Reed Richards Files For Divorce, Sue Moves Out

There's a process for a divorce. Lawyers have to be retained. Paperwork filed. Most of the time, this attracts little attention.

Except this time, Peter Parker caught Sue Storm exiting the Baxter Building with a suitcase. Followed the cab and caught the Invisible Woman exit to be greeted at another building. By a woman. With a full-tongue kiss.

The Daily Bugle wouldn't run such a tawdry story, not on the front page. But there were gossip blogs that picked it up. A user named PPotts had access to the court docket and spilled the beans on the divorce proceedings. Reed Richards, represented by Matt Murdock. Susan Storm-Richards, represented by Jennifer Walters.

That was enough to start the buzz running around the internet. Gossip rags picked it up. Mentions in news programs.

When a portal to the Negative Zone opened on Sixth Street, the Fantastic Four were there to face the invasion of alien insects—but the Invisible Woman was not there to face them.

She was on the other side of Manhattan, alongside with her newly-formed Lady Liberators—including a heroine from the Thunderbolts, the seldom-seen powerhouse Meteorite, breaking up a H.Y.D.R.A. cell that was selling alien weaponry to street gangs.

Captain America gave a brief interview:

"The Avengers has no comment on the Fantastic Four and Lady Liberators at this time. I would like to extend my sympathy to the Richards family during this trying time. I have known Reed and Sue for years, as both heroes and friends, and as sorry as I was to hear the news, it is my hope and trust that they will face the coming days and weeks with the courage that they have shown time and again as they saved this nation and this planet..."

That set the match to dry tinder. News exploded across the entire social media sphere; heroes were asked whose side they were on, pundits posited the possibility of another superhero civil war, all before the first court date. Public sympathy against Sue Storm plummeted once surreptitious photos of her making love with Meteorite were published in SUPERHEROES ILLUSTRATED. Sue Storm sued for breach of privacy, but that only raised the profile of the incident.

In Doomstadt, Doctor Doom rested on his throne, his eyes drinking in the constant stream of media on the dissolution of the Fantastic Four. There was no smile on the iron mask, he made no sound. It should have been everything he had worked for. Initially, he had inflamed the media circus subtly, but within days he realized his efforts were unnecessary.

It was happening. And yet instead of joy, he felt a nagging emptiness in his chest. His eyes studied the face of Reed Richards, who had grown out his beard, his lanky frame thinner than before. Something nagged him, deep inside. A suspicion, maybe, born of paranoia. Or a doubt. Was it not too perfect? Could this really be happening? Moonstone had served her purpose, but she had grown too close to the Invisible Woman. This could be...something other than it appeared.

There was only one way to know for sure.

"Where are the children?" he said, voice low and menacing. "Where are Franklin and Valeria Richards? Is this real?"