When Johnny and I got up to the Baxter Building, the only person we saw was Susan. He ran into Reed's lab which had been pretty beat up. Johnny called out to his sister as we ran in. There was no sign of Reed, but Ben was passed out on a metal shelf. And he was back to his own self.
"The machine worked!" Susan exclaimed, feeling Ben's neck for a pulse," Give me a hand."
The three of us helped pulled Ben to his feet. He groaned in pain as we moved him.
"You all right, Ben? Put him on the step," Johnny said.
We all moved him over to the step and let him sit down. We sat down around him and Johnny kept talking.
"What happened, big guy? I leave you for five minutes-"
Ben sighed.
"The machine. Vic used it on himself. He was affected by the cloud like us."
We all were a bit surprised by this news. Susan looked at Ben with concern.
"Where's Reed?"
"Vic must have taken him."
Ben looked up at the top floor, causing us to do the same thing. There was a huge hole in the glass window up there. We all gaped at it. Leaving Ben sitting on the step, I led Susan and Johnny out to inspect the balcony. Even the outside showed signs of damage. There had definitely been some sort of fight between Reed and Victor. Suddenly a loud sound rent through the air, causing the three of us to turn. There was a heat-sensing missile aiming straight for us. Susan and I both looked at Johnny, who looked down at himself.
"Oh, no."
He understood that it was aiming for him as he had the highest body temperature on the Baxter Building, much less the entire world.
"We gotta get out of here," I told Susan.
"I got an idea," Johnny said, looking down at the streets below.
I stared at him in alarm.
"Don't even think about it," Susan tried to command him.
"Never do."
He jumped and Susan and I ran to the edge.
"Johnny, no!" we both shouted, watching him plummet for stories toward the waiting pavement.
The missile immediately followed him instead of hitting the Baxter Building. Neither of us could turn away as he got closer to the ground. At the last moment his whole body covered in flames and he sailed sideways before going upwards. He was flying. The two of us watching stared in shock before turning back inside. Ben had gotten up and was leaning on a railing.
"We have to help Reed," he said.
We reached him and Susan put her hands on his shoulders.
"It's too dangerous for you now. You have to stay here. Candace, find Johnny."
I sighed and put my hands up.
"Forget my cousin! I need to be a human extinguisher."
Running back to the balcony, I climbed up onto the railing and looked down at the city.
"Think, Candy, think…you've read enough books and comics to think of something, right?"
Instantly, it came to me. The "Iceman" comics.
"Thank you, Stan Lee and Jack Kirby!"
Putting my hands out in front of me and created an ice slide. Lowering the temperature on my body till I was covered in ice, I stepped out onto the slide and screamed as I went sliding. I luckily maintained the slide as I regained my composure. Eventually it became pretty fun. Looking around, I spotted a trash barge completely on fire out on the river in the distance. It took me no time to slide out there.
"Johnny?" I shouted, looking around in the dark water.
I heard the sounds of splashing and saw Johnny swimming for the shore. Sliding over to him, he didn't know what was happening until I'd pulled him up and brought the two of us to the shore. After cooling the barge, I waited as Johnny steam dried him from the water. He looked at me.
"I didn't know you read comic books," he commented, watching my slide melting.
I shrugged with a smile.
"I was such a beautiful nerd."
"Still are."
"Should I thank you or slap you?"
Johnny looked up at the sky.
"I probably travel faster than you do. Think you'll melt if I flame on and carry you?"
I extended an arm to him and he put his arm on flame. He grabbed my wrist. I felt nothing but warmth. The ice didn't melt and it felt as warm as if I was standing out in the sun on a summer day. Slightly annoying, but not uncomfortable.
"Alright," Johnny said, turning his back to me," Arms around my neck and hold on."
I hesitated.
"This feels stupid…"
"Do you want to save Reed or not?"
I groaned and wrapped my arms around his neck.
"Flame on!" he shouted and he took off into the sky.
I did my best not to choke him as we headed to a disturbed area of the town. There were crashed cars, people watching a huge scene, and a certain Victor Von Doom facing off against our friends and family. Johnny and I landed on the outside as he threw a fireball and I threw a snowball at the jerk.
"You missed us," Johnny glared.
Ben got up from some broken pavement as we stood facing Victor. I looked over at Ben, seeing he was a rock man again.
"Had a little relapse, huh?" Johnny asked," Welcome back."
Victor looked around at all of us.
"This is gonna be fun."
He lifted up his arms and electricity surged from the lampposts straight to him. The whole place lit up like a light show. People wisely ran for cover. Doom knocked out Johnny and Ben with some electricity. He tried to get Susan, but she put up a shield.
"I can't hold it!" she shouted.
Reed grabbed a mailbox and threw it at him. I threw a huge chunk of ice his way at the same time. He was hit, but it only distracted him for a moment. He tried to attack Reed, but my cousin rolled into a ball and then wrapped himself like a sheet around Doom. He looked over at Johnny.
"Johnny! Supernova!"
"I thought we agreed that was bad!"
"NOW!"
Johnny took off as Reed extended himself to Ben, who pulled him off of Doom as Johnny began to heat up and circle. He was creating a huge pillar of fire in the middle of the area. Reed looked over at Susan.
"Sue! Think you can contain it?"
Susan's shield went up the length of the pillar Johnny had created. Apparently it was tough to contain was her nose started to bleed. When Johnny fell out of the pillar, Susan let go of the shield as the flames died and Dr. Doom stood in the middle of the burned road. His metal body was super heated and he was melting a little.
"Is that the best you can do? A little heat?" he sneered.
"Time for your lesson- Chem 101," Reed told him," What happens when you rapidly cool hot metal?"
Ben kicked off the top of a fire hydrant and the water went soaring out the top. Reed looked at me and nodded. Ben put a foot on the stream of water, aiming it at Reed who configured himself to pour water on Dr. Doom as I shot ice at him in a steady stream. He tried to move but became completely frozen as the metal cooled. Ben bent the fire hydrant over to keep the water in again so it didn't keep pouring out. We all stared at his unmoving body in the middle of the destroyed road. Reed pulled me into a hug as I sighed with relief. Letting him go, he went over to Susan and I went over to Ben and Johnny. Ben gave me a huge rocky hug that almost took the breath out of me. Johnny and I looked at each other awkwardly before he winked at me, making me roll my eyes. We all walked over to Susan and Reed as people who had been watching came out and cheered. Johnny put a hand on Reed's shoulder and an arm around mine as we looked around.
"Man, I love this job," he said.
"Job, huh?" Ben asked.
Reed looked over at them while I smiled.
"Well, we do have the suits."
We all smiled as the reporters came out to ask us questions. Johnny, Ben, and I waved at people as Reed and Susan did most of the talking.
Author's Note: Not done for a long shot. Next chapter will be up soon, hopefully. But I feel I must add something.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Fantastic Four OR ICEMAN! Only my character. She just happens to be pretty much like him as far as powers go. Haha!
