Disclaimer: I don't own the Fantastic Four—Marvel Comics, Stan Lee, 20th Century Fox, and probably a bunch of other people do. However, if the aforementioned parties feel like loaning out the guys, put me at the top of the borrower's list. Also, I'm not making a penny off of this. I am banned from reading other F4 fan fictions until this is finished, so any similarities to other stories are entirely coincidental. Typos are mine. If you haven't done so, you really need to read 'Oxygen' before this story.
11
Confusion.
Light. It blinked in chaotic patterns until the strobes gave him a headache.
Noise. The sound was like static from a garbled radio station. He wished whoever had the radio going would tune in the station or catch up with the satellite radio generation.
A brighter light. It came in a single flash, like staring into the high beams of an SUV on a dark desert road. Mercifully, it lasted only a few seconds.
Finally, there was silence. Blessed silence. The persistent, irritating buzzing noise that had filled his ears had stopped. The din of voices and their jumbled words that had filled his head for so long was now quiet.
Peace. Peace and silence. They were like old friends Johnny Storm hadn't seen in ages, and he wanted to stay in their company and simply rest. He felt like he hadn't rested in months. He was mentally exhausted and physically drained. So, he lingered there in the quiet and darkness for a little while---until the voices started in again.
They were different this time. They were not like the disembodied, contradictory thoughts and conflicting commands that had rattled uncontrollably around his mind and dictated his actions. These voices came from outside of his mind. They were real, they were familiar, and they were safe.
They were also dead set on dragging him out of his respite.
The more he paid attention to these voices, the more other sensations crept into his awareness. He was lying on a flat surface that couldn't be called comfortable. He couldn't move his arms because something—someone---had a tight hold on his right hand. Even with his eyes shut, he could tell there was light coming from somewhere, but it no longer pulsed in frenzied sequences. The only noises were the unrelenting voices and his own heartbeat. Maybe it was safe to open his eyes, he decided.
When he did, the first thing Johnny saw was metal. It surrounded him. It confined him. It was familiar in a way that filled him with dread. He knew what this box was…
Johnny remembered the dentist's office, and the dark-haired woman who called herself 'Reinhardt'. She had talked pleasantly, flirted, and her hand had brushed his shoulder when she left him. Something had stung him on the neck…and he'd awakened in this box.
Doom.
Doom had locked him in this box. Over the earphone, Doom had taunted, mocked, questioned, and threatened him with a dwindling supply of oxygen. Doom had wanted Johnny to concede defeat---not just him, his family too. Doom had pestered and plagued Johnny about 'need' and 'weakness' and more cryptic ramblings about a cocoon or chrysalis or some such b.s. Johnny had defied him at every turn…defied him in spirit, for he hadn't been able to do a damn thing to extricate himself from this prison. Sue, Reed, and Ben had worked on the problem of getting him out and Johnny had believed they would succeed. He'd trusted them to succeed right up to his last breath.
Those memories were clear. His recollections of what happened after the box were more surreal, almost like bad dreams. Johnny remembered the strange things he'd done, he just couldn't fathom what the hell had made him act the way he had acted.
The events came back to him, one-by-one, in quick succession. Anger had been the driving force, but Johnny didn't know what was making him feel such hostility, especially towards his family. He'd awakened at home in the Baxter Building after his release from this box, remembering nothing of the box, Dr. Reinhardt, or the dentist's office. He'd been filled with such depths of rage against all of them—Sue, Reed, Ben, even his long-missing father---that all he'd wanted was to kill them. He hadn't the power or desire to stop himself as he attacked them. He'd been full of scorn for their 'weaknesses', mentally calling them fools and betrayers, unworthy of their powers, jealous of the ease with which Johnny adapted to his own powers and of his popularity overshadowing them, trying to hold him back, hold him down. He'd intended to show them—by destroying their 'impenetrable' Baxter Building and destroying them---who was really the most powerful of their quartet. When he'd accomplished that, he'd only wanted to put distance between himself and the three of them.
Johnny didn't understand any of it. The memories of those feelings, of being so willingly out-of-control of his actions, horrified him now. Was that a mental breakdown? Insanity? There was no other explanation for it.
He remembered knowing—somehow---that there was a plane waiting for him at a small airport in New Jersey. It was one of the private airports formerly owned by Von Doom Industries. The workers weren't paid to ask questions. They greeted him like he was Donald Trump and directed him to his waiting transportation. Equally baffling in retrospect was how Johnny had known the coordinates to Doom's hideaway in Latveria, but he'd found himself at an airfield near the palace. Doom himself had been waiting, openly welcoming back his former employee and congratulating the younger man for his new 'enlightened perspective'. He didn't remember anything about his first day in Latveria except for a few psychological tests performed at Doom's insistence by Dr. Sater…
She called herself Dr. Reinhardt at the dentist's office.Nora Sater was the woman from the dentist's office. Johnny never made the connection because he hadn't remembered the abduction or imprisonment in Doom's metal cage.
Surreal memories became downright bizarre after that point. Doom had made Johnny his right-hand man. He had coached Johnny through days of practicing new uses for the younger man's powers, goaded him to stop reining in his abilities, admonished him not to hold back or be afraid to kill. The very notions would have been distasteful to Johnny if he were his normal self. In his bizarre, altered mental state, unleashing the full force of what his powers could do was more tempting than a free weekend in Cancun with every lady from the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
Doom had given his 'protégé' a tour of the poorest of the poor regions of Latveria, shown Johnny the humanitarian projects Doom had undertaken in his homeland, explained his ambitions for their future…and introduced him to the displaced militias that roamed the forests and preyed on the small villages for survival. The militias were the remnants of the political powers that had ordered Doom's father's execution. Johnny had been whole-heartedly sympathetic to Doom wanting revenge for the destruction of his homeland and the loss of his family.
Sympathetic. To 'Doctor' Doom. Not only sympathetic, heeding and respecting the man like he was freaking Obi-Wan Kenobi or something! Johnny had accepted Doom's ambitions, his justifications for everything from the murder of that soldier who'd attacked the village to the theft of the space rocks to Doom's proposal to use his fire to create a new global source of energy.
Sympathetic to Doom to the point of almost killing himself trying to enact his vile plans.
Heeding Doom, and that inexplicable hatred, to the point of almost killing his family—again and again—when they'd caught up with him, when they'd tried to warn him, when they'd tried to stop him. Now that the rage no longer clouded his judgment or muddled his perspective, Johnny was terrified by how easily he could have destroyed everyone he'd loved while in the grips of that madness.
Was all of that a bad dream or had it really happened? Johnny desperately wished it had been a dream, but the fact that he was now sitting upright on a hard bunk inside that tin can Doom had fashioned said otherwise. He was wearing the tattered remains of the nasty gel suit over his blue uniform…there was a 'V' where his '4' emblem should have been. Someone had a hold on Johnny's right hand, so he reached up with his left hand and, with some effort, ripped the repulsive 'V' from his uniform.
The voices persisted, and now the hold on his right hand became a death grip. "Johnny? Are you all right? How do you feel?"
Johnny turned his head towards the voice and found Sue perched beside the uncomfortable bunk, hanging on to his hand like it was a matter of life and death. She was probably going to leave a mark in her enthusiasm, but he didn't pull his hand away. She was looking more than a little bit worried and a whole lot apprehensive. Johnny didn't blame her for the, not if half the stuff he remembered really happened. The memory was making him a whole lot apprehensive too.
He remembered the fight with Sue, remembered falling from the sky when his depleted powers finally gave out, and remembered waking up in this box the second time. She and Reed and Ben had said something about Doom and Sater and mind control and begged him to let them help. Mind control. So, it wasn't 'insanity'. It was 'brainwashing.' That would explain a lot. Anger began to well up inside him once more, this time from humiliation at Doom's having used mind tricks on him, having played him against his family. Johnny hated being played for a fool.
Reed stood on the opposite side of the bunk, his mirroring Sue's concern. "Do you know where you are? How much do you remember?"
Ben was outside the cage, his massive form filling its doorway. "Matchstick---where'd ya hide the TiVo remote? I missed a whole week of Oprah!"
"One question at a time!" Johnny waved his free hand weakly. "What the hell happened!"
Reed was guarded with his optimism. Johnny sounded like himself, but after days of fighting the effects of Doom's program, Reed feared this was another ruse of the program. "You've been under Doom's control for the last eight days---thanks to this device that Dr. Sater created," he explained, gesturing to the box they currently occupied and the monitors and lights on its walls. "I'm sorry I didn't figure out what Victor was doing with this contraption in time to stop him."
Johnny was staring at them in confusion, but the absence of the malice that had been in her brother's tone and in his eyes since he'd fallen under Doom's control gave Sue her first real feeling of hope. "Reed's been trying to erase Dr. Sater's post-hypnotic commands for two days now. What can you remember?"
"I remember everything…so weird…" Two days? If that were true, then there was nothing but a big, blank spot in his memory where those two days should have been. It seemed like ten minutes ago that they'd been arguing with Johnny about post-hypnotic commands and allowing Reed to try to counter Dr. Sater's program...
…Dr. Sater…
"She's dead." Johnny had seen her body. Doom had killed her. Killed her because---
Reed heard guilt in those two words. There was nothing for the boy to feel guilty about. "Victor was trying to keep her from helping you."
"Nora helped you? How'd you pull that off?" Johnny tried to stand. To his surprise, he found his ankles were bound to the bunk---a precaution in case Reed hadn't quite unscrambled his mind, Johnny knew. Reed, Sue, and Ben exchanged glances and silently made the mutual decision. There was no real way to be one hundred percent sure that all the post-hypnotic commands were gone except to trust Johnny at some point and see whether he ran or attacked. Reed and Sue opened the cuffs. Gingerly, Johnny stood, testing his wobbly legs to make sure they'd support him. He ended up leaning against the bunk.
"Apparently, Victor earned Sater's cooperation by promising a power plant for her province. He needed you to---" Reed explained.
"---To power the thermal cells," Johnny finished. This whole brainwashing crap, almost killing Johnny, almost getting him to kill his family, was just a way for Doom and the doc to steal his powers. The doc had helped Doom turn Johnny against his family. Johnny had liked the woman, damn it, and she'd been lying to him, tricking him!
Lying to him was one thing. Murdering a woman, even one like Doctor Sater, was another. Doom was going to have to answer to Johnny for both of those things next time he crossed paths with the Human Torch. But there was something else. Those cells weren't intended for the power plant. No, of course they weren't. Doom had wanted…a bomb, a bomb to use in his revenge against Kubeka's men. Doom had put one of those thermal cells into a bomb, given it to that militia guy, and sent him to destroy the guerrillas' camp in the forests. Doom had tried to use Johnny's powers as a weapon to murder more people. He was going to pay for that, too.
Johnny must have been brainwashed if he'd bought into Doom's justifications for his vendetta, if he'd embraced that same hatred for the militiamen. There was no other way Johnny would have believed Doom gave a damn a bout those villagers or ever meant to help people with those thermal cells. Was there? Did Johnny despise those guerrilla creeps because they kept trashing the Latverians' homes and terrorizing the people? Or because Doom and Sater's computer's screwed with his brain and told him to hate them?
"We got the cell that Doom set off in that militia compound," Sue reassured her brother. "Ben found the other one. You don't have to worry about Doom using them on anyone else."
That was some consolation, but it didn't erase the memories of those images Reed had shown Johnny of the aftermath of the blast. Thank God Sue had shown up when she did. But, he'd taken two prisoners for Doom from the ranks of those guerrillas. Johnny might have been on autopilot, but he still remembered Doom interrogating both of them…the gunshot, the blood. His stomach did a flip-flop thinking about it. What was that kid's name? "What about that other guy? What happened to him?" he wanted to know.
"Other guy?" Reed frowned.
"The other militia guy Doom had prisoner." Johnny wracked his brain for a name.
"Rugel Tollen---as Mufale and Gorshen's 'trusted messenger', if I command you to take your knife and put it in Ambassador Gorshen's throat, will you do it?"
"I will."
"Holy crap…" Johnny mumbled in renewed fear.
"Now what?" Ben asked. Johnny had just turned pale as a ghost, so this wasn't going to be good news.
Johnny looked at Reed. "Doom wanted to know if this other soldier…Tollen, Rugel Tollen, that was the guy's name…would kill 'Ambassador Gorshen' for him. It's a safe bet that Doom used the doc's mind control game on him, too."
"What does Doom want with Gorshen?" Sue asked. Johnny must be talking about that second soldier that she and Reed had seen over the surveillance system. She retrieved the palmtop and began calling up the transmissions from their communicators, which the Warbird automatically recorded. Maybe they'd captured an image of that guerrilla.
"Ambassador Gorshen was Colonel Gorshen back when soldiers weren't the good guys in Latveria. He's been helping the men who killed Doom's father," Johnny told them.
Therefore he was on Doom's hit list just like the folks at the mansion, they all filled in the blanks. Maybe that was the reason Doom had killed Nora, Reed speculated, to delay Johnny's recovery, since he was the only one who could warn them about the plot. It was a coldly effective way to forestall the Fantastic Four from finding out about his next target long enough to pull off an assassination by proxy…and it worked. Doom had a two-day head start on them. The Ambassador might already be dead and they just hadn't heard about it. They had been ignoring news and requests from the media for explanations of the explosion in Latveria until Reed could free Johnny from Sater's program. If there was any good news, it was that they had taken the thermal cells away from Doom. A bad situation would be worse if Victor used a weapon made from Johnny's powers to assassinate a Latverian official.
"I'll put in a call to warn the Latverian and American embassies," Reed said. "I'm sure they're eager to speak to me anyway. Hopefully, the Ambassador is somewhere out of Victor's reach right now. If not, they can track him down faster than we can." He paused to clap Johnny's on the shoulder. "Good to have you back, son." Then he ducked out of the box and rushed to start making calls.
Ben grunted, "I get a feelin' we're gonna have to check in on this Gorshen guy ourselves. I'd better get the Warbird ready ta fly again…" Thing smirked at the Human Torch, unable to resist a dig "…since someone's had ta get these machines workin' while others were takin' a siesta."
"A siesta---!" Johnny started to protest, until he comprehended, "---you finished the Warbird without me?"
"What? Did ya expect Susie ta carry us to Latveria and back?" Thing grinned, enjoying the indignation pouring from the younger man. Johnny wasn't going to put up with the three of them treating him with kids' gloves for long anyway. Ben figured the best way to get the Johnny back to normal was to get right back to giving him a little shit. "Put in all the extras to: Radar cloaking device, cup holders, XM radio…amazin' what I can get done without the non-stop rap music and yakkin' makin' my ears bleed…"
"What ears?" Johnny shot back, searching for something in the small cage that he could throw at Ben.
"And don't forget---you're fixin' that hole in the lab's floor, Sparky." With that, the Thing retreated, sniggering as he went.
Sue hid her own grin from her brother. "In other words," she translated for Ben, "Welcome back, he's been worried about you. Fair warning: he's still a little cranky about you putting him in that deep freeze. He's been making a list of ways to get even and they all involve Reed's liquid nitrogen chamber."
Deep freeze? Oh right, that new trick Doom had taught him. Johnny winced at the memory of how many different ways he'd been manipulated into attacking them. "Sue, did I---" He needed to ask the question, but hesitated for fear of the answer. "—when I was—you know, out in la-la land---did I hurt any of you--?"
"No." Sue's tone left no room for doubt. "And before you say it, you don't have anything to be sorry about. What happened was because of Victor trying to play God again." And because of Doom and Sater's misguided belief that a human mind, a human soul, could be reprogrammed like they were rewriting a hard drive. She wondered what other lies Doom had put in her brother's mind while he was under the psychopath's thumb…or maybe she didn't want to know. "Besides, I've felt a little out of control myself since this started," she admitted.
Now that it appeared Johnny was getting back to normal, the past week and a half was crashing down on her rapidly. Her hands were shaking, which Johnny also noticed. He grabbed both her hands and pulled her into a hug. Sue wasn't the trembling sort; he'd scared her pretty badly. Johnny tried to lighten the mood, to make her feel better, "Thanks for kicking my ass, Susie."
He felt her grin. "That's what I'm here for."
When she pulled back, the light reflecting off her engagement ring drew Johnny's eye to the stone. It looked disconcertingly like that tiny meteorite Doom had made him power up during that first test…
Wait a minute.
Johnny was still hanging on to her fingers and his gaze was fixated on the engagement ring. Sue smiled, "What? The wedding? Don't worry. You didn't miss it. I can't get married without my brother there to give me away and---"
He interrupted: "Sue, how many of those space rocks did you say you found?"
There was a short list of things Reed found less pleasant than dealing with bureaucrats, politicians, or diplomats---root canals, poison oak rashes, or decompression illness might be more excruciating. Maybe. In his present condition, he would not have chosen to finally face the wrath of irate Latverian and U.S. officials were it not a matter of life or death. After the difficult week of intense planning, broken sleep, turbulent emotions, and then two more days battling Sater's program non-stop, Reed was more tired than he'd ever been in his life and in no shape for the mental and linguistic gymnastics he'd need in order to deal with these officials.
The man on Reed's computer screen now was definitely a politician---the General of Something-Something Latverian Security (Reed was too worn out to recall his own grandmother's name at the moment, much less memorize the man's lengthy job title). General Penscik, a short and stocky man wearing thick glasses and a cap bearing a patch in the shape of the Latverian flag, was on the top run of the security ladder at Latveria's embassy in the U.S., that's what mattered. It had taken twenty minutes of dealing with clerks and bureaucrats who'd been repeating demands for the Fantastic Four's surrender for crimes against Latveria just to get Penscik on the line.
The hard part was convincing Penscik to stop issuing threats and listen to what Reed had to say. Reed supposed the Fantastic Four's two-day disappearance had given the man plenty of time to get on a good case of cranky. Reed was careful to keep his tone level and respectful. It would do him no good to further antagonize the official. "I'm trying to warn you, the Ambassador's life is in danger. This man, Rugel Tollen, is probably already targeting Mr. Gorshen."
"I'm aware of your perspective on this subject. Now, you must see it from mine. Victor Von Doom is one of Latveria's most revered humanitarians, Mr. 'Fantastic', is it?" Personally, Penscik found the American's appointed title quite narcissistic. "I'm not inclined to believe that he's plotting the murder of his countryman. Such an act would be treasonous…"
"Doom's already murdered his 'countrymen'. He would have killed more people if we hadn't t---"
Penscik saw the chance to bring up the subject of more concern to him, and he took it: "Perhaps you're referring to the explosion at the Arvizu manor in Chendryn? I'm sure you're aware that your 'Human Torch' and 'Invisible Woman'…" Penscik wrinkled his nose at those monikers as well. "…have been implicated in that crime by survivors at the scene…"
Ben's voice boomed from behind Reed. "What! Ya been sniffin' too much liquid paper, Mister, if ya think they'd----"
The general only peered at Ben from over the tops of his glasses, then turned back to Reed. He pointed to the folder, the report on the Chendryn incident, which was spread on the desk in front of him. "I'm told that dozens of innocent citizens were burned alive in that explosion," he raised his voice to drown out Ben's protest.
Now Reed raised his voice, "That's a lie!"
"Your Human Torch was seen by people in nearby villages attacking that manor, setting outlying buildings on fire, deliberately cutting off escape routes---" Penscik read from his pages. "We've also been advised that he attacked you and your home, vandalized a scientific research firm called Selva-Uitti, and stole property from their laboratories. That's a side issue. Getting back to Chendryn, your Invisible Woman was seen using her shield to----"
"---to save lives! To contain the explosion----"
"---the explosion your Human Torch caused!"
"The explosion which Doom's weapons caused! We don't know that anyone died in that explosion, but if Sue hadn't contained that blast, you can believe every living thing for a two square mile radius would have died very horrible deaths. As for your 'innocent bystanders', that manor was a base of operations for the militia that's been attacking villages in that province. Maybe you've heard of them? They're what's left of General Kubeka's regime."
The minister fell silent. Was he surprised by the news or surprised that Reed knew about the deposed leader and his renegades? Seconds ticked by, and then Penscik said something to an aide who was off-camera. Then he cleared his throat and addressed Reed once more, "Our relief workers found no soldiers at the scene, no weapons of any kind, nothing that would indicate those particular criminals were ever in the area. No explosive devices were recovered."
"We have the device," Reed informed him.
Penscik raised his eyebrow. "Do you?"
Reed mentally kicked himself for what he'd just said. "I can explain---"
"Perhaps all of you would like to return to Latveria and explain your aggressive actions. If you do, I can promise you a fair hearing."
Hearing? "What? Are we criminals now?"
"Unless you can prove what you've said, yes," Penscik confirmed. "As it stands, if any of you attempts to enter Latveria, unless it's in the custody of our authorities, you will be arrested on sight. You should also know that, in deference to your---unique---abilities, our military and police officials have been authorized to use lethal force in apprehending you."
"You gotta be kiddin' me," Ben said with disgusted.
Penscik shook his head. "I can assure you that I'm not."
Reed could send the Latverian government copies of the recordings made by Sue's communicator. It would have proved the presence of Kubeka's guerrillas, would have shown the Invisible Woman using her powers to enclose the flames, would have shown that the blast hadn't been a massacre at all (much less a massacre of innocent farmers).
But the recordings would also show Johnny attacking the mansion and would have shown his flames cutting off escape routes. Reed could have edited the more damning segments of the recordings, but such tampering would have been easily discovered upon review and would inevitably cause more accusations of deception on the Fantastic Four's part.
Until Reed could provide proof that Dr. Sater's program had been the catalyst for the Human Torch's bizarre actions, Reed had to be careful what information he handed out to any government. He would no sooner hand over Doom's thermal bomb or copies of Sater's post-hypnotic program to anyone than he would hand over a nuclear bomb or biological weapon. And, at the moment, without handing over the bomb and/or the program, Reed had almost no way to prove his assertions or Johnny and Sue's innocence.
Counting to ten before he spoke, Reed answered, "Mr. Penscik, I'm sending you a photo of Rugel Tollen. He will kill Ambassador Gorshen on Doom's behalf if you don't take precautions." Reed transmitted the information to the embassy's computers.
Penscik studied the image. "But, you can't tell me why Von Doom would be targeting the Ambassador?" he asked. "Or is it that you won't tell me?"
Reed couldn't accuse the Ambassador of anything, not on the word of Rugel Tollen, a man under the influence of Sater's program, a man who'd made his confession under extreme duress. If Gorshen was innocent, the accusation alone might ruin his career. "Does it matter why? You can ask Rugel if you catch him."
The official drummed his fingers on the top of his desk and pursed his lips, pondering the matter. "I will convey your warning to the proper authorities in Latveria and to the Ambassador, Dr. Richards. They will decide whether your advice warrants action on our part," he promised. "But, consider my offer. Our government would be much more convinced of your innocence in the Chendryn matter if you return to Latveria voluntarily rather than by extradition…and a request for extradition will be filed if you do not. I'm sure you'll be hearing from your own government very soon."
With that, Penscik broke the connection, leaving Reed and Ben staring at a blank screen.
"I think that hat is cuttin' off the flow of blood to his brain," the Thing said.
Reed fumed. Victor had used Johnny and Sater to create two lethal weapons, had forced Johnny to do his dirty work just to see if Sater's program worked, had stolen Johnny's powers, and now Johnny and Sue were framed for Doom's crimes. He was almost certain that Doom was behind these 'witnesses' to Sue and Johnny's actions (farmers in the isolated mountain areas might know Johnny, judging by what he'd said of his time in Latveria, but they would never have known who Sue was). Not to mention two countries were now convinced that the Human Torch had flipped his lid. At this rate, we'll all be in front of a Latverian firing squad by the end of the week.
Ben saw Reed's face and knew what his old friend would say. "We're going ta Latveria anyway, right?"
Johnny had told them about the third meteorite. They couldn't leave it there for Doom to play with, whether it was infused with Johnny's powers or not. Neither could they let Doom murder Gorshen, regardless of what crimes the man may or may not be guilty of. Then there was Nora Sater's program to worry about. What she'd given Reed was a copy, which meant Doom still had the original program in his computers, ready for use on the next human guinea pig. They were going to have to find a way to destroy however many copies were left.
Another day, another impossible 'to do' list, Ben mused.
Reed nodded. "We're going."
Ben regretted the need, but he had to ask: "All of us?"
Was Reed sure that Johnny was recovered from the post-hypnotic commands enough to go back to Latveria this soon? Was there a chance that Reed had overlooked an implanted command that might be triggered by Doom? Reed had asked himself those questions, too. He'd worked for two solid days to free Johnny from the program---it hadn't been a task that could be stopped once begun. Sater had been honest about the booby traps embedded within the program. Each time Reed triggered on trying to counter the p.h.c.s, Johnny had either attacked them or nearly injured himself trying to prevent himself from unleashing a supernova. It had been an ordeal for all of them. Reed prayed that it was over---but there simply weren't any guarantees. He was ninety-eight percent certain that the p.h.c.s were gone…it was that two percent margin of error that scared him.
Taking Johnny to Latveria would be (pardon the expression) a trial by fire. Before it was over, they'd know if Doom still had any influence over the Human Torch's action. They needed Johnny's help. If the meteorite was somehow infused with his powers, there might be a way for Johnny to defuse it. Johnny knew the layout of Doom's lair better than the Warbird's computers did. Besides that, the most wrong in these twisted events had been inflicted upon Johnny. He had the right to try to clear his own name, to set things right. It's what any of them would have wanted if they were in his place…
…and they were a team. A family. They were at their best when they worked together.
"All of us," Reed answered.