Burning Fury (Fantastic Four)

Chapter 1: Holograms and Hostility

I took another large mouthful of the Iced Coffee and set the empty cup down on the café table. It was always great catching up with Naveen Stark. She was a good kid but at the moment she was supposed to be doing physics for some old field reports she didn’t get done at SHIELD. For a thirteen year old she sure knew her way around covert operating networks. I had been referred to Naveen for some reviewing and I was only a consultant for her. Tony Stark had suggested I give her a few lessons and help her with the quantum mechanics and astrophysics that some days he himself just didn’t have the time for. It also paid pretty well.

However at first I didn’t want to even go near or even  think about having to teach anyone stuff that I had only vaguely learnt myself. But Reed said that it would be good for me to get some experience. I was completely blown away Naveen she was intelligent and very insightful, not to mention she was shrewd, and had an attitude like a dragon. I looked down at my watch and my eyes bulged, crap!

‘Naveen I have to go, I’ve got a meeting with Von Doom in half an hour’ I said picking up my laptop that lay open on the table. It had the other half of the presentation me and Reed Richards were going to show Mr Von Doom about the cosmic storm that was about to make it cycle around our solar system again.
‘No kidding, thee Von Doom?’ Naveen asked sitting up and paying attention more.
‘Yeah why?’
‘Oh nothing, just how can your name be Victor Von Doom and you not be evil as shit, I mean come on’ she laughed hardly which made everyone turn to us.
‘Watch your mouth young lady!’ I snapped and stood up brushing my electric red fringe from my eyes, ‘now I’ll let you off only if you finished that homework I sent you last week’ I said trying to sound like I owned authority. She just rolled her eyes and chucked the large stack of paper at me.
‘It’s not homework Maxine, I’m not a kid anymore’ she slouched in her chair completely juxtaposing her point. ‘I work with SHIELD’
‘Right, yet I’m twenty and I’m going into space’ I laughed.

‘Nah ah, you might be going into space, don’t get your hopes up, I’ve heard Victor Von Doom is a hard case to crack’ she stood up and pushed in her chair and I mirrored her.
‘Well I doubt he can resist what Reed and I have got up our sleeves’ I smiled at her and gave her a fleeting hug before saying goodbye.
‘Bye Max’
‘See ya later kiddo’ I turned and walked away from the café and to the mahogany coloured Ducati that was standing at the end of the block. Pushing my fiery hair under my coat collar I flicked up the stand and clipped on my helmet before heading to the other end of New York to the Doom Headquarters.

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I rocked up beside my uncle Ben Grimm and my boss Reed Richards, “admiring” the huge metal statue of Doom right infront of the building.
‘About time Max, you got every ready to go’ Ben asked beside me.
‘As ready as we’ll ever be’ I said trying to hide the shake in my voice.
‘Mmm, typical of Victor Von Doom to build a thirty foot statue of himself’ Ben groaned deadpan.
‘Well it’s obviously for first time visitors to create feelings of smallness and inadequacy’ Reed observed without looking us in the eye.
‘Good thing it ain’t working’ Ben smirked, ‘Reed what are we doing here? This guy’s fast food strip mall science’
‘This wasn’t our first stop in case you forgot. Besides’ Reed said, ‘Victor’s not that bad. He’s just a little… larger than life’
‘About thirty feet larger’ I snapped. They both gave me a look and proceeded inside.

Inside the building no one gave us a second glance or even noticed we were there. I hated that. Even with my leather jacket and flaming red hair they didn’t even care. We approached the front desk a little sheepishly and asked the lady for directions. She answered quickly, interrupting Reed midsentence. She then just stared at us like she was a programmed robot and we started to shuffle towards the elevator to the top floor.
‘What’s it take to get a smile around this joint’ Ben joked and followed me and Reed up.