AN: I still don't own anything Marvel wise. They've apparently ignored my letters. But I do own Robyn and the changes that occur. Enjoy.

Chapter 2:

Knock knock knock. 'Hey carrot top, ready to go?' Ben was standing in the now open doorway, smiling to himself as I slammed my laptop shut and tried to look innocent. When I saw it was him, I sighed with relief, reopening it and shutting it down properly. Ben walked over a little. 'Thought I was Reed, huh? What've you been up to?' he enquired, his low voice confused yet clearly joking. I raised an eyebrow at him and closed my laptop once again, placing it on my desk.

'I was just doing some quick research on Von Doom that I should have done last night. Seriously though, Von Doom? Who's called Von Doom nowadays except children's cartoon villains?' I replied, as we strolled out of my room and down the hall. Ben chuckled.

'Well, by the sound of this guy, he's not far off.' He said. I nodded, smiling at the thought of that comment maybe turning into a private joke later. I like private jokes, they're fun. I glanced at my watch again. One o'clock, as I'd expected. It wasn't too far to travel, but Reed had this thing about arriving late, unless it was unavoidable. Although his opinion of unavoidable was mainly 'I've just realised something about this/I'm sorry, I was caught up in work' which was just the way he was, really. And today was apparently no exception. Turns out Ben had voluntarily found me, and we discovered Reed still working away at one of his many desks. I sighed, realising now why Ben had done this. We had to tackle Reed, and fast, otherwise we would be seriously late. Ben and I looked at each other, nodded and approached Reed together. I put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump slightly before glancing at me.

'Oh, Robyn, you scared me. You just have to look at this, I've realised that the cloud is speeding up! Literally accelerating through space, it's an amazing turn of events. I've had to come up with a formula to calculate how long we now have at its current speed and factor in the rate of acceleration.' He said, his voice quick and excited. I rolled my eyes.

'Have you reached a conclusion? For how long we'll have, I mean?' I said, keeping one hand firmly on his shoulder, whilst placing the other on my hip. He nodded, shuffling through his papers, before opening his mouth to speak. 'Great! Let's go. Ben?' I continued, hauling Reed up by the shoulder I had hold of before he had a chance to say anything, getting a firm hold on his shirt. Ben nodded at me, a smile on his face, as he collected together Reed's notes and placed them as neatly as he could on the desk, before picking up the silver briefcase on the floor and heading for the door. I spun Reed to face me before carefully straightening his shirt, dusting off his shoulders and quickly sorting his hair with my hands. He still looked slightly bewildered as I shoved him towards Ben, who caught his arm and pulled him towards the lift. I grabbed his suit jacket off the back of his chair, tugging the sleeves gently in an attempt to smooth out a few creases, and then followed after them. We entered the lift as soon as the doors opened, whilst I handed Reed his jacket and stood next to Ben. Reed put it on, whilst looking at us both with confusion.

'What's the hurry? It's only...oh, right.' He said, as he glanced at his watch. By this time it was quarter past, and me and Ben discretely high fived each other, smiling.

oOo

We three stood outside the huge glass atrium of Von Doom Industries, staring up at an enormous metal statue of Victor himself. I glanced quickly up at Reed, whose grip on his briefcase had become a little tighter. I sighed, turning back to the figure in front of us.

'Woah...' I said, still trying to take in the size of the thing.

'High open space, exposed structural elements. Obviously aimed at first time visitors to create feelings of smallness...inadequacy.' Reed said logically, although the nerves in his voice were barely concealed. Ben noticed this too, turning to his friend with a smile.

'Good job it ain't working.' He said. Reed looked to him, his mouth attempting a smile in return. I grinned, before putting on a serious face.

'Yeah, I mean, anyone who builds a 20 foot statue of themselves out of metal must have some serious confidence issues. He appears to be trying to hide how small he is by creating a metal monster to show his "strength" I guess.' I said, using my A-level sociology to work out the meaning of this monstrosity. I heard a chuckle from the other two, and we began walking inside, trying to avoid looking at the statue. Ben sighed.

'Reed, what are we doing here? This guy's fast food, strip-mall science-' he began, before Reed cut him off.

'This wasn't our first stop, in case you forgot about NASA.' He said, 'And Victor's not that bad. He's just a little...larger than life.' He continued, glancing back at the statue as we entered the building. I shook my head with a smile, patting Reed reassuringly on the shoulder. Ben just shook his head and sighed, mumbling something that sounded a little like '...larger than life my ass...' but I couldn't really hear him properly. 'He's financed some of the biggest breakthroughs of this century.' Reed continued, as we walked through the large reception.

'You'd never know it.' Ben said, gesturing to a screen showing Victor shaking hands with several dignitaries and holding awards. One of which was apparently "Americas Cup" which I had no idea about. 'Jesus. That too?' I looked at him, confused. He waved his hand vaguely, 'Tell you later.' I nodded and we continued after Reed towards a large desk, which three stern receptionists sat behind. Reed smiled at them in an attempt to be friendly.

'Reed Richards, Ben Grimm and Robyn Blake to see-' he began, before he was interrupted by one receptionist, who handed us each an ID pass.

'Executive elevator, top floor.' She said, before returning to ignoring us and typing away at her computer, with her overly manicured nails. We took our passes, looking slightly confused and insulted. Reed thanked her, before walking in the direction that she'd indicated. I smiled and nodded, making to follow him. Ben merely grunted.

'What's the price for a smile round here?' he said, as I tried not to giggle and pulled him away. All three receptionists looked up at the same time and glared at us. I smiled at them again over my shoulder, still holding Ben's arm, before looking forward again and letting a small chuckle out. Ben grinned.

'I have no idea how much it costs, but we probably can't afford it.' I whispered with a smile.

oOo

'My research suggests that exposure to a high energy cosmic storm, born on solar winds, might have triggered the evolution of early planetary life.' We were stood inside Victors overly sized office, whilst Reed was explaining his plans to the man himself, who at present was sat in the dark behind his desk. Ben and I were stood back a little, giving the genius some time to shine whilst we just stood there trying to look like we knew what we were doing. In truth, I had a firm grasp on what Reed was talking about and the reasoning behind the space trip was clear to me, so I just tried to put this knowing across. Ben, however, was just trying to look more confident and less confused. I leant over to him.

'Seriously, with all the massive stuff around here, I'm definitely thinking that mister big shot is trying to make up for something.' I whispered, and Ben tried not to laugh.

'In six weeks, another cloud with the same elemental profile will pass Earth's orbit. A study in space could advance our knowledge of the human genome, and help cure thousands of diseases, extend human life-' Reed was in full flow, the proposal was sounding promising, when he was interrupted by a cough from the darkened figure that was Victor. Reed hesitated for a second before continuing, putting more emotion into his words. 'Give the kids a chance to be stronger, healthier, less prone too-' once again, the man on the chair interrupted him before he could finish.

'Turn it off. Please.' He said, his deep voice relaxed and commanding, and almost bored in my opinion. Reed hesitated once more, before speaking again.

'But I haven't fully explained my-' he tried, his voice confused yet determined, before the figure in the chair, who seemed to have a thing for not letting people finish, spoke again.

'Yes you have. Imagination. Creativity. Passion. Those were always your trademarks.' He paused to throw a copy of Wired magazine on the table in front of him, as a light turned on to reveal his face. 'But dreams don't pay the bills do they? Same old Reed, always reaching for the stars, with the weight of the world on your back.' He continued, a condescending smile on his smug face. It was quite easy and pleasant to imagine slapping the smile off with the back of my hand. It was easy to tell that Ben shared the same feelings, as we both watched him attempt to make Reed feel as small as possible. But he somehow kept talking.

'You remember in school, when we talked about working together? Well that's what I was about to explain.' Reed said, clicking a button on the remote he held. An image of what I guessed, (here's where lack of prep comes back to haunt you), was a space station. A section was highlighted in red, which appeared to be some kind of shields.

'The cloud is deadly, but the shields on your space station could easily withstand the blast.' Reed explained. Victor leant forwards, propping his elbows on the table and making a pyramid with his hands in front of his face.

'So it's not my money you want. It's my toys...Tell me, if NASA doesn't trust you, why should I?' We all froze. My eyes widened at the comment, as I glanced at Ben, who was equally confused. Victor noticed our shock and smirked. That mouth was getting annoying. 'That's my job, to stay a step ahead. To know what other men don't.' At this, Ben took a step forward, me quickly following. He turned towards the door, to talk to Reed without Victor seeing. I stayed stood in front of them both, my arms folded across my chest.

'I can't take this.' Said Ben, as he gave Reed a look of warning. Reed sighed a little, looking at us seriously. He raised his hands slightly, in a gesture of calm.

'Ben, this is business. Just work.' He said, before turning back to the table. I rolled my eyes at him. This is just business, right, and where does taunting your proposer for fun come into that?! Most of the time actually. But that's not the point...

'He's right Ben,' came a voice from behind them, 'it's just business.' We all stopped talking. Or moving, and in Reed's case, breathing. I had to hit him on the shoulder once before he freaked me out too much. We all turned to see a blond woman standing behind us, a few feet away. She had a rather cold expression. Reed's face became difficult to read; it looked something between sad, shocked and embarrassed. There was a moments silence before Victor's smug voice spoke from the other end of the room.

'I think that two of you know my Director of Genetic Research, Susan Storm.'

AN: I quite like that ending, it's sort of dramatic. I know, I know, Johnny still hasn't appeared, but those of you who've seen the movie, (which you probably have, seeing as you're here), will know that he turns up really soon. DEFINITELY in the next chapter. Should be up tomorrow, unless I absolutely can't. Remember to review if you can :)