Disclaimer: I don't own the characters. 20th Century Fox, Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, and probably some other people do. Wish I did. Especially the guys. Typos as always are my fault.

Rating: T to be safe. This one doesn't have my usual amount of action, only some adult themes and mild language. See part one for author's notes.

3

That tantrum had cost him. Johnny could feel that the air had thinned just from the intense heat. The room was getting uncomfortably stuffy, his ears were ringing from Victor's earpiece, and his skull felt like it was going to split open. His sister was right---it was getting hard to think clearly. Why was Victor getting under his skin so bad?

Resigned, Johnny had returned to his spot against the wall and sat, half-collapsing. He leaned his head against the wall, closed his eyes and worked very hard to bring his anger back under control. He couldn't afford lose his cool like that again if he wanted to survive this ordeal.

He didn't want to open his eyes and stare at those flashing lights at the moment, but he wanted to know what was going on outside. The rest of the team had been quiet for a while, probably trying to figure out their next move. Johnny didn't know how much time had passed. More to the point, he didn't know how much time he had left. He didn't want to know, truth be told. Whether he had twenty minutes or ten, sitting in the box and waiting, having to concentrate on breathing slow to conserve air, sucked in every possible way…

…Especially when freak boy wouldn't quite yammering in Johnny's ear.

"Big Sister did the right thing. Of course, she proved my point again—she let her emotions dictate her decisions. She did as I commanded because of her emotional attachment to you. In doing so, she revealed her weakness: Need. She needs her brother, therefore she puts his welfare ahead of her own welfare. Need is an impurity, a vulnerability. Victor Von Doom had that weakness, too. You still have it…in fact, Sue is a weakness we have in common. I told you we have much in common, Johnny."

"Can't believe you're still talking, Tin Man," Johnny said tiredly, not bothering to open his eyes.

"Victor Von Doom pursued her affections far longer than he should have, let it cloud his judgment because he thought she was something he needed in his life to be stronger. Fortunately, when Susan helped you burn away Victor from Doom, that need was burned out as well. I think watching her slip away from me was more painful than the entire process of mutation and regeneration, but I've come out stronger for it."

Johnny was having a hard enough time concentrating and staying awake without Victor boring him with his rambling. "Is there a point to all this looming on the horizon? What do you want, Victor?"

"I told you---concession."

Johnny shook his head, which only made him dizzy. "Not gonna happen."

Victor chuckled. "Still clinging to pride? Pride goeth before a fall, Johnny. I respect your tenacity, but put your emotions aside and make a practical decision. Two words. Say two words and you survive."

Johnny raised his hand and made a rude gesture at the camera. "How about two words in sign language?"

He heard Ben laugh over the monitor. "Hope ya got money for the FCC fines, Matchstick. I'm not sure transmissions over super-villains' satellite networks are exempt."

Susan's voice cut in. She'd heard Johnny mumbling over the microphone and knew what was going on. Doom was after him again. "Johnny? Try not to talk, okay?" she asked.

Ben grunted, "Not talk? Sheesh, Susie, why don't ya ask him to do somethin' less painful---like lop off an arm or a leg with a rusty tin can lid or take a vow of celibacy or somethin'?" Johnny smiled weakly at that, but didn't open his eyes or look at the screen. Worried, Ben asked, "Ya still in there, junior?"

With intense concentration, he managed to open his heavy eyelids. "Yeah, Pebbles, I'm still here," Johnny answered, blinking to clear the spots dancing in front of his eyes. "How's it going out there?"

"Reed's almost got it," Sue said.

Johnny squinted against the harsh lights to see the screen. He didn't see Reed, which meant he was staying off camera because, whatever he was up to, he didn't want to tip his plan to Doom. Ben and Sue didn't look as if they were as confident as their words would have Johnny believe. Reed might be up to something, but he 'didn't almost have it', that was for sure. "Susie…can see you guys…remember?" Was he slurring his words? Johnny couldn't tell.

Reed stepped in front of the camera, addressing the younger man directly. "I'm not giving up, Johnny." Then he ducked out of sight once more.

Reed was examining the camera and its microphone on a hunch. Victor had been awfully agitated about the idea of Sue and Johnny wrecking his toys. Sue had poured over the box over and over, just for the lack of any other course of action at the moment, and found nothing resembling a lock, a trigger, or a receiver. That meant if Victor had a receiver somewhere in this room that would open the box on his signal, it was most likely embedded in one of the cameras or microphones. Reed was doing his best to test that theory. He'd managed to open the panel around the monitor and had started scanning its components for the missing receiver.

"Reed's working on it," Susan rephrased her previous words.

Johnny nodded, a hint of smile curling at the corner of his mouth. "…know he is. S'a good guy." His brow furrowed a bit before he added quietly: "Sorry 'bout the nose…"

"What?" She glanced quizzically at Reed. "Nose?"

Reed drew a blank for a moment and he had to wrack his brain before he recalled what Johnny was referring to. He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's nothing…it was a long time ago," he waved off Sue's question and turned his focus back to the wires he was examining.

Johnny supplied: "…broke his nose."

"It wasn't a big d---" Reed tried again to dismiss the subject.

Sue gaped at her brother. "You broke Reed's nose?" she scolded.

"Wish I'd been there to see it," Victor interjected from his end.

Johnny paid no attention to Doom. "…He broke your heart. Wasn't a fair trade, but it was the best I could do."

"You were just seventeen. I forgot about it," Reed made a third attempt to change the subject.

This was all news to Sue, however. She'd known her little brother was upset when she and Reed had ended their relationship, but the break-up had been Sue's idea. Why the hell would Johnny do that to Reed? "Why---I mean---I told you I left Reed, Johnny, it wasn't his choice."

There was genuine guilt in her brother's unfocused eyes. "Thought it was my fault," he said with complete honesty.

Johnny and Reed had gotten off to a bad start from the first day Sue had introduced Reed to her little brother. Part of the problem had been a complete lack of common ground between the man and the teenager. Reed was, as Johnny referred to him, an 'egg-head'. He'd been as introverted as a child as Johnny had been out-going. He tripped over his tongue when things got too serious. His interests were intellectual pursuits---every kind of science, computers, and technology. His keen mind had made for a short childhood, as he'd advanced through the grades rapidly and spent most of his time in academic pursuits. He wasn't very good with children back then, particularly not with teenagers. Johnny was a perpetually hyper child who had turned into a perpetually hyper teenager. He was into every sport, video game, car, motorcycle, and airplane under the sun and lacked interest in anything to do with books and science unless it related to one of the aforementioned hobbies. He was on the honor roll only because Sue and Johnny had social workers breathing down their necks from the day his sister became his guardian when they lost their parents, and they had to be careful about things like keeping up good grades and a clean apartment and staying out of serious trouble. As a result of having to depend almost completely on themselves, Sue and Johnny were fiercely protective of each other.

Reed's absent-mindedness had compounded the problem, for he did (more times than he cared to admit) disappoint Susan in some way---most commonly by getting wrapped up in a project at M.I.T. and forgetting they had a date planned. He was two hours late the first time Susan had invited him to her apartment just so Reed could meet her younger brother. Johnny hadn't liked anyone disappointing Sue. Not that her brother had gone out of his way to make friends with the man. When Reed had invited both of them to a yacht party thrown by one of his friends at the university, Johnny had grown so bored with the proceedings that he'd jumped off the boat and swam to the shore (where he'd at least found some pretty girls sunbathing). For damn sure, being unreliable as he seemed to be, Johnny didn't figure Reed for the kind of guy you could trust, the kind of guy you'd go to when you were in trouble.

The second hurdle to the lack of common ground was the fact that Reed had become involved with Susan on the heels of a series of bad boyfriends---all of whom had humored Susan by being nice to her brother, but had no use for the kid and no interest in sharing responsibilities for one. When Johnny met Reed, he'd immediately pegged the man for another one of the jokers who was only out to have fun with Susan and then leave tire tracks in the driveway. Johnny had tried to play nice---in his fashion---but he had made Reed nervous with his suspiciousness towards the older man and his protectiveness of Susan. When Reed broke Sue's heart by turning her down when she wanted to move in with him, the teenager assumed that he was one of the 'variables' Reed mentioned…he'd been one of the 'variables' that helped screw up his sister's relationships in the past. Decking the egg-head for breaking Sue's heart had been a natural sibling impulse.

Sue understood now. "Why didn't you say something---Johnny, I told you back then, you had nothing to do with Reed and I breaking up..."

"…'Know what you gave up takin' care of me when Dad…when, you know…I know it was hard raising me and going to school and working." Johnny blinked away a moment of dizziness. "I know how many jokers ditched you cause of me….wanted the pretty girl…didn't want to play dad. Sorry 'bout that, too…"

Sue didn't have it in her to be mad at him right now. "I'm not. You're my brother. None of those creeps mattered more than you."

He managed a smile at that. "Love you, too, Susie."

Victor must have been writhing in his seat from the disdain in his tone. "Like I said, Johnny, always picking the wrong father figures, the wrong mentors…always disappointed. I hope these walks down memory lane today have helped you understand what I said about impurities…need, love, want, pride…" Again came the tapping of fingers drumming a table over the crummy earpiece. The tapping was loud as thunder with Johnny's splitting headache and grogginess. "We're running low on time, Johnny…well, I should say you're almost out of time. I still need you to understand why I went to all this effort to help you…why I picked you for this. Do you remember what I said to you the first time you walked into my office?" Doom asked.

"'Who are you and how'd you get past security?'"

Victor rephrased the question: "After that."

Johnny had to concentrate hard to remember. "…'said I was a cocky punk…and would I start at eighty thousand plus dental." Keep him talking. Reed said to keep him talking…

Susan heard the words—almost inaudible from Johnny's fatigue---and knew what was happening inside the cell. "Johnny? Is it Victor again?"

"Did you ever wonder why I did that? Did you ever ask yourself why I went to so much trouble and so much expense hiring and training you after Ben Grimm and his short-sighted co-workers washed you out of NASA? Why I trusted a man NASA threw out with billion-dollar spacecrafts? Why I wagered on the dark horse, gambled on the long-shot everyone else said could never win the Preakness?"

No, now that Victor mentioned it, Johnny had never wondered about that. "No one…said you were a fool, Vic."

Susan's strong voice cut in: "What's Victor saying?"

Johnny laughed, but it came out as an exhale. "Think he's saying…I'm Seabiscuit." He closed his eyes again and wished Victor would either shut the hell up or fall down a very deep hole somewhere.

"Did you think I did it because I was feeling charitable? That I did it because I was trying to impress your lovely sister? I've told you all along that I never let emotions get in the way of business decisions." Victor continued. "I certainly didn't need NASA's rejects for my ventures. I hand picked the best of the best men and women from around the world…or those I knew would become the best. I hired you, Johnny, because I saw the possibilities of all that you could be. I did it because I saw myself in that brash, arrogant man who knocked on my door that afternoon."

Oh, wasn't that just peachy. Johnny's eyes blinked open, an he gave the camera a look both horrified and revolted. "….Think we have…something in common…s'kinda makin' me ill, Vic."

"And everything you've done since that afternoon has proven me right. When fate gifted us with these powers, you and I seized the opportunity while---others--" The comment was obviously aimed at the trio outside the cell. "---others faltered and hesitated. You and I had the wisdom to see the potential of what we might become and…to take what we wanted. When I say that I see myself in you, Johnny, it's because you---like me---are a man who embraces his destiny. I knew it the day I hired you, and I know it still. That's why I picked you for this, Johnny."

Johnny summoned the energy to give the camera a dirty look. "Picked me…for what? Suffocating my…whatever it was?"

"Johnny, pardon the expression, but think outside the box. I had my choice among the four of you for this. I chose you because I still believe in your potential. Reed might be the smartest, Susan might be prettiest, Ben might be the strongest but you…to paraphrase the good book, you are a boy after my own heart. I want you to know why I've gone to all this effort to show you your weaknesses. You'll never be all that you were destined to be until, like me, you let go of the past and the emotional frailties it crippled you with and re-forge yourself. I told you back then that, if you stuck with me, I'd help you fulfill that potential. The offer still stands. I want you to believe my sincerity when I say this, Johnny---I was the one who was prepared to be that mentor, that father figure. I still am. After all, who's better for me to bestow the benefit of my considerable wisdom than someone just like me? I just need to know that you're still a quick study…no pride, no anger, just say the word. Two words."

Say two words and impress Doom? Johnny would rather sit there until every last molecule of oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Not that he had a long time to wait before that happened. There was not a whit of humor in Johnny's eyes or tone. "…would say, go to hell…Vic…but think it's too late…"

Victor tsked. "I never said you had a choice in the matter, Johnny."

Doom's words were cut off by a blast of static so deafening that Johnny cried out in spite of himself and reflexively grabbed at his ear. The static didn't die down this time---it was worse. Mercifully, between the dizziness and the too thin air, the audio assault was simply too much and Johnny blacked out.

Ben and Sue saw this on the monitor with a surge of terror. "No you don't, junior! Don't do that!" the Thing ordered. He wasn't going to last much longer, Ben could see that much. "Cripes! Fine, Vic, if it gets ya off the kid's back, you win!"

Outside the prison, Reed had found what he was searching for: Victor had indeed placed a small transmitter/receiver among the components of the microphone. He wanted to shout for relief, but dared not, so he said under his breath, "Yes! Thank you!" Fast as he could, he began patching his communicator into the transmitter.

Victor's voice crackled over the speaker. "Two down, two to go. Thank you, Ben. What about you, Reed? A few more minutes and the lack of oxygen is going to start causing brain damage. You're well aware of that…and even your intellect won't be able to help him if that happens."

Sue tried, "Johnny! Don't sleep, wake up!"

Blearily, Johnny opened his eyes. He couldn't summon the strength to lift himself off the floor of his cell. "Wha--?"

Sue commanded. "Look at me, Johnny. Stay awake!"

"I've got it!" Reed was no longer worried about hiding his actions from Victor. "Hang on, Johnny, we're going to get you out, I promise." Sue and Ben flanked their leader, watching as the re-programmed communicator in his hand locked onto the frequency of Victor's transmission and began modulating frequencies, searching for the one that would trigger the lock on Johnny's cell.

The communicator beep and its display flashed: Signal lock. Transmitting.

Reed waited for any sign of reaction from the steel prison cell. Time they could not spare dragged by, agonizingly slow. C'mon, c'mon…work, damn it.

The cell reacted. There was a pop, and the grinding of metal, and for one instant Reed thought it had worked and the box was opening. That hope didn't quite last long enough for him to draw a sigh of relief before the sound revealed itself to be the cover of a grate, camouflaged every bit as well as the door was, sliding open. With a whoosh, gas began to pour out of the cell…

No, not gas, Reed knew, the last of the oxygen.Another one of Victor's booby traps.

"No!" Sue yelled. She projected her shield around the gap, plugging the leak, trying to preserve what air remained in the cell. The metal groaned, drawing on her energy, and began to collapse again. She extended the shield around her semi-conscious brother in the prison, just in case the walls came down on him. She felt blood drip onto her lip but didn't care. She'd stand there until hell froze over and she'd bled herself dry before she'd give up.

"That won't help for long, Susan. I'm disappointed. Did the esteemed Mr. Fantastic really think I wouldn't anticipate something that simple?" Doom couldn't resist goading. "Tick-tock, Reed."

Reed had no time to try anything else. Even if he squeezed through the grate, what could he do? The grating wouldn't let him take anything useful---like a tank of oxygen or an oxygen mask, into the cage. He could try, if he only knew that there was time. Unfortunately, he didn't know that there was. Frustrated, worried for Johnny, he snapped back, "Fine! Victor, you win! Open the damned box."

There was a pause. "Do you see what I mean about emotions, Johnny?" He asked his prisoner. To the trio, Doom replied, "I can't do that, Reed."

"You gave your word---!"

"I promised his freedom in exchange for four concessions. I only have three," Victor reminded them.

Angrily, Ben countered, "How's the kid s'pposed ta concede if he can't breathe?" He would have loved to try tearing open the walls now that he hand a handhold…but Sue couldn't risk lowering her shield long enough to let Ben try.

Victor acknowledged, "That is a dilemma. You'd best resolve it among yourselves…and I'd hurry if I were you."

Reed made his decision. He returned to the microphone. "Johnny---I need you awake. Now!"

Johnny's eyelids fluttered, but did not open.

"C'mon, kid," Ben urged.

"…Tired…" It was barely a whisper, but Johnny had answered.

"I know," Reed answered. "Johnny, I want you to do exactly as I say. Do you hear me?"

Johnny tried to nod, "…hear…"

"I want you to say 'you win'. That's an order, Johnny."

With great effort, the Human Torch opened one eye. This time, he managed to shake his head. "…no… picked me…not like him…"

"What's he talkin' about?" Ben asked.

Reed hadn't a clue what the younger man was talking about. "I don't understand, Johnny. Who picked you for what?"

"I don't care what Victor told you, Johnny," Sue's voice was strained, exertion from her efforts and fear taking their toll, but she pleaded anyway, "You don't believe a word that comes out of his mouth. Say it---please."

Johnny heard the fear in her tone. She was afraid. He couldn't stand for her to be afraid. But, his thoughts were murky and jumbled. Static and light tormented him, his body was heavy and uncooperative, and Victor's words echoed in his mind, confusing him:

…need, love, want, pride…impurities…

…always picking the wrong father figures, the wrong mentors…always disappointed..

Need is an impurity, a vulnerability…

Love is a fine thing…but if you don't master it, love will get you killed…

…Approval. That's the sort of emotional weakness I was talking about, the kind that makes you weak. The kind that holds you back….

Trust is a privilege.

I hope these walks down memory lane today have helped you understand what I said about impurities…need, love, want, pride…

Think of this room as your chrysalis, Johnny. It's here that your transformation will truly begin.

I could have picked any of them…I picked you.

I never said you had a choice in the matter.

Was Johnny supposed to concede because he was like Victor or because he wasn't like Victor? He couldn't keep it straight in his fuzzy thoughts. Was that the practical decision like Victor wanted or was that the emotional decision like Sue and Reed and Ben wanted? Which was it?

"…Can't be like him…" he answered Sue.

Reed asked simply, directly, "Johnny, do you trust me, son?"

At the question---that word---the younger man's eyes finally opened, something like surprise—no shock---in their blue depths. "…Trust you, Reed…" he said.

"Then say it."

Johnny stared at the monitor, still confused, still wanting nothing but to sleep, for all this to end. Too much, there was too much in his mind, he was too confused. But, bottom line, he trusted Reed. He didn't believe anything Doom said. But, if Reed said it was the right thing, Johnny believed him.

"…Win, Doom…"

Victor sounded pleased this time. "Practical decision. There's hope yet. They can have you back---for now. Just don't forget to say good-bye to them, Johnny, you'll be leaving soon," he warned.

"…G-bye…?"

The lights ceased their repetitious blinking and their three beams coalesced into one powerful flash that nearly burned out Johnny's retinas. The earpiece seemed to have a meltdown, a cacophony of crackles and pops poured over the device. He was unconscious before he had time to react to the assault on his senses.

Outside, the trio saw the box give a tremendous shudder. Sue braced herself in case it caved in on Johnny. There was a hiss of air, and a small outward explosion and the welded seams blew themselves apart, releasing the door. Finally having a handhold, leverage, to work with, Ben tore effortlessly tore the box open like a tin can.

Ben was moving to go in and get Johnny, but Reed stopped him. "No, let me." He didn't want to chance any of them going into that cell and becoming trapped if this was another of Doom's tricks. Reed stretched his arms into the cells and very gently lifted the unconscious figure out of the room. Sue retrieved the small oxygen tank they had brought with them. While Reed carefully set Johnny on the carpet, she was already pulling the mask over her brother's face.

"Johnny, this is oxygen, whatever you do, don't flame on right now." She didn't know if he were lucid, or even conscious. She kneeled beside her brother, easing his head onto her lap, waiting and praying silently. His eyes were closed, but when Sue put her hand on his forehead and with the help of the oxygen, his eyelids fluttered a bit and a soft moan escaped his lips. Reed put his fingers to Johnny's neck, feeling for the pulse, and found it. It was faster than he would have liked, but it was stable and strong (all things considered).

Meanwhile, Ben crossed the room in two long strides and ripped the camera and microphone from the wall. With immense satisfaction, he took the demolished camera and pitched it into camera hanging inside the box…smashing both cameras, both microphones, and the lights in the box before Reed could say a word to stop him. "Show's over," he grunted. "Is he all right, Reed?"

"I'm not sure…I think we got him out in time. What the hell was the point of this?" It was a rhetorical question. He stared at the box and its demolished equipment, and then carefully turned Johnny's head so that he could see the small headphone surgically implanted into his ear. That was another peculiarity---why was Victor so worried about Johnny keeping that earpiece right where it was? Reed didn't understand it at all. A doctor would have to remove it. If Johnny's communicator had recorded Victor's transmission, Reed might be able to use the translator chip inside the earpiece to find out exactly what that psychopath had been saying to the Human Torch for the last…had it really been less than a half-hour since this began? When the danger was over, Reed also intended to have a very long look at that box.

"Don't know, don't care," Ben said. "All I know is, I can't wait to track down Vic and pay him back."

Johnny groaned and all eyes returned to him. Sue spoke in her best Big Sister's comforting tone. "Johnny, it's all right, we've got you. You're out of that cage. Relax and breathe." Sue put her free on his shoulder, holding him down in case he tried to make any sudden moves.

She needn't have worried. As the blackness faded and consciousness slowly returned, the first thing Johnny became aware of was that his head was killing him and his body felt achy and heavy, like he'd just gone ten rounds against the Hulk. He opened his eyes and found himself flat on his back in what looked like Victor Von Doom's old conference room, staring up at the concerned faces of the rest of the Fantastic Four. How had this happened? The last thing he remembered was flirting with a pretty dental hygienist. If this was the hangover, it had to have been a helluva party.

"---Happened?" he mumbled.

"Doom's on my appointment calendar for an ass-kicking, junior. You can count on it," Ben promised.

"Doom---?" Johnny wracked his brain. Had they been in a fight? That would explain why he felt like death warmed over.

Reed couldn't help asking, "What was Victor saying to you in there? His transmissions to your earpiece were scrambled?"

There was not one thing in that question that Johnny understood. Victor? Transmissions? Earpiece? In where? "What…don't understand. Don't remember Victor."

His teammates exchanged uneasy looks. "Johnny, try to remember. The cell? It just happened. You have to re---"

"What do you remember, Johnny?" Reed asked.

Johnny frowned, trying his best to figure out what it was they thought he should remember. "Dentist…" Wait, there was something else. "Bright light." He remembered a painful bright light, like high beams from an SUV shining right in his eyes. He just couldn't recall where he'd seen it.

Reed made a mental note to check on that dental office. That was most likely the place where Doom had abducted Johnny. "Anything else?"

Johnny shook his head, and winced when the movement made his headache worse. The room lurched so suddenly that the dizziness nearly made him ill. Not a good move, Storm, don't do that again. "No. Head hurts…"

That was all Ben had to hear. "Kid needs a doc. Let me get in there, Susie."

Without hesitation, Sue moved out of the way to allow Ben to lift Johnny and the small oxygen tank. There were one or two doctors that the team trusted. Still, Sue knew there was going to be a media circus waiting outside this building and at the hospitals in the immediate area, given that this whole horrible series of events had been televised by Doom. She planned to keep her invisibility shields around all of them until they were safely in the E.R. Her family had been gawked at for entertainment enough for one day.

Ben, carrying Johnny, hurried for the elevator, with Sue on his heels. Reed lingered there just a minute longer.

What are you up to, Victor? He wondered again before he finally followed the rest of his team out of the building.