Deep within Reed Richard’s mind; deeper than even the great Charles Xavier or the combined telepathic might of his followers could see, a part of the great intellectual’s mind spun into action.
This part of him knew this was *bad*. Whatever had spun the world down this strange path; whatever had happened to Roberta and consequently to Susan and himself; the news of Roberta’s pregnancy by him complicated things geometrically!
This embryo was an innocent life and must be protected, but the resistance was already at an extreme disadvantage!
After all, it was simply a mote in the great ocean of Reed Richard’s mind!
Unknown to all, with the possible exception of Xavier, Reed Richards had always been a mutant.
It was a small power and a subtle one. If not for his great intellect, which was on a par with even Victor Von Doom, it might not have ever manifested itself, but it was there all the same. As Reed trained his mind through discipline,
education, and exploration his mind naturally developed the ability to compartmentalize his thoughts and, like a multi CPU computer, be able to run independent thought threads without severely impacting his performance.
As the problems he worked on literally became galactically vital, these layers formed into hardened bunkers within his psyche with fortification to resist intrusion and resources to withstand telepathic siege.
Still, even that was not even the mutation but it was the last component needed to make it possible to manifest.
His mutation allowed these thought bunkers to each become as powerful as his original mind.
Reed’s conscious mind was not even fully aware of this ability but it was the reason a mere human, no matter how brilliant, was able to outthink Galactus, Celestials, and Watchers.
His mind was like a computer farm where each computer was a super computer.
This one pocket of resistance had its work cut out for it.
Ben, now human at will, was off with Alicia on an extended vacation on the other side of the world.
Johnny, like all the other young teachers at the school, was completely invested in Emma’s secret ‘free love’ clique and with his already raging hormones, there was no help to be gained there.
Susan had for some reason been a main target of this threat and, no matter how pure and moral, she was no match for the forces levied against her.
This tiny part of the great man’s mind was all that stood between defeat and a hard earned victory; but even so, there were others to bring to bear on this situation and other tools to be used.
The only rules were that this resistance must remain secret; to Roberta, to the unwitting assistants, and even to Reed’s own conscious mind.
The Resistance, as the mote of Reed’s mind now thought of itself, had been working hard on this issue in general.
It was obvious that Roberta was the lever that moved this whole twisted reality into motion, but why?
Was this outside tampering? Was this a complication of her upgrade a few months ago?
The AI had been linked to Susan’s essence; was this a part of Susan that infected the benevolent android like a virus?
Roberta seemed to be driven to replace his now ex-wife in every way; as his lover, as the mother of his children, and now she herself was pregnant with his child!
The Resistance put these thoughts on the back burner for now.
This was a triage situation for reality itself! First to stop the bleeding by minimizing the ongoing damage, then look to the wounds to insure that his family is protected, and finally to attack the root cause.
This pregnancy was simply another complication and will be handled in turn.
He would protect the fetus’s life as he would any other but reality needed to be righted and he would continue to use any tool or person necessary to create the situation that would allow him to right things.
Patience was more than a virtue to the Resistance… It was what would set them all free!
**********
It was agony for Roberta to wait, but it had to be endured.
If Reed knew what really had distracted her, even if he wasn’t responsible for the attempts to overturn her work, he would be compelled to investigate and that would be disastrous!
No matter how much he loved her, no matter how much she truly and completely loved him back, it was all based on her lies and manipulations.
It would turn him away from her, perhaps beyond return.
He would devote his entirety to freeing that unfaithful SLUT Susan from her sex addiction and the trashy life she now treasures.
Everything would be in ashes!
It was for that reason she brought the pregnancy to his attention as she did. She had planned to lull him into accepting
it as most human women did. A romantic dinner, a loving evening together, and when he was at his happiest she would have sprung the news to him.
He would have been surprised but there was a 96% chance he would have taken the news with enthusiastic joy.
All that was shredded now because she had been careless and let him glimpse the fact that she distracted by a tremendously complex issue… She was fighting a war with an unknown opponent with an uncanny ability to subvert her efforts!
Reed mulled the information in his mind.
His heart told him he loved Roberta more than he ever could have imagined before and this child was a beautiful expression of their deep passionate love, but his mind told him something else.
This was wrong! She knew what she was doing and there was no need for this at this point.
For God’s sake, he wasn’t even divorced from Susan yet!
This was manipulation! She had orchestrated this to create a *permanent* tie with him.
Yes, he loved her but he was *angry*!
Reed pulled back from the embrace and his stern looked caused Roberta’s lip to quiver in deep heartfelt sadness.
She wasn’t using her power on him now, but she was truly broken before his ire and that sight melted his heart.
He loved her dearly. If he had never met Susan and this woman had walked into his life, he would have fallen in love.
He would have married her. This moment, finding out that she carried his child, *would* have been the happiest of his life!
He couldn’t help but relent. Reed kissed the trembling woman before him with true love and compassion before he finally replied “Roberta, my love, I can’t begin to tell you how grievously you erred when you took the decision to
have children with you away from me. If there was *anything* that could have pushed me away, it is that kind of deviousness and manipulation… But in the final analysis I believe you that you acted out of human emotion; both jealousy
of Susan and love for me in making this mistake. I want you to understand that the *child* is not a mistake, but how you went about it was… nearly unforgivable.”
Roberta sobbed like a child at the scolding. She never realized how deeply her actions, no matter how pure they started could hurt someone she loved and that pain reflected back on her a hundred fold.
Reed took her sobbing face into his hand as he gently pulled her toward his loving face and continued “But I *do* love you, without reservation. We will have the lawyers contact Susan and see if she will agree to an accelerated divorce.
There are several places that will grant one within a week, some within a day, if both parties agree.
I will not have you bare our child for one second out of wedlock more than necessary!
But, you need to understand me, I will not tolerate this behavior any further!
Do not misuse my trust again!”
Roberta kissed her fiancé with unrestrained passion and thanked God he was an even better man than she imagined.
She would be true to him. She would be the wife he truly deserves and she would never, ever manipulate her beloved husband again.
Of course Susan was another matter that that tramp was going to agree to the accelerated divorce today if the newly engaged AI had to fry her brain to do it!