Chapter 39 - The Fantastic Lemillion
EARTH – 121698
ORIGINAL FANTASTIC FOUR UNIVERSE
VON DOOM SPACE STATION
The moment Mirio exited the Multiversal Currents once more, he knew there would be no more guest appearances in Strange places. Honestly, Mirio was not exactly aware that he had been jumping entire Universes… as far as he was concerned, each destination was a different location in the same Universe.
Yet, something was different as he exited the Multiversal Currents this time. This time, his exit had a feeling of finality to it. A bit of relief washed over Mirio's face, but questions still remained, like why stop now?
Maybe, it was because there was one more empty slot for his Quirk to fill, or maybe, it was because this was as far as the Tesseract's Energy could possibly take him. The Mysteries were uncountable from the moment he appeared in New York City of a different Universe. Mirio was so lost in his thoughts that the sudden feeling of suffocation brought a great surprise.
This was a specific brand of suffocation - the cold suffocation of emptiness.
Mirio instantly realized that he was drifting untethered in the void of space, spiraling out of control with the momentum with which he exited the Multiversal Currents. With his peak human physique, Mirio knew it would take about three minutes to freeze to death, unlike the normal human who would survive at most a minute in the void of space.
Three minutes was not a lot of time, but it was better than one minute.
And, as if there was a God looking out for him, Mirio realized that he was drifting towards something. Due to the constant spinning, he couldn't tell exactly what it was, but from the brief glimpses he got when he was upright, it was a large structure.
Possibly, a Space Station…
Noticing he was drifting slightly off course, Mirio leveraged the nearby space debris to correct the course, sending him towards the space station in the distance. With some good luck and perhaps a miracle or two, they wouldn't blow him up with a laser or something.
However, Mirio quickly realized ignorance was bliss.
The moment he corrected his orientation to match the plane of the space station, Mirio could feel the incoming heat of a solar flare. Ironic that he had survived one Solar Flare just to encounter another.
Mirio curled his body as much as he could to conserve the little heat that remained. The suffocating feeling was intense, and he could literally feel his muscle fibers freezing under the deafening presence of space.
But still, Mirio clung to his fierce will to survive, and his body acted in unison, making the impossible, very possible.
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ABOARD VON DOOM SPACE STATION
Victor's Space Station was the fanciest thing in space. His company had procured many designs from all over the world to build the Space Station to Victor's specifications. The engines were designed from a variable speed propulsion frequency drive system, and the propellant was Hydrogen-based.
This meant the Von Doom Space Station, which was centuries ahead of its time, could remain safely orbiting the Earth for at least a hundred years. Actually, a large part of the designs came from Reed Richards himself.
As someone overshadowed by the brilliance of Reed his entire life, Victor made it his goal in life to take everything from Reed.
Reed's friends, family, and even Susan.
Victor didn't want Reed to have anything he couldn't.
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OBSERVATION DECK
After everyone was settled on the Space Station, Victor took Sue by the hand and guided her to the observation deck. Sue was a bit angsty, not liking where this would lead, but she also had little say in the matter since one couldn't exactly say no to the Boss of their Boss's Boss.
Sure, she worked for Doom Corporation, but Sue knew that Victor was more interested in her hips than her skills. Under Victor's guidance, Sue descended the stairs to the Observation deck, and they faced each other as the atmosphere became tense.
"Are you surprised I agreed to Reed's proposal?" Victor questioned, placing emphasis on the word 'proposal'.
Sue stalled a bit before she answered "I understand the business reasons."
Victor slowly circled around Sue "Well… when you're looking at the future," he whispered, "It never hurts to find closure about the past."
Sue's eyes narrowed "What is this about?"
"Susan… every man dreams that he'll meet some woman he can give the world to."
Victor pressed a button on the control planet and the Observation Deck's outer windows opened up, revealing a spectacular, romantic view of the Earth below. He smiled proudly, reaching into his pockets to hide a ring box behind his back "In my case, it's not just a metaphor."
However, instead of feeling happiness, Sue felt a bit unsettled.
"We've been together for two years now."
"It's been a good two years, Victor… the company's accomplished so much."
Victor rolled his eyes, though there was a bit of pride welling up within his chest "Right, of course, the company… but accomplishments in the world mean nothing without someone to share them with—"
"Wait… wait…" Sue almost shouted in Victor's face as the warning lights went off "Um, Victor… I hope I haven't done something to make you think—"
"Sue!" Victor interrupted in a firm voice that showed a determined man "I've lived my life unafraid of taking big steps. And this is the biggest step yet. If it helps, think of this as a promotion… A merger of sorts."
Just as Victor was about to spring the four big words on Sue, the door was slammed open and Reed rushed into the room. Victor quickly and silently slid the ring back into his pocket.
"THE CLOUD IS ACCELERATING!" Reed shouted, a bit of terror visible on his face.
Sue dashed to the control panel, pushing Victor out of the way as she verified what Reed had said. When Sue nodded in confirmation, Victor's face hardened.
"We've got minutes until it hits, not hours," Reed turned to Victor and pleased "Victor, that storm's deadly – the radiation's lethal. We need to abort."
Victor frowned and hushed Reed with a gesture of his hands "Get a grip, Reed. We didn't come all this way to lose our nerve at the first little glitch. Just close the shields."
"Ben's still out there –"
"So, reel him in. But we came here to do a job. So, let's do it. Quickly!"
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OUTSIDE THE SPACE STATION
Since the purpose of the mission was to study the origin of all life on Earth, Reed created an experiment to expose key vegetation samples to the cosmic rays of the solar flare.
Ben was currently outside the Space Station, arranging the samples to guarantee the most exposure to the solar flare. He had just finished his third sample when Reed's call came in.
'Ben, we need you back inside.'
Ben turned from his section of the Space Station, and he could see Reed and Johnny waving to him exaggerating through one of the Station's windows.
"I ain't done arranging your flowers, egghead…"
'Ben, turn around.' Reed urged.
Ben turned around and saw the solar flare worming towards the Space Station… it wasn't very close, but it also wasn't very far. It was close enough that the heat reached Ben through the cold void of space.
"On my way," Ben responded, and pushed off the Station's rings, catapulting himself towards the only airlock door in sight.
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CONTROL ROOM
Victor rushed into the control room, scanning the monitors to see if there was any way to salvage the Research Experiment before the Solar Flare hit, but that was no longer an option.
Anxiety crept into his bones, and without a second thought, Victor activated the shielding Protocol, sealing the fate of anyone who wasn't in a secure location.
"Event threshold in two minutes…"
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AIRLOCK DOOR
Reed and Johnny stood next to the airlock, carefully watching Ben as his body drifted rapidly over a mile distance of empty space.
"Event threshold in two minutes…"
The automated voice reminded Reed and Johnny that Ben was definitely gonna cut it close.
"Come on, Ben, come on," Reed whispered, desperation lacing his usually intelligent voice.
'Reed, we're running out of time,' Victor's voice urged over the radio, but Reed ignored it.
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OUTSIDE THE SPACE STATION
Before Ben could make it to the airlock, a wave of Cosmic Waves washed over his body. The Cosmic Waves were not potent enough to knock him unconscious as yet, but it did make maneuvering in space infinitely more difficult.
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From the airlock window, Reed and Johnny saw Ben outside, desperately trying to make it to the door, but it was obvious Ben would fail. Ben was about twenty meters away when the first embers of the storm touched his body.
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CONTROL ROOM
With Victor's hand firmly planted on the controls, and the shield rising, Sue knew there was no time to do anything to save Ben. When Victor had his mind on something, he would always achieve it, through the precision of mind and matter.
"What are you doing?" Sue questioned angrily "Ben is still outside."
"That's his problem!" Victor snarked.
With one final glare, Sue bolted from the control room, heading towards the airlock, hoping to at least be with Ben during his final moments.
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AIRLOCK DOOR
Johnny and Reed stood by the airlock, hands on the controls to open and shut the valve in an instant.
Reed bit his lip and decided "Victor is right. Johnny, get inside the shields… it's the only place we know is safe."
"What about you?" Johnny asked in a rare moment of selflessness.
However, one look in Reed's eyes told Johnny that he would never leave without Ben, and that also gave Johnny the courage to stay behind.
"Event threshold in thirty seconds."
Reed and Johnny froze at the warning, eyes widening as they finally saw the monster of a Solar Flare following Ben. It was a miracle he was still alive. Just as Ben made it to the airlock, instead of drifting inside like he was supposed to, Ben collided with the shields Victor had mercilessly raised.
The moment this happened, Sue arrived at the airlock in a sprint of panic, but alas, she was too late to open the lock.
"BEN!" Johnny, Sue, and Reed yelled in unison, terror, and sadness lacing their voices.
But…
Luckily, there was someone to answer the prayers in their hearts. The full brunt of the Solar Flare hit the Space Station with the might of thousands of grenades. Space Dust shot into the crevices of Ben's spacesuit, burying him in a mixture of Cosmic Dust, Asteroid Particulates, and Cosmic Energy.
However, just before Ben's DNA could completely mutate under the influence of a cocktail of Exotic Energies, Mirio made his appearance. Lemillion had been drifting in space for nearly two minutes, and he was on the brink of unconsciousness when he noticed Ben locked outside the airlock.
Luckily, what was a problem for Ben, was not a problem for someone with a quirk that allows them to permeate through all physical matter. Ignoring the Cosmic Waves similarly washing over his body, Mirio permeated through Ben's spacesuit and grabbed the man inside, permeating them both into the airlock.
Sadly, there was no time to celebrate Ben's miraculous survival.
The Cosmic Storm washed over the Space Station the next moment, impacting Johnny, Reed, and Sue head-on! There were open wounds all over Mirio's body, so the Cosmic Storm seeped directly into his Blood Stream, filling the third and final slot blue slot of his Quirk.
Johnny was bathed in a combination of Solar Flare and Cosmic Energy, heating his DNA to impossible levels. Susan was bathed in a combination of steam from a nearby pipe rupture, and spectrum waves bonded to the Cosmic Energy, intertwining her DNA with the fundamental characteristics of light.
Reed was the most unfortunate out of all his companions… the moment the Cosmic Energy hit, it shattered the bones in his neck. But in an effort to keep Reed's body intact, his body's natural response was to stretch, and so it did – his body stretched until it could compensate for the broken neck with extra elasticity in the bones.