(Billy's P.O.V)
"For the record, entering a massive hole that's goes god knows where is not the best of ideas."
Johnny stated, looking down at the pit we were descending into.
The four of them including Spiderman stood on one of Invisible Woman's construct just a few meters lower than me.
As for me, I was positioned on Giganto's massive forehead, the water around her body firmly under my control.
Seriously, the Trident was incredible. I had already recovered about a quarter of my Psionic energy thanks to it.
The Trident seemed to feed of an unknown mystical force. Based on the fact that Solomon was no slouch in the magic department, there was a great deal of synergy between his legacy and the Trident.
"We need to know who sent Giganto after us Johnny, so quit complaining and give us a light."
Sue cut off her younger brother's grumblings, keeping the Construct they stood on steady as they moved down.
"I'm not complaining..."
The younger Storm complained, snapping his fingers and producing a sphere of flames that hovered before them, lighting up the dark walls of the pit.
I shook my head at their antics. We had been going down for more than 30 seconds now. The light from the surface had grown dim as night set in.
Giganto had also calmed down considerably. Which wasn't surprising seeing as we were now in a territory she was familiar with.
A few minutes into the descent and a source of light appeared below us.
"We're getting close to the bottom."
Spiderman told the Fantastic Four.
"The air here is drafty."
I felt a transmission come through the telepathic link I had among us.
(How is everything up there?)
The Invisible Woman asked.
(All good. She's calmer now that we're closer to her home.)
I responded, rubbing Giganto's head.
"Hey so are you like a new hero or something? Coz I've literally never heard of you before."
The Human Torch asked, only to get an elbow to his ribs.
"Ow, What did I say wrong?!"
He asked defensively.
"Nothing."
The Thing chuckled.
"Just felt like doing it."
"Oh once we get out of here, it's so on Ben!"
Johnny promised.
I opened a private channel to Spidey. Peter was about the only person I knew here.
(Are they always this...lively?)
(Believe it or not, this is much tamer. You should see them whenever Johnny pranks Ben. That's when the real drama begins.)
He said in amusement.
"So how long have you all been together as a team?"
I questioned.
"5 years, 3 months, 3 weeks and 2 days to be precise."
The Thing answered.
"Wow. I can't believe it's been that long since the accident that gave us our powers."
Johnny muttered to himself.
I could feel Ben's mood plummet.
"Yeah..."
The others looked at Johnny with a variety of expressions.
"Oh. Wait, Ben I'm sorry I didn't mean to..."
"It's fine Flame-Head. Not your fault."
The Thing responded curtly.
"Ben, you know I'm doing all I can to get you back to normal. We are not giving up."
Reed told him in a comforting tone.
"Yeah...I know Stretch."
The Thing answered.
The conversation quickly died down after that.
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"Wait, what's that?"
Spiderman spoke up a short time later.
"Looks like...a light or something."
It was. The lower we descended, the brighter it got.
Giganto started getting irritated a few seconds in. Her chest rumbled as she begun to squirm in the water prison.
"Whoa girl, chill. Calm down."
I tried to comfort her by sending more feelings of assurance and warmth but something had her nervous.
"What's wrong!?"
Mr.Fantastic asked, the five of them noticing how agitated she was getting. I dove into her mind to look for the reason why Giganto was acting that way.
"She's worried about something."
I told them, barely managing to catch a mental glimpse of her memories and of what had her concerned.
"What could make a 100 ton creature with the ability to burrow her way to the surface of the Earth worried?"
Spiderman wondered.
I frowned.
"She's...she's actually fighting me. I can't seem to..."
I pushed more of my mental feelers into her mind, taking care not to hurt or alarm her.
And then I saw it. Something that left me stunned.
"Guys, she has hundreds of Eggs down here."
The others looked at me dumfounded.
"Hundreds? Little mini Gigantos who will grow into their Momma's size one day? Hundreds!?"
Johnny asked in a slightly squeaky voice.
"Maybe even thousands."
I mused, adding more existential dread to the Human Torch.
Even thousands was only a rough estimate. We had no way of knowing how deep or extensive this underground world was. And Giganto was actively trying to keep those memories hidden. It was impressive.
"There's something else."
My tone was grim.
"Someone else is down here."
"Who?"
Spiderman asked but I shook my head.
"I don't know. Her memories are not the clearest."
Now more wary, we continued on until finally we arrived at the bottom. And it was wildly different than anything else I could have imagined.
We also found out the source of the light. Huge beautiful crystals.
Despite the threat down here, I couldn't help but suck in a deep breath at the bunch of them growing along the walls. Some of the crystals were even taller and wider than the Thing!
"Are these Diamonds?"
Johnny asked in awe.
Awe that was shared among the rest of us. The huge diamond crystals glowed blue, casting a warm light within the tunnel. The light seemed to come from within the crystals.
The bottom was not the end of our journey however, for the tunnel led deeper in, with more Diamond crystals growing out of the sides of the tunnel, Giganto must have come through.
Now the question here is, how much could all this be worth?
I mean just a few crystals would probably get rid of all my money problems.
"An entirely new terrain under the surface of the Earth."
Mr.Fantastic marvelled.
"Fascinating."
"And beautiful."
The Invisible Woman said with a smile, holding her Husband's hand. Reed returned the loving look.
"Not for long."
I told them, interrupting the tender moment by jumping off my position from Giganto's forehead.
Before they could ask what I meant by the cryptic statement, they followed my eyesight and saw what I had sensed.
From crevices and cracks, small brown creatures with red eyes and droopy muddy forms appeared.
Their numbers grew to scary amounts and in only a few seconds, we were surrounded from everywhere.
"Hahaha, I have you dead to rights Fantastic Fools! Welcome to Subterranea, my World!"
The mastermind finally showed themselves.
He was short.
Other features included, wearing a mix match of rags, Googles strapped tight around his head and possessing a face only a mother could love.
Oh he also had a common looking staff with a metal coil at the top in his hands.
"Mole Man. I knew something stank of your work."
Mr.Fantastic frowned, stepping in front of the Invisible Woman.
He wasn't the only one unhappy to see Mole-Man however, for upon spotting the diminutive figure if the Supervillain, Giganto's chest rumbled dangerously.
Mole-man's face blanched as he took a few unsteady steps backwards.
"G-get them!"
He immediately gave the order, not even wasting time with a monologue. Seeing Giganto's angry eyes must have really spooked him.
The Moloids; I looked into Mole-man's mind and found out that was what the small muddy Creatures with droopy forms were called, jumped over each other in a bid to get to us.
"Everyone, get back."
I warned my companions.
Fortunately they complied, just in time too, because when I unravelled Giganto's water prison, she immediately released a deafening roar that threw numerous numbers of Moloids back.
"No! No no! What are you doing?! Stop them you fools!"
Mole Man yelled at the Moloids, rolling to his feet after being thrown away by the shockwaves caused by Giganto's roar.
All the Moloids complied, even more of them coming out of god knows where and running towards us.
"Flame on!"
Johnny took the air, unleashing a stream of flame before us that blocked the Moloid's way.
The creatures backed away in fear.
"It's clobbering time!"
The Thing yelled, jumping over the flames and coming down on the Moloids with the force of a wrecking ball.
Spiderman joined the fight as well, jumping at the Moloids with fast kicks and fists now that he was out of web fluid.
Knowing I was missing out, I slowly floated into the air, using my recovered stamina and psionic energy.
The trident in my hands glowed golden as I raised it, gathering enough water, freezing it and then sending out ice arrows, lances and spikes at the Moloids, further devastating their numbers.
"They don't stay down guys."
Spiderman stated after kicking a Moloid and instead of it getting thrown back, it latched onto his leg.
"Lead them to me!"
The Invisible Woman said, using her powers to create a spherical construct to hold the Moloids in.
I controlled the water in the cave, creating high walls that loomed over the Moloids with only one way of escape, the path to Invisible Woman.
With the rest of the Fantastic Four, Spidey and I working together, it was easy to deal with the Moloids as more and more were led into Sue's construct.
As for Mole-Man, he saw that things weren't exactly turning out the way he wanted.
So he started running deeper into the cave as fast as his tiny feet could carry him.
I grew curious and dove into his mind to find out what he was planning.
(If I can get to the inner cave before the rest of the Eggs hatch, then once they do and see me, they will imprint on me and I shall have an army of monsters to call upon! The surface world shall know of the Mole-Man's wrath!)
He was planning on using Giganto's children to wage war on the surface world.
Looking at her size and the fact that the eggs were thousands in number, it wasn't exactly a bad idea.
But he hadn't accounted for something. Me.
With my recovered energy, I messed with his brain's sense of direction and instead of sending him towards the eggs, Mole-Man slowed to a stop as a shadow loomed over him.
Giganto.
"No...how? I was headed to the Cave!!"
He stuttered out in fear.
His hand's shook enough to make him drop the staff he had in his hands.
"No please..."
He fell on his butt, crawling back as Giganto widened her mouth and roared.
The sound was even louder than before. So much that Mole-Man simply passed out. The Moloids stopped fighting once their boss was down.
The ones not imprisoned in Sue's construct gave up and ran away.
Giganto sniffed Mole-Man and snorted derisively, stepping over him and walking deeper into the cave.
She stopped some several feet away, turning to regard us.
(Thank you.)
She didn't speak it but she projected the thought my way.
I smiled.
Then she used her limbs, slamming them on top of the ceiling and causing the tunnel into the inner cave to be blocked by huge rocks and diamond crystals.
Then Giganto was gone. Just like that. I feel like I'm missing something.
"Wait...the Egg!"
I turned to the Five of them only to see Susan smile.
"Don't worry, while we were busy with the Moloids, Reed slipped through and carried the egg into the inner cave."
"Oh."
I said.
Well, that was anti-climatic.