Everything Burns

Chapter4

"Everything burns

Everyone screams

Burning their lies

Burning my dreams

All of this faith

And all of this pain

Burning all down

Cause my anger reigns

Everything burns"

"This is all your fault, Reed!" Susan Storm shouted, throwing her hands up in the air. "If you hadn't have told him tha-"

"Me!" Reed countered, gritting his teeth together. "If I remember correctly, and I do, it was you that told him he'd amount to nothing!"

Sue shot daggers at him, about to make a retort but Ben stepped in-between them.

"Listen, you two, if anything he left because we all ganged up and him and said things we probably…shouldn't have said," he said slowly, surprisingly calm. "There's no point in getting angry at each other. We've all done something we should be ashamed off," he finished quietly.

Sue let out a long sigh before collapsing on the apartment's sofa, her face in her hands. "You're right," she muttered between her fingers.

Reed stood awkwardly for a moment, for once he didn't know what to do. Looking defeated he sat down next to his wife, putting an arm around her and pulling her close.

"Shhh," he murmured. "Johnny'll be back soo-."

The door to the apartment opened with a bang and Johnny strode –masking his limp- in. The 3 Fantastics looked at him in shock.

"Johnny!" Sue squealed, jumping up and bounding towards her brother, eyes widening as she noticed the very large wound on his chest. "What happened?" She stepped back, grimacing as a wave of heat hit her. Johnny had 'flamed on' just as she was about to hug him.

As the fire around his body dissipated, Sue noticed the large scowl on Johnny's face.

"J-Johnny?"

Johnny ignored her, pushing past her and making his way towards the computer at the far side of the apartment. As he passed Reed and Ben he gave them much the same treatment as his sister.

"Johnny? What're you doing?" Reed asked, rather impatiently, as Johnny logged onto the computer and began running a city wide scan.

Johnny didn't reply, he kept his eyes glued to the screen, smiling as a red blip appeared on the map. Thanks to Reed's high-tech computer, Johnny managed to print off a 'predicted path' of the computer's target, in this case; Chris.

Stuffing the results into his pocket, he crossed the room into his room – ex room- and grabbed a new shirt, pulling it on as Sue, Reed and Ben stared at him silently.

Without another word, he walked towards the apartment door.

He cursed loudly as he walked face first into a blue-ish wall of transparent force. Spinning around he glared at Sue.

"Take it down," he muttered.

Sue stood with her hands on her hips. "No, Johnny, I want you to tell me what the hell is going on! How did you injure yourself?"

"None of your business," Johnny said stiffly.

"Was it this person?"

Everyone turned to look at Reed who had been looking over Johnny's little research on the computer. "Did this person attack you!"

Johnny bit his bottom lip, he couldn't afford his 'family' to find Chris. Especially not if they thought he was some sort of enemy.

HE clenched his fist, generating a handful of flames. Before anyone could react, Johnny flung them at the computer terminal. Reed jumped back in time as the computer gave out a pained whirring as it exploded in a shower of sparks.

Once again, everyone looked at Johnny in awe.

"Johnny if you don't tell me what happened I'll…" Sue spoke out, stepping towards her brother.

"Don't threaten me, Sue," He growled back. "Now let me out."

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

Johnny cursed again, rapidly he flamed on and threw out a rather nasty heat wave. The force of it knocked Sue back, and Johnny seized the opportunity to escape as Sue's force field had vanished.

Everyone stared at the door slammed shut.

Johnny had walked out. Again.

Sue looked at Reed in a defeated way, but frowned as she noticed she was smiling.

In his hand were several sheets of paper.

Sue's eyes widened. "You…?"

"I printed them off before Mr. Hothead over there lashed out," Reed said arrogantly.

Ben, who had stayed quiet all this time, smiled widely.

"Let's find this guy," he said, staring at the map.