Twin Fire Signs ✓

Chapter 20

I eventually found him listening around the corner to Reed and Sue. "I'm going to kill you," I whisper in his ear.

He doesn't even blink as he responds, "Later. We need to find Ben." We find Ben and Alicia in the game room. "They're breaking up the team." Johnny says in way of greeting.

"Huh?" Ben asks.

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

"Well what do you they expect us to do? Keeping going, just the two of us?"

"And call ourselves what? The Dynamic Duo?" Johnny asks sarcastically.

"Or Dead on Arrival because you'd end up killing each other." I say. They look at me, neither one impressed by my humor.

"When were they going to tell us?" Ben asks angrily.

"They'll tell you when they're ready to tell you. It's their decision, not yours." Alicia says.

"You can't be mad at them for doing what makes them happy." I add, picking up Juliette, kissing her cheeks, smiling as she giggles. I saw Johnny looking at her fondly.

"Guys," Reed says, interrupting. "We've got a serious problem."

We all look at each other, concerned. "Can you hold onto her?" I ask Alicia.

"Of course I can. Come here baby." Alicia says, causing Juliette to laugh.

We're in the lab and Reed is explaining his discovery. "I've been cross-referencing the Surfer's radiation through every astronomical database. Altair 7, Rigel 3, Vega 6."

"He's been to all of these planets?" Ben asks.

"And now they're lifeless. Barren. Some even shattered. Everywhere the surfer goes, eight days later, the planet dies." Reed continues.

"How are we gonna stop him?" Ben asks.

"We don't even know where he is," I add. We look at the screen for a little, taking in the fact that in a few days, the world could be ending.

"What about the craters?" Sue asks, having a breakthrough. Reed starts a program, running through the craters that have already appeared.

"They're appearing in a numerical sequence." Reed observes. "The last crater was formed in Greenland so the next in the sequence should be latitude 51 degrees, 30 minutes north, longitude 0 degrees, seven minutes west."

"London?" I ask.

...

We were suited up, in a helicopter with Hager and some of his people, heading towards the London Eye. "When he surfaces, we gotta move the fight away from the crowd." Reed instructs is.

"Nah, he's too fast to be contained. When I see Silver, I'm hitting him." Johnny argues from the front.

"You can't do that. We stuck to the plan and work as a team." Reed yells back.

"Oh, so we're a team now? News to me."

"What are you talking about?" Reed asks.

"You know what I'm talking about." Reed and Sue look at each other.

"Look we were going to tell you."

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

"Johnny, this really isn't a good time." Sue says, trying to keep the peace.

"Well that's Johnny's M.O. isn't it? Never finding the right time to talk about things." I say, giving him a look.