Fantastic Four (Movieverse) – Lost Time
Summary:
Sequel to Hunted. Sometimes the only way to get things right is to do it yourself. But Doom has found that is so much more fun to stand back and watch as your puppet tears them apart. Siblingness/Family stuff
Disclaimer:
I owned nothing then, I own nothing now D:
Author's Notes:
Thanks to memvvd and KDean9 for reviewing! And to super ario and ebuchala, I may have lied when I said I'd update on Sunday :P Whoops Thanks!
Enjoy!
Chapter Seven: Misdirection
The Warehouse, Somewhere in New York
Johnny flamed off and dropped gently to the ground. He paused, looking around for signs of an ambush. All he could see were some abandoned unconscious goons piled outside the warehouse. He cautiously moved toward the doors, not having the patience to scout for another entrance. He had considered blasting his way through the roof, but the idea just didn't appeal to him like it usually did. He opened the door just wide enough to fit himself through, only able to take a quick peek inside as the noise had already given him away.
With that glance he counted at least 15 doombots and both Sue and Kayla lying unconscious nearby under armed guard. The bot closest to him spun round, gun raised. Johnny dived and rolled to the ground, coming back up in a crouch, as the bot open fired. He jumped to his feet and ran, the bullets blasting his trail in the warehouse walls. He flamed on and took to the air, lashing out a stream of fire that took out the offending bot with a groan of melting metal.
That was when the other doombots decided to join in. Ten of the bots aimed at him, surrounding him from all sides. He waited until he heard the click of many triggers being pulled simultaneously, then flamed off, dropping rapidly and painfully to the ground. The bullets soared overhead, hitting nothing but the air where Johnny had been. It took a moment for the bots to correct their aim, which was plenty of time for Johnny to turn the tables. With the accuracy of a sharp shooter he threw a series of fireballs at top speed, each one finding their mark.
He jumped back into the air, using the position to update his bot-count. He was down to five now, most of them dangerously close to Sue and Kayla, the other two behind him. In a fluke move that he was pretty sure he'd never be able to repeat, he flamed off, flinging three fireballs ahead of him, then flipping over so that he could see behind and throwing two more. He just managed to bring his feet back under him in time to land on the floor. All five doombots burst into flame at the same time, as of there had been a delay while they watched the aerial assault.
Johnny allowed himself a smile before double checking he hadn't been hit, it wouldn't have been the first time adrenaline had prevented him from realising he had been hurt. Other than a sharp pain in his legs from his two heavy landings and the first signs of tiredness, he was fine. He turned his attention back to the two sleeping woman, just as Sue groaned back to life.
"Sue!" he called as he closed the gap between them. She held her hand to her head and kept her eyes closed, but she didn't appear to be bleeding, so Johnny assumed it had been exhaustion that got her. He came to a crouch beside her, helping her sit up. She blinked at him, confused for a moment before she remembered the events of the day. She tried to get up, but Johnny held her down. "Just wait for a moment Sue."
"I can't!" she cried. "She's with Doom, Johnny, I have to go."
"Have to go where?" Johnny asked, unused to being the responsible one. "Do you even know where she is?"
"Reed will know," Sue decided, pushing herself to her feet with Johnny following, holding her arm to provide both support and restraint. Then she stopped a moment, looking around the warehouse, then up at Johnny as she realised what had happened. "You're here alone...Reed already knows! He and Ben are already on their way, I have to go! Tell me where she is!"
Johnny studied her for a minute, and then recited the address. Sue nodded then turned to leave. Johnny still had her arm, pausing her momentarily. He caught her eyes, "Be careful."
Sue looked surprised then relaxed into the first smile in ages. "That's my line."
He couldn't quite return her smile, though he wanted to. He nodded instead, releasing her arm and watching her go. She almost ran to the door, sidestepped through the gap, then created a force field below her feet and took to the air. Johnny then turned his attention to the other unconscious form.
He crouched down next to Kayla, brushing a strand of hair from her face. He felt the blood before he saw it, the warehouse being quite dark this late at night, the lights low to prevent suspicion. He gently angled her into a better position that allowed him to see the wound. As far as he could tell he wasn't that deep, but head wounds bleed heavily, explaining the river down her cheek. The cut was just beneath her hairline, about two inches across, a bruise already forming round it. He looked around for something cold to use, his eyes settling on the earlier pile of defeated doombots that had been brought inside. The guns were still frozen from Kayla's attacks.
Johnny got up, broke of a piece, and returned, surprised that his higher body temperature wasn't melting it. Pulling Kayla onto his lap he pressed the frozen item to the wound to bring down the swelling. The action briefly brought Kayla around. She half opened her eyes and looked up at him. "J-John-ny?"
"Heya," he murmured, a legitimate smile on his face. She blinked then returned it. "I'm definitely taking you dancing now."
"I-I'm pr-pretty sure th-there wasn't an alter-n-native," Kayla stuttered, struggling to stay conscious. She felt his arm around her, finding comfort in the only warmth she could feel now. She let her eyes drift closed feeling completely safe. Guess I can be the damsel for a little longer.
Johnny felt good for the first time since his father had reappeared in his life. He had his sister back, something he believed he didn't want in the interest of self preservation, but was truly a relief. Once this was over they would be another step closer to the way they were. And then there was Kayla. There was something about her that made him believe, if only for a moment, that nothing else mattered.
He knew he was meant to follow Sue and help out with his niece's rescue, but he couldn't leave Kayla, and besides deep down he knew there was something wrong with the situation. Why would Doom leave both Sue and Kayla here, alive, under a pathetic doombot guard? Maybe it was to split them up so that he had less to deal with at the other location. But then again, Doom was too arrogant for that. He would be certain that he could take out all four of them, so why?
Johnny sighed, closing his eyes, frustrated that he couldn't figure it out. He shifted slightly, and then opened his eyes again; catching something he had completely missed earlier. On the opposite side of the warehouse, crumpled beneath a sizable dent in the wall, lay a person. He carefully moved out from under Kayla, laying her on the ground, and then climbed to his feet. Cautiously, Johnny approached out cold person.
About halfway across the warehouse, Johnny could tell who it was. The rumpled clothes were the same as he was wearing at the Baxter Building, and the greying blonde hair was unmistakable. He was disappointed to see he was breathing.
That thought scared Johnny more than his sister trying to murder him.
Johnny stood frozen to the spot, everything he had tried to forget suddenly filling his mind. There was no order to it. He could hear Sue telling him his father was dead, and felt nothing. He could see his father's tear streaked face as he told them what had happened to their mother, unable to release the emotions inside of him. The sound of the gun. The blood on the man's shirt. He could feel the long forgotten bruises from his father coming home after a nights gambling, drunk and violent. Then back to Sue
"He's dead."
Chamberlain House, New York
The building was an office complex, full of conference rooms that were let out to other businesses. It was ultra-modern, everything either white or chrome, all shiny. The whole place had been rented by an anonymous firm, making it deserted of its usual employees who had been given paid time off. Instead the place was occupied by an army of doombots, at least fifty of which were intent on killing Reed and Ben.
The bots had them surrounded, firing round after round at their targets. However, they were unlucky in that their targets were the two near-impervious members of the fantastic four, the bullets bouncing off Reed's elastic form and ricocheting off of Ben's rocky skin. Though greatly outnumbered, the two retaliated, gradually reducing their numbers.
After about half an hour, the pair was starting to tire, though neither would ever admit it. Somewhere in that building was the baby Leona; and they would find her no matter how many bots Doom through at them. Despite their resolve, they were glad to see Sue as she soared through a broken window on her force field.
"Reed! Where is she?" Sue yelled above the cacophony, a hint of desperation in her voice. She easily took out four bots with a flick of her wrist, sending them tumbling down a staircase.
"The tracker says she's somewhere in here!" Reed replied, decidedly leaving out the part where the tracker was then deactivated. He crushed about six bots with his extended midsection, part of him knowing he'd have a major bruise in the morning.
There were only ten remaining, and they were the reinforcements that hadn't originally attacked. Ben smashed his way through, reducing them to scrap metal. It had taken less than forty-five minutes, but it had felt like an age. Ben hid his exhaustion better than Sue and Reed who were both panting and pale. Sue still hadn't quite recovered from her earlier doombot run in, and the effects were starting to show.
"Let's find her," she ordered, determination etched on her face. Both Reed and Ben nodded, and then the three split up. Each one took a floor each, running down the corridors and slamming open doors.
Frustration, anger and above all fear, filled Sue with dread. It built up with every door she opened to find the room empty. By the time she had covered her floor, tears were streaming uncontrollably down her face. She isn't there! Where is she? Leona!
She rejoined with her husband and Ben at the main staircase, their faces telling her that they had had just as much luck as she had. There was only one place left to look. Sue took the lead as she ran up the final set of stairs that led to the main office. What struck her first was how different the office was to the rest of the building. The floor to ceiling windows on the back wall had been covered with heavy curtains, an ornate rug had been laid on the floor, a bookshelf of first editions lined another wall, and a large oak desk stood proudly in the centre.
Behind the desk was Doom's throne. It was empty.
The room was lit by the single computer monitor that had been around to face the door. On it was a recording of Doom, his metallic laugh echoing menacingly on a permanent loop.
"Oh God no."
The Warehouse
Doom couldn't restrain his laugh as he watched Sue on his monitor. He could see her fear and hatred and it made him positively jovial. All the effort they had put into depleting the doombots and finding their child, and it was all for nought. Doom had never been there, and neither had Leona.
His base of operations was the small office attached to the back of the warehouse. He had always intended for the Fantastic Four to go to Chamberlain House and then overwhelm them with doombots while he made good his escape after killing Leona, however he had adapted. The second he had laid eyes on Leona, he had decided he didn't want to kill her, but to mould her in his image. He had always wanted a sidekick. The women's appearance at the real lair had been a surprise, but was easily rectified with a handful of doombots. The tracking device had been a blessing in disguise, leading them on a wild goose chase.
With a tap of the keyboard he changed the image on the screen, bringing up the footage from within the warehouse. Another fortunate side effect of his altered plan was standing frozen in the middle of the screen. Doom had had no idea how much using Franklin Storm would affect the young hothead, giving him the perfect opportunity to exact the revenge he had promised.
Doom stood from his throne, transcending from the office to the warehouse.
Johnny felt the numbness seep throughout him, protecting him from the painful memories. He blocked them out, pushing them away so they couldn't hurt him anymore. He could look at his father and feel nothing, and not be at all bothered by the lack of emotion. The sound of a door opening made him turn.
Doom stood there, shrouded in the shadows of the dark warehouse, but unmistakable nonetheless. Johnny knew he should feel the fear and anger that the metal man always instilled on him, but he couldn't remember the events that led to those feelings. He met the gaze of his arch enemy and felt absolutely nothing.
"Of all of the Fantastic Four, I'm glad it was you that was sent." Doom greeted, his malicious intent evident in his voice. Johnny didn't even flinch, instead standing deathly still before him. Doom took this as fear and smiled behind his mask. "I'm going to take great pleasure in killing you."
The bolt of lightning came too fast for Johnny to dodge, so he didn't even try. It struck him hard in the shoulder, sending him spinning across the space. He skidded to the stop on the floor. As he climbed back to his feet, he realised he couldn't move his right arm, even though he couldn't feel any pain. To counteract it he ignited his left hand and sent flames roaring at him. Johnny's speed didn't match Doom's as the metal man sidestepped out of range of the flames, only his cape briefly catching alight.
Doom noted that Johnny's aim was little off from using the hand he didn't favour, and then threw another long range attack. This time Johnny managed to avoid the attack, flaming on to gain height, and then retaliating by propelling himself at Doom. His feet landed squarely on Doom's chest, pushing him to the floor.
The fight was now close combat. Johnny was back on his feet first, ramming his shoe where Doom's ribs should be. He hit metal, his attack having no effect at all. Doom recovered, throwing his metal fist into Johnny's gut. As Johnny went down, Doom got up, charging his hand as he went to throw another punch. Johnny countered by flaming on his hand and catching the metal fist. The electricity was slowed by flames, but the attack wasn't completely nullified. Johnny felt blood run down his arm as his hand was sliced my Doom's metal gauntlet, and felt the pain.
Johnny was more surprised than hurt by the wound; feeling that emotion making him even more shocked. The numbness was beginning to fade. Still holding Doom's fist he swung out his leg, hooking the back of Doom's knee and sending him sprawling. His foot hurt from the attack, but it was worth it for the satisfaction of seeing Doom down.
With Doom down for a moment, Johnny backed up a few paces. With the numbness gone, he could feel his injuries thrum with pain. His shoulder ached, sending spikes of agony down his right arm. His left hand bled freely with fresh cuts across his palm and a bruise was already forming on both his stomach and his leg.
There was something positive about being about being able to feel though. The strongest emotion he had flushed through him: anger. It burned hot under his skin, and before he could even think 'flame on' his body was alight. Before Doom could fully return to his feet, Johnny pummelled him with flame after flame, delighted when he saw the first signs of Doom's mask melting.
"You don't want to do that Mr. Storm."
Johnny paused in his assault as his attention was drawn by the presence of Leonard. The small, sneaky looking man stood in the doorway that Doom had used, a bundle in one arm, and a knife in the other. Dread took over as Johnny realised that the bundle was his niece, and Leonard was threatening to kill her. His flames flickered out of existence. "Don't."
Leonard just stood there, all his usual nervousness gone from his posture. Doom returned to his feet, his mask melted into a frown but a vindictive smile behind it. Johnny couldn't move, and it had nothing to with his defence mechanism; he simply had no choice.
"If you move I will not hesitate to kill this child."
Dun dun duh! :P
I made it longer and very Johnny centric to make up for the late update, hope it makes up for it!
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