Sue Storm Has Drained The Fantastic Four's Bank Accounts

Reed Richards' face fell as he stared at the screen.

"What is it stretch?" Ben Grimm asked as he looked at his friend.

"Sue. She's...I had her joint on all of my accounts. All the Baxter Building accounts. Our credit cards. I had centralized everything for better financial management. She's cut them all off, drained our money. We're...penniless."

They had fled to Agatha Harkness' house outside Salem, Massachusetts. Franklin and Valeria had been overjoyed to see Reed, Ben, and Johnny, but the one question on their lips had been the most difficult to answer:

"Where's mommy?"

"Something's...happened with mommy," Reed had admitted. Then he asked Agatha Harkness the question he dreaded: "May I use your computer?"

It would not be correct to say that Agatha Harkness lived in the 17th century. She had permitted the Fantastic Four to install a communication suite so that they could keep in touch while she babysat the children. Reed seated himself and, using his in-depth knowledge of their assets and security systems, tried to get an idea of what had happened to Sue Storm, and how deep her betrayal ran.

There weren't many answers to be had. Yet it was clear that Sue, or whoever was manipulating her, had taken advantage of their absence to financially isolate the Fantastic Three.

"It is strange," Agatha Harkness said as she stroked the dark cat on her lap. "My mystic senses have been dulled of late, when Sue Storm called. I feel someone has sought to hide her true circumstances. This being your described...could they have magical capabilities?"

"I don't know," Reed said, as his fingers flew across the keyboard. Instead of moving them normally, he simply stretched the digits, his wrists never moving. "But she's also moved all the patents, leases, and properties into her own name. I can't even access the children's college funds. We're broke."

"But we can call up Tony Stark or somebody, right?" Ben Grimm broke in. "We got friends. We tell 'em something's wrong with Suzy, and..."

"That will, I think, be more difficult than you know," Agatha Harkness said slowly. "If Susan has truly betrayed you, she has anticipated your next move. Sought to poison your friends against you. Now that I am aware of the interference, I sense a subtle hand behind this plot."

"Doom," Johnny Storm said. "There were Doombots in the Baxter Building. If Doom got to Sue somehow...but he would never..."

There were children around. The adults could not speak completely openly. Yet they all knew what Sue Storm was up to, even now. It hurt them all to think of the Invisible Woman, the heart and soul of the team, bobbing up and down on that mutant pig-man's cock.

"It must all be connected," Reed said. "The interdimensional rift—Sue's injury—it was all to isolate her so that she could be corrupted or suborned."

"So whatta we do?" Ben asked. "Take the fight to Doom? I'm up for a scrap, but with just the three of us..."

"No—no, he would expect that," Reed thought desperately. "In fact, we know each other so well, he's probably already made plans to counter anything I would do. Yet there is...yes, there is one thing I can try that he wouldn't expect..."

Mister Fantastic turned his **** gaze to Agatha Harkness. "Can you...cast a spell or something, so that I can communicate with another being? Securely?"

The older woman raised an eyebrow. It was a testament to Reed Richard's desperation that he would turn to the black arts.

"I can. For what purpose?"

"We need to ask for help from someone who doesn't think like me. Someone Doom wouldn't know how to counter," Reed Richards sucked in air. "I think the only chance we have to rescue Sue is to call on..."