3978/The Impossible Box

The Impossible Box
Date of Scene:	29 October 2020
Location:	Reed's Labs - Four Freedom Plaza
Synopsis:	Johnny needs help testing a mysterious artifact. With the Thing away, he calls in another strongman: the Incredible Hercules! Will the lab survive?!
Cast of Characters:	Johnny Storm, Hercules

---

Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny Storm has a job.

No, really. As a member of the Fantastic Four, Johnny is a crucial part of world-saving research and development. Sometimes, you see, things need to be made very hot. Or are very hot. Or otherwise, the temperature needs to be controlled. Johnny has the same baseline knowledge of Reed's frankly arcane technology the other members of the team have; he even helped build some of it, though he could never follow the theory. What we're getting at, here, is that there is a box.

It's not really a box. It is a small cube, entirely black, about the size of a child's jack in the box. It's currently hovering gently inside of spaceship grade forcefields, inside a sub-lab designed to be cut off from the rest of the plaza and vented into the secret underground tunnels the mayor doesn't know about. The reason for this security is simple; the box has no atomic weight. It doesn't exist. Reed has a theory about this; to put it simply, the weight is some kind of miscalculation on the part of the universe. The Box is so dense, or so light, that it doesn't react to the fundamental pressure of existence. So, Reed reasoned, it needs to be interacted with before this quirk of physics starts getting...

Hungry. Johnny wonders why he doesn't have a drinking problem, because this means Torch and Thing get brought in to poke at something until something happens. He takes a swig of Monster Energy Drink, and reflects on the fact that Ben is on vacation, and they need a big tough strong guy. So..

"Hey, Herc, want to make twenty bucks?" Johnny says on his phone, grinning. He's a genius.

Hercules has posed:
Hercules has no job.

No job save for being-

    HERCULES
    PRINCE OF POWER

It is not the offer of monetary reward is not what has spurred The Lion of Olympus from whatever pre-scene revelry he was taking part of, it was the fact that the person making the offer was none other than Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four! For twenty dollars bargained from young Storm was in fact a ticket for ADVENTURE!

Not but twenty minutes passed between the phone call and the arrival of Hercules Panhellenios, Deposited onto the front steps of the Baxter building by kindly taxi, his short skirt rippled dramatically in the stiff, late-october winds that knifed through Manhatten.

"Friend Storm! What adventure have you for the Favored Son of Olympus this day?" Hercules boomed, just as soon as he could clap eyes on Johnny, arms spread wide as he loomed in towards his younger compatriot, the threat of a hug darkening the near horizon.

"Shall we hoist Benjamin, still sleeping, out to the docks, tie Reed's ankles together in secret, relocate your fine home into another state?" he preposed as his sandal clad feet drew him ever closer. "Invite me into your confidence and we shall weave mischeif and adventure together into a fine tale!"

Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny meets Hercules at the door, because Sue did manage to beat some manners into him. H.E.R.B.I.E, or one of the many drones the AI uses to interact with the world, is floating behind Johnny holding what looks like a large, blue painting smock.

There is a giant blue 4 on it of course.

"Herbie, he doesn't need that. Herc! Bubby!" Johnny says, floating a little and wrapping an arm around Hercules before he can break one of his ribs with a hug. It's all about anticipation. "Always good to see you, man! How've you been? Great, great, sincerity. But.."

Johnny pauses because those are amazing ideas. H.E.R.B.I.E knows Johnny well enough to simulate clearing his nonexistant throat. Johnny grins as if he hadn't been tempted, "Actually, it's a working day. Reed found some hunk of space...something. It doesn't react to anything, and he's worried that means...you know, the usual Reed things he's worried about. So he wants to see if we could get it to react to anything. You know, force, heat, bad jokes. Have you ever been in the lab?"

"Perhaps you should wear your Fantastisuit, Mister Panhellios!" HERBIE, a born suck up, tries to undermine Johnny's authority. Johnny, again, considers murder.

Hercules has posed:
Johnny's ribs are safe, for now. There was a warm, one armed squeeze and then things moved on to a sort of West-End walk and talk!

"Hah, something from beyond the distant stars, ey?" He drove a fist into the palm of his hand, a broad grin splitting his face. He listened, nodding his understanding or glossing over a lack of comprehension. Luckily, this was Johnny he was talking to and not the non-elucidating, elastic, Mr. Fantastic "Ah so, something from beyond the stars! I tell you well now, Young Storm! Cherish these new and amazing surprises while they last. Let not experience jade you to the wonder of the distant horizon! Prattle aside, I am certain that between our shared charm we will coax this mystery into spilling its secrets!" his hands and arms tell the story themselves, gesturing and sweeping grandly as he speaks!

Herbie is given a beautific smile for his intrusion and... concern? "Pleae, Mr. Panhellios is my father. I am-

    Hercules!

This being the second page, his introduction is not delivered with quite so much verve... but even so, Hercules likes little more the sound of his own voice, rarely more so than when he says his own name. "Concern yourself not, Friendly Automaton. For even should I have come to your home with nary a stitch upon me, I would still be well protected!" he says, casually waving aside the offer of unstable molecules in faver of a nice, linen toga-skirt.

Johnny Storm has posed:
Hercules talks enough bullshit to be a West Coast Avenger. Johnny can appreciate game. There's something refreshing about the guy, honestly. He's a bit...otherworldly, much like Thor, even to Johnny's jaded sensibilities, but there's a sincerity to the whole demeanor. A god you can have a beer with, Johnny guesses, as he does in fact walk and talk to the Danger Lab. As previously described, the lab is a bit starker than the usual Richards affair, with an number of redundant saftey features. There's an eerie red glow throughout the room.

"We found it underground, actually." Johnny says, floating over. Herbie worries, as he was built to do. Johnny re-seals the room, with a horrible puff of steam, and starts to slowly lower the force-field keeping The Box in place. "Been a while since Mole Man got busy, we're worried it might be some new, awful discovery he's going to use to be ugly and steal buildings."

Johnny trails off a little as 'don't lose your sense of wonder' sinks in, but he shakes it off. "We dunno for sure, there are a couple underground guys. Klaw likes digging."

"What if it's irradiated!" HERBIE moans, rubbing his face with the jumpsuit for lack of a security blanket.

"Then I'd feet it, spud." Johnny answers, as the force field fully lowers. "We're looking for any kind of reaction, Herc. It doesn't move, bend, break, or accord to Reed, even acknowledge pressure, so we're wondering if more pressure's the answer. The sensors are on, but if you feel anything weird, drop it right away and we'll split before we get dumped into the earth's core, okay?"

"That's more of your wit, right Johnny?" HERBIE says. Johnny barks a laugh because it absolutely is not.

Hercules has posed:
While Johnny floated, Herc' followed, the thick, leather soles of his sandals softly clapping against the floor tile and and then the more austere plating of The Lab.

Johnny further explained, Hercules listened, his features sobering with consideration as he folded one arm beneath his considerable, befurred pectorals while his other hand poised just so at his chin. "Mysteries within mysteries Friend Storm!" he enthused, pulling his hand away from his chin and forming it into a meaty fist, "If there is one thing that I savor, it is the chance to try my, literal, Herculean might against unknown foes. If there be but one more..." he paused they entered the lab. "Well that list is both valourous, voluminous, and sordid" he utters and comes to a pause because in small rooms there is a very real danger that Hercules might drain the oxygen with his orations... And it's just polite to give people a chance to speak and listen while they do so.

The Mcguffin was exposed in all o its enigmatic nature, Hercules lingering just beyond the threshold of the lowered field. He dropped what was supposed to be a consoling hand upon HERBIE's head, trying to assure him, "Hearten yourself, Friend HERBIE. You are companion to two grand heros. Many have stood in your metaphorical shoes before and found their mettle tested and tempered in such events!" Hercules... neglects to mention that there is an equally long list of young Sidekicks that faltered in those tests.

Hercules is too sober to tell such stories now.

Two more pats would seem to dribble HERBIE in place before Hercules steps forward.

He nodded his understanding and acceptance of Johnny's advice and caution as he reaches out to take up the cube in his hand. "Fear not, This will prove but a stubborn pickle jar in retrospect! A precursor to the night ahead!" he blustered as he firmed his grip and then SQUEEZED! Fingers trying to crush in around the nothing that had so stymied the First Family in the age of Marvels.

Johnny Storm has posed:
"Yeah, well, you know Mole Man. Pathetic but loves his property damage." Johnny says, an entierly unJohnnylike bitterness in his voice. He seems, again, to realize this, and shakes it off with a literal shake of his head, flame licking off from his hair like a wet dog. This is unacceptable, he feels like BEN.

Herbie is a robot and cannot blush, even as he is basically nailed into the ground by Hercules's kindly affection. "I feel so safe, sir!" He chirps, clapping his little sort of hands together. "I know you can do it!"

Johnny rolls his eyes, crossing his arms and feeling like his teenaged self for a second. What's next, he thinks, storming off to sleep at a flophouse to get away from his family for a night? God, what if Franklin or Val tried that at fifteen? It was all so different, back then.

Hercules, you've squeezed a lot of impossible things in your day. This one...it's tricky. It's not slippery per say, but your grip is hard to maintain. It's like squeezing into foam, or a sponge that somehow is both soft but utterly unyielding. It's an utterly passive experience; there's no give, no real resistance, it just...is the same. At least at this level of power.

Hercules has posed:
"By my beard, perhaps... no pickle at all!" Hercules mutters, trying for a few more moments to accomplish his task with some manner of nonchalance! His face shifts, lips thinning, brows furrowing. "Should this elusive cube survive our match, remind me to invite Thor for a try! It would gladden me greatly to see him struggle as well." he mutters. He was a beat away from grousing about Thor just using his hammer... only for it to spark a thought of Hercules wishing he had brought his mace!

He fumbled with it, trying to grasp it just so... clasping it with just his fingertips, trying to... Ah, yes there! He brought it between hands that could crush mountains! "You hold... enmity for thy enemy. No sin there, Friend Storm!" Hercules spoke up as he labored... or attempted to! The proper method of applying his strength was proving more tricky than... well, Herc' Crushing it! "Be of your gaurd but close not your eyes to possibilities that you might not see... or have been purposefully hidden from you!" There, was that it? Trying to place it between his palms and force them towards one another!

"I am reminded... of one of our absent friend Thors stories... I will not rob Goldielocks of a proper telling of it and so will summerize! In visiting the relm of Giants, he found himself in their hospitality and thusly challanged to several labors of his own. Drinking of a bowl, lifting a cat. Other such paltry things that I would have surely seen triumph through yet they stymied the Thunderer!" there was a moment of effort to adjust, "But... he had been tricked by their devious magics! The bowl was no bowl at all, Thor had attempted to drain the sea! It was not a cats tail upon which he tugged but the very tail of the world serpent... and two or three other tricks that had been played upon him!"

Johnny Storm has posed:
"Tricky, isn't it?" Johnny says, nodding. "Totally shrugs off heat, too, at least as hot as I was gonna go indoors. Kind of frustrating."

And then, as if to further bedevil Johnny, something happens.

It gets colder. The Box doesn't expand, but it doesn, there's a sense that...there's less room in the lab chamber, despite that being physically impossible. Johnny's jostled forward a step, and scowls, being intimately familiar with how useless the phrase 'physically impossible' is. The cold is eerie, numbing, it makes Herc have even more trouble keeping his grip. But it's...something?!

"The pressure maybe?" Johnny guesses, as he hits the intercom. "Reed? Reed?!"

"Communications down, sir!" HERBIE squeaks, "The Box is doing something to them! Oh I always knew I'd die looking at your horrible face, sir!"

"So is this a snake or the ocean or something?!" Johnny snaps, eyes wide, as the room "contracts" again, being forced another step closer to The Box. "Because if you can totally out-muscle Winghead now's the time!"

Hercules has posed:
There are men, women and others that would pay good money to see Hercules as he is now, the way those muscles tighten or swell, his cheeks tightening as his jaw stiffens. He halts, shifting his feet, broadening his stance, straightening his back and taking a break... and just there, upon his brow, he seems to glisten.

"So it would seek... to crush Hercules before Hercules crushes it?! Very well strange Box, I am not above accepting the challange of the seemingly inanimate!"

Hercules, God of Might, Unafraid to pick a fight with a block!

He stoops low, bringing his Olympian might to bare against the block once more, lips cutting away from teeth in a mad grin as he snarled his effort.

"NAY!" flexing even his voice, he cannot help but shout! "I KNOW NOT IF ASGARDIANS HID MORALS AMIDST THEIR MYTHS, BUT IF BLONDIE WERE TO HAVE LEARNED ANYTHING... PERHAPS IT IS THAT EVEN SEEMINGLY SIMPLY LABORS HARBOR GREATER, UNSEEN CHALLENGES BEFORE THEM?!" things kind of falter, while he might have known Plato, or Socrates, it is more likely that he wrestled tham than spoke. Sometimes, he flags in the face of philosophy!

"BUT IF YOU THINK I AM IMMUNE SUCH FRIENDLY PROVACATION, I SAY THEE-" effort spikes as he tries to leverage every muscle he had against the nefarious cube, considering even biting it... Resenting that it had no legs twixt Hercules could kick! "Maybe..." he halted taking a moment to breath. Glistening giving way to an honest sweat.

Johnny Storm has posed:
Johnny's eyes widen. He expected to see Hercules get worked up, stumble around a little, maybe give a speech about lions. This was never on the menu, and especially without the Mr. Fantastic escape hatch. He has to..

He has to...

A hook comes digging into him, as Annihilus smiles, and the awful, awful pressure of in his head reverberates as the worm slowly drags into his head...

"Hid." Johnny says, as the pressure in the room increases. "That's it. It was inert underground! Where there's heat and pressure! You're...reminding it of where it used to be, I guess! If it has memories! Close enough! Listen, how much heat can you stand?!"

"Aaaaaah!" Herbie screams, as he's shoved out of his little divot in the ground by the weight of the Box's pressure.

"Because we've got to simulate the conditions of a lava flow!" Johnny says, his body exploding into flame as he manages to fly a little bit in the air. He starts blasting the Box, which remains its same, awful, neutral temperature. For now.

Hercules has posed:
The answer was simple, "I am the Scion of Olympus, Friend Storm! Your worst will but dry the sweat from my brow!" I lied, the answer was not simple. Hercules lied, Johnny's worst would be no easy thing to endure but he would not have the man hold back on his accord!

The flames flowed and Hercules simply felt warm! A summer breeze or the nearness of a flame even as it lapped around his hands. He steadied himself, firmed his footing once more, positioned his hands and once more laid his might against the strange thing. His features contorted, and he squeezed!

Shoulders that once bore the weight of the world hunched. A back that carred Cerberus from the gate of the underworld to the doorstep of King Eurystheus city, bowed. Deep beneath the earth, at its very heart, could he bring about such force? Could Johnny bring such heat...?

For Hercules part, he is loath to think otherwise! What God of Might would falter now? He wouldn't dare, musn't!

Johnny Storm has posed:
Here's a secret: Johnny's always holding back. He would sometimes, when he was a kid, worry that his full flaming potential could cause serious damage to Earth's atmosphere. One time Reed quietly took him aside and reassured him that no, the full extent of the Nova Flame woudn't cause the damage. The gravity from the birth of a man-sized sun would do most of it...

But there's no choice, here. If Johnny's theory is right, recreating the nightmarish conditions of the deep, deadly innards of the earth might be the only thing to set this thing back to 'not kill everyone'. Hercules will see Johnny's flame go from red, to orange, to white...

"Nova FLAME!" Johnny shouts, a warning and a prayer as he taps into his full destructive potential for a few seconds! "Herc, shove buddy! And remember..."

"...after this we kill Reed!" Johnny says, and for some reason despite it all he laughs.

Hercules has posed:
    The heat intensifies, his effort redoubles, trying to crush it, compact it down, fold it, bend it, break it. He feels the sweat sizzle on his skin as the heat rises, boiling off into seconds and then glimpses of vapor. He smells breifly the scent of burning cloth, leather. steel and gold puddle on and around his heat, some of it running down his face as his guard succumbs to its melting point.

Johnny shouts his passion and Hercules cracks a smile through the grimace. He set the bar for heroes, he will not allow himself to be surpassed. His pride will not allow it! What good is a legend if it is left behind!?

The light is blinding, he feels... pain, seeping in at the edge of the heat, sharp and searing! A sting that drives deeper and deeper as the seconds come one after the other. He grimaces... hoping his beard will hold! He can feel the hairs on his arms... and elsewhere singe, the smell tickling his nose!

The flame is a roar in his ears but he can just hear Johnny. What will it be, he wonders in the second between elipses. Drinks, company, a feast, some trendy night spot that Hercules won't understand?!

His might pours in and he begins to tremble as his limit approaches, trying to bring his hands together from what feels like opposing sides of the world.

'kill Reed!'

A shock, sharp and sudden, he opens his eyes and he is staring into white, hot flame!

He barks his shock and surprise, his grip loosed from the cube as he recoils, arms thrown up to shield his eyes!

Johnny Storm has posed:
It's so easy to just burn. It's a release, really, and Johnny laughs again as he feels the next stage of fire start to overtake him...

Almost distantly, he realizes Hercules grew up in a time when stabbing your brother in law was the default form of social climbing, and has never seen how saucy they all get in the lab. Oh no, he might be afraid I'm a Doombot or something, Johnny thinks, and it's like falling back down to earth

The white fire STOPS all too close to Hercules's face. Johnny's gone stern, and he calls the heat and flame back into himself, cooling the room instantly and allowing him to go back down to his usual red, before Flaming Off. He lets out a breath.
HERBIE's melted, a just a little. "Good news, sirs! We're alive! And it's gone dormant again!"

"Fantastic." Johnny says, giving Hercules a hand up. "We probably just saved New York, buddy. Want to get blasted and make some bad life choices?"

Hercules has posed:
Ancient Greece and Rome had much simpler ways of assuring a larger share of inheritence back then.

Hercules seems to flutter his eyelashes at Johnny from between raised arms. He is not flirting, this is simply because of the retinal burn. Spots of blindness that hang infront of his eyes. Accelerated healing will see to them in moments. The pinkness of his skin will get taken care of as well, everything just the slight, angry pink of a sunburn.

Concern is salved the moment he realizes that the word of murder was a jest! He breaths a laugh, followed by another, one hand poises on his hip and the other sweeps back through his hair. Still curly and lustrous! His barking laughter is a thing of mixed releif and triumph. "As I said, Friend Storm, but a stubborn pickle jar and the preamble to our night!" he declared, feet planted firmly there in the slag and ashes of... His clothes. "Now, to our Bacchinalia!"