Twin Fire Signs ✓

Chapter 21

We're all sitting in a media room, the screen lit up with video footage. I'm next to Johnny, hoping to stop him to talk after we get out of here. "I've made a detailed recording of our little encounter." Victor says.

"'All that you know is at an end.'" We hear the surfer tell him, before watching Victor get blasted out of frame. "Well?" Victor asks as the video paused.

"I like the part where he knocks you on your ass." Ben says. Victor looks uncomfortable, being so close to Ben.

"Look at where the energy levels surge when he attacks me." He replays the video. "There. See what happened?"

"The energy was channeled through him." Reed starts but I interrupt.

"But it originated from his board." I finish.

"If we can separate him from the board, we can cut off his power completely." Victor proposes.

"Then that's what we have to do." Hager says.

"How?" Johnny asks.

"If I knew that, I wouldn't need you people, would I?" He says snootily.

"You two should get started right away." Hager orders.

I pull Reed aside as everyone stands to leave. "I have a really bad feeling about this." I whisper to him.

Victor smirks at me before saying, "I'm glad we have the opportunity to collaborate again. I'll try to talk slowly so you can keep up."

As we leave I grab Victor's arm, heating up a bit, burning him and making it impossible for him to get away. "If you even think about betraying us, I'll turn you to ash before you even realize what's happening." I warn him, before allowing Johnny to lead me out.

"We need to talk." I tell him as I pass to go change. He sighs and then nods, following me.

...

We get back to the Baxter Building and Johnny and I go to our old room. I grab the papers from the desk. "Do you want to explain this?" I ask, tossing them on the bed in front of him.

"I'm pretty sure it's self-explanatory." He has the audacity to joke right now?

"Why the fuck am I the only one who signed? Why didn't you file it? You realize that we're still married, right? And now, to correct this, there's going to be lawyer's fees and legal hoops that we need to jump through."

"I didn't want to."

"What the hell do you mean you didn't want to? You're the one who didn't want to stay married. You gave me the papers. You left me before I even left town. And after you decided to do this and I came back, you've been back and forth, first with the army captain, then with your slutty wedding date, then with me and then now I see you making eyes at the captain again. It's always going to be like this with you Johnny. So I'm going to do us both a favor. As soon as this world-ending chaos is over, I'm filing for divorce, for real this time."

...

A little while later, Johnny, Ben and I are in a bar. I had Alicia keep Juliette for the time being since I didn't know exactly what was going to happen.

Johnny was playing darts while Ben and I sat at a table nearby, drinking. "How can we be working on the same side as Victor?" Johnny asks, throwing another dart.

"You got me. Things were simpler when I could wail on the guy." Ben says.

The next dart Johnny throws catches on fire and as it sinks into the board, the whole thing goes up in flames. "Oh shit!" I hear him whisper before I wave my hand, drawing the fire to me where it absorbs into my body, effectively putting it out. The board however, is still scorched in the center. "I'll pay for that." He says before grabbing the darts and continuing his game. "I'll tell you, I'm starting to feel like a complete screw-up."

"Hey, hey. You're not a complete screw-up." Ben says. I shake my head at his antics.

"Thank you." Just as he's about to throw another dart, I sneak up behind him and throw one. He turns to me and I raise an eyebrow in a challenge.

"Loser buys the next round, and pays for the replacement board." He gives me a little half smile and nods. That damn smile. I hated what he did to me, still making me love hun after all the stupid shit he pulled. But I guess that was part of his charm. He wouldn't be Johnny if he wasn't like this.

I let my darts loose one at a time, each getting closer and closer until the third one hits dead center. He looks at me, shocked. I shrug. "Did you think I just sat there all those nights we'd go out all those years ago? You'd be able MIA, flirting with anything in a skirt, besides me I might add, and I'd be hustling grown men outta their money."

Ben interrupts us, returning to the conversation at hand. "Look, kids, it's out of our hands. It's up to the eggheads now."

"You think Reed's right, about the end of the world thing?" Johnny asks as he sinks his darts, getting all but one.

"I win!" I yell excitedly, before reading the tension. "Sorry." I whisper, sitting back down.

"He's never been wrong about this kinda thing before." Ben says as Johnny sits next to me.

"You know, I'm not exactly a deep kind of guy."

I snort when Ben says, "Really?"

Johnny elects to ignore both of us. "But if Reed's right, and this is it, how do you want to spend your last few minutes?"

I stare off at the back wall and think about what Johnny said. The most obvious answer is with my daughter, giving her one last snuggle before assuring her that everything was going to be ok. And in this vision, Johnny is there too, holding us both. We're a proper family.

I feel them both looking at me and I realize I missed Ben's answer. "Sorry. I'd want to be with my daughter, assuring her that Mommy and Daddy did all they could and that it was going to be ok."

Johnny looks over at me and smiles. I give him a small smile back. Could things be different this time? Could we be more than what we are? "What about you?" Ben asks him.

"Me? I'd want to be with my daughter and her mother, enjoying our last moments as a family." He says.