It had been Reed Richards’ idea to invite Namor the Sub-Mariner to accompany the Invisible Woman, the Human Torch and the She-Hulk to Hawaii, the location of a dramatic and deliberate volcanic episode that required the immediate intercession of the Fantastic Four. It wasn’t lost on any of those individuals present, least of all Namor himself, how much that would have rankled. Reed was a benevolent fellow, his composed demeanor born less out of social nicety than of a preoccupation with insights far beyond anything that would concern a normal man. This made his hatred for Namor – a strength of emotion outweighing even his enmity with Victor Von Doom – all the more palpable.

Doom was a disfigured lunatic in an iron mask, hell-bent on domination and devoted to Reed’s destruction. Namor was arrogant and charismatic and striking, and he was routinely blatant in his designs on Reed’s wife. Early on in his relationship with Susan, Reed knew that her head had been turned once or twice. That burned. It may have been selfish and petty, but benevolence be damned; when it came down to it, there was no contest in Reed’s heart which of his arch-nemeses he loathed the more.

Namor thought on this as he departed the icy summit of Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in the north of Hawaii’s Big Island, for the nearest coastline and the ocean beyond. And as he thought, he smiled. The antipathy was mutual, and it was always a pleasure to blacken another tiny piece of Richards’ soul…

Reed had grudgingly championed Namor’s presence here because his data analysis had indicated foul play occurring in the waters surrounding the island as much as in the volcanic region itself. Upon arrival via dimensional teleportal Namor had immediately concurred; his affinity with the intricacies of the ocean, from tidal currents to the smallest sealife even at a distance, prompted him to investigate without delay, even though his unannounced departure had caused consternation among his teammates. Still, Namor owed them no courtesy; even Susan, whose present attitude was wearisome in that she persisted in ignoring her secret attraction towards him.

Submerged in the murky depths of the Pacific, Namor noted the severe fluctuations in underwater temperature due to the mass rupturing of thermal vents and the presence of churning lava pits beneath the shifting crust of the ocean bed. The sea around him was filled with dead things, boiled or poisoned. This manipulation of nature enraged him – all the more because of the thoroughly unnatural presence of the hordes of Lava Men presently clustering about the foundations of the island, forming a barrier between him and a narrow aperture in the wall of volcanic rock beyond.

“As if guarding something,” Namor mused, “…or someone. Let’s take a gander at what’s so important, shall we…?”

The Lava Men were powerful foes but there was no one more formidable than the Avenging Son of Atlantis in his element. Namor wrested a club of rock from close by and launched himself at the horde like a torpedo, bludgeoning his enemies left and right to clear himself a path to his goal. The Lava Men responded sluggishly but they compensated for this with sheer numbers, threatening to crowd the Sub-Mariner out and engulf him in seething heat and molten rock… but Namor was ferocious and cunning, and most importantly he was too swift to snare. With a savage cry of “Imperius Rex!” he battered a swathe through the final flank of enemies and slithered into the cave they were guarding like an eel – and when he discovered the secret that the Lava Men had been assigned to guard, his dark eyes flew wide with shock.

Encased in a cocoon of volcanic crystal, like a beetle in amber, there floated a beautiful Polynesian woman with dusky skin and chocolate brown hair and eyes, naked above the waist… and with a fish’s tail below, every inch the mermaid so beloved of fable. Namor recognized Namaka, Hawaiian goddess of the ocean from legend, although their paths had never crossed before. Before the Lava Men could stop him, the Sub-Mariner splintered the crystal cage with his bare fists, freeing Namaka from her prison. In turn, after a moment’s groggy recollection of her senses, Namaka thrust out a delicate hand and provoked an underwater surge of immense proportions that swept out from the cave and carried the Lava Men away at great speed and for considerable distance, as if they were nothing more than flecks of soot and glowing embers.

Namor looked on, impressed. Namaka’s gaze darkened to purest black, the hue of ocean storms.

“My gratitude, stranger,” she whispered, her words like gentle whalesong. “My wretched sister, Pele of the fire, captured me when my guard was down; a miserable blunder on my part. And now I sense her schemes proceed apace on the land above…”

“The surface world is riven with volcanic activity,” Namor confirmed. “Normally I wouldn’t care, but the oceans themselves will inevitably suffer. This volcano goddess must be quelled.”

“Not her alone. This is merely the latest battle in the war between sisters: Pele, and Poli’ahu of the snows. But it’s an escalation beyond anything previously witnessed. In recent times Poli’ahu has gained possession of a powerful artifact forged in a world beyond our own: the Casket of Ancient Winters, an Asgardian relic purported to contain the icy fury of a thousand deadly winter storms, stretching back to the glacial ages of the Earth. The Casket was inadvertently exiled to the plane of existence inhabited by my pantheon and was appropriated by Poli’ahu to use against Pele, regardless of the destruction it would wreak when opened. Pele, in retaliation – and in fear for her own life, for the first time in centuries – sought a weapon of her own to counter the Casket, an avatar of incredible power. Predicting the dire consequences of this, I attempted to forge peace between my sisters… but this resulted only in my incarceration.”

Namor’s eyes narrowed. “This suggests you are powerful enough to end their feud, correct?”

“Not exactly,” Namaka said. “But I do know their mutual weakness, the secret that ignited their ages-old enmity… something we can exploit if we work together. Would you be willing?”

Namor smiled grimly. “Yes; myself and a small conclave of acquaintances. Provided, of course, they’re still alive…”

AS SOON GO KINDLE FIRE WITH SNOW

Part IV: Some Say The World Will End in Fire

By Meriades Rai

“Sis…? Susie…?”

Susan Storm-Richards, the Invisible Woman, groaned as her brother Johnny, the Human Torch, smoothed back her blonde hair and gently brushed crystallized ice from her cheeks. Sue opened one eye, shivering slightly. There was a bluish darkening to her lips and skin that suggested the onset of frostbite, despite Johnny’s best efforts to keep her warm with his heightened internal temperature; and, in truth, even he was beginning to feel the penetration of an unnatural chill.

The siblings weren’t aware that their enemy, Poli’ahu had recently cracked open the lid of the Casket of Ancient Winters, but they recognized the supernatural blizzard now raging about them for what it was. Sue moaned again and pushed herself upright.

“We were attacked from above,” she muttered. “Volcana, I think, in her hardest rock form. I generated a forcefield just in time, otherwise we’d have been obliterated. Is Jennifer…?”

“Here,” a female voice snapped. Sue and Johnny turned their heads to see the third member of their group – Jennifer Walters, the She-Hulk – emerge from a crevasse in the ice close by, her usually emerald-jade skin now blackened with severe scorch-marks in places. She-Hulk’s gamma-irradiated cells were augmented with an enhanced healing factor, so the fact that she still bore such conspicuous injuries was a testament to the ferocity of the recent attack upon her person.

“Volcana got the drop on me too,” She-Hulk snarled. “I can’t believe I tried to reason with that vicious little… no. No, it’s not her fault. She’s being controlled, by some half-naked, fiery floozy.”

“I’ve been called worse,” the Torch noted, not without some sincerity. The others ignored him.

The Invisible Woman stared up into the shrieking blizzard, which was growing more powerful by the second. Incongruously, there was a sprinkling of ash and hot stone mixed in with the stinging ice… and, somewhere above, further towards the summit of the mountain where they were now huddled against the elements, there were brief sights and sounds of a battle being waged, signified by bursts of blazing light.

“I’m not so hot on my Hawaiian mythology but I’m thinking we’re mixed up in a war between gods of fire and ice, or at least some personification of such,” Sue said. “But whatever their quarrel’s about it’s threatening the entire island and its population, not to mention what the far-reaching effects of such volcanic commotion could cause. Sorry to say it, but we need to get up there and butt in where we’re not wanted…”

“…and roll the die for whether we get cooked or cooled?” She-Hulk murmured. “Ah, what the hey. Facing impossible odds, challenging the unknown… that’s what being a part of the Fantastic Four is all about, right?”

“No!” screamed Poli’ahu of the snows, cast to her knees as liquid fire rained down all about her. “This is impossible! This isn’t how it’s supposed to be!”

The Casket of Ancient Winters levitated under its own power, held aloft by localized winds of frost and bitterness, and the cruel might of a thousand terrible snowstorms disgorged from within amidst the shriek of all those agonized souls claimed across the ages by winter’s bite. There were wolves in the whirling ice, all snow-white fur and glistening fang, and these were the multiple manifestations of the Hoarfen, primeval offspring of the Asgardian wolf god Fenris and a frost giantess; the Hoarfen was just one of many predators ensorcelled within the Casket’s cold heart, and historically heralded the arrival of further horrors…

…but on this occasion the Casket’s power was ailing.

Pele laughed merrily to herself as she observed the faltering of winter’s lethal kiss. She was buffeted by icy winds but by no means overcome, as Poli’ahu had anticipated; the Casket was dreadful indeed but it had been countered, and Pele’s avatar, Volcana, was a creature of molten flame that could not be extinguished. Now, under Pele’s command, Volcana pressed forward from on high, a whirl of undaunted ash and rock and plasma that defied the screaming blizzard. Without Volcana, the Casket’s grim tidings would already have seen the island of Hawaii surrender to glacial shift – but Pele cared nothing for this land, not truly, not now the defeat of her hated sister was finally within her grasp. If the island wouldn’t freeze it would burn instead, transformed into a huge, bubbling pit of lava, from which there would be no escape for Poli’ahu.

Legend stated that Pele had never once gotten the better of her sister goddess, and in this point that legend spoke true. Now was the day everything changed.

“Do you begin to comprehend, ice queen?” Pele purred, watching the wolves in the white shrivel and howl in pain even as they were birthed from the Casket’s maw. “Myweapon conquers yours! She embodies all the beauty and wrath not only of this world’s volcanic might but also that of myriad, distant planets. She was created among the stars, charged by cosmic energies and incandescent lightning storms the likes of which this sphere has never witnessed nor could ever survive. Even her fellow humans cannot begin to appreciate this one’s remarkable worth. But she belongs to me now, and through her I shall finally exact my revenge for what you did…”

Volcana grew in stature and rage at Pele’s whim, assailing the sniveling Poli’ahu from all sides. The white light spilling from the Casket began to dim, to wilt…

…and that was when Pele also screamed in anguish as the Human Torch ascended behind her and drained a significant portion of her own volcanic heat in a single burst, and act which might have overwhelmed him had he not been concentrating so deftly on absorbing that power into himself. The Torch had a bad reputation for being undisciplined, a liability to the Fantastic Four when cool heads where called for, and in truth it was a reputation well-earned. But there was so much more to Johnny Storm, and when the time came to fight fire with fire there was no more capable hero one could wish for at their side.

Pele whirled to face her attacker but staggered in sudden weakness, her hold on Volcana also faltering – and in that moment the power of the Casket flared. Winter’s bite took hold, the blizzard immediately escalating in intensity. Poli’ahu rose, reinvigorated, and cried out in triumph…

…but only for a second.

“Uh-uh. You don’t get to win this one either, missy.”

There was a strange shimmering in the air near the Casket and then it was plucked from the eye of the storm by unseen hands. The Invisible Woman, deflecting lightwaves to render herself imperceptible and surrounding herself with a psionic field to shield herself from the tempest, had approached the Casket without Poli’ahu noticing – as no other individual in attendance could do – and had claimed it for her own.

“Time to put this icy jack back in its box,” Sue breathed… and then she closed the lid.

The blizzard died. With the final, haunting cry of a thousand banshees, the wind dropped and the air temperature gently rose. Poli’ahu crowed with indignation, but the deed was done. Only the wolfen manifestations of the Hoarfen remained – and before these could turn upon Sue, tracking her by her scent even though she couldn’t be seen, another foe moved forward to confront them.

“I hate hurting animals, so I’m really hoping this doesn’t count,” She-Hulk said with genuine apology, before balling a fist and punching a Hoarfen in its snow-white snout, shattering it into a haze of ice particles. She then whirled and beat down another of the beasts as it leapt for her, and finally kicked out at a third, sending it unraveling and spinning away into the misty miasma of the last of the snows.

There were three more reflections of the Hoarfen but these began to dissolve into icy haze before She-Hulk could engage them. Behind her, the Human Torch rose high into the sky to unburden himself of the fiery energy he’d siphoned from Pele before it destroyed him, much to Pele’s distress; she could re-gather her lost power but the process would take time, a luxury now denied her. And Poli’ahu was similarly aggrieved, for the Invisible Woman remained imperceptible and the Casket along with her.

Stalemate. But the sister goddesses refused to be undone.

“You’ve made a horrendous error here today, mortals,” hissed Poli’ahu of the snows, stalking forward with hands outstretched. “Even without the Casket, I can still freeze your living hearts in your chests…”

“…and I can guide my avatar to reduce you to ash!” Pele shrieked, also advancing with murderous intent. “I—”

“How delightful to see my sisters allied against adversity for once, even if only for a brief moment,” a female voice carried brightly upon the mountain winds. “But the onlyhorrendous error here this day is the one you committed when you sentenced me to imprisonment in my own ocean…”

Namaka, goddess of the sea ascended to the peak of Mauna Kea atop a shimmering waterspout that resisted the buffering of both ice and fire. Pele and Poli’ahu turned upon their sister in dismay, recoiling instinctively with fear and guilt. Poli’ahu raised a tentative hand, set to renew hostilities, but Namor appeared at her side then and grabbed her by the wrist, his expression stern. Poli’ahu scowled, but the dark light was extinguished in her eyes; she was done, and she knew it all too well.

Pele, in contrast, was driven by desperation to one last gambit.

“Woman!” she cried at Volcana. “Act now, as you were created for! Fulfill your duty! Destroy—”

“Don’t listen to her, Marsha. You have no duty, no destiny. It’s time to be yourself.”

She-Hulk strode forward, ignoring Pele’s hateful glare and turning her full attention to the fiery woman still circling above. Volcana looked down, uncertain.

“I tried mediating with you once, Marsha,” She-Hulk said, evenly. “Because you were being coerced, that didn’t work out. But I’m willing to keep trying. You’ve been manipulated so many times; by Doctor Doom, by the Enchantress, even by your supposed friend, Skeeter. I don’t care if that’s not what you want to hear, it’s the truth. But here, now, you get to choose. You don’t have to be someone’s weapon or power source. You can be your own woman, and a force for good rather than destruction. You see what’s happening south of here? You see the horizon burning with rivers of lava? People are going to die, Marsha, and this island will be obliterated… unless you stop it. You’re the only one who can.”

Volcana gazed with shame in the direction She-Hulk was gesturing, seeing the distant skyline ablaze. For a moment she hesitated. Below, the Human Torch moved forward to join his emerald-skinned companion, his own fire beginning to intensify.

“If she doesn’t go for it, I may be able to take her,” the Torch whispered. “You and me together. We—”

“No, Johnny. She’s fuelled by cosmic power way beyond our own. And Pele’s helped her tap into her potential; if she wants to destroy us now, destroy this whole mountain, I’m pretty sure she could. Or she can stop the eruptions, channel the lava flow back underground before it’s too late. The choice is hers.”

The Torch grimaced with frustration but he knew She-Hulk was right. Overhead, Volcana began to wheel, facing towards the horizon.

“No!” Pele snarled. “We are of the same breed, woman! I command you—”

“Hush,” Volcana hissed. “Rock and fire and ash be damned, we are not the same. And it’s true: I don’t have to be someone’s weapon, yours or anyone else’s. I choose a different path.”

And with that she sped away, leaving a jet trail of smoke and flame in her wake as she rocketed towards the erupting volcanic ridge that dominated the south of the island. Could she stem the lava flow and ease the seismic convulsions of both Mauna Loa and Kilauea? Watching her depart, the Invisible Woman, the Torch and She-Hulk couldn’t be sure – but if anyone could, it would be a habitually shy lady named Marsha Rosenberg who’d been cursed with a power she’d never truly wanted but who’d finally made the decision that she wasn’t going to be a victim any longer.

“This isn’t over,” Pele roared, raising a smoldering fist to the night sky and in the direction of her meddlesome sister from the oceans. “I swear revenge against all present here tonight. My full power will return and I’ll reclaim my avatar—”

“No, Pele of the fire,” Namaka breathed. “You won’t. Your feud with Poli’ahu is bound in historical legend and is as eternal as the tides… but you’ll both of you agree, now, to never threaten the mortal world again as you’ve done so disgracefully this night. Or else you’ll lose your most vital treasure, the source of your mutual hatred…”

Namaka gazed coldly at each of her sisters in turn, and for a moment both Pele and Poli’ahu looked confused. Then, however, realization dawned. Pele looked to Poli’ahu with an air of desperation and the goddess of the snows reared in similar alarm, her black eyes wide and searching for her most precious possession, one that she – nor Pele – would wish to live without. But Namaka, ruthlessly, had made her play.

At Namaka’s bidding, Namor now loitered at the edge of proceedings. In his arms was the immaculately preserved person – the frozen spirit – of the ali’i beloved by Poli’ahu in ancient times, Aiwohikupua. Pele’s despairing reaction to this turn of events, not least the shining golden tears spilling from her eyes, betrayed her own abiding love for this mortal man; the man who’d divided these two sister goddesses so long ago, and who – unable to choose between them – had forfeited his life as Pele and Poli’ahu had become locked in a cycle of jealous enmity.

Namaka said, “The Atlantean has been instructed to take Aiwohikupua’s preserved spirit to a distant ocean, where a small clan of my followers will keep it safe – unless either of you breaks the pact you’ll forge now, in the presence of these mortals. In that instance, your beloved will be consigned to a bottomless trench and will be entombed in the planet’s core forevermore. Do you understand, my sisters…?”

The color drained from Pele’s face, her fires of wrath literally extinguished. This was no time for further bluster and hurled threats; Namaka’s own warning was stark and genuine, and in truth there was something about the goddess’ manner that suggested she would relish carrying that warning through, in revenge for the way she herself had been treated. Poli’ahu also withdrew into herself, like an iceflake melting at the first breath of spring. As one the two warring sisters withdrew, dematerializing respectively in swirls of fire and frost.

The Invisible Woman observed her enemies’ retreat with a touch of scorn, then crossed towards Namor and handed him the Casket of Ancient Winters. The Atlantean looked concerned.

“How do you fare, Susan?” he asked. “Your pallor—”

“It’s cold. But I’ll live. Which is more than can be said for this poor wretch,” Sue muttered, gesturing to the frozen countenance of the long-departed Aiwohikupua. “Take the Casket, and conceal it the same place you hide him. I’ve got a feeling your new mermaid friend will ensure it’s kept safe.”

Namor glanced towards Namaka and smirked, arching an eyebrow. “Beautiful, isn’t she?” he said, softly. “A goddess in more than just name. But, of course, compared to you—”

“Enough.”

Namor looked to see Susan scowling at him, her blue eyes direct and absent of artifice. There was an anger in that gaze that Namor found unfamiliar.

“I was young,” Sue declared, in a tone that had no qualms about who overheard it. “Those early years, when we were getting used to our powers and each other – even Reed and I – there were times when I found your charismatic self-assurance appealing and your relentless pursuit of me flattering. I’m ashamed to admit it, but I did. But it’s been a long time since the idea of you held any appeal for me, Namor, much less the reality. I know you for what you are, and you’re a boor. You antagonize, not mesmerize. And this isn’t about Reed, or about the sanctity of a relationship between husband and wife, it’s about me.

“You seem to think that if it wasn’t for Reed, and my perceived sense of duty to him, that you and I would be free to consecrate some kind of union… but you’re wrong. I feel nothing for you, Namor. Sincerely. And that’s been true for a long time. The next time we meet I want you to remember that.”

Namor clasped the Casket to his chest, too stunned to show his customary anger at being spoken to so harshly. Johnny Storm stepped forward, unable to contain his delight.

“See?” he barked. “You—”

“Quiet, Johnny,” Sue snapped. “Contact Reed, tell him the situation, and that Volcana’s likely to need help in trying to reverse the damage that’s been done here by a pair of ridiculous, spiteful women who have given my gender a bad name through their pretty, jealous feud. Our work’s not done here. ”

The Torch nodded meekly. She-Hulk said nothing, but cast a surreptitious glance at Namor. The Atlantean was simmering, but he too remained silent.

The next time we meet I want you to remember.

Yes. Yes, he certainly would. Because it didn’t take much to turn lust – or perhaps even love – to hate. The Sub-Mariner had been one of the earliest enemies of the Fantastic Four, and one of the greatest. As of tonight, it had become increasingly likely that this state of affairs would one day turn full circle.

“One thing, Susan Richards,” Namor snarled, unable to help himself. “Your precious husband… you know he’s keeping secrets, yes? That there’s something he’s not telling you, about his present condition?”

Sue’s eyes narrowed, but she didn’t turn back.

“I think I know my own business better than you,” she said, softly.

But they were both aware of the doubt in her voice.

The Nathaniel Richards Academy for Gifted Children in Somerset, England, was an institution dedicated to the schooling of the sons and daughters of individuals of specific note – international royalty, politicians involved in superhuman affairs, high-ranking SHIELD officials, and superheroes themselves – and was renown for its impregnable quantum security system that involved it existing a second out of synch with the rest of Earth’s space-time reality. After the various threats his family had faced these past few years, and with his own children Franklin and Valeria menaced once too often in recent times, Reed had established the school six months ago and had been delighted with the response to his endeavor.

Waiting now outside the academy gates, enjoying the sunshine and the salty coastal air, Reed could almost believe that life was good. Almost.

“Daddy!”

Valeria was the first across the playground, as always. A bundle of mischievous blonde energy and enthusiasm at five years old. She was smart too, well ahead of the curve. It was just unfortunate that this highlighted her brother’s shortcomings all the more, with him being four years older but with social skills and vocabulary more in line with a child much younger. People meeting Franklin for the first time tended to assume he was still an infant, but that was just because of the way he spoke. And he’d become more withdrawn than ever since Ben left…

“Daddy, today we learned all about Australia,” Valeria declared, importantly. “That’s on the other side of the world.”

Reed smiled at his daughter, peering over the top of his half-moon spectacles. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

“Do you know the name of the Dutchman who made the first recorded European sighting of Australia, Daddy?”

Reed’s smile broadened. He opened his mouth to answer… and then faltered.

“Daddy…?”

Einstein. Columbus. Marco Polo. Ronald MacDonald.

Reed closed his eyes and pressed his fingertips to his left temple. His head ached.

He couldn’t remember.

Valeria said something else about how Captain James Cook was often wrongly accredited with the discovery of Australia, just like other scientists were always stealing the glory for her Daddy’s inventions, but Reed couldn’t concentrate. He was trying to block out the pain; the pain caused by a tumor the size of a golf ball in the left side of his brain. The tumor that was wreaking worse havoc that making him absent-minded: it was killing him.

Reed’s communicator buzzed at his belt and he glanced at the message.

“It’s Mommy,” he said, distractedly. “There’s been some trouble in Hawaii. Can you go find your brother please, honey? Tell him to hurry.”

Hurry. Because time’s running out for some of us quicker than for others…