A/N: Thank you so much for reviews, please keep on reviewing and let me know how i'm doing. Standard disclaimer applies.

Everything Burns

Three

-

Reed rubbed his eyes, yawning, as he slowly climbed out of bed. Though he was almost over his bout of the illness that he, Sue and Johnny had all suffered, he was still feeling fragile. His muscles were stiff and ached when he moved, and like Sue had lost her powers whilst ill, his ability to stretch was definitely non-existent. Even stretching as though he was just a normal person was out of the question. His muscles felt as though they had seized up, and every movement contributed to the constant ache he felt all over his body.

He yawned again as he made his way through the apartment towards the kitchen. He needed water and aspirin, then once everything stopped aching so much he could go back to his tests. The blood samples he had taken from himself, Johnny and eventually Sue, were proving to be very interesting indeed. The virus acted in a very particular way, as could be expected, but what was intriguing was how specific its actions were. Almost as though it knew that the bodies it was infecting were distinctly different from any other it could effect. Though interested to begin with, Sue had now taken the stance that it wasn't up to him to find a cure for flu and was growing impatient with this new fixation, claiming that he should be in bed recovering. What if Doom attacked again?

Though Sue had never been the paranoid type, recent reports leaking from Latveria that Doom was once again active had all of the four quietly worried - it was no secret that Doom was less than fond of them. But Sue was especially concerned. Doom had tried to not only kill her (now) fiancé, but he had also gone specifically after her little brother, and attacked one of her closest friends. Through all that had happened in the weeks after the accident on the space station, Sue was the only one not to receive Doom's direct attention. As she saw it, this left two possibilities: Doom would come after her, as he had the others, or he would leave her and again attack the three people she cared about most. She couldn't decide which was worse.

Reed could see her point and though he hated to admit it, he— Reed's thoughts came to an abrupt stop as he stared down at the floor. "What?" He said to himself dumbly, looking down at his feet. In front of them were shards of glass, strewn across the floor around what looked like the base of a now shattered drinking glass. Reed frowned and scratched his head. "Odd." He murmured to himself, walking around the obstacle and continuing towards the kitchen. He stared blankly at the faucet as he filled his glass, and it wasn't until he had finished his drink that he realized what he'd been staring at. The silver piping had four semi-circular grooves in it. Reaching out his hand, Reed gripped the pipe, his fingers fitting into the grooves almost perfectly. "Johnny." He said to himself.

"No I'm Ben." Came a voice.

Reed jumped round quickly, a hand to his chest. "Ben! I didn't hear you."

Ben rose what would have been an eyebrow. "That flu must be affecting you worse than you thought." He told his friend, as he made his way around the room, collecting a bowl, spoon and cereal. "What about Johnny?" He questioned.

"Huh?" Reed questioned, shaking his head as if to wake himself up.

"You feeling all right Einstein?" Ben questioned, making his breakfast.

"Yes, fine." Reed replied. "What about Johnny?"

"That's what I asked you." Ben stated.

Reed frowned. "I don't understand."

Ben stared at him blankly. "I walked in and you said 'Johnny', then I said 'what about Johnny' and I think that's where you got confused." He told his friend, shaking his head slightly as he turned back to his cereal.

"Oh." Reed caught on. "No, I just… the tap." He pointed. "Johnny must have… melted it, by accident."

"I thought he was too sick to use his powers?" Ben questioned, as he began to eat.

Reed shrugged, taking a seat next to his friend. "There are still a few more tests I need to run. It's possible that the flu may not have affected Johnny as badly as it had us, or it may just not have reached that stage yet."

"You mean the kid's gonna get worse?" Ben questioned. "Great." Johnny's personality had done a complete about face upon him getting ill. No longer was he his usual, cocky, carefree self, but instead he'd become, rude, whiney and uptight. His temper flared up over the tiniest thing, and he seemed to have lost the ability to do anything himself, calling on the others to get him things and do things for him. As both Reed and Sue were also ill, the 'others' usually meant Ben, and The Thing was fast growing less and less tolerant of the young man.

"Morning."

The two men looked up as Sue walked in, looking better than she had done in days. "Morning Susie, you feeling better?"

"Much better Ben." Sue smiled, pouring herself a cup of coffee. "How are you doing Reed?"

Reed shrugged. "Still a little stiff and achey, but I think I'm getting there."

"Oh my God, this is amazing, I can actually taste the coffee!" Sue grinned. "I'm glad you're feeling better Reed. Maybe some fresh air would help?" She questioned. "We're running out of food, I was gonna go grocery shopping later, we could walk down to the store together if you're up to it?"

Reed couldn't help but smile to himself, he knew that with them both being ill he and Sue had hardly been able to spend any time together. Even if it was only the grocery store, he knew this was Sue's way of getting them to do something with each other that didn't involve germs. "Sure, what time were you thinking of going?"

Sue shrugged. "I'll wait 'til Johnny wakes up and ask him if he needs anything." She took another sip of her coffee. "Oh, by the way, did one of you two break that glass or was it him?"

Reed shook his head. "Wasn't me." He told her, pulling the newspaper on the table towards him.

"Where's a broken glass?" Ben's spoon was hovering half way between his mouth and bowl, an odd expression on his face.

Sue frowned. "In the hall way." She gestured.

Ben's spoon lowered, Reed stared at him oddly. "It wasn't there last night?" Ben questioned.

"Not when I went to bed." Sue told him.

"Ben, are you alright?" Reed questioned.

Ben ignored him, dropping his spoon into the bowl and standing up, marching out of the room.

"Ben?" Sue called, putting down her coffee and hurrying after him with Reed. "Ben what's going on?"

"Ben!" Reed repeated, following him towards Johnny's room.

By the time they got there Ben was facing them, filling the doorway. "Johnny's gone." He said seriously.

Sue frowned, pushing past him. "What do you mean he's gone?" She questioned. She put her hands on her hips, staring at her brother's empty bed.

Reed joined her, scratching his head. "He's probably just in the bathroom." He suggested. He turned towards Ben, but The Thing was gone. He huffed slightly, confused by Ben's behaviour. "Ben!" He called, heading back into the apartment. "Ben, what are you doing?"

Ben appeared a moment later. "He's not here." Reed could detect a small trace of panic in The Thing's voice. Ben scratched his head. "I thought it was just a dream…"

"You thought what was just a dream?" Sue questioned him, her voice belying the worry that had settled in her stomach. "Where's Johnny?"

"Last night I thought I heard someone in the apartment… voices. But it was really late and I thought I was just out of it you know? I thought it was a dream… I heard Johnny get up and get a drink, and then more muffled voices and a glass smashed… I thought it was a dream." Ben's voice was a mixture of guilt and barely subdued panic.

"It probably was just a dream." Reed offered.

"Johnny's gone!" Ben implored.

"Why would a dream like that make you think Johnny was gone?" Sue asked slowly.

"It sounded like someone was struggling, but I figured he was just trying to clear up the glass… and then someone said something like give it up kid. I thought maybe he just went to bed…" Ben trailed off and was silent for a moment before banging his fist down on the table in the hallway. It collapsed under his hand.

"Ben!" Sue let out involuntarily.

"I should have checked!"

"Ben, I'm sure he's fine. You know Johnny, he's probably just gone out somewhere." Reed tried to reassure the larger man.

Sue glanced at Reed and bit her lip, she knew perfectly well – just as the others did, that in his current state Johnny was not up to going anywhere, least of all alone, in the middle of the night.

"I hope you're right Stretch." Ben mumbled. "I hope you're right."

-

Johnny didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he felt the rope that was tightly binding his hands together loosen. He had long ago lost feeling in his fingers and his arms were aching from being pulled behind him so tightly. It was a huge relief that his movement was no longer so restricted, but the blood flowing freely back into his veins burned, and brought stinging to his eyes.

"Don't try anything funny." Said a gruff voice, the same that had been carrying him earlier. He didn't know how much time had passed since then, or since he had been taken. It could have been days, it could have been minutes, he had no idea. The blindfold was still wrapped tightly around his head, and he'd been given no indication as to whether it was night or day.

Hands gripped him roughly on the arms and pulled him to standing. "Stay here. Don't move."

Johnny did as he was told and waited quietly, listening. There was some muttering and what sounded like someone trying to move something very heavy, before something scraping along the floor. He jumped as a hand gripped his calve and the rope around his ankles was cut. "Move." Said the voice, pushing him forwards.

Johnny stumbled, moving slowly, unable to see. He hated feeling so vulnerable, he'd tried flaming on four times since he'd been taken, and each time he'd only succeeded in making himself feel more ill and weak. He shivered, as there was a sudden drop in temperature.

"Ah!" He let out a pained cry of surprise as the man grabbed his hair and yanked his head back.

"Make yourself comfortable." The voice hissed in his ear, ripping off the blindfold and shoving Johnny to the ground.

Before he could even get to his hands and knees, he heard a heavy door shut behind him and locked. Johnny shivered again; unable to understand why gaining his balance was so difficult. Maneuvering himself against a wall and leaning heavily against it, he squinted in the dim light. "Oh God." Johnny's voice was barely a whisper as realization dawned. He was locked in a freezer.