Opposites ➤ Johnny Storm

Chapter Five

We made it to New York faster than I thought we would. Debbie had called saying something was wrong with Ben when she saw him last night, so we still had a good chance to find him. We were currently in a taxi trying to get to the city as fast as possible. Since Reed was in the front next to the driver he wasn't talking to us that much. I was staring ahead with Sue on my right looking out the window with a frown and Johnny on my left holding my hand and quietly reassuring me we would find him.

I was barely paying attention to where we were going until the cab came to a stop. All of the traffic on the bridge was at stop, but there seemed to be some sort of commotion up ahead. People all around were getting out of their cars and walking towards the other end of the bridge. Whatever was going must have been something that wasn't normal.

"Ben." I was barely audible as I realized my brother might the cause of this. "Out of the car. Go! Let me out." Waiting for one of the Storms to move, I started pushing on Johnny's arm. He quickly moved out of the way so I could scramble out and follow the crowd. The others ran after me, but we couldn't see over the crowd.

"It's no use we can't get through!" Sue was right, but we can't give up.

"But you can." It took us all a second to realize Reed was telling Sue to use her powers. She turned invisible, but her clothed were floating in midair.

"Sue, your clothes. Lose them."

"Oh. Right." The craziest part was that she listened to Reed and started taking off her clothes as they were suspended in the air.

"This is so wrong." Even though it wasn't my sister, I had to agree with Johnny on this one. Especially when she become visible again as she stood in the crowd in her underwear. Everyone around noticed and started staring at her as she thought she was still invisible.

"What?" I pointed to her body to show that we could see her and so could everyone else. "Oh!"

"Wow. You've been working out." If we weren't in such a serious situation I might have smacked him as he openly checked her out.

"Shut up! Any more great ideas? Why don't you strip down and have 100 people stare at you?" As she got angrier, she disappeared once again.

"Sue." I drew her attention to her invisibility as her underwear was floating in the air.

"What? Oh." She removed the last articles of clothing and I picked up the pile on the street.

"I'm gonna need therapy."

"Come on." I grabbed his arm as we followed behind his sister to find my brother.

"I still can't believe you made me do that." We had made it through the crowd and Sue changed back inside an empty car. Now that we were closer we could see an accident on the bridge.

"We got through, didn't we?" We don't have time for their petty arguments, when Ben could have been in the accident.

"Just find Ben." Wasting no time, I climbed onto a car to try and spot him somewhere.

"Ben! Ben!" In the middle of the accident stood a man made of rock and I knew it was Ben. The look on his face as he stood in the middle of the destruction almost broke my heart. He looked so sad and like he was blaming himself for everything that happened.

Before I could get down from the car and go to him, one of the cars started on fire. People scattered out of the way as the fire grew and would soon spread to the gas tanks and blow. The explosion would start anytime now.

A little girl was trapped by a few cars, crying out for her mother. Johnny noticed her at the same time and leaped over the cars to wrap his body around her, taking the force of blast. Sue threw her hands up to protect herself and shot some sort of force at the blast. As she seemed push the blast back, I held out my hands to spray water and try and control the fire from spreading to other cars. The force sent out by Sue flew past the explosion as she fell to the ground faint from using her energy. But without her controlling the energy it went into an incoming fire truck.

The end of the truck went sliding off the bridge with the fireman scrambling to stop from falling into the water. Ben was able to go grab the front of the truck and try to stop it from falling off the Brooklyn Bridge. Even as he strained against the force, not all the fireman were able to get off. I went to Sue to check if she was okay while Reed caught a man falling off the bridge. Johnny came over to his sister as we watched Ben helplessly.

No matter how hard he tried he couldn't get the truck back on the bridge. Until he let out a yell somewhere between pain and determination. Slowly but surely he pulled the fire truck back onto the chaotic bridge. Johnny and I got Sue up as the five of us stood together in the destruction.

"This is the police! Get down on the ground!" My heart dropped into my stomach as I heard them still act in fear of my brother. But they were interrupted by the crowd.

"Don't shoot! He's a hero!" The woman's protest were met with cheers from the crowd. Applause sounded from the bridge with the firemen leading most of the cheers. The police finally lowered their weapons and joined in.

Everyone, but one woman was cheering for us saving the truck. Debbie stood in the crowd looking terrified as she saw Ben in the light of day. When he took a step towards her, everyone flinched, but Debbie's movement sent pain straight into Ben. She took the ring of her finger and set it on the ground.

Ben couldn't pick it up with his large hand so Reed went up to him and put it in his hand.

"I swear to you, I will do everything in my power, until there is not a breath left in me. You're gonna be Ben again."