A Photo of Porkum's Cock

Sue Storm lay awake all night. She shivered, half-naked, atop the covers in her own bed. The fever was in her flesh now, a heat that she could feel behind her eyes. Unable to stop her thoughts as she ruminated, over and over, on what she had done last night. There were still coffee grounds under her fingernails from where she had dug through the trash. She remembered how she had run her tongue over the wrapping paper, over and over, how the saliva never seemed to cease. Even after the ache in her stomach ceased, fear kept Sue locked stiffly in place on the bed. Fear that if she got up, she would do it again.

As the dawnlight broke over Manhattan and through her window, Sue **** herself to sit up. There was something wrong with her, she knew. Something that went deeper than a sudden craving for chocolate, or an infected wound. Sue sat on the edge of the bed and stared out the window as she realized she had to do something.

"H.E.R.B.I.E.," Sue said. The little android 'awoke' from its charging station and floated over to her. "Any packages that come from Porkum go straight into the quarantine chamber. Even if they pass the scan. Keep it separate from the other mail. Understood? And let me know when the mail arrives."

"Yes, Mrs. Richards. It will be done," H.E.R.B.I.E.'s synthetic voice chimed.

Sue licked her lips. She **** herself to her feet, then almost collapsed. Her left leg was in agony. With a thought, she put an invisible forcefield around it, to keep it immobilized, and manifested invisible crutches for her arms. She crutched toward the gym.

"H.E.R.B.I.E. Can you...lock the quarantine chamber so that I can't access it?" Sue said. "Even if I change my mind later?"

"Command authorization can be removed for Susan Storm-Richards," H.E.R.B.I.E. replied. "Warning: Once revoked, command authorization cannot be regained without approval from another member of the Fantastic Four."

The Invisible Woman's mouth was a grim line as she hobbled into the gym. She hated how much she didn't trust herself to say: "Do it. Remove my command authorization for the quarantine chamber."

"Acknowledged. Susan Storm-Richards command authorization for quarantine chamber revoked."

It was giving up a little bit of control. Sue hated that. So she lost herself in her routine, the only thing she could. Leg day was out of the question, aerobics was out of the question, but that still left weights, an exercise Sue could do sitting down, without aggravating her injured leg. A few stretches, a few bicep curls with a forty-pound weight—that was enough to take Sue's mind off almost anything—then some lat pulldowns...

Sue cast her mind back to the last time she'd been in a regular gym with other people. You could always tell the bodybuilders from the serious lifters. Bodybuilders were all about size; even when they weren't dehydrated for competition, you could see the bulge of their shoulders, their biceps and triceps, glutes and calves, no breasts to speak of because there was no fat. The really strong women, though, tended to be about six feet around in the gut; smooth flesh, big tits and big appetites to match.

Her stomach rumbled as Sue began her cool-down set. Shaky and gnawing inside. She hadn't had anything to eat since her disgusting feast last night. Sue stumbled over to the wall where Reed had installed a drinks fountain with electrolyte-laden refreshment after a hard workout. No sugar, just various flavorings to the salty liquid needed to replace what Sue had sweated out.

The Invisible Woman had decided she needed to re-commit to her diet. She would fast for a day or two. Sweat Porkum's chocolates out of her system, and not let them anywhere near her ever again. The staunch commitment remained with her as she showered and dressed in a T-shirt and boy-shorts, the emptiness inside of her a commitment to purpose. Suddenly, she was glad the kids weren't here to see her like this.

"Mrs. Richards, the mail has arrived."

Sue froze. She started to salivate, and then swallowed it. Still on her invisible crutches, she moved forward to confront what Willie the Mailman had brought her today.

She sighed in relief as she saw the pink box from Porkum, unopened, ensconced in the clear quarantine chamber. She licked her lips as she stared at it, as she would stare at Annihilus or Paibok or any of her other foes.

"H.E.R.B.I.E.—can you extra one of the chocolates and do a complete analysis on it without breaking quarantine?" she asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Richards."

"Do it," she said, as she slid into a chair by the mail table. "After I leave."

There were letters from fans. The antibiotics that the nurse had ordered. Sue cracked the package, read the instructions, and grimaced when she saw they had to be taken with food. Despite the pain in her leg, she set them aside and went back to signing cards and answering letters.

Until she got to a letter in a familiar pink envelope. With a curiously familiar bitter smell. Sue swallowed more saliva. Her fingers twitched as she handled the letter. Yes, there was Porkum's name. It was from him.

The Invisible Woman took a deep breath, suddenly aware of how keyed up she was. It was ridiculous. It was only a card. Yet she had thought that the chocolates were only chocolates. The thought occurred to her that maybe she should just have H.E.R.B.I.E. set this in the quarantine chamber too—and then pride, stupid, stubborn, irrational pride, got the better of her.

"I'm not afraid of a card," Sue said, as she tore open the pink envelope.

Except there was no card. Just a photograph.

Sue Storm's stomach lurched. She half-collapsed off her chair, and tasted bile in her throat. Like an animal, she scrambled on all three limbs out of the mail room.

As soon as she exited the room, H.E.R.B.I.E. began to manipulate the robotic arms in the quarantine chamber. With careful precision, the wrapping was removed, the box opened. A single dark brown bonbon was removed, and transported into the adjoining lab for analysis. Not a single molecule of Porkum's package entered the air of the Baxter Building.

Yet Susan Storm could smell it. Could taste it. She shook and shivered, and she didn't know why. Lost herself in busy work, and lay limp and pensive as the nurse came to change her dressing. There was a yellow discharge from the wound. Sue didn't want it, but the nurse made her promise to take the antibiotics with milk or broth.

"You need something on your stomach," the nurse said. "That old starve-a-fever nonsense will get you killed. If you don't show signs of improvement soon—"

Sue nodded. She couldn't tell the nurse about the image seared into her brain. The white scum on that cock had looked terribly familiar. The photograph that she couldn't stop thinking about. The villain it was attached to. As much as the Invisible Woman hated to admit it, Porkum had managed to get under her skin and inside her head. And she didn't know how to get him out.