Pre Credits, Act 0 Scene 1

Wave 4 Fantastic 4

Act 1 Scene 1

Various talking heads debated the use of third person at the UN by Doom before promising to speak with a retired US Marine officer about the Latverian Raids on the Hydra and SHIELD bases in their neighbor’s territories.

Music started to play from the cellphone on the table in front of the blonde woman. She reached over and hit the mute on the remote before hitting the answer icon on the phone and tapping the speaker icon.

“Vic, you pissed off a lot of people…” the blonde snapped.

“Sue, they shouldn’t act so surprised, my ambassadors have been complaining ever since the Battle of Wakanda and have been insulted for bringing forth my concerns,” Victor Von Doom half laughed, “Also, you and Reed must have the same ringtone for my private number.”

“Don’t change the subject…” Sue tried to stay on course.

“Sue, you answered Reed’s phone knowing it was me…” Doom’s smirk could be heard over the phone.

Sue turned and looked behind her to see her phone next to a leather purse on a counter charging….

“Ok, you got me,” Sue said, “Still, you got a lot of people concerned.”

“My forces acted with strict instructions to avoid any casualties possible,” Vic said, “And my Diplomats have already offered compensation to the families living next to the targeted instillations. It took Ta’challa revealing their control of a pure Vibranium meteor the size of Manhattan to get the UN to take Wakanda seriously so I had to make bold moves to be taken even more seriously.”

“And talking in third person?” Sue asked.

“Sue, you are the one that dragged me to all of those theater and acting classes,” Doom sighed, “You heard the same lessons about having to make an impression as a character.”

“Ok, two points buddy,” Sue half giggled, “But you were cute in that tights and cape number.”

“Little did we realize how popular it would become after we graduated,” Doom said, “So what did you and Reed pick out for my ring tone, I am sure something you both think would match my personality… something melodramatic and maybe a bit pompous? Vader’s March from Star Wars or Ride of the Valkyries?”

“Well, you were close, it was the old Execution Drum call… but Johnny got a hold of our phones last week and changed it to Boogieman,” Sue said.

“Boogie man?” Doom asked in slight shock.

“You know KC and the Sunshine band,” Sue giggled slightly.

“Susan, if he wasn’t your brother I would have him executed… And you could use your phones for the drum call,” Doom joked, “Seriously… Tomorrow my space agency will release some readings we have received from our deep space probes we sent up, NASA, the Ea-Ess-Ah, and the rest of the usual suspects. Go check your email with Reed. I will deposit the consulting fee as per the normal arrangement.”

“Sue,” a voice called from in back, “Did you get an email from Victor?”

“Yes Reed,” Sue called, “He just called…”

“I want you two ready to speak up,” Doom spoke up, “I would love to hear your inputs as well.”

“Victor sent us data so we will be ready when he publicly releases it tomorrow,” Sue shouted.

“Well, I am sure you two can figure out the encryptions,” Victor said, “Now sadly, I have to go to Ottawa to insult the Canadian Prime Minister to his face.”

“Have fun,” Sue rolled her eyes, “Talk to you later.”

“Good day Sue, my regards to Reed” Doom said before disconnecting the call.

Sue got up and walked into the back room of the lab and looked at Reed going over the data while Ben was left holding a pair of wrenches on a prototype engine.

“Ah, a little help here!” Ben said.

“Sure, one second,” Reed said not moving from the computer.

Sue rushed over and picked up a wrench and went to help Ben.

“Reed what are we tightening?” Sue asked.

“Oh, the bolts to hold the accelerator to the Gas Reserve,” Reed said absently.

“The gold ones,” Ben groaned.

Sue quickly went about bolting the special fasteners into place while Reed was engrossed in the data.

“That good?” Sue asked.

“No, not at all,” Reed said concerned…

“Yeah, they are in, I can do the final tightening…” Ben said.

Sue handed over the wrench as Ben moved to be able to work on the machine. Sue walked over and looked at the screen of the laptop. Her face turned to a grimace as she looked over the numbers.

“Ok so is one of you smart folks going to explain to me what is so scary about Doom’s spread sheet of evil?” Ben asked.

“You know those radiation contamination dispersal charts that they put into military base contingency plans?” Reed asked.

“We saw more Chemical Agent wind dispersal stuff in my unit, but yeah,” Ben said.

“Sue?” Reed went back to the laptop.

Sue stepped aside as Reed used the laptop and quickly made a series of charts.

“Earth, and the various probes that Doom’s people launched over the last few years,” Reed pointed at the various green dots on the screen then hit the space bar, “Four weeks ago, three weeks ago, two weeks ago, last week, and yesterday…”

Ben watched as the green blips turned yellow, then orange, then red as the contamination lanced across the screen and he held up a finger and drew an upside down J…

“So, all that nasty, it is hooking around the sun towards us?” Ben said.

“No Ben,” Sue said, “Remember we are moving around the sun in orbit, it is on an intercept course with us…”

“And by the time we get to about here it will engulf the Earth…” Reed said pointing at the screen.

“Oh Sh…” Ben started.

(Camera zooms into the computer screen and starts the title sequence for a Fantastic Four Movie set over radiation graphs, space launch videos, and targeting computer screens)