An Empty Box of Bonbons

The sun rose red and sullen over Manhattan. Through the window, it struck Sue Storm in the face, and the Invisible Woman could not have been woken more ungently if it had been a physical blow. The blonde turned her face from the unwelcome daystar, and something crinkled against her face. Which is what, at last, **** her eyes open.

The empty box of Porkum's bonbons lay on Reed's side of the bed. The Invisible Woman sat up, and immediately grabbed at her too-full stomach. The bed was littered with wrapping papers. Sue blinked, suddenly aware of her stuffed stomach, the familiar taste of chocolate and something else in her mouth, salty and bitter. Except that was impossible. She had told H.E.R.B.I.E. to quarantine the bonbons, to analyze them. There was no way that...

"H.E.R.B.I.E.?" she called out.

There was no answer.

Sue Storm swung her legs off the bed, and without bothering to dress she limped out in the hallway. She glanced at H.E.R.B.I.E.'s charging station, but it was empty. The heroine's leg ached terribly, and Sue sighed and created an invisible wheelchair. Seated, with her wounded leg elevated, the naked heroine sped off down the corridor to the quarantine section of the lab.

Where she found H.E.R.B.I.E. Or what was left of it.

The mangled body of the robot had been flung hard against a wall. Hard enough to dent the metal panel and crack its chassis. The transparent shield to the quarantine section was shattered, as if Thor had dropped Mjolnir through it. Sue now knew where the bonbons had come from. But who? How? Why?

Now alert, her heart pounded in her chest. Sue moved slower through the building. An invisible shell surrounded her, just in case her unknown enemy struck. She moved toward the security center, and was relieved to see the door was sealed. Her passcode let her through, and the door shut and sealed itself behind her.

From here, Sue could see all the video cameras that covered the Fantastic Four's living areas. She frowned. Nothing except the quarantine area was damaged or out of order. There was no sign of any intruder. No alarm that would suggest an intruder either.

With practiced ease, Sue's hands flew over a keyboard. She recalled the video footage for the quarantine lab from the night before. Began to play it back.

It was about three in the morning when Sue Storm saw herself walk into the lab. The heroine watched in shock as her naked self raised a hand and the clear window that stood between her and the bonbons exploded. H.E.R.B.I.E., the valiant little robot, attempted to intervene itself between Sue and Porkum's chocolates. The blonde flinched as she watched her other-self's arm move in a sweeping gesture, and the tiny robot was smashed cruelly into the wall.

All so that Sue Storm could satisfy her late-night craving.

Sue Storm clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle a sob. She had never been given to sleep-walking before. Had never imagined herself capable of such wanton ****. All for a box of chocolates!

Except one, Sue reminded herself. H.E.R.B.I.E. took one for analysis. Maybe there are some answers there.

Sue wheeled herself back toward the quarantine area, to retrieve H.E.R.B.I.E.'s remains. She hoped that the little robot, broken though it may be, could still help her.

An invisible **** field scooped the robot's broken remains from where it lay, and carried it over to one of the lab's work-terminals. Delicately, Sue used invisible screwdrivers to disassemble the central chassis. In the guts of the little robot was a microcomputer...and Sue traced the leads, saw where the power supply had been disconnected, the battery terminals smashed. While she was nowhere near as smart as her husband, Sue knew enough to fix those wires...to plug it into an external power supply...and the little lights in the robot's shattered body came on.

"Mssss...Rich...ards..." H.E.R.B.I.E.'s voice croaked. "How...may...I...help...you?"

"H.E.R.B.I.E.," Sue breathed a sigh of relief.