⁀➷

Reed began the testing process to see what the others and himself were capable of.

"So, let's see what you can control," said Reed, holding out a jar that contained a spider. "Tell it to do something."

"This reminds me of that scene from Harry Potter," Dorothy muttered.

"Of course, you would think of Harry Potter," Johnny interrupted.

"Tell me again why you're here?" she questioned.

"Because I was bored."

She rolled her eyes before turning to the spider. "Uh - Jump."

The spider jumped in the jar.

Dorothy looked up at Reed who had wide eyes. He looked back down at the spider who was crawling around inside the closed jar.

"Tell it to do something else."

"Stop moving around," she commanded.

The spider stopped moving around, causing Dorothy to let out a gleeful shriek, throwing herself around Johnny.

"I can control other things!"

"Insects, apparently, I believe," said Reed. "If we could find an animal or a bird, even."

Dorothy looked up at Johnny and cleared her throat as she backed away from his chest. "Well, we could just watch the balcony until a bird comes by. We can't exactly go out to find a dog or a cat."

Reed nodded. "Will you two do that and record yourselves? I can get started on Ben."

"Sure thing, boss," said Dorothy. "You coming?" she asked, looking at Johnny.

He grinned. "Looking at a balcony? Hell yeah."

The two walked by the edge of the balcony, sitting down and patiently waiting for a bird to perch itself on the ledge.

"It's fun being with you," said Johnny.

"I don't like where this is going."

"Yeah, me either, but I already said it," he retorted.

"What's got you all sappy?"

He shrugged. "Sue and Reed, I guess. He's stupid, but I know they still love each other."

Dorothy hummed. "Yeah, some people still love each other even when they've separated."

"Do you?"

She looked at him and smiled softly. "Well, you're the first person I've been in a relationship with and I always had a good time around you. We were just too young and eager to have fun. You were bad with committing - still are - and I didn't know who I was."

"What about now?"

"I'm figuring it out, but I'm better than I was before," she answered.

"Let's give it another shot then," he said.

"Why, can't find another girl?"

"I mean it, Dorothy. You get me, I get you."

"Sue gets you, Ben gets me. Your point?" she retorted.

"D, come on. We've been dancing around each other for weeks now."

She stared at him for a moment. "You're afraid to be alone. The CIA trained me in reading people."

He let out a breath, looking over the balcony. "Yeah, I am afraid."

"Okay, we'll give it another shot."

He grinned at her, quickly pecking her lips before she could catch him.

"Johnny!"

"Hey, look there's a pigeon."

She sighed.

She was able to talk to the pigeon and it seemed to prove that Dorothy's manipulation abilities reached out to animals as well. They began walking back into the lab.

"That was fun," said Dorothy. "You know, I could become president for a hot minute."

"Or you could have sex with me for a hot day," Johnny suggested.

She wrinkled her nose up. "President or sex - Hmm, what a tough choice."

"Cheeky girl."

"Oh, but you like it."

"You two are gross," Ben called out as he walked past them and down the hallway.

Dorothy chuckled. "Come on, we have your testing to go to."

She grabbed his hand and led him into a separate part of the lab where a heat chamber was set up. She walked behind the protective glass with Sue and Reed as Johnny stepped into the heat chamber. They were going to assess how hot he could get with a series of systems and a computer that he would keep track of the heat.

"He's heating up from his core," informed Reed.

"And his vitals are completely normal still," Sue added.

The temperature continued to rise.

"It's hotter than I anticipated," Reed commented. "Okay, Johnny, back it down."

"I can go hotter!" he exclaimed.

"Johnny, just back it down," Sue commanded.

He didn't listen and continued to raise the temperature of the flames in his body.

"Jonathan Storm, stop that right now!" Dorothy commanded through the speakers.

The flames died down, but he had done a lot of damage already.

"Buzz-kills!" he called out. "You guys are cramping my style!"

"Johnny, you were at 4,000 Kelvin. Any hotter and you're approaching supernova," said Reed.

"Sweet."

"No, not sweet," Susan corrected. "That's the temperature of the sun."

"Not only could you kill yourself, but you could set fire to earth's atmosphere and destroy all human life as we know it," added Reed.

"Got it. Supernova, bad."