The Storm Inside (a Johnny Storm/fantastic four fanfic)

Chapter 7

I let out a wail of fright, the other me following immediately. I couldn't even believe this... Was I going insane?

"Who the heck are you???!!!" I shouted.

"Elonza Beckers!!! Who do I look like to you?!"

"You look like m- wait a second... did you say Elonza?" I questioned.

She just stood there for a second, looking me up and down. She nodded her head finally and took three steps out of the closet. I backed far away from her, fearing that I really was losing my mind. She stepped out of the closet and paced around the room. 

I buried my head in my hands and groaned. "So you're saying... that you're... me?"

"I don't know."

"Well that's helpful." I sighed. "What is the last thing you remember?"

She scratched the back of her head and sat down on the hospital bed. "Um... I can't remember. Sorry. The only thing I can think of right now is that closet. It's like everything before that never existed... almost like I didn't exist before that."

"Wait, so what you are telling me... is that you just popped into existence and now you're here?" She nodded again. "This is crazy..."

... 

"Mr. Richards, I hope you don't think I'm absolutely insane, but I have to talk to you about something." I started, trying to catch Reed as I padded down the hallway outside of the hospital room. 

"Elonza?" he turned around. "What are you doing? You were supposed to stay in your bed. Is everything alright?"

"Not really, Mr. Richards. You see, there's something in my room that I need to show you." I beckoned him over to the room and opened the door slowly. His brows furrowed as he looked at me before proceeding into the room. 

The other Lonzie sat in an armchair next to the window. She turned around abruptly when she heard us enter the room. "Who are you?" Reed called.

"Elonza Beckers." she replied. 

He grabbed me by the shoulder and pushed me back out into the hallway, slamming the door shut behind him. "What the heck was that?" 

"That's why I took you in there. I'm not really sure. I heard her in the closet, so I got up and opened the door, and there she was. She says her name is Lonzi- I mean, Elonza, and she doesn't remember anything before being in the closet. She said that it's like she didn't exist before I found her in that closet." I explained. 

"I wonder..." he sighed. He paused and rubbed his chin, pacing up and down the hallway before coming back to where I was standing. "The explosion had different effects on everyone that was on the ship. Do you remember losing your arm?"

"No. I just woke up and it was gone. It doesn't even hurt."

"This sounds ridiculous, but I wonder... if when they put you on the IV's, your cells multiplied somehow. It's near impossible, but I hypothesize that she's a clone. And your arm..." he thought outloud, "I know! It was probably a transferral of cells. They were either transferred back into your body... or they were transferred into the spacecraft. If I'm correct, we might be able to come up with a surgery to fix your arm." 

"That's great!" I smiled. "But what do we do about... her? We can't exactly get rid of her..."

"We'll treat her as another member of the team for now." he replied. "That's all we really can do. Of course, we'll have to do testing on her as well as every other member of the team." 

"But Mr. Richards, I can't exactly go back in that room with her. What if she's one of those evil twins like in those old sci-fi movies?"

He chuckled heavily and ran a hand through his hair. "Elonza, it's great to know that you have such a large imagination, but I'm sure that won't happen. After all, if we're right, she's just another projection of you."

... 

Later that day, I sat up in the lounge, on the floor above the hospital wing. There were large glass windows that overlooked New York, and the room was filled with comfortable couches and armchairs. 

"Lonzie?" Johnny shouted from the door of the lounge. "Oh my god. You won't believe what happened to me earlier!" He ran over to the couch, almost sitting down before he saw my missing arm. His hand flew to his mouth and he almost collapsed. "Are you okay?! What happened to you?"

"I'm not really sure. I just woke up and it was gone. It doesn't even hurt, though, so that's good." I wasn't planning on telling him about the other Lonzie, so I let him continue.

"Geez, I'm so sorry." he stated. "Anyway..." He snapped his fingers and a small flame protruded from between his thumb and first finger. My eyes widened to double their size and I backed away quickly, my butt hitting the armrest on the other end of the couch. "Isn't it so cool!"

"Uh... sure, Johnny. But I'm not so sure how safe that is. Why don't you... um... get rid of it."

"Fine." he frowned and blew out the flame. "This is wicked awesome though! Think of all the possibilities!" I just laughed and leaned on my back on the back of the couch. I'm just glad I wasn't the one on fire...