Trial by Fire

Chapter One

It had been a couple of weeks since the world needed saving and sometimes when it did, it was the group known as The Avengers who answered the call. The Fantastic Four usually took care of treats in New York City and others coming from outer space or other dimensions, but of course the government decided it would be best to keep anything from outer space or different dimensions out of the public knowledge after what happened in New York City a few years ago and the team couldn't really blame them for taking that precaution, even Johnny saw the sense in that.

The day had started just like any other. Reed was in his lab and only he knew what he was doing. Sue had gone out to spend the day out with Alicia and told her brother to only call her if it was an emergency. Ben was catching up on some games he hadn't had the chance to watch in the last couple of weeks. Johnny was out and about in the city with his brand new car, which had just arrived a few days ago and Ben and Reed already had a bet of how long it would take for Johnny to wreck his brand new car again. Ben said less than two weeks and Reed said less than a month. Sue was aware of the bet but decided to stay out of it since she thought it was a little childish even when she knew that her brother would wreck the car sooner or later.

It was a little after sundown when Johnny called his sister, who was already back at the Baxter building watching a movie with Ben who had already watched all of his games as Reed kept working on whatever project he was working on.

"Hi Johnny," Sue said as she answered her brother's call.

"You're not busy, are you, sis?" he asked after a moment of silence, making Sue wonder what he was up to.

"What did you do?" she asked, already expecting him to say he accidentally blew something up.

"Why would you immediately assume I did something?" he sighed not that he was surprised by Sue's response. "I'll just have you know that I haven't don't a thing… whatever happened it's on the alien robot that has been following me," he continued before Sue could even say anything. "A little help would be appreciated."

"Alien robot?" she repeated already on her way to get Reed. "We'll be right there."

"Do hurry up," Johnny answer. "And just for the record, whatever happened it's not my fault," he added before hanging up.

Sue hurried to get Reed with Ben right beside her as she told him everything Johnny had said, which wasn't very much. Arriving to Reed's lab it didn't take long for him to forget what he was doing after he heard the words Alien Robot and they were on their way soon after that.

"Backup is on the way, Johnny," Sue said after Johnny activated his comlink. "And please don't do anything stupid…" she added, hoping her hotheaded brother would listen.

"What? Me?" Johnny replied and Sue could already picture him smiling as he did the very opposite of what she had told him. "Never."

Ben shook his head as he heard Johnny's words. "It's Johnny, Susie. You lost him at don't."

"I know, Ben," she answered just before there was an explosion ahead of them, making Sue go faster with Reed and Ben close behind her. As the cloud of smoke cleared, she saw her brother standing on a rooftop close to a pile of metal scraps. "What part of don't do anything stupid didn't you understand?" she asked as Reed and Ben got out of the Fantasticar, Reed already moving to analyze what was left of the alien robot.

"Calm down, sis," Johnny shrugged, a smile playing on his lips as he kicked a piece of metal. "I just got rid of it," he added before he inexplicably started disappearing before their eyes, and before there was anything they could do, he was gone.

"Johnny!" Sue called, running to the place Johnny had just been standing. "What did that thing do?" she asked, turning back to Reed continued to analyze the robot.

"It's strange. The robot shown to signs of weapons…" he started before Sue interrupted.

"No weapons? It just vaporized my brother," she all but yelled, her mind going too fast for her to focus on anything.

"He wasn't vaporized, Sue," Reed was quick to say, looking from his data. "He was transported somewhere else. I think I should be able to track him."

"Think?" Sue exclaimed, hands on her hips as she spoke. "You think?" she repeated as Ben gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

"If anyone can find Johnny, that's Stretcho, Susie," Ben said, motioning to Reed who was already working on something. "Don't worry."

"But he could be anywhere," she said sighing, rubbing her temples. "I just want to know where he is."

"From what I can gather, he is still somewhere in the planet," Reed said and that did little to calm Sue, but at least her brother was still in the same planet as them, that narrowed the list of places he could be. "I need to get back to the building so I can accurately track him and fast," he added, motioning for them to move and Sue didn't need to be told twice.

When Johnny woke up, he was a little disoriented. Pushing himself of the ground, he looked around but all he saw was a dark maze, except for what little light was coming from above him which made him look up from he couldn't find the source but what he did noticed was the metal collar around his neck. Deciding it would be best to move, he walked around trying to pull the collar off but nothing worked, not even fire.

"Oh man," he sighed, running a hand through his hair as he wondered what in the world was going on and what the hell the collar was for. As he was lost in his thoughts, he was momentarily blinded by a sudden light; which appeared a few meters in front of him before it quickly disappeared leaving the place almost completely dark. "That can't be good," he said to himself as he went to investigate what that light was. Lighting up one of his hands, he searched around not really sure if he wanted to find something or not but his search was interrupted when he stumbled over something… or rather someone.

"Ouch…" someone exclaimed and looking up Johnny saw it was a girl, probably around his age, sitting up against a wall as she rubbed her left side as she looked back at him. "I would say to watch out but one can barely see anything in here," she said, her gentle voice distracting Johnny from the current situation.

"Sorry about that," he replied as he too, sat up. "Are you alright?"

She took a moment to respond. "As well as you can be when you get abducted by whatever it was that took me… and by the looks of it, you as well," she added, touching her very own collar.

"Well two is better than one," Johnny smiled, taken by the beautiful girl in front of him. "I'm sure we have a better chance now," he said standing up before offering his hand to help her up which she took.

"Better chance for what?" she asked but Johnny didn't have a chance to respond before they were interrupted by an ominous voice.

"Jonathan Spencer Storm. You're a hard man to catch," the voice said and it seemed to be coming from everywhere around them and it was a voice that they both seem to recognize. "And you Crystalia," he paused, making her move closer to Johnny, who didn't mind and would be smiling if the situation was a different one. "I'm here to offer you a second chance… and I suggest you take it or you too will be eliminated."

"In your dreams, blue man," she replied and soon after they were both hit by an energy blast, knocking them back to the ground. "Found you…" she whispered before throwing a ball of fire in the direction of the blast, which hit something hard, making a loud noise as it hit the group.

"Okay. Time for us to go," Johnny said, helping her back to her feet and pulling her along with him as they ran through the dark maze, careful not to crash into a wall. "I'm Johnny by the way."

"Crystal," she answered, taking the lead and pulling him along with her and Johnny didn't mind… after all, she did seem to know where she was going unlike him. "Something is following us," she whispered, making Johnny slightly curious as to how she knew that but decided to keep his questions for another time.

"Shame we had to meet under this awful circumstances," he said, smiling as he spoke before she suddenly pushed him against a wall, standing in front of him with a finger over his lips to keep him quiet.

"Yes, a shame," she answered after a moment with a smile of her own before fire appeared from her hand, giving them some light. "Want to tell me what you did to make Ronan so angry," she asked, more than just a little curious.

Johnny shrugged. "I don't know. Kick his ass a couple of times," he answered, intrigued by her power. "What about you?" he too was curious about what a beautiful girl like her could have done to make someone so angry.

"Destroyed his only chance to have an alliance with my people," she answered as if it was nothing. "I also wouldn't marry him," she added, looking back at Johnny who smiled at her. "Don't know what made him angrier."

"I'm guessing both," he said, moving a hand to touch the fire she was igniting. "That's impressive," he said turning his attention back to Crystal, who was looking at him curiously.

"Most people wouldn't willingly put their hands in fire," she said, rising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm not most people," Johnny winked. "Flame on," he exclaimed before he was covered in flames, which caused Crystal to put her own fire out. "Fire is kind of my thing."

"I can see that," she said. "That means you're in charge of lighting up the way," she said, smiling as she motioned for him to move. "Come on."

"Sounds good to me," he replied, walking behind her since she did seem to know where every turn and wall was, at the same time he couldn't help but wonder if the others were going to be able to find him and his new friend. He had faith in Reed but he also didn't know what he was really against here. Thanks to Crystal he was completely sure that Ronan was behind all of this but there was also the fact that he didn't know where he was and that meant he could be anywhere and that was bound to make it a little difficult for Reed to locate him and knowing that Sue going be freaking out wouldn't help Reed at all.

Hello Everyone!

This is my first Fantastic Four story and I would love to know what you guys think. Also, this story is set in the MCU, a little after the events from Captain America: The Winter Soldier and before Guardians of the Galaxy so this story will follow the MCU storyline and there will be mentions of other MCU characters and some will eventually show up. Thanks again for reading! Don't forget to review the story or leave any questions you guys might have, I will be answering all of them at the end of each chapter as well as leaving any notes.