After the memories hit and he talked to Sue, Johnny finally did believe that she wasn't working for him. He still wasn't sure about all this. He still didn't feel like the guy from the magazine.
Now that he knew that he wasn't stuck there, he was starting to feel a little bit claustrophobic. The urge to get out, even just for a little while, was almost overwhelming.
He almost just left a couple of times after they had gone to sleep, but then he remembered how she had reacted when he hadn't been in his room, and he felt a tiny bit of guilt for the thought.
He didn't know why he felt it. It wasn't like he really remembered her, but he did remember some things now, and he had the feeling that she was telling the truth, that she had meant something to him.
He was still slightly terrified by the idea of going out, also. What if he was wrong? What if it was all a trick? What if he came back and found out that she wasn't who she said she was?
The urge to get out was one he couldn't really fight, though. He couldn't stay cooped up any longer. It was driving him crazier than he already was. So, he did leave, but he also left a note.
Johnny walked down the street without a real destination. Everything that he had learned kept coming back to him. The brief glimpse at what his life used to be like, of what Susan Storm had meant to him.
He didn't know what to do with it, though. He wanted to believe in it, but didn't know if he could. The only person he'd let himself trust since he had gotten out was Cristian.
"Johnny's gone." Sue said, rushing into Reed's lab.
"What?" Reed turned in his chair and Sue slapped the note that Johnny had left down on the table.
"We have to find him." Reed read the note and stood up.
"Okay, Sue, calm down. He just went out. No one has him this time."
"I know that." Sue glared. "But he's still in danger. What if Victor finds him while he's out? What if he disappears again?" Reed sighed, and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Alright, we'll find him, but Sue, you know this might make him pull away again. You can't keep him in your sight twenty four hours a day."
"I know that, but he shouldn't be wondering around alone. We don't even know what Victor wanted with him."
"Sue, he's been locked up for the better part of a year, he's not sure if he trusts any of us, he remembers very little. What do you think it will do to the trust you have built so far if you try and keep him locked up here?"
"I'm trying to keep him safe." She said with a glare.
"I know that," Reed nodded, "and you're right. Until we're sure that Victor isn't coming back, he does need to be careful and we do need to keep an eye on him. I'm just saying that maybe you should calm down a little bit before you talk to him again, and that you should make it clear that this isn't a prison." Her anger lifted after a moment and she nodded.
"I get what you're saying, but it's just..." She paused for a second. "I just got him back, Reed. I can't lose him again."
"I know. We'll find him." He said firmly, starting her out of the lab.
"Johnny?!"He'd been walking a little bit aimlessly, trying to see if he recognized anything in the city, but it wasn't really working. Not so surprising considering he didn't recognize the place that he had supposedly been living for two years before. He'd walked past some restaurant when someone called to him from behind. A woman stood not far away, her eyes wide, obviously shocked.
"Johnny?" She repeated, coming closer to him. He frowned at her, trying unsuccessfully to remember who she was and how she knew him. When she stepped closer to him, he couldn't fight the urge to step back, a little wary.
"You're..." She shook her head. "You're alive." She stared at him for a few moments. "Are you...are you okay?" He managed a shrug, but he needed to get away from here. Coming into the city was a bad idea.
"What's wrong?" She stepped closer again.
"Frankie?" A man came out of the restaurant a few moments later. He glanced at Johnny before settling his gaze on the woman, placing his hand on her back. "What's going on?"
Johnny frowned at the two of them. Obviously, he'd known the woman at some point in the past, he just couldn't remember how, but he didn't like the unfamiliar feeling that he got when he saw the way the man was with her.
"Johnny!" He turned when he heard Sue's voice. She ran over to him, and smiled a little, stopping short in front of him.
"Hey, I was worried." Johnny looked back at the other to people and then met Sue's eyes.
"Can we go?" He asked, his voice barely above a whisper. He'd wanted to get out of that building, but now he needed to get out of here.
"Yeah, of cource." She hesitantly reached for him and started leading him away.
"Sue..." He heard the woman call. He saw Sue look back at her.
"Later."
"Look...I don't want you to think you can't go out if you want." Sue started when she got him back home. Johnny was sitting on his bed again with his knees pulled up. "It's just...until we figure out exactly what happened..." Johnny frowned at her, that confusion in his eyes again.
"Did I..." He hesitated, like he always did when speaking to her now, though that wasn't very often. "Did I know her?"
Sue hesitated this time. She hadn't planned for this and wasn't sure what she should tell him. She'd known that before he'd disappeared her brother had been falling in love with Frankie but that was a year ago and Frankie had moved on.
"Yeah, you did." She said simply, sitting down on the bed. He nodded, still frowning but didn't ask anymore questions.
"How's he doing?" Reed asked when she walked into the living room. Sue shrugged, collapsing on the couch.
"I don't know. He's still not really talking to me so much." Reed nodded, and Sue frowned. "I think we should be thinking of ways to fight Victor." Reed raised an eyebrow.
"We've fought Victor before."
"Yes, we have. Twice." Sue let out an exasperated breath. "And he's come back both times. He took Johnny without us even knowing about it until he was already gone. We need to find a way to keep him down this time." Reed was silent for a moment.
"I've actually been working on a way." He said quietly. Sue's eyes widened.
"You have? Since when? And why didn't you tell me?"
"Because, I wasn't sure what I was going to be able to do or if it would work. I've been working on a way since we found out it was Victor who took Johnny. But, who knows, we might not have to deal with Victor."
"You really think that Victor is just going to leave us alone this time?" Sue asked, her tone skeptical. "He hates us, and Johnny was the one who defeated him last time." She chewed her lip in thought. "I just want to know what his plan was. I mean, why take Johnny like that?"
"Well, Johnny doesn't trust us, not completely, and he reacted pretty badly when I asked him about his power." Sue nodded.
"Yeah, he's talking a little bit to me and I think he remembered a few things, but he refuses to talk about that. I only mentioned it once. He reacted so badly that I was afraid that what little progress I have made with him would be for nothing." Reed reached over and took her hand.
"He trusts you some now, Sue. He gravitates towards you. We'll figure this out."
Johnny sprinted back to his room. He hadn't meant to listen in on the conversation but they had been talking about him. He frowned. He didn't like it. People talking about him like that, like he wasn't right, like he was crazy.
The people at that place used to talk about him like that while he was in the room. Like he wasn't even there. It didn't matter; he wasn't supposed to be talking to them anyway.
Sue was talking about that power, though. He shuddered and pulled his knees up again, closing his eyes. Fear choked him.
He knew that he had some power. Something that most people didn't have. He wasn't supposed to use it, not unless he said so.
Sue and the rest of them...they kept talking about it. They talked about it like it was a good thing, but he knew it wasn't. Talking to Sue was one thing, but he couldn't use that. He'd learned that lesson a long time ago.
At the same time, he still felt like he should trust Sue. He guessed that, if she was telling the truth, he might be connected to her. He felt it and had seen it from the memories he'd gotten so far.
Still, he couldn't bring himself to talk about that power much less use it.
"What do you think?" Reed asked, turning to her. Sue shook her head.
"I want him dead, Reed. Not contained like we did before. Dead. Gone for good." Reed sighed.
"Sue, I don't know if that's possible. Under his skin, Victor is protected by something stronger than even what Ben is made up of now. What Johnny did, going supernova, it would have killed all of us if you hadn't contained it, but it didn't kill Victor."
"So, find a way." Sue's voice was quiet, but the rage was back. "After everything he's done...I have never hated anyone like I hate him, Reed. I've never wanted anyone to die before but...I want him dead. I want him to suffer like he made Johnny suffer, like he made me suffer."
"Sue..." Reed started over to her, and put his hands on her shoulders.
"Victor tortured him, Reed. He tortured my brother, made him forget us, made him afraid to trust anyone. He deserves to die, he deserves worse. If I could, I'd kill him myself."
"Sorry, honey." Sue spun at the sound of the voice. Victor stood in the doorway with a small smile on his face. "I'm not the one who's going to die today."