The Think Tank

The Challengers

Unreal city.

Unreal people, like Ben Grimm. There was a time when he couldn't just walk out for groceries. No longer did he hear light whispers, hurtful gasps or quiet insults. No one stared, they didn't even recognise him and he appreciated that.

There were only two people he wanted to look at and he was making his way back to them. Back to the warmth that shed off the cocoon he was trapped in.

Unreal building. Just over the bridge, right in the heart of Manhattan: the Baxter Building, the former Think Tank, a symbol of hope whose crystalline exterior reflected the light of the sun, leading the righteous to progress.

Those days seemed long gone by then. Ben was smarter than most, he had to give it his all to wear the dark green uniform with his tag on it, but he didn't want a life of research.

Susan did. She was something else and there were too few left like her. Once Ben reached their floor, he found her tinkering with some kind of hologram.

"That looks an awful lot like what we saw in Wyoming." he said and Sue knew that voice too well to be startled.

"Bingo. Little shining spheres playing tag... or whatever that was." as she replied, he was putting down the many paper bags he brought in.

"Now whatcha doin' that for? You never needed visual help or nuthin'." he said, confirming yet again what Sue always believed: that he would have been a terrible actor, he would never be able to mask his accent.

But she liked that, it was a part of him.

She allowed him to come closer and let him hold her in his arms.

"It's not for me, it's for Coulson. We need to make him understand the situation without over complicating things. Here we are now, making presentations for a little financing." she then sighed, remembering how boring presentations were in school, before the Think Tank.

Ben rested his head over her shoulder, he looked at the little Earths floating around the room and asked: "And what after that? How are you gonna save the world this time, Ms. Storm?"

"We already did that once. We can do it again."

She led his arms around her waist and turned towards him. What a way to save the world, they both thought. They almost laughed but then they heard a boy shouting from the other room and a little bundle of purple energy flew right in.

A man shaped flame gave chase and they made daring twists and turns around the ceiling, harmlessly phasing through the recreation of Susan's memories. At first the couple was left speechless at the scene, then Ben took a stance.

All of a sudden he was no longer made of flesh, rather of a mysterious purple energy, perhaps the same cosmic rays that came out of the portal to the N-Zone in the distant past, turning them into personifications of the elements. The bright light above turned her attention to him and in an instant Ben had his little angel in his arms, everyone's tiny saviour.

In the meantime the flying torch was blocked right in his tracks by some invisible force and then stumbled a couple feet back. Once he stabilised, he slowly descended, the flame subsided revealing a young man with the same eyes and hair as Sue's.

"Lil' Mary Molly learns new tricks every day!" he said with a smile on his face.

"I don't know if I'm ok with that. I mean, she's so small and all..." said her dad, still colourful but that didn't scare the toddler at all.

"I say that's radical!" he exclaimed with his tongue sticking out, making Mary giggle.

"You seem to like this babysitting gig." Sue said but deep down she predicted that.