Paradoxical (Fantastic Four)

22.

The surfer was transported to one of the Army bases in Jakutsk, Siberia. The five of us were stuck in our transport as the soldiers dragged the silver entity into the base. Guard dogs were barking harshly sensing that the being brought in wasn't human at all. Susan turned to the rest of us with worry spread on her face at what the military might do with the surfer. Reed got out of the transport to talk with Hager.

"But, General, we had an agreement," Reed confronted him after all of us got inside the base, even though I wasn't bothered by the cold.

"Calm down," Hager told him, "The enemy has been captured-- mission accomplished."

"Where is he?" Susan asked.

"Contained."

"General," the frontman spoke up.

Hager turned around to find three men behind the frontman, "Mr. Sherman."

I could sense that they had arrived to conduct some inhumane experiments on the surfer.

"If you'll excuse us, we have work to do," Hager told us and turned to leave.

"I want to be there for the questioning," Reed requested.

"That's not gonna happen," The General turned to him and then at the frontman, "Please make sure our guests remain here comfortably."

"Yes sir," the soldier nodded and the door slammed.

Seeing that there wasn't a single couch or futon in the room, I invoked the vines, formed them into a hammock, and rested on it.

"Are we prisoners?" Johnny questioned after staring at a surveillance camera and turning to the rest of us, "How did that happen?"

"Apparently, they don't want us interfering with their methods," Reed answered.

I imagined the military's methods to be extremely brutal.

"I can't even imagine what they're doing to him in there," Susan shook her head. I nodded in agreement with her.

"I say he gets what he deserves," Ben remarked.

"How can you say that?"

"I'm just saying that maybe the General is right about this. The guy was about to destroy the planet. He said so himself."

"But it doesn't make any sense," I jumped up from my makeshift hammock, "He protected Sue from that missle. Why would he do that?"

"Maybe he thinks she's cute," Johnny smirked at me and leaned himself against the hammock.

"Very funny," I gave him a look that told him that it wasn't the right time and turned to everyone else in the room, "There's a lot more going on here than it meets the eye."

"Ari's right," Reed nodded, "He said he wasn't the destroyer."

"Uh, maybe he lied," Ben stated.

"We don't know for sure if he did," I shook my head at my brother, "If he was telling the truth and we allow those men to torture him, what good are we?"

Ben turned to Reed once my statement got to him.

"We need to get inside there and talk to him. But under the radar." Reed glanced at Susan who smiled at him.

The plan was to distract the soldier guarding the door while Susan cloaked herself invisible and snuck past him. Johnny opened the door and peeked out. I lingered behind him.