By

Carolyne Smythe

The rocket entered Earth’s atmosphere, and cascaded speedily towards its target, somewhere in upstate New York. It crashed miles from places of residence, therefore nobody heard the dismal result of an attempt to triumph over not only the overbearing government, but also the commies it was always trying to outdo. Instead of killing its passengers, the crash actually awoke them from their unconscious states. The first of the rocket’s riders to wake up was Reed, who shook his head, still feeling dizzy. Once he felt less disoriented, he immediately picked up his stepdaughter, and hollered.

"EVERYBODY! OUT OF THE ROCKET NOW! THERE’S POTENTIAL THAT IT COULD EXPLODE!"

Groggily, everyone arose, and quickly stumbled out of the rocket. Reed was the first one to come out holding Mary in his arms. The third one was Sue, who was grasping Reed’s arm. And Ben and Johnny followed, both moaning sounds signaling their fatigue. After taking twenty paces away from the vehicle, all five were brought to total consciousness by the sound of the very event Reed said was going to happen, the rocket’s exploding. Everyone looked at Reed both in thankfulness that he woke up in time to urge them out of the ship, and in awe that he did that very thing. It felt like eternity before Reed finally spoke.

"I...I’m grateful that we are all alive! That was mighty close!"

His four friends nodded their heads in agreement and unison. Then, Sue said.

"But Reed, we failed! After all of your work, your dedication, we failed!"

"Bah! What else did ya expect?" Ben mouthed.

"We of course wanted victory Ben. But, one must always expect failure in the field of rocket science. Which was of course..." Mary sleepily countered as Ben interrupted her.

"Alright kid, fergit I asked!"

Reed went on to proclaim.

"Even though we got out of the rocket in time, we are still not out of the woods. We have to see if the cosmic rays affected us in any way!"

Sue followed.

"Ohhhh.... Reed, I feel so... so strange!"

Suddenly, the most spectacular, yet strange sight took place before Reed, Ben, Johnny, and Mary’s eyes! Johnny blurted.

"Oh my...! Look at Sue!"

"What’s WRONG?!" Sue said looking at her four friends with concern.

"Susan, you’re, you’re FADING AWAY!" Reed let out with uncharacteristic fear.

"Oh my... NO!!" Sue screamed as she started to run in fear. This was audible through the crunch of grass and leaves under her feet.

"Somehow, the cosmic rays have altered your atomic structure, making you become invisible Susan!"

After saying that, Reed took a few steps back only to feel Sue bump into him.

"How long do you think it will last darling?"

"There’s no way of knowing!"

"Wha...what if she never gets visible AGAIN?" Johnny exclaimed.

All Ben and Mary could do was behold the situation in shock, as Sue remained invisible for ten minutes before she could be seen again.

"I’m myself again! And it happened all by itself!"

Reed approached Sue, and began to embrace her.

"Oh thank heaven! I am so glad you are alright darling!"

Mary and Johnny watched the future couple hug each other, and smiled, though they still had fear for what the cosmic rays had done to them. The other seemed to have lost that fear as he walked up to Reed and Sue, and growled.

"So, she’s ALRIGHT, huh? How, HOW do you KNOW WISE GUY? HOW in HECK do you KNOW she won’t turn INVISIBLE AGAIN? HOW do you KNOW what’ll HAPPEN to THE REST OF US?"

Reed stopped his displaying his compassion towards Sue, and slowly began displaying his anger towards Ben.

"Ben, I am sick and tired of your insults... YOUR COMPLAINING! I DIDN’T PURPOSELY CAUSE OUR FLIGHT TO FAIL!"

Ben chortled and went on.

"And I am SICK of YOU! In fact, I’M GONNA PASTE YA IN THAT SMUG FACE OF YOURS!"

Knowing what was going to happen, and the danger her stepfather was in, Mary impetuously reacted.

"Ben! He did nothing to you...us even! Father didn’t know that the cosmic rays were going to be THAT intense!"

As she said that, Mary flung herself at Ben, and tried to restrain his right arm from punching her stepfather. She barely succeeded, but not without being thrown a couple of feet into the ground below. Reed breathed a heavy breath, and with a hint of rage, pleaded to Ben.

"Yes Ben, please, please use your head for once instead of your muscles!"

Mary got up, shook her head, and brushed the dirt off of her spacesuit, unfazed by Ben’s harsh action. It was then she, along with Reed and Sue witnessed another spectacle. Ben was walking towards a tree while transforming into an abomination that appeared to made out of mud, then dirt, and then rocks. Reed yelled at him.

"Ben, please STOP! WAIT! Look what’s happening to you! You’re changing!"

"Don’t try to talk your way of it mister! I’m gonna mop tha place with ya!"

As if on cue, Ben finished the metamorphosis in time to pick up part of a dead birch tree trunk, which he could not have picked up if he was human. In terror, Sue warned Reed.

"Run, Reed darling! He’s turned into a...a THING! He’s strong as an ox!"

"Reed darling, BAH! How can you care for THAT WEAKLING, when I’M here!"

With those words said, Ben proceeded towards Reed with his new weapon. Reed did not seem to want to take heed of Sue’s warning. Ben roared.

"I’ll PROVE to you that you love the wrong man Susie!"

Mary could not bear to watch anymore, Ben had to be stopped. Without even giving anymore consideration, Mary screeched.

"FATHER!"

Knowing she could not run to stop Ben in time, Mary stretched her arm out towards Ben’s legs, and tripped him before he could heave the tree trunk at her stepfather. Right when she did this, Reed said.

"Oh no you don’t Ben!"

Wanting to prevent Ben from getting up, and execute trying to injure him again, Reed extended his arms, and wrapped them around Ben like a Boa Constrictor coiling itself around its prey.

"You’ve had this coming to you for a long time Ben!"

"Oh Reed...Mary, not the both of you too!" Sue barely got out.

The looks on Reed and Mary’s faces were just as bewildered as their friends. While their arms retracted back to normal, Reed said in frightened marvel.

"What...what were we doing? What has happened to you and me my child? To ALL OF US?"

Suddenly, Sue interrupted Reed.

"Oh my... ALL OF YOU LOOK AT JOHNNY!"

A fearful and smoking Johnny said to them.

"You...you’ve turned into MONSTERS, ALL OF YOU! It’s THOSE RAYS, THOSE TERRIBLE COSMIC RAYS!!"

At the mentioning of cosmic rays, the smoke rising from Johnny became thicker. Instantly, he flared up. Yet, he was not killed, but instead became part of the blaze. Still scared, but calming down, Johnny said.

"NOW I know why I’ve been feeling so warm! Look at me! The rays have affected me too! When I get excited, my body begins to blaze!"

Johnny jumped into the air, and began to fly around. His voice went from scared to amazed.

"Wow! I’m lighter than air! I can fly! LOOK! I CAN FLY!"

Five minutes later, Johnny landed beside his friends, and they gazed at the fire he had started in the underbrush. All of them were thinking the same thing one way or another.

"We have changed! We are more than just human!"

Just when it seemed and felt like nobody would speak, Reed finally said.

"All of you, listen to me! And that means YOU too Ben! Together, we have MORE POWER than any humans have ever possessed!"

Ben intervened.

"Ya don’t have ta make a speech big shot! We understand. We’ve gotta use that power to help mankind, or somethang like that, right?"

"Right Ben."

Another moment of silence followed. Then, Johnny held out his hand saying.

"You know, as cheesy as it sounds, it’s cool, and I’m with you all the way Reed. From now on, I’ll be the Human Torch!"

Sue looked at her brother, then the others, and placed her hand on top of Johnny’s as she said.

"The same goes for me... the Invisible Girl!"

Reed rested his hand upon the Storm siblings’ hands, and with slight hesitance, declared.

"I shall call myself... well, as hokey as it sounds, Mister Fantastic."

He thought about it for moment, then said with a smile.

"What the heck, Mister Fantastic it is!"

Mary followed suit.

"And since my stepfather’s Mister Fantastic, guess that makes me Miss Fantastic!"

Mary let out a laugh as she said that.

"Well, there’s one more missing. Ben?"

Sue vocally beckoned to the once human creature. The abomination sluggishly walked to a space of the small huddle that was not occupied, and sighed.

"I ain’t Ben anymore. I’m what Susie called me... the Thing!"

And there, it was agreed upon that they would be known collectively as the Fantastic Five. But their powers and new lives were not their main concern that moment. What was their prime concern was how they were going to arrive back home in Central City, and without the government or the world knowing what had happened to them.