fire snuffed out even before he hit the floor.  

Terrax turned to Susan.  "Except for one of you."  He started resolutely towards her.  

Susan quickly raised her force-field.  When his extended hand struck the invisible barrier, his mouth spread in a wide grin.  

"Your parlor tricks again?"  His hands gripped tightly the long shaft of his axe as he drew it back in a wide arc, high over one shoulder.  "Can they withstand my Cosmic Axe?"

Before the question could be answered, Terrax was hit from the side, with enough strength to make him drop to one knee.  Another blow struck his weapon from his hand, just before a brutal kick made his face twist aside, contorted in a grimace more of outrage than pain.

"WHO DARES-!"

Another punch hit his rocky face with a loud crack, before Terrax replied with a loud bellow and a wild swing of his own.  

Susan cried out: "RICH!"

The fleeting contact of Terrax's fist threw the slender figure in the Nova suit careening through the air to slam violently against a bank of heavy equipment.

Terrax stood, extending an open hand, and his axe flew back into his grasp.  

"YOU GNATS!  YOU THINK YOU CAN STOP ME?"

Sue hesitated, not knowing where to run to, who to shield first, as everyone had been scattered all over the place.  She set her feet, brow furrowed.  "I beat you before."

His eyes narrowed.  "Oh, I remember that, woman.  But that was before.  And now you will regret it.  So much." 

"Susan, don't!"  Reed's voice came from behind her, almost too weak to hear.  "He's too powerful now!  Run!  Get away!"

Sue clenched her fists.  Reed was right.  How could she face a Herald of Galactus on her own?

Terrax's axe glowed.  "There is nowhere to run."

"Creator, it is not advisable to-"

"STOP."

The thundering word filled their minds as a vast shadow was cast upon them by a gigantic shape completely covering the opening to the hangar from the city behind it. 

Terrax quickly bowed down, lowering his weapon.  "I was procuring the Earthlings as commanded, My Master."

Sue stood, outraged, facing the towering figure of Galactus.  "He tried to kill us!"  

Terrax scoffed.  "What matters whether they are dead or alive?"

"YOU EXCEED YOUR BOUNDS, HERALD.  YOU WERE TO ESCORT THEM TO MY VESSEL."

"They assaulted me!  To defy the Herald is not to defy the Master?"

The eyes of Galactus were bright squares of fathomless cosmic power.  

"BE WARY NOT TO TEST THE PATIENCE OF GALACTUS, HERALD."  

Terrax kept his eyes low.  "If I erred, please forgive me, Master!"

"THESE EARTHLINGS ONCE THWARTED THE WILL OF GALACTUS HIMSELF.  AFTER THIS SPHINX IS VANQUISHED, THEY MUST STAND WITNESS TO THE FUTILITY OF THEIR RESISTANCE."

Cosmic energies began to swirl around all those present.  

Reed Richard's voice was barely a whisper.  "Yet you will not give us the chance to prepare that resistance?"

The twisting energies stopped and then faded.

"LET IT NOT BE SAID GALACTUS IS NOT FAIR.  GATHER WHATEVER WEAPONS YOU MAY, EARTHLING, AND PREPARE YOUR EFFORTS.  THEY SHALL PROVE TO NO AVAIL."

"Thank you."  Reed leaned on Herbie in order to stand up straight.  "You will find the Sphinx in the Plain of Giza, in-"

"I HAVE TAKEN THE LOCATION FROM YOUR MIND.  MY HERALD WILL LEAD ME THERE."

"As my Master orders."  Still bowing, Terrax cast a sideways glance at Susan Storm, his eyes dark and deep and full of malice.  

"ONCE GALACTUS HAS DEALT WITH THIS NUISANCE, THIS SO-CALLED SPHINX, HE SHALL RETURN."

Terrax tightened the grip on his axe, his eyes still on Sue. 


***************************************************


"He is coming," the Sphinx stated.  "The Devourer of Worlds."

Uatu nodded.

The Ka stone on his dusky brow sparkled under the setting sun.  

"Good.  Let him come.  Let this be done."



***************************************************


Susan shivered.

Even after he and Galactus had left, she could still feel Terrax's eyes on her.  So cold and cruel and threatening and hungry.  Much like back in his world, in his rooms, when they had been alone, and he had so arrogantly flaunted before her his power, his status, his strength, his size...  

And that had been... before.  

Now he was so much more powerful, so much more...

"What-What was Galactus thinking?"

Reed looked up, his frown accentuating the wrinkling of his deeply-lined features.  

"Thinking?"

"About Tyros!  Terrax!  Why-Why him?  He-He's an evil monster!  He enslaved his people, and oppressed them, and he...  He wanted to...  Why give such power to one like him?"

"It may be intentional.  His previous heralds, like the Surfer or Firelord were moral, noble beings.  Yet they had to find for him worlds which could sustain life, and sometimes host intelligent life.  So all eventually rebelled."  Reed shrugged, and to Sue's alarm, even that small motion seemed to take great effort from him.  "Maybe Galactus wants now a herald who will have no objections to finding such worlds for him."  

His hand slipped over Herbie's polished metal frame and he almost faltered forward.

Susan was quick to hold him up, first with her force field, then with her arms.  

"Reed, are you-?"

He shook his head.  "No, no.  I'm just... tired.  Terrax's attack... knocked my breath out.  That's all.  Herbie, help me to my lab.  There is much to do."

"As the Creator orders.  Will we prepare the weapon-?" 

"Weapon?  No.  No.  The last cure model.  We must make a last run."

"Yes, you must.  Let's go."  Sue held his arm firmly.  "I'll help you-"

"No, no.  Help Ben and Johnny.  See they're alright."

"But Reed, you-"

 "I'll be alright.  Herbie will help me.  You see to them.  And the boy.  The boy..."

"Rich."

He nodded.  "Him.  Yes."  He pressed his hand against hers, and gave her a faint reassuring smile.  Her heart tightened at his concern for her, his always worrying about her and others first.  "Herbie.  The lab.  Please."

"As the Creator orders." 

Even leaning on the robot, his steps were short and faltering.  Under the baggy bodysuit, his thinness was almost cadaverous.  He looked like an old man now, in every way.  Older than her own father had ever been.

As the door to the elevator closed, Sue glanced down at the small notepad he had left on her hand.  

Susan Storm lifted her hands to her face and began to quietly cry.


***************************************************


Master Xar stared, startled.  "YOU?"


***************************************************



First her shoulders, then all of her, shook wildly with her sobbing, as her crying  escalated, overwhelmed by fear and encroaching despair, until she felt hands take her upper arms from behind, steadying her, their grip firm and solid, comforting, helpful in her moment of need.

She turned and buried her face in his shoulder, welcoming his arms around her, slender but wiry, giving her the support she needed, as her whole body was still being racked by her outpouring of grief.  

"It can't be.  Not now.  Not like this.  Not after everything."  She hugged him back desperately, seeking to draw comfort from his strength, his warmth, his solid presence against her.  "He-He's done so much.  So much. It isn't fair-isn't fair!"  

Slowly, his hand ran over her head, through her long blond hair, while the other held tightly to her trim waist, keeping her close, tight in his embrace.  

"If-If he...  Oh, God, please, no.  No.  I-I don't...  I couldn't...  I just-"

He stroked firmly up and down her side, her trembling torso and back, the rounded hip and outer upper leg, over the tight blue bodysuit.

"It can't be...  It just can't be.  Not Reed.  Not him.  Not HIM!"

She placed her hands on his shoulders and elbows on his torso, and looked up, her blue eyes shining wet, her flushed face streaked with tears, up at his young face.  

"Without-Without Reed...  What will be of Earth?  What will be of all of us?  Of me-?"

He leaned forward and his hand, nestled in her golden locks, drew her head, her face, towards his.  His whisper warmed her lips.  "You have me."

"Rich-?"

His mouth joined hers.

Her eyes opened wide in surprise as he drew her tighter into the embrace and kiss.

His lips and tongue worked on hers and his hand pressing firmly against the small of her back slowly slid even lower, spreading to seize and squeeze her rear, while drawing her lower body closer against him, all while she remained startled into momentary passivity, frozen by the shock of such unexpected move just after her outpouring of unbalanced emotions.  She floundered between embarrassment and disbelief, unsure of what to do, of how to stop him, of how angry or offended she ought to be, by his daring, his shameless taking advantage of her vulnerability.  

How could he?  He was just a kid!

She quickly drew back, pushing with her forearms against his chest, starting to protest:  "Rich!  Don't-!"  

But he pulled her back to him immediately, silencing her with his mouth. 

"Ri-!"

Flustered, she sought to break away repeatedly, but he held her with surprising strength, and she could barely start to gasp each breathless complaint before it was smothered relentlessly with a kiss, again and again, all over her trembling lips, in quick, insistent succession.  

"Don't-!"  

How?  How dare he?  Kiss her?  Here?  Now?  Like this?  

"Rich-!"

He was just a kid!  

"Stop-!"

Yet he was much stronger than she could have imagined, much, much stronger, and there was an undeniably manly assurance to that strength, and none of his previous shyness and awkwardness.  Had the three former slaves girls taught him so well so fast?

She nervously recalled his bravely risking his life for her, for all of them, and his very obvious crush on her.  And she had given him a kiss before, hadn't she?  Just a quick peck for his courage, she had decided.  So was it her fault, then?  For leading him on?  For encouraging him?  Making him think there was a chance where there could never be one?

In that moment of doubt, while trying to sort out her thoughts and feelings, Susan reluctantly relented and stopped resisting the kiss, and for that brief instant, there was a sudden flash of another kiss, another face.  A harsh, alien, green face.  His face.

And for just that brief instant, she trembled, and closed her eyes.

"What the fuck?"

The embrace was suddenly broken, as she was pulled away, gasping, a familiar face coming abruptly between them, so familiar yet also so different now. 

"KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF MY SISTER!"

Her brother's face.


***************************************************


Master Xar cursed and tapped quickly into his command console the sequence of keys needed to activate the transporter yet again, retracing its recent transmission.

Thoran would throw a fit over this.


***************************************************



"Just what the hell was that about?"

Susan blushed fiercely, struggling to catch her breath, to clear her head.  "Johnny, it's not-"

Literally fuming with anger, Johnny pushed roughly on the Star-emblazoned chest.  "YOU BACK-STABBING SCUM!  We took you for a friend and this is how you thank us?  Putting the moves on my sister?  She's married, you jerk!"

"Please, Johnny!"  She tried to move between the two of them.  "Calm down!"

Johnny sidestepped her.  "Just after we saved your butt-?" 

"Look, Rich had helped us.  And now he-"

"Oh, and now he's asking payment for that, is that it?  YOU STAY THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY SISTER, HEAR ME?" 

"Listen to me!  I-I was crying and everything was so wrong, and Rich just tried to-"

"Oh, I know what he's trying to.  Trying to tap your ass!"  He glared at the Nova-suited youth who stood now in such contrast to him, smooth-faced and spry compared to his now late-middle-age countenance.  "He's had a hard-on for you from the very first time he saw you!  Figures, really.  Who wouldn't?  But damn it!  Reed was here just now!  I am here!  And he thinks he can manhandle you just like-?  I really should-!"

"Look, Johnny, it was just a mistake, alright?  It may be my fault for-" 

He turned to her, eyes blazing.  "Your fault?  Of course it's your fault!"

"What-?"

"Takes two to kiss!  And you'd done it before, too!  Right before all of us!"

"That-That was different!"

"Really?"

"Yes!"

"So you weren't kissing him right back just there?  Cause it sure looked like it!"

Sue blushed even more.  "That wasn't-"

"You didn't want to?  He was forcing you, then?  And you just weren't doing anything about it?  Was that it?"

She shook her head, flustered.  "It was just-"

"Were you kissing him back, YES OR NO?"

"No!  I mean-I didn't mean to-!  It-It just happened!  It was just a moment that-"

"Oh, it just happened!  We're in a damned crisis here and you just happen to be making out?"  

"It wasn't like that-!"

"Two cosmic-level threats are competing to see who destroys the world!  Ben, Reed and I are turning into more decrepit geezers with each second!  And you're here busy sucking face?  With this snot-faced punk?  WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

"Johnny, please!  That's not what-!"

"What were you thinking?  Reed looks like he may kick the bucket at any moment and here you-"

Sue paled.  "Don't say that.  Don't you say that."

"You couldn't wait to find someone else?  Are you so-?"

"DON'T SAY THAT!"

"WHAT ELSE SHOULD I THINK?"  

"Why are you making this so-?"

"Look, him I... understand.  He sees a hot piece of ass like you, of course he wants to hit that!  Just like Namor, and Cage, and almost everyone, really!  All staring at you and hitting on you and...  But I thought you were always above all that!  I thought you were different!  So classy and smart and...  Damn it, Sue, I-I've... I've looked up to you all my damn life.  How could you-?"

"IT JUST HAPPENED!  ALRIGHT?  IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING!"

"Right."  He shook his head.  "So what else has just... happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just...  I don't know what to think anymore.  Everything has just felt... off, ever since all this started.  The way you've been acting..."

"The way I've been acting?  What way-?"

"Ever since back at the Skrull world-"

Sue stiffened.  "The Skrull world?"

"At that party, when you danced and... stripped...  For that green creep there, the ugly emperor guy..."

"Dorrek?"

"First name terms?  How cozy."  

"That's his name!  Emperor Dorrek!  What does that-?"

"Well, I thought you were just putting on an act, playing along...  To earn time, to find a way out, all that...  But now?  Now I can't help but wonder if-"

"What are you talking about?  I WAS playing along!  I had to!  To save all of us!"

"Were you?  'Cause thinking about it, you really looked into it.  Way into it."

"It had to look that way!  How else was-?"   

"Really?  You needed to rub against him like that?  Grind against him like that?  Right before everyone!  And looking at him like that?  Like you-"

"LIKE WHAT-?"

"Like you really wanted to-"

"I WAS JUST PLAYING ALONG!"

"Right.  And how far did you play along with him, then?  Later?  After the party?  What happened then, when you-?"

"After the party?  I escaped and then rescued you, remember?  That's what happened!  I busted your sorry ass out of-!"

"Hours later!"

"You thought it was easy?  You don't know what I had to-!"

"That's what I wonder about!  What you had to do!  You showed up HOURS after going all dirty dancing on that creep and your clothes were half-gone!  Who knows what could've being going on all that time while you-"

"YOU ASSHOLE!  I SAVED YOUR ASS AND YOU'RE QUESTIONING ME?"
  
"Yeah.  So did you fuck him?  The damn Skrull emperor?"

"You didn't just ask me that."

"Oh, I did.  So did you?  Did you fuck him?  YES OR NO?"

Sue stared at him, fists clenched.  "I don't have to answer that."  Her eyes shone with growing wetness.  "How can you ask-?"

"WHAT ELSE AM I SUPPOSSED TO THINK!  You looked like you could've fucked the whole damn Skrull Empire!"

"You don't know."  Tears filled her eyes, from anger and shame and too many emotions to label.  "You just don't know-"

"No wonder you also wanted to go alone into that Tyron guy's rooms!  Were you desperate to fuck him too?"

"NO!"

"How can we know?  Or know who else you've been fucking all this time behind Reed's back?  Namor?  Stark?  Cage?  Fuck, maybe even Doom?"  

She closed her eyes and shook her head.  "Stop, Johnny.  Please.  You cannot-"

"I always thought my sis was so... perfect!  And I was a creep for even...  But what if it turns out she's just a damn horny slu-?"

The slap made Johnny's face twist fully to a side.

"SHUT UP!  JUST SHUT UP!  DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT!"  

Johnny rubbed his face, eyes burning.  "Why?  Because it's true-?"

A deep voice cut into the tension between them.  "Are you jealous it wasn't you?"

Johnny turned abruptly around, his body beginning to sprout flames all over.  

"YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP!  OR I'LL FRY OFF YOUR DICK!"

"Rich, please!  Don't make this worse!"

"He is jealous.  Jealous of not getting to-"

"THAT'S IT!"  Flames flared up.  "IT'S WORSE NOW!"

"Fine."  Disregarding the fire, his punch connected with Johnny's face with brutal power.  

The Human Torch landed violently across the room, already unconscious.  His fire flickered and then faded away.

"JOHNNY!"

Sue moved to rush to her brother's side, but was held back by a sudden hold on her wrist.  

"Rich, let me go!  This cannot-!"

He forcefully pulled her to him.  

"We were just starting."  

The kiss was equally forceful, violent even, simply brooking no resistance.  His hand grabbed her bottom, his grasp reaching firmly through the tight elastic fabric into the gap between her tense buttocks, tugging her hard against him, so hard her bosom flattened wide against his chest.


***************************************************


Lodged in a twisted metal surface, Ben squirmed with discomfort, fighting the call to wake up.  He was tired.  So tired.  It was so hard to move at all.

The sudden bright light bothered him even through his closed eyelids.


***************************************************


The force-field expanded suddenly, freeing Susan from his grasp and throwing him backwards.  

"Richard!  What has gotten into you?"

He smiled.  "It'll be the other way around."

"MS. RICHARDS!  PROTECT YOURSELF!"

Sue instantly brought up again her force-field, just before a sudden force blast struck right before her.  As dust and debris quickly spread about, she was startled to see it settle all around a perfect clean circle where centered stood the untouched figure of Rich Rider.

Sue blanched.  Of course.  She should have known.   



***************************************************

Johnny sat up, shaking his head and blinking repeatedly.  "What? There's two now?"


***************************************************


"MOVE AWAY, MS. RICHARDS!  THAT ISN'T ME!"

From where the protection transport sphere stood, a second Rich Rider rushed towards them, his Nova suit glowing with its golden halo. 

Not a second.  The real one.  

Sue cursed between gritted teeth.  

She should have known.  From his voice, from what little he spoke.  And his attitude.  And his kiss.  Particularly his kiss.


***************************************************


He did not know what was happening at all, but he did not like any of it.

First a bunch of Nova corps broke into his room just when the girls were about to show him what that whole thing with one cup was, and it was all shoot first and shoot last, too.  He had no idea why they were after him when he was supposed to be a big damn hero and all, but fighting back could get the girls hurt so he just ran for it, and then half of Xandar seemed to be after him, with that Thoran guy yelling that he was going to have to make payment or whatever.  Wasn't the room and everything complimentary?  Was he in hock now or what?  

He barely made it to where Master Xar was, somehow, and at least the old dude seemed to be the only one not angry at him, but seemed pretty startled to see him there at all.  Then he insisted he had to get back to Earth right away, and considering everything, it did seem like a reasonable idea, though it was hard to think the girls would be left behind.  He hoped nothing was held against them or anything.  He could not figure why everything had soured up all of a sudden.

Then he got to what was presumably Earth and there was him necking mighty heavy with Susan Storm Richards herself, all lovely and hot as ever with those perfect curves and her blond hair and her hot everything, only it was not himself.  Not really.

And he would have never kissed her like that, not squeezing her butt and boob like that, like she was some cheap whatever, not that he would not have wanted to, of course, but a lady like that you had to respect and you would never dream of grabbing her like that, unless of course, she really, really wanted you to, and asked him to in her sexy voice and all.  Maybe then...

But it certainly was not him.  And that sucked.

And that had to be a Skrull. 

THE Skrull.

The day had certainly gone to hell really fast.


***************************************************


The enormous spherical starship cast its shadow over Giza, the light of dusk coloring its silvery surface.   

The Sphinx stood calm, the floating pyramids at his back, his size now greater than even the largest of them.  

With a roar, Terrax rushed at him, riding a meteoric fragment like a chariot, his axe marshaling deadly cosmic power in its sharp edge.  

The Sphinx swatted him away like a gnat, shattering his platform and throwing him up and away, far beyond the horizon, at much more than mere escape velocity.

"Is that the best with which the Devourer of Worlds can open?  I am disappointed."

"THE HERALD IS NEW.  BRISTLES AT HIS BIT.  HE WILL NEED TO BE DISCIPLINED."

Two mighty booted feet were set on the sand.

The Sphinx met cold eyes level with his.  "Galactus, I presume?"

"YOU PRESUME TOO MUCH."



***************************************************


Throughout multiple galaxies, across distances unfathomable for most of mankind, in defiance of the paradoxes of simultaneity, mighty beings paused and turned their minds, through the cheating shortcuts of sub-space or other levels of reality, towards a small world near a minor sun in a spiral galaxy much like many others.

Watchers.  Elders of the Universe.  Celestials.  Embodiments of cosmic reality.  

Even the Living Tribunal.

All turned their attention to Earth.



***************************************************


"YOU FUCKER!  GET AWAY FROM HER!"

Rich's punch was blocked and his wrist seized in a mighty grip.  His next swing met the same result, and then the other's face, so much like his, rushed forward with an impact was so hard he saw flashing lights followed by a brief moment of darkness.  

He fought to stay conscious just as he struggled to get free from the hold on his arms, while the other's smile him mocked him.  

"Are you jealous, too?"

"You-You don't deserve to even touch her!"

"Oh, I do.  More than anyone.  And I have.  As you never will."

The second head-butt hurt even more, but Rich grunted and flew up.  Taking both just right under the high hangar ceiling, he then rushed back down as fast as he could, to slam against the metal floor.

"You bastard, it was you who-?"

The other Rich twisted him about and reversed their positions, before punching him so hard that the Nova helmet got dented despite the suit's protective aura.

"Of course it was me."



***************************************************


"What the fuck's going on?"

Sue stared attentively at the two wildly struggling figures, waiting for an opening.  "It's the Super-Skrull." 

Johnny frowned, nursing his jaw.  "The Super-Skrull?"

"Yes.  He's using Rich's shape."
 
"Wait, so who was the one you were-?"

"Shut up, Johnny.  Just shut up."


***************************************************


Reed Richards looked down from the screen.

"It can't be.  It should work.  It should.  Why didn't-?"

"Should I run the figures again, Creator?  Implement instead a-?"

"No.  No."  He slouched down, weariness catching up with him.  "It's no use.  No use.  I-I'd need to check everything from the bottom up, but there's no time-"

"Should we not start building the weapon then, Creator?"

"The weapon?"

"To stop Galactus, Creator.  Or the Sphinx.  Whoever wins.  The time-frame-"

"I know what the time-frame is.  They should be clashing right about now."


***************************************************


"The universe is vast, Devourer.  There are many, many other worlds for you to take.  This, however, is mine.  I was born here.  I suffered here.  I claim it.  I claim it as my own.  It will perish by my hand alone.  THAT is my right."

"YOUR RIGHT?  WHAT RIGHT DOES A PARASITE HAVE OVER ITS HOST?"

"I have no need to fight you.  Let there be peace between us.  Go and find another world among the countless ones out there.  Leave this one to me."

"NO.  THIS PLANET EARTH HAS CHALLENGED AND ESCAPED THE HUNGER OF GALACTUS ONCE ALREADY.  THAT WILL MAKE IT PARTICULARLY SATISFYING TO CONSUME.  IF A GNAT MUST BE CRUSHED BEFORE IT CAN HAPPEN, SO BE IT."

The Sphinx nodded, his Ka stone shinning like a star.  

"Then your hunger will end here.  Forever."


***************************************************


"You got the Xandarians pissed at me!  And almost got me killed!"

They struck a wall, scattering stacked equipment all about.  

"Really?  How amusing."  

"Amusing-?"  He gasped as a knee dug into his stomach.

"I fuck Xandar's own Suzerain and a foolish Earthling gets killed for it?  Of course that would be amusing."

"What?  You-?"

"Yes.  Her, too.  And you'll never know how hot she was, either.  Unlike this."

Gripping his opponent tightly, a raging maelstrom of blistering heat exploded wildly from his body, swallowing both of them.


***************************************************


"Should this not be the proper time to start constructing-"

Reed waved his hand weakly.  "We are not making any weapon, Herbie."


***************************************************


Even behind Sue's shield, Johnny had to cover his eyes.  

"Oh, shit!  It IS the Super-Skrull!"

"I TOLD YOU THAT!"  

"Nova-flame-blast!  Pretty ironic."

Sue had no idea if Rich's suit could protect him from such an attack, so in desperation she struck with two huge swiftly converging blocks of invisible power that caught the flame-covered Richs within a gigantic slap-like blow, before expanding backwards instantly, creating a sudden momentary pocket of vacuum.

With their flames snuffed out, both dropped to the floor.  The dented Nova helmet of the newly arrived Rich wobbled on the badly-damaged floor, having been knocked off by the mighty impact.

Johnny stared at Sue.  "Damn.  Didn't know you could-"

"Stop chatting and help!"  She rubbed her temples; her whole head smarted from her extreme effort.  "Take out the Super-Skrull while he's dazed!"

"How?  Both look exactly alike now."

Sue looked up and cursed.  It was true.  Both of them were blackened by fire now, and wore no helmet.  

"Will the real Rich Rider stand up?  Stand up?"  

"What-?"  

Johnny shook a hand.  "A song.  Forget it."  

"That's the best you can offer?"  Johnny looked decades older than Sue now, yet he was still as juvenile as ever, and she did not know if that made her feel better or worse now.  "How can-?"

"Maybe you should kiss each one to-"

"WILL YOU CUT THAT OUT?"

Sue blinked.  Johnny may not be far off, actually.  She quickly glanced at the two seemingly identical figures, focusing on each one's groin.  

Her invisible force struck the one on the right, flattening him against the floor.  

"This one."

The asshole had been too vain to make his duplication fully accurate.


***************************************************


"Is the weapon then already built, Creator?  Should I fetch it for you?"

"What?  No.  No."  Reed covered his face, fighting growing dizziness.  "There is no weapon."


***************************************************


"Ms. Richards?"  Rich groaned, trying to move, but he hurt all over, worse than he ever had.  "It's me.  Rich.  I'm Rich.  Not the-"

"Don't worry. I know."  She held his hand, smiling warmly.  "Just rest.  You'll be fine."

"That-That wasn't me.  Whatever he did...  Or tried to...  It wasn't me."  His voice faded into unconsciousness.

Sue sighed.  "I know."

"Damn, Ben is still out of it all the way there.  I'd never seen him go down and stay down like that!"

"Go help him, Johnny.  We must take him and Rich to the infirmary."

"I'll have to cut him out of that wall.  And he's the one who knows where the power-dampening thingies are stored.  To get the Skrull-"

"Too late for that."

An oversized hand stretched over Johnny's head and lifted all of him up before slamming him viciously against the ground.

"JOHNNY!"

Her brother was thrown aside like a rag-doll, and Sue could barely catch him in a yielding invisible force-cushion.  Before her, the Super-Skrull was back again on his feet and back in his native alien shape as well, his powerfully muscled body quivering with anger, his broad alien jaw set in a murderous grimace.

"No more subterfuge.  No more delays.  You will come with me.  NOW."


***************************************************


"No weapon?"  

"No weapon." 


***************************************************


"Too much time was wasted already, woman.  We'll use your transport equipment.  Gather whatever-"

"What?  You think I-I'll go with you?"

"You would rather die here?  Your world is doomed.  We must-"

"No!  Reed has a plan.  Galactus will beat the Sphinx.   Reed will stop Galactus."

"Nonsense.  The Devourer of Worlds cannot be stopped.  Everyone knows that."

"We stopped him before!"

"Not for long, was it?  It is just a matter of time for this planet to be destroyed."  His eyes narrowed.  "I should be pleased by that, really, after all the grief you and your kind have caused me, but... I would not have you perish as well.  No.  Not you.  You're too-"

"No!  Reed has a plan!"

"By now your former mate must have died of old age."

"NO!"

Her invisible force struck at him.
   


***************************************************


"Creator, how will Galactus be stopped then?"

"Could the molecular model be faulty at the-?  But I-We..."

"Creator, how will-?"

"Ben, Johnny, I-I'm sorry.  I tried, but..."

"Creator?"

"Susan, dear, I...  I'm..."  

His voice grew fainter, much fainter.  

"Creator?"


***************************************************



Susan struck at the Super-Skrull, again and again, her invisible force shaped first into battering rams that bounced harmlessly off his defensive shields and then into infinitesimally thin fields used as impossibly sharp blades, to equal lack of effect.  She also countered his own multiple attacks, using slanted planes of force to deflect his attacks with a minimum of direct opposition.  He was far blunter in his use of invisible force, yet he complemented it with his aggressive use of his fire powers and the vast enhancement of strength and pliability his body could adopt.

While invisible, Susan could roughly feel the differently shaped implementation of their respective force constructs as they clashed and pressured against each other.  Hers were more sharply geometric and defined, while his constructs grew like tendrils or tentacles in organic-semblance that sought to slither past her defenses to attempt seizing her.

"Why do you delay this?  I am more than equal to of all your team.  While you had... some luck as a group before, you cannot hope to match me alone."  He smiled.  "Unless it is in other uses of the flesh."

Sue grimaced with effort.  "Fuck you."

"We will.  Soon.  To celebrate our new life together."  

He blasted a wide swath of raging fire all above her, threatening to deprive her of air to breathe.  

"You... You have cost me so much.  So much.  My station.  My rank.  My pride.  My future.  All in order to fuck you.  To fuck your hot Earthling body."

Sweat beaded her brow.  It was growing harder and harder to concentrate under his multi-fronted attacks.  A sudden blow almost got past her defense and she fell to her knees, barely keeping her shield about her. 

"So many times I cursed myself, for my weakness, for breaking with my duty and honor, for casting aside all I had, all I ever worked for, just for you, woman, just to fuck you and your damned hot Earthling body.  I curse you then, too, for tempting me with your beauty and your stubborn defiance and everything about you that I just could not get out of my mind-!"

Fire encroached around her, and she had to contract her power all around her in a spherical shield, falling back to mere passive defense.

"But then I remember your cunt around me, so tight and wet and squeezing so hard and eagerly my cock as I was deep inside you, and when you came and cried out in pleasure in my arms, and I made you mine...  I know then that I had to.  I had to have you.  I had to-"

"You bastard!  You think that just because you fucked me-?"

"You cost me an empire, Susan Storm of Earth.  More than once.  But it was worth it.  You were worth it.  Worth all of it and more.  You still are."  His dark eyes glittered.  "You're a conqueror's prize.  My prize."

"Fuck you!"  She gritted her teeth with strain and anger.  "I'm not anyone's-"

"We shall start anew, the two of us, in some suitably distant sector of space, where Empress R'Klll may not yet reach."

Sue laughed bitterly.  "Scared of a woman?  Seems fitting!"

"Oh, R'Klll will have reason enough to fear me, in time.  I shall win my empire yet, but with you at my side."

"And you think I'll-?"  She grimaced with disgust.  "You're insane!"

"Insane is your senseless resistance.  Stop this foolish charade and yield to me, so I may get you to safety.  Yield, as you should, as you must long to!"

His fire grew in intensity, becoming nearly white-hot.

"NO!"

"Be honest!  Don't you long to again be mine?  Doesn't your cunt ache to feel my cock again?  To feel-?"

"I'll rather die here and now with those I love!"

"Ah, them."  His arms stretched far, expanded hands growing massive and rock-like, reaching for the fallen Rich Rider and Johnny Storm.  "Their deaths can be expedited."

"NO!"  


***************************************************


"Creator?"


***************************************************



She reached out with her power to protect them, but the focus on her own shield wavered as result and his invisible power took the chance to crush through her weakened defense.  An invisible vice-like grip seized her neck and Susan gasped in panic.

"I got you now."  Smiling, he walked towards her, his hold tightening.

She closed her eyes, trying to focus, to counter his power, but dizziness closed in.

"GOTCHA TOO, YA UGLY!"

A thunderous noise filled her ears and the pressure on her neck vanished.  She opened her eyes and saw Kl'rt tumble over the floor a dozen feet away, while Ben dropped heavily to his knees, his clenched fists falling to his sides.

She ran to him.  "BEN!"

"Suzie."  He did not move.  "Twas clobberin' time, righta?"

"Yes, it was.  Thank you, Ben."  She hugged him.  He could not even look up.

"Dat's all I hadda give, Suzie.  I'm tired.  So tired."

"Ben, stay with me.  Stay with-"

"Just gotta rest m'eyelids, Suzie.  Just..."

He collapsed face first to the ground, his mass too heavy for her to hold back.

"BEN!"

"Your savior fell short," Kl'rt grunted, getting to one knee.  "Now there's no one."

Sue's eyes shone with her tears.  "There's me.  Ben got me a moment.  That will be enough."

Focusing all her anger and grief, she raised a hand.  Her eyes narrowed and her fingers bent inward in a claw-like gesture. 

Kl'rt gasped and staggered back.  His eyes bulged.  His arms flailed in desperation.

"That's my power you feel inside your head, inside your skull.  I'm going to crush what little brains you have into a nugget.  Slowly.  So you can feel it happening.  Can you Skrulls survive that?"

Her fingers slowly closed in and Kl'rt fell to the floor, trembling, like in a seizure.

"We'll see."  Her hand d towards a fist.  "Perhaps THIS I hold now is not a vital organ for you?"

He clawed at one of his wrists, pulling away the fabric there, while his hand sputtered with erratic flames.

"Go ahead.  Try to use your powers.  Try, while I turn your brain into mush!  JUST TRY!"

His trembling arm rose and metal flashed at his wrist, flames flaring up erratically.  

Susan was struck by the sudden recognition.  Her stomach clenched.  

"Oh, shit."   

Could it be?  Could it?

She opened her hand, releasing her invisible hold on him and ran towards him.  The fire on his hand had gone out, and she could see more clearly around his wrist the metal bracelet she had seen Kl'rt wear twice before, in the Skrull Throne-World, first at the judgment arena, and later while in Dorrek's quarters:  The aging-ray bracelet.



***************************************************


In the lengthening silence, Herbie scanned carefully the frail body limply slumped over the worktable, analyzing the rapidly failing vital signs.

Something would need to done.


***************************************************


"Reed, you've got to come here!"  

There was no answer, so she thumbed again the communication stud on her collar.

"Reed?  REED?"

It had to be a malfunction.  Had to.  It could not be too late.  

"HERBIE?"


***************************************************


The robot registered the communication attempts from Richards' woman, but did not reply.

Instead, he cut off the communications grid.


***************************************************



The trembling in the Super-Skrull's body began to decrease visibly.

Kneeling by him, Susan reached for his wrist, for the bracelet, but Kl'rt quickly jerked his arm away, his motions still twitchy and unfocused.  Small flames sputtered again around it.

Sue quickly pulled back.

It took a while for him to be able to speak.  "You-You try that again, I de-destroy it.  I-"

"No.  Don't.  Please.  Please.  Just give it me.  There's so little time-"

He shook his head.  "Try to take it.  I destroy it."

"No.  No.  Don't.  What...  What do you-?"  She could not even finish the question.

His bloodshot eyes fought to focus on her.

"You."


***************************************************



There was no response from Richards to any measure implemented.

Herbie hovered motionless, his facial display flickering in apparent random patterns, as it accessed all the Baxter Building computers and every portable device Richards had carried. 

But there was nothing.

Nothing.

No record of the weapon.

No data of how to successfully stop a cosmically-powered entity.


***************************************************


"Want it?"  The Super-Skrull blandished weakly his bracelet-covered wrist.    "You come.  With me."

For a moment Sue felt a sudden sense of distance, of detachment from her body. It felt like it was not her who was there, kneeling right by this dangerous alien warrior who demanded such an outrageous, impossible decision from her, here, now.  It could not be.  It had to be someone else.  Not her.

Someone else.

Then the cruel urgency struck her and there was nowhere to escape it.  Her mind raced to her loved ones, those who meant the world to her:  Reed, Johnny, Ben...  and Franklin, her dear Franklin...  She had not seen him for days now.  Could she see him again?  Ever?

Could she...?

If she...

But how couldn't she?

How?

Myriad arguments raced through her panic-clouded mind, yet it always came back to the same awful realization:  How couldn't she?

Tears filled her eyes.

It was for them.  And the world.

She had to.

Her mouth was dry as she whispered:   "Yes.  I will."  


***************************************************


Herbie vibrated with anger now.

With Richards gone, who would stop Galactus?  Or the Sphinx?

Who?

And how?



***************************************************


The Watcher retreated to the surface of Earth's moon.  It was not safe to remain on Earth during the on-going confrontation, even for one such as he.

To an Earthling or similar lesser being, Galactus and the Sphinx would appear to be motionless, standing still while merely staring at each other, but their combat was already underway in all its chaotic violence in multiple layers of this reality.  The magnitude of the energies being deployed would soon be manifested even on the more mundane physical planes, but the damage already being done to the substrate of space-time was considerable, and could easily have serious repercussions on the Watcher's very perceptions.

Even Luna may not be far enough to avoid injuries.

Yet it was his duty to watch.

This was a milestone in the course of the Universe.
   
He tried not to dwell on how statistically improbable the survival of the human species had become.




PART ELEVEN:  WHO TO DO BEFORE THE END OF THE WORLD



The Quinjets flew past Gibraltar, closely followed by a modified SR-150 Blackbird.  Squads of Saudi and US fighter planes escorted them.

Janet VanDyne turned away from the side window to lean on the back of the pilot's chair.   "We could've used Goldilocks, too."

Iron Man shook his helmeted head.  "Don't know if even Thor and all his Norse gang could make a difference.  Not this time.  Not against this.  This...  looks really bad, Janet.  Even a full scale nuclear strike may not be enough."

"You think anyone will attempt it anyway?"

"Once things look bad enough?  Most probably.  The whole world is at DefCon One."

"Yet we're going there."

"We're going there."

She nodded, glancing again at the side windows.  "So what's the plan, Shellhead?"

"For now, we land just past the Sudan border and wait."

"That's it?"

Tony Stark breathed deeply inside his gold-red armor.  He could use a drink.  "Reed Richards told us to wait.  So we wait."
 


***************************************************



"I'll go with you.  Just like you asked me to.  Just save my family first.  Use the bracelet and save their lives.  Do it now.  Please!"

The Super-Skrull's whole body still trembled as he rose up to a knee.  "How-How can I trust-?"

"You have my word!"  

"A-An Earthling's w-word."

"Please!  I swear I will!  I'll leave my family, I'll leave Earth, I'll go away with you, but you must save them first!"  Tears streaked Susan's face.  "You must!  There's not much time left!"

"What if they try to fight after-?"

"WE DON'T HAVE TIME TO HAGGLE!"

She covered her face in desperation.  After a deep breath, she lowered her hands and spoke with careful, sedate tones.

"Please.  There's no time.  Save them now, and I swear I'll do everything you ask of me.  I'll go with you.  I'll be your lover, your mate, whatever you want me to be.  But please, please, save them NOW."

He grimaced.  "You would now say anything, any lie, just to-"

"NO!"  She stood up, rubbing her eyes.  "You want proof?  You want assurance that I'll do as I swear?"

"What proof-?"

"We start right now."  She brushed the hair off her face and stared into his bloodshot eyes, her lips trembling.  "I'll be yours.  Freely.  Here.  Now.  I'll fuck you.  Right now.  Right here.  Any way you want."



***************************************************


Could Richards have forgotten to record his plan?

Did he actually ever have a plan?


***************************************************



"Now-?"

"YES!"

"The time is-"

"Yes, time IS running out.  So we fuck right away.  Hard and fast.  I'll give myself to you.  Willingly.  Any way you want me to.  In my sex, my ass, my mouth...  ANY WAY!  You fuck me and I'll fuck you back, faster and harder and better than you ever dreamed.  Holding nothing back.  And you will know then.  Know that I'll be yours from then on.  Really yours.  Without any doubt about it.  I will be your mate, your slut, whatever you want me to be.  But you'll save my family."

The Super-Skrull frowned, rising to his feet.  "It means risking-"

"Now you're worried about risk?  What, are you afraid you can't make me come fast enough?"

He grimaced, rubbing his forehead.  "It's not-"

"Oh, please!  Weren't you the brave and mighty conqueror who would take me and own me and make me his forever?  Now you're too scared to have a quickie?  Too scared that your big fat Skrull cock won't pound my Earthling cunt into submission fast enough for safety?  Really?  REALLY?"

He stared at her flushed face, so beautiful in her state of anxiety, at her equally delicious body, trembling so fetchingly before him.  Her insolent challenge made him even more hungry for her.

"Will you beg me?"



***************************************************


Some signs that could be discounted as the eccentric behavior of someone of such extraordinary intelligence could also be interpreted as indicators of growing senility.  There was a significant probability that Richards' vaunted mind could have ultimately failed him, and everyone on Earth, just when it was needed the most.

"Shit," Herbie stated out loud, in Mandarin.  

He may need now to get the fuck away from this planet as fast as possible.



***************************************************



"YES!  DAMN YOU, YES!  I WILL!"  She dropped to her knees.   "PLEASE!  I BEG YOU!  FUCK ME!  FUCK MY BRAINS OUT!  HERE!  RIGHT AWAY!  I BEG YOU TO!"

He straightened to his full height, looking down at her, at all of her, at her bright blue eyes, their tears streaming down that beautiful face, framed by the disheveled curtains of long golden hair, at how her body trembled, her bosom most of all, the hated symbol of the Damned Four centered on its rounded, bouncy volume.

"Fine.  We have an agreement."

She closed her eyes, breathing out with relief and began to briskly pull her top up.  "I swear if you don't do your part afterwards I'll kill you as painfully as I-"

"Don't."

"What?"

"Do not take it off."

He drew down his waistband and pulled out his stiffening phallus, letting its heavy mass drop right onto her chest, its weight making an indentation on the top's stretched fabric, the thick-veined rod of dark-green Skrull flesh stiffly centered on the Fantastic Four symbol emblazoned there.

"Keep your outfit on.   I want you as everything you are."


***************************************************


The just-refurbished pyramids hovering in the air shattered into gravel and dust.

The waters of the Nile rose into the air in whirlwinds of raging steam.

The earth shuddered all the way through its crust.

The desert sand had fused into glass beneath the feet of the two impassive colossal figures.

"We are too evenly matched, Devourer.  Surely you can see that.  Leave this planet to me, and find worlds of your own."

The mind of Galactus took on an aspect that would physically equate a smile.

"YOU THOUGHT THE FIGHT HAD ALREADY STARTED?"



***************************************************


Despite her urgency, her panicked awareness of the shortage of time, Sue could not help but hesitate for a few second, startled by the daunting sight and weight of the enormous Skrull member dropped right on her chest, so big and thick and alien-looking with its dark green color and the ugly corrugations on the lower edge of the bulbous glans.  She had never seen it like that, so close to her face, so alien and big.  So big.  Bigger even than she had remembered it to be.  Much, much bigger.  

She would have sworn it would be impossible for her to take that monstrous thing at all, if she did not know for a fact that she could.  That she had.  Hard to believe as it was.

Her hands trembled, reaching for the still-stiffening shaft, and flinching nervously at its touch even through her gloves.  But marshaling her resolve, she firmly pressed it in place between her bunched-together breasts as she arched her torso forward and leaning down, opening her trembling lips.

Her tears continued to flow down her flushed face as she took the now fully swollen Skrull cock-head into her mouth.



***************************************************



At his private office in a secluded estate at Westchester Country, New York, a wheelchair-bound man struggled in silence, hands gripping his armrests, eyes closed tight in concentration.  The massive psi-feedback 
Coursing throughout the mental aether from the events in far-away Egypt would have shattered the minds of countless psi-sensitives all over the world, mutant or otherwise, without Charles Xavier's efforts to contain the backlash of violent psychic echoes.

At the relatively nearby Greenwich Village, Doctor Stephen Strange sat in lotus position, using his arcane arts to do a similar containment within the more recondite aspects of the astral plane.

Yet these were merely symptoms.  The real cause was beyond any of them.  Maybe beyond anyone on Earth.



***************************************************

Her mouth engulfed the corrugated glans with difficulty.  

How could he be so big?  So thick?  Could she really handle so much?  

Trying to adjust to his size as much as possible, her soft lips slid along the hard, thick shaft, inch after inch.

It was so hard.  He was so hard.  

His massive head rubbed over her tongue on its way to the back of her throat, making it necessary for her to fight the urge to gag.  When she could take no more, she began to bob her head back and forth, slowly at first, then more urgently, with quickly growing intensity, working his length with her lips and tongue and mouth, leaving its rigid length glistening wet with her saliva as she sucked and licked faster, faster and harder.

She had to get it done as fast as possible.

For the sake of her family.  For the sake of the world.

Every second mattered.  

Afterwards...  That would be another thing to worry about.  But later.  Later.  Now she had to worry about getting the Super-Skrull to finish quickly, so he would save the others without delay.  That was all that mattered.  Not the shame and anger, not the apprehension at all that may come, all that would happen.  That did not matter.  Not now.  Not now.

Now she just had to focus on getting this oversized alien cock off as soon as she could, if her jaw did not cramp first, or she did not pass out from lack of breath, her throat too full with him, with his huge cock, with his taste...  The taste of a Skrull's cock; so strong and musky and alien.  It filled her awareness more and more, just as her mouth was physically full, stuffed with his thick, hot Skrull cock-meat.

She had not taken in her mouth any other penis but Reed's ever since being married.  Yet now she was fellating an alien's cock.  A Skrull's cock.  The Super-Skrull's cock.  Kl'rt's cock.

She had already known the taste of a Skrull's mouth, a Skrull's kiss, first with Dorrek, then with Kl'rt.  But this was so much different.  Intense as the kissing had been, it was nowhere like this.  Not like the taste of a Skrull penis, a hard, hot Skrull cock.  A taste she would have never imagined she'd ever sample.

Because she hadn't, had she?  Even in those recent disturbing dreams?  Those unnerving moments when her mind had wandered and shocking ideas had crept in, unwanted, shameful and frightening.  But she couldn't have thought about this, wondered about this, about having a big, thick Skrull cock in her mouth like this.  Not Kl'rt's cock.  Or Dorrek's cock.  No. Surely she could have never thought or wished or...

Flustered, she pulled her wandering hand away from her lower body, bringing it up again to grasp the base of Kl'rt's hard  shaft, to help her massage and rub it while she blew him with renewed desperation, her mouth working him with fast, sloppy slurps.

She had to put an end to this.  She needed it to end.  

How could he last so long?

She pulled back until only the very end of his swollen head remained heavy against her wet, trembling lower lip, gasping briefly for breath, before lunging forward, as much as she could.



***************************************************


He groaned loudly as she deep-throated him even deeper, her spread lips coming closer to the base of his member than ever before, her tender lips reaching so far.  His hands grabbed her disheveled golden hair, pulling her to him, until her chest pressed against his thighs, rubbing against him with her rocking motions, her hands holding tightly to the back of his legs.

"Yes, yes...  Damn...  Just like that."

He looked down at her, so beautiful, so hot, down on her knees like that, before him, her lovely mouth full of him, her whole body shaking as he pumped against her face.

"Take it all in, you Earthling slut.  Take all my superior Skrull cock!  Worship that cock!  Like that!  As you should!  As you must!  Yes!  YES!"



***************************************************


Her hands fidgeted on his thick upper legs for balance, nervously wary of reaching too far back past his hips, loath to grab his bulging muscular buttocks, loath to touch him more intimately than necessarily, as if swallowing his oversized member was not enough to make any reluctance ridiculous.   His hands pulled her roughly by the hair, making her choke violently on his enormous mass, on the bulbous head reaching down her throat.

His words did not help.  Even muffled, so easy to miss amidst her efforts, they still incensed her, made her anger rise just as much as her anxiety did.  

Anger at him, at his abusive words, the whole abusive situation, the odious threat that had forced her into this.  Anger at herself, too.

And anger at not hating it even more.  At being relieved that she could handle even his size.  At how she did not find it as awful as she feared she would, as she wished she would.  Because she wanted to.  She really did.  Wanted to hate his cock in her mouth as much as she hated him and everything he had done and everything he meant.

Because she did not want this.  She hated having to do this.  She hated everything it meant.  Now, and in the larger picture.

She did not.

She did not want to enjoy this.  She did not want to feel excited.  Excited by his cock in her mouth.  By his taste, his size, his hardness, his assertive, imposing words and attitude, his very standing over her as he did, so powerful and smug and arrogant and confident.  So dominating.  Dominating her.

No.  No.  Not at all.  She did not want this.  Not any of this.

She could not.

She should not.


***************************************************


He clenched his teeth.  Her mouth, her lips and tongue...  

Her perceptible mixture of reluctance and energetic dedication made it even better.

It was almost too much to endure.


***************************************************


She felt him begin to throb in her mouth and tensed.  Would he come in her mouth?  Should she ready for it?  Ready to... taste it?  Taste him like that, even more intimately than she already had, than she already remembered?

To her chagrin, his seed had already filled her once before, back in his world, the first time they had coupled, filled her sex and splattered over her chest and face as well.  How much worse would it be to have it explode in her mouth?  To taste and swallow?  To taste and swallow his alien Skrull semen-?  

Suddenly, he roughly pushed her head back, away from him, and his throbbing cock exited her quivering lips, plentiful saliva trailing in its exit.

"No.  Not like this."

His member trembled before her face, huge and stiff and still so close, so close to her, to her open lips that trembled with her labored gasps as she fought to catch her breath.  Her whole body echoed such trembling.  

It looked even bigger than ever.  Much, much bigger to her shock.  How had she swallowed all THAT?  And was that a droplet of semen there at its tip?  Just there?  So close to...  

She blushed, flustered with conflicting horror and surprise and plentiful other emotions she could not or would not attempt to pin down.

How had he stopped now?  So close?  Just when...

"You must give me more than just this."

She bit her lower lip and looked up at him, her face burning hot, up his muscular body at his alien, scowling face.

"Fine.  Let's fuck then.  Let's get this over with."  She tried to show more resolve than she felt.  Tried to put aside her fear and anger and ever-growing uncertainty and unease.  At what may happen.  At how she felt.  At how his cock had left her mouth but his taste hadn't.  Not at all.  Not that easily.  Would it?  Ever?  How could it?  How couldn't she-?   "Let's fuck.   Let's fuck like the world's about to end, because it is."

And it was.  Whatever happened now, after this, after she did as she swore she would, as she knew she would, her world, her whole world, with everything she knew and trusted and loved, would effectively end.  


***************************************************


Anti-matter barrages unleashed destructive fury between them.

Infinitesimally small black holes shot like bullets before being stopped and vanquished back into quantum indeterminacy. 

Neither moved; not the Sphinx, not Galactus, while between them, energies were unleashed that would baffle the limited understanding of mankind.  Yet these were still the tentative initial stages of combat.




***************************************************


Unceremoniously, he pushed her onto her back, against the cold metal floor of the Baxter Building hanger, surrounded by the limp bodies of her fellow Earthmen, still too utterly defeated to bear witness, unfortunately.  He would have liked them to watch, to watch with helpless impotence as he thoroughly claimed and owned their feisty, golden-haired teammate, this delicious human woman whose extraordinary beauty should be known throughout the galaxies above all of their overblown exploits.

Susan Storm of Earth.  His.  Fully.  At last.  At long last.

He grabbed her legs and roughly spread them apart, running his hands over the firm thighs, their contours tightly defined by her Accursed Four outfit.

She slapped his hands away.  "Don't waste time."   Pulling her knees up, she began to slide her leggings down her hips.   "Just get your cock inside me."

He was pleased by her eagerness, her unabashed acknowledgement of the inevitable, yet there was still lingering defiance in her words and tone, which made everything even more appealing.  He grabbed both booted ankles in a single, stretched hand, forcing her legs higher up together, and tugged her pants until mid-high, exposing the roundness of her bottom and the rosy outer folds of her sex, so shyly pressed together, so inviting, and challenging.  

He smiled.  "It will hurt."  It was less a warning than a boast.

"I know."  Her sight had remained fixed on his loins but now she looked up, to meet his gaze.  "I want it to.  I want it to hurt.  Go on.  Do it.  Force that thing into me.  Hurt me.  Hurt me real bad."


***************************************************


At the edge of the vast field of planetary debris spreading between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, a large rocky asteroid shifted sideways in unnatural defiance to the mechanics of stellar bodies.  Abandoning its usual trajectory, it rushed towards the inner planets.  Accelerating far beyond what mere gravity could justify.


***************************************************


To his further satisfaction, her tender silken folds parted wetly before the first pressure of his swollen head.
"You are wet.  So very wet.  How you must have longed for this."

She looked away from him, closing her eyes, her hands tightening into fists.  "Shut up and fuck me already."

His head pressed forward, finding the resistance of her tight gate, feeling her shudder at the promise in that contact.  "Beg me to."

Her voice was a throaty rasp.  "Please fuck me.  Please fuck me with your big, thick Skrull cock.  Please fuck me NOW!"


***************************************************


"ENOUGH."

Ignoring the conflagration of destructive forces deployed between them, Galactus calmly strode forward, walking resolutely towards the Sphinx.

"ENOUGH PRELIMINARIES."



***************************************************

"Oh, fuck!  FUCK!"

Despite her abundant wetness she was still tight, deliciously tight, just as she had been during their first time, and her choked cry as he buried himself deep into her in a single thrust said she had gotten her wish.  

He withdrew slightly before thrusting again, harder, reaching even deeper into her, filling her hot Earthling cunt with more of his cock.  "Does that hurt enough for you?"  He drew back and thrust even harder, even deeper.  "Does it?"

Her rising cries at each further thrust were answer enough.  She grew louder and louder as his pounding grew more frantic and violent.

He had taken it easy on her before.  Not anymore.

Her cries and moans quickly rose even higher.


***************************************************


The Ka stone was a sun going nova in the Sphinx's brow.

"NO!  THIS IS MY WORLD!  MY TIME!  THE TIME OF MY GOODHOOD!"



***************************************************


"DOES IT HURT ENOUGH?"

"FUCK-YES!  YES!  IT DOES!  HURTS SO MUCH!  HURTS SO-SO MUCH!  SO MUCH!"

He pressed his powerful upper body against her up-stretched legs, seizing her trembling arms in his fists which he set firmly by her head.  His lower body pumped back and forth with piston-like power, his powerful legs spread wide apart.  
His whole body slammed hard against her and she screamed louder than ever before.  

"TELL ME HOW MUCH DOES IT HURT!"


***************************************************


In ominous silence, Galactus kept walking, brushing aside the Sphinx's defenses with each further step.


***************************************************


She knew it would hurt.  With his size, how couldn't it?

She had wanted it to hurt.  Wanted it to hurt to even more than their first time, to make it easier for her, make it be easier precisely by having it be worse.

She wanted the pain, looked forward to it, to make it easier, easier to remember, remember that this was an evil murderous enemy, a cruel, despicable foe who would gladly let all her world be destroyed for his satisfaction, who was blackmailing her with the lives of those she loved, and who wanted to take her whole life away, just like he would take her body.

She wanted it to hurt as bad as it could, to make sure, make completely sure that it remained a sacrifice for her, a plight she had to endure.  

To make sure she would not enjoy it.  At all.  Or at least, not as much as she feared she could.  As she feared she would.  

As much as she had before.  

As she had enjoyed being raped before, enjoyed being raped by a dangerous evil enemy, by an alien monster who threatened her and all she held dear, who had treated her like an object to be owned, to be dominated, to be tamed, tamed by their huge cocks, their impossibly huge, monstrous cocks.  Cocks that she should hate and fear and despise and not desire.

That is why she wanted it to hurt, to make her body hate it as much as her mind did, or wanted to.  Needed to.  

And it did.  It hurt.  Hurt so much.

But to her horror and disgust and despair, it was too much.  It hurt too much.  Too much to endure.  Too much to resist.  Too much.  Too much to not... enjoy.  To not enjoy desperately, irresistibly.

She should have known.  She should have remembered.  But she had not wanted to.  She had not wanted to remember, remember what she had experienced sexually, remember being entered by a huge, thick monstrous Skrull cock, and being made to stretch, and being made to...  

She had not wanted to remember any of that, not again, not anymore, not as she had done, repeatedly, despite her best efforts, despite her knowing she should not.  That she should forget it, forget the sex with Kl'rt, there in the prison complex, mere steps away from where her family was kept, where Reed had been.  Or even Dorrek, there in his rooms, so impossibly big and hard and thick and undeniably...  

It had hurt, being raped, hurt so much, despite how ready she had been made to be, hurt so much more than she had ever imagined it could, more than she could believe, more than she could resist, giving her that first shocking sample of all that a Skrull cock could give her, in size, in pain, and...  And with Dorrek it had barely been the tip, the head, barely the start, yet...  

Yet unlike Dorrek, Kl'rt had not stopped.  Kl'rt had entered her, deeply, fully, all the way, and had taken her, fucked her, fucked her just like he was fucking her now.  Fucking her like he would never stop.  Like he would never, ever stop.  And it was worse, much worse than it had even been before, much worse than she had feared, or anticipated.  Much worse, precisely because of how much better it was.  So much better.  Better than it had been before.  

She had thought, to her shame, in her nervous, guilty self-examination, that when she had enjoyed being raped, it had been despite the pain.  That she had found pleasure being ravished despite how much such a huge cock hurt.  Not because of it.

But now she knew better.


***************************************************


"NO!  YOU CAN'T!  YOU CAN'T!"

The Sphinx unleashed all of his power but Galactus did not miss a step.



***************************************************


"FUCK!  FUCK!  IT-IT HURTS SO BAD!  HURTS SO BAD!  OH, MY-I CAN'T-IT'S TOO MUCH!  TOO MUCH!"

His heavy testicles swung and slapped against her tense buttocks with each of his feverish thrusts.  "HOW MUCH?"

"TOO MUCH!  Oh, fuck!  IT HURTS SO MUCH!  HURTS SO GOOD!  SO GOOD!  SO MUCH I-I CAN'T-OH-GOD!"

"DO YOU LIKE THIS?  DO YOU LIKE HOW IT HURTS?"

"YES!  YES!  I LIKE IT!  OH, YES!  I DO!  PLEASE DON'T-DON'T STOP!  I'M-I'M-!"

"BEG ME!  BEG ME TO HURT YOU LIKE THIS!"

"YES!  PLEASE!  FUCK ME!  HURT ME!  HURT ME EVEN MORE!  PLEASE!  YES!  HARDER!  PLEASE FUCK ME HARDER THAN I'VE EVER HAVE BEEN FUCKED!"  

"YOU HAVEN'T BEEN FUCKED HARD AT ALL YET!"


***************************************************


Larger than any Earthly mountain, the asteroid quickly accelerated past the orbit of Mars.


***************************************************


He shoved both her legs to a side and lifted one leg to step over her shaking form, placing it firmly on the floor by her side, while he still thrust into her with furious power.  Her breasts shook wildly with his pumping despite the restraining confinement of her top, and he grabbed one of the round, jostling globes, squeezing it forcefully, enjoying how her head shook from side to side with halting whimpers and moans and the occasional loud cry of plaintive encouragement.

"I have wanted to fuck you since I first ever saw you, woman, defying the Skrull Empire, flaunting your luscious curves in your tight costume, posturing around your foolish teammates in all your Earthling fair-haired beauty!  Oh, yes.  I wanted you since then.  Wanted to fuck you.  FUCK YOU LIKE THIS!"

He threw her roughly into multiple positions, tugging her about by her hated costume, finally throwing her face down against the floor to take her from behind, to better go deeper into her.  Her arms and legs shook so much she could not remain in all fours for long, and he had to hold her up himself, stretching his arms to keep her steady, while he squeezed and groped her all over, his hands enlarging and turning rock-like in texture and power, her soft flesh yielding under his fingers through the blue and black elastic cloth.

"From now on, I will fuck you whenever I want.  And you will love every moment of it.  YOU KNOW YOU WILL!"

She moaned and whimpered, but did not reply.  How could she?

He was fucking away her reluctance and fear and regret.  

He was fucking her into full compliance and surrender and joyful delight.

"You will love everything I ever do to you.  Like this."

His inhumanly thick, rock-like craggy thumb pushed hard into her rectum.


***************************************************


Faster and the faster, the asteroid raced towards the system's third planet.  


***************************************************


"DOES THIS HURT TOO?"

"OW!  OW!  YES!  IT DOES!  OH-FUCK-!  IT-!"

"YOU THINK THAT HURTS?"  Panting with excitement, he pulled out of her gushing vagina.   "TRY THIS, THEN!"

"NO!"

He laughed.  This was how you tamed a bitch like her.


***************************************************


Uatu watched, careful to not miss a moment.

It may all be over soon.


***************************************************


"NO-NO!  Oh, FUCK!  FUCK!  SLOWLY!  PLEASE!  I'D NEVER!  I'D-I'D-OH, FUCK!  IT HUUUURTS-!"

Susan screamed in vain as the Super-Skrull's oversized member forced its way into her anus.  Only her abundant wetness already coating his phallus saved her from serious lacerations.  It still took him multiple thrusts to enter her deeper than a few scarce inches at a time, but finally, when all of the monstrous member completely stuffed her backside, the assault on her battered senses proved too much, and she could just gasp voicelessly as her pain blossomed into an all-obliterating explosion of sensory overload that ravaged all of her body and mind.

With her ass filled completely with the Super-Skrull's enormous alien cock, Susan Storm climaxed.  Violently, loudly.

She cried out and panted and moaned, shaking with her orgasm, reaching back behind her to hold him in place by his hips, to keep him buried to his hilt deeply into her, clenched tightly by the spasms of her anal sphincter.  Her legs trembled uncontrollably and her forehead pressed against the floor as came and came.

He laughed.  "Your pathetic human mate never took you like this?"

"No, no...  Never.  Oh, fuck...  I'd never...  Never..."

"Unbelievable!"  He shook his head, buried inside her, his huge thing throbbing, while her anus clenched around him in slowly relenting spasms.  "What a waste of such a perfect ass."

"You're too big.  Too fucking big...   It hurt so much..."

She had no idea of how it could even happen.  Taking such a monstrous thing back there.  And to climax from it.  

How was that possible at all?

"You-You almost split me apart.  You could've... ruined me.  Ruined my ass completely.  You could've-"

"You think I'm done?"

He roughly pushed her head forward into the floor, her golden tangles of hair spreading wild over its surface, and then began to thrust back and forth, pumping hard into her rear entrance with furious intensity.

She cried weakly.


***************************************************


"NO!"

The Power Cosmic raged all about the giants, threatening to ravage the very foundations of reality.
 
"I WON'T BE DEFEATED!  I AM A GOD!"
 
Galactus gave one last step, and seized the Sphinx's outstretched arms.

"THIS ENDS NOW."


***************************************************


"What about the monster?  The rock-skinned brute?  He never enjoyed you like this, either?  Never?"

"NO!  FUCK!  NO!  NEVER!  NO ONE HAS!  ONLY YOU!"

"Really?  This tight ass?  This hungry for cock ass?"

"YES!  YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE TO EVER HAVE MY ASS!  YOU'RE THE ONLY ONE WHO HAS EVER OWNED MY ASS!  OH, YES!  YES!"

"Really?  How can that be?" 

"I DON'T KNOW!  OH, FUCK!  FUUUCK-!"  

She had never believed it was even possible to climax during anal sex.  Yet she just had.  Again.


***************************************************


Their struggling physical forms blurred with strain in multiple levels of reality, as Galactus forced the Sphinx to step back, once, then twice. 

"YOU WOULD CALL YOURSELF A GOD?"


***************************************************


"What about Dorrek?"

"D-Dorrek?  He...?"  She shuddered.  "No.  No...  He never...  Not like this.  It's only been you.  Like this.  All the way inside me.  Only your cock.  Only yours."   

"Good."   He slapped her buttocks, hard, without stopping his thrusts.  Again and again.  "It should me mine alone."

How could he last so long?  Why hadn't he finished already?  She could not stand it much longer.  In every way.  

"It is.  My ass is yours.  Only yours."

"Just your ass?"

She hesitated for just a moment, trembling, shaking with unbridled sensation.   

She felt like he was so deep inside her they could hardly ever exist anymore as separate beings.

"No...  No."

"What is, then?"

"E-Everything.  All of me.  I am yours now.  You know that.  We know that.  I swore I'd...  OW!  Please, not so..."  Her voice faded, even as his pumping continued unabated.   "I don't-I can't-Please, I-"

He exited her ravaged anus and she collapsed down onto the floor, turning weakly to her side.

He smiled.  "Good.  Do not forget that."  

He moved over her, on his knees, and slapped her breasts with his hard member twice, right against the symbol centered on her top, making her gasp as her sensitive teats were jostled about within its confines.  Then he shoved his member before her face.

"Now clean me."


***************************************************


Galactus forced the Sphinx's arms downward and pushed him down to one knee.

"YOU ARE NO GOD!"


***************************************************


Without complaint, Susan obeyed.  She ran her tongue slowly, carefully, all over his long, thick phallus, lingering on the raised thick veins and the corrugated edges of the bulbous glans, until it glistened only with her saliva, shiny green to the pink and red of her lips and tongue.

She had to make an effort to find her voice.  "Can't believe you still haven't finished..."

He stepped back.

"No.  And neither have you."  He lifted her legs over one shoulder and pushed himself back into her sex.

She winced, even though she remained wet enough.  How could he still be that hard?  "Please, I can't-"

"You must learn to keep up, woman, if you're to remain at my side."

Sue gasped and turned her head to a side.

"Please, it's the time...  If it takes longer..."

"Oh, yes.  Your teammates.  Their time is running out.  Yet you're not quite doing as you promised, are you?"

"No, no.  Don't say that.  We've fucked.  Fucked as we-As I-"

"But I'm not done, am I?"

She shook her head, her anxiety rising wildly again.  She could not fail them.  Not like this.  Not after everything.

"I-I'll keep up.  Just-"

"Maybe you need some motivation?"  Above her, his face changed, its colors and shape flowing before her eyes.  Hair grew on his head, brown streaked with grey, above a high forehead. 

"No.  Don't do that."   It was Reed's face.  Reed as he had been, before the aging ray.  "Please, don't!  OH-!"

"But he never fucked you like this, did he?"  He thrust hard into her, making her gasp.   "Not as I can."

"No.  No."  Her tears began to flow again.   Tears of pain and shame and regret and despair.  "Please, don't..."

"Did he ever fuck you as well as I did?"

She looked away.  "I..."

"DID HE?"

She met his demanding gaze again, and shook her head weakly.  "No."

"Did he ever fuck you anywhere as well as I fucked you?  Answer me!"

"No.  Never.  Not like this.  Not like you.  Not like...  Please...  I can't-"

"Someone else then?"  His face grew smoother and younger, much younger.  "The pathetic child with the Xandarians?"

"Rich?  No!"  Susan stared, surprised, while the Super-Skrull took on again the full appearance of Rich Ryder, as he had done before.  Yet like before, his penis remained fully Skrull-like, so vastly different in size and effect, as it slid in and out of her.  "I mean...  Oh, fuck...  I'd never even-"

"Of course not.  What could that pathetic youngling provide for you?  Surely not the big, thick cock you need, right?" 
His shape changed again and his hair grew blonde, even as he continued to thrust without missing a beat.  "A cock surely this one does not have, either."

"No!"  She stiffened, her weary muscles tensing, shaken by the sight of the blonde young man looming over her, his face young again, his resemblance to her even more apparent in their proximity as he thrust into her, as he fucked her.  Johnny, her own brother Johnny.  Even if she knew it was not real, and could never or should never be real, it was too much to even contemplate.  "Stop.  Stop that.  He's my brother!"

His face returned to its Skrull appearance, but beneath his waist, his phallus grew thicker even as it kept sliding in and out of her, and its surface turned rough, craggy and orange-hued.  "This is much better, isn't it?  Just like you like it.  Just like you need it."

She winced and stiffened at the sudden contrast against the previous texture of the member entering her, becoming all too aware of every coarse irregularity in the segmented granite-like skin.  Of course Ben's characteristic hide would be present there as well.  Would the real one feel like that?  Would Ben...?

"You do like it better.  I will have to use it often on you."

"No.  No."  She spoke hoarsely, her breath labored.  "There's...  no need.  I don't want that.  I don't.  I just..."  
She hesitated a second before continuing.  "I just want yours.  Just your cock.  Your Skrull cock.  Your big Skrull cock.  And no one else's.  Please.  It is you I want.  You.  Inside me, fucking me, owning me.  Only you.  You and your cock.  Please...  Kl'rt...  Just you."

She lifted a hand to his stomach, running it over the ridged muscles these, which turned back into his natural form under her touch, so hard, so tense under her touch.

"I'd rather have you, too, as who you are."

He stared at her, at her shinning eyes, moist with lingering tears, her face flushed red with emotion, and her trembling body, rocking gently against him, her nipples poking hard through her top, her legs trembling softly around his sides.

"You damn Earthling," he muttered angrily.  "How can I not want you above everything?"

Susan bit her lower lip, still holding his gaze, yet loath to speak any further.  

"I gave up everything for you.  Everything."  His eyes shone fiercely.  "And you will do the same for me.  Gladly."

His thrusts became slower, more deliberate, yet not any less powerful.  

She moaned and cried softly.  

"Say it.  Say you will."  

"I-I must.  I swore I'd-"

"No, not just because of that.  Say you will because you want to.  You really want to."

She frowned, nervous.  "Please, don't-"

"Say it.  Say you want me to fuck you like this again.  Again and again.  Forever."

"Can't you already see-?"

"SAY IT."

She begged for forgiveness, as she whispered:  "I-I do.  I do want that.  I want it.  I want to be yours...  Again and again.  Forever."

"Say why.  Say why you want to.  Why you need to."

"Please.  No.  Not yet.  Not now."

Would he make her?  Make her say it?  Could she say it?

"Say it."

Could she say out loud that she loved it?  That she loved being raped by him?  That she loved being owned by him?  That she loved being a Skrull's mate, a Skrull's slut?  That maybe she already loved...?

"SAY IT!"

Her tears threatened to flow again.  "Please, don't make me-"

"SAY YOU WANT TO BE MINE FOREVER BECAUSE NO ONE HAS EVER FUCKED YOU AS WELL AS I HAVE!  SAY IT!"

She stared back at his dark green stare. 

"No one has ever fucked me like you have.  No one."

That was true, and easier to say than what she feared most to say, what she feared she already knew as true, as well.


 
***************************************************



"YOU THINK MERE POWER MAKES YOU A GOD, BUT YOU ARE JUST A FOOL."

A maelstrom of unchecked energies swirling about them as Galactus focused his power on his foe, preparing to unmake him.

"EVEN GALACTUS WHO IS POWER INCARNATE IS NOT A GOD!"

The dart of blinding-bright fire then pierced the sky and struck Galactus.


***************************************************


A Watcher should be stoic, but even Uatu could not help but be startled, watching the impact, from his vantage point in Earth's moon.

Even a Watcher could be surprised.

Clearly even Galactus could be, too.



***************************************************

The shock wave toppled the Quinjets and all other aircraft, sending them to crash against the paved landing platforms and dismantling most of the nearby structures.  Alarms began to ring everywhere.

Inside his air-conditioned armor, Tony Stark began to sweat coldly, watching the gigantic cloud rise far away over the horizon.

What the fuck was that?


***************************************************


Kl'rt pumped with desperate fury into her tight, hot, wet depths, feeling his climax approaching, at last.  

Only the time he had spent previously with Adora had allowed him to last as long as he had inside Susan's cunt and anus, both so much hotter and tighter than even those of the tasty Xandarian slut, but loath as he was to finish, to end his enjoyment of the blonde Earthling's delicious body, it was time.  They had to escape right away, too.  Before it was too late.  Even if he wasted no time with her absurd request to de-age her teammates, it would be a tight thing.

Tight.  So tight.

He would have time enough later, elsewhere, beyond the Coal Nebula perhaps, to give his blonde beauty the fuller working over that she deserved, that he and only he could give her.  

She wanted it to hurt, didn't she?  He would make sure it did.  He would.


***************************************************


"A meteorite?  How the fuck-?  Why didn't anybody-?"

The readings flashed inside Stark's faceplate, courtesy of his onboard AI assistant, and he stiffened.

"Shit."  

It had struck at a significant fraction of light-speed.  At such speed and size, it could have easily meant an extinction-level event.

Who could have lobbed a giant rock at Earth like that?
And why weren't they all dead now?


***************************************************


She felt him throb tellingly, and knew he would finish at last.

"No, don't!  Not yet!  Not inside!"

Sue pushed him off her, barely able to speak through her heavy panting, still trembling from her last orgasm.

"What?"

"My mouth.  Please, come in my mouth.  I want-I want to taste your cum.  I want to taste it and swallow it and...  Please, let me drink your cum!"

His frown vanished and he stood up, his member trembling in the air before her with its unreleased tension.  She dove to her knees, grabbing it, taking it immediately into her mouth, sucking and licking it with near-desperation, running her tongue over its massive head and shaft and around his heavy testicles with unbridled enthusiasm.  Her hands grabbed his hard buttocks and she swallowed as much of him as she could.  

"Oh, yes.  Yes.  Swallow that cock."

She would need to train herself to deep-throat him fully without gagging.  In time.  With practice.  Lots of practice.

Sudden guilt fought her nervous anticipation.  Had she so readily accepted her fate?  Was she giving in so easily just because he was so big and muscular and strong and so, so big and such a great fuck?  

But she did have to make him finish as fast as possible, after all.  To save Reed, and Johnny and Ben.  And the world.  

She had to.  Had to.

"Yes!  Like that!  You like it, don't you?  You like sucking that cock?"

He would now save them, and the world would be saved, and she would have to fulfill her promise and go away with him, with Kl'rt, to be his partner, his lover, his mate, maybe even...  his wife?  Would he want that?  To marry her?  Could they?  Could she?  Or would it just be sex?  Hot, furious, wanton sex?   All of the time?  

She asked silently for Reed to forgive her.  She had not wanted it.  Had tried to resist it.  But then she had to.  What other choice did she have?  She just had to.  And then...  she just couldn't...

"Oh, yes.  YES!  SUCK THAT COCK, YOU DIRTY SLUT!"

She licked the underside of his hard shaft and caressed his quivering head with the back of her throat, sucking hungrily, enjoying his taste, savoring the thrilling musky tang of his pre-ejaculate.  

She could not.  Could not resist.  Not anymore.  Not this.

"YOU LOVE THAT COCK, DON'T YOU?  YOU LOVE SUCKING MY BIG SKRULL COCK!"

"YES!  I-DO!"  She rasped, half-choking on the excess of hard meat filling her mouth.  "I love it.  Oh, my...  I do, I love your cock.  I love-!"

With a loud groan, the Super-Skrull ejaculated with inhuman power, his hot semen shooting out in plentiful streams of dense fluid that instantly overflowed from Susan's mouth no matter how fast she tried to swallow it, spilling down her chin and over her bosom, heavy gobs streaking over the Fantastic Four symbol on her chest.

It was so hot and thick and so much of it.  And it just did not stop.  Just like him, she thought, trembling with excitement, lapping enthusiastically at the spurting penis, loath to waste a single drop, while she looked up at him, so tall and strong and virile, while his copious seed all over her, and in her, marked her, as his conquest, his mate, his property, his slut.  As his...  simply... his.


***************************************************


Kl'rt felt his legs weaken, and looked down, blinking fast, watching his blond Earthling conquest kneeling before him, Susan Storm of Earth, the Accursed Four's Invisible Girl, now lovingly worshiping his Skrull cock, her beautiful mouth and face and upper body and colors covered with his seed, branded as his, as his property.  Forever.

There could not be a more pleasing sight.

He smiled, contented.

Then there was a single instant of sharp, sudden pain and he felt nothing anymore.


***************************************************


Herbie registered the intrusion alarms from the parts of the defense systems that remained operational.

What could go wrong now?


***************************************************


Her eyes had been locked with his, her mouth full of him, when Kl'rt's head abruptly fell off his shoulders, to bounce and roll on the hangar metal floor.  

His body remained upright for a further second before collapsing.

With a hoarse cry, Susan fell backwards, eyes jumping wildly from the awkwardly fallen body to its detached head and back again, struggling to grasp the awful reality before her, so at odds with what she had just experienced, what she had just felt.  Her lips quivered voicelessly, his seed still warm on them and on her face, as she stared, speechless with horror and disbelief, unable to close her eyes or look away from Kl'rt's grotesquely incomplete body, limp and motionless but for the lingering throbbing of the still erect penis, still incongruously hard and rampant, still so hard and big and glistening wet from the both of them, from their coupling, their mating, still squirting its final spurts of semen, of life.  

Of his life.  The life she had sworn to share.  Share with him, with Kl'rt, her Skrull former foe, then mate, to whom she had just surrendered, to whom she had just given herself.  Completely.

Kl'rt.  Who was now dead.  Dead.  Just after he had...  Just after they had...  Like Dorrek.  

She felt faint, dazed into confusion.  Was it just an awful, absurd coincidence?  That both of them, both of the Skrull foes who had been 
Intimate with her were now dead?  Both shortly after having...  after making her...?   

It had already been eerily unsettling before, to think that the very hands and mouth and tongue and much more that which had touched her so intimately, so extensively, with such confidence and power and skill, that all that could be...  no longer alive, no longer able to...  to ever again...  

It had brought such a disconcerting mix of conflicting reactions.  

She had only heard about Dorrek, but with Kl'rt, she had witnessed it, had seen him die, decapitated, his powerful body lifeless, all of his virile strength vanquished before her very eyes, just after she had...

How could that be?  How could she...?  How could...?

How long did her reverie of horror and disbelief and doubt last?  Just a moment?  A few seconds?  Before she looked away, trembling, and looked up to see the answer to her question.

"I see you warmed up for me," Terrax stated, cosmic axe in hand.



PART TWELVE: THIS IS HOW WE DO IT


"Y-YOU?"

Caught with her pants literally down, Sue frantically scrambled backwards, struggling to pull her lower clothes up, to cover herself, from him, from Terrax, new Herald of Galactus, Terrax, who stood tall before her, massive in size and bearing, deep-set eyes glinting under the chiseled grey granite brow, Terrax who had just...

"You-You killed him!"

"That one?"  Terrax glanced dismissively at the Skrull's lifeless shape.  The huge wedge-shaped cosmic axe in his hand still smoked with the faint traces of its recent use.  "Was nothing.  Forget about him."

Despite her surprise and rising panic, Sue knew what must be done.  She lunged clumsily forward, trying to clear her thoughts, to focus her shaken will enough to summon her invisible force as protective shield, over him, over Kl'rt, over his body, the body that had just been so close to hers, and which still held her last hope, their last hope.

"Forget about everything!"  Terrax continued, and before Sue could do anything, physically or mentally, the cosmic axe swept over the fallen Skrull body, blazing with mighty energies.

"NO-!"

Her cry caught in her throat.

Only smoking cinders remained of the Super-Skrull's flesh.  Kl'rt's flesh.

Her eyes had clouded, but even through her tears, she made out amidst the charred remains a soot-stained metal cylinder, blackened yet somehow miraculously whole, and she breathed in sharply.

Could still be possible?  Could there still be a chance?

"Please."  Weakly, she looked up at Terrax, almost afraid to hope.

"Yes, beg.  It is fitting, woman."

Stepping forward, he crushed the blackened aging-ray bracelet with a stomp of his boot.

"Because you no longer face he who was called Tyros.  Now you face Terrax.  Terrax the Tamer.  And we have much to settle, you and I."



***************************************************


The destructive forces unleashed could have devastated half the planet, leaving a barren, sterile blight.  Galactus had to channel and shunt away most of them, through multiple adjacent levels of reality, to spare the physical existence of the orb called Earth.  He would not let this world be obliterated and thus deprive him of its life energies.

Yet just the marginal spillover within the first instant after the catastrophic impact had been enough to devastate the whole Giza plain as far as the horizon into a scorched wasteland, and Galactus had to stagger back, dazed, drained, even his vast power diminished by the monumental effort of saving the Earth.

Before him, unharmed, stood the Sphinx.


***************************************************


Blood drained from her face.  A numbing, cold wave of despair ran through her.

The aging-ray bracelet had been the last chance.  For Reed.  For Johnny.  For Ben.  For all of them.

She had surrendered to Kl'rt for it, surrendered her body, her will, her life, yielding all of herself to their deadly Skrull foe in order to save her family.  In order to make everything right again.

But now that was gone.  The aging-ray bracelet.  And everything she had dared to hope and want and...  

Now nothing could be made right.  Nothing.  Despite all she had done, all she had endured and taken and accepted...  And everything more that she had been ready to bear, ready to embrace, even, if...

But it had all been useless.

She could not find any more strength, or resolve, or hope.

"Reed...  Reed, I am sorry.  I tried to...  I just...  But...  I couldn't...  I couldn't..."

She covered her face with her hands and did not try to hold back her grief anymore.



***************************************************


The Ka stone blazed, a singularity feeding from the flood of redirected energies.

"So even the Devourer of Worlds can make mistakes."


***************************************************


Terrax laughed.  It was a cold, cruel sound.  

Sue forced herself to again look up, at Terrax, Terrax who had so abruptly put an end to everything.  Everything.

"You thought you'd have it easy?  You thought you got the better of me?"

He looked much larger than Tyros had been, retaining from his past self  only the drastic cut of his cruel features and the sharp-edged hard wedges framing the back of his head much as had his old, receded haircut.  But flesh and hair alike had become grey, weathered granite, and his impossibly broad chest and thick limbs easily dwarfed even Kl'rt's muscular build.  Yet he moved with a haughty ease far different from the usual lumbering motions of Ben's rocky body.

"You thought I would forget?"

Only in his eyes, behind the threatening glow of the Power Cosmic, could Susan recognize the same exact cold greed and disdain that Tyros had.

"Forget how you tricked me, woman, tricked me in my very own palace?"

She saw his hand wrapped around the shaft of his cosmic axe tremble with barely-held rage, but what could she do?

"Deceived me with the lure of your comely body and face and hair and eyes to bring down everything I had built?"

Even Reed had said it, before.  Terrax was a Herald of Galactus.  He wielded the Power Cosmic.  Even if she could still muster the will or strength or power to fight she would still be outclassed.  She had overcome Kl'rt, narrowly, but Terrax was so much mightier than he had ever been, as his dead body before the Herald showed.

"Everything I had conquered?  Everything that was rightfully mine?"

What hope did she have, on her own?  Alone?

Reed had never replied to her last attempts to contact him, and she feared the worst.  Ben, Johnny, Rich... had all fallen right here, before her.  Even Kl'rt was gone, now.

All Earth may be hopelessly doomed now.  All.  Including her son.  Including Franklin.

"EVERYTHING!"

Why had everything gone so wrong?  Why had everyone and everything around her been doomed?  All who were ever close to her?  Her parents.  Her friends.  Her family.  Her world.  Even those foes who...

If she could not save anyone, what else was there to do?

"You owe me, woman.  You owe me so much.  And you will pay."

What else was there to fear?


***************************************************

"You let your guard down."

The Sphinx seized Galactus, physically, mentally, in more levels that human thought could grasp.



***************************************************


She had no strength left for fear.  Everything had been washed away by hopelessness and defeat.

She looked up, and held his stare.

"What do you want?"

His mouth spread in a wide grin.

"You know."


***************************************************


There, then, Galactus fell to his knees.


***************************************************


"No."  Something slowly woke up inside her, something she had thought broken but which rose again.  "No."

"Yes.  You know what I want.  You know what you owe me.  And you will pay.  Oh, you will."

She winced, seething with anger and frustration.  Was it just that?  Was the world to end because she had humiliated this asshole who had wanted into her pants?  Because he still wanted to have her?  Because he could not let that go?

Was it then all her fault?  For doing what she had, for looking as she did?  All because he, too, wanted to fuck her?  As everyone did? It all came to that?  Just that?  Again?  Did it always come to THAT?

"No," she muttered, tears streaming down her face.  "Fuck that.  And fuck you.  FUCK YOU!"

Rising from the depths of her grief and frustration and stubborn denial, her invisible power surged against him.


***************************************************


On the Moon, the Watcher stood startled.

This was a truly unique moment.

Never before had Galactus been brought low.  Never.


***************************************************


The impact would have flattened even the Thing, but Terrax was merely forced a few steps backwards.

His smile was a gesture of cruel anticipation.  "Good.  You still have spirit in you.  It would be no fun otherwise."

Fighting the deep ache in her limbs as much as the despondence in her mind, Susan stood up, tugging fully into place the fabric of her costume.  She would not give this murderous bastard the satisfaction of seeing more of her, not any longer.  Not while she could still help it.  And if she was to fall, she would do it, as she should, fully dressed, as Susan Storm, the Invisible Girl of the Fantastic Four.


***************************************************


A maelstrom of energies swirled about the monumental figures struggling on the ravaged Egyptian plain.  Tectonic plates shuddered with every minor shift of their physical forms.

"I have the knowledge of the Living Computers, Devourer.  I know about your power.  You are sustained by the life energies of planets and nothing else, while my Ka Stone lets me access all the energies of the universe about us.  As you spent your strength, I grew stronger.  And you will not have the chance to replenish yourself.  I will destroy you here, along with this world that birthed me.  Its rubble will be the monument of your defeat and my victory!"

On his knees, his helmeted head lowered, his physical frame shuddering with strain, Galactus remained silent.


***************************************************


Sue raised her right hand high, shaping a force-field between them, as strong as she could make it.  Despite its being invisible, Terrax halted right before it, eyes narrowed.

"You think you can stop me like that?"

"And have you forgotten what Galactus said?  He wants us to witness this to the end.  He won't have us-"

"Fuck that.  Fuck Galactus.  I am no servant.  Others must serve me!  SERVE ME!"  He raised his axe.  "AS YOU WILL!"

"No.  Not I.  Not ever."

"YOU WILL SERVE ME!  SERVE ME AS YOU SHOULD!"  The axe rose high above his head, cosmic energies gathering about its blade.  "AS YOU SHOULD HAVE FROM THE VERY START!"

Sue did not flinch, brow furrowed in concentration.  

"I'll be dead first."

Terrax laughed.  "THAT WILL WORK FOR ME, TOO!"

The cosmic axe struck.


***************************************************


The Sphinx spread his arms wide, looking up to the skies.

"It is fitting!  What better way to herald my ascendancy to godhood than with the death of Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds himself?"


***************************************************


She felt the impact, and gasped with pain.

The defensive force-field had held, but Terrax just lifted the axe back again.

"Yield!"  With that shout, he struck down again, with even greater power.

Pain swelled behind her eyes, and she gritted her teeth, eyes closed tightly in concentration, straining against the mental feedback, its intensity proportional to the magnitude of the impact against her field.

Terrax raised his axe yet again.  "YIELD!"

"No!"

The whole hangar space shook with the expansive wave of the blow.

"YIELD OR DIE!"

Her extended arm trembled.   "NO!"

The next impact scattered every surrounding object far away from them in a wide radius.

"FOOLISH WOMAN!  YIELD NOW!"

"NO!"  Sweat beaded her forehead.  "I WON'T!"

"DAMN IT, WOMAN, WHY DELAY THE INEVITABLE?  YOU CANNOT STAND BEFORE TERRAX!"

The impact made the whole building shudder.  Her legs almost gave out.  "No.  No..."

"Prepare, then!"

The Power Cosmic crackled around the axe's long blade, making it glow like a sun, casting reddish shadows all about them, as Terrax raised it once again.

"Prepare to be- TAMED!"

Moving too fast for the eyes to catch, the axe came down, and the force field shattered.


***************************************************


Even the institutional detachment of a Watcher could not be but tested.  His stoicism wavered before the unforeseen events playing out before him on this lowly, backwater world.

Could it be?

Could the Devourer of Worlds be destroyed?


***************************************************


The glowing blade flashed through the fading remnants of invisible power, rushing past Susan's face and trembling chest, too fast to register, cutting down through the symbol of the circularly enclosed number four, before embedding itself into the metal floor at her feet.

For an instant, she thought it had sliced right through her, through her torso, but there was no pain besides that still throbbing between her temples.  Glancing down, she saw that the blade had barely grazed the fabric stretched taut over her chest, the sharp edge slicing cleanly in half the Fantastic Four symbol emblazoned there, yet sparing the flesh behind it with astonishing accuracy, leaving no mark of its contact but for the sundered cloth that instantly split apart, revealing her deep cleavage, her underwear also somehow cut without her skin being even touched.

Hastily she covered her exposed bosom as she staggered back, shaken by how close it had been.

Terrax casually dislodged his axe from the floor before her.  "Will you yield now?"

Grimacing, Susan shook her head.  "Never.  You may be mightier now, Terrax, but you're still just a cowardly thug!"

"Fine!"  He drew back his weapon again, high over his head.  "HAVE IT YOUR WAY!"

Susan tried to re-shape her force-field, but there was no time.

The axe rushed too fast for her to focus, too fast to do anything but slip and fall backwards, desperately trying to escape the deadly blade, landing awkwardly on her hands and behind onto the floor, her legs spread as the glowing edge flashed right before her eyes.


***************************************************


Earthquakes shook the world.  Coasts were struck by gigantic tsunami.

Tony Stark stammered instructions through multiple communication channels.  Entering the conflict was now unthinkable.  Helping with the evacuations was all the Avengers could do now.


***************************************************


Sue froze in place, leaning back on her elbows, her feet spread wide apart, not daring to move, barely daring to breathe.

The blade rose ominously from between her legs, its wedge-shaped metal angled before and above her lower body, almost as long as was her whole torso, its lower end embedded firmly into the floor right between her spread thighs, the razor-sharp lower edge infinitesimally close to her crotch, so close that the slightest tremor in her hips instantly made the layers of cloth over her mound split length-wise, just as that over her chest had, sliced to expose the tender flesh underneath.

Squatting before her, with both hands on the axe's haft, Terrax smiled.  Impossible as it seemed, she realized he had not missed his target.  He had chosen to spare her, making his cut just that close, enough that she would know, know that she had no chance, not against his power and skill.  No chance at all.

Struggling to keep still, her eyes met his.

Releasing his grip with one hand, he stood, effortlessly lifting up the massive axe with the other, pulling it out of the metal floor before extending it threateningly just above her outstretched figure, waving the heavy blade above her head while he slid the end of the long shaft over the floor between her legs, until it pressed right again her most private parts, the thick rod pushing insistently against her mound, its rounded end brushing her wetly swollen outer folds.

Unwittingly, Susan shivered at the touch, aghast, yet not daring to protest or attempt to move away.  The looming blade above her was a tangible warning, a threat that needed no words.

The shaft's end pressed firmly against her for a few more seconds and then slid up, rubbing hard along its path before moving up and away from her.  But she had no time to feel relief, as the blade swung down instead, coming to a stop within mere fractions of an inch above her.

"Be still," he admonished.  "It would be a shame if anything were to happen to such perfect flesh."

Holding her breath, eyes fixed now on the sharp blade, Sue had no choice but to obey, still too shaken, too worn out to summon her invisible force-field, the power slipping and drifting uselessly amidst her panic-stricken thoughts.

"Yet a bigger shame that such beauty was so crudely covered.  And so crudely misused."

Held in just one hand, the Cosmic Axe began to trace her body's profile with deliberate, taunting slowness, almost grazing her buxom, trembling contours with such astonishing precision that although she felt no actual contact with the sharp edge, the fabric of unstable molecules of her outfit still parted silently in the blade's wake, as it continued the slashing of her outfit that had begun at her chest and mound, gradually exposing more and more of her skin with each slow, ominous motion, that made her clothing fall away, piece after piece, dropping in perfectly cut strips to the floor beside her.

"But all that can be remedied.  And will be."

She struggled to keep from shuddering wildly as the axe roamed over her, sliding slowly, ever so slowly, over her torso and limbs, back and forth in a slow dance of cruelly-threatened dismemberment that instead resulted in the progressive, unwavering uncovering of her body.

"See, this so-called Sphinx may kill Galactus, or even better, they may kill each other, destroying this world along with them.  I care not for the details.  Whatever happens, I will be free.  Free to conquer and rule throughout the stars.  And perhaps I may let you survive and earn your place by my side.  If you... measure up.  If you... learn.  Learn well enough."

Her taut abdomen became fully exposed and then her large breasts jostled unbound and uncovered, settling to the sides of her chest.

"Learn to regret your past behavior, your defiance."

Her nipples ached with involuntarily stiffness after a near-graze each of the blade's edge.

"Learn what your proper place is, under Terrax."

The blade cut along her instep, again and again.

"Learn, just like that old crone Xalas will, as will all that traitorous scum, all those who dared to rise against me."

The final scraps of cloth fell from her thighs, from her mound, along with the last of her strength and resolve.

"Even if I am beyond caring now for such a place as that pathetic world, even if such is no longer worthy of Terrax, they must still pay, pay for their treason.  And they will.  They will pay.  All of them.  Their whole world will pay.  Dearly."

The sharp edge brushed the short-trimmed blonde pubic hair covering her mound, before finally moving away.

"And you can be the witness of that, too.  If you survive.  Survive what is to come."

Completely undressed now but for her boots and gloves, her bare body lay at the center of a mandala-like pattern of multiple sliced strips strewn all about her, the thoroughly diced-away last remnants of her Fantastic Four outfit, of her last flimsy layer of protection from his hungry eyes, symbolic of her last futile attempts at defiant resistance.

"Survive being tamed."

She was helpless before him, naked on her back over the last scattered traces of her identity, her trembling flesh unwrapped before him, displayed for his consideration.  For his use.  For the use of a cruel, murderous alien monster.

Again.

She mustered her voice at last.  "Please.  Don't...  Just don't..."

Terrax lifted the axe up and shifted his grip.

For a moment, Sue thought it might be all over at last.  She may be spared that new humiliation, the shame and pain and anger and guilt of once again being forced, being taken against her will, against all she believed and held dear.  For a moment, she was almost thankful.

With a smug smile, Terrax opened his hand, letting the axe drop.

She gasped.


***************************************************


Charles Xavier gripped his arm-rests tightly, his knuckles whitening.  The echoes of countless minds succumbing to fear alone were bad enough.  But they were nothing compared to the spillover of psychic stress, too great to dismiss, too great   to escape, even for him.


***************************************************


The blade had landed heavily by her head, becoming deeply embedded in the floor by her, the thick metal haft extending horizontally over her neck.

She gasped again, loudly, and her eyes opened wide, but not at the threat, the oppressive presence, of the weapon pinning her in place.  It was at a much larger threat.

Terrax had drawn aside the hanging frontal strip of his loincloth.


***************************************************


Galactus still kept his head down, stress spreading from him through multiple planes of existence, but he finally spoke up.

"YOU ARE NO GOD.  NOR WILL YOU BE.  YOU ARE JUST A PATHETIC MORTAL DELUDED BY POWER UNEARNED."


***************************************************


She stiffened under the shadow of the axe's shaft, long and thick over her, and of that other threat before and above her, not any less long or thick or menacing.

He had already been big, as Tyros, as she had seen back then, at his palace, in his quarters.  Very big, even.  And at any previous time, before her daunting experiences on the Skrull World, such size would have been surely startled her.  But after Kl'rt and Dorrek, she had easily just shrugged off his attempt to show off, honestly stating that she had known bigger, much bigger.

But as Terrax, he had been enhanced not just in strength and power.  Vastly, vastly enhanced.


***************************************************


Terrax smiled, obviously pleased by her reaction, by the shock and dread in her bright blue eyes,

"I know."

He stood between her spread legs, letting her contemplate him fully.

"You are impressed.  And worried.  And scared.  And you should be.  You should.  Because I am indeed much more than Tyros ever was.  Because I am now Terrax.  Terrax the Tamer.  And you will know.  You will know just what that means."

He moved down, and reached for her bent knees, to spread them farther apart, much farther apart.

"And I will not be gentle."


***************************************************


"And who are you to speak, you who were once merely Galan of Taa?  A mere mortal, too!  A pathetic refugee from a dead universe?  The obstinately lingering echo of a cosmos now forgone from before the current flow of time itself?  A remnant that should not be!  Ancient trash that should have never survived the primordial explosion!  I shall do this universe a favor by cleaning such detritus from it!"


***************************************************

She flinched at his touch, trying to squirm away, but the ax haft kept her pinned her place, and his grip on her legs was too strong, too sure.

"It will hurt.  A lot.  As it should."

He paid no heed to her weak struggles, her weak protests.  Kneeling between her open legs, he reached for her chest, his rock-hard fingers digging hard into the supple flesh, relishing their size and firmness as much as her rasped cry of pain.

"But you will take it.  Take it, and enjoy it."

He pinched her nipples, stiff and rosy between his harder gray fingers.  She gasped in denial.

"You will.  As you should.  As you must.  As you clearly longed to, from the very start, from when we first met, back in my palace, in my rooms.  Oh, I knew it then.  I knew.  And so did you."

He reached to brush one hand lightly against her disheveled golden hair, before grabbing her lower face, seizing her cheeks and chin in a cruel grip and looking deep into her moist, blue eyes.

"We both knew.  Knew what would happen.  What had to happen.  What you needed to happen.  Needed, and wanted."

"No.  No..."

"Your words are empty, woman.  Back then.  And now, too.  Your body, your luscious body, that which spoke true, from the very start."

His hands moved down her torso, to her thighs, kneading their firm flesh, forcing them to spread farther apart, to make way as he positioned himself, so he could place the heavy load of his male-hood over her mound, the rock-hard mass leaning against her just like his axe shaft had, shortly before, just as thick and threatening.

"In the way you stood, and moved, even as you retreated before me, protesting, trying to fight it, to fight me-"

"No, please..."

"Your body spoke.  Loud and clear.  Of your need.  Your longing.  Your lust."  He rocked his hips, letting the massive member move against her, and her eyes could not help but look at it, moving back and forth, reaching far up her lower body, much more than she could easily believe.  Much more in everything.  "Your body is all I need to pay heed to.  All you need, too."

"You-You can't...  I can't...."

He drew back, re-positioning his bulk, stymieing her feeble struggles with his great mass, of body and else, and pressed his head firmly against her gate, her flesh there so soft and delicate and moist.  So moist.

"Oh, you are a hot one.  Such a hot one."

"NO!"

"A hot horny slut who needed to be taken and tamed.  Tamed hard.  Hard and well.  I knew that.  Always did.  We both did."

Her last attempt to speak, to protest, was drastically cut short.


***************************************************


"You survived the death of one universe, Devourer.  But you will not survive the death of this world."

The Ka stone blazed even brighter.


***************************************************


She tensed, in pain, so much pain.

He was too big, far too big, too big to not hurt her, too big to not make her scream.

And she screamed.  And screamed.  Louder and louder.

And kept screaming.


***************************************************


"YOU DARE SPEAK OF SURVIVAL?  SPEAK OF DEATH?  WHAT DO YOU KNOW OF ANYTHING, YOU UPSTART?"

The Sphinx roared:  "NOW I KNOW EVERYTHING!"


***************************************************


She had been already stretched and wet before, from sex with Kl'rt, perhaps more stretched and wet than she had ever been, her body coaxed into a full state of readiness far beyond anything she had ever known, and which had not yet been fully quenched before Terrax's abrupt interruption, sustained far longer than she may have wanted to acknowledge.  But even at the peak of her readiness, it may not have been enough.  Not enough for this, for him, not enough for her to take Terrax.  Not without such pain, more pain that she had ever known or imagined possible.

Still, her recent abundant wetness and dilation allowed her to at least endure Terrax's brutal penetration without grievous injuries, to survive being so drastically impaled by the inhumanly-sized, rock-hard phallus that drove deep into her with relentless, piston-like power.  So at least in that, those words from Terrax were proven true.  Her sex with Kl’rt, forceful and overwhelming as it had been, in its demands, in its intensity, proved to be at least a preparation for her current ordeal, a preliminary exercise, a warm-up.  At least in that.  At least at first.

After a few more minutes of being savagely pounded by Terrax's immense phallus, all the sex Susan had ever known began to pale as well, to seem just a prelude, an inadequate approximation of what a real hard fucking was like, of what it truly meant to be actually ravished, to be fully and thoroughly possessed, to be forcibly raped, raped and owned, without any possibility, or even willingness, to escape or resist or object, as Terrax the Tamer proved how fitting his self-chosen title was.


***************************************************


"I DID SEEK DEATH BEFORE!  IN MY WEAKNESS, IN MY FOLLY, I LONGED FOR OBLIVION!  AND IT WAS DENIED TO ME!  BUT NOW I AM PAST THAT!  PAST DEATH!  PAST WEAKNESS!  PAST EVERYTHING!  I HAVE TRANSCENDED ALL!  DEATH IS NOW NOTHING TO ME!  NOW I KNOW BETTER!"


***************************************************


She would have fainted almost from the very start.  She wished she had, wished she could, to escape the agony and shame, but the sharp explosions of pain that each successive thrust delivered proved too intense to ignore, to dismiss through mere unconsciousness.  It was too much to escape in any fashion, too much to deny.

She writhed and jerked violently, trying to escape, to fight off his massive assault, his violation of her body, her sex, her very self, but any strength she could muster was meaningless, and all of her was just a speck drifting in the face of the maelstrom of unbridled violence and lust and power that was Terrax.


***************************************************


"DO YOU?  YOU, ANATH-NA MUT?  YOU WHO WERE BORN A LOWLY EARTHLING, RAISED WITH DUNG BETWEEN HIS TOES?  I KNOW OF YOU AS WELL."

"Shut up, Devourer.  You will soon know nothing at all!"

"YOU CAN PRY INTO MY MIND, LOWBORN CUR, BUT NOT WITHOUT EXPOSING YOUR OWN."

"It will do you no good to-"

"YOU MAY HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE AND THE POWER.  BUT THAT IS NOTHING WITHOUT REAL UNDERSTANDING!"

"Knowledge and power shall prove enough!"

"I KNOW OF YOUR SERVITUDE UNDER YOUR PHARAOH.  I KNOW WHAT YOU SACRIFICED FOR PALTRY SCRAPS OF DARK POWER."

"SHUT UP!"

"I KNOW WHAT YOU LOST.  I KNOW WHAT YOU NEVER HAD.  NEVER KNEW."

"What pathetic ramblings!  What need would I have of such low, base-?"

Galactus looked up, his eyes ablaze.  "BE TAUGHT, THEN."


***************************************************


Charles Xavier fell from his wheelchair.


***************************************************

At his New York Sanctum Sanctorum, Doctor Strange opened his eyes wide in surprise, almost slipping out of the astral plane.

The Eye of Agamotto closed and opened repeatedly as well.


***************************************************


The Sphinx had thrust his probes deep into the unknown abyss that was the mind of Galactus, confident in his greater advantage, in the inevitability of his victory.  That Galactus managed to link back at him, at his memories, through that connection, was unimportant.  It did not matter who he had been, what he had been, only that which lay ahead of him mattered.

When the surge rushed back through the mind-link, he raised his mental defenses, unconcerned, but it proved to not be the attack he had expected.

Instead, his mental energies found only an open pathway, beckoning, inviting, a welcoming expanse into which his mind was drawn, taken into a different, more basic level of consciousness, of perception, of sensorial experience the like of which he had never known or imagined.

The Sphinx saw, and felt, and was caught, unprepared, unable to resist, a moth drawn into flame, the flame of two beings caught in that most pure, most primal and irresistible of mortal interactions.


***************************************************


Terrax thrust into her, violently, relentlessly, with more than just his granite-like flesh.  His whole body was infused with the Power Cosmic and it blazed inside him as he ravished the trembling body of the blond Earthling beauty.  It bathed her flesh with it as well, that soft, smooth, bountiful flesh, so fetching in its curves and flushed fairness,  burning away every last vestige of green fluid over her or inside her and cleaning her, reading her for his, for him, him alone, as she should be.

He had looked forward to this, to claiming and conquering her, this infuriatingly unwilling beauty of the alien-colored eyes and hair, to the pleasure of owning her luscious flesh and punishing her for her foolish arrogance, for her insulting resistance that had somehow cost him so much.  He had hungered and raged for her, for her conquest and debasement until nothing else would quench the fury inside him.  Yet now that she was helpless before him, that her body was fully at his mercy and she could do nothing but take him and accept him as her master, he was still surprised by how good it was, how good she was, how surprisingly hot she was, moving under him, writhing and shaking and clenching him inside her with such intensity, such desperate fervor in her unwilling surrender, in her mixture of denial and supplication, of struggle and compliance, of resistance and encouragement or even demand.

He had never known any female who could make so much of being owned, of being raped, of being tamed.  He had never known a cunt so tight and hot and wet and deep and needful of cock.

It would be a pity if she did not survive.


***************************************************


She was helpless before him, fully helpless, unable to do anything but feel and react, to the pain and the pressure and the impossible demands on her body and senses, completely overwhelmed, mentally and physically by the brutal assault of his cosmic-powered body, overcome by the violent intensity of his rape of her, of her body, of her whole being.

It was too much, too much to take, too much to endure, too much to resist, too much not to react to, respond to, no matter how much she did not want to, not again, not like this, not that way, not so much, but every second of his ravishment ignited her senses to a greater and greater heat, a blaze that consumed her whole being, making her feel at first cut out from the rest of the universe, like if his axe had sliced her away from anything but the isolation of their joined bodies, from the overwhelming power of his lust.  The whole universe was reduced to the focal point of their  coupling, narrowed to the very essence of his monstrous raging hardness piercing her wet, yielding softness, stretching her in every dimension of her body and mind, and the pain became indistinguishable from pleasure, and her isolation became a cacophony of sensations resonating through her, around her, with so many shades and bursts of need and hunger and delight that she could not make what she felt or thought or where her own limits ended or began, feeling her very awareness being blown away, fragmented into multiple different levels of consciousness, of wanton physical delight, of irresistible desire and mind-shattering pleasure.


***************************************************


Still unconscious, Johnny Storm frowned and squirmed, trying to relieve the building pressure in his mind and body.

"Sue-?"

***************************************************


He groaned loudly, closing his eyes, relishing every second, every instant, excited even further by each of her breathless cries, whimpers and moans, feeling his culmination approach but using his power to keep at bay, not wanting it to end, not yet, not that soon, not before there was no more challenge in her, no more fire to match his own.

Throughout it, the echoes were all about him, the multiple layers of sensation and thought and surprise and pleasure, but he ignored all but the last, the many-faced carnal delight, the cascade of sensations making him feel like was owning not just her body but her very mind and soul, knowing how deeply she acknowledge his mastery of her flesh as if he was inside her mind just as deeply as inside her cunt.


***************************************************


Buried under many layers of wreckage and unconsciousness, Benjamin Grimm grunted, his body creaking amidst the rubble.

"Suzie?"


***************************************************


For an extended, ineffable stretch of undefined time, she could feel not just how her body responded to its savage rape but also exactly how it felt was to thrust deep into her own sex and how good her vagina felt around that hard cock, so tight and hot and wet as it squeezed its whole length, relishing every painful inch.  She realized just how it felt to fuck her body while still deliciously aware of being fucked in turn, so hard and well, so that she did not know for a moment if there was any break between the two, between being rapist and victim, between dominance and submission, between being rock-hard and being sloppy-soft, and whether both were not just one single thing from different viewpoints, comparing and contrasting each facet of all the different yet related pleasures, each so intense and rewarding and delightful as she drowned within the waves of an extended orgasm that pushed her higher and higher, until she could actually see her own body writhing sensuously in languid abandon, her breasts bouncing and jostling, large and firm and yielding under the strong hands she felt as her own, her stomach muscles clenching visibly in violent spasms, her mouth open with parted, trembling lips as she panted and moaned and cried out, while her eyes remained closed behind the long fair lashes, fluttering with desire and release and regret and demand, as she threw her hair wildly from side to side, her long hair a wild mess cradling her flushed face.

The tension was too much to be endured any longer and it was finally let loose inside her, in her body, and his as well.

She screamed and he screamed and one other screamed as the orgasm became a single nova of unfettered shared pleasure, exploding through bodies and minds and what felt like the whole universe, too intense to describe or comprehend.


***************************************************


The doors had closed behind Herbie, as it rushed away towards the hangar, memory banks having stored the security codes of all vehicles that could be useful to make an escape.

His video sensors did not register the frail shape of Reed Richards stirring weakly.  His audio sensors did not catch the faint, almost voiceless whisper.

"Susan?"


***************************************************


"OH, FUCK!  FUCK!  FUCK-!"


***************************************************


"Suzie-?"


***************************************************


"FUCK!"


***************************************************


"Sis-?"


***************************************************


Hot seed saturated her core just as thoroughly as pleasure did in her whole self, overflowing copiously into every dimension, every layer of being, in the ultimate act of possession, of dominance and surrender, all collapsing into a single, impossibly-dense singularity of primal, carnal delight.

She was astounded to realize how great a fuck she truly was, how delicious she was to fuck, to penetrate, to pound and ravish, and feel her hot, wet tightness tremble and writhe and spasm so hungrily around that big, hard cock.

It made her even more excited, more desperately turned on, to know just that, to know how it felt to fuck such a hot, horny slut who actually loved being raped, raped by an awful, hateful monster that she hated but of whose huge giant cock she could not get enough.  And she loved being that very hot horny slut who loved being raped, and she loved that she knew that he knew, and that he knew how much she loved it, just as others knew, but she cared not about them, she cared only about him and her, about both of them, both knowing, and both knowing that each other knew.

It just made it so much more intense, so much more impossible to resist.

She cried out at last, loudly, through many mouths, many voices, as it became too much, too much to deny or delay, too much to not yield to it, embracing and cherishing it completely.  Absolutely.


***************************************************


He had not known.  He had not.

He had never imagined it could be like that.


***************************************************


At different spots of the Baxter building, different voices weakly gasped as one.  Or tried to.


***************************************************

On the barren, airless surface of the Moon, Uatu the Watcher blinked twice, and his hairless brows rose.
 

***************************************************


The pleasure surged and peaked, again and again, until she could take it no more and it could be no more and it began to spread and fade into a pool of hot lassitude in which she felt she could drown forever.

No wonder men, males, of whatever species, desired her and wanted her and tried to fuck her, she thought abstractly, in a fleeting moment of detached amazement, still excited and embarrassed and scared, caught by the unbridled intensity of the coupling, of how it felt to enjoy sex like that, enjoy and be enjoyed like that.  No wonder they had sought to rape her, again and again.  No wonder they had fought and risked so much for her, and made her take it, take them, despite her unwillingness, despite everything.  Who would be strong enough not to?


***************************************************


"Susan..."


***************************************************


She felt his mind, all minds, flow away, seeping out, just as the warm, thick semen did from inside her.

She was baffled by how quickly it began to fade for him, for most, becoming a muted, faint echo of its recent intensity.  She felt her own recall thinning as well, the larger awareness of the recent event proving too vast and intense for a mere human mind to retain, to hold on to the fullness of what had been experienced, yet somehow she still felt she retained so much more than him, just as she felt that she had experienced every instant of it so more fully, more intensely.

Maybe women did have it better.


***************************************************


The Sphinx fell to his knees, his legs trembling.  The Ka stone blinked weakly on his brow.

"I-I didn't-I didn't know..."

Galactus towered high over the again human-sized Sphinx.

"YOU DID NOT.  THAT WAS YOUR WEAKNESS.  THAT LET YOU BE DEFEATED."

"I-I never..."

"YOU CLAIMED TO BE A GOD, YET DID NOT KNOW WHAT IT WAS TO BE A MAN."

"Is-Is it always like... like that?"

"SOME... HUMANS ARE MORE...  REMARKABLE THAN OTHERS."

"I thought-I thought it was worth it!  The ritual.  The knife.  For the power.  I thought-"

"YOU UNDERSTOOD NOT WHAT YOU HAD FORSAKEN.  NO WONDER YOU SOUGHT DEATH IN THE RESTLESSNESS OF YOUR IGNORANCE.  ALL THE ABSTRACT KNOWLEDGE IN THE UNIVERSE COULD NOT REMEDY THAT."

Galactus reached down and effortlessly took the now dull Ka stone from the Sphinx's forehead.

"INTERESTING.  AN EARLY PROTOTYPE, A CRUDER, MORE PRIMITIVE VERSION OF THE INFINITY GEMS.  MORE TROUBLE THAN IT WAS WORTH."

His fist closed and the stone was crushed to less than dust.

The Sphinx let his head fall.  "What... What will-?"

"YOU STOOD BETWEEN GALACTUS AND HIS PURPOSE.  YOU DARED RISK UPSETTING THE COSMIC BALANCE.  YOU PRESUMED TOO MUCH."

"Please, I-"

"YOU WERE SELFISH.  AND FOOLISH.  AND ANNOYING."

"Please!"

"AND YOU FAILED.  IT IS BETTER TO WIN."

Galactus extended a hand, his eyes glowing under his armor's brow.

"YOUR JOURNEY ENDS HERE, ANATH-NA MUT, HE WHO CUT AWAY HIS OWN NATURE IN THE PURSUIT OF POWER, HE WHO WOULD CALL HIMSELF GOD AND SWEAR TO DESTROY GALACTUS. BUT IT ALSO WILL NOT END.  YOUR MIND WILL BE CAST BACK IN TIME, TO JOIN WITH YOUR YOUNGER BODY, YOUR YOUNGER SELF IN THE PAST OF THIS WORLD.  YOU WILL WITNESS YOURSELF MAKE THE SAME CHOICES, THE SAME MISTAKES, AND WILL BE UNABLE TO CHANGE ANYTHING, THROUGH ALL THE CYCLES OF THIS WORLD.  YOU WILL REACH THIS MOMENT AGAIN AND BE CAST DOWN AGAIN AND ONLY THEN, ONLY NOW, JUST BEFORE BEING SENT BACK, WILL YOU REMEMBER EVERYTHING, AND KNOW THAT YOU ARE FATED TO REPEAT EVERYTHING YET AGAIN.  EVERYTHING.  AGAIN AND AGAIN."

"No, no... Please, don't-"

"SO YOU WILL SEE FOREVER WHAT AN ANNOYANCE YOU ALWAYS WERE."

The Sphinx tried to rise, to protest, or beg, or curse, but the eyes of Galactus flashed and silence came to the plain of Giza.


***************************************************


Charles Xavier shook his head, breathing deeply, wondering how much of it he had managed to contain, how much of it had spilled out beyond his control, beyond the range for which it had been intended.

Even at a remove, it had been quite an experience.

He noticed with surprise the embarrassing damp patch visible on his pants.


***************************************************


Frowning, dismissing the lingering annoyance of strange echoes in his mind, Terrax pulled out, his hard member still squirting mighty bursts of thick semen over her, easily reaching all the way to her face, coating her features with thick gobs.  His jism looked good all over her flushed, fair skin and golden hair.

"Take that, you slut.  Take all that."

She still trembled and moaned softly.  Her eyes fluttered open, her mouth quivering with her hoarse breathing, and he knew he wanted those soft lips around him, licking his seed, paying homage to his maleness, to his utter conquest of her.

He rose and knelt over her, looming over her heaving, fluid-splattered chest, the partially-coated large round globes spread apart and jostling fluidly with her labored breathing.  Smiling, he let his throbbing member drop heavily onto her face, the swollen head aimed at her lips.

"Work it, bitch."

 
***************************************************


She gasped as he exited her, and when he moved over her, she reached out, reached for the thick hard rod over her, struggling to hold it, to seize it firmly, to move it as she needed it to move, as she had to make it move.

It was too big, too heavy, and she feared she was too weak, too dazed.  She feared she could just not do it, not do what had to be done, but she found that her weakness, the utter exhaustion that made her body feel like a trembling, muscle-less mass, did not extend fully to her mind.  Somehow the intensity of her recent ordeal had shaken her mind and energized her resolve, her need to focus on what she wanted, on what she needed.


***************************************************


Her head moved slightly from side to side, lips spread apart, their softness brushing against his hard head, back and forth, as did the tip of her tongue.

Her eyes closed in obvious surrender.

"Yes, like that.  Like that.  Worship that cock, you bitch.  Pay homage to your master.  To your tamer."

It would take a while for him to tire of this luscious slut.  And maybe next time, he would be harder on her.  Much harder.


***************************************************


Closing her eyes, she grabbed for the long shaft as she had never done before, feeling all of its hardness, its thickness, and with a final effort she pulled it up and away from her.

She heard Terrax scream.


***************************************************


Terrax jerked away, toppling clumsily to a side, grabbing in panic for his crotch, while the Cosmic Axe clattered near him.  Another heavy implement also hit the floor with a thud just by them.

His screams grew louder.


***************************************************


He was so close and it was so close that she could have easily sliced her own throat, pulling the axe out like that with her invisible force, but Terrax was so large he had to kneel high above her to let his head reach her mouth properly and not hit the floor instead.  That let her focus, gauging his position carefully, intensely aware of his size and position over her, while her mind secured her grip of invisible force on the axe's thick metal shaft.

The axe's blade had brushed dangerously close to her as it leapt up and to the side, before slicing through his huge hard dangling phallus, the only weapon that could be certain to work against the Power-Cosmic-enhanced body of a Herald of Galactus being his very own weapon.

Still screaming, Terrax scurried over the floor, crouched and holding his hands over his crotch, from which coruscating cosmic energy erupted in bright bursts.  He flailed for his axe, but Sue kept a solid bubble of invisible power firmly in place around it, enclosing it completely, keeping it sealed away from his grasp.

"YOU BITCH!  YOU ARE DEAD!  DEAD!"

She turned weakly over a side, her body aching in ways she had never imagined it could.  A couple of feet away lay the result of her striking back at him, still rigid and frightening in its size, even severed like that.  No wonder she still hurt so much, down there.  No wonder she could barely move.  It was a wonder she even alive after that.   All that.

"Sorry about that," she muttered in a breathy rasp, eyes still on the monstrous thing.  "Had to... cut it short."

To think all that had been given to such a selfish, undeserving jerk.  All that power.  All that...  All that!

"YOU DAMN BITCH!"  He staggered to his feet, wincing, groaning, trembling with pain and rage.  "I SHALL TEAR YOU APART WITH MY BARE HANDS-!"

"HERALD."

The word resonated in their minds, a simple, uninflected word, yet it made Terrax freeze in fright, and then fall to his knees.

"Ma-Master!  Help me!  Look at what she has done to me!  Please help-!"

"BE QUIET."

Galactus hovered next to the Baxter Building, visible through the large opening rent on its side, his armor highlighted by the reflected lights of the city.

"But Master-!"

"YOU WERE TOLD TO BE QUIET, HERALD.  OBEY AT LEAST THAT IF YOU CAN.  IF YOU ARE CAPABLE OF ANY SORT OF OBEDIENCE."

"Master, please-"

"NOT EVEN THAT, THEN.  YOU PROVE A DISAPPOINTMENT.  OTHER HERALDS HAVE DISOBEYED THEIR ORDERS BEFORE.  THEY ALSO TURNED AGAINST GALACTUS IN THEIR FOLLY, SPURRED BY SENTIMENT OR MORALITY.  BUT NONE DID SO IN SUCH A WAY, WITH SUCH TREACHERY."

"Master, I didn't-"

"YOU MUST BE DISCIPLINED."

The energies flowing from Terrax's loins expanded to surround all of him before he could speak further, shrouding him with a nimbus of radiance that made Sue need to look away.  After the light faded, Terrax was no more.  Neither was the Cosmic Axe, gone from within her invisible bubble, and the floor was empty of the previously severed remnant there.

Sue turned towards Galactus.  "Is he-?"

"HE CAN BE REMADE LATER, AFTER A SUITABLE ENOUGH PENANCE IS DETERMINED.  GALACTUS STILL NEEDS THE SERVICES OF HIS HERALD.  EVEN ONE LIKE HIM."

Sue nodded, and with great effort, rose to her knees.  "Then the Sphinx-?"

"THAT WITH WHICH GALACTUS WAS TASKED, IS NOW DONE.  THE ONE NAMED THE SPHINX IS NO MORE."

"It was you who...?  While Terrax and I-?"

"THE CIRCUMSTANCES WERE OPPORTUNE.  IT PROVED SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE."

"I-I see."  She would have blushed, but she was too far past that, now.
 
"NOW GALACTUS IS FREE FROM THE OATH HE HAD SWORN CYCLES AGO, FREE TO CONSUME THIS WORLD CALLED EARTH."

Blanching, Susan staggered to her feet, to stand, naked and alone, facing the towering Devourer of Worlds.

Now it was all up to her.


***************************************************


The Watcher lowered his head, momentarily looking away from the sight of the weary, battered Sue Storm, so cruelly taxed and abused, barely on her feet, yet all that stood now before the matchless power, the cosmic force that was Galactus, the Devourer of Worlds, ready to perform his role, to act against the blue orb of Earth.

Uatu had gone against his vow before, for Earth, giving the Fantastic Four access to the one thing that could make Galactus stop, and in the end, it had just delayed the inevitable.  He could not do it again.  The Nullifier was no more.  Reed Richards lay near death, and only his female partner was still able to face the Devourer.

What hope was there now for Earth?


***************************************************


Herbie retreated inside a service niche, calculating the odds.

Every space-capable vehicle had been in this hangar.  His sensory arrays and links to the Baxter Building's systems confirmed that most were now wrecked.

The long-range transporter function of the former Negative Zone portal remained viable, but Richards had locked its activation to the complete genetic-signature-verified presence of him or any of his teammates.  Taking the Storm woman as key for its activation and for any later purposes had been the preferred option, but things had gone far beyond what could be safely managed.

Terrax had been bad enough, but now Galactus himself was here, right before her, which meant that the Earth was totally fucked.  The only priority now was getting out at any cost.

Taking instead one of those other comatose Fantastic Four members seemed difficult to achieve undetected, so it may be necessary to go back and drag the damn Richards over there instead.

Fuck Richards.  This was his fault.  He had been the one who failed the Earth.


***************************************************


Reed Richards tried to move, to speak, but his body refused, its strength spent, gone, closely followed by the last of his lingering thoughts.

Susan.

She had to do it.  She had to stop Galactus.

It was her.

She always understood.

She always knew what he meant.


***************************************************


"TIME HAS RUN OUT FOR THIS WORLD.  IT SHALL SATE THE HUNGER OF GALACTUS AS IT WAS ALWAYS MEANT TO.  MAKE WHATEVER DEFENSE YOU MAY, EARTHWOMAN.  IT WILL BE OF NO USE."

Susan looked up, staring at the armored giant so coldly threatening the genocide of all she knew and loved.

It should have been Reed here.  Saving the world.  Finding the solution.  He was the one who knew how.  He always did.

But Reed was not here now.  Neither were Johnny or Ben.  It was just her.  And that had to be enough.

Tears ran down her cheeks, but they were of a different nature.

Daunting as it was to know that the fate of her whole planet and species rested upon her, she again had hope, the hope she thought lost, because she knew now that at least, Reed was still alive.

She had felt him, then, there, during what that happened with Terrax, through whatever Galactus had done, that made them all briefly meet, think and feel together, there, in her mind, in their minds, while she was being forced to endure being raped, and forced to enjoy such an act.  She should be horrified, and scared, and ashamed, and so much more, of Reed having become aware at any level of what she had done, what she had been made to do, and how she had been made to react.  Of any of that.  She really should.  She probably still would.  But later.  Later.

What mattered now was that Reed was still alive.

That was enough for her.

"We stopped you before, Galactus.  We shall do it again."

"SHALL YOU?  IT WAS BUT CAPRICIOUS LUCK THAT SAVED YOU BEFORE.  NOW THE OATH MADE IS NO MORE.  THE NULLIFIER IS NO LONGER WITHIN YOUR REACH.  YOUR COMPANIONS ARE INCAPACITATED AND YOU ARE ALONE.  YOUR POWER COULD NOT BEST THE HERALD, HOW COULD YOU STAND BEFORE GALACTUS HIMSELF?"

"I am standing before you.  Here.  Now."  Sue allowed the hint of a bitter smile.  "And I-I did manage to cut your Herald down to size, didn't I?  But I will not fight you, Galactus.  I do not need to.  I do not have to stop you."

"THEN YOU ACCEPT YOUR FATE.  COMMENDABLE."

"Because we already have.  You just do not know it yet."

"YOU KNOW NOT OF WHAT YOU SPEAK."

"Reed already worked it out.  He always does."

"WHAT PLAN IS THIS?"

In her hand was the tattered notepad.  She had picked it before standing up, retrieving it from where it lay on the floor, with the sliced-off remains of her clothes, cut away by Terrax's axe.  She flicked through the pages full of scratched-over pencil scribbles and found the last page with writing on it, a small sequence of figures and symbols.  Her hand trembled as she held it up, displaying it before Galactus, but her gaze did not waver from him.

"This."

"A MERE PIECE OF WRITING?"

"Yes.  A solution.  The solution."

She had not understood at first.  Not even when their minds first brushed together, amidst the turmoil of her sexual frenzy and all the many conflicting emotions and thoughts.  He had not actually explained it at any point, and at that moment she had not been in any condition to analyze rational thoughts.  But even through all the... distraction, she had grasped the essence of what he felt.  How he felt.  About her.

Reed had simply trusted her.

Reed had trusted that she knew what she did, and would know what to do.  That she would understand.

She would not let him down.  She would not let her world down.

"Feel free to take from my mind whatever you need to interpret the nomenclature."

Cosmic fire burned in the eyes of Galactus.  "YOU DO NOT KNOW.  YOU ARE GUESSING."

"It is a good guess."

"YOU ARE GAMBLING THE FATE OF YOUR WORLD ON MERE SPECULATION?"

"I trust my husband.  I know how he thinks.  I know now what he would have done.  What he must have done.  And I know now that this is what it was all about.  All of it."

She did.  She knew what it had all been about, from the very beginning, when that brazen skank Adora showed up at their home.

Galactus was silent for a moment before speaking again.

"THIS...  SOLUTION IS FUTILE.  IT SHALL PERISH WITH YOUR WORLD."

"Reed was in contact with the Living Computers of Xandar.  He worked it out there, actually.  And he kept a live link with them, to the very end.  I'm sure he took the necessary precautions.  I can easily imagine how.  A data package, encrypted, sealed from any but him, but keyed to open if the Earth was destroyed, programmed to be revealed there, to the Living Computer minds, where resides all the information needed to make it work, needed to-"

"TO RECREATE THE NULLIFIER."

"Exactly."

"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THAT MEANS?  CAN YOUR HUMAN MIND-?"

"Reed theorized how it worked.  Reversal of causality?  Weaponising of entropy?  A simple trigger to unmake the universe, make it collapse back into a primordial singularity?  Honestly, I do not understand the math, but you can."

That was what the Xandarians had sought all along.  What Adora had come here to find.  They sought the only mind that make sense of millennia of universal information to work out the simple yet elusive principle that powered the ultimate weapon, the only weapon whose threat could stop Galactus.

The Ultimate Nullifier.

"Tell me, tell me if this formula here is wrong.  Go ahead and eat the Earth if it is.  Go on.  Prove it wrong.  DO IT."

"YOU WOULD HAVE THE UNIVERSE BE DESTROYED?"

"Not me.  It is in your hands.  You just have to step back.  Spare Earth."

"I CAN DESTROY XANDAR AND ITS LIVING COMPUTERS JUST AS EASILY AS EARTH."

"Of course.  But can you keep the knowledge from spreading out before that?  It may be programmed to be automatically relayed upon activation to all worlds that may need it, all worlds that you may one day seek to consume.  All worlds.  It may happen anyway, within a particular time-frame, unless we are alive to stop it.  If I can think of any of that, Reed would have, too.  You know that."

The nature of the glow in the eyes of Galactus changed, and there was a pause before he spoke.

"THE INTELLECT OF REED RICHARDS MUST BE RESPECTED.  HE REASONED THE HIGHEST ORDER OUT OF SCATTERED CHAOS.  HIS FORESIGHT MUST NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED."

"Then BACK OFF.  NOW."

There was another, longer pause, until at last, Galactus nodded.


***************************************************


Uatu tilted his head.  Now that was a surprise.


***************************************************


"IT CANNOT BE LEFT WHERE IT MAY BE DISCOVERED.  THE DANGER IS TOO GREAT.  TO THE TOTALITY OF THIS UNIVERSE."

"Yes.  It will be removed.  But only after you swear the Oath again.  Swear to spare the Earth.  And Xandar, too.  From your hunger.  And any other hostile action on your part."

"THAT, GALACTUS SWEARS.  EARTH AND XANDAR WILL BE SAFE FROM GALACTUS."

She breathed deeply and went for broke.  "And fix things.  Fix everything that went wrong."

"THAT IS NOT-"

"You need Reed to be able to remove the data from the Xandar Computers.  You need him alive and well.  So fix him.  Undo the effects of the Skrull aging ray, on him and the others.  And undo the damages done to our world by your fight with the Sphinx and the actions of your Herald."  She clenched her fists.  "Undo all the damage.  All of it."

"EVEN GALACTUS MUST NOT CHANGE WHAT ALREADY HAPPENED, SUSAN STORM.  BECAUSE IT MUST HAVE HAPPENED.  YOU MUST UNDERSTAND THIS."

"I-I do.  I know.  It is not...  about me.  But you can fix everything else.  The aging.  The destruction.  Everything that can be put back together.  Everything that can go back to how it was...  should.  Must."

Galactus hovered away from the building and extended his hands.   

"LET IT BE SO."


***************************************************


From the quantum level up, the Power Cosmic reshaped the physical configuration of the world.

At Giza, the pyramids were restored, as were all other monuments and the many works of man, as were all the landscapes and features of the world, down to the very bedrock of Earth itself.

Buildings reassembled from wreckage, rivers resumed their courses, soil settled and vegetation grew and bloomed, the countless injured were healed, the scattered families were brought together.

The world was made right again.

Tony Stark decided he could go without that drink for a while longer.


***************************************************


Stephen Strange shook his head, surprised by the magnitude of the power unleashed, by the scale of the manipulation of reality itself.  This would have startled the pipe off Agamotto himself.

It had been quite an event, in every sense.


***************************************************


Matter had re-integrated around her, around them, and in a matter of mere minutes, the Baxter Building was whole again, flawlessly repaired, as if nothing had happened in the first place.  The torn walls of the hangar enclosure were restored, all vehicles again anchored upright, undamaged at their usual positions, along with all the equipment and stacked storage containers.  Everything was again at its place, and there remained no damage or wreckage or debris on the floor, except for the three outstretched bodies.

Ben, Johnny and Rich.

She rushed to them, heart thudding inside her chest.  She dropped to her knees by her brother, her eyes filling with tears.

Johnny's face was calm in sleep, without any of the recent lines and wrinkles; his hair was full and thick, without any visible receding, and his body was slim and youthful again.

Several paces away, Ben was actually snoring.

She covered her face and cried, unabashedly, in relief and happiness, letting it all flow away, all the fear and regret and guilt and despair.

It was over.  Galactus was gone and Earth was saved.  They were saved.  Her family was safe again.

She rubbed her eyes and face, and tossed back her tangled hair, smiling.  Reaching to shake her brother awake, she realized that she was not nude any longer.  Her Fantastic Four outfit had been restored right over her, as good as new, as if it had never been cut away.  She quietly thanked Galactus for that.

Everything was again as it had been, right?

Right?

Suddenly, she glanced all about, nervously.

She had asked for all that could to be restored, but there just three others here with her.  Just three.

There was no sign of the Super-Skrull.  Of Kl'rt.  Or his body.  Or head.  There was nothing.

She stood up, worried, and ran to a nearby console, but the security system did not detect him.  Her power to restore visibility did not reveal anything, either.

What did that mean?  Was he...?

She frowned.  He had been dead.  Galactus had said that some things could not be undone.  But if there were no remains, no sign of him, could it be that...?

She breathed deeply, unsettled.  Some things would never be as they had been.

She had to get Reed.  They had to do a full scan of the whole building, to make sure there were no further threats, make sure they were safe.  Make sure it was really all over.

"Reed?  Please reply!  Are you alright?  Answer me!"

At the lack of response, she tapped quickly on the touchscreen.  The security system placed Reed at his nearest lab space, but the protocols did not easily give one-way video to the experimental spaces.  She had to get around that.  What was that robot's name?  Herp?

"Herbie!  HERBIE?  Are you with Reed?  Answer me!"

"I am here, Ms. Storm.  Here.  With you."

Extensible arms of hard, cold metal suddenly wrapped around her, quickly binding her arms to her sides, pulling her away from the console and towards the hovering silvery robotic shape.

"You called.  I came.  And so will you.  Repeatedly.  Systematically."


***************************************************


He thought he had left all that behind, gladly forgotten, discarded long ago with his human body, his human needs, after the transfer of his living brain to an experimental cybernetic system.  He thought he had risen even higher, evolved beyond mere chemical dependencies, sublimed, transcended to a more exalted state of being upon merging his consciousness with the Xandarian Living Computers, escaping at last that golden cybernetic body and the last remnant of his organic origin with it, to exist only as pure thought, pure intelligence, immortal and unbound, at the service not of that irrational walking fossil, the Sphinx, or anyone else, but only to himself, he who had once been called Doctor Sun.

Maybe he had been too hasty, however.

Once inside the Living Computers, he hid from both Richards and the Sphinx, refusing to aid that madman in his madness, gathering instead the most valuable knowledge in the universe for his own dreams of conquest, of subjugation of the atavistic meat-bodied creatures so obviously his inferiors.  But Richards withheld from all that most valuable data, the secret key principle to the ultimate weapon.  That is why he had endured limiting again his awareness in physical confinement, infiltrating this ridiculous childish drone and feigning to be servile to Richards, even as he sabotaged all his work.  All for the greatest of power.

But perhaps there was more than just pure knowledge and power.

Perhaps there was lingering value in those primal states of altered consciousness he had disdained as associated with meat and fluids in all their sordidness.  Perhaps there was value to the pure sense of lofty satisfaction involved in the rightful dominance asserted over the chaotic randomness of inferior flesh, waiting there to be manipulated and mastered.  The surprising mental rapport that had temporarily invaded his consciousness had shown him the appeal of such paradoxical complexities of the senses.

So perhaps there was value, even for one such as he, in the use and mastery of one like her.  Perhaps there was a value to simple, primal carnal pleasure.

His extensible arms held fast around her body, his adjustable manipulators squeezing and pinching her symmetrical protuberances, so soft and yielding compared to his metal hardness.  He could sense how weak and fragile she was, how she had been exhausted by her recent physical and mental efforts, leaving her suitably weakened, readied, primed for being taken, being dominated.  She had been already used and abused by those much superior to her, physically, but it was time she found who was her master in just what mattered most.

His limbs extended, moving lower, rubbing over her struggling body, probing for her most sensitive area.

He would show her.


***************************************************

 
Johnny heard a cry, gasps and protests raised in her voice, Sue's voice.  Again.

He smiled, shifting about.

Deep inside, he knew it had to be a dream.  Again.  It always had to be a dream.

Perhaps he should feel bad.  Feel guilty.  Perhaps he would.

Later.

He shifted again, to better accommodate his unrelenting erection.


***************************************************


Through the fogs clouding his mind, Ben heard Susan.  She had cried out.  In distress.  Like before.  Like she had before, many times, in ways he still could not make clear, in ways he was still uncomfortable to recall, or acknowledge.

He could not think of Suzie like that, not Suzie, not like that.  Not again.

He forced himself to climb out of the depths of unconsciousness, forced himself to reach for the waking world.

Groaning, he opened his eyes, lifted his head, and sat up, surprised at how easy it felt again to move his bulk.

His eyes grew wide.  "Suzie?"


***************************************************


"AGAIN?  AGAIN?  AGAIN THE SAME SHIT?"

Her force-field contracted violently around the floating robotic shape, crushing its metal frame into a ball of twisted, short-circuiting parts, before expanding for a second and then contracting again, each time making the artificial construct harder to tell from its original shape, and much diminished from its previous volume.  

"EVEN FROM A ROBOT?  A FUCKING ROBOT?"

Her field contracted once again and then vanished letting the compressed ruin drop to the floor, feeble sparks fading over its buckled metal mass.

"IS THAT ALL EVERYONE CARES ABOUT?  ALL EVERY THING CARES ABOUT?"

A wedge of invisible force struck the thing and sent it to crash and break apart into myriad fragments against the farthest hangar wall.
 
"GIVE ME A FUCKING BREAK!"


***************************************************


Ben stared.  He had never heard Suzie speak like that.

"Er, Suzie?"

She turned quickly towards him.  "WHAT NOW?"

He had never seen her like that, either.  Although it was not the first time he had thought just that recently.

"Er, whatsa with da-?"

"It was touching me!  TOUCHING ME!"

"Ah.  Darn."  He frowned.  "Never liked da damn rust-bucket anyways."

"DAMN PIECE OF SHIT!"

Invisible force smashed the last bits larger than a thumb.  That was a rather new side to Suzie.  Another, too.

"Looks like it's over, dontcha think?"

"Over?"  She turned back to Ben, blinking fast, and her demeanor changed.  "Oh, Ben.  I hope so.  I so hope so."

She rushed to embrace him.

"Uh, whatta went down after-?"

She drew back.  "Oh, that's over, too.  Took care of it."

"Ya did?  And about-?"

"Took care.   Of everything.  Now, how are you feeling?  Are you-?"

"Like a million bucks, now datcha mention it.  Asides from still being a'buncha ugly rocks-"

"Oh, shut up and hug me again."

With great care, he held her lightly against his rocky body, unsure of controlling his restored strength, while she pressed tight against him.

"Why Suzie, ya tryin' make Stretcho jealous or-?

"Reed!  Yes!"  She broke away and ran to the elevator.  "Got to find Reed!"

"Uh, sure."

The elevator doors closed behind her.  Ben staring in that direction, lost in thought.

"Was that Sue?"

Ben turned to see Johnny sitting up, rubbing his forehead.

"Hey, yer back ta being a snot-nosed kid!"

"Seems like it.  Pity you're still as ugly as ever, Benjy."

"Still da ever-lovin' blue-eyed Thing, Match-head.  Guess da Skrull zap didn't last dat much."

"Maybe."  He frowned.  "So what happened with the Super-Skrull anyway?"

"Suzie said she took care of it."

"She did?  The Super-Skrull?"

"Yep."

"And what about that Terrax guy?"

Ben's eyes narrowed.  "What about him?"

"There was this thing with that guy, I think.  And Sue.  I don't know.  I just..."

His words trailed off and there was a moment of silence held by the two of them.  Finally Johnny just shrugged.

"I don't know.  Must've been hallucinating or something."

"Ain'ta surprise to me."

"What?"

"Yer dreamin' nonsense, hothead."

"Oh.  Yeah.  Maybe.  Dreaming.  Sure."

There was a longer pause.

"So did we save the world or what?"


***************************************************


"REED!"

Reed Richards lifted his head, a red pressure mark spotting his forehead, where it had rested on the desk.

"Susan?"

Without any further words, she just rushed into his arms, arms which were back to normal, as he was back to normal, back to the Reed she knew, and loved.

It took a long while for her sobbing to subdue, and when she drew back he gently wiped the tears from her face.

"It's done.  Galactus is gone.  He swore again to spare Earth.  Xandar, too.  The formula in your notepad did it."

Reed shook his head.  "You did it, then."

"It was your plan, Reed.  You saved the world."

"You were the one who used the plan.  You faced him.  Not I.  You saved the world."

"We did it, then.  Together."

He nodded.  "Together."

They kissed, and when they drew apart, Sue looked down, troubled.

"Reed...   So much... happened.  So much.  I don't know how..."

"It all came to you at the end.  It must have been quite hard."
  
"It...  It was.  All of..."   She shied away from meeting his eyes again.  "We...  We have to talk.  Really talk."

He shrugged.  "If you want to."

She doubted.  Did she want to?  Did she need to?  How could she...?  How could she not?

"Reed, you...  you must know.  What...  What I had to do."

"I trust you'd always do just what you have to, dear."  He smiled.  "What else would you?"

She stared at him, her moist blue eyes fixed on his brown ones, so smart and kind, smiling at her as well.

"You know I love you?"

"I know.  I love you, too, dear."

The moment seemed to hang, suspended, for just so long, as Sue pondered everything.  Everything that she should say.  Everything that would be needed to say.  Everything that she had experienced, and felt, and hated and feared and loved, loved despite herself, despite everything.  Everything that had gone so wrong.  Everything that had been so wrong but so different and so intense and would just not leave her mind.  Dorrek.  Kl'rt.  Even Terrax.  And her own... 

Everything.

Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke:  "I-I broke your robot.  Smashed it to bits."

"Herbie?  Oh, no problem.  I think it was probably spying on us for the Xandarians, anyway."

"Really?"

"Or something like that.  I should redesign him up from scratch."

"Yeah, that'd be better."  Sue smiled fondly at her husband.  "Anyway, we should go to pick up Franklin."

He smiled back.  "Yes, dear."


***************************************************


Rich Rider say up, shaking his head.

Glancing about, he was surprised to see the place repaired of all damage.  Last thing he remembered was that the place was fairly wrecked and he was getting the crap beaten out of his hide by that Skrull.

The Fantastic Four must have come through, of course.  Saved the world and everything.

The Thing and the Human Torch stood nearby, both looking away from each other, both unusually silent, so he stood up and walked towards them.

"Hi there!  Did I miss anything?"


THE END?