Dr Midnight
Explorer
The Fantasticar is constructed partly with extragalactic technology given to Mr. Fantastic as a birthday gift from the Silver Surfer. The result is a flying vehicle that isn’t limited by our laws of physics… at least not as much. The “Coencic Actuator” bends the rules of our reality and sets them aside for the time being, allowing the Fantasticar to travel anywhere from four times the speed of sound to close to half the speed of light.
They reached the heart of Manhattan in no time and parked in the Baxter Building.
Reed gave them a brief tour of the Fantastic Four’s home. They wound up in the main lab area, a cavernous room that served as a living room and had something for everyone in the group. Here, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, was slumped on a couch, playing xbox. He didn’t acknowledge them.
Hex quickly took a picture of them all with his camera phone while Reed wasn’t looking.
“So,” Reed said. “The reason we’ve invited you here is that several metahuman organizations, chiefly the Avengers, like to evaluate the up-and-coming talent. Captain America wants to make certain you’re not a threat to national security. I think we can write that off. Thor is curious about your origin- he likes to know if any new heroes have mystical origins, as he does. Iron Man would like to know more about Constructor’s powers for his own research. For my own research, I’d like to know as much about your abilities as you can tell me… including your origins, if you don’t mind revealing them.”
The New Legends each gave descriptions of their powers to Reed. They kept their identities to themselves for the time being. Reed was very interested in how Constructor made his suits, but didn’t press the issue just yet. Hex hesitated and simply said “I can do anything.” He didn’t want to reveal too much about himself, it seemed.
Reed said “I plan to put you through some tests if that’s your claim. Are you sure you want to say that?”
“In that case, I do nothing.” He walked over to where Johnny was sitting and watched as he played some new beta version of Street Fighter. Frenzy joined him. “Whatcha playing?”
“Street Fighter 4,” Johnny said without much interest.
“Whaaat? There is no Street Fighter 4.”
“Not yet,” Johnny smiled. “I get to play all the games while they’re still in development.”
“No way,” Frenzy said.
“I’m playing.” Hex jumped onto the couch and grabbed a controller.
“Me too!” Frenzy joined them.
Pixie turned away from them and told Reed “Ignore them, they’re idiots. Anyway, about our origin, we share the same.”
Reed’s eyebrows went up. “Really? Tell me more.”
Pixie laid out the entire scene for him, leaving out names and dates. She told about the Transatomic Superconductor and what had happened, then what followed that very evening.
Reed typed everything into a keyboard as she spoke it. “All right,” Reed said. “The others that were in the room with you when the Superconductor was struck by lightning, have they developed similar powers?”
Gridiron said “It doesn’t look that way. All my friends seem to be sick or something. I dunno. My friend got really sick and wound up in intensive care with some kind of scaly-skinned body cast disease. It didn’t seem to be good for everyone.”
Reed seemed to think about that. “Was this at Romita Memorial in downtown Silverage?”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“About a half an hour ago, a report came in of an intensive care patient going into some kind of rage. He apparently stood up and smashed through the wall, escaping into the night.”
“What??” Gridiron sat down.
“Perhaps the Superconductor gave him powers after all. Maybe the ‘disease’ was some kind of incubation period.”
“I guess.”
“You don’t seem overjoyed that your friend is going to live.”
Gridiron said “No, no… I’m happy he’s going to live. I’m just worried that he’s got powers. He was never the nicest guy, y’know? He’s not the kinda person I think should get superpowers.”
“I see,” Reed said. He cleared his throat through the uncomfortable silence and asked “Would anyone like to give their secret identities for posterity?”
The New Legends all seemed to tense up. “Why would we want to do that?” Pixie asked.
“I understand your hesitance, Pixie, but it’s really a help to the metahuman community to do so. We have a number of heroes’ identities on file, and it’s enabled us to contact them or otherwise watch out for their friends and family when they couldn’t.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Pixie said.
Reed shrugged. “That’s up to you, but consider this. I now know that you were on a school field trip to the Silverage Science Museum when the Transatomic Superconductor was struck by lightning. You were all in the room and suffered from an M.T.E…. a metahuman trigger event. I know that you, Gridiron, are a friend of Jeremy Mullen, who was among the people in the room at the time. It wouldn’t take much detective work to figure out who you are, and then the rest of you would follow."
He continued. “If you don’t want to give your identities, that’s up to you and I respect that. However, I’m going to keep looking into it. Knowing things like this forearms us against the occasional metahuman that turns bad, and helps us to keep our names out of the papers- at least in a negative light. Giving us your identities of your own free will means we can help you with legal troubles and aid you when we can if you’re falsely accused of a crime. Do you see?”
Pixie looked aghast. “Where does this information go?”
“Three places,” Reed said very matter-of-factly. “SHIELD, The Avengers’ metahuman database and my own computer here in the Baxter Building. All are impossibly encrypted. Your identity remains safe, but is shared with a few high-profile heroes and government minds across the country. We’ve never had a problem with the system.”
Pixie looked like she was going to argue the idea again when Gridiron took his helmet off. “My name’s Jacob Jones. JJ for short. I’m not sure I like these powers, but I’ve got ‘em and I’ve managed to help people with ‘em. One thing I do know is that I like the feeling of helping people. Never thought I would, but… it feels good.”
Reed typed. “It does, doesn’t it? Thank you Jacob. Anyone else?”
“BOOOM!” Johnny yelled from the couch. He had just beaten Hex with a deadly combo. “Old school beats new school! You just got TORCHED, son.”
Hex laughed. “I just got ‘torched’? Do you work on your hack dialogue when you’re not cheating? Step up and see if you can do that again.”
“Frenzy’s got next, sore loser.”
“Yeah, I’ve got next!”
“Dammit.” Hex handed the controller to Frenzy.
Everyone except for Hex wound up giving their secret identities to Reed. They discussed how they felt about their powers at length, and when that was done, Reed announced that it was time to begin tests on their powers. It was nearly 1:30 AM and everyone felt awake and deeply alive.
Frenzy milled about as Pixie’s tests were conducted. The Thing approached him and said “Hey, kid.”
“Hi.”
“I, uh, wanted to talk at ya about what happened earlier in the week. I understand you kicked a guy hard. Real hard. Thought you’d killed ‘im and it turned out you didn’t.”
“Yeah,” Frenzy said, avoiding eye contact and shuffling his feet. “I didn’t mean to take him down that hard. I’m not used to this strength yet.”
“I understand. I’ve been there. Us strong guys, we gotta be smart about how we deal with normal people, y’know? We gotta pull our punches more and be real careful.”
“I know,” Frenzy nodded.
“I just wanted to say that. Now that that’s over… wanna arm wrassle?”
Frenzy paused. Arm wrestle The Thing? Who ever gets an invitation like that? Also, who ever is unsure that they’d lose? Herbie felt like he might be able to take him. He nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Reed, Johnny, Pixie, Hex, Constructor, Gridiron and Savant all gathered around to watch as The Thing and Frenzy squared off over a huge titanium block with a seat on either side of it. There was a deep, ground-in groove on Thing’s side, where he’d apparently done this a few times with visiting strong guys.
“Come on, Frenzy!” Hex said.
Gridiron nodded and pumped his fist. “Yeah, go Frenzy!”
Johnny Storm laughed. “Take him down, big ugly!”
Pixie said “I know you can do it, Herbie.” She touched his shoulder lightly. Herbie’s chest swelled- Cat had called him by his real name, and she believed in him. He tightened his grip on The Thing’s huge hand.
“Ready?” Thing asked. “One, two… GO!”
The building thrummed briefly as the two heroes’ bodies locked up and their arms pushed against each other. Johnny and The New Legends began cheering raucously for their respective teammates. The Thing’s hand and Frenzy’s hand trembled. Neither moved. The arms strained. There was a stone-on-metal squealing noise as The Thing’s elbow scratched against the titanium block. He began to make some headway, pushing over on Frenzy. Frenzy grimaced and gave everything he had, and the arms came back up a bit. “Give it up… kid…” The Thing grunted through clenched teeth. “I’ve… GOT IT…” The clenched fists slammed down with a booming echo. The Thing had won.
They stood up as the others clapped. “You did great, Frenzy,” Gridiron yelled.
“A respectable performance,” Savant added.
“Don’t worry, chuckles,” The Thing said, slapping Frenzy playfully on the arm. “Look on the bright side- you did better than Luke Cage did.”
Frenzy smiled.
Next: Trouble at the Oscorp Building
They reached the heart of Manhattan in no time and parked in the Baxter Building.
Reed gave them a brief tour of the Fantastic Four’s home. They wound up in the main lab area, a cavernous room that served as a living room and had something for everyone in the group. Here, Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, was slumped on a couch, playing xbox. He didn’t acknowledge them.
Hex quickly took a picture of them all with his camera phone while Reed wasn’t looking.
“So,” Reed said. “The reason we’ve invited you here is that several metahuman organizations, chiefly the Avengers, like to evaluate the up-and-coming talent. Captain America wants to make certain you’re not a threat to national security. I think we can write that off. Thor is curious about your origin- he likes to know if any new heroes have mystical origins, as he does. Iron Man would like to know more about Constructor’s powers for his own research. For my own research, I’d like to know as much about your abilities as you can tell me… including your origins, if you don’t mind revealing them.”
The New Legends each gave descriptions of their powers to Reed. They kept their identities to themselves for the time being. Reed was very interested in how Constructor made his suits, but didn’t press the issue just yet. Hex hesitated and simply said “I can do anything.” He didn’t want to reveal too much about himself, it seemed.
Reed said “I plan to put you through some tests if that’s your claim. Are you sure you want to say that?”
“In that case, I do nothing.” He walked over to where Johnny was sitting and watched as he played some new beta version of Street Fighter. Frenzy joined him. “Whatcha playing?”
“Street Fighter 4,” Johnny said without much interest.
“Whaaat? There is no Street Fighter 4.”
“Not yet,” Johnny smiled. “I get to play all the games while they’re still in development.”
“No way,” Frenzy said.
“I’m playing.” Hex jumped onto the couch and grabbed a controller.
“Me too!” Frenzy joined them.
Pixie turned away from them and told Reed “Ignore them, they’re idiots. Anyway, about our origin, we share the same.”
Reed’s eyebrows went up. “Really? Tell me more.”
Pixie laid out the entire scene for him, leaving out names and dates. She told about the Transatomic Superconductor and what had happened, then what followed that very evening.
Reed typed everything into a keyboard as she spoke it. “All right,” Reed said. “The others that were in the room with you when the Superconductor was struck by lightning, have they developed similar powers?”
Gridiron said “It doesn’t look that way. All my friends seem to be sick or something. I dunno. My friend got really sick and wound up in intensive care with some kind of scaly-skinned body cast disease. It didn’t seem to be good for everyone.”
Reed seemed to think about that. “Was this at Romita Memorial in downtown Silverage?”
“Uh. Yeah.”
“About a half an hour ago, a report came in of an intensive care patient going into some kind of rage. He apparently stood up and smashed through the wall, escaping into the night.”
“What??” Gridiron sat down.
“Perhaps the Superconductor gave him powers after all. Maybe the ‘disease’ was some kind of incubation period.”
“I guess.”
“You don’t seem overjoyed that your friend is going to live.”
Gridiron said “No, no… I’m happy he’s going to live. I’m just worried that he’s got powers. He was never the nicest guy, y’know? He’s not the kinda person I think should get superpowers.”
“I see,” Reed said. He cleared his throat through the uncomfortable silence and asked “Would anyone like to give their secret identities for posterity?”
The New Legends all seemed to tense up. “Why would we want to do that?” Pixie asked.
“I understand your hesitance, Pixie, but it’s really a help to the metahuman community to do so. We have a number of heroes’ identities on file, and it’s enabled us to contact them or otherwise watch out for their friends and family when they couldn’t.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Pixie said.
Reed shrugged. “That’s up to you, but consider this. I now know that you were on a school field trip to the Silverage Science Museum when the Transatomic Superconductor was struck by lightning. You were all in the room and suffered from an M.T.E…. a metahuman trigger event. I know that you, Gridiron, are a friend of Jeremy Mullen, who was among the people in the room at the time. It wouldn’t take much detective work to figure out who you are, and then the rest of you would follow."
He continued. “If you don’t want to give your identities, that’s up to you and I respect that. However, I’m going to keep looking into it. Knowing things like this forearms us against the occasional metahuman that turns bad, and helps us to keep our names out of the papers- at least in a negative light. Giving us your identities of your own free will means we can help you with legal troubles and aid you when we can if you’re falsely accused of a crime. Do you see?”
Pixie looked aghast. “Where does this information go?”
“Three places,” Reed said very matter-of-factly. “SHIELD, The Avengers’ metahuman database and my own computer here in the Baxter Building. All are impossibly encrypted. Your identity remains safe, but is shared with a few high-profile heroes and government minds across the country. We’ve never had a problem with the system.”
Pixie looked like she was going to argue the idea again when Gridiron took his helmet off. “My name’s Jacob Jones. JJ for short. I’m not sure I like these powers, but I’ve got ‘em and I’ve managed to help people with ‘em. One thing I do know is that I like the feeling of helping people. Never thought I would, but… it feels good.”
Reed typed. “It does, doesn’t it? Thank you Jacob. Anyone else?”
“BOOOM!” Johnny yelled from the couch. He had just beaten Hex with a deadly combo. “Old school beats new school! You just got TORCHED, son.”
Hex laughed. “I just got ‘torched’? Do you work on your hack dialogue when you’re not cheating? Step up and see if you can do that again.”
“Frenzy’s got next, sore loser.”
“Yeah, I’ve got next!”
“Dammit.” Hex handed the controller to Frenzy.
Everyone except for Hex wound up giving their secret identities to Reed. They discussed how they felt about their powers at length, and when that was done, Reed announced that it was time to begin tests on their powers. It was nearly 1:30 AM and everyone felt awake and deeply alive.
Frenzy milled about as Pixie’s tests were conducted. The Thing approached him and said “Hey, kid.”
“Hi.”
“I, uh, wanted to talk at ya about what happened earlier in the week. I understand you kicked a guy hard. Real hard. Thought you’d killed ‘im and it turned out you didn’t.”
“Yeah,” Frenzy said, avoiding eye contact and shuffling his feet. “I didn’t mean to take him down that hard. I’m not used to this strength yet.”
“I understand. I’ve been there. Us strong guys, we gotta be smart about how we deal with normal people, y’know? We gotta pull our punches more and be real careful.”
“I know,” Frenzy nodded.
“I just wanted to say that. Now that that’s over… wanna arm wrassle?”
Frenzy paused. Arm wrestle The Thing? Who ever gets an invitation like that? Also, who ever is unsure that they’d lose? Herbie felt like he might be able to take him. He nodded. “Let’s do it.”
Reed, Johnny, Pixie, Hex, Constructor, Gridiron and Savant all gathered around to watch as The Thing and Frenzy squared off over a huge titanium block with a seat on either side of it. There was a deep, ground-in groove on Thing’s side, where he’d apparently done this a few times with visiting strong guys.
“Come on, Frenzy!” Hex said.
Gridiron nodded and pumped his fist. “Yeah, go Frenzy!”
Johnny Storm laughed. “Take him down, big ugly!”
Pixie said “I know you can do it, Herbie.” She touched his shoulder lightly. Herbie’s chest swelled- Cat had called him by his real name, and she believed in him. He tightened his grip on The Thing’s huge hand.
“Ready?” Thing asked. “One, two… GO!”
The building thrummed briefly as the two heroes’ bodies locked up and their arms pushed against each other. Johnny and The New Legends began cheering raucously for their respective teammates. The Thing’s hand and Frenzy’s hand trembled. Neither moved. The arms strained. There was a stone-on-metal squealing noise as The Thing’s elbow scratched against the titanium block. He began to make some headway, pushing over on Frenzy. Frenzy grimaced and gave everything he had, and the arms came back up a bit. “Give it up… kid…” The Thing grunted through clenched teeth. “I’ve… GOT IT…” The clenched fists slammed down with a booming echo. The Thing had won.
They stood up as the others clapped. “You did great, Frenzy,” Gridiron yelled.
“A respectable performance,” Savant added.
“Don’t worry, chuckles,” The Thing said, slapping Frenzy playfully on the arm. “Look on the bright side- you did better than Luke Cage did.”
Frenzy smiled.
Next: Trouble at the Oscorp Building