"Radioactive"
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The ride up to the space station had gone smoothly which was highly unexpected since Johnny was the one piloting the ship.
It seemed that the youngest Storm sibling had become somewhat mature over the years since he was serious during the entire launch and handled the take-off professionally.
He didn't start gloating about his skills until after he safely landed the ship on the station and made sure everything was secure.
Gathering up the materials needed, everyone evacuated the ship and made their way into the station, walking down the halls so they could head off to their own areas of work.
"ETA until cosmic event, nine hours." Victor said as he walked ahead of everyone.
"If you're good, maybe next time Daddy'll let you drive." Johnny teased Ben.
Unable to help himself, Johnny glanced back at Davey and sent a smirk her way.
"And I'll let you sit up front. Maybe you can even sit on my lap." He said.
Davey simply rolled her eyes at him.
Typical Johnny, he always has to flirt with every girl he comes into contact with.
She didn't let this bother her though since she knew he was only being playful and didn't mean any harm in it.
"You keep talkin' and there won't be a next time." Ben muttered.
"Boys, can't you ever play nice?" Davey asked.
"He started it." Johnny said immaturely.
Ben released an aggravated breath, trying to keep his temper in check.
"We can monitor the cloud's approach and observe the tests from here." Susan announced as they entered the observation deck.
"Is it safe?" Ben asked warily.
"Sounds like something you should have asked before we left Earth." Davey commented.
Even though she wouldn't admit it, she was a bit worried over what could happen while they were up in space.
It wasn't a different country they were visiting; it was space, a place that was filled with unknown wonders and dangers that could strike at any moment.
Being up here was both thrilling and frightening.
"The shields on the station should protect us." Reed said.
Hearing the word he used in that sentence, Davey and Ben turned towards Reed, giving him incredulous looks.
"Should?" They questioned.
"What's the matter, Ben? Getting paranoid in your old age?" Victor mocked.
The trio all turned to look at the man who was leaning against a railing, Ben giving him an annoyed look and Davey glared, hoping Victor would lose his balance and fall to the floor below them.
"Let's start loading those samples. Davey, you can handle that, right?" Reed asked his niece.
"I'm putting flowers in jars. How difficult can that possibly be?" Davey scoffed playfully.
"Good. Get your suit ready, Ben." Reed instructed.
Nodding, Ben turned and started leaving the area along with Davey who was carrying the case that had the plants inside of them.
Johnny was already standing by the area where the space suit was set up and would be helping Ben get dressed in it, making sure it was in perfect condition to wear out into space.
"So I see you're still doing all the heavy lifting." Victor commented.
His words made Ben stop walking and Davey turned around, frowning over at the man she was beginning to dislike more with each time he opened his mouth.
"Maybe you should have stayed in the lab. Fieldwork never suited you." Victor said to Reed.
"He does the talkin', I do the walkin'. Got it?" Ben stood beside Reed and gave Victor a challenging expression.
"So, take a walk, Ben. Actually, if you'll all excuse me, I need to borrow Susan for a moment." Victor straightened up.
Confused over hearing her name being spoken, Susan looked up from the monitors she was working on and stared at her boss.
"Sure." Reed said, though he looked uncomfortable.
Ben then walked off, placing a hand on Davey's back and leading her away with him.
There was no reason to stay behind and be suffocated by the tension in the room between the love triangle.
They met up with Johnny and while Davey set up the plants, Ben was helped into his space suit by the young pilot.
"Please tell me your guy's not trying to rekindle things with my sister again." Johnny sudden spoke.
He loved his older sister, truly he did, but he couldn't handle watching her go through another relationship with a man who cared more about his work than he did his girlfriend.
It was sad to see Reed get excited over studying molecules when he had a loving girlfriend who wanted to spend some time with him and he simply ignored her.
The worst part was, Reed hadn't ignored Susan on purpose, but he always wound up doing it and couldn't commit to the relationship when he refused to share an apartment with her.
"Of course not. It's strictly business." Ben denied.
"Yes, well, his eyes say differently, don't they? What do you think, Davey?" Johnny asked the girl.
"I'm not getting involved in this, so don't drag me into it." Davey called.
She hated when she heard about the break-up between Reed and Susan, she thought they were the perfect couple for each other and was upset that they had ended things because of something so stupid.
Most men would jump at the chance to have a woman as intelligent and beautiful as Susan move in with them, but Reed seemed to be socially retarded since he didn't know the proper way to behave in social interactions.
At least, that's what her mother always said when Reed did something that aggravated her.
Grabbing Johnny's arm, Ben stopped him from working to get his attention and make him listen.
"Hey. Two hearts got busted last time. Maybe she's not over it either." Ben said seriously.
"Wow, Dr. Phil, that's deep. Let's think about that. You got Victor—more money than God, stud of the year—and you got Reed, world's dumbest smart guy worth less than a postage stamp. That's a real toss-up." Johnny said.
Scoffing at what she heard, Davey then carried the plants over to Ben and handed them over to the man as he stepped into the section of the ship where he would be jumping out into space.
"Yeah, but you seem to be missing something there, Johnny. Victor is also an egocentric, unethical asshole who seems to care only about himself and his company. Susan is only dating him because he's a rebound. She knows the only reason he's even with her is because it's a way to get under Reed's skin. I mean, a few weeks ago, when I first saw them together, Sue looked like she was really uneasy whenever Victor touched her. They're not gonna last for much longer." Davey stated.
"How much you wanna bet that?" Johnny challenged.
"Fifty bucks say they don't last the rest of the month." Davey smirked confidently.
"Deal." Johnny grinned and shook hands with her.
Signing in disbelief of the way the two were behaving, Ben stepped out into the air lock chamber.
"I'm heading out now. Try not to get into too much trouble, you two." He said.
"Don't wander off now, boy." Johnny grinned.
Linking his arm with Davey's, he led her out of the portal and made his way over to the computer, pushing buttons to close it.
"Securing air lock chamber." The computer reported.
As the glass door lowered, Johnny stepped over and gave Ben a mock salute before he gave him two thumbs up.
The astronaut nodded and turned to look behind him as the chamber opened, smiling at the sight that greeted him.
Bright light shone onto Davey's face and she stared on in awe as Ben easily floated out into the majestic beauty of space.
Up in space, the stars seemed brighter and down below was the Earth that was glowing with a mystical blue color while there was a white aura surrounding the planet.
"Like what you see?" Johnny asked seeing the expression of awe on her face.
"It's amazing. Never thought I'd get to see anything like this." Davey said as she stared out to where Ben was busy collecting samples.
Smiling down at the young woman, Johnny thought of all the other women he would have bragged to about getting to see something like this quite often.
Instead, he would hold his tongue and simply allow Davey to enjoy it for as long as she could.
After all, she wasn't like all the other girls, she was actually important to him, his little partner in crime.
She should be able to enjoy herself, especially since she wasn't a scientist or astronaut and wouldn't be able to see space up close like this ever again.
Sadly, the moment was ruined a few minutes later when Reed was heard on their ear pieces, sounding frantic as he started running off towards them.
"Ben, get inside now!" Reed yelled.
"What's going on?" Johnny asked as he glanced over at the man.
"Uncle Reed, what is it?" Davey asked when she saw the fear on his face.
"I ain't done arrangin' your flowers yet, egghead." Ben said.
"Ben, turn around." Reed told him.
Everyone looked out into space and their eyes grew wide in horror at the sight of the cosmic cloud that was approaching them, sparks crackling with its movements.
"Guys, I'm not gonna make it." Ben said as he was frozen with fear.
"Don't talk like that!" Davey snapped.
Her hand had reached up to grip onto her necklace, feeling a large ball of dread drop into her stomach as she stared ahead at the radioactive storm that could kill them all.
She would hate to die now after the horrors she had been through in her childhood as she faced the likes of Kimeramon, BlackWarGreymon, Cherubimon, MaloMyotismon and Diaboromon.
There had to be some way that they could survive this and when they did, she was going to strangle her uncle for getting them all into this mess.
"Ben, you gotta jump! It's the only way!" Johnny called.
"Come on, hurry!" Davey insisted.
Turning around, Ben jumped off of the wing of the space ship just as the cloud hit it and the man slowly started to float towards the chamber.
"Come on, Ben! You got this!" Johnny encouraged.
"Okay, Johnny, get ready to close the portal." Reed told him.
Noticing the worried expression that was on his niece's face, Reed reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to provide some form of comfort for her.
Before Ben could reach the chamber, he was hit by the storm and he cried out from the sparks that surged through his body.
"NO!" Davey yelled as tears sprung to her eyes.
Being propelled forward by the storm, Ben was slammed up against the glass and met eyes with a horrified Reed before he fell to the floor, unconscious.
Noticing the bright red light, Reed looked up and was met with the storm that seeped through the closed chamber and blasted through the glass, hitting him.
After the cloud hit Reed, it surged through Davey making her cry out at the intense pain that shocked her system, setting her nerves on fire.
Johnny was then hit by the cloud next, and then it was Susan who had been running towards the others to try and help them, and finally the storm hit Victor who was hiding behind the shields, jumping back at the sparks that were flying from the destroyed control panel.
When the cloud hit them, each person seemed to go through different transformations.
Reed's body began to stretch; his limbs and face expanding like melted rubber.
Johnny was hovering in midair as flames surrounded his body.
Davey's body began to glow silver and her jewelry disintegrated when the cloud hit her.
Susan was covered in light and her body started to turn invisible.
As the cloud passed through the station, the screams of the passengers filled the air until they all finally passed out, exhausted from the pain they had suffered through.
Soon enough, the cloud finally passed and the station on Earth had received the distress signal of the crew being hit by the storm, and they were sending a team up to retrieve the six injured people.
To be continued...
