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Chapter 120: Hubris I
🕑 Added 2025-09-20 18:03:52 +0000 UTC"Today is not my day, is it?" Johnny muttered, his body streaking fire through the gray sky as he twisted around another pressurized jet of water. "How in the hell did it transition from me getting a hot chick's phone number to… this?!"
The blast passed so close it singed his ear, and Johnny grimaced. Below him, the street was chaos as there were dozens of writhing, grotesque creatures tearing into the pavement and vehicles. They looked like something out of a nightmare: scaled like salamanders, heads sprouting like hydras, each maw capable of spitting torrents of water that smashed through concrete and glass.
Johnny countered the next jet with a wall of fire, vapor exploding into a cloud of steam that choked the block. Civilians screamed, stumbling through the haze. "Fifteen minutes of this crap and still no backup?!" he growled, diving low. His flames surged outward in a wide wave, catching a cluster of creatures that had boxed in a family. They shrieked as fire licked across their hides, staggering back into the street.
"Run!" Johnny yelled at the civilians, then smirked at the monsters. "Yeah, you don't like the heat, huh? Well guess what, boys kitchen's open."
He didn't get to bask in the moment. A guttural roar shook the ground as one of the hydras slithered around the corner, a geyser forming in its throat. Johnny grimaced, bracing for another impact.
Then came the familiar thunderous call:
"It's clobberin' time!"
A Fantasti-car streaked overhead. The hatch blew open midair, and out plummeted Ben Grimm, his rocky fists already cocked back. He hit the hydra with a crunch that split the street. Johnny grinned. "About damn time!"
From the other side of the chaos, Reed's arms whipped outward, lashing at creatures while Sue projected a shimmering dome to shield fleeing civilians. Sue's voice cut through the comms, tight and urgent. "Where did these things come from?"
Johnny torched another creature circling behind her. "I don't know!" he shouted over comms. "They just appeared outta nowhere a while ago!"
After a while they Fantastic Four were spread thin. Sue strained to block collapsing debris with her shields, Reed's elongated body snapped and grappled like elastic whips, and Ben was tossing monsters aside by their tails, flattening parked cars in the process. But somehow the chaos only escalated.
A hydra slithered silently behind Sue, it's throat bulging with pressure. Reed noticed too late.
But just as it was about to fire a jet of water a sharp blast tore through its skull. The beast crumpled smoking at Sue's feet.
They all looked up and saw Iron Man hovered above the street, with his repulsors glowing and his armor gleaming against the steam and fire. "Looks like I crashed a party," he quipped.
Johnny, panting, smirked. "Well, well, well if it isn't the tin man himself. Took you long enough. I was about two seconds away from charging admission."
Tony dove, blasting apart two hydras that had Johnny cornered against a collapsing fire escape. "You're welcome," he called, circling back overhead. Johnny muttered, "Showoff," though relief flashed across his face.
The Property damage mounted as a gas station erupted when a hydra's water jet ruptured the pumps, forcing Sue to bubble civilians away while Reed sealed the flames with his stretched body like a lid. Meanwhile, Tony fired a salvo of micro-missiles into a cluster, vaporizing them into sludge.
"Fascinating," Reed muttered even as he fought. His elongated hand coiled around a creature's neck, pulling it close so he could study its scales, its gills. "Their structure looks completely alien. Adaptive hydrophilic membranes, amphibious physiology… astonishing."
"Less astonishment, more smashing, Stretch!" Ben barked, swatting two together like ragdolls.
Jarvis' calm voice chimed in everyone's comms. "Preliminary scan complete. The biology of these entities does not match any known terrestrial life form. Energy signatures suggest an anomalous origin."
Tony strafed the block, firing down another. "I already deduced that Jarvis, they're not from around here."
"Aliens?" Ben muttered, throwing one into a bus.Reed's eyes lit up, even as his body flexed to restrain three hydras at once. "No, not exactly if their cellular density resonates with this kind of flux… they may have come from a rift."
For another hour, the heroes pushed the beasts back. The last cluster hissed and retreated into the Hudson, disappearing beneath churning water as though pulled by an unseen current.
The silence after the chaos was deafening.
Iron Man landed beside the Fantastic Four, helmet retracting. His expression was sharp. "Jarvis?"
"Sir," the AI replied evenly, "I've isolated the anomaly. A flux of exotic energy was released not far from this region. Readings suggest a localized dimensional breach. The aperture appears to have been aquatic in origin."
Reed's brow furrowed. "Underwater…"
Tony nodded grimly. "Whatever it was, it's gone now. No residual energy readings. But it wasn't natural. Something opened the door."
Later – Baxter Building
Reed leaned over a console, still in his uniform. "Still here?" he asked without looking up. Tony lounged in a chair nearby, helmet resting on his knee. "You think I'd miss a chance to play with your toys? Please. This is better than cable."
Reed finally glanced up, arching a brow. "You're still bitter about not winning the symposium last month."
Tony smirked. "Nah. I lost on purpose and besides I'm just shocked you didn't show up to it. I mean, what was it—'The Future of Applied Tech and Energy'? You're Mr. Future. Instead, I got stuck listening to Justin Hammer parade his latest tin can."
Reed scoffed. "Hammer's work is an uninspired amalgamation of existing designs. Hardly worth the time."
"Exactly!" Tony snapped his fingers. "Guy's the Great Value brand of me. No originality, no flair. And you missed it, comedy gold."
Reed returned to his instruments. "I've been working on more important matters."
"Oh, right," Tony mocked, spreading his arms. "Humanity's lucky savior. Always improving us mortals. Reed Richards, Messiah of Science." Sue's voice cut in before Reed could respond. She appeared in the doorway, arms folded. "Reed. We need to talk. Now."
Reed sighed heavily. Tony chuckled. "Trouble in paradise. Well, I'll just—" Sue pointed at him. "Uh-uh. You're not going anywhere. You're coming too." Tony blinked. "What, me? Oh this I gotta see."
