Hey! Sorry if this took longer than expected, but I was at my cousins for four days and was unable to write. Hope you can forgive me :)

"He will not suffer greatly, because I won't let you hurt him ever again!" Raven cut Teresa off, something which took a lot of nerve for her. Defying Teresa was something she'd never been able to do before. Teresa was an intimidating woman, partly because of her many years as a spy and assassin and partly because of the look in her cold, dead grey eyes.

Teresa looked partly amused and partly miffed at Raven's outburst. She huffed and scrunched up her nose.

"I already thought we'd settled this out: You can't tell me what to do or not do: I own you."

Raven actually laughed bitterly at this before answering. "You don't own me. No one owns me. And you won't own Adrian for very long either. That is something I can promise you."

The two women stood, facing each other, sizing the other up. Teresa was greatly confused by Raven's sudden rebellion. Why would she, a woman who'd always been afraid of her, suddenly act so fearless? Teresa was not stupid. She knew that something was up. She knew that there was some sort of trap laid out for her. And so, she did the only natural thing. She did what she'd learned from a very early age was the right thing to do. She attacked. Verbally.

"Raven.. have you forgotten everything about the last five years? Have you forgotten just how MUCH I own you?" Teresa looked at her as if she was brain dead.

Raven almost growled out in anger. As if she could ever forget! Anger coursed through her so hard, she could almost feel it physically. An icy cold feeling filled her veins and before she managed to stop herself, or even register what she was doing, she let out a frustrated cry and lunged for Teresa.

Teresa was not prepared for this, but she was a highly trained spy and because of her years of training and fast reflexes, she dodged.

Raven turned around and faced Teresa again, lowering herself into an attacking position: in middle school, she'd been in a self defense club, of sorts, for two years. She knew how to pack a punch, but she'd been out of training for at least twelve years and Teresa was more than capable of taking her out immediately.

In fact, Teresa looked at her aggressive stance with a conflicted look of amusement and insult on her face, as if she was insulted by the mere thought of Raven trying to attack her and that the very same thought was the most amusing thing in the world.

"You don't really want to do this." Teresa pointed out, but got into a fighting stance too, as if playing along with a toddlers game.

A fire was in Raven's eye.

"Oh, I think I do."

And then, the sink burst open, completely drenching Teresa with a forceful splash of the cold water.

She looked at Raven in an annoyed way, like an older sister, tired of their sibling's antics.

"Cute. But ineffective." She smirked and leaped for Raven, who dodged at the last second. But, before Raven had time to attack her, Teresa had kicked her feet away from under her and she was on the floor.

She focused on the water again and it hit Teresa forcefully, making her loose her balance slightly.

Raven sprang to her feet and they were facing each other again.

"What do you hope to accomplish with this? No matter what, I'm going to have the advantage. I have that, which you love the most. And I have the power to take him away."

"NO! I will NOT let you hurt him!" Raven's teeth were clenched as she spit out the words, her body shaking from anger and her rapid breathing. Teresa raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms.

"And how do you hope to stop me from hurting him?"

"With the help of the fantastic four." Teresa whipped around as Johnny landed on the floor right behind her. His arms were fiery torches and he glared hard at her.

She regarded him for a moment, before a wide smile plastered onto her face and she began chuckling.

"So this was your little trap? You plan to set the superheroes on me?" She looked mock offended at Raven. "How very disappointing." She looked around in fake fear, "So where are the others? Are they waiting to spring out from other corners of the room, like this one did?" she pointed at Johnny.

Raven smirked slightly. "No. they are in the Von Doom building, rescuing Adrian."

Teresa's face darkened.

Empty. The room was empty. Susan looked at the gaping darkness, which had been supposed to contain the man. He wasn't here!

She felt the disappointment, like a fire through her body and she started shaking slightly. What was she supposed to do now? What was their next move? She tried to remember what they had planned, tried to recall what Reed had told her to do, but all she could do was look into the blackness of the room, a blank look on her face. What was she going to tell Raven? What if he was here, but not in one of those rooms? Where else would they keep prisoners? Sue drew a blank to all of the questions in her head. She just stood, a little longer and collected her thoughts. A few minutes later, she turned around and headed into the lab again. She picked up the items she'd found and slammed them down onto the table.

The journal. That journal had to mention when he came here and maybe even where he was.

She skimmed the pages briefly, but found that all of them concerned the progress of the experiments. Not a single line revealed Adrian's whereabouts, he wasn't even mentioned!

With a sigh, and shaking hands, she pressed the button on the communicator, currently strapped to her ear and spoke into it.

"He's not here, Raven."

"That's right! While you wasted your time, arguing with me, they entered the building and found him. They've probably already-"

"He's not here, Raven." Raven froze, when she heard Susan's voice in the communicator, which was still in her ear. The arm she had raised to point at Teresa shook and her eyes were wide in horror. Johnny looked at her with a look of realization and sympathy and Teresa looked at her darkly.

Raven sucked in a shuddering breath.

"Where is he?" Raven's voice was deadly and cold.

Teresa allowed a small, but wicked, smile. "I don't know, actually. I think they dumped him in the ocean.. After my brother electrocuted him into pieces, of course."

"NO! You liar!" Raven screamed. She shook her head and stared wide eyed at Teresa. Teresa glared at her. "I don't lie. At least," She smiled slightly "not unless I really have to." She smiled sweetly and Raven, who was frozen in place, her breathing hard and forced.

Raven couldn't believe it. Not because it seemed like a lie, but because she had to. If she believed that he really was dead, she didn't know what she was supposed to do. How she was going to survive. It was too surreal, but too plausible at the same time.

She barely felt when she fell onto her knees, she barely felt herself almost hyperventilate. She didn't even register Johnny pulling her up from her kneeing, she was in shock. She felt like Teresa had punched all air out of her lungs and replaced it with acid, which was now burning her up from the inside.

Johnny turned to Teresa. He felt hate lick at his very core, like the flames that were quickly covering his whole body. He had every intention to hurt her, burn her up if necessary. The violent feelings and thoughts scared him to death, but he pushed the emotion away, saving it for later.

He took a step forward, but before he could reach her, she whipped out a gun and aimed it right at him.

He glared at her, but a dark chuckle left him. "How do you intend to hurt me with a gun? I can melt the bullet, before it even reaches me. You can't kill fire with fire."

She tensed up for a split second and then, to his horror, aimed the gun a Raven, who was still on her knees.

"Take one step further, 'hero' and she dies."

Johnny put up his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! I won't." She stepped towards the elevator door, in a circle around the two, never moving her gun away from Raven.

She jabbed her elbow into the button, her back against the door, her eyes never moving from Johnny.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the elevator 'ding'ed open and she stepped in. She pressed the lobby button, but just before the doors closed, she fixed Johnny with a stare and said: "I warn you 'hero'. This isn't over. We'll meet again."

As soon as the door closed, Johnny de-flamed and dropped to his knees next to Raven. Tentatively, he put a hand on her shoulder. She flinched, but allowed it. Her hand came up and grabbed his and he wrapped his other arm around her, so he was hugging her sideways. Both of her arms held onto one of his. Her whole body was shaking, but she did not cry. Instead, she let out a loud roar. Not a scream or a wail, but a throaty, hurting roar, which echoed around the huge lab. The sound briefly reminded Johnny of a wounded animal.

He gently took the earpiece from her ear and spoke into it.

"Guys? You have to get back now."

Static noise reached him for a few seconds and then Reed could be heard. "Why? What's happening?" he asked. Johnny took a deep breath. "Raven needs you. Adrian is.. he's dead."

Raven's grip on him tightened to the point where it hurt and he felt like she was punishing him for saying those treacherous words.

He wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, but he realized that, for her, everything probably wouldn't. Everything wasn't going to be okay. Not for a long while. He wished to comfort her, but he was way over his head in this. He'd never been in love and therefore, he'd never lost someone that important to him. He knew he couldn't possibly know what she was going through. And yet, he'd seen his own sister, the one person in the world he loved most, die right in front of him. So, he knew what it was like to lose someone. But Sue had turned out all right and everything had been good. He hadn't lost his sister and that feeling of complete and utter sorrow disappeared.

Still, that feeling was remembered. He remembered how devastated he was. How he refused to believe it. And he realized that whatever he had felt back then, Raven felt a hundred times worse.

Because as much as he loved his sister, it was nothing compared to the I-am-so-in-love-with-you-I-can't-live-without-you feelings that most couples felt.

But, to a length, he knew how she felt. And it scared him even more than the violent emotions he had had minutes before. He was scared for her and scared of what she might do to herself. She would blame herself forever, because the only reason he was killed was because she went into space.

"We're coming." Reed replied. Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. Susan and Reed would be much better at this. They'd know what to do. After all, Reed knew what it was like to lose the person you love.

Johnny looked down at Raven again. She hadn't moved from her spot on the floor. Her head was bowed and her eyes shut tight, but she didn't cry. She was in shock. She was numb. She felt the pain and sorrow, but she was unable to comprehend it. Unable to fully understand what Teresa had told her.

Until Johnny rewrapped his arms around her.

Because, for a split second, she though they belonged to Adrian and she grabbed hold of his hand, only for it to start steaming. Then, she realized that it wasn't Adrian but Johnny and that shock alone was enough to shake her awake. She understood. Adrian was dead, because of her. It wasn't Adrian holding her, it was Johnny. Not Adrian, Johnny.

Not Adrian.

Adrian.

And then, the tears came. Slowly, they slipped from her eyes. She didn't cry or wail or sniff. The tears just streamed down her face. She was unable to hold them back and she didn't want to. She didn't care about them and she didn't bother to wipe them away. And she grip on Johnny's hand tightened as her other hand held onto his forearm.

And he didn't say anything, just held her, and for some reason, it helped her far better than any empty words he could've said. He didn't assure her that everything was going to be fine. He didn't say he was sorry, and why should he? He had nothing to apologize for! But, most importantly, he didn't try to tell her that she wasn't to blame. And that was important to her, because they both knew that she was partly to blame. And neither tried to lie about it.

It was refreshing and she found comfort in knowing that he understood her that well. She found comfort in knowing that she wasn't alone, that she had people around her who would do anything to help her.

And right now, all the help she needed, was his comforting arms around her and his silence.

Fifteen minutes later, the others came home, surprised to see them in the middle of the lab in a kneeling embrace.

Susan tried to talk to her, tried to reassure her. She said all the things that Raven was so glad Johnny hadn't said. She said that it was going to be okay, to she was so sorry and that it wasn't Ravens fault. It made Raven want to puke. She knew that Susan was only trying to help, but she didn't realize that Raven didn't want to hear this. Next came Reed. He told her that he was sorry for her loss. He explained that they had looked everywhere they could and that they'd done everything to find him.

Reed's calm answer and all the facts and equations he jabbed off, helped strangely. But not as much as Johnny's arms had. He'd let go of her when the others came back and she wanted to hug him again. She couldn't explain why. It was probably because he was the one who woke her up and he was the one who heard what Teresa said. He'd helped her through her panic attacks and he'd been the anchor that kept her grounded. She had simply learned that his embrace was the best therapy for her.

And all the empty words from the others paled in comparison.

Half an hour later, she excused herself and went to her room. She sat down on the bed, oddly calm and stared at the wall, for several hours, before she fell asleep.

Well, I'm happy to say that the story is getting somewhere!

The last chapter got a lot of reviews, probably because of the cliffies. How about we repeat that succes? I do love reviews :)

So, hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review!