 3...2..1...no go.
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May. 19th, 2009 @ 03:17 am 
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Getting in here was tough enough. Getting across an open launchpad without detection just added to the fun, but no one expected trouble, at least, so no one was on high alert.
Ben climbs up, surveying the craft as he goes. "Lookin' pretty good, big brain. What're we still waitin' on?" he asks, as he straps himself into the pilot's chair and begins a systems check.
"Susan." Reed answers, keeping his eyes on the time and the monitors. "Once she's on board, we launch immediately. I checked all over the facility and security is at a minimum since the launch was officially canceled. Susan's should still be able to get here without any major suspicion or interference. No one here should know what we're doing. I hope."
"Ok, once Suzie is on board, we're set to go, all systems look set, but the shields is readin' kinda funny. Bet once the engines start firin', we'll get plenty of attention, in any case. This oughta' be quite a ride."
"Here I am," She says as she comes onto the spacecraft. She has a bad feeling about this. She's not the sort to do this, not the sort to do anything that's not strictly by the rules. And yet here she is, for the good of astronauts gone missing and Reed Richard's research.
"Hi, Ben." She smiles in his direction as she pulls inwards, settling into the designated seat on the launch and immediately entering launch angles, velocity and coordinates. She knows what she has to do, she knows her part here.
"Are we ready?"
He can hear them in front. It wasn't easy, but he snuck in and wedges himself into a crevice back near the engines so he'll be braced for take-off. Roger, sis. All for one and one for all.
Reed nods to Susan, then to Ben. He makes one last check and takes a deep breath.
"We're ready to launch." Reed enters a command on the console, beginning the launch sequence. Outside the shuttle the alarms were sounding and the gates were closing. The security was scurrying all over the facility. Reed took special precautions, disabling any methods of stopping the launch from ground control. No one was stopping this launch. This was the point of no return.
The rocket begin the rumble as the countdown begins. "10...9...8..."
Ready to launch.
Sue knows, she just knows that after tonight her whole life will be different. She'll probably end up in jail or prison. She doesn't know what will happen to Johnny, but she's ready for whatever may come.
As they take off her back gets flattened against the seat. Taking off is kind of like being on a rollercoaster. Except... worse. She keeps her eyes on the coordinates in front of her and gives Reed the thumbs up sign.
Ben handles the controls like he was born to it, and the craft handles extremely well - Reed does good work, after all. He's pressed back at takeoff, fighting for the controls as the ship launches.
"An' we're off. Trip of a lifetime, kids."
The G-force of the launch pushes Reed back into his seat. Even with all the training he went through for this, the real thing was still quite exhilarating.
The craft passes through the clouds and the rest of the atmosphere. The sky darkens and the stars come into view. Reed lets out a sigh of relief that he had been holding in for the last few days.
"We've made it."
Curiosity gets the best of him. He floats to a porthole and looks out. There's something out there and it's just...big, huge and not right.
"Reed," he calls into a panel. "Yell at me later. Look outside to the left....um...port now!
Reed was about to yell something, but he sees what Johnny sees.
"Cosmic ray storm...fascinating," Reed says, almost letting his mind wander off before he realizes how dangerous this could get. He quickly enters a command into the shuttle's systems.
"I'm powering up the shields in case of impact. They should be able to withstand a bombardment of rays of that magnitude."
"They should." She says, unless we miscalculated. No, they couldn't have. Reed's a genius and she's no slouch herself.
"Johnny, we're having a talk when we get home," She says, glancing at him over her shoulder. She can't believe he got on the launch! She'd checked he was asleep before she left the house!
"That's quite a storm, surprised nonn'a the instruments picked it up, tryin' ta move to compensate, but ya better hope yer shields are up ta it, Big Brain. This ain't the most maneuverable bucket a bolts."
Reed keeps his eyes on the storm and on the shield status. It was at full power. He had designed the shielding so that the rays would be refracted and flow past him, like a forcefield. Reed had not done as many tests as he had wanted. This would prove whether his hypothesis was right or wrong.
The rays made contact...and nothing happened. Reed exhaled the breath he was holding in.
"It would seem that the shields work as expected. Now, Johnny, how-Augh!"
The ship shook violently and an alarm went off. Reed checked the shield status. Panels 3 and 6 had been forcefully disconnected.
"No, the shields were functioning correctly, how..." It then occurred to Reed that while he had spent a great deal of time making the shields protect them from the harmful radiation of the rays, he had not spent enough time making their attachment to the ship strong enough to withstand the shear kinetic power within a cosmic storm. This passed through his mind, but he had no time to explain it all to his crew mates.
"Ben, get us out of here!"
In truth, he started working on just that when the alarms started and the shaking began.
"We're losin' maneuverability, long with everything else. Doin' my best just ta get us through this. Stay buckled in... this is gonna be a rough ride." he grunted as he fought with the controls.
"Reed! There's a -"
The radio cuts out. The sensors report the engine room is a barely contained flash fire.
"No, Johnny!" Reed yells. A fire in the engine room was the last thing they needed right now. And Johnny's life was in danger. Guilt washed over Reed. This was turning into a complete failure, and he had dragged his best friends down with him.
"Ben, we need to abort this mission!" Reed looks to Susan, quiet for a moment. "Susan, I'm sorry."
"I'm tryin' big brain, I'm tryin'. We got half a dozen system failures, an' I guarantee you if we land at all, its gonna be the hard way. Buckle up, cause we're goin' down hard."
He fights the controls, trying to get any kind of readings off the instruments and keep the nose up. He finally gives up on getting anything past all the alarms and warnings and zeroing dials, piloting from pure visuals and just trying to keep enough of an angle to make a survivable crash.
Its a rough landing, skidding and bouncing for almost half a mile, nearly rolling more than once before the ship finally crashes into a rock pile, smoking badly, but more or less in one piece.
Sue gasps as Johnny's cut off in a rage of static and her eyes catch Reed's. She's sure, she's sure her heart just stopped.
"Johnny!"
And then, against what Ben is telling them to do, Sue unbuckles herself. "I can't just sit there... I can't... Johnny..." She wasn't happy with her brother sneaking on the spacecraft, but he was her brother and he was caught and he could die. She doesn't think, just unbuckles herself as the ship rocks. She couldn't make it up out of her seat though and ended up hanging on as they begin to crash back into Earth.
For a moment she sits there in her seat. Her arms hurt, they throb from where she was forced to grip her seat in order not to fly out of it. She pulls herself up forcefully and then begins to stumble towards the engine room. "Johnny! Johnny..."
When she arrives a horrific sight greats her of a human-shaped pillar of fire. There is no skin or hair. Just fire. "Sue," he says in a kind of shock. "Sue, it doesn't hurt."
"Johnny!" She almost rushes at him, but the heat is like a bonfire and she needs to stay back.
"Johnny you're on fire! What do you mean it doesn't hurt!" She wants to tell him to stop drop and roll but he's completely consumed by the flames. Her heartbeat trips and unbeknownst to her she begins to disappear slowly, first becoming translucent.
"I already did the stop, drop, and roll thing. It doesn't work. I'm still here and on fire. Think I can be like the Human Torch and T-" He stops dead in his tricks and reaches out. "Sue! You're disappearing on me!"
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