A/N: I didn't really like the last chapter, so hopefully this one is better. Thank you so much for the reviews though, in particular Frost, yours made me laugh (I enjoyed my crackers), and hopefully this chapter will help clear up your musings. Please keep reviewing, constructive criticism is appreciated. And sorry this one took a while; I got into Uni (yay!) so many forms had to be filled in. Standard disclaimer applies.

Everything Burns

Four

-

It didn't take long for panic to set in. The culmination of the night's events had Johnny's heart pounding in his chest, and it was all he could do to stop himself hyperventilating. The cold was already starting to get to him, and the knot of panic in his stomach tightened as he remembered a lecture Reed had given him once. Unlike the rest of the four's powers, Johnny's abilities were somewhat elemental and therefore dependent on the environment around him. He cursed himself now for not paying more attention, but he knew the general gist of what Reed had been saying; cold was bad, warm was good. That being the case, Johnny thought to himself, he was so screwed. How was he supposed to keep himself warm sat in a freezer wearing nothing but his pyjamas and a sweater? Slowly feeling his way towards the wall, unable to see well in the dim light, he leant against it, pulling his knees towards his chest and pulling his sweater over them, stretching it down to his toes. He clenched his jaw together to stop the shivering that was already setting in and tried to ignore the cold that was seeping through his pyjama pants. He was too ill to try and flame on again, but if he didn't try soon he'd be too cold to do anything but sit there. He rested his head on his knees trying to stay calm in the face of his predicament, wondering whether they were going to leave him there to die, wondering whether they realized he'd die sooner than anyone else unfortunate enough to be locked in a freezer. Who the hell were they anyway? And what did they want with him? And what about the others? His thoughts turned to his family and his stomach knotted again. Had they been taken too? Did they realize he had? Did they even care? He'd been less than pleasant the last few days, they might be glad he was gone for a while. He shook his head to clear the thoughts from his mind. No. That wasn't what was happening. He was sure he would have noticed that one of the others had been taken too. Heard them maybe? Which meant that right now they were looking for him and that in the mean time all he had to do was concentrate on not freezing to death.

-

"It's been hours." Sue turned from staring out the window to face Ben and Reed. "He wouldn't go out this long, not in his state. You heard him the last few days; he can't do anything for himself." She paused biting her lip. "Something must have happened to him."

"We have to think logically about this." Reed told her from where he sat on the couch. "It's not impossible that something came up that he had to go and take care of it." He offered.

"Something came up?" Sue questioned, her voice higher than she'd intended. "Reed this is Johnny we're talking about! His life consists of girls, cars and computer games! What could possibly have come up? A Street Fighter tournament?" She huffed and turned back to the window in an attempt to hide the panic on her face. "He's reckless but not stupid. He'd have let us know."

"He didn't when he went to the X games." Reed pointed out.

"He wasn't 'dying of the flu' at the X Games Reed!" Sue replied, quoting her brother as she span round to face her fiancé.

"I know Sue, I know." Reed attempted to soothe her. "I'm just trying to look at this from all angles. We have to consider all the possibilities. There's every likelihood that he thought he was well enough to go out. You know how much he hates being stuck inside."

"Go out before nine am? Reed, Johnny hasn't been up before noon since he was twelve!" Sue was growing more and more agitated now.

"Sue." Reed began, standing up and heading over to her. "Sue you need to calm down, he's probably just—" For the first time The Thing spoke up, interrupting Reed.

"Someone took him." Ben's voice was lower than usual, darker.

Reed and Sue both turned to look at him, shocked.

"No." Reed said after a moment. "No, Johnny wouldn't have let that happen, he'd…" He trailed off, realizing that his reasoning didn't work.

"He's been too sick to use his powers." Sue murmured quietly. There was another heavy pause. "We have to go to the police! Or-or do something!" Her voice grew higher as she spoke.

Reed shook his head, sitting back down on the couch. "We can't. We have nothing to prove he didn't just decide to leave himself."

"We at least have to report him missing!" Sue exclaimed.

"No, Sue, we need to think about this logically—"

"Logically! Reed! Johnny is—"

"Sue!" The tone of Reed's voice made his fiancé stop and listen. "If Ben is right, if Johnny has been taken, reporting him missing might put him in danger from his captors."

"We don't know he's been ta—"

"We have to consider all possibilities Sue, we don't want to make this worse than it—"

"Worse! How could this be worse?" Sue's voice was a mixture of panic and anger. "Johnny is gone Reed! He's just gone! If he's too sick to use his powers, he's too sick to just up and leave! Something has happened to him!"

Reed stared at where he assumed his fiancé was standing, by now she'd faded entirely from sight. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it, reconsidering.

Sue scowled. "In two hours, if we haven't heard anything, I'm going to the police." She growled, flickering back into view and stalking past Reed and the silent Ben.

"Where are you going?" Reed called after her, standing up and following.

"To find out what happened to my brother." The elevator doors closed before Reed could respond.

Reed turned to Ben, an exasperated look on his face. Ben spoke before Reed could say anything. "I'm with Susie." He grumbled. "We need to find out what happened to him. But you're the brains of this outfit, you tell me how we can do that, and I'll do it."

Reed again opened his mouth to respond, but instead heaved a heavy sigh and returned to the living room.

-

Johnny was no longer able to control the shivering that had over taken his body. He'd tried everything he could think of, save flaming on, but nothing was helping, and by now he was so cold he could hardly think straight. He had never felt this cold, never in his entire life, and he was fairly sure that that was a bad sign. If he didn't warm up soon there was every likelihood that he never would again. He rested his head down on his knees and squeezed his eyes shut, concentrating hard in an effort to still his shaking body. "Come on Storm. Get a grip." He murmured to himself, clenching his teeth tightly together. It didn't work, he was still shivering, if not more so than before, and he felt colder too. He had one chance left. It'd put him out of action for a while, but it was his only hope, and at least he'd be warm. Slowly pushing himself to standing he stared at the door in front of him as something to concentrate on, gritting his teeth again. Then, without warning, burst into flame, shocking even himself. For a moment he felt wonderful, the warmth filled his body and his illness seemed to disappear, as he raised a few feet from the ground. He looked down at himself, grinning at the flames that licked his body, before he noticed is reflection. "Wha..?" He whispered to himself, he looked back up and his face fell. The ice was melting, fast. He began to panic and flew towards the freezer door, but with the burst of energy came an increase in temperature and before Johnny knew what was happening, the room had flooded, extinguishing his flame and leaving him emerged in freezing cold water deep enough for him to have to swim to stay afloat. He gasped, as the water seemed to freeze him from this inside and flailed desperately for something to hold onto, before the dim light in the room faded out and everything went black.