Back to GatefoldIssue #4 by Tobias Christopher
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Whoopseedoodle! Hey, kids, it's your old pal, Shaky the Epilectic Clown! I know ever since we met on the Planet of the Clowns you couldn't get enough of my wacky hijinks, so now I'm back!
Now it looks like our other little friends from Earth are in a major jam; whoopseedoodle! Those bad world destroying meanies tossed Andy into space, destroyed the robotic H.E.R.B.I.E. and now it looks like they're lobotomizing little Franklin! I hope the rest of the team can pull it together and save their planet! If not, you can always come live on my world! We'll be the best of friends, forever and ever and ever!
Now it looks like our other little friends from Earth are in a major jam; whoopseedoodle! Those bad world destroying meanies tossed Andy into space, destroyed the robotic H.E.R.B.I.E. and now it looks like they're lobotomizing little Franklin! I hope the rest of the team can pull it together and save their planet! If not, you can always come live on my world! We'll be the best of friends, forever and ever and ever!
"Welcome to the Twilight Zone"
Andy Maguire was floating through the vast space of... space, having been launched into orbit by the trio of powerful world destroying entities. As the young man floated aimlessly, running out of air quickly, his final thoughts ran through his mind, which for some reason sounded like Patrick Stewart.
"What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer. Did I remember to set my DVR for the Walking Dead tonight?"
As he floated through space, his eyes came upon a large purple cloud that was getting closer. "Well, at least dying in a purple storm cloud will be quick and merciful."
The storm cloud engulfed him as flashes of lightning and thunder were seen from the outside.
"I was wrong!" Andy thought in his Patrick Stewart voiced filled head. "Ow, ow, OW!"
# # # # #
"Okay, this is bad," Adam said as he saw A phasing his hand into Franklin's skull. "He's killing him! Juston, tell me you have a plan."
"I had a plan two minutes ago, now I'm in the construction phase," Juston said as he was taking apart H.E.R.B.I.E.'s robotic body. "Take off your shirt, I need access to your power core."
"You could at least buy me a drink first," Adam said as Juston looked at him. Adam sighed as he started pulling off the top half of his costume. "What's the plan?"
"We blow these bastards back to Hell," Juston smirked. "Then we get our friends and go get ice cream."
B grabbed A's arm. "Come, brother, it is time to go!"
"Not without our long lost brother," A said as Franklin continued screaming. "I've almost removed the cause of his problem."
"Hey, ass-butt!" Adam shouted as a wire was hooked from an open plate in his chest to a shoulder mounted cannon made from parts of H.E.R.B.I.E.'s deactivated body.
"Ass-butt?" Juston said, shaking his head as he fired the cannon with a powerful blast that hit A, knocking him back and forcing him to drop Franklin.
"Destroy them!" B said as he looked at C. Another blast from the cannon came,, but B deflected it with his staff.
"I only have enough power for three blasts," Adam told Juston. "After that, I'm out of juice and you're on your own."
"Then let's make this last shot count," Juston said as he got ready to fire again. B and C started floating toward him as fired the next blast from the cannon. B was about to deflect it, but the cannon blast hit it, destroying the staff and causing its energy to shoot upward, hitting Andy, who was falling back into orbit.
"Okay, that's it, you're on yourrrr," Adam said as his voice started slowing down. He leaned against the wall, out of power as Juston tossed the cannon away.
"Well, at least we went down fighting," Juston said as he sat down next to Adam. "It was nice knowing you, buddy."
"Now you die!" C said as Andy's screaming got louder as he fell from the sky. He landed right on top of B and C, pinning them to the ground.
"Andy, you're alive!" Juston shouted as he rushed over to him. "Andy, are you okay? Are you okay, Andy?"
"I feel like I was hit by- I feel like I was struck by... a smooth criminal," Andy said in a dazed voice as he looked down at B and C. "Are they dead?"
"No, just phased, but Franklin, Adam, and H.E.R.B.I.E. might be," Juston told him. "And now we're stuck here with-"
A portal suddenly opened in front of them as H.E.R.B.I.E. shouted at them.
"Get your butts in here, NOW!"
"I'll get Adam, you get Franklin," Juston told him as he put an arm around Adam's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Adam, we're saved."
Andy found Franklin laying on the ground, huddled in a fetal position. "What did they do to you?" Andy asked as he picked the boy up and quickly ran for the portal. It closed behind them as the trio started recovering.
"What happened?" B asked as he stood up.
"This insult will not go unpunished," A said angrily. "I know where we're going next."
# # # # #
Juston carried Adam back into the Baxter Building's lab, where H.E.R.B.I.E. was waiting. Andy came back through seconds later with Franklin in his arms.
"You're alive!" Andy shouted as he dropped Franklin and hugged the robot.
"Of course I'm alive, you dimwit!" H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "My consciousness isn't tied to my body, it's tied to the Baxter Building. When that body got struck down, I just downloaded into a new body back here. And what in the world happened to Franklin!?"
"Oh, one of those magic dudes put his hand into Franklin's head and I guess jacked up his brain," Andy said as Juston put Franklin onto a table next to Adam.
"Adam's power core is drained," Juston said to himself as he checked Franklin's pulse to make sure he was still alive. "I can recharge him, but it'll take some-"
"Ah- Ah- ACHOO!" Andy said as he sneezed, slamming his hand down onto Adam's chest. A surge of power flew out of his hand and into Adam's body, instantly recharging his power core. "I think I'm coming down with something I got from that space cloud."
Adam bolted up and gasped. "Where am I? What happened?"
"He's a robot?" Andy asked, then just shrugged it off. "Cool."
"Where's my shirt?" Adam asked as he looked around.
Juston quickly ran a scanner over Adam. "I don't believe this. His power core is completely recharged. Beyond recharged, he's got enough power in him to last for years."
"Uh, you're welcome," Andy said to Adam as he nudged him.
# # # # #
Having gotten dressed in their street clothes, Juston was using a scanner to test Andy's energy levels. The second he got it close to Andy's body, it started sparking and exploded. Juston dropped the scanner as Andy just smiled innocently.
"Your power levels are off the charts," Juston said. "Whatever happened to you while you were in space... it's like you're supercharged."
"Like a battery?" Andy asked.
"More than that," Juston told him. "We'll have to run a lot of tests, and I'll need Reed Richards or someone to confirm it, but I think you might be our ticket to beating these guys."
# # # # #
H.E.R.B.I.E. and Adam were watching over Franklin, whose vital signs were weak.
"Whatever that monster did to Franklin, it nearly killed him," H.E.R.BI.E. said. "His brain was this close to being completely fried. The neural inhibitor his father put into his head to block his powers? It's toast."
"Neural inhibitor?" Adam asked. "What exactly was it... inhibiting?"
"Ever see that Twilight Zone episode about the kid who could send people into the corn field with a thought?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"Yeah," Adam replied. "So?"
"Without that inhibitor, Franklin could make that kid his bitch in a heartbeat," H.E.R.B.I.E. said. "His parents are going to have a cow when they come home and find a vegetable in place of their son. I was supposed to be his protector."
"He's not a little kid, he knew what he was getting into," Adam said. "You can't protect him forever. He knew the risks and took them like a hero would. You did the best you could."
"Thanks, Dr. Phil," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated away. "Hopefully if Franklin wakes up, he'll be able to control his powers. I don't want to think about what he can do if he gets scared or upset."
"I think there's a bigger problem," Adam said. "Those... things that we ran into. They looked pretty pissed when we were leaving. What if they come here? No one knows about those guys but us."
"You said you were able to knock them off balance with an energy blast," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "If they can be knocked down, they can be hurt. And if they can be hurt..."
"They can be stopped," Adam finished. "We need something powerful enough to do the job."
"And I think we have that weapon right here," Juston said as he had an arm around Andy's shoulder as they walked into the room. "Wait until you see what we have to show you."
# # # # #
"Alright, Andy," Juston said as the directed Andy's attention toward several cinder blocks that were lined up in a target range. Andy grinned as he pointed his finger at each one, firing off plasma blasts powerful enough to turn the blocks into dust within seconds of being hit.
"Holy crap," Adam said. "Is that all he can do?"
"No, he can lift up to two hundred tons, and check this out," Juston said as he pushed Andy over the railing. Adam just gasped as Andy popped his head back up.
"What the hell, dude?" Andy asked as he floated in mid-air.
"He can fly, has super strength and he's all but indestructible," Juston told them. "He's like, I don't a know, a super man or something."
"Better not call him that, I think someone's got the copyright to it," Adam said.
"How about Alpha?" Juston suggested. "His powers are off the charts, like one of those Alpha class mutants."
"Alpha, huh?" Andy asked as he landed back next to them. "I like that."
"You know, I hate to interrupt this little meeting of the minds," H.E.R.B.I.E. said. "But I'd like to remind everyone that there are three super powerful beings coming to destroy our planet, and my charge is now a 120 lb paperweight!"
"First things first, we'll deal with the big threat," Juston said. "If we can intercept them before they get to Earth, we might have a shot. We'll hit them with everything we've got, and then some."
"Everything?" Alpha asked.
"Everything," Juston said again. "We have an hour to prepare for war, gentlemen. Let's get moving."
Downstairs, Franklin was laying in his bed with monitors attached to his chest and head. As he lay there, his fingers started slightly twitching...
# # # # #
Juston was busy getting weapons ready as H.E.R.B.I.E. was assisting him.
"Still having trouble contacting the Fantastic Four?" Juston asked as he adjusted a laser rifle.
"Apparently it's twister season in that dimension," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "Falling houses are interfering with the reception."
Adam walked into the room, wearing an all black body suit with a red jacket, red fingerless gloves, belt, and boots.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Juston asked.
"My new costume, I figured if I'm going into battle, I'm going to wear something original instead of Johnny Storm's old costume," Adam told him. "And Adam's my civilian name. My code name is Machine Teen."
"Make way for Alpha!" Andy shouted as he flew into the room wearing a teal and black costume. He landed by his friends and smiled. "We are so going to kick some ass in these costumes!"
"Where did you get those costumes?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"We made them with those unstable molecule things," Andy told him. "There was just a huge box of them lying around. You'd better hurry up and make yourself a costume, Juston. And you'll need a codename."
"I don't do code names, and I'm not wearing a costume," Juston said as he finished the adjustments on the gun. "If you guys are done screwing around, we've got a world to save."
"What about Franklin? Are we just going to leave him here?" Adam asked.
"We have no choice," Juston sighed as he strapped the laser gun to his back. "H.E.R.B.I.E. will keep an eye on him until we get back. If we get back."
"Are you kidding? This team will kick some serious ass!" Andy shouted.
"Team? We're not a team," Juston said. "We're just three kids going up against impossible odds to save the world. If this turns out going our way, I doubt we're going to go on any more adventures together."
Juston walked away as Andy looked at Adam. "So, what do you think about the name New Young Titan Warriors League of Avenging Justice?"
# # # # #
H.E.R.B.I.E. floated outside, where Juston was staring down into the street. It was nighttime out, so the lights of the city were staring back up at him.
"You okay, kid?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked. "You don't seem to be excited about marching toward your death like the others are."
"You know what happened to me before they came to get me for this insane adventure?" Juston asked. "Two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my dad. You see, my brother's been sick for a long time and... he finally passed. I've spent the last two weeks telling myself it's just a dream, that he's going to be alright. Me and my old man couldn't even say two words to each other when I went home to bury my baby brother. I left again after the funeral without even saying goodbye."
"I'm sorry," the robot told him as Juston continued to stare down into the street.
"I wasn't even there for him when he needed me, I was too busy focusing on my own problems. Maybe if I'd stayed at home instead of running away... maybe I could have built something to help him, or found a way to fly him to a doctor that could help," Juston said, his voice shaking. "My brother's dead because I wasn't there."
"There was nothing you could do, I'm sure," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "Sometimes bad stuff just happens, and you have to deal with it. Maybe you ended up in New York for a reason."
"What, like making sure those two idiots in there don't get themselves killed?" Juston asked as he realized what he'd just said. "I have to make sure those two idiots in there don't get themselves killed."
"That's the spirit," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him as he floated away. "Now, go get ready to get yourself and those two idiots killed."
# # # # #
"Alright, we pissed these guys off enough to want to make a beeline straight to Earth," Juston said to the others as he pointed toward a holographic map of the multiverse. "But I think they don't have a direct portal here, otherwise they'd have shown up already. So mapping out their trajectory, I think we can cut them off on this little planet right here."
"So what, we blast them with everything we got, then what?" Adam asked. "What if what we have isn't strong enough?"
"It'll have to be," Juston told him. "In the meantime, H.E.R.B.I.E. will be here, trying to get any hero on the phone who'll be able to help if they do end up showing up on Earth. Any questions?"
Andy raised his hand. "Will there be any bathroom breaks during the fight?"
"Go before we leave," Juston replied. "Between Andy's powers, Adam's strength, and the weapons I'm toting, we have enough firepower between the three of us to hurt these guys, or at the very least weaken them enough to where they know not to screw with Earth. Any other questions?"
"Just one," a voice said as the trio turned their heads to the doorway, where Franklin was standing there in his Fantastic 4 t-shirt and boxers, looking pale and leaning against the door. "Where the hell are my pants?"
TO BE CONTINUED
"What to do if you find yourself stuck with no hope of rescue: Consider yourself lucky that life has been good to you so far. Alternatively, if life hasn't been good to you so far, which given your present circumstances seems more likely, consider yourself lucky that it won't be troubling you much longer. Did I remember to set my DVR for the Walking Dead tonight?"
As he floated through space, his eyes came upon a large purple cloud that was getting closer. "Well, at least dying in a purple storm cloud will be quick and merciful."
The storm cloud engulfed him as flashes of lightning and thunder were seen from the outside.
"I was wrong!" Andy thought in his Patrick Stewart voiced filled head. "Ow, ow, OW!"
# # # # #
"Okay, this is bad," Adam said as he saw A phasing his hand into Franklin's skull. "He's killing him! Juston, tell me you have a plan."
"I had a plan two minutes ago, now I'm in the construction phase," Juston said as he was taking apart H.E.R.B.I.E.'s robotic body. "Take off your shirt, I need access to your power core."
"You could at least buy me a drink first," Adam said as Juston looked at him. Adam sighed as he started pulling off the top half of his costume. "What's the plan?"
"We blow these bastards back to Hell," Juston smirked. "Then we get our friends and go get ice cream."
B grabbed A's arm. "Come, brother, it is time to go!"
"Not without our long lost brother," A said as Franklin continued screaming. "I've almost removed the cause of his problem."
"Hey, ass-butt!" Adam shouted as a wire was hooked from an open plate in his chest to a shoulder mounted cannon made from parts of H.E.R.B.I.E.'s deactivated body.
"Ass-butt?" Juston said, shaking his head as he fired the cannon with a powerful blast that hit A, knocking him back and forcing him to drop Franklin.
"Destroy them!" B said as he looked at C. Another blast from the cannon came,, but B deflected it with his staff.
"I only have enough power for three blasts," Adam told Juston. "After that, I'm out of juice and you're on your own."
"Then let's make this last shot count," Juston said as he got ready to fire again. B and C started floating toward him as fired the next blast from the cannon. B was about to deflect it, but the cannon blast hit it, destroying the staff and causing its energy to shoot upward, hitting Andy, who was falling back into orbit.
"Okay, that's it, you're on yourrrr," Adam said as his voice started slowing down. He leaned against the wall, out of power as Juston tossed the cannon away.
"Well, at least we went down fighting," Juston said as he sat down next to Adam. "It was nice knowing you, buddy."
"Now you die!" C said as Andy's screaming got louder as he fell from the sky. He landed right on top of B and C, pinning them to the ground.
"Andy, you're alive!" Juston shouted as he rushed over to him. "Andy, are you okay? Are you okay, Andy?"
"I feel like I was hit by- I feel like I was struck by... a smooth criminal," Andy said in a dazed voice as he looked down at B and C. "Are they dead?"
"No, just phased, but Franklin, Adam, and H.E.R.B.I.E. might be," Juston told him. "And now we're stuck here with-"
A portal suddenly opened in front of them as H.E.R.B.I.E. shouted at them.
"Get your butts in here, NOW!"
"I'll get Adam, you get Franklin," Juston told him as he put an arm around Adam's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Adam, we're saved."
Andy found Franklin laying on the ground, huddled in a fetal position. "What did they do to you?" Andy asked as he picked the boy up and quickly ran for the portal. It closed behind them as the trio started recovering.
"What happened?" B asked as he stood up.
"This insult will not go unpunished," A said angrily. "I know where we're going next."
# # # # #
Juston carried Adam back into the Baxter Building's lab, where H.E.R.B.I.E. was waiting. Andy came back through seconds later with Franklin in his arms.
"You're alive!" Andy shouted as he dropped Franklin and hugged the robot.
"Of course I'm alive, you dimwit!" H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "My consciousness isn't tied to my body, it's tied to the Baxter Building. When that body got struck down, I just downloaded into a new body back here. And what in the world happened to Franklin!?"
"Oh, one of those magic dudes put his hand into Franklin's head and I guess jacked up his brain," Andy said as Juston put Franklin onto a table next to Adam.
"Adam's power core is drained," Juston said to himself as he checked Franklin's pulse to make sure he was still alive. "I can recharge him, but it'll take some-"
"Ah- Ah- ACHOO!" Andy said as he sneezed, slamming his hand down onto Adam's chest. A surge of power flew out of his hand and into Adam's body, instantly recharging his power core. "I think I'm coming down with something I got from that space cloud."
Adam bolted up and gasped. "Where am I? What happened?"
"He's a robot?" Andy asked, then just shrugged it off. "Cool."
"Where's my shirt?" Adam asked as he looked around.
Juston quickly ran a scanner over Adam. "I don't believe this. His power core is completely recharged. Beyond recharged, he's got enough power in him to last for years."
"Uh, you're welcome," Andy said to Adam as he nudged him.
# # # # #
Having gotten dressed in their street clothes, Juston was using a scanner to test Andy's energy levels. The second he got it close to Andy's body, it started sparking and exploded. Juston dropped the scanner as Andy just smiled innocently.
"Your power levels are off the charts," Juston said. "Whatever happened to you while you were in space... it's like you're supercharged."
"Like a battery?" Andy asked.
"More than that," Juston told him. "We'll have to run a lot of tests, and I'll need Reed Richards or someone to confirm it, but I think you might be our ticket to beating these guys."
# # # # #
H.E.R.B.I.E. and Adam were watching over Franklin, whose vital signs were weak.
"Whatever that monster did to Franklin, it nearly killed him," H.E.R.BI.E. said. "His brain was this close to being completely fried. The neural inhibitor his father put into his head to block his powers? It's toast."
"Neural inhibitor?" Adam asked. "What exactly was it... inhibiting?"
"Ever see that Twilight Zone episode about the kid who could send people into the corn field with a thought?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"Yeah," Adam replied. "So?"
"Without that inhibitor, Franklin could make that kid his bitch in a heartbeat," H.E.R.B.I.E. said. "His parents are going to have a cow when they come home and find a vegetable in place of their son. I was supposed to be his protector."
"He's not a little kid, he knew what he was getting into," Adam said. "You can't protect him forever. He knew the risks and took them like a hero would. You did the best you could."
"Thanks, Dr. Phil," H.E.R.B.I.E. said as he floated away. "Hopefully if Franklin wakes up, he'll be able to control his powers. I don't want to think about what he can do if he gets scared or upset."
"I think there's a bigger problem," Adam said. "Those... things that we ran into. They looked pretty pissed when we were leaving. What if they come here? No one knows about those guys but us."
"You said you were able to knock them off balance with an energy blast," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "If they can be knocked down, they can be hurt. And if they can be hurt..."
"They can be stopped," Adam finished. "We need something powerful enough to do the job."
"And I think we have that weapon right here," Juston said as he had an arm around Andy's shoulder as they walked into the room. "Wait until you see what we have to show you."
# # # # #
"Alright, Andy," Juston said as the directed Andy's attention toward several cinder blocks that were lined up in a target range. Andy grinned as he pointed his finger at each one, firing off plasma blasts powerful enough to turn the blocks into dust within seconds of being hit.
"Holy crap," Adam said. "Is that all he can do?"
"No, he can lift up to two hundred tons, and check this out," Juston said as he pushed Andy over the railing. Adam just gasped as Andy popped his head back up.
"What the hell, dude?" Andy asked as he floated in mid-air.
"He can fly, has super strength and he's all but indestructible," Juston told them. "He's like, I don't a know, a super man or something."
"Better not call him that, I think someone's got the copyright to it," Adam said.
"How about Alpha?" Juston suggested. "His powers are off the charts, like one of those Alpha class mutants."
"Alpha, huh?" Andy asked as he landed back next to them. "I like that."
"You know, I hate to interrupt this little meeting of the minds," H.E.R.B.I.E. said. "But I'd like to remind everyone that there are three super powerful beings coming to destroy our planet, and my charge is now a 120 lb paperweight!"
"First things first, we'll deal with the big threat," Juston said. "If we can intercept them before they get to Earth, we might have a shot. We'll hit them with everything we've got, and then some."
"Everything?" Alpha asked.
"Everything," Juston said again. "We have an hour to prepare for war, gentlemen. Let's get moving."
Downstairs, Franklin was laying in his bed with monitors attached to his chest and head. As he lay there, his fingers started slightly twitching...
# # # # #
Juston was busy getting weapons ready as H.E.R.B.I.E. was assisting him.
"Still having trouble contacting the Fantastic Four?" Juston asked as he adjusted a laser rifle.
"Apparently it's twister season in that dimension," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "Falling houses are interfering with the reception."
Adam walked into the room, wearing an all black body suit with a red jacket, red fingerless gloves, belt, and boots.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Juston asked.
"My new costume, I figured if I'm going into battle, I'm going to wear something original instead of Johnny Storm's old costume," Adam told him. "And Adam's my civilian name. My code name is Machine Teen."
"Make way for Alpha!" Andy shouted as he flew into the room wearing a teal and black costume. He landed by his friends and smiled. "We are so going to kick some ass in these costumes!"
"Where did you get those costumes?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked.
"We made them with those unstable molecule things," Andy told him. "There was just a huge box of them lying around. You'd better hurry up and make yourself a costume, Juston. And you'll need a codename."
"I don't do code names, and I'm not wearing a costume," Juston said as he finished the adjustments on the gun. "If you guys are done screwing around, we've got a world to save."
"What about Franklin? Are we just going to leave him here?" Adam asked.
"We have no choice," Juston sighed as he strapped the laser gun to his back. "H.E.R.B.I.E. will keep an eye on him until we get back. If we get back."
"Are you kidding? This team will kick some serious ass!" Andy shouted.
"Team? We're not a team," Juston said. "We're just three kids going up against impossible odds to save the world. If this turns out going our way, I doubt we're going to go on any more adventures together."
Juston walked away as Andy looked at Adam. "So, what do you think about the name New Young Titan Warriors League of Avenging Justice?"
# # # # #
H.E.R.B.I.E. floated outside, where Juston was staring down into the street. It was nighttime out, so the lights of the city were staring back up at him.
"You okay, kid?" H.E.R.B.I.E. asked. "You don't seem to be excited about marching toward your death like the others are."
"You know what happened to me before they came to get me for this insane adventure?" Juston asked. "Two weeks ago, I got a phone call from my dad. You see, my brother's been sick for a long time and... he finally passed. I've spent the last two weeks telling myself it's just a dream, that he's going to be alright. Me and my old man couldn't even say two words to each other when I went home to bury my baby brother. I left again after the funeral without even saying goodbye."
"I'm sorry," the robot told him as Juston continued to stare down into the street.
"I wasn't even there for him when he needed me, I was too busy focusing on my own problems. Maybe if I'd stayed at home instead of running away... maybe I could have built something to help him, or found a way to fly him to a doctor that could help," Juston said, his voice shaking. "My brother's dead because I wasn't there."
"There was nothing you could do, I'm sure," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him. "Sometimes bad stuff just happens, and you have to deal with it. Maybe you ended up in New York for a reason."
"What, like making sure those two idiots in there don't get themselves killed?" Juston asked as he realized what he'd just said. "I have to make sure those two idiots in there don't get themselves killed."
"That's the spirit," H.E.R.B.I.E. told him as he floated away. "Now, go get ready to get yourself and those two idiots killed."
# # # # #
"Alright, we pissed these guys off enough to want to make a beeline straight to Earth," Juston said to the others as he pointed toward a holographic map of the multiverse. "But I think they don't have a direct portal here, otherwise they'd have shown up already. So mapping out their trajectory, I think we can cut them off on this little planet right here."
"So what, we blast them with everything we got, then what?" Adam asked. "What if what we have isn't strong enough?"
"It'll have to be," Juston told him. "In the meantime, H.E.R.B.I.E. will be here, trying to get any hero on the phone who'll be able to help if they do end up showing up on Earth. Any questions?"
Andy raised his hand. "Will there be any bathroom breaks during the fight?"
"Go before we leave," Juston replied. "Between Andy's powers, Adam's strength, and the weapons I'm toting, we have enough firepower between the three of us to hurt these guys, or at the very least weaken them enough to where they know not to screw with Earth. Any other questions?"
"Just one," a voice said as the trio turned their heads to the doorway, where Franklin was standing there in his Fantastic 4 t-shirt and boxers, looking pale and leaning against the door. "Where the hell are my pants?"
TO BE CONTINUED