Hello, hello :) I'm here with an update! Very proud that I'm keeping this up (seeing as there was a three-year hiatus before this ^_^;) Thanks a million for reading and reviewing! You guys are awesome and I just hope that you continue to like this story! Let me know what you think, and I hope you guys enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to this movie franchise, just Lily and Travis!

Chapter Six: A Switcheroo

"He looked like a man, but he was completely covered in silver."

Johnny had returned after his unsuccessful chase after whatever was causing the anomalies, and although he had returned unscathed, there was something wrong. He wasn't quite himself. His body tingled and his head was spinning. His heart continued to race and there was an unsettling feeling in his gut that he couldn't quite shake. And although he put on a brave face, his teammates knew there was something off about him.

"He was flying this…this surfboard type thing. I know it sounds crazy, but I know what I saw," he stated as he gazed up at his friends, General Hager now at the scene.

"So, did you follow the shiny man to lollipop land through rainbow junction?" Ben teased as Johnny shot him a cold stare.

"I know what I saw."

"It's alright, Johnny," Reed assured as he gave the younger man a nod.

Everyone sat inside the lab, Reed staring at the radar that was melted and destroyed, a silver ooze remaining. Ben and Lily stood side-by-side as Susan sat beside her brother, handing him a glass of water. He nodded a thanks to his older sister as he drank from the glass, though he still couldn't ignore the nagging feeling in his gut.

"Whatever this thing's physical appearance is, it has the ability to convert matter and energy."

"So then, it caused the anomalies," Hagar pointed out as Reed nodded, though there was an unsure look on his face.

"It seems to radiate cosmic energy when it exerts itself, randomly effecting matter," Reed explained as everyone listened carefully. "Evidently, this entity this…Silver Surfer." Johnny looked up with a grateful stare as Reed gave him a ghost of a smile before looking back at the general. "It didn't want to be detected…it destroyed the sensor."

"It…It knew it was being monitored?" Sue asked incredulously as Reed nodded.

"And it traced it back here." Turning to Hagar, the two nodded to each other, for once not loathing the other's presence. "We're dealing with something highly resourceful."

Having heard enough, Johnny winced as he stood to his feet, the strange sensation in his body still bothering him. Ben and Lily exchanged glances at they looked back to the young man, Sue staring up at her brother with concern evident on her face.

"Are you sure you're ok?" she inquired worriedly as Johnny nodded his head.

"Yeah, I just have to walk this off," he stated before walking off, everyone staring after him. Lily frowned as she stared at his back before she looked over at Sue. She smiled before giving Ben a pat on the back and walking after her companion without another word.

"We have to destroy this thing before it attacks again," Hagar said as Reed nodded is head, looking at Ben and Sue. They two nodded in return, understanding the severity of the situation before the general caught their attention once more. "Richards, find me another way of tracking it." Without waiting for a reply, the general began to walk away, his captain following right behind him. Reed sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, Sue standing to her feet as she gave her fiancé a stern stare before following the general out to politely say goodbye. The scientist shook his head before he glanced at Ben, the stone man giving his friend a sympathetic stare before walking off to give the couple a bit of time alone.

'Sue…'

Lily stood quietly as she leaned against the doorframe that led out to the terrace. She watched as Johnny stared out at the city, sighing as he ran his fingers through his dirty blond hair. She gave his back a soft smile before she began to approach his side, standing beside him and leaning against the stone railing. He didn't say a thing as he looked over at her before looking back out, a rather stoic look on his face (which was rather unlike him). The black haired woman frowned at his expression before she leaned her head forward a bit to get a better look at him.

"You ok?"

"Yeah…I'm just…" Johnny didn't finish his sentence as he placed his hands on the ledge and leaned down, taking a deep breath. Lily frowned as she turned her body to face him completely.

"Johnny…what happened?" she asked as her friend shook his head.

"I don't know how to explain it," he said quietly, which startled Lily. He wasn't himself. He was normally so confident and unafraid of the world. But the Johnny standing beside her was different. He was unnerved and shaken. And it caught her off guard.

"Johnny…" Lily trailed off as she slowly reached out to pat his back. Before she could, she jumped and pulled her hand away as the young man took a deep breath and took several steps away from the ledge.

"Johnny, what are you doing?" Lily asked apprehensively as the Human Torch ignored her question, a determined expression on his face. Her eyes widened as he sprinted and dived over the edge.

"FLAME ON!"

"Johnny!" Lily cried out as she leaned over the edge to watch him. A bewildered look came over Tide as she watched intently. Instead of soaring through the air like he normally did, Johnny flames flickered weakly. He couldn't seem to actually fly like he could, but he could at least slow his fall.

Fear overwhelming her, Lily ran back inside as she began to scream for Johnny's older sister. "Sue!" she yelled frantically as she sprinted through the halls before stopping to see Susan rush toward the window, Johnny falling past.

"Sue!" Lily quickly ran up to the blonde as she grabbed her wrist and tugged her along, her companion not bothering to fight back as she followed her friend. The two sprinted as quickly as they could, not bothering to wait for the elevator. Once they reached the entrance of the Baxter building, they quickly shoved the doors open and ran outside, Johnny on the ground and groaning.

"Johnny?" Sue and Lily quickly approached the young man's side as he panted, leaning against a light post in order to keep his balance. He frowned to himself as he shook his head, glancing up at the sky.

He still couldn't gain back his control.

"What the hell was that, Johnny?" Lily snapped as she stood beside Sue with a flustered look.

"I'm feeling really strange, ever since my run-in with the surfer," Johnny muttered as he shook his head, looking up at his sister and friend. The two women frowned at him, Sue giving him a reassuring smile.

"Maybe we should get you-" As Susan reached up and placed the back of her hand against Johnny's forehead, her eyes widened as a sudden jolt coursed through her body. Johnny gasped as a similar sensation ran through him, causing him to take a step back from his sister's touch. Lily blinked as she stared at the two, her hazel eyes widening when Sue's body slowly began to be engulfed by flames.

"S-Sue!" Lily sputtered as she took a step back, motioning for the crowd that had formed around them to step away as well.

"Johnny! Why'd you do that?!" Sue snapped as she began to try and pat the flames off of her body. A sudden surge of energy rushed through her veins as her entire body morphed into fire. She began to scream out of shock and fear as she tried to put the flames out, this overwhelming heat consuming her.

"I didn't do anything!" Johnny defended as he looked to Lily, the young woman looking at him for only a moment before turning her full attention to Susan. The two gapped as she began to float, having no control over herself.

"Sue! You have to calm down!" Lily called out as the woman continued to scream helplessly, her clothes burned away and her body now flipping through the air.

"How am I supposed to calm down?!" she shrieked back as she began to scream more.

"Sue! Stop, drop and roll!" Johnny yelled as Lily shot him a look.

"Do something! You idiot!" she yelled as Johnny quickly looked up.

"Flame on!" Instead of bursting into flames as he always did, he suddenly disappeared, causing Lily to choke. She gasped as she stared with wide eyes, Johnny blinking as he realized he hadn't moved a single inch.

"What-" He winced as a stranger bumped into his shoulder, another suddenly pushing him to the ground as he walked by.

"Watch it-ow!" Johnny yelped out in pain as someone tripped over him and fell, Lily staring with no words to say.

"Lily! What the hell is going on?"

"How am I supposed to know?" she snapped as she looked back up at Sue, who was screaming continuously.

Meanwhile, Reed had been feeling a bit troubled as he stared down at the coordinates of each of the craters created by the Silver Surfer. He stopped for a moment as he frowned, remembering the defeated look on Sue's face. A pool of guilt began to form inside of him as he walked through the living room, vaguely hearing a familiar voice screaming his name. He stopped for a second before he slowly back-tracked, his eyes immediately widening as he stared at Sue through the window.

"Sue!" he yelled as he rushed up to the glass, her entire body covered in flames as she tried to control herself. "What happened!"

"I'm on fire!" she screeched as Reed stared with a confused and amazed stare.

"You're on fire!"

"YOU THINK?!" Sue screamed angrily as she jerked upward. Reed stuttered before he quickly turned and began to run out, dropping his palm pilot as he did so. Sue began to scream again as she started falling, still aflame. Hovering over the concrete once more, Sue flailed about, people mistaking her for Johnny himself.

"It's the Human Torch!"

"No! That's not him!" Lily tried her best to diffuse the situation, Johnny still invisible to everyone else.

"Johnny! What did you do to her?" Lily yelled as the invisible man frantically shook his head.

"I'm telling you, I don't know!"

"Where the hell are you?" Lily snapped as she began to reach out to find him. "We have to-" And then she remembered, before Sue and Johnny switched abilities, she had touched him.

Pulling her hand away, Lily stepped back from the empty space. "Johnny don't touch me!"

"What?" Feeling almost offended, Johnny looked at Lily with a perplexed stare (not that she could see it) as his friend shook her head.

"No! I mean-"

"Sue!" Looking over her shoulder, Lily watched as Reed ran outside. He stopped beside Lily as he looked up at Sue with a flabbergasted emotion. "How did this happen?"

"It was Johnny!" Lily exclaimed as she grabbed Reed and pointed to the invisible spot beside him. "They somehow switched powers." Reed blinked, completely and utterly taken aback as he stared at the emptiness beside him before he looked back up at Sue.

"I touched him, and now this!" Sue snapped as Reed looked to where Johnny would be.

"Johnny! Try it again!" Reed instructed as said boy nodded to himself before reaching up and grabbing a hold of his sister's wrist. Everyone watched with shock, the same surge of energy shooting through Sue and Johnny before he reappeared and the flames around Sue were doused out. She hit the ground with a thud as she winced, whispers and murmurs filling the air.

"Sue!" Reed quickly approached the woman's side as she groaned and looked around, cameras flashing. "Your clothes…" Eyes wide, Susan looked up before she forced herself to turn invisible.

"Why is it always me?"

The Fantastic Five sat in the lab, Mr. Fantastic staring down at the data he had collected from Johnny. Sue, now fully dressed in a red blouse and a black skirt, stared intently at her future husband as he stared down at Johnny's molecules with an amazed stare.

"All of Sue's results are normal, but Johnny's…" Reed trailed off, still rather intrigued by what he was looking at. Lily looked at her teammate beside her as he closed his eyes and sighed.

"Johnny's are what?" Reed looked up as he tried to hide his rather excited and interested smile from the young man.

"Your encounter with the surfer has effected your molecules. They're in a constant state of flux," he began to explain as Johnny frowned, crossing his arms over his chest. He waited for Reed to continue, but the man's fascination took over, Johnny rolling his eyes before he forced a smile across his lips.

"Is that bad?"

"Well, it did cause you to temporarily switch powers with Sue," Reed pointed out as he began to type some numbers into his computer. "Ideally, I would like to run some more tests-" Ben, smirking to himself as he sipped on a slurpee he had bought before the debacle with the Storm siblings, took a few steps towards Johnny as he reached his stony hand towards him.

"I volunteer!"

"No, no, no!" Everyone quickly gathered around the two, Johnny scooting far back against the counter as he reeled himself away from Ben's hand.

"Ben!" Johnny snapped as said man rolled his eyes and took one step back. "This is serious!"

"I just wanted to give him a hug." Lily couldn't stop herself from smiling at Ben's antics as she looked over at Johnny. She reflexively raised her hand to give him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, but stopped and quickly pulled away as she smiled weakly at him, the young man sighing and shaking his head.

"We don't know the extent of his condition yet!"

"It could be progressive, it could be degenerative-"

"It could be just fine," Ben added before he quickly reached out and placed his hand on Johnny's shoulder. A strange sensation shot through the two as Lily quickly backed away, Ben feeling an overwhelming heat swallow him for only a second. He quickly stumbled back as he began to pat away the flames, his skin suddenly soft and white. Everyone stared at Ben with wide eyes as he blinked several times before laughing and grinning.

"It's me! I'm me again!" he exclaimed as Lily stared with wide eyes and a smile. Her happy expression faltered for a second before she slowly looked to her right.

"If Ben is…then Johnny's…" The four looked back to the Human Torch, the hero now bulky and orange. His skin was cracked and hard, and his shirt was officially stretched out.

He wasn't going to be able to wear that one again.

"What…" Quickly turning, Johnny grabbed the first reflective object he could find before he stared at himself. He nearly screamed at his own reflection as he stared a moment longer at himself.

"Oh my GOD!" Looking up at Ben, the man smirked as he snapped his fingers, a small flame appearing at the tip of his index finger. Lily choked before she burst into laughter, leaning against Ben as he grinned and laughed along with her. Johnny glared at the pair as they continued to laugh, Sue and Reed merely staring out of shock and a small amount of entertainment.

"You look so ridiculous!" Lily pointed out between her fits of laughter as Ben nodded and tried much harder than Lily to contain his laughter.

Having felt that the two had had enough fun, Reed stepped in front of Johnny, giving him a reassuring stare. "I'm going to fix this. I-" A small fireball hit Johnny in the side of his face, causing Reed to stumble back and cover his own face for a moment before Ben grinned, Lily falling into yet another fit of laughter.

"Lily! This isn't funny!" Reed snapped, though it was hard for him not to smile. Sue frowned as she looked over at Ben, the man wearing an amused expression.

"Ben! Stop that!" the blonde snapped as the now normal Ben nodded in approval.

"I can see why you like that so much." Having had enough, a determined gleam shined in Johnny's blue eyes as he quickly stomped up to Ben, said man shaking his head.

"Wait!" Lily quickly escaped to the side as she stood beside Reed and watched as the two switched back to the way things originally had been. Ben frowned as he stared down at him, back to his stony exterior. He pouted like a child as he huffed.

"Crap."

"So now what am I supposed to do?" Johnny snapped helplessly as everyone calmed down, Reed shrugging.

"For now, just try and keep your distance from us," he stated, a frustrated look twisting Johnny's face before he stomped off. The four stared after him before they exchanged looked, Ben finally looking back at Johnny.

"You and me are gonna be spending a lot of time together, buddy!"