FANT4STIC

The style was elaborate, full of swoops and loops, an exaggerated cursive that belonged to an earlier age of penmanship. The black lines swirled over the Invisible Woman's lower back, which burned and throbbed. Yet she felt a sense of relief flood through her as she spelled out the letters of the single word that Porkum had marked her with.

It could have been much worse. In fact, the more Sue Storm looked at it, the more it looked almost—well, not nice, exactly, but tasteful. Many women her age had tattoos, and it was in a place that few people would see it, easily covered. Nor was it inappropriate.

Sue Storm sighed in relief as she pulled her shirt down. She knew she could still get the tatoo removed if she needed to, but she no longer felt the overriding sense of a need to have it removed immediately.

"After all, I'm a member of the Fantastic Four," she said to herself.

The heroine collapsed onto the bed, suddenly exhausted. She couldn't believe her luck. Both her bad luck in falling pray to Porkum, and her good luck in that ultimately, the villain hadn't done anything too terrible to her.

It was a pleasing thought, as Sue Storm drifted off to sleep.

She awoke to the buzz of her phone. Blearily, the blonde reached out, grabbed the device and brought it to her eyes.

FANT4STIC TRAMP STAMP! SUE STORM GETS INKED!

The Invisible Woman's blue eyes widened and she sat up, fast enough to bring a hiss of pain from her lower back. Her fingers danced across the phone. Janet van Dyne had sent her the link to the photo, which was trending across social media. The photographer—Porkum—had managed to capture most of her ass as well as the lower back. Not her face, thankfully, but it was tagged with her name. Sue Storm sighed. She hadn't had her secret for more than a few hours, but it was already out.

JVD: Is it true? Did you get inked last night?

SSR: Yes.

JVD: Damn! You go girl! Nice and tasteful.

SSR: You think so?

The Invisible Woman's heart fluttered. She hated to be so obsessed over her image, but she was the idol to a lot of young women. She didn't want thousands of them getting matching tramp stamps. Or thinking she was a tramp for getting a lower back tattoo.

JVD: No way! It's cute. Gives you an edge, you know? Real MILF energy.

SSR: What's a MILF?

JVD: LOL

There was more. Janet van Dyne had no filter, and Sue appreciated her candor. There were many other links in her mailbox, messages, mostly supportive. Sue knew she'd spend all afternoon going through them. Yet what bothered her was Porkum's purpose in posting the tattoo. It made it basically impossible for Sue to get rid of it now—far too many people knew about it, and if Sue had it lasered off her body, that would just confirm that it was a mistake. Still, she knew the pig-man mutant must have some ulterior motive. She ground her teeth as she brought up a page on the care and upkeep of a tattoo—if she was going to live with the thing, it was better she learn how to take care of it—and tried to ignore the gnawing emptiness in her gut, and the terrible awareness that whatever Porkum's plan was, she was playing right into his hands.