Chapter Nine, The Missing Link.

During that time, Sue had finished her analysis, but requested all of us to pass new tests. She didn't tell us what those were for. After we did, she called for us in her lab.

"What's up, sis? Why did you do all of those tests? I thought we were all fine?"

"We are, it's just more complicated than I thought. Reed was a bit apprehensive towards his outburst with Tony the other day, so he asked me to look into it. I did. There really is a reason why it happened."

"What is it?" I ask, curious.

"It's affecting all of us." she says. We all frown, wondering what she meant. "Not at the same rate, or the same way, but it does. The cosmic storm affected us physically, both by giving us power, but also radiation."

"Is it gamma radiation? Because I tested for it and didn't find anything when we came back." I say.

"It's not. Probably. I couldn't find what kind it was, because our earthen machines aren't calibrated for that dimension's radiations. The fact is, they affect our feelings. Our way of doing things. For Reed, you're quicker to outbursts, Johnny is more prompt to 'play around', Ben is less, and I'm focusing more than usual on my work. We don't see much of it for us three," she says, pointing at everyone but me, "because we use our powers regularly. That's why Ben was completely turned to stone at the beginning. The radiation makes it so that activating our powers is a biological function like eating or sleeping. To calm the radiation, we need to use our powers. While training, except for trying new things, you don't use your powers much. Outside of training, I never saw you use them. All of us do, even a little bit."

"So this mean I should turn to stone to go back to 'normal'?" Ben asks.

"And I should spend my time flamed on?" Johnny follows.

"Yes. No. Maybe. I don't know, this is all I managed to get from all the tests. This is a new type of radiation that we can't even detect. The only way I did was thanks to Alfred, who monitored the devices and said that they detected something but couldn't accurately show it."

"So when we fight without using our powers…"

"Our feelings are amplified. That's why we felt so scared of Nat. She is scary, but not to that extent. That's why you shouted at Tony, you hadn't used your powers for a couple of days at that time. Your body was, in a way, showing symptoms of withdrawal."

"Can we get rid of these radiations?" asks Johnny.

"I can't even find them, how do you want me to remove them…" Sue sighs.

"I'll ask around to find someone to help us out. In the meantime, I guess we should use our powers more often?" I say, looking at Sue.

"That's what I would recommend yes. If we don't see any improvement in the next couple of days, we'll have to find something else."

"Everyone, if you please." Alfred calls out. "I downloaded and integrated the last part of Circe's backup into my systems. I'm now ready to get connected. You should warn Mr. Stark when you decide to do so."

"Yeah, by the way, why did you decide to give him Circe's backups? Will we be still using her when Alfred will be online? Since he'll have almost the same capabilities…" Johnny asks.

"Well, we gave Alfred the means to defend himself, and Circe is still powerful enough to protect the tower against Internet attacks, so why would we toss her away? Two is better than one, right?" I reply. "We'll be connecting you this afternoon, to give a bit of time to Tony and the rest to prepare for your arrival. I'm calling him right now," I say, taking my phone and leaving the room.

"Sue, those radiations, do they-"

"Ben, I know what you want to ask, but I can't tell you. I just don't know yet, I'm sorry." they sigh.

"Hey, I have an idea, how about I cook using my flames?" Johnny asks. "This way I'll use my flames, the radiation will be satisfied, and I'll have something to eat!"

"I mean, that could probably work." Sue says.

"Provided you don't burn everything to a crisp." Ben says, snickering.

"Haha!" Johnny laughs sarcastically. "You won't get invited when I open Johnny's Flaming Steakhouse, rubble man."

"I wouldn't go even if I were, I don't want to die incinerated while eating a lava steak."

"Lava steak… Lava steak… Hey, that works! My first item for the menu is now Lava Steak!" he shouts, running to the kitchen.

"Are you sure it's the radiation that makes him want to play around, or is he just dumb?" Ben asks Sue.

"Ben, please…" Sue sighs.

"Hey, I just called Fury after I warned Tony, asking him if he could let us meet an expert in radiation. He said he'll send someone in the next couple of days."

"He did? He didn't ask you why?" Sue asks, perplexed.

"Well, I had to promise that it wasn't to do any experiments unsupervised on Gamma radiation, but otherwise, I'm sure he'll ask Nat anyway…"

"Do you know who he'll send?"

"I have no idea, but I'm sure it won't be Banner or Stark. Tony's pretty busy right now, and Bruce's been missing for years. I'm sure he knows where he is, but he won't have him come to such a populated area at this time."

"Alright, we'll see."

Less than an hour after Alfred was connected, he called out to Sue and I.

"If I might, I have run a small check after your conversation earlier this morning, and the expert Mr. Fury might recommend could be Dr. Langkowski or Dr. Braddock."

"Okay, Reed, do their names ring a bell?" Sue asks me.

"Not really, I don't think… Oh, wait, is it Doctor Brian Braddock, from Britain?"

"Correct."

"You know him?"

"I just remember that he's a good guy and an expert in physics."

"Got it. I'm going to check up on the analysis, call me if anything happens."

"Sure, I'll see you later." I kiss her before she leaves. "Alfred, when you said small check, what did you do exactly?"

"I've checked the big names in physics and experts on radiation, and their relationships with SHIELD."

"How did you do that?"

"By checking their known locations and comparing them to known SHIELD facilities. If you're asking if I hacked into anything, I didn't. I won't hack anything unless asked by you."

"Alright. How are you finding the Internet so far?"

"Exhausting. There's so much p*rn in there… P*rn and cats… It's a miracle any of you using it get anything done."

"Haha, yeah… Sorry about that. Anyway, tell me when you're completely online and if there's anything wrong or otherwise useful for us."

"Will do, Sir."

With that out of the way, I followed Sue's medical advice, and decide to stretch a bit. I went to the training room to practice my ability. I didn't do that before, because I thought of the quote 'power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.' I was scared that overusing my stretching ability would cause me to become too reliant on it. Seems that it didn't work as I thought.

The stretching ability by itself is pretty strong, but the key is imagination. Mine is memory. While I wasn't a fan, I've seen a couple of episodes of One Piece, and with Reed's brain, those episodes came back to me, and so did Luffy's use of his elastic power. This has become a huge inspiration for me. That and Steve teaching us combat centered around our powers. He told me that learning Wushu might be a good idea, since the martial art was pretty flexible on its own already. He told me to focus on the Chángquán style, and accompanying the techniques with an extension of my body, throwing my arms and legs with power as well as precision.

At least, that's what it should look like, but usually Chángquán Wushu is learned from a young age. I've been practicing for about two months now. Right now, I should be doing exercises to practice my form and stance, but instead, I'm trying to incorporate my power into the punches and kicks I already know. Steve told me that I should take it slow and do this part of the training when I'm good enough with the majority of the moves. According to him, this would be in about three years for a normal person. He said I should be fine with a year and a half, because of my capacity to remember the form showed in excruciating details, as well as thanks to my constitution.

After a couple of hours of practice, Natasha, who came in the room without my notice at some point asked if I wanted to do some live exercise with her to test what I've done in combat. I obliged.

We started by facing each other. She lunged for a quick right punch, which I batted away just before it touched my face. I followed by accompanying my movement to the left and trying to elbow her with my right, dodged by a small backwards step. As I turned on myself to prepare a spinning kick, Nat predicted my move and did a low sweep with her leg, to make me fall. Instead of falling, I let my leg be swept under me by turning it flexible and resting on the other one. With her leg now caught by mine, I launch a right punch towards her and a left one to my back to accumulate inertia. As I go down to punch her, as she's still on the floor, she pulls my fast approaching right fist to the ground and locks my arm with her free leg. She reaches for my neck to tase me, but before she makes contact my left arm comes back and connects with her shoulder with an audible snap. True to herself, she only lets out a grunt while the fight continues.

The power behind my punch allowed me to distance myself from her for a few seconds and catch my breath. At the same time, she does a kip up to get back on her feet, and reduces the dislocation on her left shoulder by "snapping it back". As she looks at me and pulls out a couple of knives, I shape my hands into thin short-staff like appendages. As we get ready to launch ourselves at each other's throat, Alfred calls us out.

"Mr. Richards, Ms. Romanov, sorry to interrupt, but Dr. Langkowski just called, he'll be here in around twenty minutes. You should probably get ready for him."

"Right, the Director told me about that, I'm supposed to babysit you with this guy, and prevent you from turning anyone into a monster again. Will you try to do that?" she asks, putting her knives back.

"Not really. We might have brought back radiation from the other dimension in our bodies, but since we're not experts in that field we need a second opinion. Sue found out that it might be responsible for our over the top reactions and behaviors."

"So when you were scared sh*tless of me the other day it wasn't entirely because of me then. That reassures me because I would have had to train you against Madame-type-women if you did."

"What?"

"Cos' you were so scared I could have made you my b*t-"

"OKAY. Right. It was most probably because of this radiation. Apparently we need to use our powers more to negate the effects of it. That's why Dr. Langkowski came, he'll learn more and help us understand. Shall we go?"

"Sure. After you, Mr. Richards…" I sigh. "Oh, when the welcoming is over, I'll pass by Sue's machine to check on this shoulder situation."

....

"Dr. Langkowski, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Reed Richards. This is Susan and Johnathan Storm, Benjamin Grimm and Nathalie Rushman."

"Isn't it Doctor Richards? I've read your paper on unstable molecules and it blew my mind."

"Not yet, the university is still waiting confirmation. I'm glad you enjoyed my work."

"So, what's this all about, I've received an invitation from the government to get my ass here. You've got a radiation leak or something?"

"Not exactly. See, a few months ago we opened a portal to another dimension and stepped through it. A cosmic storm hit us over there, giving us powers. We believe that we also got radiation from this storm, and it started affecting us. Since we can't detect them, we asked for an expert in radiation."

"Wait, wait, wait. Other dimension? Powers? Are you serious?! You're joking me, right?" Langkowski asks, bewildered.

"Johnny, please." Sue says. Johnny flames on, controlling his temperature to stay at room level.

"WOW! What the hell?! Is he okay?"

"Oh don't worry, I'm good. Here, it's not even that hot." Johnny replies, catching the doctor's arm.

"And you're saying you can all turn to flames?"

"No, each of us got a different power. Johnny's fire, Sue's invisibility and force fields, Ben's turning to stone, and mine is body elasticity. Natasha wasn't with us during the trip. The thing's that's bothering us is the supposed radiation. I'll give you some time to get your bearings. If you have any questions don't hesitate. We really appreciate you coming here."

"Alright… Sure… I'm going to stay here a bit…" He says, sitting on the couch, thinking.

"Nat, do you mind getting us some food? We can't let our guest starve, right?" I say, taking no small pleasure in getting even with her remark a few minutes ago.

"Of course, Mr. Richards. Normal for everyone plus a kids' menu for you as usual. Got it." she says, leaving the room. Ben snickers and Johnny laughs out loud, saying something like he'll remember this one. Dr. Langkowski didn't even register, still processing what we talked about just now.

A moment later, the food arrived and the doctor got his bearings, asking question concerning the dimension, the kind of things we've seen there, and the storm in particular. After that, while eating, we talked about our powers and Sue explained her findings, showing the results of her analysis on a tablet. He said that her insight was most probably correct, and that he'll start working with us after the meal on finding that radiation. After the big part of our concern was 'resolved', we talked about all and nothing, explaining our powers, learning about his research and how he was Bruce Banner's friend during university and then working with him up to a few months before the experiment that turned Bruce into the Hulk. He said that he was still working with gamma radiation, but to find a way to turn his friend back. As he said that, a small fleeting glint appeared in his eyes.

"So this is your lab?" he asks, looking around. "It's pretty bare, it's like no one is working here."

"That's exactly the case. It's an empty lab for guests. In the future we expect people coming back to the Baxter Foundation to work with us again, but for the moment we're the only ones left. If you need anything, you can just ask Alfred, he's our AI. I'll go get a few things to work with you here." I say, leaving to get a couple of tools.

"Same for me, I'll be right there," says Sue, who accompanies me to the elevator.

"So, what do you think?" I ask her while we're alone.

"Well, he seems nice, and he's really knowledgeable about radiation. I think he can help us. Why, you've got another opinion?"

"Not really, there's just… I don't think I would trust him that much with gamma radiation, there's something… off with him when he mentioned that subject. But we can probably work with him on our problem. I'll just keep an eye out. Alfred, if you could also check up on him from time to time. Nothing too invasive, let's keep it above the surface for now."

"Of course, Sir. Understood." As Alfred said that, we separated to get our tools and samples, and met again in Dr. Langkowski's new lab.

"So, Dr. Langkowski, how's everything?" Sue asks.

"Well, for starters, call me Walter, or Walt, since you seem to like shortening names around here, haha!" we laugh at that. I hadn't noticed but everyone but me has his name shortened, Sue, Ben, Johnny, Nat, even Steve, who everyone here calls Cap…

"Alright, then you can do the same and call us however you want, Walt." She answers, smiling.

"No, but seriously, this place is amazing, how is it that no one other than you guys work here?"

"Well, we have had a couple of big explosions and failures. The last problem ended with three people dead. Just a few weeks ago a swarm of killer robots attacked the building, and to protect the Baxter name, we said it was a gas leak. Not a lot of people trust the Baxter Foundation to protect their building, workplace, and lives… We hope to change that but it will take some time. You're more than welcome to stay as long as you need, though. If you're not too scared of all that, that is."

"Oh, you know, I've had my share of experiments gone wrong as well, it's part of science, right?"

"That it is… well, shall we get started?"

"Alright, that's all the sample that I've gotten. I can always get new ones, but I think it's a good start."

"It sure is, let me see what you've got." he says, looking at the samples Sue displays on a desk. "Uh, uh. Okay. Great! You've done an amazing job, I've got practically nothing to do, here! It's all labeled and explained clearly in the corresponding document, the hypothesis is proper and makes sense… What am I here for, then, haha!" he laughs, we smile awkwardly. "Yeah, I know, don't worry you guys. Reed, you've brought some tools, what are they for? Are they for me?" he opens his arms to get them.

"Yeah, I figured since we can't detect those radiations with the tools we have, we might have to build a machine that can, so here are some stuff to help with that. If you need a hand in that area, I'm your guy." I mean, I literally have a backlog of tools and machines waiting to be built and improved upon in my head and on my computer…

"Alright. Tell me everything about that dimension. And I do mean everything. I want details this time." And so, we talk about it, explaining in details our thought process, the portal, the dimensions, the readings we got, the samples we took, the numbers we received, the things we saw and experienced, everything. After that, Sue explained once more her working theory on the radiation, the results of the analysis, and presented the samples she took from us. Finally, we got started.

First on theory, how we could manage anything with something that doesn't belong in this dimension, but is stuck here, affecting us. We needed to be able to see, detect, sense it. We started working on different versions of ionization chambers, detectors and counters, as well as other tools used to detect and measure radiation. We looked at the theory and science behind them, applied that science to what we knew from Dimension Zero, and ended up with a couple of gadgets that didn't work for our purpose, but could always be useful later.

Those gadgets included a portable radiation detector, working with all types of radiation and detecting it miles away with pinpoint accuracy in the point hundred thousands. We decided to put a patent for it and sell it at near cost price, as this kind of device could save lives in the hundreds every year, and should not be sold for profit. It temporarily bore both of our names, Langkowski-Richards, while we waited for input from our friends [{AN: friends and readers, wink, wink}].

After a couple of weeks, we finally had something. We finally detected the radiation from Dimension Zero. The research on this radiation being ionizing vs non-ionizing proved right, as we found our radiation using a modified Geiger counter, in the direct opposite range of Alpha Radiation. Since it was almost exactly the opposite numbers and range, we decided to call it Omega Radiation for the purpose of our analysis and future work on it. Now that we could detect it, came the time to test Sue's theory.

Ben and Johnny both asked to be a volunteer for the experiment, but we decided that all of us would do it instead. Since the experiment consisted of measuring everyone's radiation level, using or not using our powers daily, and measuring again the radiation. This would be going on for a week, with Johnny and Ben using their power as often as possible, and Sue and I using them as little as we could. Everyone got ready for the first measurement, one at a time, done by Walt with only one of us in the room at the measure, to avoid "contaminating" the results. Soon, the results were written down, and the experiment could finally begin.