Sue Storm Did More "Modeling"

Sue Storm remembered how, at exactly her lowest moment, a notice had come from that photographer. An offer for more "work." Cash only, under the table. A private customer who wanted some more intimate shots and was willing to pay for it.

The Fantastic Four were just getting started. Reed had filed his first patents but the budgets were tight. Their fame had not taken off yet. So, Sue Storm had answered the call.

She had expected the skimpy bikini. Hadn't been surprised by the lingerie. They had been shooting for maybe an hour when the photographer had called for a break, suggested she "loosen up" before the end of the shoot, when the tops and bottoms would come off, and...

There were three lines of white powder on the mirror in the dressing room when Sue went in.

They were gone when she left.

The shoot went smoothly. Sue Storm was all smiles. Looking back, she cringed to think of how she had spread her labia so that the camera could zoom in close. The thing she had done with the zucchini. The plastic sheets and the canola oil. Later, in the shower, as she came down, she began to regret things. Yet the photographer had her cash, every cent of it, and a little something else "for her troubles."

With a promise of more if she wanted.

Never telling her that the money came from Latveria.

SSR: It was a standing offer. Not something I ever told Reed or the others about. Just something to get me through the rough patch we were going through.

JVD: Oh Sue...I'm so sorry. When did you stop?

SSR: Not long after. Once we started to get really famous, and the money was coming in, and well...I wanted to be clean when I married Reed. We were already thinking of trying for a baby, you see.

Mysterio cackled within his helmet.

"See now, Doom, how her web of lies is unraveled, her whole secret life revealed! How well she pretended to be the honest, perfect goddess among women, when she's just a blonde whore like all the rest!"

Doctor Doom looked at his partner coolly. Mysterio's misogyny was one of his less amusing traits. The fool still had no idea that it was Doctor Doom's agents, operating in the past, which were making Mysterio's narrative a reality.

Still...Doom could not deny that he would have never contemplated such a means of attack. He was surprised at how little effort was needed to derail Sue Storm from the path of sobriety, how easy it was to push her toward drugs and nude modeling.

And, perhaps...more.

"What," Doctor Doom said evenly. "Is the next step in your plan?"

"Addicts do not quit easily," Mysterio said. "And even when they do, trauma can cause relapse. All we need to do is remind her of it!"

Doctor Doom's blood went cold. He remembered that dire time. Even he had not dared to attack Richards then. Did he dare now? Perhaps...