Opposites ➤ Johnny Storm

Chapter Eleven

I have never been one for physical activity. But as Johnny and I ran through the streets, I moved faster than an Olympic sprinter. The unknown of where my family was, pushing me to move harder towards our home.

As we arrived it was obvious something bad had happened. I saw our doorman Jimmy lying crumpled on the ground. Running towards him, I checked for a pulse and yelled to the few people gathered close by, "Call an ambulance!"

When I saw them follow directions, I moved towards the elevator with Johnny. "He's just unconscious. I'd like to stay, but..."

"We can do more good upstairs."

We were silent until the doors opened and we heard Sue yelling out for my brother. Sharing a look we ran into the wrecked lab. "Sue!"

"Johnny! The machine worked! Give me a hand!" As he went to help her, I saw a very human Ben limping next to Sue.

I went into shock as the Storms started to help him move, only letting out a whisper, "Ben."

"Get his arm."

"You all right, Ben?"

Finally adjusting, I started clearing wreckage to get him a place to sit. "Put him on the step." As they put him down, I sat beside him and grabbed his hand.

Johnny put his hand on his shoulder, trying to ease the tension and answer questions. "What happened, big guy? I leave you for five minutes-"

"The machine. Vic used it on himself. He was affected by the cloud like us." If Von Doom hurt my brothers...

"Where's Reed?" Johnny put a hand on his sister's shoulder as her voice broke slightly.

"Vic must have taken him."

"We have to do something. If Reed-" My voice cut off as we looked out the window, hearing a loud noise. The three of us who actually could, ran out onto the balcony to see what happened. My stomach dropped as we saw what caused the sound.

There was a missile flying in the air. And it was headed straight for us.

Johnny lit his hand and starting moving it, slightly changing the missiles course. It's heat seeking.

"We gotta get out of here." There was no way we could. Not with Ben and all the others around the building. We all knew there was no way to get the missile away from us.

"I got an idea." I followed his gaze and was able to figure out what his plan was.

Grabbing his arm, I turned him towards me. "Don't even think about it."

"Never do." He pulled my hand off him and climbed onto the railing.

"What are you doing?" Sue still didn't know what he was planning and just watched him for a second. "Johnny, no!"

But it was too late for either of us to do anything as he jumped off the building. We ran to the edge and peered over, watching to see if he could pull it off. "Come on! Come on, come on!" If anything happened to him, I'd kill him myself.

He was almost at the ground when he suddenly shot up. Letting out a breathe and a cheer, we ran inside to focus on the next crisis.

Ben having been sitting for a minute, looked confused at what just happened with Johnny, but didn't question. "We have to help Reed." He tried to get up, but I grabbed his shoulder and shared a look with Sue.

"It's too dangerous for you now. You have to stay here."

~~~~~~~~~~

The two of us had made it Von Doom's quickly and had a makeshift plan. Basically Sue was going to go see if she could get Reed out and if not distract Von Doom while I attacked him. Considering he had a heat seeking missile, I was a little apprehensive, but nothing could stop me from helping my family.

With a tight hug, Sue turned invisible and crept into the room, leaving the door open a little for me. I could see Reed attached to a chair with tubes freezing him. I always forget Von Doom was a smart man, focusing on how evil I'd always assumed he was. If we survived this, Reed would receive the worlds biggest I told you so.

"Sue." His voice barely came out through his frozen mouth as the tubes started to unscrew by Sue's see through hands.

"Shh. What has he done to you?" She was quiet, but I could see movement and started to move into a place where I could see my target. A few days ago I found out I can change the temperature of my water. So as I stared at Von Doom, I focused on my boiling rage.

"How romantic."

Sue became visible and by his pleased smile, I knew he couldn't see me. "Victor, please."

"Call me Doom."

"The machine works. It worked on Ben It can work on you We can turn you back." It was probably futile, but Sue had asked for a chance to talk him down. She didn't want to risk any of us getting hurt.

"Do you really think fate turned us into gods so we could refuse these gifts?" I got in my stance and braced myself.

"Victor, you always thought you were a god. Now back off."

"Susan, let's not fight."

Kicking the door open, I doused him in boiling water. "No, let's." Von Doom let out a yell at the pain. While I had his attention, Sue went back to trying to free Reed. I was able to bring him to his knees before he shot electricity at me.

My entire body exploded in pain as I let out a scream and fell to the ground. A sharp pain surging inside of my head, I was convulsing on the ground, not able to move a muscle. The very example of why water and electricity don't mix.

Sue moved towards me to check on me, but instantly Von Doom shot her too. "Susan, you're fired!"

As she went flying back into the wall, she turned invisible again. He stalked around looking for her and when he moved past me, he kicked me hard, turning my paralyzed body towards the window. "To think I was about to share my life with you."

I could see a streak of fire going across the water and focused on Johnny as Von Doom went after Sue in his sick game of Marco Polo. She let out a strangled noise as he grabbed her around the throat at the same time as the explosion happened.

My strangled cry was caught in my throat. Even though he was far away, I wanted to reach for him, but I couldn't move a single part of my body.

The tears freely flowing down my cheeks distracted me from Von Doom's taunts about Johnny. I was finally getting back feeling in my body when I heard something that made my blood run cold, knowing I couldn't do anything yet. "It's time to end this."

All of a sudden, the wall burst apart and I caught a glimpse of orange rock in the window's reflection. "No, Vic It's clobberin' time!"

I heard Sue fall to the ground and the sound of a fight behind me that ended about the time I could feel my legs. The loud crash that wasn't accompanied by any noise from Sue told me all I needed to know. But I still found comfort in Ben's voice wringing out. "Damn, I been waitin' to do that."

"Susie, you okay?" Her weak response sounded out as they started moving around. "Help Rory while I get Rubber Man."

A second later, her familiar blonde hair fell over my face as she leaned over me with a relieved smile. One I would've loved to return. She pulled me into her lap as my numbness was only at my shoulders up. "You're gonna be okay, Rora. I promise."

Ben was watching from where he was ripping Reed free and turned away when he saw I was okay. "Victor ain't that bad, huh? Hmph. He's just a little larger than life, right? Maybe next time you'll listen to me before-"

"Ben!" I let out a yell as I saw Von Doom fly towards him. I watched helplessly as they went flying out the window before he even knew what was happening.