Chapter 4

Chase The Fireball

Johnny didn't know what to say. And that alarmed him, because that was the second time that had happened to him today. It wasn't supposed to happen at all. He was supposed to always have something to say in situations like this.

Of course, it wasn't exactly everyday that this happened.

He wasn't exactly sure what to do at first either, and apparently neither did the flaming teenage boy standing in front of him. The boy seemed surprised even, like he hadn't expected things to turn out like they did.

He quickly recovered though, roughly about the same time Johnny remembered all he had to do to fix this was touch the kid again. Johnny reached out to touch the boy, but the boy moved quicker, ducking under Johnny's hand and starting to run, still fully aflame.

The boy a few more running steps, then jumped, and with a sudden burst of heat, took to the air, zipping back along the length of the room, heading towards the nearest exit. A closed window. Johnny ran after him, still trying to touch the boy. But the boy was just too far ahead. Whether the boy planned to do it or not, he smashed into the window, which shattered under the extreme heat. The boy shook off the impact, then started to zoom out into the open air outside the building.

Just as the boy started to clear the shattered window, Johnny took a leap, hand held out, ready to grab the boy's ankle as he flew off, either ignoring the heat the boy was currently producing or simply not noticing. At one point, it looked like Johnny would succeed and stop the boy, but once again, the boy proved too be too far ahead, and all Johnny grabbed was a handful of flames.

As the boy zoomed onward, Johnny also saw another problem. He had leap too far forward, and was now sailing out the broken window too. Starting to fall, Johnny reflexively did what he usually did in this situation; flame up.

A perfectly normal reflex, but it wouldn't have worked this time around.

Or so Johnny had later thought.

Instead, just the opposite happened. He burst into flames as well, like nothing had happened. Johnny hovered there for a moment, staring at the flickering flames spread over his body.

Had he managed to touch the boy after all? He looked up, and saw the boy still streaking away, fully aflame.

Obviously not.

So what had happened to cause the boy to get Johnny's power, but at the same time allow Johnny to keep his? Sounded like something Reed would worry about. So Johnny deiced to leave it to Reed to figure out. He had more pressing things to do anyway. Like catch the boy.

Burning hotter, Johnny zoomed forward, in pursuit of the teenage boy...

oooo

"Johnny, what was that noise?" Ben asked, walking down the darkened hallway, "And why is it so dark?"

He got no answer, but upon entering the living room, he found the broken window with the charred shards of glass and burnt carpet surrounding it. It told him all he needed to know.

"Great, the kid flew the coop." Ben groaned, wrinkling his rocky brow.

Not very alarmed, he marched off for the Fantasticar.

oooo

Meanwhile, Johnny was realizing that he was a very hard fellow to keep up with. Never before now had he ever had to chase after someone with the ability to spontaneously bursting into flames and be able to fly because of it.

Now was a different story, because the boy could travel just as fast as Johnny could, if not even faster, because the boy was smaller and lighter than Johnny was.

That still didn't stop Johnny from trying.

The two zoomed around New York, one trying to get away, and the other trying to catch up. Johnny tried every trick he knew to try and catch the runaway fireball, but the boy was always one step ahead of Johnny and managed to slip through Johnny's fingers every time. Apparently the boy was a very fast learner, because he got used to his new ability very quickly, and that annoyed Johnny. It had taken him years to figure out all of those tricks.

Eventually, Johnny was forced to hope the boy would make a mistake that Johnny could make use off, and simply followed after the boy as he zoomed around. The teenager began to zoom around a building, and Johnny promptly followed.

Then the kid surprised Johnny yet again. He had vanished, as in he wasn't there when Johnny rushed around the building.

Johnny looked around quickly, searching for anything that might indicate were the boy went, but failed. Johnny was even more puzzled now. Could that boy turn invisible too? If so, that meant he could be hovering right in front of Johnny and he didn't even know it. The very thought of that, made Johnny wave his hand through the air in front of him, just to make sure that wasn't the case.

It started to rain, but Johnny ignored it. A light rain wouldn't hurt him, so he zoomed higher in the sky so he could see if he could find the boy from above. But as it turned out, it wasn't a light rain, but a very heavy downpour, so much so that Johnny was having trouble staying alight. He could try to burn hotter, but then he'd risk going too hot and go supernova, something Reed told him not to do, except for special occasions.

And he still couldn't find that boy, not to mention that the thick downpour was making it hard for him to see, so Johnny finally gave up, and landed on the closest perch to him. Straightening, Johnny looked around to see where he was.

On top of the Empire State Building. And it was blocks away from the Baxter Building. Which meant he'd either have to wait here until the storm cleared up which could be hours from now, or go home on foot.

Johnny made a face. This definitely not his day.