Johnny and Amera had agreed to tell the others about what they had seen on the ship, but only once they had theorised what had happened for themselves. Amera sat up almost all night thinking of what Victor was planning; thinking of the same deviousness that crept its way from her world and into this one. Johnny knocked on her door fairly early, and she still had no idea what to tell the others. Amera answered the door, and Johnny looked almost as nervous as what she thought they both felt.
"Any idea what to say?" He asked as he walked in the door.
"I don't know…I'll just wing it. They're smart enough to figure it out."
"Well, they're all in the lounge at the moment if you want to start…" He shrugged at Amera. She nodded and followed him down the hallway and to the lounge. Reed and Maria were at the table, having breakfast, while Ben and Susan were sitting in the lounge. Amera took a deep breath, and walked to a spot in the lounge where they could all see her.
"Hey guys…I have something to say…I'm still working it out myself, so forgive me if it doesn't make sense at first." Amera announced rather loudly. Johnny stood next to her, and suddenly four pairs of eyes were on them. Amera could tell by their faces that they were suspecting something happening between Johnny and her; she wished things could've been that easy to explain.
"Johnny and I went down to the pier yesterday…I was explaining my world and our powers to him, when we saw a Von Doom ship come into harbour…" Amera started, and Susan immediately frowned.
"There aren't supposed to be any shipments coming in for another few weeks…" Susan said rather anxiously, and Johnny answered.
"That's what I said…but what we found isn't anything Von Doom buys or sells…" Johnny answered his sister quickly before turning back to Amera to carry on.
"We found weapons on board. I don't know much about the weapons development in this world, but from what Johnny told me, none of those weapons are even legal…"
Reed and Maria laid eyes on each other, and then on Susan and Ben, and they all looked as suspicious as Amera knew they should be.
"Those military reports that you got from the other day…they didn't mention what was stolen, did they?" Maria asked Amera, and she shook her head.
"I don't think they would've anyway. Missing experimental weapons is enough to induce global panic. But I wouldn't put it past Victor…the other team that went into space with him has powers that correspond with those crimes."
"What could they possibly be planning to do? Victor has all the money he'd need, and all the business he could ever hope for…" Susan said, more to herself and Ben than to Amera.
"Victor must be planning something big…taking the country in a coup? Holding the resources for higher demand…I don't know. Either way, we have to make sure it doesn't happen…" Amera looked over to Johnny and gestured him to sit on the couch next to Susan and Ben. Maria and Reed came over to the couch as Amera's face went even more serious, and she spoke to them.
"I have an idea how we can stop this. Reed and I theorized a way to cure Ben for temporary amounts of time on my planet; but we always had the same problem. We could only store cosmic radiation for a minute at best, before we had to put it back into Ben. This could work on the other team; we could take their cosmic radiation and give it to someone more responsible…like you guys."
All five of their faces were stuck exactly the same way; pure shock. Amera knew having powers was a huge responsibility, and she knew they thought so too, but some things needed to be done.
"I know it's hard to comprehend. Victor is trying to do something immensely evil, and you could either be implicated as accomplices or lose your jobs. But I have the solution; for you to become the heroes you are, like on my planet. If the other team lost their powers, they could never do anything like this again and you would have to powers to stop any other bad things from happening over here." Amera explained as best she could, and she could see the puzzle pieces fitting together in their heads. Amera sat on the coffee table, to seem less intimidating and authoritarian to them, and explained a little more.
"I know they're hard to deal with…they're not a walk in the park. Your lives will change, everything will change…but it gets easier after a while. This is your chance to be something no one else is…superheroes. The first superhero family in the world."
Their faces all seemed different now. Ben's looked rather anxious; Amera had told him what happened to him in her world, and she knew he was thinking it would happen to him too. Susan, Maria and Reed all looked worried and scrutinising, thinking of all the possible pros and cons of receiving the radiation. Johnny looked excited, like Amera knew he would be; she knew he was thinking of flying and playing with his fire form. Reed stood up straight and looked at Amera.
"This device you can build…it can only work on relay storage, correct?" He asked, considering any other options.
"Yes. Cosmic radiation is way too powerful and volatile to store for any longer. It has to be transferred out again." Amera answered, and Reed nodded, knowing the finality of the decision that they would have to make. Susan got up from next to Ben, and looked down at Amera sitting on the coffee table.
"We'll have to think about it, Amera. This isn't an easy decision for us to make, we'll need a little time."
"I understand, Susan. I'll head to the lab and start working on the radiation extractor anyway." Amera nodded at them and headed to her room. She slipped into her Fantastic suit and dematerialised, seeping through the window seams and out into the city air. She rematerialised, hovering in mid-air for a moments before bolting through the air as a thin light beam.