33 The Lost World
Ben Grimm sat in the hold of a ship sitting with Ned Leeds. Mary Jane and Gwen Stacy were unconscious. The ship they were on was near them when they exited the portal. Their trajectory was set for them to crash into the ship. Ned and Ben grabbed one of the girls each and protected them from the impact on the ship.
The trauma of the crash caused their present situation. The girls were unconscious. The ship they crashed into was a troop carrier.
The soldiers were startled when a hole opened in the side of their ship, but they settled down when they saw the unconscious woman, the brackish young man, and the monster of stone. No one could identify its species.
Between the partial language update they received from Cypher and Ned's hard work, they could barely communicate with the soldiers. The soldiers asked them to stay in the cargo hold and when they reached the surface a medic could attend to the young girls.
Ben's stone exterior masked the anger boiling his heart. There were several people he was mad at, but he wasn't sure who he blamed the most for the current situation.
He watched as Ned kept trying to make the two girls comfortable and fretting over them.
"One of these your girlfriend," Ben asked.
"Uh, no, sir, these two are just friends of mine. They actually like my best friend Peter, but Peter doesn't know. He's mostly interested in Mary Jane, the redhead," Ned explained and pointed toward Mary Jane.
"Your friend Peter is good with women, there was a time when women went crazy over me. That was a long time ago, now everyone avoids me," Ben's melancholy was heavy in the air.
"You've always been one of my heroes, sir," Ned said.
"Me? Do you like bruisers? You know, I was a pilot. That's what got me into this mess. Reed needed a pilot and I was eager to have my name appear next to his in the history books. It wasn't my name or face that's in the history books, it's the name of the Thing and his face that's in the history books," Ben said.
"Uh, oh, that's not true at all, sir, in my school book they have pictures of you before and after your transformation," Ned added helpfully. Ben looked at him stonely.
"Anyway, you saved these two ladies, I'm sure one of them might go for you more," he said.
"That's okay, sir, they aren't really my type," Ned refused.
"What's your type?" Ben laughed for the first time.
"I like short blondes," he responded.
"Isn't that girl a blonde?" Ben asked.
"We don't have much in common and she likes Peter, anyway, sir," Ned said.
"Okay, well, I noticed there are a lot of women among these soldiers, maybe one of them will like a smart strong man like you," Ben tried to smile, but his stoney face didn't cooperate and perform a nuanced action.
"Feels like we're landing, get ready," Ben said. Ned waited until Ben confirmed they landed before he stood up and gently picked up Gwen. The Thing picked up Mary Jane. The cargo door opened. It was large enough to roll out vehicles and troops.
The group of four walked carefully down the ramp. They saw an older man wearing brown pants tucked into boots, a heavy tunic, and light robes. Standing next to the older man was a twenty-something-year-old man dressed similarly to the older man but with an odd hairstyle. Finally, a white-haired teenage girl with purple pants, blue boots, and pink and white designs on her dark purple jacket finished the three-member crew waiting at the end of the ramp.
The three smiled at Ben and Ned who were carrying the two young girls. The white-haired girl stepped forward to greet Ned and Ben.
"Hello, human fellows. Greetings great esteem is My name Dawn-Flower. The Lord of Forward-Running, Great Lord and his prince of tutelage Croaking-Pigeon young lord prince.
Taking women of your possession Fox-love and Daughter of Man. Make a fixing of them," Dawn-Flower smiled.
"What?" Ned asked.
"They're tryin' ta speak our language. I think they're here to help with Mary Jane and Gwen," Ben said.
"Ah, ok, sir," Ned said.
"We follow you," Ben said. Dawn-Flower nodded happily. Ben noticed that the Lord of Forward-Running and Croaking-Pigeon Young lord printed each took a position next to Ben and Ned.
They were led to a tent and when they entered they saw others who were injured. After placing the girls down, Lord of Forward-Running approached them and hovered his hands over each of the girls.
"What is he some kind of energy healer?" Ben asked.
"Sir, are you familiar with his species?" Ne asked.
"No, I meant, I was wondering if he was a fake. Anyway let's keep watching," Ben said.
A few minutes later, the older man placed a ring around each girl that beeped and hummed as it emitted various colored lights as it went up and down the girls' bodies.
"What's that, sir?" Ned asked.
"How should I know?" Ben responded.
They both watched quietly when they heard a loud screech.
"Stay here, I'll take a look," Ben said as he ran outside the tent to see a large monster, at least twenty feet tall roaring and screeching.
Those surrounding the creature were frightened by it. Ben ran up to it yelling, "quiet, there are injured people!" Ben jumped and punched the hunched bipedal creature in its face. It hurtled backward immediately and crashed into a small hill. It looked dead. Everyone turned to look at Ben in shock.
Ben looked back helplessly, "It was Cloberrin' Time."
