Mary slept soundly, snoring slightly. Mary slept, and she dreamed . . . PULPING HOT STORY "Jumping Jupiter!" yelled out Reed, as he stared at the huge sphere that loomed in front of their Pogo-Rocket. "Gracious me," Sue said, holding a hand to her mouth. "It just appeared out of nowhere." Her baby brother, Johnny, fussed slightly in her arms. She made cooing noises to calm him. "Obviously an advanced teleportation technique of some sort," Reed said. He ran a hand through mousey-brown hair and sighed slightly. Having to deal with alien spheres of unknown power was all in a day's work for Reed Richards, the smartest Twelve-year old on Earth, but it was still trying. He wanted a cookie. "Or perhaps it simply traveled so quickly that to our eyes it appeared as if by magic." "Ah, dat's sometin' ta worry 'bout later, Big-Brain," said Benjy, the colorfully crass kid from Yancy Street. "Let's do wat we always does, get in dere and kick heads!" Suddenly, the Pogo-Rocket started shaking violently. Johnny cried out, as did they all. "It appears," struggled out Reed as he steadied himself by a console and interpreted the data from it, "that we are caught in some sort of tractor beam!" "Good!" Benjy declared. "Dat means dat we get to sees the high-muckity muck sooner rather later. I remembers how dis works." "Oh my," Sue said. "Where's dat ray cannon?" Benjy asked, as he went to the mess that was known as the cargo room. "You remembers, the one dat we used 'gainst dem lava-robo-lizard men from Pluto Ten." "Sorry, Benjy," Reed said, as he prepared himself for what awaited, namely getting into his force-field space-suit as well as helping Sue and Johnny into theirs. "The Deviated September Amazons borrowed it for their war against the Super-Dimensional Monkeys." "Ah dos Amazons sure were sump'tin," sighed Benjy in nostalgia. "Ah, as my sweet aunt Petula-Belle says, make do wit what youse got." He hefted out an impressive looking tube-like contraption. "I guess dis Black Hole Rifle ding-gus will have ta do." "Are you ready, Susan?" Reed asked Sue, as he finished getting her into her suit. "Quite, Reed," Sue answered sweetly. "Good. Then let us meet and greet these alien beings and see if they wish us harm," Reed said. He walked over to the hatch and opened it, air hissing from the vacuum seals. What they saw when they fully opened the door was a sight they were quite used to: many, many alien-yet-familiar looking weapons pointed in their direction by alien-yet-familiar looking beings. This time the aliens were green humanoids with many clefts in their chins, no hair, and long ears. However there was a shock waiting for them, for in front of these aliens were two humans, one a boy slightly older than Reed in a green shirt, black pants and a metallic visor, along with a cute blonde girl next to him. "Viccy Von Doom!" yelled the three companions in unison. "That's VICTOR!" yelled Viccy, but he quickly regained his composure. "Well, Richards, it appears that I have the upper-hand." "What are you doing here, Viccy?" Reed said, knowing that the nick-name angered Doom to distraction. "And who are these aliens that you've allied yourself with?" "Yeah, but more 'portantly, who's the chickadee?" Benjy asked, mindful of priorities. "Quiet, simian," Doom said to Benjy with a sneer. "As for your questions, Richards, these fine beings are Skrulls, a shape-shifting race from another galaxy. They rescued me from your blasted deep space Prison Plane. In return for my scientific genius and the location of Earth, they've given me vast resources as well as a very high rank." "You fiend!" Reed yelled. "You would betray the Earth for mere material gain?" " 'Mere'? There's nothing 'mere' about the resources I now have at my dispos-ACK!" A huge explosion in the largest cluster of Skrull soldiers sent most of the Skrulls flying, causing a wall of Skrulls to land on Viccy's back. "Get off me, you morons!" "Geeze, Viccy sure does like da sound of his own voice," Benjy said, as he readied yet another volley from the Black Hole Rifle. "Good job, Benjy!" Reed yelled out. "Now we can't let this sphere reach Earth. We must get to the power source and cause it to explode." "Great!" Benjy said, relishing the thought of the coming mayhem. "Oh dear," Sue said, "why can't we seem to end these adventures without some sort of huge explosion? It's just so . . . violent." [LATER] "I'll get you for this, Richards!!" vowed Doom as he stared at his exploding sphere from his escape pod. "This I swear!" "Viccy," came the voice of his lovely assistant from the darkened corner of the escape pod in a crooning tone, "it looks like it's just the two of us." "YOU SHALL PAY FOR THIS, RICHARDS!!!" Doom yelled, even as soft hands dragged him to the darkened corner. "WOO HOO!" yelled Benjy as he piloted the Pogo-Rocket just ahead of the explosion. "Dat dere wuz a first-rate 'splosion!" "Mm, yes," Reed as as he stared pensively at the waves of escape pods. "But I believe that we have made a great enemy this day." "Cookie?" Sue said, as she offered a plate of freshly baked cookies at Reed and a glass of cool milk. "Oh yes. Just what I've been wanting all day." {*} Just a little spamfic, trying to exercise my writing muscles, however this could be considered "in continuity" . . . -Murmur the Fallen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SIGN UP NOW FOR FREE HOME IMPROVEMENT HOW-TO'S Receive seasonal how-to's and climate-specific advice via e-mail. http://clickhere.egroups.com/click/131 eGroups.com home: http://www.egroups.com/group/xxy http://www.egroups.com - Simplifying group communications