Fantastic Five || Johnny Storm

Chapter 26

They sat in a screening room, Veronica sitting next to Johnny, powers returned to normal as they listened to Victor. Although the rest of the team were considering swapping her powers with Johnny until they stopped dealing with Victor, lest she squeezes the air out of his lungs again.

But so far, she'd been ok.

"I made a detailed recording of our encounter," Victor said as he played the footage, all eyes staring at the large screen as they watched the Silver Surfer knock Victor onto his ass with a burst of silver power.

"Well?" Victor asked as it ended.

"I like the part when he knocks you onto your ass," Ben voiced and Johnny laughed, Veronica smiled but her brain was focused on something else.

"His board," she muttered aloud, and a delighted look lit up her brother's face.

"What do you know, you haven't lost your touch," Victor smiled at her, and she glared ahead of her as the rest of them were just confused. "To dumb it down for you all, look at where the energy levels surge when he attacks me," Victor instructed as he replayed it several times in slow motion.

"The power was channelled through him, but it originated from his board," Reed noted.

"So, if we separate him from the board, we can cut off his power completely," Veronica concluded as she turned in her chair to face Reed, only to have her brother smile at her.

"Took the words right out of my mouth, little sister."

"And that's what we have to do," the General said.

"How?" Johnny asked.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't need you people, would I?"

"You two should get started right away. Miss Von Doom can assist if she is civil," the General instructed to Reed and Victor and their team grew tense as the General left.

"I am glad we have this opportunity to collaborate again. I'll try to talk slowly, so that you can keep up," Victor said as he clapped Reed on the shoulder.

And to work they went.

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"How can we be working on the same side as Victor?" Johnny asked as he threw darts at the board, Ben sitting at the table as he drank several beers in a massive glass.

"You got me, pal. Things were a lot simpler when I could just whale on the guy."

"Babe, maybe you should slow down a little bit?" Johnny suggested as he turned to where his girlfriend had just downed 6 shots and was now drinking a tall glass of rum punch.

"My psychotic, murderous, power-hungry brother just came back from the dead. I think I've earned the right to drown my sorrows in alcohol," she glared at her boyfriend who merely raised his hands in surrender as he threw another dart, this one catching fire as it hit the board.

"Shit!" Johnny swore as he rushed to the board and tipped a whole beer on it, extinguishing the flames.

"I'll pay for that," he promised to the bartender as Veronica couldn't help but smile.

"How you doing with that Ronnie? Vic being back and all?" Ben asked, sorry for the girl.

"I never thought I would see him again. And I don't trust him. Not for a second. He's not my brother, no matter how much I want him to be. I'll be fine, I just gotta keep reminding myself that," she admitted as Ben raised his glass and she couldn't help but smile as she tapped it with his.

"I have to tell you guys, I'm starting to feel like a complete screw-up," Johnny admitted as he pulled the darts from the board.

"Hey, hey, you're not a complete screw-up," Ben said as Veronica shot him a look, but it actually helped Johnny who replied with a thank you.

"Baby, you aren't a screw-up. You do what you think is right. It may not be the best thing to do, but you do what you think is right. You aren't a screw-up," Veronica said softly and Johnny just stared at her.

"God, I want to kiss you!" he said angrily as he threw a dart at the board and Veronica gave him a sad smile, Ben not taking the opening for an insult when he could see how much these two were already struggling. He didn't want to rub more salt in the wound, not at Veronica's expense when she was already dealing with a lot.

"Look, kids, it's out of our hands now. It's up to the eggheads now," Ben said as Johnny continued furiously throwing darts.

"You think Reed is right? About the whole, end of the world thing?" he asked.

"He's never been wrong about this kind of thing before," Ben answered.

"Well, I'm not exactly a deep kind of guy," Johnny said and Veronica scoffed.

"That's crap and you know it."

Ben laughed at the couple, as Johnny took a seat next to his girlfriend.

"Hello, you were the one that told me I had a shallow heart."

"Yeah well, that was before I got to know you," Veronica defended and Johnny just smiled as he sighed through his nose, shaking his head as he wanted nothing more than to hug her.

It was then that he turned to Ben and asked, "If Reed is right and this is really it, how would you like to spend your last few minutes?"

"Part of me would want to go out fighting. But the truth is, I'd like to spend my last couple minutes holding Alicia."

"I know the feeling," Johnny said as he met Veronica's eyes.

"I love you," she mouthed to him as she pulled her feet up onto the chair.

"I love you."

"Hey," Ben said as he raised his glass. "To the Treacherous Trio and the end of the world."

The couple laughed at their friend, smiling as they clinked their glasses.