Disclaimer: Fantastic Four is the property of Marvel and 20th Century Fox. I'm not making any profit by writing this.
Wrath of Doom
Chapter 4-Not Out of the Woods Yet
Lucia's eyelids fluttered open. As soon as she was conscious, she realized that she had a killer headache. What happened? Where am I? Oh yeah. Victor slapped me. She rose to her feet, and saw that Johnny was still unconscious. Johnny, what did Victor do to you? He's not going to like it, but I'm going to get you out of here.
She desperately searched the cabinets in the room for a first aid kit, something to eat, or something to drink, but only found that the cabinets were empty. I can't believe it. Victor left us down here to die! We have to get out of here and the sooner the better.
Lucia walked over to Johnny, and tried to assess his condition. Make no mistake. She was a prime minister not a doctor. However, some things one didn't need to be a doctor to notice. Oh God! Your wrists are in bad shape. I need to get you out of those shackles. How am I going to do that though? Victor has the key.
Lucia contemplated how she could possibly free Johnny from his shackles. She knew that if Johnny was awake, he could probably just flame on and melt the shackles. That wasn't an option though considering how Johnny wasn't awake. A light bulb went off in Lucia's head. I got it! She took out the bobby pin that was keeping her hair up in a ponytail. She proceeded to bend the bobby pin until it was practically an entirely straight piece of metal.
She proceeded to attempt to undo Johnny's shackles with the bobby pin just as one might pick a lock. Once she freed his right wrist, his right arm instantaneously fell to his side. The same thing happened as soon as his left wrist was freed. Johnny's body fell forward, but before he could hit the ground face first, Lucia caught him. She gently laid Johnny on the ground.
Now that Johnny was out of his shackles that just left the matter of getting out of there. I'll be right back Johnny. I'm just going to see if we can get out of here. Lucia left Johnny's side, and made her way to the only exit the underground tunnel had. Once there, she tried to push the hatch open only to find that it had been locked from the outside. No! This can't be happening.
As she was making her way back to Johnny, she heard the hatch open. She excitedly ran back towards the exit. She discovered, however, that she and Johnny were no longer alone in the underground tunnel. Ten Doombots were now underground with them. Lucia backed away in fear as the Doombots advanced on her. Soon, Lucia found that she could back up no further as her back was against the wall.
"Uh, Johnny, now would be a really good time for you to wake up," Lucia said out loud.
4-4-4-4
Back at the Baxter Building, Reed, Sue, Ben, and Frankie were arguing with one another about what it is they should do first.
"We need to take the initiative. We can't allow Victor to regroup and build up his army. We have to take the fight to him," Frankie said.
"No, what we have to do is save Johnny!" Sue retorted.
"I'm with Susie. Savin' Matchstick should be our top priority," Ben stated.
Reed saw that all eyes were on him as he was the only individual who hadn't taken a side as of yet. Reed was thinking it through, but he soon realized that the more he thought about it, the more impatient Sue, Ben, and Frankie became.
"Well, Reed, what do you think we should do?" Sue asked.
"You all bring up some interesting points. After taking those into consideration, I think that the best strategical move we could make would be to find Doom first. More than likely, he is the only one who knows where Johnny is at, so we find Doom, we find Johnny," Reed answered.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Sue said.
As Reed, Ben, and Sue headed towards the Fantasticar, they found that Frankie was following them. She soon was trapped in between two tightly placed invisible force fields.
"Where do you think you're going?" Sue asked.
"I'm coming with you," Frankie replied.
"No, you're not. You've already done enough as it is!" Sue remarked.
Sue looked to her husband to back her up on the matter.
"We could use all the help we can get," Reed said.
"Reed!" Sue exclaimed.
Reed held up his hands in defense. Ben inwardly chuckled. Even as a married couple, Reed is still afraid of Susie.
"I'm just saying," Reed said.
"Fine. You can come. I guess. Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you. Just because you are coming with us doesn't mean you are a part of the team. We are the Fantastic Four. You can't replace my brother. No one can," Sue stated.
"I have no intention of replacing him. I intend on finding him," Frankie responded.
4-4-4-4
"What are you doing? I helped create you!" Lucia shouted.
"Doom's word is law," one Doombot replied.
One of the Doombots grabbed hold of Lucia by her arms. She struggled, but it was to no avail. The only way I'm going to make it out of here alive is if Johnny wakes up. Maybe if I yell loud enough, he'll hear me and wake up.
"No! Let go of me!" Lucia screamed.
The Doombot that had Lucia raised his gun arm. However, in the process, it released one of Lucia's arms. With Lucia's free arm, she grabbed hold of the Doombot's gun arm, and desperately tried to point it away from her. It was stronger than her though, and soon the Doombot's gun arm was pointed at Lucia's heart.
Lucia was surprised when the Doombot was shattered into a million pieces courtesy of one of Johnny's fireballs. Lucia looked over at her savior and gave a gracious smile. Johnny rose to his feet favoring his right leg all the while. The next thing she knew, he had flamed on, and was airborne.
"Johnny, no! Don't flame on! The Doombots have been programmed to neutralize your powers!" Lucia warned.
Her warning came a split second too late though.
"Target—the Human Torch. Weapon—extinguishing foam," one Doombot said.
Soon, Johnny was covered from head to toe in thick, green foam. He fell to the ground landing hard on his side.
"Johnny!" Lucia called out running to his side.
Lucia helped Johnny to his feet. Johnny clutched his ribs in pain. He clenched his teeth in an effort to mask the pain on his face.
"So, how am I supposed to beat them if I can't use my powers?" Johnny asked.
"You can use your powers. You just can't fly," Lucia responded.
The nine remaining Doombots approached Lucia and Johnny with their gun arms raised.
"Get down!" Johnny shouted shoving Lucia to the ground.
Lucia watched in horror as Johnny took all nine hits for her. He fell first to his knees and then face first on the ground.
"Johnny, no!" Lucia yelled.
4-4-4-4
"What does Vic want with the kid anyways?" Ben asked.
"I don't know. I really don't know, but I intend on finding out," Reed answered.
"How much longer until we reach Latveria?" Frankie questioned.
"E.T.A. is approximately one hour," Reed replied.
"I just hope we're not too late," Sue commented.
The morale of the team was at an all-time low. The Fantastic Four had been through so much together. Reed, Sue, and Ben couldn't bear the thought of not being able to share any more experiences with Johnny. It started to rain outside. The weather was a perfect match for their current mood.
Reed thought about how it hadn't even been that long since Johnny had become his brother-in-law. In a way, Johnny was everything that Reed wasn't. Reed would be lying if he said that he didn't miss Johnny's 'youthful, high spirits'.
Ben recalled how he used to be Johnny's C.O. He had taken Johnny under his wing, and tried to steer him in the right direction. Sure, Ben was tough on Johnny, but it was only because he saw the potential that Johnny had, and just wanted Johnny to live up to that potential. To Ben, Johnny was not only a close friend, but he was also almost like a son to him.
Frankie had finally come to terms with the fact that she had fallen for Johnny's charms. Most guys that Frankie met were too intimidated by her to date her. However, in the short span of time that Frankie had known Johnny, he had always expressed his interest in dating her through his blatant flirting with her. She was weary of Johnny as he was notorious for being quite the player, but Frankie wondered if she'd ever get the chance to date Johnny at all.
Sue remembered how Johnny had given her away at her wedding. He had also told her 'Dad would be proud'. After their parents died, Sue had practically raised Johnny on her own. She had taken on a sort of dual role as both older sister and mother to Johnny in the process. She noticed more than anyone that Johnny had become more of a team player. He had become more selfless as evident by his going after Doom in order to save innocent lives. Even if nobody else saw that as well, she was proud of her brother for his change in character.
4-4-4-4
Lucia soon heard someone else enter the underground tunnel, and she had a good idea who that someone was—Victor. Soon enough, there Victor was standing in front of her. She glanced to her side, and saw that Johnny was motionless.
"Victor, I beg you to stop this. He's been through enough!" Lucia pleaded.
"Miss von Bardas, you are either with me or against me. You've made it pretty clear that you are against me, and I do not take kindly to betrayal," Victor said.
"Oh God! What are you going to do to me?" Lucia asked.
"Not everything is about you Miss von Bardas. Who said I was going to do anything to you?" Victor inquired.
Victor lifted his hand and sent a steady stream of electricity at Johnny's prone figure. His body convulsed as a result of the continuous onslaught. Lucia attempted to stop Victor's attack, but a Doombot grabbed her around the waist preventing her from doing so.
After nearly a minute had passed, Victor stopped. He stalked over to Johnny, and repeatedly stomped on the back of Johnny's injured knee. Johnny had long since passed out from pain, and thus wasn't able to respond to Doom's attack.
"To think, if I had married Sue, you would be my brother-in-law," Victor said to an unconscious Johnny.
"You monster! You vowed that your reign would not be like your father's, yet you are just like him! Ziegfried ruled over us by instilling fear in us, and you are doing the exact same thing!" Lucia exclaimed.
Victor's hand was quickly around Lucia's throat strangling her. He hoisted her up in the air. Lucia desperately tried to pry Victor's hand off her throat, but it was no good. She kicked at him with her feet, but his hold remained firm. It was getting harder for her to breathe with each passing second.
"Consider yourself fired Miss von Bardas!" Victor yelled.
At that moment, the sound of something landing not too far from the warehouse was heard. Victor flung Lucia against a wall, and made his way out of the underground tunnel to see who his guests were though he had a hunch he knew who they were—the Fantastic Four.
To Be Continued…
So I wanted to let you know that I take all constructive criticism I get seriously. As you see, I try my best to take your constructive criticism into consideration, and learn from it. In that sense, I'm kind of what you might call a work in progress. I love praise just as much as the next guy, but I'm a fledgling author (the first chapter of the first story I submitted was on March 5, 2007), so I know that I have to be making mistakes, and that my writing isn't perfect. That is why I really appreciate people pointing out my weaknesses. Watch, you all start getting nitpicky on me now.
I want to give a shout out to Jellybean16, the sims 2 rocks, Pinkchick, Spaztic Arwen, LastWhiteRose, sUnKiSsT, alexandizzie4eva, SnowFox3, shadowwolf919, TheSummoningDark, and Elektric Storm for reviewing Chapter 3. I would also like to give a huge thank you to the sims 2 rocks for putting this story on your favorite story list and for listing me as one of your favorite authors. You have no idea how flattered I am. To everyone who put my story on your story alert list, I want to thank you too. I'd thank you individually, but seeing how there are twenty of you, that could take awhile. Have any comments? Tell me in a review. No flames please. I appreciate you taking the time to read this, and I hope you liked it.