Oh my gosh I hope I haven't screwed this up. Apologies that it took so long to post this chapter - I haven't had Internet access for days.

They paced about a wide open space impatiently; the colour had been driven from the face of Reed's father. "Where is he? I thought you knew where we were heading," he firmly said. Building after building, street after street, & still no sign of Reed or Sue.

"No, something's not right..," replied Ozai who found the scientist's no-nonsense attitude uncomfortable. He whispered to himself next, "Anytime now, Susan…" The sky turned overcast at a precise, fitting moment for two figures to emerge from behind a blind corner. Ronan had brought down the borg hound, wrapping the fingers of his right hand around a dagger-shaped shard he'd taken from its mane, with his staff in the other hand. Whereas Diablo had freed himself upon regaining consciousness & caught up with the search for the child.

"That has been what I'm trying to tell you.." Leopard X muttered to Nathaniel, who couldn't rest perfectly assured that his own safety (apart from his son's) was guaranteed. "You three are here to steal my technology, aren't you? Let me tell you I can suck you into a time vortex using this gadget," he accused, face reddening with anxiety. Then he produced a sleek-looking rounded gizmo with four claspers on its sides.

Ozai waved his hand while shaking his head, "No, Dr. Richards, let me explain -" Diablo almost scorched them using a fire stream but Leopard X blocked it off with his outer block. A heartbeat later the gadget flew out of the Nathaniel's grip before it was encased in a force field. "Do I always have to fill in a moment of suspense?" Sue appeared with Reed by her side.

"Who are you guys?" Nathaniel demanded. Except his tense expression was soothed the moment he turned to his son, "Reed!" He ran to the kid, placing angered but protective hands on his shoulders, "Young man, what have you been doing?" Sue put a bubble around them both, Ozai & herself at the same time.

"I was on my way home from school, Dad. Then they cornered me in an alleyway, & then.."

"Why didn't you run? Reed, I wanted you home within the hour. Don't tell me you were in your daydreams again, churning out magic numbers in the clouds of your head."

"Dad, PLEASE! You don't understand." Now Reed was a little too frightened to lift up his eyes.

They were interrupted by Sue, "Can we save the discussion for later please?" Sooner or later she had to open the force field up to get back at their opponents.

"We will not waste the effort coming all the way to this point in time to destroy the leader of Los Quadros Fantasticos!" Diablo wielded his glowing Air potion. Sue was the only one able to withstand the resulting gush of wind, "Ronan, Diablo, please. Don't harm them!"

"As if you have authority over me, Invisible Woman! If you don't hold your tongue, Diablo & I shall gladly silence you," snapped the Accuser.

"Hey, anyone home? I've been tryin' to getcha for ages!" came Ben's booming all of a sudden, through Ozai & Sue's earpieces.

"We're in another timeline, Ben. It could explain the bad reception," said Sue, "We need fresh ideas on how to clobber two maniacal villains, please!"

"That's why I told ya how much you need me in a fight," the Thing laughed.

"If he's in an alternate timeline, there must be a device latched onto him which anchors him to this timeline," Reed's father supplied answers instead.

"Oh! Like…a temporal stasis device?" Sue got excited.

"Correct. If you damage it they would disintegrate in a smear of time & space, provided they don't get to yours first!" he barked. Sue was admitted to the sight of him leaning over to protect Reed - he sheltered his son under his coat as they slowly headed to a safer corner. Diablo sent some tree roots with the Earth Potion's power to curl tightly around Nathaniel's wrist. However, he revealed the metal plates guarding his lower arm that sliced through them skillfully.

With sheer speed Ozai performed a roll attack on Ronan, looking for a possible place were he would conceal a temporal stasis device lookalike. But out of the blue a familiar alien face appeared in front of the Kree: the disappointed face of Supreme Intelligence.

"Ronan…we finally have you in our grasp. Surrender now or prepare to suffer worse."

Ronan gawked with wild eyes at his superior, "But I…I made sure you wouldn't find me! How could you -?"

"Did you think you could escape our detection so easily?" The alien's lime green eyes let off an intensified glow. "You are hereby summoned to the High court of the Empire. Severe punishment awaits you & Esteban de Ablo for unauthorized possession of highly prized technology."

"Listen! I can explain, Supreme one!"

Ozai suddenly remembered that at the edge of Ronan's right sleeve was his means of communicating remotely with anyone from the Kree Empire. Could the temporal stasis device be hidden there? He had previously overheard him speaking to Supreme Intelligence with that device in the middle of the Contest of Champions. While he had an opportunity, he fired a powerful beam at the right location. It hit the back of Ronan's hand, damaging & cracking the crystalline material of the comm. device.

Diablo was close to launching a water wave in Sue's direction; she wanted to stress on offense in place of defense this time round. She packed together her strength at the core of her body before letting it loose in form of an incredible seismic pulse. Besides, she had it with the alchemist & his repetitive speech. A small ring he wore on a finger of one hand was shattered to bits: that ring was what kept him in the timestream. He began to panic with his most vital piece of equipment destroyed.

"You have chosen with poor judgment, Ronan. I am afraid you must face the wrath of the whole Empire with what is left of your pride & humiliation."

"NOOOO!" shouted Ronan in deep fear. Both he & Diablo were already enveloped in pearlescent sparks; although the devices holding them to the timeline were now malfunctioning, the Kree could still convey them to the Empire itself to carry out their prison sentence.

The footsteps of the father & son reverberated throughout the mansion's main hallway, leaving behind distant echoes. The hues of sunset outside, seen through the glass windows were in a beautiful contrast with the shades & tones of the house's interior.

"I'm so sorry for my temper flares, my boy," Nathaniel's head was a little drooped. He glanced for a long while at one of the mansion walls dressed up with many a portrait. "It is the fact that your mother isn't here anymore." He'd almost lost Reed that day, & that was how the surge of strong love he felt toward the child manifested itself more fully. It was thus easier for him to tell the truth behind his unstable emotions & rather unnecessary stress.

"I miss her so much too," Reed responded, with teary orbs of his eyes. In the manner of a child's pure innocence he added, "But at least I have you."

Sue & Ozai made their way back into the present safely, confiding in the Kree Empire who at last nabbed their most embarrassing Public Accuser. They both, along with Ben, joined up with the others for a regular night outing. But they'd forgotten a part of the time travel procedure: Ben hadn't checked that the neuralizers in each of Sue & Ozai's suits were activated before they left the scene with Nathaniel & young Reed…

Reed experienced a powerful, calming emotion that night. A vague memory of the loving side of his dad floated above every other thought. He found it hard to believe it was real at all…frankly he did not recall such an incidence in his past. Yet the image of Nathaniel Richards's smile stuck to his mind, even making him enjoy wondering how it appeared without warning.

He'd last spoken to his father three years before the space station accident. Nathaniel had taken his time machine on a journey to a new location, but had never returned since. From then on Reed carried on with his work, even though it was without the wonderful motivation of a passionate parent.

Something spontaneously prompted him to say as he lay down on his bed, "I hope you'll come back someday, Dad. I haven't lost hope." He shut his eyes savouring the essence of everything he'd learnt under the extraordinary mentor Nathaniel was.

What exactly happened was because the neuralizer wasn't used on Nathaniel & young Reed properly, a small detail of Reed's childhood had been altered - there was the event of his father showing affection in protecting him. Since that occurred in the 'past' timeline, it affected the 'present' timeline & therefore formed a memory in adult Reed's head. It never originally happened, but intervention by Ronan, Diablo, Ozai & Sue caused the circumstances to be thrown off course.

Note: the intervention didn't affect the event of Nathaniel disappearing mysteriously into the timestream three years prior to the creation of the Fantastic Foue. It still happened as it initially did.