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:

Of course I don't own the fantastic four! Would I really be doing this in my imagination when I could do it in real life?

Author's Notes:

Time Zones: New York 17:00, Latveria 23:00

Thanks to ebuchala, Dark Respite, marinawings, Penny3 and TigerLily1221 for reviewing!

Enjoy!


Chapter Five: The Pursuit

The Baxter Building

Approximately Two Hours Earlier

It was meant to be such a fantastic day. Sue was the maid of honour at Alicia's wedding, the best friend to the bride. She had been so looking forward to it, repaying Alicia for everything she did for all of Sue's weddings. She was glad that the ceremony had finished before the blackout; she wouldn't wish the hassle of what she and Reed had had on anybody.

Then the newlyweds were going to go away on their honeymoon; the Baxter building was going to seem so empty without them. Well, something had stayed the same – the building did seem empty without Johnny.

It had been about ten minutes since she had last checked in with Reed. Maybe he had come up with something by now. She stood and sighed, knowing that her husband would have eagerly come and found her if there was any news. She left the apartment she shared with Reed and headed towards the lab. She wiped at her eyes just in case she had tears in them.

She had to be strong; she wasn't a weak woman. She could handle pretty much any situation. Unless it involved her brother. When she saw some of the stunts he pulled on the Moto X or any other show she always felt like she was having a heart attack from worry. She didn't know what she would do without him. They were always close, even when they were fighting. Sue tried to remember what the last thing she had said to him was

No! I mustn't think like that! Sue scolded herself. He wasn't gone. She would get him back. With new resolve she pushed open the door to the lab, just catching the sound of Reed growling in frustration. She saw his tired face and rumpled formal clothes and sighed again. He caught her eye and his expression told her everything she needed to know.

He hadn't found Johnny. She nodded slowly and turned, allowing her disappointment and worry bleed into anger once he couldn't see her. She didn't blame Reed. It wasn't his fault. She blamed Doom. I should have killed him when I had the chance.

Why couldn't he leave them alone? The villain seemed hell bent on ruining her life, going through her brother, her one true weakness, to get to her. Well she'd show him. Two could play at this game.

She knew where she would find Doom. He was in Latveria, hiding in his castle, believing he was invincible. She'd show him. She'd find him and make him wish he had never met her.

The hatred boiled inside her as she changed direction and headed towards the hangar with the fantasticar. She'd find Johnny first, make sure he was alive. If Doom had hurt him in any way she would do the same to Doom. An eye for an eye.

But she never got that far. As she marched with purpose towards the hangar she didn't see the shadow of the man that stalked her. Not until it was too late. The small dart pierced the skin in her neck and immediately the liquid absorbed into her system.

The scarred face of Gastoul filled her blurring vision as the tranquilizer took effect and she fell into the darkness.


Elysium Woods (present time)

Johnny tapped feverishly on the small telegraph device. It had taken him about ten minutes to make sure it worked, and to figure out what message he was going to send. By which point the Hounds had picked up his scent.

SOS ITS JOHNNY-

A loud thump sounded at the door as something heavy threw itself against it, trying to break through.

-NEED HELP DOOM-

Another loud bang against the door. The whole shack shook with the impact. Johnny kept tapping, he had to give a location or they'd never find him. Howling followed as more dogs congregated outside.

-ELYSIUM WOOD LATVERIA-

The baying reached new heights in volume, making Johnny's blood run cold. One of the windows smashed next to the door, knocking the precariously placed oil lamp onto the floor. It crashed and spilled its flammable contents across the floor, catching some of the bloody fabric he had used to clean his wound.

-QUICK DOGS-

He wanted to type more, but he had no time. The small fire spread quickly through the heaps of junk computers and straw that lined the floor. The dogs cried fiendishly outside, even louder now that the windows were nonexistent.

For a second Johnny watched the flames; it had been a long time since they had presented an actual threat to him. He doubted that he was flameproof with the power suppressor in his system, and he wasn't about to try it. He could feel the comforting heat, drying his soaked clothes. He could also feel the black smoke that filled his lungs and made him choke. He had to get out.

But the dogs. They'd eat him alive if he went out there. You could stay in here and die of asphyxiation, he scolded himself sarcastically. But something had changed. He hadn't been afraid of dogs, ever, but the mere thought of facing them was filling him with fear. The smoke got thicker and the flames higher. He'd have to decide quickly; the opportunity to exit the burning shack was quickly disappearing.

Johnny took a deep breath, choked on it, and prepared to run. Then he heard another noise. A rhythmic clomping of heavy hooves. He instinctively knew that it was Doom coming to finish him.

Motivated; Johnny ran for the door and slammed through the weakened wood. His crisply dried clothes were immediately soaked by the thundering rain. The dogs had backed off from the burning building, but quickly homed in on Johnny as he rolled back to his feet and took off in what he hoped was the opposite direction to the horse; and Doom.

The smoke inhalation made running even harder than before. He struggled to suck in oxygen through his burning throat, and his legs felt like jelly beneath him from the short rest. The dogs were snapping round his ankles in seconds and baying victoriously, alerting the huntsman to his position.

The sound of hooves gradually got louder as Doom got closer.


The Baxter Building

"You don't think Suzie's already there, do you?" Ben suggested, "She was very sure it was Doom. She might have gone after him on her own..."

"No...She wouldn't..." Reed's voice echoed across the connection, his disbelief and concern evident in his tone. "...she wouldn't...would she?"

Alicia listened to Ben's conversation with with curiosity. She pulled her jacket round her a little tighter in a gesture of worry, her unseeing eyes watching Ben intensely. The rock man rubbed his face making a grating sound.

"I don't know Reed," he shrugged as if Reed could see him. Hesitantly he continued "She still hasn't told us what she did to Doom; how she took him down alone...something's not right with her. I don't know what she'd do anymore." Reed murmured something that Alicia couldn't hear. "Let's just focus on the kid for now. We'll worry about Suzie later."

The friends shared a few more words and then closed the connection. Alicia heard the faint click and headed towards where she could tell Ben was. She placed a hand on his arm and leaned against him comfortingly. She could feel how tense he was and she wished she could help him relax. "What's happening? Has Reed found Johnny?"

"Yeah, we're gonna go rescue Matchstick now," replied Ben distractedly. "By the sounds of it he's in real trouble. We're gonna take Kayla just in case."

"And what about Sue?" questioned Alicia knowing that she was the cause of Ben's concern.

"Suzie...well Suzie's been different since the attack," muttered Ben. "Something's changed, and don't think it was a good change. And now, with Johnny, we don't know what she's capable of..."

"What do you mean?" asked Alicia defensively. She pulled back from Ben and turned as if to look at his face. "You're not suggesting that she'd do anything. She wouldn't."

"No one knows where she is..." Ben began to say.

"Have you thought that she might have gone missing like Johnny? That she might have been taken? Don't be so quick to jump to conclusions," Alicia interrupted. Ben nodded and climbed to his feet, gently guiding Alicia to the bed and sitting her down.

"I've gotta go," Ben murmured quietly. "It will take an hour to get to Latveria. A lot can happen in an hour."


Elysium Woods, Latveria

He toyed with the boy. He had put up quite a chase so far, Doom was impressed. He cantered the horse a couple of feet behind the dogs so that he could watch the boy struggle onwards. He was tired and wounded, but he still kept going.

It would be a shame when Doom killed him.

The blaze from the small shack was almost doused by the heavy rain. A tower of black smoke reached for the sky. Doom could hear the metallic taps of the rain hitting his semi-exposed mask beneath the hood of his heavy cloak. He couldn't push his horse into a full speed gallop because he was too heavy and the horse would tire too quickly.

The boy was slowing significantly. Doom could almost feel the energy draining from him. He stumbled over a sneaky root but managed to stay on his feet. The hounds caught up with him. Snarling teeth and sharp claws dragged him down hard onto the wet ground.

He let out a tired groan which filled Doom with sadistic pleasure. The boy tried to get back up, but he was simply unable to. Doom whistled to the dogs as he climbed down from his horse and landed with a loud thump on the ground. The dogs immediately backed away from the boy, resigning to just growl threateningly at him.

Doom walked slowly towards the boy who tried to drag himself away. He was pale from the amount of blood he had lost from the vicious bite to his arm. He kept eye contact with the predator as he made his feeble attempt at escape. Doom could still see the fight in his eyes. If he had more time he probably would have let the boy try and run for longer.

Instead he grabbed the boy by the collar of his drenched shirt and hauled him to his feet. He leaned in close to the boy's face making him flinch. "I told you that I'd make sure you suffered."

A mixture of fear, defiance, hatred and defeat flickered across the boy's expression. Doom raised his free hand and cruelly back handed the boy across his face, making his head whip round on impact. His body fell limp as he lost consciousness.

A satisfyingly thick river of blood ran down the boy's face from the open wound.


Poor Johnny...I'm so cruel to him :P

Pretty pretty please review!