Fantastic Four (Movieverse) – Hunted
Summary:
Sequel to 'Retribution' - Following his failed attempt to destroy the Fantastic Four, Doom makes good on his threat "You will pay... you will suffer every bit as much as I have. Enjoy the time you've got, there's not much left of it..." Johnnycentric as always :D siblingness
Disclaimer:
They're Mine! All Mine! Mwahahahaha! (Except for the unfortunate part where they're not)
Author's Notes:
Thanks to ebuchala, Lil' Kanny, marinawings, xxClois-LoverXX, and Penny3 for reviewing!
I'm very sorry for such a late update, I got serious writers block. My muse ran away when I decided to play Sims3 instead of write XD
Enjoy!
Chapter Two: Elysium
St Peter's Church, New York
"What the hell just happened?" exclaimed Sue, panic and confusion making her voice higher than usual. Only moments ago they had been happily applauding Ben and Alicia, and now...now Johnny had just...disappeared. Sue turned expectantly to Reed for some sort of explanation.
"I'm sorry Sue, I really don't know," Reed replied honestly. Already his mind was racing trying to pinpoint the source of the blackout. It was unnatural, that much was certain, it must have been man-made. This must have been done on purpose. He turned to his wife and embraced her reassuringly. "It's gonna be okay, we're gonna find him."
"How do you know that Reed?" Sue suddenly snapped. Her voice was shaking with concern and fear. She pulled away from Reed. "Tell me how you know that. Literally, one minute he was here, next minute he wasn't. How are we gonna find him?"
Why does this keep happening? wondered Sue. Only last year she had almost watched her brother die – she still remembered how pale his face had been. And then again, the same day, Doom had shocked him bad enough to knock him out, making Sue fear the worse. He had been different after that day. He wasn't obvious about it, only she seemed to have noticed, but he had been ever so slightly more cautious; and he visibly flinched whenever Doom was bought up in conversation. Sue had always just assumed that it was just because Doom had nearly killed him; but maybe there was more to it...
Reed sighed heavily, dragging Sue from her frightful thoughts. He placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye. "We will find a way. We always do."
Elsewhere
Okay, Ow. That hurt, thought Johnny.
His whole body ached. He felt drained and weak. Something definitely wasn't right. Only moments ago he had been in the church. Maybe I'm still there, wondered Johnny. I should probably open my eyes...
Oh God that's bright! He exclaimed as he quickly squeezed his eyelids shut again. Patterns and fuzzy lines ran across his vision as he felt a new pain. His head hurt like hell. Ever so carefully he lifted a hand to his head and gingerly touched the newly found cut that had materialised beneath his hairline. He could feel the blood trickling down the side of his face.
More cautiously this time, he blinked opened his eyes, slowly adjusting them to the light. He was staring up at a ceiling that had a large ornate light fitting hanging from it. It didn't seem so bright anymore. Carefully he scanned the room. Movement was proving to be a bad thing, but he wasn't just going to lie there. The room was incredibly old-fashioned and castle-like in design. The grey stones reminded Johnny of the church, and for a moment he thought he was still there, but these walls were older. The flagstone floor beneath him was cold and uncomfortable. He dragged himself into a sitting position.
He felt cold. He probably wasn't actually cold, but compared to his normal body temperature he was absolutely freezing. He shivered a bit as he looked around. The room was far too big to be a cell; and there was an old door and several windows that could easily provide an escape route. As Johnny managed to stand he realised he was still wearing his suit from the wedding, although his jacket had mysteriously disappeared and with it, his cell phone. "Where the hell am I?"
Suddenly the wooden door burst open, revealing the silhouette of the man who had haunted Johnny's nightmares;
"Welcome to Elysium."
The Baxter Building
It had been a whole hour since they had last seen Johnny.
At the church they had quickly dispatched the guests, although a few had trailed them back to the Baxter Building to satisfy their curiosity. As soon as they had arrived they parted ways. Reed disappeared into his lab to invent some fantastic locating device and bury himself in facts and research. Kayla withdrew to the newly created Medical Room. Sue hovered around, riveted by worry and a sense of uselessness. Ben and Alicia had escaped to their room, secretly glad that they had made it through the ceremony despite the situation.
Their room had been revamped in the last year following the destruction caused by the Doombots when they had taken Alicia. It was light and airy with the walls painted in neutral shades and a large window capturing a great view of the New York City skyline. The wardrobe had been emptied before the wedding and two half-packed suitcases lay open on the bed. Ben sighed as he closed the lid of one and went to put it back "Guess we're gonna have to postpone the honeymoon."
"The Bahamas will still be there when we get Johnny back Ben," Alicia kindly chided as she carefully perched on the edge of the vanity table. She wore a dressing gown after having removed her dress but her hair was still trapped in a tiara. "Maybe we'll just have to go away for longer to make up for it."
"Yeah..." Ben agreed half-heartedly. He was disappointed. He knew and understood and cared that the circumstances had changed out of their favour, but the timing couldn't have been worse. Well, actually it could have been, Ben corrected himself, it could've happened during the ceremony.
Alicia smiled sadly, sensing Ben's disheartenment. She knew how much he had been looking forward to this much needed break, as well as the fact that it was their wedding night. They still hadn't quite worked all the kinks out of that feat yet. "Cheer up honey; everything will be back to normal soon and before you know it we'll be relaxing on a beach."
A knock sounded at the door and Ben called "Come in."
Sue gently opened the door and peeked inside. She sighed sympathetically when she saw Ben packing away the suitcases. "You guys should go," she decided. The newlyweds looked at her surprised. "I'm serious, you guys deserve it. Reed and I can handle this."
"Suzie, we're not going anywhere," Ben declined as he embraced her in a hug. He gave her a wide smile. "But let's just find Matchstick quick, okay?"
Elysium, Latveria
Johnny froze at the sound of Doom's voice. His blood ran cold as a shiver of fear ran down his spine. Flashes of the disjointed memories he had of that day ran through the Torch's mind. He quickly remembered the pain and the panic of being so close to death. Not many things scared him, he was a daredevil after all, but Doom was petrifying. Instinctively he took a step back and clicked his fingers to ignite a trusty flame.
But nothing happened.
He clicked again in frustration. Still there was nothing. That's why he had felt so cold...his powers...they had...gone?
A gleeful smile lit up Doom's veiled face as he strode further into the room. He had changed since the last time they had met; he no longer limped as badly and the unnerving clicking of his joints had stopped. But he still wore his trademark, expressionless mask and the heavy cloak. "Feel a little chilly Johnny?"
The Torch didn't reply. He glared at Doom with an expression he hoped was contempt.
"You wanna know why?" asked Doom playfully. Johnny remained stoically silent. "Do you remember at the church?" Church, Ben, Wedding, darkness, the thoughts raced through his head as he tried to remember. "The lights went out for a whole two moments; long enough to cover your exit. An agent of mine that I had staged at the wedding shot you with one of these:" Doom held up a small dart filled with a glittering red liquid. "This is a power suppressor, concocted from the very cosmic energy that made us in the first place."
Johnny visibly panicked. Power suppressor?
A hint of disappoint lined Doom's voice. "It's temporary; I'm working on a more permanent solution that doesn't involve luring the target into a rather obvious chamber."
"Why?" asked Johnny.
"Its simple really." Replied Doom condescendingly. "Revenge. Everything that happened that day was your fault. You got in the way of my attempt to kill Reed when you rescued the blind girl. You got in the way when I was this close to killing Susan. You got in the way; and now I'm going to make sure you never get in my way again."
Johnny resisted the strong urge to gulp at Doom's sinister reasoning. He knew that this was not going to end well. His arch nemesis was hell bent on killing him and he had no idea where he was or how he'd get out. "What's Elysium?"
"Elysium, in Greek Mythology, is the section of the underworld reserved for the souls of the heroic and the virtuous," Doom explained. "It's also the name of these woods."
Johnny glanced out of the window finally noticing the sea of evergreens that filled the surrounding area. The late afternoon sun burned behind the rain-filled clouds. Afternoon? It had been morning...
"Do you know about my youth?" asked Doom as if to begin a casual conversation. Johnny knew better, the villain just wanted to monologue dramatically. "I grew up right here, in this castle in the middle of these woods in this great country. Latveria; it just sounds good, doesn't it?"
Rhetorical question, Johnny noted. He was stuck in Latveria, a whole continent away from home. Even if he managed to escape this castle he'd never get across the Atlantic without his powers. He just had to stall; stay alive long enough to get rid of the drugs. Easier said than done.
"I was a handsome teenager; didn't have any of these scars, wasn't malformed. I was light, agile; and an excellent [horse] rider. I loved to hunt. It didn't matter what game; be it fox, rabbit or deer. I'd go out with the troupe and the hounds and track that prey down and kill it..." Doom allowed the sentence to hang and stared Johnny straight in the eyes, allowing the boy a moment to catch the hint.
He's going to hunt me down... Johnny realised...and kill me.
Doom caught the flicker of fear induced comprehension in Johnny's facial expression. He stepped to one side so that the path to the open door was clear and the hunting grounds beyond.
"You have one hour before I release the hounds."
Cliff-hanger XD
Sorry if Ben seems a bit selfish, that wasn't what I was getting at; he's just disappointed that he has to postpone his honeymoon...I would be too :P It also took me ages to figure out the timezone difference between New York and Latveria, I guessed it was about 6 hours so its still morning in America and afternoon in Europe. This could become very confusing.
Please review! They make me very happy!
(I will attempt a quick update lol)
