A/N: I actually love Johnny/OC fanfictions. The only problem? Well, there aren't very many. I decided to try my hand at writing one, enjoy!
Sadie Faye really must have looked a sight. She sprinted down the busy streets of Manhattan in her four inch heels, her dark hair flying out behind her and her bagel half stuffed in her mouth ungracefully. Really, she blamed it all on her stupid alarm clock. Sadie could have sworn she set the timer to 7:30 AM, but no, of course this was the one day it broke and set the alarm to ring at 7:30 PM.
She'd woken up at roughly around eight-thirtyish, checked the alarm clock and then probably woke the whole apartment building with the colorful and pretty creative string of profanities coming from her mouth. She was jogging now, having shoved the last of the bagel into her mouth and soothed her ravenous stomach. She swore under her breath as her ankle rolled and she staggered.
She began shouldering her way through the crowd of people who were conveniently walking in the opposite direction to her. "'Scuse me, excuse me..." she muttered as she slammed into a lanky-looking blonde whose glasses dominated his whole face and the zit on his nose, particularly noticeable. He snorted and rolled his eyes before turning back to his friend.
Sadie flung her arm out and waved madly for at the yellow taxi screeching to a halt a few feet from her. She yanked the passenger door open and slid into the front seat and sighed. The car smelled of smoke and the dark haired girl scrunched up her nose, making the spray of freckles across it bunch up.
The car pulled out into the thick stream of traffic as the driver asked, "Where to, ma'am?"
She swiveled around in her seat to face the balding driver, "The Von Doom building please." She wasn't surprised when the driver nodded, apparently knowing where it was. It was kind of hard to miss the large, ostentatious metal statue of the man outside the building which towered over unsuspecting newcomers. She tucked her bag behind her calves absently, her fingers playing with the loose string on the handle as she waited.
Finally, after ten awkward minutes, the car pulled up in front of the building and she slapped a bill into his pudgy hand as she shoved the door open. "Dontcha want your change, ma'am?"
"Keep it!" Sadie yelled back as she dashed up the concrete steps to the front of the building. As she neared the ugly statue, she caught sight of an oddly matched pair of men. The bald one in a parka and casual pants and one with slicked back hair and a perfectly pressed suit. They were both staring up at the monument which reminded all visitors of their insignificance compared to the boss himself, Victor Von Doom.
"Typical of Victor Von Doom to build a thirty foot statue of himself." The bald guy muttered gruffly and scowled. He said Victor with a nasty twist as if the words burned his mouth.
"Well, it's obviously aimed at first time visitors to create feelings of smallness, inadequacy." She overheard the dark haired man note to his friend, his eyes regarding the statue with an air of controlled contempt and dislike.
His friend snorted as the two began moving through the crowd, "Good thing it ain't workin... Reed, what are we doing here? This guy's fast-food, strip-mall science – "
Sadie smirked, she liked the guy already. He was an excellent judge of character, she noticed.
"This wasn't our first stop, in case you forgot. And Victor's not that bad. He's just a little... Larger than life." Reed corrected his friend who snorted once again. She walked behind the two and heaved a sigh as she pushed through the throng of people and stepped into the foyer of the building.
The two men wandered out of her line of vision as she pulled her iPhone from her pocket, tapping on the device several times until her inbox showed up. She swiped down the screen and touched a point on the screen lightly. Her eyes scanned down the acceptance email from her boss. She was currently an astrophysicist-in-training, in the thick of her Master's Degree. The application to work alongside some of the best scientists in the modern world had come up and she'd jumped at the chance, piling together all her awards and recommendations from her professors into a packet to be received by the Von Doom Industries.
She'd been accepted as part of the team and hopefully it would give her the credits she needed for the year and provide her with experience for working at NASA. Sadie pulled her hair back into a pony tail and slicked on a coat of gloss, straightening her pencil skirt. She stepped into one of the many elevators and stood next to a businessman whose thumbs were tapping incessantly on his phone.
The elevator dinged and she jolted as she realized that it was her stop. She darted out of the lift confidently and her eyes flitted across the corridor as she looked for – well, she didn't know what she was expecting. Her eyes landed on a tall, pretty blonde who was walking towards her, a coolly professional smile on her face and her hands smoothing down her blazer lapels. "Ms Faye?" she inquired, a tanned hand reaching out to shake hers.
"Yes, and you must be Ms Storm?" Sadie responded, shaking the woman's hand. The blonde nodded with the smile still in place on her face which didn't quite reach her dark blue eyes. She could have been a model, Sadie noted jealously.
"I am, but please call me Sue. Now, Ms Faye, if you would just follow me this way," she gestured down the corridor and began a brisk walk, her heels clicking briskly against the marble. Sadie walked quickly after her, self consciously playing with the hem of her silky ruffled blouse. She followed Sue down the seemingly never-ending labyrinth of corridors and small paths leading off to secluded offices and printing rooms.
Finally the two stopped in front of a pair of shiny teak doors. Sue rapped on the wood once before quietly pushing the door open and stepping in. Sadie stepped in as well, surprised at the darkness of the room until she caught sight of the impressive hologram of the solar system on the desk. "My research suggests that exposure to a high-energy cosmic storm borne on solar winds might have triggered the evolution of early planetary life."
It was the dark haired man from before, she noticed as her eyes skipped over to his friend who was wearing a carefully guarded expression, obviously trying to remain nonchalant. Sadie was drawn in by the passion and conviction in the man's tone as he walked over to his briefcase, slid a small remote into his hand and tapped a button, still talking, "In six weeks, another cloud with the same elemental profile will pass Earth's orbit."
He strode back over to the man whose face was still shaded by darkness, presumably Victor Von Doom, "A study conducted in space could fundamentally advance our knowledge-", he pressed another button on the remote and Sadie watched, awestricken as the pictures changed to a magnified image of DNA, "-about the structure of the human genome, cure countless diseases, extend human life, give kids a chance to live longer, stronger, healthier-"
"Turn it off, please." The man behind the shadows spoke abruptly and Reed stopped.
"I don't think I've explained my proposal fully," Reed said nervously.
"No, I think you have," his voice took on a mocking tone which made Sadie shiver with disgust. It was the tone that the popular people had used on her at school when they called her gross, nerdy – take your pick.
Reed swallowed, looking intently into the man's face as he continued derisively, "Same old Reed, always stretching, reaching for the stars with the weight of the world on his back." Victor added a nasty twist to the last few words.
"But dreams don't pay the bills, do they?" Victor continued and Sadie could hear the rustling of papers from where she stood, frozen next to Sue. He slapped a Wired magazine on the table which read in bold letters, Reed Richards Bankrupt. Announces Grant Cutbacks.
There was an intense silence in the room until Reed cut in, "You remember, when we were in school, we talked about working together. Well, that's what I was about to explain," he walked back around to the remote and scooped the silver device into his palm.
He clicked a button and an enlarged picture of what looked like a - space station? She wasn't sure – appeared, "The storm is deadly. But the shields on your station's control room are designed to protect any occupants inside."
The sound of another button clicking drew her attention back to Von Doom. The light shone on his face revealing an icy expression etched into his features and a scornful look in his cold eyes. "So, it's not just my money you want," he murmured quietly, "it's my toys."
There was a silent beat and Von Doom's eyes challenged Reed to disagree, dared the scientist to prove him wrong. Reed nodded in a well, yes, kind of way as Victor continued almost gleefully, "Tell me, if NASA doesn't trust you, then why should I?"
Reed and his bald friend shared a look. Surprisingly, Victor chuckled once before standing up and walking over to the two men. "That's my job, to stay a step ahead. To know what other men don't." He stressed the last word, eyes boring into Reed's.
"I can't take this," Reed's friend growled and took a few steps towards Reed.
"Ben, this is business, just work." Reed reassured him as Sue's voice rung out clearly from beside her.
"He's right Ben, it is just business." she said and Ben turned around to look at her.
"I think you both know my Director of Genetic Research, Susan Storm, but I don't think you know one of our new recruits. Ms Faye, if you would step forwards please?" Victor said smugly as he gazed at Sue.
The two women walked forwards, Sadie's hands trembling and her mouth dry. Ben muttered to Reed, "One more thing he's got,"
"Hey, Susie!" Ben said cheerfully, his face splitting into a wide grin.
"Hey," she replied smiling as she threw her arms around Ben and squeezed tightly, "it's so nice to see you. How's Debbie?"
"Great," Ben replied as Sue released him and turned to Reed.
The two of them shared an intensely awkward moment before the dark-haired man asked uneasily, "How've you been?"
Sue replied coldly, "Never better," before facing the rest of the group. "Sadie, meet Ben,"
Ben stuck his hand out, clasped Sadie's tightly and shaking it, "Nice to meet you, Sadie. I'm Ben." Reed jumped from his daydream and stuck his hand out as he introduced himself quickly, something clearly on his mind.
Sue shook Reed's hand dispassionately as Ben gave the two an incredulous stare before shaking his head as Victor cut in, "This isn't going to be a problem, is it?" He sounded smug as he asked the question, his eyes playing a game of ping pong between the awkward scientists.
"No!" Sue assured him as Reed said, "Not at all."
"Good!" Victor strode purposefully down towards the four of them, "Because you're just in time to hear the great Reed Richards ask me for help." He stopped in front of Sue, standing in incredibly close proximity to the blonde, "You know you made a lot of folks down at MIT feel like they were at a junior high science fair so you'll excuse me if I… savor the moment."
Reed looked incredibly uncomfortable, his eyes wanting to look anywhere but at the two people in front of him. He pursued his lips before coming back with, "You back this mission and I'll sign over a fair percentage of any application-"
"The number's seventy-five." Victor said sharply, swiftly cutting off whatever Reed was about to say after that. The guy really had a talent for cutting people off, the obnoxious jerk, she thought quietly.
Reed looked incredulous as Victor continued, "And it's applications and patents."
"What about his first born?" Ben interjected, glaring at the CEO. Sadie snorted with laughter but passed it off as a cough when Victor turned to look at her amusedly.
"Ben…" Reed said warningly.
"Come on," Victor chuckled and smiled in what he thought was a friendly way. But in reality it looked more like a wildcat baring it's fangs to the helpless prey, a likeness which Sadie found mildly disturbing and kind of creepy, "25% of a billion is enough to keep the lights on for a while, isn't it? Maybe even pay off your fourth mortgage on the Baxter Building."
Both Reed and Ben looked up from their respective gaze points on the floor and it was clear that then they both saw Victor in a new light.
"Deal?" Victor stuck his hand out as Reed smoothed down the lapels of his jacket, obviously conflicted. Sue was gazing at him intently, which made Sadie wonder if there had ever been a past between them.
After a few minutes of thought, Reed Richards then proceeded to sell his soul to the devil. He grasped Victor's hand firmly and Victor smiled, "Well then, to our future,"
He stepped closer to Sue and wrapped his arm around her waist, "Together." Ben shot him a tight-lipped smile and Victor's Chershire Cat grin grew wider.
…
The two men had left the building, whispering intensely. Ben had seemed angry while Reed had seemed…tired. She shook her head and hurried to catch up with Sue, there was a question she needed to ask her.
"Uh, excuse me, Ms Storm – sorry, Sue," she corrected herself nervously.
"Yes?" Sue turned to her, a carefully polite smile on her face.
"When you said I was your new astrophysicist, does that mean I'm going on the mission with you or is there something related to the mission that you want me to do, or…" she trailed off uncertainly. Dear God, she now sort of hoped it was the latter because being up in space with the lunatic, Victor Von Doom did not sound so appealing right now. But then again, she had to think about whether she wanted to let a creep like Von Doom ruin what could possibly be the greatest experience she would ever have and the experience which would send her into the top picks for new NASA employees.
Sue chuckled, "Yes, you're coming with us. Why else would I have made you stand through that when I could have just briefed you later on specific details?"
"But," she jogged beside the blonde, "I was hired before Mr. Von Doom had officially heard Mr. Richards' business proposition. Did he, uh, 'shut them down' so to speak?"
At the mention of Reed's last name, Sue went stiff all over. "Of course he did. You heard him; his job is to stay one step ahead. He was always going to accept the proposal. He was just trying to get as much money as he could out of it. It's business."
"Oh. Right." Sadie said quietly as she realized that in this game of cat and mouse, she was most definitely the mouse.
A/N: How did I do? Please review and I'll update soon!