Chapter 3- Illusions of Doom

"Johnny you've got to have some breakfast and eat, come on." Sue looked down at her brother who was hiding under the covers of his bed like a child. Although Sue felt sympathetic, she also felt a bit annoyed with him. Even if someone puts you down you should still help people. And for Johnny. That meant going out in public, flaming then saving the day.

"Sue, I've heard it all before. Remember when I was 9? You did what you were doing now and when I wouldn't have any breakfast you used reverse thingy?" A head came from under covers and Johnny looked at his sister with painful eyes. "I thought they loved me Sue! Now that they don't even like me!" Johnny's hand flamed and he threw a fireball at his sister.

Sue raised a force field and the fire ball extinguished. "Well when you come out, I'll be here." Sue looked at her brother and felt his pain. Adoration was a thing Johnny loved and now he didn't have it, even if a fraction of the city doesn't like him, to him the world doesn't like him. Sue wore a sad face as she closed the door to her brother's room.

Inside the room, Johnny had sat up. 'Maybe watching T.V will help solve my problems.' As he pushed the button. To his horror the crowds taunt from yesterday was being played. Johnny flipped over to another channel and the same image was playing. Johnny kept changing the channels over and over but the same image was playing. Johnny threw the remote at the T.V making the screen smash. He threw himself under the covers and cried.

Sue looked at Reed holding the disk she had found on the ground after their battle with the Fearsome Four. "Reed…. You said you were going to look at this disk yesterday, but you haven't. Now we're going to look at it…. Together." Sue walked over to Reed's computer where he had analyzed the chips sent to them by the police of the Fearsome Four. Sue looked at the code and at Reed who had a 'I can't figure out the code' look on his face.

Reed looked up at Sue and his expression changed as he saw the disk. A smile came over his face. "Maybe that discs unlocks the code, I've had to use discs plenty of times before to unscramble codes." Reed snatched the disk away from Sue and put it in the disc slot. Flashing numbers and letters appeared on the screen then the screen went black.

Ben Grimm had just finished his fourth pile of pancakes when he walked into the lab. His eyes were immediately drawn to the computer screen where there were blueprints for the foes he had fought the day before. "Whoa Reed where did you find this?"

"The computer chip from the robot we fought yesterday had a code, I used the disc Sue found to unscramble it. There are blueprints for the robots we fought yesterday and I must say, these robots are pretty advanced. Only one man would have the money to afford these robots…."

"Doom." Ben grunted as he sipped his coffee which was in a specially made mug that was the size of a paper bin.

Sue looked more closely at the screen. "Reed, click where it says 'project inflamarae'." Sue pointed to where the name she had found was and Reed clicked on it. Sue found herself looking at a plan to give one person the illusion of negativity. She looked as someone had written about the plan. Making the four fight the robots and was shocked to discover that the spectators were actually the doom patrol. Sue looked at Reed and Ben "What did they use? Holograms?" She asked.

"I don't know Sue, but here it says magic." Reed raised an eyebrow. He was a scientist who didn't believe in magic.

"It was called project Inflamarae right?" Three heads turned to see Johnny Storm who was dressed in his usually jeans, t-shirt and jacket.

Running up to her brother and hugging him Sue said "Johnny, you're not sulking anymore. What did you do? Watch T.V?"

Johnny had to push his sister away. "I tried watching T.V but it didn't work. Then I went out onto my balcony and had an interesting chat with the girl on the floor below, and then I heard you guys saying Doom had created an illusion…"

"Johnny, get to the point!" Ben boomed and test tubes smashed. "Sorry Reed, I'll keep quiet." Reed nodded at his friend then turned to Johnny.

"Well there's a tribe called the Inflamarae, who often visited the pub I went to when in NASA, and they were into magic and spells and all that jazz. Well there was a rumor going round that Doom's step dad was a member of the Inflamarae." Johnny bit into a red apple and smiled.

"Is it possible that Doom could have some magic…" Sue looked at Reed waiting for an answer.

"It is but he wouldn't have a lot of magic in him, although I don't back-up this theory, I mean magic? Come on!" Reed looked at his team mates faces, they were serious. "You all believe this?"

"We saw him being turned into a human statue, To get out of that, he would need more then carving tools, Reed. He must have got himself out using….m…m..mag…magic." Sue spluttered. She hadn't used the word magic since she was 5 years old. "Can you hear that?" Sue exclaimed. The slamming of Ben Grimms door could be heard.

"It's always got something to do with me!" Ben ran to his room and looked at his bed. On the pillow was a note. He saw a hand stretch over his head and take the letter. Ben couldn't open the letter so Reed did it for him.

Reed looked at the letter. "What do you think you're doing in this town you freak! Go to a mountain then you'll bend in with the rock's. You're a freak on nature Thing!" Reed put the letter down. All of the four except Ben looked horrified.

"What's the worst that could happen?" Ben shrugged and lit a cigar. Everyone turned to Sue who had grabbed something from her hair. It was a coin sized metal disc and it was bleeping.