Perfect Storm

Chapter 10

Within the next few days, our apartment was teamed with workers, Reed and I having finished the plans.

            We watched over, directing, helping, and re-drawing as needed.

            “Maggie!” Reed shouted for me, and I left one of the welders, and walked over.

            “What’s up?” I asked, and looked at the TV. Johnny stood in the middle of a dirt bike track, waving to screaming fans.

            “He didn’t,” Sue said, coming up behind me. Ben walked around the couch.

            “Oh, yes he did. Flame boy never listens,” Ben said.

            “What did he do to his uniform?” She asked, referring to the silver 5 on his chest. Reed and I looked at each other, pulling our lab coats over the ones on our suits. We had taken to wearing them every day under our lab coats. It was easy, more natural even. We had added the fives to everyone’s suit after Johnny’s constant badgering to spice them up. Reed and I had broken down.

            “Johnny, I’ve got to ask you about this outfit,” the interviewer said.

            “It’s sort of Armani meets astronaut,” he said.

            “So what are your super hero names?” the interviewer asked.

            “They call me the Human Torch,” Johnny said. “The lady’s call me torch.”

            All the women ohhed and ahhed.

            “What about the rest of the team?” she asked.

            There was a shot to a picture of Sue. “That’s the invisible girl,” Johnny said.

            “Girl?” Sue asked.

            “What about your leader, Mr. Reed Richards? I heard you call him Mr. Fantastic,” she said.

            “Could have been worse,” Ben said, looking at Reed, who shrugged.

            “Is it true what they say about him, that he can expand any part of his anatomy?” she asked, and all the sluts around him ohhed and ahhed again.

            “I’ve always found him a little limp,” Johnny said, and I pinched the bridge of my nose.

            “He’s like a 5 year old who was given a sex ed book,” I muttered.

            “What about her,” she said, pointing to a picture of me.

            “Oh, we call her ‘Blizzard’,” he said. I closed my eyes, sighing. Could have been so much worse.

            “And what about that, what do you call that thing,” she said, making my head snap up in anger. She pointed to a picture of Ben.

            “That’s it,” Johnny said. “The Thing. You think this is bad, you should have seen him before.”

            Reed’s and my jaw dropped. Johnny, how could you?

            “Okay,” Ben said. “Now, I’m going to go kill him.”

             ***

            We all went to the track, and just as we walked up, he came out, a girl on either arm. Shocker.

            “There he is,” Sue said, pointing. She was at the front, Reed behind her, I trailed Reed, not really sure it was right for me to get involved. I wanted nothing to do with Johnny, and as far as I was concerned, I had no responsibility for him at this point. Sue and Reed could play Mom and Dad just fine.