PREVIOUSLY ON THE FANTASTIC FOUR:

Reed Richards, Susan and Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm rode an improperly shielded rocket headed for the moon, only to be bombarded with cosmic rays which gave them amazing powers! Together, they became the Fantastic Four, sworn and intrepid adventurers seeking to face the dangers of the unknown.

The Fantastic Four had recently faced the power of the Dark Lords of the Dead Moon, a battle which nearly cost them the Richards' second child and daughter, Victoria. Now a month later, Reed and Sue's concerns over the after effects of that encounter on Johnny, the Human Torch, and Victoria have grown, as Johnny's ability over the flames around his body have suddenly diminished, giving birth to uncontrollable combustions.

4 DAYS AGO

The darkness of space is cold and withdrawing, emptiness that poured onto the solar systems of Alpha Centaury and Gumbus Nebula like a flood of water seeking escape from a weary dam. And there, in the shadows, IT was present, ITs engines hidden beneath the red and black articulation of ITs vessel sending IT in a straight line towards the ring of planets that circled around their sun, the centre of all gravity. Within IT, mechanical voices whispered to each other in the soulless chamber of alien electronics, pinpointing the distance IT would take for IT to reach the sun. After a moment of silence, IT flew straight at the sun, knowing full well what must be done. Nearing the blazing ball of fire, IT overshadowed the light, causing the total eclipse of fifteen worlds. Steel cold tentacles from within ITs core, which attached onto the star rock surface of the sun. After what seemed to be an hour of silence (save for the sound of what seemed to be crickets), a solar system was destroyed. The explosion was imminent, as flames of death consumed seventeen billion lives which had lived around the sun, half of the worlds asleep. In the ruins of what was once one of the greatest civilizations in the universe, IT floated lifelessly. The lights from within IT glowed, as energy seeped into ITs bowels. Once again, IT ventured on, indifferent to the darkness it laid in waste.

SOMEWHERE NEAR THE MOON, NOW…

"Ya know what'd be really good about now," Ben Grimm uttered, as he in his blue and white spacesuit with a stylized blue four marked on the right of his chest began soaring into the depths of space. In his one hand, he held a bag of glowing green rocks, which he was sent to collect into space. Grabbing hold of the elastic cord attached to his belt, he hung as the shuttle anchored itself onto the enormous satellite. "A big steaming cup o' gravity, that's what!" With his free gloved hand, the Thing reeled himself in, as the hatch of the entrance/exit pit of shuttle opened for his entry. Suddenly, another irradiated rock flew past him. "Reed, buddy, old pal, ya better be watchin' this…or I'm sendin' myself on a three week vacation next time you sign us up for NASA!" Letting go of the cord, he went after the rock, paddling as if he was swimming against the air of cold space. As he grasped for the last rock, he was tugged back, letting loose the others from the bag. The rocks flew into the air like fish escaping from a net, moving far, far away from him. He looked at the sole rock in his hand and at the rocks in the distance, then back again. "Ahh f---Nuts."

"That's good enough, Ben," Reed relayed from the widescreen back at the communications centre in the satellite. "All the researchers and I need is just one sample. We can get those later."

{For the luvva Pete , Reed! Should'a told me that before ya sent me out!} Ben stifled a groan as he was automatically reeled in into the entrance pit. He fanned himself with his hand mockingly. {Gotta get me a drink…'s hot in here…}

"Thank you again, Doctor Richard, for helping us in our research," The man behind Reed said, passing a mug of coffee into the professor's hands. His hair, like Reed's, also had some grey linings over his brunette locks; the black spectacles hung on his nose, and his green eyes were weary and jaded from the nights of unrest studying the rocks. Dr. Ian Merrick leaned onto the console, which overlooked the work of the 47 men and women piloting the communications room, which was one fourth of the whole satellite's crew. "Given your experience with the quasi-unknown, it was obvious that we had to call on you to identify these rocks that have appeared out of nowhere."

"Yes. I know. Rocks that manipulate electrical energy apparently do not grow on trees," Reed noted, as the lights shut down. After a few minutes, it everything was back online, and Merrick sighed. "I feel this had something to do with the gravitational disturbances we've been charting. Since the past two weeks, we've recently discovered several black holes where some sun-level stars where once located. The planets and stars around them have been decimated too, given the fact that an explosion of that magnitude would shatter even a planet the size of Jupiter. This is obviously not a coincidence."

Merrick lifted a map from his pocket and laid it on a table for Reed to see. He dragged his index finger onto a map, from one black mark indicating a black hole appearance to another. "See? The trail is left like a straight line, going through any sun-star in its path." He pulled his finger across the map and stopped onto a spot marking the Earth's position in the galaxy. "There. There's where it's heading."

"I see. Another world-destroying object I suppose," Reed deduced, as he laid the mug as a paperweight for the map. "Nothing that we can't handle since Galactus, Ian. Let's get back to segregating the known and the unknown shall we?"

In the biggest residence quarters reserved for the Fantastic Four, Sue Richards held up her baby Victoria to have her breast-fed. Their roomy chamber was like an apartment really, compared to the other rooms, which were just bunkers and a small shower. Clearly, the Fantastic Four were nothing short of special, though their most member of the family was not a fighter; she was just a baby. Suddenly, the door knob was twisted open, and Johnny rushed in. "Hey, Sue, I-ayiyiyiyiyahh!" Covering his eyes, he took a step back and slipped on the baby bottle. Landing on his back, he groaned as Sue stood up to help him. "Johnny, are you…"

"No! No, I didn't see anything!"

"Oh come on. You're acting like a baby," Sue snapped her free hand, and the Human Torch suddenly flew into the air, and was plopped onto the couch. "Anyway, I'm already done." She cradled Victoria into her arms, and the little child drifted off to sleep. Zipping up her FF suit, she kicked Johnny gently on the knee. "It's okay; I'm decent." Johnny uncovered his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief, relaxing onto the soft leather couch. "You have any more tapioca pudding in the fridge? You know, the one you bought over?"

"Uh, no I-"

"Oh, that's great, you know that? Coz' see, Jennifer from the cafeteria wanted some for the crew's celebration party for Todd and…"

"Brownie points, Johnny?"

A pause.

"Uh…yeah. Sorta. But just this once!" Sue looked at her brother with a glimpse of mild frustration in her eyes, and walked towards him. She placed her hand on his cheek and stroked it gently. "Johnny Storm, ever since mom died, who had to act as the woman of the house?"

"…you?"

"That's right. I had to be mom." She dropped her and escorted Johnny out of the door. "Hey, wha-Sue!" Johnny protested, only to have him pushed out of the apartment by an unseen force, ghostly and invisible. "Words of wisdom, Jonathan Storm: go to that girl and tell her the truth. No more tapioca. No more sulking around. Aren't you even a little concerned about your own welfare, Johnny?"

"My what?"

Sue placed her free hand against her wrist. "Oh come on. Don't tell me you'd forget our wonderful encounter with the Dark Lords. Reed and I are just really worried about your control over your powers fluctuating, which could have been--"

"Okayokayokay, get the message! Tapioca now?"

"No. Mommy knows best."

Closing the door shut in front of her brother, Susan inhaled deeply, and leaned against it. Going into the backroom to place Victoria in her playpen, she contemplated. Sadly, Sue knew that her brother would act like that; more immature than ever. Had that been an after effect too? Or was it just Johnny expressing what he really felt deep down inside? "Did you change too," she asked out loud to Victoria, who held onto her pillow. "Victoria?"

Suddenly, the communication screen on the wall grew white, as Reed's face manifested itself. {Sue, I need your help over at the research bay,} he said cautiously, as he scanned the room. {…are you there?}

"Over here," she replied, coming back into the main room. "Reed, we have to talk about Johnny…"

{I know about your concerns, but let us asses them at a better time, darling. This problem we have now is far more urgent and dangerous than we have ever imagined. Do you know remember how to get to…?}

"Yes. I'm on my way." The screen became blank with nothing as Susan Richards grabbed a coat. Even with the heaters, the cold space air permeated throughout the satellite station. Opening the door, she found Johnny's ear against it. "What are you doing?"

He gave her coy smile. "Tapioca?"

Disappointed, Sue sighed and pointed him into the cafeteria's direction. "Just go."

IT has entered the new air space of this solar system, feeding on the rocks in its path. Whatever energy traces IT had picked up, in the end, it was all pointing to one place; the Earth. This was ITs sole destination, and voices of the machinations inside buzzed with almost eerie excitement that a machine could muster. IT was coming for the Earth, and nothing could stand in its way. IT however picked up a small non-organic vessel directly 500 km aways from ITs coordinates, in the way of the Earth.

No matter.

IT will simply destroy it.

"So…when did they start acting up?" Reed asked, from behind the safe confines of the viewing room. Sue and Ben watched in dead silence, as the scene of carnage that lay before them was unimaginable. All over the experimentation room they had viewed, scientists lay dead on the floor, as insect-like creatures with the shell of rock crawled around, scavenging anything of live meat there was left. Although they couldn't hear the sounds of agony, the Fantastic Four flinched at the sight. Merrick couldn't say a thing. "When did they start acting up," he repeated again, and this time the other scientist's attention turned to his colleague. "What? Oh, I'm sorry…just minutes ago. The rock sample that Benjamin took for us was laid on the table, the next minute the beasts were coming out of it in droves."

"Good thing the other rocks got away, huh," Ben said, shrugging. He then clenched his knuckles. "Ah well, clobbering time. Who wants'ta join me?"

"We'll all go," Reed answered, stretching across the room, grabbing tightly onto the knob of the door that lead into the experimentation room. The insects were already on the windows, clawing their way through it. "Susan, cover me."

Ian stepped back, leaning against the wall at the opposite end, as the three entered the room quickly. The insects, upon the sign of new live meat, turned their attention away from the glass. "My force field should protect you, Reed," Sue chimed, as she flung her two hands at a swarm heading straight towards her. Her force field pummelled against the insects, squashing them onto the wall. She clenched her fists, as the insects were repelled away from her, being hacked into pieces.

Mr. Fantastic bounced across the room, squashing as many insects as he could. Suddenly, the glass broke, giving the small monstrosities another target; Merrick, who was against the wall. Before they could go after him, the leader of the Fantastic Four stretched across the hole, covering it with his body. "Ben! You're not protected," He yelled, as the Orange-skinned Thing began stomping on those on the ground, grabbing the ones which were flying towards him. "Get out of here!" They were overwhelming the Thing, the insects; the hordes all went at him, biting at his skin. Suddenly, he rampaged around, flinging his arms and the insects attached away. "Ain't that good of a meal, huh?" He grunted, squashing some with his palm. "Hey, Stretch! These ain't really insects--! They're machines!"

"Force field…they're eating through it!" Sue's startled voice shook Reed into surprise, as the insects were working their way through the defences. In fear, Reed threw himself at whatever insect in his range, and squashed them in his elastic embrace. Sue was trapped in a corner, struggling to them at bay. "Suzie Q," Ben grumbled, as began flinging the critters aside. He squashed the last of them, "You okay?"

Suddenly, the whole base shook, as something enormous had rammed it. "What now," Reed uttered. Another tremor; it was as if something had attached itself onto the satellite, like tentacles. "Get Johnny," Reed ordered to Ben, who nodded and rushed off. "Sue, can you use your powers to…?"

"I know, I know," she replied and made a part of the wall invisible. Through it, they saw a part of what seemed to be an enormous black and red carrier, with engines emitting energy of some sort. Insects of the same kind that they have faced awhile ago were all over the walls of the satellite, eating their way through the metal, making the sound of a million hungry crickets waiting for dinner. Reed bit his lip tightly. "Hm," he fumbled, a bit taken aback. "Seems to be an alien vessel that runs on energy…I don't know, what do you think?"

"Me," Sue responded, crossing her arms. "You know what I'm thinking, darling."

"Can someone please tell me what is going on?" The two adventurers turned to Merrick, who was holding onto a bar tightly. Suddenly, the whole station began rumble, as Johnny and Ben rushed through the door panting. "All over-huh-all the over the place," Johnny mumbled through deep breathes. "The crew's being torn apart!" Ian stared at Johnny and then back at Reed. He flicked a switch against the wall, and the lights went out, leaving red emergency beacons on to light the way. "I'll launch the emergency systems, but that'll jut slow them down," he explained to the Four. "Time will be running out now…what are we going to do?"

The Fantastic Four turned to Reed, who looked at them calmly.

"What we do best," he replied gravely, as gesturing Sue to the pods. As they entered the pod ship, the clawing sounds from the outer wall grew in noise, louder as if nearby more by the second.

WITHIN IT:

Something was churning in the heart of IT, the Xenoship. In the heart, there was a clear blue cocoon, which beat slowly by the second passing. It was like a baby, with the powers of unlimited destruction. As it was before, now it shall happen again; the rebirth of a God. ITs functions were simple and clear; to feed HIM life, and give HIM life.

Soon, HE shall return.

Soon.

The space pod flew without pulse direction or control, floating like an egg in a pool of water. The Xenoship of the Old Universe had seen this and thus made an attempt to assimilate it into ITs faction. ITs front end opened wide, like a mouth of a living creature, welcoming the nonliving pod into the depths of its bowels. Another small conquest until IT had reached the Earth. The Mothership's probes had assured her of their victory; and if not, then the sentries, the tiny machine drones, would've taken care of any opposition living against ITs whims.

Deep inside in the darkness, the pod churned, as it was tossed around the docking area wherein all things digested where assembled. Finally, it stopped moving, and the hatch unlatched itself, smoke and oxygen bursting out of the pod as the Fantastic Four crawled outwards into the darkness. They wore their insulated space-gear, not the usual ones that astronauts used; harnessing an artificial by-product of the Invisible Woman's mutagenic cells and their trademark unstable molecules, Reed was able to create a standardized breathing field for them, which would be unlocked by clicking the Four symbol latched onto their gloves like cufflinks. The I.U.M suits (Invisible-Unstable Molecule suits), in this case, proved especially useful. "Duck!" Johnny's yell came out of his mouth instantly, and was passed through the communication system in their suits which they all shared; a battalion of the machine drones flew at them, clawing at their invisible suits. Were these normal spacesuits, they would have been punctured, and they couldn't be able to escape, given to the fact that they would be slowed down by the weight and null-gravity in space. However, the suits were almost nigh-invincible, and had adjusted the gravity field around the Four to that on Earth, giving them the ability to slip past their attackers. "You know what they say in barbeques," the Human Torch yelled, as he burst into flames, which had burnt all enemies around him yet not the suit (that which operated on the same basis as his usual one). "Flame on!"

"That's the corniest joke I've ever heard," the Thing groaned, as he leapt into the air with a piece of debris and slammed it onto some of the bugs. He leapt against the wall, and threw at the debris at another batch, in which ripped their mechanical bodies apart. "Yer gettin' worse, matchstick!" Suddenly, a fire bolt was shot across the docking room, and Ben felt an intense pain pouring onto his body, despite the space suits. He checked his back, only to find that the bolt had not marred his suit, but burnt the grainy stone flesh of his body.

[Sub designate: Organic stone structure; living metamorphic Homo sapiens,] the mechanical voices chimed at different pitches, as the walls began to shake. Invisible Woman's force field lifted them into the air, as alien fire flowed from the cracks of the docking bay floor and walls, and rushed upwards, seemingly targeting the Four. Bursting through the ceiling of the organic room and into another, a last fire bolt shattered the force field, its pain suffered by Sue as she drifted into unconsciousness. Mr. Fantastic, in instinct, stretched his hand to reach an edge, with his other one clasping both the Thing and the Human Torch. Pulling themselves up, they quickly avoided the eruption, which was not unlike a volcano, and leaned against the wall. "What in flippin' Aunt Petunia's wig's going on?!" The Thing exclaimed it out loud, as the fires died down. "Apparently, the ship's defence mechanism," Reed replied in steadied breathes. Johnny suddenly yelled out loud, grabbing the others' attention "…oh my God! Sue!" He instantly took a look over the edge, only to find nothing but darkness below, like a bottomless pit. "Sue!"

"She was unconscious…oh dear god," Reed said, as he took a look as well. All three of them stared down into the nothingness, when suddenly they heard an echo; a weak moan that seemed to have gone forever. Mr. Fantastic blinked for a moment, and pulled back. Suddenly, Johnny blew up, as he flew downwards swiftly. "Johnny--!" Reed's hand was outstretched, only to grasp whatever residue came from the trail of ash left behind the flames of the Human Torch. "…it could be a trap."

"Yo, Stretch, do we go after him?" The Thing asked, as he placed his hand on Mr. Fantastic's shoulder. Reed stroked his chin, contemplating quietly.

The Human Torch flew downwards at the speed of a bullet, the air around his suit bursting into flames, like him from within. If it was his sister, then heaven help those wounded her. Attack one of the FF, attack us all. Johnny's eyes flickered in the flame of his mixed emotions. He was enraged and confused; where was the docking area? It seemed that the pit was going on forever…no matter. Just step on it, Johnny! He exploded, moving like a comet towards the end, when he saw the light at the bottom. He struggled to slow down, but it was too late; mechanical tentacles were shooting up from the bottom, tangling him and breaking his fall. The flames suddenly spouted steam, and stopped altogether; Johnny lost the ability to fly and fell straight down. His right wrist and ankle was broken, smashed against the strong metal upon impact. Crashing onto the ground, he crawled to his feet, only to find a giant chamber filled with water in front of him. Within the chamber was a being of light, surrounded by brightness that blinded even him. On the steps before it lay the Invisible Woman, who lay unconscious. "S-sue," Johnny muttered, before dropping onto the floor unconscious. The tentacles grabbed both of them, lifting them up and suspending them in the air like puppet dolls. From the shadows, two fiery eyes looked up at them. He stepped out of the shadows, brandishing the staff in which he emitted the inferno of ten suns. The tentacles were aware of his presence, but did not move to attack him. The voice of the Mothership spoke to him;

[Former herald of Great Devourer, will you join the cause of one of your own?]

Firelord stared quietly, at the entangled bodies of Johnny Storm and Sue Richards. Gripping the firestaff in his hands, he aimed it at the two and opened fire. As the smell of char filled the air, Firelord drew his staff back.

[I will take that as a yes.]

NEXT ISSUE: As the satellite station, the Earth, the entire Solar System in under attacked by the enigmatic sentient Xenoship, the FF makes a stand against an old friend, or an ancient foe.

Hey guys,

Hope you're enjoying the "new" adventures of the FF; new meaning that it hasn't been done before, but well…they're just new. Heh. Oh well. I'm just here to tell you that my run will be an enjoyable ride like all the rest before, as the FF's track record goes to show, that nothing usual is safe! Expect the unusual! Sure, there'll be old villains and allies popping here and there…but my road map for the FF is going to go into different places, maybe some territory that we haven't seen before, hopefully. Anyway, what can I say? Of course, you'll be expecting the appearance of Doctor Doom, that's a fact; but let me tell you this; you won't be seeing him too much. As much as love him (he's my favourite villain), it's too tedious to keep using the character in an opening arc all the time; it lessens the impact of the villain, who should be given a much more menacing pose, in my opinion. Sure you'll be seeing him sometime late #30s, a one-shot; but I won't be dragging him into the 6-part arc story anytime soon…maybe late 40s up to Issue 50, but not now. At this point, I'm going to take my time to explore other things; adventure, science fiction, and action all propped into one. So many characters to play with, it all seems too, well…fantastic. So, I'll be seeing you guys soon, hopefully on this book. See ya!

Mo_o