What is Normal?

Ok so I've gotten some research done on the Silver Surfer so…I might bring him in if I can't think of any other person or bad guy to bring in. So if anyone's got any ideas of what could happen, tell me!

Merc watched Johnny carefully over the next few days. She also watched the rest of her Fantastic Five group. Lately they've been popping up out of no where, seemingly keeping an eye on her but she couldn't prove anything. They were starting to learn how to stop her from reading their minds and it was beginning to get frustrating. Johnny was, surprisingly enough, actually not hanging around her as much as he used to and that worried her. Just when everyone else seemed to take a huge interest in her life, her boyfriend was backing off??

That thought kept her awake at night as Johnny lay either next to her or behind her with his arm around her waist, fast asleep. Merc didn't know what to do or how to find out what was going on. Her thoughts were on the previous night when Johnny had freaked when he saw Merc using her powers to move a book closer to her and she reacted by putting her hand on her head as a sudden headache burst. Then, ever so casually, Johnny started asking how Merc would feel if she didn't have her powers anymore. How she would feel if she agreed to go into the machine to get rid of them.

"Not a chance bubba." Merc had said, suddenly very suspicious of her boyfriend. "Just because you guys are figuring out ways to keep me from reading your thoughts right away doesn't mean I can't find out what you're thinking." Johnny gave her a look that clearly showed that he had no idea what she was talking about.

Of course Merc thought he was trying to get her to get rid of her powers because she thought that he was getting bored or something. Maybe he had found some other girl he liked and, in order to stop her from reading his mind to find out, he wanted her to not be able to read his mind. Although…that thought was quickly thrown out the window as Johnny finally understood what she was thinking and so he took it into his own hands to make sure she knew that she was the only one that he wanted.

Merc used a bit of her powers to remove Johnny's arm from her waist. She squeezed her eyes shut as a small pain in her head erupted. She sat up and got out of the bed, rubbing her temples to try and ease the pain. She was going to find out what was going on whether they wanted her to or not.

"Let's see…Reed doesn't throw out a lot of stuff so let's check his desk." Merc muttered as she left her room. She walked quietly down to the lab. Everything was dark but she quickly found a lamp and turned it on. She looked through all the papers on the desk but didn't find anything. She turned and looked at the head scan machine Reed had used on her a few times. It reminded her of a smaller version of a CAT scan machine. "Worth a shot. I've seen them use this thing. Just push on and get in place before it starts going." She walked over and hit the on button before getting her head in the right spot. She closed her eyes as a bright light swept over her face and a somewhat loud beep went off.

Johnny moved his arm, trying to tighten his hold on Merc. It took a second for him to realize that he was grasping air. When that realization hit he sat up quickly and looked around. The bedroom door was open and he heard the beep.

"Oh shit!" Johnny said, scrambling out of the bed and tripping as the sheets tangled around his legs. He got untangled and ran down to the lab and saw Merc sitting at Reed's desk with a few papers in one hand and the other hand on the side of her head.

"Johnny what…" Sue started, coming down the stairs tying up her robe with Reed behind her doing the same. Out of the four that were down there now, Johnny was the one with the less clothes on, standing there in his boxers. Merc looked up at them and even in the lack of light, there was no mistaking that she was mad.

"Merc…" Reed said.

"Ok I know I don't understand a lot of what this shit says but I do get the idea." Merc said. "What the hell? You've all seen me…you've seen me get headaches whenever I use my powers and you didn't bother to tell me this? Was I ever going to find out?" She looked at Johnny. "And you…is this why you were suggesting I get into the machine and get my powers taken away?"

"It…I…" Johnny said.

"Why could you just tell me?" Merc asked. "Did all of you know?" Slowly, the other three nodded. Tears ran down Merc's cheeks. "No wonder you all have been trying extra hard to keep me from reading your minds." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand. "What great friends I have…"

"We were just trying to…" Sue started.

"To what?" Merc asked. "The main point is my powers are killing me. Why couldn't you just tell me? Instead of being overly watchful and yelling at me whenever I start to even contemplate using my powers?" The light went on and they all blinked rapidly to get their eyes adjusted before looking up to see Ben.

"What's going on?" Ben asked, joining the other three.

"She knows." Reed said.

"Yeah…finding out by myself." Merc said, bitterly. "I had to sneak down here, snoop around to see if I could find anything, and then do a test on myself just to find out what the hell is going on."

"Mercy you gotta understand…" Ben said.

"What's there to understand?" Merc asked. "The fact that my friends, uncle and boyfriend would rather watch me like hawks then tell me why I shouldn't be using my powers?" She gave a short, humorless laugh. "Oh wait…I'm sorry…not all of you watched like hawks. My boyfriend was the only one not to. Just as everyone starts being overly attentive, he becomes less and less so." She flicked off the lamp. "Boy, a girl could feel sooo special around you lot." She threw the papers in the air as she walked past them. The other four didn't move until they heard the slamming of a door. That was when Johnny spun around and ran up to her room and tried getting in but found the door locked.

"Mercy open up!" He called.

"No." Merc said.

"Mercy please…I'm sorry." Johnny said.

"Go to hell…it's the only place hot enough for you." Merc said. Johnny hit the door a few times. "GO AWAY!!" He sighed and leaned his head against the wood before slowly walking to his own room.

Merc sat against her door with her arms wrapped around her knees and her forehead resting on them. She spent the rest of the night that way, crying.

"Neither of them have come out of their rooms." Sue said, coming into the kitchen where Reed and Ben were sitting. "Merc's door is locked and Johnny refused to talk to me and keeps his back to the door. He just lies there on his bed like he used to…" She drifted off and stared at the table.

"We should have told her." Ben said. "Just right from the off, we should have."

"You wanted to keep her safe from knowing as well." Reed said. "We all did."

"I think we thought if we could keep her from finding out…then we weren't too upset with the knowledge that she might be mad at us for telling her to not use her powers." Sue said, slowly.

"We still should have told her." Ben said. "But we didn't. We can face off against some psychotic billionaire but we can't tell a nineteen year old girl what's happening to her. We're a bunch of cowards." Sue and Reed nodded.

It was nearly five in the evening when Johnny finally came out. He looked at them then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and finished it quickly before heading to the elevator.

"Wait, where are you going?" Sue asked, going after him.

"Where does it look like? I'm going out." Johnny said.

"You can't!" Sue said, blocking his way.

"Sue we've been through this before." Johnny said.

"Johnny, you can't go out there because there's a girl that, whether or not she wants to admit it, needs you right now." Sue said. "Are you just going to leave?"

"Umm…let me think…yeah." Johnny said. He tried getting past her but Sue kept blocking his way. "She doesn't want to talk to me. She won't listen to me anymore then she will listen to you guys. So get out of the way."

"No." Sue said. Johnny rolled his eyes and turned around. Sue watched him go across the lab and then head out to the balcony. That's when it clicked in her mind what he was planning. "Johnny! Don't you dare…" It was too late…he had already run and jumped before flaming on and flying away. Sue sighed and dropped her head, looking at the ground as she headed back to the kitchen.

"What are we going to do?" Reed asked. "Merc refused to talk to any of us. Johnny refuses to be around here because of that."

"I could just break down her door." Ben said.

"And risk her using her powers to throw you back out? No." Sue said.

"You don't have to worry about that." They all turned to see Merc standing in the doorway. She looked bad. Red, puffy eyes from crying, bags under her eyes from lack of sleep and she was extremely pale. Ben stood up and walked over to her before putting an arm over her shoulders. Merc started crying again but nothing more then tears running down her face.

"Merc?" Sue asked.

"If I…if I go through the machine…" Merc said. "Will it make everything better?"

"It won't make it all completely better." Reed said. "But we can help you recover from it and you'll be back to normal in no time." Merc looked at him and the flow of tears stopped.

"What's normal?" She asked.

"What?" Reed asked, caught off guard.

"What is normal, Reed?" Merc asked. "I mean…what can we define as normal? This…" She gestured at them all. "This could be what's normal for us."

"Then you might have to be abnormal." Sue said, softly. "It being normal is killing you…" Merc just nodded.

It was relatively quick. She went into the machine, reluctantly and only after quite a few minutes of standing before the open door. It was dark outside by the time she finally stepped inside.

Johnny, who was flying back to the Baxter stopped in mid-air and stared at the building as he saw the wave of light come from it as it did when Ben went into the machine. He lowered himself onto the roof of another building and dropped his head into his hands. He couldn't believe she had actually done it. He knew she would if she saw no other way…but he still couldn't believe it. He flamed back on but only to safely land on the sidewalk. He needed the time from walking to think about what he was going to do.

Ok so kinda rushed there and a bit quick on a lot of things. I still need ideas for who to use as a bad guy because I don't really know any of the Fantastic Four enemies.

Oh…and…do you think Merc will stay "normal"? Heehee…let's see if you all can figure it out.