Wrath of a Wendigo Scorned!

Raising an eyebrow in curiosity, Tanaraq’s smile never wavered. Crossing his arms and looking back to his horde, he darted his eyes back to Reed Richards again with a hint of amusement at the request.

“So, you wish to see my most productive pawn, do you? Very well.”

With but a simple gesture of his clawed fingers, one of the wendigos in the pack stepped forward, staring at the Avengers apprehensively before standing beside the wendigo leader who patted her head with a condescending sigh. The female wendigo standing hunched over and glared at whatever moved with her red eyes, sneering with fanged teeth at Reed, as if she did not recognise him at all. The feeling tragically enough was mutual. The creature looked nothing like Susan Storm. Had she been standing upright she would have been almost 8 feet tall. Her body was built powerful, toned, and curvaceous, rivalling the She-Hulk in build and curves. But the similarities ended there. Her body was ashen white, covered in a sheen of chalk white fur that covered her entire body and face, her hands and feet sported black sharp claws that Reed knew were both razor sharp and strong enough to pierce steel. A prehensile tail almost as long as she was tall, snapped behind her angrily and black horns a foot in length crowned her brow and swept back like goat’s horns. There was no way this she-beast was his loving wife. But looking past the pointed ears, feline nose, fangs, and blood red eyes, he could recognise his wife’s face twisted into maddened hunger and rage. A face Reed nearly made when Tanaraq cupped Susan’s chin in his clawed hand and admired the way her eyes fluttered from the attention.

“GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Breaking away from the eye contact, Tanaraq chuckled. “Lovely is she not? I knew someone would have been cut by my severed fang sooner or later, I had actually hoped on YOU Professor Richards to end up as my thrall, your brilliant mind and resources bent to my will… Well… Your mind would not have lasted in time. The hunger ALWAYS wins sooner or later.”

Breathing sharply, Reed glared at Tanaraq as the monster continued.

“But your wife, the Invisible Woman, what a prize she was, I have never come across such a powerful will, she fought back the curse for DAYS. Most would have fallen within minutes, driven mad with the hunger… But even as she struggled with her rage and appetites, I was able to nudge her in the direction I desired. A bite here, a mating there, she helped me accomplish FAR more than any other minion, now I have MANY thralls under my command…” He gestured to the former heroes for hire and the two avengers now joined up with the rest of the pack. “And as impressive as she is… She surprises me still. She fights me even now; do you know that Richards? Even now she struggles against my will to break free, don’t you my lovely?” He asked, pulled Susan in for a kiss she almost did not reject, the sight breaking Reed’s heart when he heard her swooning into his mouth before he pulled away. “But she is mine now, now, and forever, do you still want your wife back Professor Richards?”

“Y-Yes… Give her back to me, and the link to the realm of beasts is yours again.”

His grin both manic and predatory, Tanaraq separated himself from Susan and crossed his arms, tapping his chin with a clawed finger in thought. “It is a very tempting trade Professor Richards, and an impressive gamble you and the Sorcerer have made together but… What is the saying again? When it comes to gambling, the house always wins?” With a snap of his fingers, Susan reached out with her clawed hand and everyone present gasped as they found themselves bound in shackles of invisible light stronger than steel. Pinned to the ground and unable to move, the Avengers and Fantastic Four struggled. Stephen Strange tried to speak when he felt a bubble of light envelope his head and cut off his air, causing him to gasp. Reed was thrown to the ground on his back with his arms and legs splayed out spread-eagled with the glowing orb still in his hand, the only part of him still able to move freely.

“It is AMAZING what you can do with someone else’s powerset, is it not?” Tilting Susan’s chin in his clawed fingers again, Tanaraq looked between Susan’s glazed red eyes and back at Reed’s cries of protest. “Go my pet, devour your former husband and bring me back my prize.”

Falling to all fours like a jungle cat, Susan stalked towards Reed, baring her fangs, and licking her chops at the sight of his struggles. “Susan, its me, Reed, I KNOW you’re still in there.” Her only reply was a growl that made the man’s chest shake by the time she loomed over him. “I know because… When you turned, you could have killed us all, but you didn’t, you couldn’t bring yourself to… And… And SHIELD found out you were attacking OTHER wendigo, you’re still in there.”

Roaring into Reed’s face, the man turned to look away, expecting the worst, until the strike never happened. Opening one of his eyes to look up, he found the she-wendigo looking down at him, sniffing his face and hair. Then he nearly lost his breath when she collapsed on top of him, her powerful mass resting on his body while she slowly licked at his face affectionately.

“Susan?”

“Susan… My patience is not infinite, return to me my prize.” Looking over to the shiny bauble in Reed’s hand, Susan slowly sat up and plucked it out of Reed’s open hand, a hand that was now free. “That’s right, now bring me my link, and together we will drown this city in screams.”

Getting up to her feet, Susan clutched the glowing marble in both her clawed hands and hesitated, slowly making her way back… Until the silence gave way to a metallic ‘clack’. Looking down, Susan found a metal collar fixed to her neck, put there by the outstretched hand of Reed behind her, his arm collapsing to the ground with his energy spent. At that moment, Susan’s mind began to clear, the fog of hunger and rage evaporating, finally giving her back lucid thought and control. Looking down at herself she was horrified of the monster she had become, and even more so when she looked over her shoulder to find her friends and family bound painfully by her powers. “Reed?”

“GIVE ME THE LINK!”

Ignoring Tanaraq’s demands, Susan’s eyes fell on Reed’s prone and injured state, then to her son and daughter. Bound together in invisible bindings, her son **** and obviously hurt and her daughter weeping at the sight of her mother. “You…” Now her rage returned in full ****, turning her attention back to the leader of the wendigo as the horde began to growl and roar at her defiance. “SON OF A BITCH!!!!!!!”

Instantly the invisible shackles and bindings disappeared, freeing the remaining Avengers and her family from her will. Strange gasped and coughed desperately for air, falling to his knees as Tigra helped him up. Brandishing her claws menacingly, Susan was beside herself with rage at the monster in front of her. “You were going to make me eat my own husband?! What was next? My own CHILDREN?!” Not even giving him a chance to answer, Susan reached out with her clawed hand and bound Tanaraq’s neck in a ring of invisible light, tightening her grip and having him dangle with his feet kicking the air.

“Susan… hack… Storm! Give me the link to the… hnk… Realm of Beasts and… And I’ll spare your loved ones.”

Eyeing the glowing orb in her other clawed hand, back to Tanaraq and the horde of wendigo behind him, Susan shoved the bauble into her mouth and swallowed.

“NO!!!!!! ATTACK MY WENDIGO!”

Charging on mass, the monsters rushed forward, only to be stopped by an invisible wall that quickly surrounded the creatures on all sides, penning them all in the same spot. With his hands free, and now able to speak, Doctor Strange formed a circle with his outstretched hands and created a portal between himself and the Helicarrier. The moment it opened, a band of wendigo poured out, racing out of the portal, and looked around their surroundings. At first, he thought they would attack the Invisible Woman until they sprinted right past her and straight towards him. “So, YOU’RE the ass-hole responsible for this!” The uppercut to the face and jab to the stomach made the monster see stars as the six wendigos wearing brass collars pummeled and clawed at his body. “Motherfucker!” “Ass-hole!” “Take some of that sunnova bitch!”

“You… You made me into a monster… You made me cheat on Reed… Hurt people… And threatened my FAMILY!” Closing her clawed hand into a fist, she watched as Tanaraq’s face turned a shade of purple as he suffocated. Then with a quick flick of her wrist, the god of the wendigo was flung towards the façade of a nearby building. His cries echoing out along with the crash of glass, metal and stonework deep inside the structure before another flick of her hand sent him launching out a window 10 stories up to be slammed down into the pavement, fracturing the road and causing cars to jump from the impact.

“You DARE defy me?” The wounded monster barked with bleeding lips, battered, and injured but quickly healing. “I will see your loved ones devoured for…”

“WRONG ANSWER!!!!”

Gesturing with both arms as if she were striking the ground with a sledgehammer, Tanaraq was slammed into the streets again and again, the road splintering and fracturing further until he was sent down into the ground. There she gestured with her hands again and the roads bulged as he was dragged through sewer lines too small for him to fit. All around the Avengers, they could see fire hydrants rupture from the pressure change.

Finally getting to his feet and going to his son and daughter to check how they were, everyone watched on as the furious wendigo Susan Storm dragged Tanaraq through 6 blocks worth of sewer piping, launching him out a manhole inside the penned cage she created to contain the others. Lifting a pair of cars with her powers, Susan launched them towards the battered and injured monster, just in time for him to look up and be buried in tons of metal that ignited and exploded on impact, setting the beast on fire.

“Professor Richards… Remind me never to anger your wife.” Captain America said quietly, making Reed smile as he held his two kids close.

Watching the monster burn and flail around screaming in pain, Tanaraq staggered to a ruptured fire hydrant line to douse the flames, collapsing to his hands and knees blackened, charred and seared, watched on by his minions while his burnt flesh healed. Looking up, he could see Susan casually walk through the invisible barrier with the same ease as passing through a door, a clawed hand at her hip as she stared daggers down at him. “I… I was omnipotent, I was EVERYTHING, and then those mortals severed my link to the realm of beasts, FORCING me to take a mortal vessel, but even bound to this shell I am still the king of the Wendigo!” Looking to the horde of wendigos around him, he raised a scarred hand to point menacingly at the Invisible Woman. “KILL HER!” But nothing happened, the wendigo standing around him did not move, still staring down at his prone form on the ground. “KILL HER NOW!”

Looking over to the entire horde of monsters, Susan raised her clawed hand, looking down at the confused creature now noticing the wendigo surrounding them were not responded to him anymore, they were answering to her. “How?” Then he realised it, as a wendigo linked to the realm of beasts after swallowing it, she had usurped his title.

“Someone’s lost their crown, its mine now… Long live the Queen!” Snapping her fingers and turning sharply away, she ignored his screams as the ravenous wendigo descended upon him,

Making her way back to her friends and loved ones, she ignored everyone save for who was right in front of her. Bending to crouch on her knees, she pulled Reed and her children into an embrace, hugging the three fiercely and peppering the man’s face with kisses and licks of affection. Her tail swishing back and forth as she kissed Reed one more time and bent down to nuzzle her son and daughter, Franklin slowly stirring awake to look up at the pale smiling face of his mother kissing his forehead and keeping the three close. “I knew you’d get me back somehow, thank you Reed.”

“Welcome back honey.”

Hearing a cough behind them, Susan looked up to find the Avengers and other wendigo with control collars looking down at her expectantly. Standing up to her full height, she towered over everyone save Ben and Jennifer. “So… What are we going to do with all these wendigos? Can you cure them?” Asked Captain America, the others looking back at the new Queen of the Wendigos, hoping for an answer.

Closing her eyes, Susan breathed in sharply. “No… Those turned cannot be unturned… But they can be pacified…” Breathing in sharply again and raising a hand towards the horde just now picking clean the bones of the one responsible for all of this, began to stagger and move sluggishly, clutching at their heads as if confused before looking up at their surroundings. Immediately there was a change in their behaviour when they all looked around and gasped, covering themselves with their hands to maintain their dignity and voicing shock and complaint about where they were and how they got here. Joining their teammates, Tony and Natasha looked down at themselves in surprise before Tony shrugged. “Well… Not the WORST I’ve been seen in.”

Looking over to Tigra who looked up at the white furred beast woman with a smile, Susan stood with a hand at her hip and tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “So Tigra, you’ve been an animal woman longer than me, any advice?”

“Wear elastic clothes, keep some jerky in your pocket and buy some industrial toys… For when Springtime hits.”

“Why?”

“When it happens, you’ll know.”

Returning the smirk Greer gave her, Susan bent back down to hold her loved ones close and kissed Reed full on the lips, ignoring the growing crowd of wendigos gathering to get answers from the Avengers trying to retain order on the streets.