Fantastic Five || Johnny Storm

Chapter 23

When Veronica woke, she'd discovered that she'd missed quite the ordeal. Sue and Johnny had swapped powers, temporarily.

And now Reed was running tests on both of them, Sue's results normal but Johnny's not. And when Reed wanted to run more tests, Ben jumped at the chance to volunteer.

Veronica, who was back to normal now, watched as Ben touched Johnny and they swapped powers, Ben returning to normal, albeit on fire, and Johnny covered in rock but very buff.

Veronica had laughed her guts out when she saw Johnny.

"That's a good look for you baby," she giggled and Johnny glared at her as she leaned on Ben's shoulder, the human laughing with her before he discovered Johnny's old snap his fingers trick.

"Incredible," Reed marvelled as he moved closer to Johnny.

"You better be able to fix this!" he yelled at Reed who held his hands up in surrender as Sue tried to muffle her laughs.

"I'll get right on it," Reed promised before Ben sent a ball of Fire in Johnny's face.

"I can see why you like that so much," Ben sassed and it probably did help that his girlfriend said,

"Huh, I wonder why your hair didn't catch on fire?"

Johnny charged at Ben, the human protesting as they made contact and switched back.

"Aw crap," Ben swore.

"That's not funny," Johnny said as Veronica giggled behind her hand. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

"Just try to keep your distance from us," Reed advised as Sue linked her arm with his and Johnny's gaze instantly went to Veronica.

"We'll get through this. I still love you Hot Shot," she said as she blew him a kiss and Johnny just sighed as he walked out of the room.

Ben gave him a wicked smile as he said, "You and me are going to be spending a whole lot of time together pal."

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Ben, Alicia and Veronica were sitting in the lounge/gym, area, Veronica telling Alicia how hard it was without being able to touch Johnny. He felt bad for letting the Surfer get away and letting Veronica get hurt and he wanted more than anything to comfort her or for her to comfort him, physically, and he couldn't without putting her in danger. He'd even refused to sleep in the same bed as her, taking the fold-out couch in their room, so he'd still be with her but he wouldn't risk touching her.

The bed had never been colder.

Alicia was sprouting words of comfort and wisdom while Ben lifted weights when Johnny came in.

"They're breaking up the team."

"What?" Veronica asked after a quick glance at Ben.

"Reed and Sue. I just overheard them. They want a nice, normal, boring-ass life. No more Fantastic Five."

"What do they expect us to do? Keep it going just the three of us?" Ben growled as he stood and made his way over to them.

"And call ourselves what? The Treacherous Trio?" Johnny offered.

"When were they going to tell us?" Veronica asked and Johnny shrugged, indicated that he didn't know.

"They'll tell you when they're ready to tell you. It's their decision, not yours. You can't be mad at them for doing what makes them happy," Alicia said and the boys gaped at her.

"Alicia, I love you, and I'm not one to stand in the way of happiness but, their decision affects all of us," Veronica pointed out.

"I can't even do what makes me happy! Because what makes me happy is spending time with the girl I love and I can't even touch her without putting her life at risk!" Johnny exploded, and Veronica was about to move to hug him when Ben put a hand on her shoulder to remind her that she couldn't.

Then Reed walked in.

"Guys. We have a serious problem."

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Reed had found a pattern. A pattern of planets that the surfer had been to that had all died eight days after his arrival. There had also been a pattern in the appearance of the craters he was creating. So now they were all packed into a large helicopter along with the General's team as they headed to London city.

"When he surfaces, we've got to move the fight away from the crowd," Reed instructed, yelling over the hum of the helicopter blades.

"No, he's too fast to be contained. When I see silver, I'm hitting him," Johnny contested, still angry about the conversation he's overheard.

"Wait, you can't do that. We've got to stick to the plan and work as a team," Reed said and Veronica just sighed as Ben reached for her hand, watching the tennis match as was everyone else.

She gave him a sad smile as Johnny said, "Oh, so we're a team now? That's news to me."

"What are you talking about?" Reed asked when clearly he knew what Johnny meant, and Johnny called him out on it.

"You know what I'm talking about!"

Sue turned to her fiancé as he said, "Look, we were going to tell you guys -"

"When were you going to tell us?! When you moved all your stuff out of the Baxter Building?!"

"Johnny, this really isn't a good time," Sue said, trying to put an end to the conversation. Veronica half-agreed. It wasn't the place for this conversation but it was a conversation that needed to be had.

"Kids' got a point Reed, you should've told us," Ben agreed, surprising the couple as he still held Veronica's hand, his swallowing hers.

"Alright, alright! That's enough! We'll talk about this later!" Reed ordered and the General said,

"What the hell is wrong with you people?!"

A very valid question.