The Death of Innocence

Johnny Storm fell down onto the soft chair behind him in Reed's living room, his hand holding a Bandai Thing action figure. His other hand held a smaller Invisible Woman and Human Torch action figures. Johnny, with a larger than life smile plastered on his face, he pressed a small orange button on the Thing's backside. From a hidden speaker on the action figure, it let out a "It's clobbering time!"

With a laugh of childish amusement, Johnny shouted, "That is so cool!"

Susan and Reed, who were sitting together on the couch, looked at the young man with a look of shame. "Would you stop playing with those things!" Susan ordered her brother, losing her temper.

"Oh come on, these things are so cool!" Johnny argued, holding up the Invisible Woman action figure up to the couple. Susan just gave Johnny a dirty look while Reed tried to hide in his laughter. "Check this out," Johnny said as he took a glass of water on the table and put it down before him. He then dipped the Invisible Woman action figure into the water and after several moments, the figure turned translucent. "Isn't that cool?" Johnny asked as he held up the plastic figure.

"That was my water," Susan said flatly, looking at her water that looked quite dirty now.

"Oh come on!" Johnny whined like a child, falling back into his chair.

"Hey look!" Reed interrupted as he pointed to the TV screen, which was on channel 1, NY1.

"We're here with J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle," a woman reporter with a NY1 microphone introduced as she held it up to the badly styled man. In the background, the three could tell it was the Museum.

Johnny let out a laugh. "That guy has such a bad haircut. And what's with the different shade of grey on the side? That's so lam…" Johnny insulted, before realizing what he was about to say. Johnny looked at the couple and saw Susan giving him a very dirty look while Reed gave a softer but still annoyed look. Johnny said nothing and nervously scratched his head.

"…think that Spiderman is still a menace! And the Fantastic 4 would be stupid to have anything to do with them!" Jonah said, still keeping his tirade against Spiderman as alive as ever.

"Why do you have such a grudge against Spiderman? Why do you only support the Fantastic 4?" the female reporter inquired on the TV.

"Because Spiderman hides behind a mask! He could get away with anything he wants and no one would know who did it! The Fantastic 4 don't hide! We know who they are and we can hold things against them if they ever went against us!"

"Never thought of it like that," Reed whispered. Susan quietly took his hand and smiled at him, easily bringing down his fears with those simple gestures.

"Do you think Spiderman would join the Fantastic 4?"

"To hell! If Spiderman joins, there's no doubt he'll corrupt them!" Jonah said in a whir of fury, leaving the reporter shocked.

The TV then turned off, by Reed who held the remote. "All this trouble with Spiderman is pretty crazy," he commented down the remote on the table.

"What do you think?" Susan asked in concern.

"Well, Spiderman is really something, he could be invaluable to us. I'd love to study him."

"He's not just something to study," Susan said, eyeing her fiancé.

"I know but…"

"Would the kid even want to join?" Ben asked the others as he entered the room, who had heard the entire conversation.

"I doubt it, I hear he's kind of a loner," Johnny argued, settling comfortably into his seat. Reed simply sighed as he looked to Ben then Susan, who both shared faces of uncertainty.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Peter turned off the TV screen, having just watched Jonah's interview on the news channel. He let out a groan as he fell onto his bed, putting his hand over his face. Mary Jane, who sat next to her beau, looked at him sympathetically.

"How come you never told me?" Peter asked, his voice coming weakly through his hands.

"I tried calling but I couldn't reach you, sorry," Mary Jane explained, laidown on the bed next to Peter. She gently took Peter's hands away from his face, who was looking at her with a frustrated expression. Even so, Mary Jane still found it incredibly cute.

"I knew Jameson was going to use this against me," Peter groaned as he rubbed his forehead. "Jameson was bad enough but when these new guys show up, Jameson gets even worse."

"Maybe you should join?" Mary Jane suggested, expecting Peter to throw it back in her face in frustration.

"Then unless I give up my identity, I'll just make it worse," Peter said, shooting down the suggestion in a calm manner.

Mary Jane decided to try a much more radical suggestion, "Maybe you should just quit? I mean with four heroes around…"

"You know I can't do that Mary Jane," Peter interrupted in a gentle whisper, standing upright.

"Sorry I…" Mary Jane was silenced by a quick, gentle but loving kiss.

"Don't worry about it," Peter said before he began removing his civilian clothes, revealing his Spiderman uniform underneath.

"Where're you going?" Mary Jane asked as Peter began slipping on his mask.

"I'm just gonna think," Peter said before giving Mary Jane a passionate but short kiss. He then slid his mask all the way down and opened the balcony doors before leaping off, falling for a moment before shooting a strand of webbing and swinging away toward Mid-town.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Reed Richards slept on his own living room couch, his hand clutching the remote. Susan came up to him, smiling at what she saw before her. Gently coming up to her fiancé, kneeling before him.

"Reed, where's Johnny?" Susan whispered into Reed's ear.

Reed only replied with a grumble and a shift in posture.

"Reed, your lab equipment's on fire," Susan whispered into Reed's ear.

"WHAT!" Reed screamed, waking up instantly. "My lab's…"

"It's okay, I was just joking. I was trying to get your attention," Susan said, giggling slightly. "Where's Johnny?"

"I don't know, something about the Empire state building," Reed said sleepily, rubbing his eyes. Susan stared into space, a confused expression crossing her face.

"Empire state…"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Spiderman sat on the edge of the roof of the Empire State, his legs dangling over the edge. He looked over it, observing the speck like people below, looking at them with an entire mixture of emotions.

His spider sense picking up a presence behind him, Spiderman looked behind him to see the Human Torch approaching him.

"How'd you know I was coming?" Johnny asked, the flames around him dissipating.

Spiderman merely looked down over the edge again and pointed at his noggin. Johnny let out an "oh" and walked up next to the web-slinger.

"You ever tried dropping a penny over the edge?" Johnny asked, pulling out a penny from his uniform's hidden pocket.

Spiderman just looked at the former model, giving him an incredulous look underneath his spandex mask. "No, but I thought about it," Spiderman answered sarcastically.

Throwing the penny over his shoulder, Johnny sat down on the edge with him. "You know, if you join, you get exclusive membership benefits," Johnny joked.

"Don't even go there," Spiderman said, dismissing the joke.

"Dude, you gotta lighten up, you're gonna get an ulcer," Johnny said, shaking his head in shame.

"Where have I heard that before?" Spiderman said out loud, trying his best to remember that line… Changing the subject entirely, "You're pretty lucky you know; a lot of money and fame but for me, I have half the city against me."

"You could always try a sneaker endorsement," Johnny quipped, making a smile.

"Yeah, people would love to wear spandex shoes, they'll be all the rage," Spiderman joked sadly, kicking out his feet. Johnny laughed faintly. Suddenly, Spiderman's head jerked up and he quickly back onto his feet, looking out into the distance.

"What's up?" Johnny asked, trying to see what Spiderman was seeing.

XXXXXXXXXXX

Spiderman and Johnny arrived at the docks, where several large containment units were piled together. By them, several workers lay dead, their bodies horrifically charred. Johnny grimaced at the sight but Spiderman, who had seen gruesome things before, observed them with only a saddened look.

"What did this?" Spiderman whispered, in the sight of one of the men, who's chest appeared to be ripped through with some sort of heated attack.

"I think I know," Johnny said, looking at one of the containers, which had a hole in the front, the form revealing that it was opened from the inside. The hole revealed the interior of the container, which was empty and its edges appeared to have been burned. "Doom."

"Doom?"

XXXXXXXXXXX

Author's Replies

ShadowGirlFawkes: Glad you like my idea, I was afraid if no one liked it.

Agent G: That's just terrible. That has to be a horrible movie theater...at least Fantastic 4 will be around on DVD.

LordLanceahlot: It would be a bnlessing but with Peter's morals...I just can't do it. Poor MJ...

Spartan Commander: You're right but I was thinking about thespider sense's attument to danger. I was thinking that since Susan is friendly, he wouldn't have noticed unless she was hostile.

Mark C: Well, now they have to talk to each other :)