Chapter 9: Dance With the Devil

AN: Sorry it's taken so long to get my next chapter up. I'm neck deep in my final internship and haven't had much time for writing. Hopefully this short chapter will tide you over. Enjoy!
Thanks to PirateGyrl as always to listening to me rant and all of my faithful reviewers. Thanks a bunch!

Two days before…

In a darkened room, a young man with blond hair smiled as he leaned over the ancient worktable. Crimson lit the room, drifting through the smoky air as he concentrated, hard at work.

"Sir," he whispered, his voice rasping, "I'm afraid there's a small problem."

A hooded figure appeared in the corner of the room, "what's the problem?" he asked.

"Wi- without the other scroll, sir, I'm afraid I won't be able to decipher this code. It's as if they depend on each other. One helps to translate the other."

The man frowned from the corner, his cape dragging on the cold stone floor. "That's terrible news," he growled.

"We need the other scroll," the younger man said. "Otherwise, this one is useless."

"Luckily," the man said, his voice brightening as his hand extended, sparks shooting from it, "I know exactly where it is."

By the time Sue and Reed made it to Becca's room after hearing the sounds of crashing furniture, all they found was partially destroyed walls and a broken window. Becca, Johnny and the scroll were gone.

Reed closed his eyes and shook his head as Sue rushed into the room, surveying the damage.

"How did Doom get in here?" he asked.

"I don't know," Sue said, "but now he's got both Becca, Johnny and the scroll. Do you have any idea what the scroll decodes?"

Reed shook his head, "not really. Dr. Yale was pretty vague. I don't think she, herself knew what it held."

"Oh for God's sake," Becca moaned, shoving at the weight on top of her. She had a killer headache as if she'd had about four margaritas the night before and then been hit in the head with a bat. She heard a groan and her eyes popped opened. Johnny's sleeping face was about an inch from her own and his own body pinned hers down. What the hell? She shoved again and heard him almost whine at the motion trying to rouse him from sleep.

"What the hell?" she said, pushing more frantically until she decided that Johnny wasn't going to wake up without some help and punched him on the chest hard.

His eyes opened, the blue in them clouded from sleep.

"Not yet sweetheart," he said, "few more minutes." She felt his arm wrap around her and pull her to him more closely.

"Johnny, damn it, wake up," she said, her voice a hoarse whisper. His eyes opened again.

"What?" he asked, his voice tinged with a whine almost like that of a small child who didn't want to get up for school yet.

"Where are we?" she whispered again slowly. For the moment his proximity was barely tolerable. She was more concerned with her lack of memory after he had followed her into her bedroom to find out why she was leaving for Washington.

He closed his eyes again, apparently afraid to open them, as if the light burned them. "I don't know, he said softly.

"You're my guest at the moment," a deep baritone voice said. Both of them struggled to sit up, Becca accidentally kneeing Johnny in the groin area as she frantically wiggled away from him. He gasped in pain as the same voice chuckled.

"I'll be damned," Johnny said when his voice finally returned and focused on the man who had spoken.

"You may indeed," Victor said with a smile. He wore a well-cut Armani suit with a power tie, his arms spread wide as he continued, "welcome to my family home in Latveria."

"How?" Johnny started to stutter. Victor looked the exact same as he had before their trip into space.

Victor's smile widened. "Scare's you, doesn't it?"

Becca had been silent this entire time, a long time even for her, Johnny had noted. This was the moment she chose to pipe up. "What the hell are we doing here?" she questioned.

"I need your assistance in a project of mine."

She let out a bitter laugh, "assistance?"

"Well," Victor continued, "I'm in need of your particular services. You've had an exemplary career, Dr. Yale," he said with a nod. "You're the foremost in your field. I always like working with the best. Plus," he said, "I'm afraid the young man who was working for me on this particular project suffered an untimely end. I have both of the scrolls," he cut to the chase, "but I need to know how to decode them. I have every confidence that you've already deciphered the second scroll, but only you have the skill needed to apply the cipher and decode the first."

Becca had to suppress an eye roll. "And if I refuse?" she asked, her head cocked to one side.

"That would be unfortunate," he said, his smile dimming. "I would hope we could keep this professional. Well, you may be wondering why I did not just leave Johnny at the Baxter Building? Allow me to explain. If you refuse to help me, I'm going to kill him. It's no secret that I hate Johnny. I have no problem with killing him. Hopefully I won't have to sink to something as barbaric as murder, but I care more about these scrolls and what they lead to. And it won't be slow death," he said with a leer at Becca and she felt Johnny's hand tighten on her arm, "it'll be as drawn out as I can make it. And believe me, I'll enjoy every minute of it."

She didn't see Johnny's face but she knew it was the same look he got when someone took the remote control away from him. He was pissed off. His hand was still on her arm and she felt him squeeze it again when she opened her mouth and she had to prevent herself from throwing him off of her.

"I'll do it," she said, smirking at Von Doom's reaction. He looked somewhat taken aback at her response.

"Good," Victor recovering quickly and smiling the same oily smile of politicians and liars. "I'll have the scrolls brought here. In the meantime, I'll give you two some time alone. Don't go anywhere," he called over his shoulder.

As they watched his retreating back and the enormous doors slammed shut, locking solidly behind him, Johnny looked at Becca, "what the hell's the matter with you?"

"Me? I'm just trying to save your ass, you moron. Would you have rather me refused to help him? I don't doubt that he would kill you. He looked like he was ready to do it here and now."

"I'm a big boy. I can take care of myself," he smiled, snapping so that a small flame erupted from his finger. He threw the flame so that it landed on the wall, and where the flames normally would've spread towards the ceiling, they simply flickered and died.

"That's interesting," Becca said, watching Johnny try again.

"What the hell?" Johnny whispered to himself.

"And don't be, you know, grateful," she continued, "since I was so tempted to refuse, especially since you were trying to squeeze the crap out of my arm."

"I was trying to tell you to say 'no'," he said, his voice low. "Do you ever listen?"

"Why should I when I have a better idea?" She watched as Johnny shot fire at the couch they'd woken up on. "Do you know Einstein's view on insanity?" she asked as she watched him becoming more irritated as he shot flames until the room began to heat up around them.

"Hmmm?" he asked, not even stopping to look at her.

"Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a different result."

It took him a moment to process her comment and then stopped, turning to look at her. "Okay, so obviously that's not going to work. What do you propose?"

"I have an idea," she said, "but I'll have to cooperate with Von Doom for a while."

Meanwhile, in his office, Victor listened to Becca's voice as they discussed their course of action. Let them think they could have the upper hand. He only needed them as long as they were useful. Johnny was his leverage. If he could use him to force Dr. Yale to do what he needed, it would all be over soon.