| Flaming Surprise | |||||
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| What: Johnny and Bobby go to get some lunch and a secret intruder is revealed. There's fire too. | |||||
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Johnny's been actin rather strange lately. Asking weird questions, acting evasive, and saying things he doesn't normally say. Needless to say, those who are closest to him have noticed the odd behavior and are becoming suspicious. As such, Torch has resorted to simply making himself scarce, as if he had something to hide. So instead of hanging around at the Baxter Building, he's flying around the skyscrapers, up near the clouds where not as many other people can come and harass him. Which is also very odd for him, since he's usually down near the crowds, enjoying the public spotlight as much as possible...
Not many people can come and harass Johnny up that high. But someone can launch a barrage of snowballs his way. And that's what Iceman's doing. Standing on top of a small ice tower, he's iced up and launching some frozen fluffy projectiles in attempt to get his friend's attention.
Johnny had been scarce ever since the night he was supposed to stay with her. It had given her and Sue time to talk and plan but... the plan was pointless if Johnny wouldn't come home.
Dressed in a long, crushed velvet skirt of deep blue and a floral print ruffle tank top, she makes her way down the street. Only to stop when she notes, from the corner of her eyes, the iceman throwing snowballs of the fireman. A brow arches. It's actually a very amusing sight. She'd likely laugh if she could.
Also...Johnny. She should wait for Sue. She really should. If he doesn't land to deal with said iceman, she probably will. Otherwise, she may do something very dumb.
Suddenly, Johnny is being pelted with ice and snow. But not from the clouds, in fact, from below. Which can mean only one thing. Iceman. Otherwise known as Bobby. He whirls around and shoots a stream of super heated, flaming plasma at the next big snowball, turning it into water before it could hit him. "Hey Bobby." he says with a grin, hovering up alongside him, and not yet noticing Onora down below.
Iceman whistles a little and waves as Johnny comes to hover by him. "Hey, Johnny. Long time no see," he offers. "What's up, man?" he asks. The cryokinetic hasn't noticed Onora either. "You usually don't do the cloud surfing thing."
Johnny shrugs. "I guess I just felt like I needed some space..." he replies. "And what about you?" he asks, eager to move to a different subject. "Thing going alright back at the X-Mansion and stuff?" Last he heard from Bobby, there'd been some internal conflicts going there.
"Don't you Fantastic Four guys have a way to literally go into space?" Bobby asks, just teasing a little. He shrugs at the subject change though. "Things have calmed down. There's still some trouble but it doesn't suck nearly as bad as it did before. Got some crap goin' on but we're handling it."
Johnny laughs at the jab. "Yeah, technically we do, I guess!" Then he nods at the update. "Well that's good to hear. I'm glad you guys are getting along again, or at least better than before." He glances down toward the sidewalk below. "What do you say we grab lunch or something? It's about that time." he starts descending.
"Yeah. Hopefully the improvement trend continues," Bobby remarks. "Sure, I could eat," he remarks. As Johnny starts lowering down, Bobby hops off his ice tower and starts to slide slowly. "So I heard you're doing that charity thing with Mini-Supes too."
"Yeah, the calendar thing." Johnny nods and starts heading toward a nearby restaurant. This one has tables outside with black umbrellas over them. "How could I say no?" he chuckles. "Huh, I wonder who else likes to call him 'mini-supes'."
"Dunno who. He got annoyed when I called him that," Iceman laughs. He folds his arms behind his head as he walks, still iced over and enjoying his friend's company. "I hope lunch is on you, man. I don't have room for a wallet in this," he says. He's just wearing shorts and a boots under the ice armor after all.
"'Course." Johnny nods. Money is never an issue for him. "Yeah," he laughs. "He got annoyed when I called him that, too." He walks into the restaurant, which is a sort-of fast food place. There are a few people already in line at the counter, and he steps in behind them. "Still, he was cool."
Stepping into line with Johnny, Iceman nods. "Yeah. Had a good idea. Besides, I already wear nothing but shorts and I did the speedo video with Vorpal," he chuckles. "So whatcha plan on ordering?"
"Oh, probably something shirtless for the ladies." Johnny chuckles. "Maybe a beach background thing." Bobby might notice that he seems to keep glancing furtively around the room, as if worried that someone is going to see him or something. But he tries to make it quick, hoping Iceman won't notice.
Bobby blinks a few times then laughs. "I meant to eat, dude," he points out. "Though...you goin' for the swim suit look or just the shirt off your uniform?" he asks. Unfortunately for Johnny, the Iceman does notice. He lets the first couple glances slide but after a few moment he sighs. "Johnny, what the hell are you so jumpy for?"
Onora had debated slipping inside and just confronting Johnny but it was rather difficult to do when one could speak. There was also the chance he'd bolt since he seemed to be avoiding her and his sister as of late. Now, however... he was semi-relaxed seeming and with a friend... She could easily shift and take to the roof in a form small enough not to get caught...
That's just what she does too. An alley is found and her form shifted into that of the Cait Sidhe. The panther with the white diamond on it's chest. With the agility only a feline can muster, she works her way up to the roof of the restaurant Johnny and Booby are in, flattens herself out on her, and reaches her mind out for Johnny's.
It's quiet and subtle and meant to be as unobtrusive and unnoticeable as possible. She isn't speaking to him just... listening.
"Oh, right! Umm..." Johnny glances up at the menu. "I'm probably gonna get a painini, dunno." He steps up to the register and orders that, and also tells the cashier that he will be paying for Bobby's meal as well. At this, however, the lady at the register realizes she's talking to the Human Torch himself, and kind of freaks out, drawing the attention of the other employees and patrons, who start to gather 'round.
"Oh my god, Torch! I have the best luck -ever-. I move here and a week later I'm serving up sandwiches for the Human -Torch-."
"Johnny! Can I get a picture with you?" Someone else calls out.
Throughout all this, Johnny just looks...extremely uncomfortable, oddly enough. Isn't he normally the crowd-pleaser? "Uh...look guys, I really can't do this right now..." he mutters, but the fans just keep begging--after all, they're used to him acting a lot more friendly.
As for Onora, as she attempts to look into his mind, she is met with some kind of resistance, which is definitely not normal at all. Something--or someone, is attempting to keep her from seeing into his thoughts.
Iceman orders himself a simple sandwich, giving Johnny a quick thankful smile. When the fan-attack begins, Bobby just watches for a moment. Johnny's definitely acting weird and it's got him concerned. The middle of a fast foodish joint isn't the place to start though. "Hey, Human Torch -and- the one and only Iceman. Show the coolest mutant around some love," he tries to draw some of the attention away from Johnny since he seems so uncomfortable.
It takes a fair bit of concentration for Onora to push and work against that resistance without being overt about what she's doing and alerting 'Johnny' to her presence in his mind as she tries to get through while simultaneously memorizing the 'feel' of this new mind. Whoever it is, it isn't Johnny. Now she just has to determine if there's any part of Johnny's mind left in there.
"No -way-!" The fans are even more starstruck, now. "It's like--fire and ice, how cool is that!!" They exclaim. "Guys, guys, quick pose with your powers, I wanna get a picture!" Someone calls out. Johnny doesn't look happy at all. He tries to leave the restaurant, but the crowd won't let him. More people are even showing up at the doors. "Look, I told you guys now isn't the t--" But a young woman catches him by the elbow. "Aww, c'mon Torchy, what's wrong? You're not usually like this. I thought you loved your fans..."
Onora will find, once she's managed to get past the resistance she meets, that it certainly isn't Johnny in there at all, though she can tell he is still there somehow, just not...in control. And whoever it is, is trying with every bit of willpower he has to spare to push her back out again.
"I'm already using my powers. But Torch's aren't indoors," Bobby remarks, trying to keep up the crowd-pleasing face while keeping an eye on Johnny. "Hey, that was definitely Captain America on his motorcycle!" Bobby exclaims, pointing to a window on the opposite side of the restaurant. Distraction tactic alpha go!
Onora's mind withdraws from Johnny's for only a moment and reaches out for Bobby's. < I can't explain right now. I need you to trust me. That's Johnny's body but Johnny isn't the one in control. Someone or something has taken over his mind.> Onora has met Bobby once before but only once.
Her mind pushes back into Johnny's and she continues the search. She's got a feel for the mind that there now... Let's see if she can find Johnny's mind and pull it forward. It may end up coming down to a confrontation before Sue can get involved at this rate.
The distraction works for some of the people who had just come in, and they rush outside to see if Captain America is indeed out there. The ones who were nearer to Johnny seem stuck on him, though. The mind Onora will find seems to be a very turbulent one...as she searches, she is bombarded with all kinds of emotions--fear, anger, despair, grief, envy....practically every kind of negative emotion in existence, in addition to a wealth of tragic memories. Dead family members, severed friendships...suffering in every form--both emotional and physical.
Meanwhile, inside the restaurant, Torch tries to brush the girl off, but she won't let go. "Don't touch me."
"What? B--"
"I -said-, don't -touch- me!" At this, Johnny's eyes light up with a golden blaze, and fire springs from his right hand, knocking the girl to the floor and...oh...the skin on her arm...There's a gasp from the shocked and horrified crowd as they can even hear her flesh sizzling like water in a hot skillet. Immediately, those who were with her gather around her as she begins to wail in pain.
Johnny stares at what just happened, shaking his head and slowly backing away...
Iceman's very familiar with telepathic communication. It was pretty much the primary way the Professor communicated with them all when they were growing up. Easier than trying to hunt them all down on the mansion grounds. <Gonna have to give me a name, babe. Need to know who wants me to trust them so much.> he thinks back Onora's way. Johnny is acting weird so he's going to hear the mysterious voice out. And then Johnny's going fan-zapper. Scowling, the air in the room chills. "Don't crowd her, get her first aid," he barks to the people. "And then get her to a hospital," he adds. "You, come with me," he says to Johnny, reaching out to try to grab his friend to drag him outside and away from squishy, flammable civilians.
On the roof, Onora's heart breaks. Whoever or whatever has taken over Johnny has been through hell and she hurts for the being but... He's holding someone very dear to her hostage. The message from Bobby comes through just fine and she answers immediately. <Onora>
Unable to get a grip on Johnny's mind, she changes tactics. Her voice, warm and soft and with that silky french lilt sounds in the mind of whoever possess Johnny. <Give him back. Please.> The last word is said pleadingly. Here, she has two choices. She can shift into a much larger form and try to wrangle Johnny when he comes out or... she can continue to do it this way.... For now, she'll go with option two... Option one is a backup plan.
'Oh, but I'm not done with him yet.' comes the only answer to Onora's pleas, and any future attempts to persuade him otherwise are ignored. The fearful crowd hurries out the door for the most part, eager to get away from the danger, though the girl's friends remain while one of them calls 9-1-1. Johnny jerks away from Bobby when his friend tries to drag him outside. Instead, he bursts into flames and rockets straight through the roof, landing in front of the panther who had been hiding up there. "You." he growls, fixing her with a glare. "You ruined -everything-." There's no hesitation before a blazing ball of plasma comes hurtling toward her, and this one is a -lot- bigger than the one he'd just burned that human girl with. "That's right, I'm not done with your -boyfriend- yet. Not until I've forced him to make you suffer! Until I've forced him to watch you -die-!"
Bobby scowls as Johnny rockets into the air, making an icy barrier to shield people against debris. "Dammit," he curses under his breath. "We got a mind control thing going on here, people! Get to safety and tell the cops to get the rest of the F4 down here," he calls to the crowd, shifting from his standard ice armor to going full on organic ice. With that done, he's launching himself out of the same hole to follow Johnny and trying to toss an ice wall up between the flames and the panther. He sort of remembers Onora but that's not important right now.
The panther on the roof jumps back as 'Johnny' lands in front of her. Those two tone eyes fix on him. <You won't get away. You know that. Johnny may not be able to stop you but I'm not the only one who knows. And you just outed yourself> The message is sent to Johnny as well as Bobby.
She barely has enough time to shift from Panther to Unicorn which will be the only thing that keeps that massive ball impending pain from killing her. As it is, he'll get his wish on her suffering. The wall comes up just a second too late and the pristine Unicorn is engulfed in flames.
The ice wall comes up, though it is just a fraction of a second too late. It slices the plasma in half, coming up through the middle and causing it to cool somewhat, lessening the blow to Onora. "I don't care. I knew I couldn't play it cool forever." he watches with satisfaction as the flames engulf her. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have bigger fish to fry. But don't worry honey--I'll be back for you...once I'm finished with my -father-." And with a wink and a smirk he takes off into the sky, disappearing into the clouds!
"Hey! Stick to heat and fire puns!" Iceman snaps, quickly working to drop some just barely frozen snow onto the flaming unicorn. Just a tactic he's used in the Danger Room and when fighting Pyro. The heat melts the snow into water to put out the flames.
The feathers are quickly burned off causing more than a little agony to rock through Onora's body. It takes the unicorn to it's knees. Between the lessened blow, the water and the healing ability of this form, the shifter survives. Her voice, when it reaches out to Bobby, is a whisper. <Go. Stop him. Johnny will never forgive himself if anyone else gets hurt> Pause. <Please.> Energy drained, she promptly passes out, reverting back to human form where it becomes apparent that some of the burns carried over despite the healing.
Bobby curses slightly before nodding. He forms up a quick Fantastic Four 4 with an arrow pointing to the Onora and then takes a breath. "Of all the times not to be able to fly," he mutters, taking off as fast as he can in the direction Johnny went via ice slide. He's tracking the heat trail, hoping it helps make up for his lack of speed in the air.