It's been months. I'm sorry. It's long, so forgive me and enjoy:
Cosmic Storm
By Robinyj
"The Gorgun's speed picked up almost instantly when Johnny's sun was formed," Reed explained. "They obviously detected the appearance of the massive energy source in front of them and are reaching for it."
The faces of the diminished Fantastic Four were all grim as Reed explained solemnly what they were all seeing. However, one face was as stony as usual. Ben turned to the Surfer, again irritated by his seeming lack of emotional response, but was also curious.
"What's gonna happen when those things reach Johnny?" he asked in a solemn whisper, scared for his team mate's fate but not wanting to upset Sue again.
Norrin's brow furrowed and he shook his head apologetically, "I can not say."
This fueled Ben's anger once more, "You can't say? Look pal, our friend is risking his life out there and I'm sick of your half answers, now what's gonna happen?"
It was obvious that Norrin was frustrated with himself, as he had again managed to not explain himself to the Thing's liking, "I would not withhold that information if I possessed it. The Power Cosmic gave me the ability to understand the Gorgun and its behavior, and allowed me to formulate this plan. However, when I gave up the Power Cosmic I gave up this understanding as well, therefore I do not know what will happen, but I remember knowing this plan should succeed."
Ben deflated and accepted this with a sigh, "Well, that's something at least."
"Something's happening."
Reed's announcement drew everyone's attention to the large monitor displaying Johnny's star. Even Sue who was turned away and silent, as though trying to convince herself she was somewhere else, turned to watch. On the screen they could see the first tendrils of the immense black mass wrapping around the outside of the newborn sun. The life forms were dark when they approached, except for the occasional organism combusting energy, but as they reached the outer corona of flames they began to glow a similar fiery red.
"What's happening?" Ben asked as Reed's fingers flew over the keyboard, bringing up a set of sensor readings alongside the image of Johnny's sun.
"It's hard to be sure, there's a lot of interference from the excess heat and energy in the system, but it looks like the Gorgun organisms are feeding and turn red as they absorb the energy within the sun and store it for fuel. It must be an incredibly efficient system to sustain them until they reach the next galaxy." Sue was yet to speak but glared at her husband as he again went off on a scientific tangent while her brother risked his life. He was good enough to look chagrined as he saw this and replied softly, "The readings show no change in the star though, Johnny's still maintaining it."
"How long can he do that?" Ben asked.
Reed shook his head, "I can't begin to imagine how he's done it so far. We just don't have enough information about any of this to give any kind of definitive answer for anything."
"Especially since Norrin's innate understanding of this thing went with Johnny into space." Ben wasn't actually angry with the Surfer for not being able to tell them more, but he was frustrated with the whole situation and had to vent his feelings somehow. As Ben and Reed talked though, Sue's eyes were fixed to the screen and the readings being displayed. As more and more of the entity's organisms swarmed around and into Johnny's sun, absorbing its energy, Sue was watching the sensors closely and with dread.
"Reed." It was the first thing she had said in several minutes as she pointed to a portion of the screen.
They all looked and Reed frowned, "The temperature of Johnny's star, it's dropping slightly, not all of the organisms have even reached it yet."
"That's not good, is it?" Ben asked Norrin, even though the alien had already explained that he knew as much as they did.
"I do not believe so."
All eyes were on the screen, and all stomachs dropped along with the temperature of their new star.
"Come on Johnny," Sue whispered, biting her lip.
Still hitting keys, Reed was shaking his head, "The Gorgun have barely begun feeding. If Johnny's losing strength already and can't replenish his star then they'll go for the sun next and we won't be able to stop them."
"He'll do it," Sue said suddenly, soft but strong. "He'll find a way."
"We know Suzie, we know," Ben told her, putting an arm gently around her shoulders.
On the monitor, the black mass of organisms finished their journey.
"The entire entity is now feeding off Johnny's star but the temperature is still dropping. At this rate the star will be drained long before the Gorgun are at energy capacity," Reed announced.
A few moments passed in hopeful silence, but events did not seem promising as the temperature of the new star continued to drop with each second.
Sue ran her hands over her face and looked about ready to burst in frustration as she tugged at her hair. Ben squeezed her again and she released some of her feelings in a growl.
"It's just so frustrating. We're a team, he shouldn't have to do this by himself, he shouldn't be out there by himself, possibly dying for the rest of us. He shouldn't be alone."
Before Reed or Ben had to worry about trying to provide some words of comfort, everyone noticed the light from the monitor suddenly shift and expand.
"What was that?" Sue asked.
Reed chanced to smile, "The temperature just spiked massively. There was an energy jolt from the core that brought the temperature back to its original level. Johnny must have been keeping some energy in reserve." He turned to his wife and squeezed her hand, "He's still fighting and he knows we're there with him."
Sue smiled back and returned the grasp for reassurance.
"Kick their ass Matchstick," Ben cheered.
When he turned around though, Reed noticed a concerned expression on the surfer's face.
"Norrin?" he enquired.
The surfer was silent a moment and then asked, "Reed Richards, may I examine your instruments?"
A moment of dread passed before Reed could give a hesitant response, as Norrin's ominous reply brought down the brief optimism the group had experienced, "Of course."
Norrin sat in the offered chair and ran his fingers over the keyboard as if he had used it his entire life – he no longer possessed the Power Cosmic but he still came from a very advanced technological alien race and had no trouble adapting to Earth technology. The superhero team watched as he brought up new sensor readings and magnified and studied sections of the image on-screen.
"The Gorgun are penetrating to the sun's core," he announced after several moments in response to their inquisitive looks.
"That's bad?" Reed asked.
The answer clearly conflicted Norrin as he appeared hesitant, "I am unsure. I believe in the past they have fed entirely on the outer shell in order to expose the core gradually. They do not simply delve into its innermost parts, as it would create a greater chance of fracture in the star's cohesion."
"But you're not sure?" Ben confirmed.
"Without the knowledge of the Power Cosmic? No, I cannot be certain," Norrin replied.
"Well then, let's just let the kid do his thing and worry about it later," Ben suggested, but Reed was now examining the information Norrin had brought up.
"He's right, the organisms are pushing towards the core of the sun, internal pressure and density is increasing. It doesn't look like they're feeding and drifting inside it, it's more like they're converging on the center," Reed announced.
"Where Johnny is?" Sue asked.
"That is where he would most likely be in order to maintain and replenish the star," Reed answered. "That would be the epicenter of the heat, they may be feeding off Johnny directly, but the temperature doesn't seem to be dropping like before."
"What if they're attacking him?" Sue suggested.
"That doesn't make any sense," Reed brushed off the possibility. "They have no consciousness or emotions, just instinct, and they wouldn't attack something providing them with energy. Whoa … what is that?"
They all blinked. They had all seen it but it had been so fast they couldn't be sure.
"Uh, did the sun just flicker?" Ben's tone made it obvious he was unsure.
"I … don't know. It looked like the flames all started to go out at once and then were reignited. The equipment might be malfunctioning … or Johnny might be losing strength."
Just as Reed announced this possibility, the star flickered once more. When it strengthened again it was noticeably smaller.
"That's not good, the mass and temperature of the sun just took a massive drop. The Gorgun have completely converged on the core of the star, I don't understand … maybe they are attacking Johnny. But why?" Reed pondered.
"Just hold on Johnny, a little bit more," Sue whispered encouragements.
Norrin shook his head, even without the Power Cosmic, he knew, "Something is not right."
"Why don't you be a bit more vague there buddy, it might help things," Ben replied sarcastically, never enjoying the Surfer's cryptic way of speaking.
"I only know events are not transpiring as planned."
"The temperature and mass are nose-diving, the star's losing cohesion, he can't hold it together any more," Reed announced.
As if on cue the star's size decreased drastically, seemingly collapsing in on itself, then, to everyone's surprise the energy exploded, causing a massive shock wave to erupt in all directions followed by a blinding glare. Even with the UV filters on Reed's satellite the screen went completely white for a moment and then the room and building shook slightly, as Earth, and the entire solar system felt the fallout of a shock wave caused by the destruction of a star.
"Whoa, what was that?" Ben asked.
When the image returned to the screen, all eyes widened in shock: the screen showed only open space. All traces of flames were completely extinguished, the star was gone, and so were the Gorgun.
After a moment of confusion, the first sound was Ben's hesitant question, "Where did they go?"
"It looked like the star collapsed, but, that shockwave … it makes no sense. It was so powerful, if Johnny was losing strength he never should have been able to create something like that."
Reed was back at the controls panning the satellite camera to cover as much space as possible, but every image that came up, of the original sun, of planets and of asteroids showed no second sun, no Johnny and no Gorgun.
When they saw that their solar system was empty of all phenomenons the first sound made was Sue's terrified whisper, "Johnny?"
"It can't be but … they're gone, the Gorgun is completely gone," Reed said in a stunned stupor. "Johnny must have found a way … he must have destroyed them, that's what caused the shockwave. They're not anywhere in the solar system."
"You sure?"
"I'm positive, the system's clean, there's no trace of cosmic radiation or combustion events anywhere. The sun's untouched, life on Earth can continue like nothing happened. Johnny did it. He saved the planet."
"Way to go kid, I never doubted 'im for a second," Ben cheered. Sue offered a small relieved smile but was still tense without the knowledge of her brother's fate.
Norrin however, did not share in the festivities and announced ominously, "That is not possible."
"What was that surf-boy?"
"I am sorry, but the Gorgun cannot be destroyed. I no longer fully understand the reason why this is, but I know without a doubt that the Gorgun are an integral part of the universe, which the Power Cosmic could not possibly destroy," he explained.
"Well, there are other explanations – maybe … Johnny teleported them away, or pushed them out of this system or transformed them temporarily. Whatever he did they're gone, we can only hope it's for good," Reed announced enthusiastically, not doubting his readings and the fact that the world had just been saved.
The mood was lessened however when Sue asked intensely, "What about Johnny? Where is he?"
"I … I don't know Sue, I'm sorry. The sensors haven't picked him up yet," Reed had to tell her. Her face was crestfallen with despair so he pulled her into a hug before promising, "I'll keep looking."
Sue nodded and tried to remain hopeful, but couldn't bring herself to speak just yet. Ben also felt the conflicting emotion of wanting to celebrate the Earth's salvation and grieve the possible loss of their team mate. They had all seen the massive explosion and shock wave that had rocked the entire solar system – it was hard to believe anything would be able to survive being in the middle of it all.
"Sue, if anyone can survive that blast it's your brother, after all, he'd never let all the publicity he's going to get from this go to waste," Ben lamely joked to try and lighten the mood. Sue gave a short laugh that was mixed with a partial sob in response.
"Thanks Ben."
A tense silence followed as the Thing's attempt at humor failed slightly, "Yeah well … I guess we got some phone calls to make, the rest of the world is probably wondering what those bright lights in the sky …"
Beep, beep, beep.
Ben was interrupted by one of Reed's monitors going off across the room. Sue immediately recognized the alarm as the same one that had gone off four days before when the Silver Surfer had first arrived; it detected cosmic radiation approaching Earth.
"Is it Johnny?" Sue asked desperately as she leaned over Reed's shoulder.
"I'm checking. It could just be residual radiation but it looks like it might be traveling."
In seconds he had the satellite image zoomed as closely as possible on a distant section of space. The quality became grainy with so much magnification so they could only just make out a bright white streak traveling towards Earth.
Sue's face lit up, "Johnny! He's alive, he's coming back."
"The radiation signature matches," Reed reported.
"Now that's something to make some phone calls about," Ben cheered enthusiastically as Sue jumped into his arms for a hug.
"I knew he'd come back," Sue sighed in relief.
"Susan," the Surfer's voice broke the celebratory mood with its foreboding tone and he immediately captured the entire group's attention. "I must tell you that your brother may not be coming back at all."
"What are you talking about? Of course he's coming back. Look at the monitor it's the same energy trail made by your board; it's headed this way," Sue argued defensively.
"The beacon may be returning, but there is the possibility that Johnny Storm may not be with it."
"What? What do you mean?" Sue asked with dread.
"You just love bringing down a mood, don't you silver-stick," Ben grumbled.
"Johnny Storm knew the risks of this plan, and that his life might become forfeit in its fruition. He also understood that the Power Cosmic must have a master and cannot drift through space unchanneled. Therefore, when I gave to your brother the Power Cosmic, I left a small remnant of it within myself that the beacon may be drawn to should the current Herald be lost in any way."
"You're saying that my brother might not be coming back? That, that streak is just your precious board coming home by itself and Johnny could just be gone … forever?" Sue asked angrily, but even Norrin understood her tone well enough to know he should not actually answer. Her tear filled gaze turned to the monitor once more – the streak was entering Earth's atmosphere, it would be in New York in a few minutes. Shaking her head, she decided, "I'll believe that when I see it. My brother's coming home."
That said, she turned out of the lab and once more headed towards the stairs to take her to the roof. Ben, Reed and Norrin followed her silently; there was nothing left to say until they knew the truth. Either Johnny had found a new way to stop the Gorgun and was returning home to celebrate, or he had sacrificed himself to ensure Earth's survival and the board was simply returning to Norrin on auto-pilot. They all hoped for the former, that Johnny was alive, but they also had to face the terrible reality that the only thing they may find on the roof was a cosmic-powered board with no rider.
The group ran to make it to the roof quickly to intercept whatever it was that was heading their way, but their speed was unnecessary as the sky was completely empty. Whatever was coming, it wasn't there yet.
Sue immediately started pacing fiercely, trying to distract herself from the tumult of emotions going through her. It was only an hour since she had last been on this roof, saying good-bye to her brother and watching him fly away to almost certain death. Now she was back, waiting to learn if she had lost her brother after all, and scared to hope that she hadn't.
Reed and Ben stood back, clearly reading her agitation. It was a moment before Reed summoned up the courage to approach her to try to offer comfort.
"Sue …"
But she didn't want to be comforted, "Don't Reed. Not now. Just don't."
He wanted to say more, but her tone was firm, she wouldn't accept any words of condolence. If her team mates were to comfort her, it meant she had to have a reason to be grieving, which would mean her brother was dead and not coming back. She didn't believe that, therefore she would accept no offers to console her over his death.
"There."
The word was spoken softly and without urgency. The group turned to see the Surfer pointing across the horizon; he had spotted the board's return from miles away, either through enhanced alien vision or the connection he retained with the Power Cosmic.
The team's attention was given entirely to the board's approach, as all three super heroes ran to the edge of the roof and squinted hard to try to see if the 'beacon' in fact had a rider. This did no good however, as it was flying too high above their heads for them to see anything but the bottom of the board. Sue's impatience was obvious, despite the fast approach of the object, and unwilling to do nothing any longer she created a force field under her own feet and propelled herself into the sky and towards the white blur.
"Sue, wait here! It might not stop …"
Reed tried, but there was no slowing her down. However, she hardly ever used her powers in this way and with her emotions so strained she was finding it hard to keep her balance as she flew through the air and was forced to crouch down and grip the edge of the force field to right herself.
Fortunately for her, the board was slowing down as it approached its destination, allowing her to make it out clearly. She was still rising into the air to be level with the cosmic device but she felt her concentration nearly break when she saw from below that the board clearly had no rider standing atop of it, and seemed to be flying to the Baxter Building all on its own.
"Sue, come back!" Reed yelled again when he saw her falter.
"Johnny!" she cried, propelling her force field forward and up out of sheer will power. The board was slowing considerably now and it passed by Sue just as she reached the elevation it was flying at. Her heart almost flew out and her shield disintegrated beneath her when she saw what was there – luckily the board's current shape was solid and she was able to land on it as it continued past her. She ended up on her knees on the back edge of the board, just behind the motionless body of her brother.
"Johnny! Johnny!"
It was awkward climbing over her brother with such a thin beam holding them up, but she didn't care, she scooted up the side of the board until her hands could reach Johnny's face. Once there, one set of fingers pushed at his short hair affectionately while the other set desperately felt for a pulse.
"Johnny, can you hear me?"
There was no answer, but there was a heartbeat, she was sure of it. She moved the hand from his neck to his chest and felt it rise and fall as he breathed. He was breathing! Johnny was alive.
"Oh Johnny, thank you. Thank you for coming back!" Sue whispered breathlessly as she was overcome with emotions and went so far as to wrap her arms around her brother's neck, even though he was unconscious and couldn't respond. When she released him she looked him over – there were no cuts, bruises, no apparent injuries of any kind. He no longer glowed either, the white light that had surrounded him when he left was gone; he looked like the old Johnny, short hair, normal skin tone, blue team uniform, all that was missing was the smirk and the attitude. She didn't know why he was unconscious, but hoped it was simply some kind of exhaustion after his ordeal in space.
Voices calling her name made her look up. The board was almost on the roof and she realized Ben and Reed had been yelling at her for some time. She met the eyes of her team mates and smiled as the siblings were lowered onto the roof and they could finally see that she wasn't alone.
"He's alive," she announced through a watery smile as she stepped on to the roof.
The rest of the team sighed with relief.
"Thank god," Reed exclaimed.
Ben came up beside him and smiled down at his motionless friend, "Good work kid. Welcome home."
Sue smirked at Ben's rare praise of her brother and only hoped he would be willing to repeat it again when Johnny was awake to hear it. But there were more pressing matters for now, "Let's get him downstairs and checked out. Norrin, is there any way you can control this to take Johnny to the lab?"
Sue was motioning towards the board, since they had no idea how to make it move, but Norrin seemed to not hear her for a moment as his attention was fixed firmly on Johnny and he appeared deep in thought.
"Norrin?" Sue repeated, wanting her brother moved quickly.
He looked at her this time and nodded, "Yes, it will follow you."
"Okay," Sue replied. She wanted to ask him more about the foreboding look on his face, but decided it could wait until after she knew her brother would be all right. Leading the way to the steps, she constantly looked behind her to make sure the board was indeed following her and Johnny was safely on top of it. She knew it was probably unnecessary, but she also created a force field beneath the stretcher, in case Johnny should somehow fall.
When they made it to the lab Ben picked Johnny up as gently as his stone arms would allow and transferred him to a medical bed where Reed could easily perform tests on their youngest team mate.
"I wonder what happened to the glowing white light," Ben pondered aloud, stepping back as Reed maneuvered equipment all around Johnny's bed.
"I'm more interested in how he destroyed …er…" Reed looked at the Surfer as he corrected himself, "… removed the Gorgun from the system."
"Well, I'd really like to know if he's going to be okay, so …" Sue's tone quickly shut up both Ben and Reed, with the first one stepping back to be out of the way while Reed and Sue took Johnny's vitals. However, things appeared to be not right with the Human Torch from the very first readings that they got, along with every following test they did.
"What the hell … his brain functions are off the charts," Sue muttered in confusion. This feeling only increased as she turned her attention to his blood readings, "His temperature is at 300 degrees, which is less than a hundred degrees high for him, but his blood, there's practically no oxygenation. How is he even alive?"
Reed shook his head, "His entire physiology, it's just off. Every reading is outside of normal parameters, even for Johnny."
"Is he gonna be okay?" Ben asked with dread. The kid looked fine other than the fact that he was unconscious but the machines were telling them something could be very wrong.
"It's impossible to say really, with these readings," Reed answered. "His heartbeat is strong, but irregular. Going off that … I don't know, it's like his entire body's been changed."
"I believe there is an explanation," Norrin announced, grabbing everyone's attention. "The Power Cosmic is the power of manipulation of matter and self. When Johnny Storm entered the vacuum of space his physiology changed to survive those conditions, lowering his need for oxygen and increasing his temperature to what it now is."
"You know, for a guy who says he gave up all his knowledge, you still seem to have a lot of answers," Ben pointed out, completely unable to drop his distrust of their silver companion.
"Will he be okay?" "How do we change him back?" Sue and Reed asked simultaneously.
"I can only theorize that his encounter with the Gorgun has weakened him greatly and drained the energies of the Power Cosmic, keeping him from changing to his original physical state. If he has survived this long, I believe he will recover."
Sue took this information hopefully. Norrin's explanation was all they had to go on, since there was no sense to be made of the readings coming off Johnny himself, "So, we have to wait?"
"When Johnny Storm regains his strength, he should be able to repair all damage done to himself, if there is any," Norrin responded.
With a frustrated sigh, Reed said, "Then I guess all we can do is let him rest. I'll leave the equipment on to monitor his condition, but if something happens I may be reluctant to try to help him with his body chemistry so fundamentally altered."
"Nothing will happen," Sue answered confidently. "He just saved the world Reed, he's not going to quit on us out of exhaustion."
The rest of the team was lifted by her optimism and smiled as well. They also recognized that Sue might want a moment alone with her brother.
"Ben, I think you were saying we've got some phone calls to make," Reed said in departure as he ushered Ben and Norrin out of the room discreetly.
"Yeah, they're gonna be real fun too, trying to explain to the president how a second star appeared in the sky when we don't even understand it," Ben grumbled as he took the hint and followed Reed. Neither man noticed when Norrin hesitated behind them to turn and watch Johnny once more, after a moment his expression became confused as he looked over the readings from Reed's equipment. Something was wrong, but without the Power Cosmic, he couldn't be sure what it was. Its loss frustrated and confused him, so instead of following Reed and Ben he headed towards the roof once more in order to think and feel less confined than he did within the walls of the Baxter Building.
When the room was finally empty and quiet, Sue allowed herself to smile and sigh. Pulling a chair up to her brother's bedside she took his hand in hers.
"Oh Johnny, I'm gonna kill myself worrying about you one of these days. And I know what you'd say to that, 'I'm always fine, what is there to worry about?', but I have to worry, because I'm your sister, and the day I stop worrying is the day I stop caring, and that day's never going to come. So basically, the point I'm getting at is that you're never allowed to scare me like this again, even if the planet's in danger …. Oh Johnny, thank you, for coming back, for finding another way. I don't know how you did it, but thank you. I'm so sorry that you were out there alone little brother. We promised to always be there for each other so I hope you know that I was with you every second, in my own way, we all were. And I know you're tired, and you have a right to be, but if you could just open your eyes for a second and tell me you're okay, that'd be great."
Sue waited expectantly, longing to see her brother's eyelids pull back to reveal those beautiful blue eyes, along with a sarcastic smirk, but she was faced only with disappointment. Johnny continued to lay motionless, showing no signs of consciousness, so she decided to be content with the fact that he was home and he was alive.
"I guess the world's asked enough of you for one day, huh? You get some sleep little brother, you deserve it." With that said she kissed his forehead, ruffled his short hair and settled back in her chair for what she imagined would be a long wait.
For the next hour the interior of the Baxter Building was wonderfully calm for the most part, though the outside was somewhat chaotic and frenzied. Reed and Ben had both been manning the phones for an hour, letting the world know that the crisis was over, and the President had announced the same thing as quickly as possible. In the streets people shouted with joy and celebrated, with many residents of New York traveling to the Fantastic Four headquarters and cheering outside, showing their gratitude to their saviors and also hoping to get a glimpse of their heroes. The heroes however, would not be making an appearance.
Sue continued to sit with Johnny, alert for any signs of improvement or change, while Reed and Ben remained stuck on the phones with some of the most powerful people on Earth. Reed was explaining what had happened with the other great minds on the planet, trying to hypothesize how a second star existing in one solar system could even be possible, while Ben was stuck with the boring diplomats and politicians, explaining the limited amount he knew of what had happened and how they were saved. The President had asked to visit, to thank the team in person, but Reed had declined until they were certain that Johnny would recover. The President offered his well wishes, and promised to give him a medal. Reed wondered if telling Johnny that would wake the Human Torch up.
Up on the roof, the team's newest honorary member remained alone in contemplation. Norrin could remember the time not long ago when he would have completely understood everything that had just happened and everything that Johnny Storm had experienced in space and was now going through. But without the Power Cosmic, this understanding was lost to Norrin Radd and he was left only with glimpses of insight and snatches of knowledge, which ignited new feelings of frustration in the alien. He didn't know what had happened to Johnny in space, or what was happening to him now, but he knew something was wrong. The plan had been clear, to feed the Gorgun, and Johnny had diverged from that plan for some reason that Norrin could not imagine or understand. He was able to create simple ideas of what may have happened, but not understanding the situation completely was frustrating the Silver Surfer. He had been a Herald of Galactus for so many years that he was now lost without that knowledge that had always been his constant companion. He finally resolved that even if it was unclear about what his misgivings were and what they meant, he had to share them with the Fantastic Four, so they could try to be prepared for anything when Johnny woke up. If he woke up.
However, just as Norrin turned to take the stairs back into the Baxter Building he was knocked off his feet with bricks and rubble falling around him as the roof erupted in front of him and a fiery white streak raced past him and into the sky.
TBC
So, many of you may have been thinking that this fic was near an end, but NO! There is much more to happen with this tale of cosmic power and destruction and I hope you will all join me next time to find out what is happening with our dear Johnny. I don't know when that next time will be yet, but as always, I hope it will be soon.
But, I do have time to write to my fantastic reviewers!!! You were all so great, and hopefully patient (I hope!) and I love you. I got swamped this chapter so unfortunately I don't have time for personal responses to each of you so I'd like to thank: BlackEyedWicca, SheriffPunk, Maya Mystique, Narifreak39, Luffysangel, dietwater, you wish you knew me, miarath, Iaveina, RAINCLAW, Frozen Waterz, Pog Mahon, moogsthewriter.
Jellybean16 - lol, well, if you thought the chapter 4 ending was bad, you probably don't like this one either. I don't know if it's better or worse, as for the Storm siblings, I'm going to be putting them through the ringer. Johnny may not have died saving Earth but the Power Cosmic can do crazy things to a person.
German girl - Oh, your second review broke my heart. I should have written you sooner. The story is not being abandoned, I'm just crazy busy. I had to watch the movie and read some FF comics over the break to get back into a writing groove, but I think I'm good now. Chapters should become more regular. Thanks so much for caring about my fic.
Silverangel83 - You're probably the first reviewer I've had who apologized for reading a chapter late instead of pushing me to write a chapter sooner, so thanks for that. I don't know about Marvel making this into a movie, it might be a bit too Johnny-centric for their tastes … then again, FF:2 was pretty much a Johnny spotlight show, you never know! I feel so cool for having pushed you to write more. I find it's all in practice really, not even so much talent. My first half a dozen or more fics that I ever wrote were terrible. I actually feel a little sick when I go back and read them. I find that finding fics you really like and picking out what makes them good and working with that usually helps. I hope you keep writing, thanks for the review!
Leenarietto - lol, so when you say you just became a Johnny fan do you mean you just started reading Fantastic Four fanfiction? Great to know you're enjoying the story, I appreciate the capitalized 'awesome' - it made me feel good inside.
Rebell - Thank you so much! It feels good to know that people appreciate the work I put into my fics. Seriously, that was a touching review, hope your heart is still making it through the cliff hangers.
Shadowtheo - no worries if you don't review every chapter, I know I never do until the end when I'm reading someone else's fic, so I can't expect more from others. I appreciate your faith in my creative choices as to whether Johnny lives or dies and what happens to him. I have a lot planned, so there's a couple more chapters to go. Hope it keeps your interest, and keeps you guessing.
Beth - Thanks for the correction, seriously. I guess I just watch too much Star Trek and am used to hearing 'Light years', because looking back I realized that my sentence made absolutely no sense, especially since I even mentioned in my author's notes that light takes 8 minutes to get to Earth from the sun, so a light year is just ridiculous, let alone several thousand! And you didn't forget any zeroes, ff . net just takes them out for some reason.
Pinkchick - Yeah, I didn't exactly get this chap out quickly. Sorry about that, hope it was worth the wait. I agree about this section though, I'm often saddened by the lack of new, quality fic. There's only a handful in the whole category I enjoy re-reading.
Twilight Kitsune - You can try to beat me with a stick, but I might just counter-attack with my nunchuks! So tread softly! Seriously, thanks for the review, I'm glad you like Super-Johnny, I was working hard to make him suddenly wise, but still himself.
That was more than I expected to do. Oh well. Take care everyone, I shall try to rush the next chapter!!! Robin.