Paradoxical (Fantastic Four)

19.

The location was confirmed to be in London according to the calculations and Howie's quick search, which to be more specific, close to the London Eye. It concerned me that there would be a ton of people there.

The five of us were soon on a chopper flying directly over London with Hager and his troop after getting a hold of him with the confirmation.

"When he surfaces, you've gotta move the fight away from the crowd," Reed suggested to us.

"No, he's too fast to be contained. When I see silver, I'm hitting him," Johnny remarked.

"Wait, you can't do that. We've gotta stick to the plan and work as a team."

"Exactly," I nodded, "We'll worry about the surfer after getting the civilians to safety."

"So we're a team now? That's new's to me," Johnny sassed directly at Reed.

"What are you talking about?" Reed asked.

"You know what I'm talking about."

Susan looked over at Reed with dread realizing that her brother had overheard them talk about moving out and that the rest of us knew of their plan already.

"Look, we were gonna tell you guys," Reed explained.

"When you moved our stuff out of the Baxter Building?" Johnny retorted.

"Johnny, this really isn't a good time," Susan told him.

"Kid's got a point, Reed. You should've told us," Ben frowned.

"All right, all right! That's enough! We'll talk about this later," Reed suggested wanting to keep everyone's focus on the mission.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" Hager glared at him.

Neither of us replied. I looked down and saw what appeared to be a whirlpool forming in the River Thames. It suddenly expanded and the waves from the river hit the barriers. I noticed the London Eye wobbling dangerously. I dreaded the thought of seeing it fall over, especially when there were many people in it.

We landed near the Eye and got out of the chopper with a plan in motion. As the Eye nearly timbered over, Susan put up a force field to keep it from falling. Ben lifted the bottom keeping it off the ground, giving people enough time to get out. Reed stretched and expanded, weaving his body through the wheel keeping it from falling from its original position.

I managed to get as many people out and away from the sight. Suddenly, the same metallic whooshing occurred. The surfer flew right above us. Johnny flew up after him.

"No, Johnny!" I yelled after him.

Before I could will myself into a flurry and fly after the hothead, one of the cables smacked him in mid-air, sending him crashing into Reed, resulting in their powers getting switched. Knowing neither Susan nor Ben couldn't hold the wheel any longer without Reed's support, I summoned the vines and they grew ginormous and coiled through the wheel. My brother managed to lift the Eye a bit higher and Reed soldered it in its original position. 

Susan let her force field down and collapsed to her knees in exhaustion. A family reunited after the father was trapped on the wheel while trying to evacuate and turned to Ben and me with gratitude. I mentally sighed in relief and went over to Susan and assisted her. 

"Sue!" Reed called out and touched Johnny, thus switching their powers back before racing over to help me out, "I got her, Ari," he told me as he lifted her back on her feet.

Johnny took a few steps forward on approaching us.

"Stay back," Reed stopped him in his tracks, "Before you get somebody killed."

I didn't blame Reed this time. Johnny's attempt at pursuing the surfer when he wasn't supposed to nearly got someone injured or worse. And not to mention that he was a walking hazard of switching his power with any of us. Honestly, I felt bad for Johnny for having wound up like that.

"Oh, my God," Ben gasped in horror.

I turned to see what he was looking at. My mouth dropped at the sight of a giant crater and that the River Thames had completely dried up. It was the eighth one. We were on a deadly timer before the entire planet and all life was destroyed by God knows what.