cftorch:
When it came to powers, Johnny had always known where he stood. He was less without his powers than he was with them, would go from being a hero to a nobody if they were ever permanently taken away. Ben, too, had always had a clear stance, though it was entirely on the other side of the spectrum from Johnny’s. He’d never quite known where Reed or Sue stood, though, and part of him was afraid to ask. If they’d known what the end result would be when they’d stepped into that rocket, would they still have gone? The idea that they wouldn’t, that they would have stayed behind to pursue normal lives, was somehow terrifying. Johnny already hated knowing that the best moment of his life had been the worst of Ben’s, and while he might be able to stomach knowing it had been the worst of Reed’s, he didn’t think he could go on if Sue felt the same.
Sue had always been his guiding force, showing him the right way to do things ever since he was a little kid. When he was in high school, young and angry and stubborn, she’d been the one to refuse to allow him to drop out. She made him do all his homework, made him go to class, made him march across that stage to get his diploma. Sue had always made Johnny a far better person. If not for her, he probably would’ve been in prison for punching the president weeks ago. “Really?” Johnny’s face brightened at the idea of setting Bar Creep on fire, though the idea was quickly abandoned when a much more tempting target took the stage. “Maybe I should set him on fire,” he murmured, glaring daggers at the stage as Doom exited. “Uh. Make a perimeter? A distraction? Offer up a free s’mores station? You’re the brains here, sis.”
When the team had returned from that fated space mission, Sue had been monumentally angry. Their progress, given the fact that the takeoff had been unauthorised, was going to be buried, their careers were all but in the toilet, and her brother had suffered something traumatic that was at least partially her fault. She was supposed to protect him, defend him. That was the only job she had for the first twenty odd years of her life, and she prided herself on doing it well. Of course, it turned out that the opposite was the case. Johnny thrived as a result of his powers, the team was formed to save the world on more than one occasion every week, and Sue’s career sky-rocketed quite literally. They travelled to new dimensions, new planets and solar systems, they were adventurers, and they were heroes.
Of course, the second they touched back down on Earth, they found that things were much the same as always. Politics continued to be the grey area that Sue had always despised, people didn’t trust each other as far as they could throw them, and even heroes were divided on important issues. Tonight was a perfect example of how history continued to repeat itself, yet another event thrown into chaos. “Do you think we could catch him on time? He’s moving faster than a sewer rat,” Sue said with evident distaste, watching as Victor scarpered. What she had ever seen in him, she was unsure. She had always been blinded by a big brain! “We could try to make a queue?” Sue suggested, not entirely convinced at her own tone nevermind trying to persuade Johnny it was a great idea. “People get pissed off in queues, but at least they’re not trying to punch each other! An orderly line out would be just the ticket!” How they would do that, of course, remained up to debate. “Maybe I should just use the mom voice instead?”