There came a soft knock at her door as Reed stood outside the solid piece of wood that separated him from his younger sister. He could not understand why she had reacted so negatively yesterday night. He and Sue were both worried about her, especially after the scene Ben had pulled. The fact of the matter is that Bronwen had come home crying. It was the first time she had cried since both of their parents had passed away a few years prior. Despite his steady insistence, she had refused to open the door. Never had she refused the comfort of her brother's arms. Reed had noted her strange behaviour over the last couple of weeks. Bronwen had been paying more attention to her physical self than he had ever seen her do. With a heavy heart, he knocked on the door for what seemed the thousandth time that afternoon.
"Bronwen, you cannot remain cooped up in that room of yours forever. Why don't you come out and tell us all what is going on. Are you sick?" he asked, pressing his ear to the door.
"I'm not sick, I'm dying" she spat, as he heard her shuffle around her room.
"What of? Did one of the experiments go wrong?" At that, Bronwen laughed miserably.
"Call it heart failure if you wish" was all the raven haired woman replied before opening her door, and marching over to the supplies cupboard in the middle of the hallway.
"No one in our family has ever suffered from heart complications and at your age-"
"- which is why I am leaving Reed. The air here is to stuffy with all of you remaining huddled here like a bunch of refugees" Bronwen said, grabbing a tube of tooth paste, and a bar of soap. "I cannot continue living like this while you and Sue take your time in trying to come up with a cure that we all know does not exist!" Reed stared at her incredulously.
"Is this about what happened with Ben yesterday evening? That was just a simple squabble between two friends, nothing more. We are so close to finding an explanation for our conditions-"
"-your only condition Reed is not finding to the courage to tell Sue that you still love her, and that in reality, you haven't found a thing. The entire research is a flop Reed, when will you realize that?" Walking back into her room, she gently placed her womanly necessities within a small suitcase.
"So you're leaving us?" Reed asked, leaning against the doorframe. Standing up to stare at her older brother, Bronwen sighed heavily.
"Yes I am leaving you. I'm no more than an extra weight to your projects. You are all the Fantastic Four remember? Five is a crowd. Also, you have your problems that need to be dealt with, and I have mine remember? I left my research in Peru to come to see you, and to help you with your storm research that you have work endlessly on. I draw the line here Reed. I have my own life to get back to"
"What about Pavel?"
"He speaks fluent Spanish Reed" she smiled despite her mood, placing shirts and pants into her suitcase before closing the zipper. "You can manage without me, you always have. Sue replaced me a long time ago as far as your well being goes. Take care of yourself Reed, and don't let your work take up too much place in your life"
With that, Bronwen hefted her suitcase off her bed, and made her way to the entrance where Pavel stood, waiting with his own small suitcase. Looking around her, Bronwen said a last good bye to all the fond memories that were engraved in the loft walls. Movie nights, unusual dinners, failed attempts at futile experiments, laughs, tender moments, love... a bubble of sadness consumed her as she stared off towards an empty room. Its occupant had not returned last night. Pavel tugged on his mother's arm, staring up at her with worry filled eyes. Picking him up, Bronwen hugged him tightly to her. She knew that leaving was difficult, and probably more so for him. Pavel had just gotten used to this new environment he could actually call home. He had made friends at daycare, and had gotten to appreciate every aspect of his new life. Asking him to start all over again was no easy feat for Pavel. It was torture. How could she expect him to continue like this, constantly moving from place to place because of her research and job? Taking a small box out of her pant pocket, she placed it in Reed's hands.
"Please give this to Johnny. He accidently left it in my room" Putting Pavel back down, she hugged Reed, and then picked up her suitcase. "Come Pavel, we are going on a big adventure"
"Where to momma?" he asked as they entered the golden elevator of the Baxter building.
"Somewhere where you won't have to worry about catching a cold or the sniffles, somewhere where there are very unusual creatures"
"Like tree monkeys?"
"Yes," Bronwen smiled "like tree monkeys"
"What about Johnny? Is he coming too?"
"No, Johnny is not coming" silence followed their small talk. Bronwen had to face another dilemma: explaining Johnny's absence. Saying a final farewell to the doorman, Bronwen and Pavel exited the building to feel warm sunlight dancing on their faces. Life would be good in Peru, she thought, squeezing Pavel's small hand in her hers. Everything would be wonderful. She would go back to Machupicchu in order to take up where she had left off a few months prior to her accident in space, studying bones and establishing age as well as cause of death.
"Ms. Richards?" a man in a nice suit asked, approaching her and Pavel. Bronwen, gently placing Pavel to stand behind her, inclined her head.
"Yes?" she asked, looking about her uncertainly "Can I help you?"
"After a lovely evening in your company, Mr. Von Doom would like to invite you for lunch" the man smiled, his hands going behind his back.
"Oh..." Bronwen stared "tell Mr. Von Doom that I will have to decline his invitation. I have a flight to catch and-"
"- Mr. Von Doom has seen to your flight. Your trip has been rescheduled for tomorrow evening. At the moment, he wishes to have you escorted to his residence for a business lunch"
"I don't suppose I have much say in the matter, do I?" Pavel poked his head out from behind her legs, holding on to one of them.
"No Miss, you do not"
Debussy's The Little Shepherd played in the background as Bronwen entered a vast room filled with expensive paintings, a Bösendorfer grand piano, and a small coffee table with two black leather seats facing one another. Standing next to the seats stood a long window covering the entirety of a wall, giving the viewer a splendid view of busy New York. Upon seeing Bronwen enter the room through vast wooden doors, Victor approached her, arms extended, a large smile spread across his face. Bronwen stood rooted in place, Pavel squirming behind her to get a good look at this stranger in front of them. Shaking her head from side to side, Victor stopped a few paces away from her, lowering his arms.
"What is it you want from me Victor?" she asked plainly, staring at him straight in the eye. Chuckling, Victor quirked his head to the side all while returning her intense gaze.
"Bronwen, why do you always seek to find the worst in me? I don't expect anything from you. All I want is a lovely lunch with you and," still smiling, Victor bent down to Pavel's eye level "with this little man" Frowning, Bronwen moved towards the leather seats Victor motioned with a gloved hand. Gently, she took her seat in front of Victor, placing Pavel on her lap, eyes fixed on their host until he too sat down. "How about a digestif before we start our meal, hmm?" Bronwen nodded slowly, as Pavel squirmed in her lap. "Would you like an apple juice young man?"
"Yes please!" Pavel said gleefully, bouncing on Bronwen's knees.
"Such a charming young boy" Victor cooed, blue eyes boring into hers as a man wearing a suit poured them an alcoholic drink in small glasses. Taking hers, Bronwen sipped the red liquid, an arm tightening around Pavel.
"Momma, you're hurting me!" Pavel whined, turning to stare at her.
"Let the boy be Bronwen, you aren't in any trouble, and neither is he" Victor chortled. "How about I ask one of my nice men to take you on a tour of my facilities" he said more than asked. Pavel nodded emphatically, sliding out of Bronwen's grasp before she could refuse him.
"I would rather not" she managed to say, as Pavel had run over to what she deemed to be the butler. Pouting, Pavel gave her a frown.
"Nonsense, take him around the rooms" Victor informed the man, who took Pavel through the grand wooden doors. Bronwen stared in agony. She had walked straight into the lion's lair without much of a choice, and had let her child walk away to a place she would not know. "So, do you like shrimp Bronwen? I recall that you like tiger shrimp with a sweet and spicy thai sauce. I had them prepared just for the occasion"
"Yes, I do"
"Excellent! So tell me, while they are simmering in a wok, how is life with those friends of yours?"
"Well thank you"
"Well?! Is that why you are leaving in such a haste to go back to that hole in Peru you call work?" frowning at him, Bronwen held her hands firmly in her lap to keep them from shaking.
"Things are indeed going well, but I have found that I have spent too much time away from my work"
"Hmm..." sipping his Dubonet sur glace, Victor smiled at her. "Is there problem in paradise?"
"Victor, if you brought me here to talk about my personal life-" she snapped, eyes flashing violently. A sudden cold breeze sent the curtains dancing.
"No, no, by all means, that was not my intention in the least. Bronwen," placing a firm hand on hers, he smiled at her "I want to offer you a job proposition"
"I'm sorry, but I am not searching for a new career path Victor" a strange glint sparked in his eyes as he reached for a linen napkin. Wiping his face, Bronwen saw cover up and foundation spread across the whiteness of the cloth. Horror struck her as she stared at his exposed visage. The makeup was but a mask, the same mask he had worn the previous night in public to hide his deformity if one could call it that. Mouth agape, her hand went up to cover her open mouth. "Victor..."
"Bronwen, I would have hoped not to have to expose myself in this way to you. This ugly face is not meant for someone of your delicate beauty" His face had silver streaks breaking the skin at certain places. Silver? Metal? She could not be certain. Removing his gloves, he showed her his ruined hands. Both were covered in a sort of metallic substance, the skin completely gone. "You see, you and I, we both have something in common. I have seen the way you move, think, and react. I also know that you suffer from this affliction you have. You crave to be normal, I want to be normal. No one understands your desires more than I do"
Fragments of memories and thoughts flitted before her. Reed, Ben, Sue, and Meghan all around a table with a big birthday cake for her 21st birthday. Her graduation where she had fussed over a speech she had to make in front of her entire graduating class; her brother buying her her first car, Ben laughing when she got her first speeding ticket; meeting Johnny for the first time; travelling to underdeveloped countries for volunteer work; holding Pavel for the first time... and then... the storm. Being captive in her brother's home, undergoing experiments that physically hurt her, enduring sleepless nights, enduring Johnny's girlfriend, Johnny... a home in a small suburbia with a minivan and the sound of little feet. No, Victor did not know how she felt.
"You and I have nothing in common Victor" she said, voice steady despite the wave of fear that spread through her as she felt the air constrict about her. "I have loved, been loved, and lost love. You have nothing to compare your life with mine" Standing, she stared down at him. "Furthermore, you can claim to know what my favourite dish," she motioned to his stereo system "music, or place is, but you do not know me"
"Bronwen, all I want is to help you"
"You cannot help me"
"Just because your brother failed you, doesn't mean that I don't have a way to fix all of this. I have the solution to this ailment, this disease, this... problem" Bronwen stared. A solution? "I have the technology and the equipment. All I need are the brains and the manpower to do so"
"Victor, as I've said I can't help you"
"Oh, but you can, and you will" he smiled, sipping his dubonet. Bronwen stared at him, quirking her eyebrows.
"What makes you so certain that I will agree to this silly game of yours?"
"Easy, I have your son and your heart" gently, he placed his glass on a gold coloured coaster. "Please, do sit down" Feeling faint, Bronwen sat down, her face losing its entire colour. "Oh, and I would not try to use your powers against me either" he grinned as a waiter brought them their main dish of tiger shrimp over a bed of oriental noodles. In the middle of the circle her shrimp formed lay a vanilla orchid.
"My heart?" she breathed, hands gripping the sides of her seat. Nodding, Victor pushed a small image of a heat-seeker missile before her. "What of it?" Bronwen could feel her heart sink in her belly like a rock.
"Think my dear, a biochemist such as you should be able to put two and two together"
"Victor, those things are illegal, only permitted to those in the Special Forces"
"A minor detail" A heat-seeker missile...
"You're going after Johnny..." realization hit her like a brick wall. "You're planning on taking them out one by one" Victor took a bite of his shrimp and noodles as if they were simply having a civil conversation about vineyards in Southern California. "Why me?"
"Because you are the only one besides Reed who is capable of running the machine, and..." smiling a deadly smile, he added "You do not have a choice. All that you hold dear lies between my hands. Your son, your brother, the bodyguard, Sue, your best friend, and more importantly, Johnny" With his fork, Victor plucked the single vanilla orchid from her dish, and swallowed it hole.