Disclaimer: The FF4 belongs to Stan Lee and the director of the movie, yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah! Not me.
Chapter 2: Awakening
Will groggily opened his heavy eye lids to see white ceiling tiles? He looked to the side and saw a heart monitor beeping dutifully in sync with his lub dubs. The teen rolled over once more to see Reed Richards sitting half asleep in a chair beside Will's hospital bed.
Will pulled himself upright, doing his best to ignore the pounding in his head. Whoa, what happened? The last thing I remember is the space station and then the cloud…wait the cloud! He reached over and flicked Reed on the nose, causing the man to jump and yelp.
"Oh Will! I'm glad to see you're up," Reed said rubbing his slightly stinging nose.
"Reed what happened? The last thing I remember is seeing the Cosmic Storm and then nothing."
Reed stood stretching his stiff back, "well the cloud shut the station down and Johnny, Victor and I were able to get you, Ben and Sue back to Earth. You've been asleep for a couple hours now, and Ben and Sue still haven't woken up yet."
The boy flipped the covers off his legs and stood, wobbling a bit along the way. He put a hand up to his forehead as his vision spun, "whoa head rush."
"Are you okay to walk?"
Will nodded in determination he wanted to see his aunt and uncle, just to make sure they were alright. Reed left the room so Will could change; he pulled on a pair of baggy jeans and a white T-shirt. He walked out of the room and followed Reed down the hospitals' halls. After a few minutes of silent walking Reed stopped in front of door number 203 and without hesitation Will pulled the door open and peeked in to see….nothing. His uncle wasn't even in the room.
"Uh, Reed he's not in here."
The scientist looked surprised but also peeked around the door as well. "Huh, I could have sworn he was resting." Just then a pretty nurse walked by the two followed closely by an eager looking Johnny. The blonde haired man didn't even notice his nephew and Reed as he pursued the nurse around the corner.
"Well that explains it." Will scoffed shaking his head.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
A few days had passed since Will had woken up and finally after all his waiting Ben was starting to wake up as well. After finally finding Johnny the three men had gone to visit Sue, but she had yet to wake up. So Will had spent the days wandering around the hospital and mostly watching T.V. But at the moment he and Johnny were sitting in Ben's room, patiently. "You think he's gonna wake up soon?" Johnny whined. Well I'm waiting patiently. Will joked giving his uncle a lighthearted glare.
"How am I supposed to know? I'm not a doctor."
Johnny turned away a small pout creasing his forehead. Will was just about to ask his uncle how old he was, when the still unconscious Ben starting to groan and shift. Johnny leaned over him and said excitedly, "Hey he's waking up!"
"No really, I didn't notice." Will rolled his eyes at Johnny's immaturity.
Johnny didn't hear him as he was leaning over Ben calling his name. The bald headed man groaned a final time before asking in a fuzzy voice. "Ugh…Johnny where am I."
Johnny leaned back on his stool before answering. "Back on Earth, Victor's Medical facility we're in quarantine."
"Reed, Sue, Will are they okay?"
The teen leaned over so he was in Ben's line of vision. "They're okay…everyone else is okay," he finished looking regretful.
Ben instantly picked up on the word "else" and his face paled a bit. "What's wrong with me?" The fear in his tone was evident, along with his steadily increasing heartbeat that could be heard via the heart monitor.
Johnny picked up for Will also looking sad. "I don't know how to say this but-."
He was interrupted by Ben shouting, "give me a mirror." He reached for the one by his bedside, but Johnny snatched it up first.
"I don't think that's a good idea, they said the shock alone could-."
"Give me that god damn mirror!" Ben growled. Before Johnny could object he grabbed it out of his hands.
"Don't worry Ben you had the best doctors in the world working on you." Will consoled. Slowly Ben raised the shaking mirror up to his face, the shaking however ceased the moment Ben saw his completely normal appearance.
"Sadly the doctors just couldn't do anything to fix your face." Johnny supplied gleefully. He shared a swift glance with his nephew before the two burst into ecstatic laughter. They stopped when Ben slung the mirror at them, and they just managed to duck out of the room as the mirror crashed into the wall busting into a million pieces.
Ben sat back in his hospital bed, his heart rate slowly returning to normal. The only thing on his mind was one word, "revenge" he muttered.
Will and Johnny burst out into the hall, still laughing maniacally. "Did you see his face," Will gasped trying to catch his breath.
"Y…yeah, classic." Johnny agreed bending over in an attempt to breathe. Just then Reed walked into the hall, he took one look at the still chuckling Storm's and shook his head.
"I really don't want to know." He clarified holding his hand up.
"You're probably right," Will nodded his laughter dieing down. "Just whatever you do, don't go into Ben's room." The teen slipped by Reed heading for the dining hall as he did he heard Johnny say.
"Nice do I'm liking the grandpa look." Before Reed could ask what Johnny was talking about he'd also slipped around him following Will. He turned around just in time to see Reed looking critically at his graying temples.
After the duo had finished their quick meal Johnny headed back to his room saying he was going snowboarding. Will declined the offer to go along saying he didn't feel all that well. Instead he went for a walk through the hospital pulling his jacket tightly around him. He wondered around the eerily empty building for a few hours, until getting bored and heading back to the cafeteria. Will popped into the room to see Reed, Sue and Ben laughing and joking at the far side of the dining room.
"Hey," he greeted. The three adults turned to him smiling, Will was happy to see that they all looked much better than the last time he saw them. Will took a seat between Sue and Ben, snagging a roll of Ben's plate as he went. He sent Ben a wide grin around a mouthful of bread and the man rolled his eyes.
"Reminiscing about the good ol' days, are we?" Will asked taking another large bite of roll.
Sue pretended she didn't hear him, instead staring into the distance. "Reed do you remember that time when we skipped out on that lecture at College to go to the new pizza place on campus?" She said in a wistful way.
Reed picked up for her, "and we stayed so long the teacher came in and found us."
"And he made us go to the next three lectures and sit in the front row." Ben finished barely containing his laughter.
The three adults burst into laughter again, and after a moment Will joined in.
"Reed, you really skipped out on lecture?" Will asked once he'd calmed down.
The scientist shrugged, "I was a kid once too."
Will raised an eyebrow skeptically and Ben chuckled. But he stopped putting a hand up to his chest as a loud gurgling emitted from his stomach. The three other people at the table stared at Ben wide eyed. "Are you okay?" Reed said looking concerned.
Ben shook himself, "yeah bad shrimp. I think I'd better go lie down." He stood up a hand still placed tenderly on his chest. The group watched him go with mixed emotions, Reed felt concerned for his friend. Will was sad to see him go because he'd wanted to apologize for earlier. Sue felt awkward now that her old friend was gone leaving her with her ex but was glad however that her nephew was still there.
"So," she said. "How've you been?" Directing the question at Reed.
The scientist clearly looked uncomfortable and Will took that as his cue to leave. "Uh I'm gonna go get some food," he said quickly before hopping up from his seat and walking away. He stood at the food bar keeping one ear attuned to their conversation. It started out friendly enough that is until Sue's good natured voice took on a hint of barely suppressed rage.
The boy winced in sympathy glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of her anger. Suddenly he heard Sue gasp and shriek, he turned around just in time to see Reed's arm stretch out about four feet past the cuff of his shirt and grab a wine bottle just before it hit the floor. Will looked to his Aunt and could only see her clothes floating in the air. "Holy shit!" Will shouted running towards where he thought his Aunt was sitting.
Just as he reached her floating clothes she rematerialized looking scared and confused. Will stared in amazement as Reed's arm snapped back to its original length causing Reed to stare in equal amazement at his hand.
"What just happened?" Sue asked her voice shaking a bit.
"I…I don't know." Reed answered shaking his head in disbelief.
"Don't you guys read comics?" Will interjected his voice filled with awe. "You just turned invisible," he pointed to Sue. "And you just stretched your arm to impossible lengths," he finished pointing to Reed.
Before anyone could say anything to that Johnny burst into the room, dressed in only a pink jacket wrapped around his waist? "Hey guys, you'll never believe what just happened to me!" he shouted breathlessly.
Will looked between Reed and Sue before saying, "you'd be surprised what we're willing to believe at this point."
o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o
A few minutes later Reed, Sue, Johnny and Will were walking purposely towards Ben's room. Each of them lost in their own thoughts, Reed and Sue led the way. While Johnny and Will trailed behind them.
"It has to be the cloud, it's fundamentally altered our D.N.A," Sue argued to Reed.
He shook his head holding up his hand, "we'd need a substantial amount of evidence before making that leap."
Will turned to Johnny to ask his opinion but found that his uncle was no longer beside him. Will looked over his shoulder to see Johnny staring wide-eyed at his thumb, the teen slipped back to his side. "Uh Johnny I know your thumb must be interesting but we kinda have a bigger issue right now." Will said a tad bit annoyed.
Johnny looked to his nephew a wide grin coming across his face. "Watch this," the man said simultaneously snapping his fingers. As he did a bright orange flamed popped into existence burning out of Johnny's thumb!
Will shrieked, sounding quite girlish, and jumped away from his uncle. "Wow! You're thumbs on fire!" he shouted drawing the attention of Reed and Sue. They turned around, saw Johnny's thumb on fire and shared a swift glance.
"The cloud has fundamentally altered our D.N.A." Reed clarified ignoring Sue's triumphant grin.
She paused in her inner victory and looked around. "Hey, where's Will?"
"Uh over here," came the hesitant and quiet reply. The three adults turned towards the sound of the voice and were shocked to see Will standing halfway through the wall. His head and upper torso were visible but the rest of his body was in the wall.
"W…Will you're standing in the wall," Reed stammered.
Will glared at him, "whoa really Reed I'm standing in the wall?" He paused letting his sarcasm hang before shouting furiously, "would you stop standing there and help me!"
Johnny shook himself from his stupor and grabbed a hold of Will's arm. After tugging for a good two minutes he was able to pull the teen completely out of the wall. Will shook out his arms rolled his shoulders that had not felt good.
"Well Will, I think we know what you can do." Johnny said observing his shaken nephew.
"And what is that exactly?" He asked raising an eyebrow.
"You can walk through stuff." Johnny answered sounding excited.
"Look," Reed interjected sounding nervous. "We can discuss this later; right now we need to find Ben, if this is happening to us." He trailed his eyes downcast.
What could be happening to Ben? The question was left unanswered as the group set off again at a fast pace, after a few tense minutes they arrived outside Ben's room. Where they could here moaning and groans of pain coming from inside. Reed pulled at the doorknob but found that it was locked, "hey Ben open up." The scientist ordered banging on the door. The moaning increased but the door remained locked.
"Ben…Hey Ben it's us…Ben open up." The four people shouted when there friend didn't answer them.
Reed turned to Will panic in his eyes, "Will you need to walk through the wall and open the door."
The teen looked a taken back but nodded determinedly and braced his shoulders facing the wall. He took several deep breathes before running at the wall, expecting to walk through it but soon found that was not the case. He slammed his head full forced into the wall his body following a moment later and he fell to the ground with a loud 'oof'. Will sat on the floor holding his nose in pain, "great idea Reed." He hissed and muttered something inaudible under his breath that sounded something like "smother ducker."
Reed turned away and kneeled in front of the door while Sue typed furiously on the keypad beside it. Amazingly as Reed stuck his arm under the door it flattened so thin that he was able to slide it under the crack that separated it from the floor. Soft thumps were heard from the other side of the door as Reed's outstretched arm searched for the lock on the other side. After a few moments the four people heard a quiet click as the door was unlocked and Reed pulled his hand back out.
He stood up looking sheepishly at the three assembled Storm's. "That's gross." Johnny clarified and Will nodded in agreement, a bright red mark already appearing on his forehead.
Reed scowled at him just as an enormous crash was heard from the other side of the door. Reed flung the door open to see a huge hole in the wall big enough to admit a small car, the room was in shambles and the bed was broken in half.
"What the hell happened in here," Will breathed looking around at the destroyed room.
Johnny, who was standing beside the hole suddenly shouted while pointing. "Hey guys look, look, look!" They rushed over just in time to see a large, orange, bumpy…thing, disappear into the trees. "What is that thing," Johnny breathed.
"I…I think that's Ben," Sue stammered looking shaken. Before anyone could say anything to that, the door opened again and Victor Von Doom walked in. He had a few stitches going across his temple but other than that he was okay.
"What happened in here?" He demanded sternly.
"Uh, Victor," Sue said quickly hurrying to stand in front of him. "Are you okay?"
Victor waved her off, "I'm fine just a few scrapes."
"Ben did this." Reed spoke up quietly keeping his eyes downcast, "he had some kind of reaction to the cloud…and he's not the only one." He added after glancing at the Storm's.
Will heard Sue try to apologize to Victor about something but he cut her off coldly. "Just find him." Then he disappeared back out the door leaving Sue to stare after him looking hurt.
"So any ideas on where the big guy's going?" Johnny asked.
"Maybe he just ran out for a bite." Will suggested only half joking.
Reed ignored him and answered staring at a rumpled picture on the ground. "He's going home." Will and Johnny peeked around Reed's shoulders to look at the picture; it showed Ben and a pretty blonde woman smiling happily at the camera.
Will made an 'oh' face while Johnny looked downright amazed. "I didn't know Ben had a girl!" He shouted completely flabbergasted. Without saying another word Reed trudged out the door his shoulders slumping.
Sue stared after him before turning to her brother and nephew. "Guys go pack your stuff; we're heading for New York." She informed them before following Reed out of the room.
Sorry for the long wait! I've been pretty busy lately, but fear not I will not let this story die. You can count on that. As long as there is one person out there that's likes this story I will continue to write it! I will try my best to make the next chapter faster but don't hold your breath.