Don't Want To Leave This Play Date • Johnny Storm

• Chapter Twelve •

"What the hell was that?!" General Hagar boomed, flinging his arm out in exaggeration. He was furious with how the Fantastic Five handled the mission - lives could have been lost!

He stood alongside the 'higher up' representatives in the government chain inside a United States official building, with the heroes standing across from him. To them, the room that they stood in looked like a meeting room for officials.

"We'll make adjustments." Reed replied, knowing full well that several things had gone wrong on their mission. "Next time we'll be ready." He added, giving Johnny a delicate nod. The blonde already looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders and Reed wasn't about to put the full blame on him.

Johnny, from his spot at the back of the group, shifted his blue gaze to his lap. Reed should be blaming him but for some reason he wasn't.

"Next time?" General Hagar repeated with a scoff as he looked at the five heroes. "There's no next time. You can't handle this alone, that's why I'm bringing in some help."

Reed narrowed his eyes at the General. "General, you bring in more soldiers and weaponry, you're going to put innocent people in danger." He said.

"No more than you already have." A new voice spoke up with a smirk.

Everyone's head snapped over to the new figure as there, in the flesh, stood Victor Von Doom.

Johnny instantly jumped to his feet and instinctively stood in front of Kayla in a protective manner, his blue gaze turning into a cold, icy glare.

Ben, gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists while Kayla and Susan's eyes were widened in complete shock, Reed mirroring the women's expressions.

How was he here and 'human-like'?

The last the Fantastic Five heard or even saw Victor was two years ago when he was frozen, covered in blistering, hot metal - a living statue.

"Victor?" Reed breathed in question as his mind fully recognised the man.

Victor chuckled mockingly. "What's the matter?" He taunted. "Afraid of ghosts?"

With a loud roar, Ben ran forward so fast that General Hagar had to quickly fling himself out of the way as the rocky man passed him.

Ben's rocky hand grabbed Victor by the neck before slamming him into the wall hard and pinned him there, causing the stone around Victor's body to crumble upon impact.

One of General Hagar's personnel withdrew his weapon, aiming his gun directly at the rocky figure but the General dismissed the firing.

Ben, on the other hand, was all too pleased with smashing Victor up against the wall. "Since you're a ghost, you won't mind if I break your little neck." He snarled darkly, tightening his grip on the dark haired man's neck ever so slightly.

"Let him go." General Hagar ordered.

Johnny turned his blue gaze onto the General, narrowing his eyes into a glare of anger. "Don't you know who that is?!" He yelled, highly pissed off.

How could General Hagar even go down this low as to bring Victor back, let alone trust the guy.

All the blonde male could think about was burning him to ashes, not even caring how dark that might seem for him.

"He's Victor Von Doom." The General answered, glancing back at the heroes. "He's here under my orders."

Silence fell over the room, not a single soul uttering a word as Victor's choking gasps filled the air.