Chapter 6

"What do you mean 'he's been sighted'?" Johnny asked while pacing the length of Reed's office as Becca sat calmly, still in the comfortable wing chair she'd originally been seated in when invited into the office.

"Just what the letter says," Reed said, "that Doom's been seen in Latveria."

"I thought Vic was a little…stiff," Ben said.

"Apparently not," Becca said. "According to Dr. Munroe, he's been seen near his old home, alive and well."

"How the hell did this happen?" Sue asked, grasping at Reed's hand.

"That's what we need to find out," Reed said. He stood and, almost as if mimicking Johnny, began to pace.

Becca did everything she could to not make direct eye contact with Johnny as being in his vicinity was distracting enough. She looked down at her lap at the parchment she still held.

"The key," she said, holding it up so everyone could see, "is in this. If we can figure out why and how Doom is back, then we can stop him. There's got to be some significance to leaving only one of the scrolls behind."

Johnny snorted, "Doesn't that just means it's of no use?"

Becca didn't even glance at him, "not necessarily. Each has something to do with the other."

Reed nodded, "Dr. Yale's right. There's got to be something important about this scroll. It even begs the question, why was it not taken as well?"

"So how long will it take for the good doc be able to figure out what it means?" Ben interjected.

"That depends," said Reed, "on how difficult Dr. Yale finds it. I'll be more than happy to offer any help I can as I've had experience in cryptography."

"Well," Johnny crossed his arms over his chest and finally stopped pacing. "Well, then it looks like the brain trust needs to get to work, doesn't it?"

Becca kept herself from rolling her eyes but instead smiled at Reed, "I agree. We need to get to work."

Reed stood, "of course. Just let me show you to where you'll be staying for the time being and then we'll get started." He reached down and picked up one of her suitcases and Johnny snatched the other before she could close her hand over the handle.

"I've got it," he said, with a small smile.

She ignored him and followed Reed through the house. "Nice place," she commented.

Reed grinned at her, "thanks. It's more like a lab, but thanks." He held a hand out and let her lead the way down the hall. "And this," he said, stopping at the third door on the right, "is your room."

"Thanks," she said, opening the door he'd indicated. He followed her in with her bags and left them next to the dresser.

"I'll leave you to get situated. If you'd like, we can start working on this in my lab in a few minutes."

She nodded, "sure, thanks." He headed back down the hall and she turned her back, moving to the window to open the curtains to see the sun beaming down on the glass windows of the buildings nearby, sparkling like diamonds.

"Nice place, huh?" she heard a voice behind her and made a disgusted face into her reflection in the window and turned to face the intruder. He was still standing there.

"Sure is."

"So," Johnny grinned and moved into the room. "What a coincidence, right? I mean, you being here."

"Stranger things," she said, more to herself than to him through gritted teeth.

"Look, Becca," he moved towards her, but she backed away.

"Johnny, as far as I'm concerned, I'm just here to do my job. I don't want to catch up on old times and I don't want to talk about something that happened years ago. I don't want anything to do with you." Without waiting for a response, she walked past him and headed down the hall. Better to focus on this problem and get out of here as quick as she could before she murdered him. Because, even if she couldn't admit it to herself or him, she was still hurting from something that she should have been over a long time ago.

Hours later, she and Reed were hunched over his table, working on several symbols on the scroll. She had her laptop open and the symbols on the screen along with the mathematical algorithms were giving her a headache.

She sighed and looked over at Reed, whose face was gaunt from concentration and probably mirrored her own.

"Coffee?" she asked, her voice hoarse from lack of use. They'd both been working silently, only the sound of her computer and Reed's soft breathing had permeated the air for the past twenty minutes.

"Hmm," Reed rubbed a hand through his hair and smiled kindly at her, "sounds good." He stood and headed out the door, leaving Becca alone in the room. She'd not seen much of Sue and Ben and thankfully Johnny had made himself scarce, but she didn't foresee that lasting for long.

Johnny knew she was in there working with Reed. But he couldn't make himself set foot in the lab. It wasn't that he was scared. No, it had nothing to do with fear. Shoving his hands deep into his pockets as he'd taken to pacing in the hallway that he now shared with Becca, he sighed. There was nothing he could do about it right now. He shook his head at himself. It was like he was a kid waiting on the grown-ups to get done working. And it was frustrating as hell.

Later that evening, after a quiet dinner with just Sue and Ben for company as Reed and Becca had taken theirs to eat while they worked, Johnny headed to his room to watch a little tv. She avoided his gaze whenever they'd been in the same room, she didn't even let herself get too close to him. He knew this wasn't going to be easy. And he was so good at taking what came easiest. But this was different.

When Becca staggered out of the lab and towards her bedroom several hours later for some much needed sleep, she did notice the beam of light coming from underneath a nearby bedroom door. What she didn't realize was that Johnny had been listening for her approach and had been waiting for just this moment. However, before he'd managed to make it out of the door, which he'd swung open, she'd muttered, "good night" and closed her door behind her. She collapsed on the bed and, without even taking off her clothes, closed her eyes and fell asleep, not sparing him another thought.