Disclaimer: I don't own or pretend to own anything relating to Fantastic Four, the characters, or the actors. But I do own my plot and my own characters . . . so please respect my territory.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Large Animals

Chapter Quote: "I'm. Still. Here."

I could feel nothing.

And what I mean by feeling nothing meant that I could not feel any part of me, nor did I attempt to move. I felt heavy, like some extreme fatigue or weight was pushing me down. I wondered if it would be simply easier to remain here, weightless, then to try and stir.

"Jo? Hey... hey Reed! She's waking up!" I heard Johnny somewhere nearby and I tried to shift my legs. Lead heavy, how it could possibly be this difficult to move? My legs twitched, sliding along the metal floor. I was still in Reed's steel cage. I opened my eyes, Reed was at my side- I could feel his long fingers on my neck, checking for a pulse. There was something else hovering in the back of my mind.

Like a door, another option. One easier then dealing with this oppressive weight that was threatening to crush me where I lay. The door, dark in nature, frightened me. But it would be so easy, and it was that simplicity that beckoned to me. I shivered.

Breathing deeply, I blinked in the dull light as I opened my eyes, looking around at the flashing monitors on the walls above me. "Josephine, can you hear me?" Reed asked. There was a nervousness in his voice, it shook slightly. I mean, he could have just been excited too, it would of had the same sort of tone coming from him. But it was Johnny's reaction that I was most curious about.

I lifted my head, it was pounding- I could feel blood rushing, pulsing through my temples. I blinked, my vision slightly blurred as I focused on the door. The monitors were whirring loudly and I pushed myself onto my shoulders. Everything, every part of me, felt detached. So heavy that it had no place belonging to me. I sagged beneath the weight, wearily attempting to carry myself under it. Reed had frozen at my side, his jaw slack. Johnny by the door was no better. His blue eyes were wide, his fingers twitched slightly as they hung at his side.

I tried to ask him what was wrong as my mind slowly stopped spinning, but I was only able to emit awkward grunts instead. I felt warm again, an uncomfortable warmth. I stumbled awkwardly to my feet, almost crashing back down in an unsuccessful effort to get my legs beneath me.

"What's happening?" I asked nervously, panicking as the cage began to sway. I tried to balance myself, but the floor kept slipping out from beneath me. My whole boy felt stiff and awkward, as if it belonged in this stance but wasn't yet accustomed to it.

"Jo- Jo, you have to change back!" Reed shouted as my high-pitched cries rose in volume and tone. He was on his feet now too, had grabbed the edge of the door to keep from slipping as the steel enclosure rocked uncertainly. Johnny had braced himself in the door frame, looking wildly at me.

"Reed, Johnny, get out of there!" Called Susan from outside and, through the monitors, I could see her trying to steady the rocking motions of the cage with a force field. It wasn't helping.

"This observation room wasn't designed to hold a large animal, Josephine." Reed continued, his clipboard skidding across the floor. But I didn't see my fingers, or my hand, or even skin. I immediately identified the foreign appendages on the floor beneath me as hooves. Hooves? I froze. My legs shook in my effort to keep still on the stainless steel floor. I jerked my head to the monitors from my position in the far corner.

There was a horse on the diagrams, positioned in the same stance as I. I glanced at the screen monitoring my heart, the readouts were flickering crazily, not easily identifying what they were supposed to.

"Reed? Reed?!" I tried again, but this time only a high pitched whinny wormed out of my throat. I stretched my head around, staring at the dark body stretching out behind me. But it couldn't possibly... I stumbled, and the cage lurched behind my frenzied movements as I spun to glance at my reflection in the wall. But there it was, again. A large, black horse looking back at me.

I felt no different, heavier perhaps. If not for the fear pulsing through me and the awful realization that that beast was supposed to be me, I would have assumed that nothing had changed. Then again, how the hell was I supposed to know what being a horse felt like? My feet started slipping again, the cage rocked violently. Losing my balance once more, I thrashed in a panic- my mind blank as I slid into the wall with the monitors and my back legs smashed the ones closest to me, shattering them.

"STOP MOVING!" Shouted Johnny, and I could hear Reed straining to shout instructions to Susan outside over my high pitched squeals and thrashing legs. But it couldn't be real, I couldn't possibly, seriously be- I snorted, screaming as sparks started to fly. Then there was a massive crash and the cage tipped, loosed from its position. It creaked, shuddered, and then stilled.

The room went dark. I could feel someone's body draped across my own- still slammed against the corner. I couldn't figure out why I could think so clearly, but my panic had lessened some and the alien, animal instincts faded slightly. I lay still, trying to concentrate on breathing. I could hear a grunt from outside, the door was still open and it swung lazily on its hinges. The floor was cold and I shivered as I lay against it, my strange body slick with sweat.

"Can we get some level of order in there?" Grunted Ben, his voice just outside the door. My back was facing the doorway and I craned my neck around to look I could see Susan's silhouette in the light.

"Ben's holding the cage still but he's going to set it down now. Can you try and stay still Jo? We can help you."

No they can't. The darkness whispered, familiar and comforting in the chaos. I shoved it away, unwilling to face it. I didn't know how to answer Sue, but I took a long, shaking breath in reply. The body sprawled across my stomach shifted off of me, a hand stroked my shoulder.

"It's alright, we can fix this." I heard Johnny whisper. I laid my head back down, closing my eyes. His hand felt warm, soothing against the coolness that stole across me. I was a stranger, an oddity. Familiar and unfamiliar at the same time. I knew myself, and yet I didn't- I didn't know this. But I breathed slowly, relaxing beneath his touch. The cage tipped upright once more.

"Just keep still, Jo." I heard Reed say, and then I felt his hand on my throat. He was shaking slightly.

"Does she need a sedative?" Susan called.

I shuddered, no more needles, I begged silently. Pleading with any of them to hear me. "I don't think so." Johnny replied.

Reed stood, I could hear him moving beside m, running his hands along my body. "She's bleeding."

The horse that was laying so still beneath his fingertips looked nothing like Jo. It was black, blacker then any animal Johnny had ever seen. Reed was running his hands down her legs, checking for any other injuries. There was a large gash on one, probably the result of taking out the monitors. "What should we treat it with?" He asked.

"I'm not sure, I don't think we have anything around here that would be safe to use on a horse." Susan replied somberly. The horse... Jo ... hadn't move at all. Except for the steady rise and fall of her chest, she might have not been alive at all. Sue shone a flashlight inside, taking a sharp breath when the beam of light rested upon Jo's body.

"Can she change back?" She asked quietly.

There was an irritating buzz in the back of his mind, and he shook his head irritably. "Here." There was a lone word, an awkward word- strange. It felt cold, like when you dip your foot in water to test the temperature.

"What?" He asked, glancing back at Sue, and then Reed. In the dim light he could see the confused looks on both their faces. "Did you hear it too?" He asked curiously. The buzzing intensified, painfully this time, like the noise a microphone makes when it's too close to a speaker. They all their hands over their ears, wincing, until three distinguishable words radiated through the noise.

"I'm. Still. Here."

Johnny leaned down closer to her. "Can you change back?"

She sighed, as if her words took some great effort. "I. Can. Try."

She sounded so tired, exhausted by the effort of getting this far. He almost wanted to persuade her to quit, to give up now before it only got harder. He admired her bravery, but he just didn't want her to suffer.

"It's. Better. This. Way." The cold words told him as he continued to rhythmically stroke her neck. Shuddering, she shifted slightly, and moaned. Almost immediately before his eyes, her skin started to pale and her body shrunk. It was over in moments, and he would never know how difficult it was. But then she was lying there, naked, on her side. Her body still, her skin scarred and bruised. She shivered, eyes closed.

Reed hurried over, shrugging off his long, lab coat and carefully draping it over her. Johnny stroked her neck again, her auburn hair splayed awkwardly down her back. He gathered her up into his arms, her skin almost as pale as the lab coat covering her. She felt so still, so lifeless in his arms.

"Take her to my room." Sue interjected, "I'll get her into something warm." Jo's hair was fading from a dark red to black, her veins darkening beneath translucent skin. She pressed her face against his chest, her limp hands catching on the folds of his shirt- towards the warmth of his body. Her eyes were the last to change, he noted, as they flickered open briefly and their blue depths slowly faded to a thick black. She blinked.

"Did it work?" She asked dreamily. Her eyes were drifting shut, but that flat gaze lingered wearily upon him, desiring to draw strength from his answer. He stepped outside the door upon Reed's suggestion and the mangled observation cage door closed behind them.

"You were fantastic." She smiled, and was asleep within moments.

When I woke up, I felt warm again. Warm, clean, and even content. My waking mind, fuzzy as it was, remembered vaguely that I had accomplished something yesterday. And I had done it on my own. I sat up slowly, blinking sleepiness from my eyes as I glanced down at my arms. I did have arms this time and I inspected them carefully. I wondered if I really had been a horse, if I had only just imagined it.

My hands looked the same, though my nose wrinkled in displeasure as I noted the reappearance of the black veins and pallid skin. There was a mirror at the end of the room, opposite the bed I was sitting on. My bare feet felt cold against the carpeted floor, but my body offered no other complaint as I rose and glided towards the mirror. I felt slightly sore, as if my skin, even my bones had been stretched too far (which wasn't entirely far from the truth).

Every step twinged, but the slight pain was a reminder of the control I had taken over myself. It felt wonderful. The darkened features I saw intermingled with my pale skin in the mirror was comforting in its familiarity. I held up my arm again and rolled up the sleeve blanketing it. I stretched my fingers to a point, inspecting them as they moved through the air. Five fingers, my hand was not misshapen in anyway.

And yet I wondered how they could have possibly morphed into something as large and hard as a horse hoof. Maybe I had only imagined it after all. I turned around, limping slightly. I was in Johnny's room again. The sleeping bag lay mussed up on the floor, though it didn't smell as if he'd been in here in a while.

I frowned, that was odd. How could I know that about him just by his smell? But there was something different. Johnny had always had that strange sort of power over me, his aroma. This was different, like a fingerprint. I felt very aware of my surroundings and the added bonus to my senses was like a sugar high.

Glancing back at the sleeping bag, I wondered if he had slept at all last night. I could remember his hands on my neck... my back... my shoulders. My eyes flickered at the memory, he had been so warm... I shook my head, embarrassed by my own thoughts. The oversized clothes on my body were his, I could smell him. That fingerprint presence again.

Curious about my surroundings, I turned my attentions to outside the bedroom and my newly heightened senses didn't fail me. I closed my eyes, breathing deeply as I envisioned the labs, living room, kitchen, and other bedrooms outside my door.

No one was in the direction of the kitchen, or at the table, or in the sitting area, but they were somewhere in the lab. Ben was stiff, stale. Stale as in he still had a distinctly human smell, but it was hardened, buried under layers of hard rock. Susan's was fresh, lively, like rain. The child within her ethereal, a hint of a person- but strong enough for me to identify it. I inched closer to the door, fascinated. Reed was artificial, swathed in chemicals. His scent was harder to determine because it was so heavily masked, probably because he was wearing his suit beneath his lab coat- none of the others were.

Johnny was just... I blushed. Amazing. In high school I had learned to fondly associate that endearing smell of smoke (which had seemed to trail him even then), but also of a sort of warmth. Butterscotch, sweet but with a tang. I had to keep myself from giggling... I wondered what he'd say if I told him he smelt like butterscotch. Johnny's scent was the strongest out of the five, mostly due to the overwhelming smells from his room, but also because I was the most familiar with it, I think.

I glanced back in the mirror, wrinkling my nose as I again took in the state of my disheveled black hair, dark eyes, and pallid complection. Would it hurt...if... maybe, just some, small adjustments were made? I stared hard at my reflection, remembering how red my hair could look sometimes in the sun, more red then auburn in the summer. How it glistened. I smiled with pleasure as the alterations I specified went into effect. And then my eyes, so very blue, icy even- and then my eyes were back.

I took care of my skin next, relishing in its soft, natural hue as I filled out Johnny's clothes a little more. Success. It hadn't hurt, had felt kind of like blowing up a balloon. I could tie it off, stay this way for a while, but I imagined that it would wear on me after a while. The balloon would eventually deflate or pop under pressure. And that would be the end of that. I put my theory into practice and I was pleased my the results.

I liked how empty I felt, there was no emotion. No fear or maliciousness. I was doing this on my own, without her help. I liked it. I changed my appearance again, toyed with a lock of my auburn hair. Turning from the mirror, I made my way to the door.

The observation cage had been demolished. Johnny winced as he took a look around, the lab had been showing quite a few signs of wear and tear lately. Ben had righted the structure once he, Reed and Jo had gotten out- but Reed hadn't even bothered to repair the damages yet. He was absolutely fascinated with the footage they had taken, it had been playing on a loop nearly all night and into the morning.

Sometimes he played it at different angles or speeds, mostly comparing it to the various anatomical readings that had been recorded from the monitors before they had been destroyed. It was fascinating, he would admit that much. But it was also unnerving. The footage of Jo's face, twisted in agony, as her body had stretched and morphed into a new creature entirely had been enough to send sparks flying from his fingertips. Sue had cooled him with a sharp glance.

A horse. Go figure. I tell her to run, and she picks a horse. "It's kinda cool if you think about it." He mused aloud. "You could be whatever you wanted." He glanced at Ben who hovered over them, watching the screen for himself. "It would help you out."

"Not that I need helping." The hardened ex-astronaut replied. "But I'd rather not have my personality divided in two, no matter what the perks are."

Sue nodded, turned to address Reed. "How is it even possible that someone could have given her this ability? It's not a scientific possibility... is it?"

Reed stared doubtfully at the screen, paused it on a close up of Jo's shoulders, on peeking out from underneath her shirt where her black veins and straggled scars and swelled before her transformation. "As far as I know, it should be an impossibility. But those scars beg to differ. Just claws... or inhuman strength could be implanted into a human being with difficulty, but she transforms entirely into a new creature. Her whole physical make-up, her skeleton, her organs, even the telepathy is unusual."

He played the video in slow motion, watching as her body transformed . The shot was focused mostly on her head, and it elongated, her facial features rearranging. Her ears pulling back on her head, her eyes moving to the side, her mouth and nose moving down. "We had no idea what her limits are, how far she can go, how long she can hold her shape, the effects it has on her human form." He flicked a button and an image appeared of her scars cris-crossing her bare back. He traced them.

"There has to be some sort of pattern here, some rhyme to the reason. But what could her abductors have possibly hoped to gain from this? What could they have added to change her in this way?" He shook his head. "Fixing Josephine isn't the main problem here, it's figuring out how she works."

They turned as they heard the door to Johnny's room open from the second story of the apartment. Jo sprang from it soundlessly, one of the sleeves of an oversized sweatshirt rolled up to her right arm. She was mumbling to herself, watching as her arm morphed from a hand, to a hoof, to a talon, to a fin, to an insect leg, to a scaled leg, to a crab pincer. She looked up at them, an odd excitement alight in her eyes. Blue eyes, they didn't readily escape Johnny's attention.

She looked absolutely normal, with the exception of the rapid ease with which she was altering her hand. She stopped a few feet away from them, grinning slightly. "It doesn't hurt anymore, not really." She stopped when she got back to her own hand and then held it up for her own inspection. "I feel fine."

Johnny moved closer to her, intrigued. He took her hand, running his fingers over her flawless skin. Her hand trembled slightly under his touch and she gently pulled away. "How much can you change?" He asked.

Frowning, she pursed her lips. "I'm not sure." Her brows furrowed as she thought for a moment. And then her hand altered again, this time to match his own. Startled, his eyes widened and he took a step back. Muscular and defined, he held his own up for comparison, and then looked at her face. Her chest flattened, and she grew to match his height. Her frame thickened, layered with foreign muscle. Until he found himself looking at himself, a mirror image- if only a darker version. Her (...his?) skin was paler, his eyes darker, his cropped blond hair exchanged for black.

Reed was on his feet now with Susan at his side. Emo Johnny grinned, meekly, and then with greater enthusiasm, he...she... chuckled. There came that buzzing noise again, loud, that screech from a microphone. "Did I do it?" She shouted into their minds, cold words seeping through mental barriers. The Fantastic four pressed their hands to their ears, grimacing.

"Fabulously." Said Sue, her eyes closed. "But could you try not to shout?"

The smile faded from Emo Johnny's face and there was a sudden silence. With a few quick adjustments, blue eyed, red haired Jo was standing before them again. Concern flitting across her face. "Sorry!" She gasped. "I didn't mean to- I just get excited and..." She was so appealing when she's nervous, Johnny thought to himself. Breakable... beautiful... human. He placed a hand on her shoulder and this time she didn't flinch away.

"We'll get it, you'll get it. It's fine." She stopped, turning to him curiously before a sheepish smile returned. She colored slightly under his continued warmth on her shoulder. She felt so solid, there was muscle, firm muscle, hidden beneath the folds of the sweat suit.

"But all your subjects have the same color tone? That's interesting..." Reed commented thoughtfully, staring intently at her.

"Color tone?" Johnny hand dropped from her shoulder as the flesh beneath his hand bristled. She rocketed from beneath his touch, her face morphing into a rocky, black resemblance of Ben. Jo... black Ben... looked at her hand, and then at Ben's orange, rocky skin. Ben was smiling, rubbed his cheek thoughtfully as he eyed his mirror form.

"I like the black... it looks-"

"Badass?" Supplemented Johnny as Jo shrunk back down her herself. She smiled slightly, amused by his description as she pulled the sweatshirt over her head to reveal a lose t-shirt. Reed beckoned for Jo to follow him and led her over to an examination table. He looked excited, pleased even.

"And we may not know what's causing your transformations Josephine-"

"Jo." She corrected gently as she followed him, hopping up on the table at his command. He glanced at her shirt,

"May I...?" Reed, too awkward, even in the name of science, to complete the sentence, made Jo flush at the request which she complied to, hesitantly. She pulled the white tee over her head, avoiding the others' gazes as she self consciously rubbed her arms, seated on the table in sweat pants and a simple sports bra. Reed switched on a light and told her to lay back. "Could we have the black and white version, for just a moment?"

Jo blinked, flustered, but faded to black with a sigh. She looked even more ghostly under the lamp. Her blush barely noticeable upon her translucent skin. The bright light illuminated her dark veins and most specifically, her scars. Reed traced the air above them. "I couldn't come up with the pattern, even after watching the footage we just got yesterday. So I still haven't figured out where the logistics for your transformations is coming from. But-" He stretched back, flicking a few buttons until an image of Jo appeared on all the computer monitor's, her shirt sloping to reveal her neck and gentle slope of her breasts. "Look, just to the left of your heart."

Jo frowned, studying herself on the screen where Reed's stretched fingers pointed. "I don't understand."

He glanced back down at her. "Do you remember, when you first got into the cage, I told you I would be monitoring to see if there was some sort of energy charge? Somewhere where your transformation started?" She nodded and he moved the light, blinding her momentarily and she blinked, adjusting herself to the brightness. "It worked, tracking the energy I mean. The energy surge is coming from here," his fingers pressed lightly on her chest and pulled the light down closer to it.

My eyes widened and I gasped, whatever Reed had done, it burned. The surge that pulsed through me felt hot, unfamiliar, and most of all, dark. I didn't like that darkness. I breathed heavily, surprised when I felt Johnny's hand slip into my own. And when I opened my eyes again, Reed was holding up a mirror for me, pointing to a long, oval shaped scar next to my heart.

Beneath my translucent skin, highlighted by Reed's bright lights, was something dark imbedded in my chest with strange strings of sorts woven into my heart itself. And underneath the light, the dark mass glowed.

A/N: Long time no see, again. But at least this time I got another chapter up before the month was through. I have no excuse this time, I was just too tired to type by the time night rolled in and I fell asleep at my computer before I got anything done. Oh well.

There was supposed to be another chapter of Jo's flashbacks before we got back to the action again, but I was bored with the teenaged versions of Jo and Johnny and I wanted to get back into the action- especially since I've been waiting to write the scene for a while. It was so refreshing to write something when Jo got to transform on her own without the nasty side of her taking control. It was a new experience for the both of us and I rather enjoyed it.

Don't get too used to/bored with Johnny being all sappy just yet. The rising action of this story isn't done rising yet. -

I will make an attempt to discipline myself into some sort of routine for chapters, like every week instead of a random number of days- but I make no promises. I work a lot, so I usually only have enough energy to go brain dead to a movie before I pass out, which means my writing has been neglected of late. But if I push myself, I work up enough incentive to get moving (like tonight) so we'll see what happens.

But your support, as always, keeps me moving. I couldn't believe how many reviews I got for the last chapter after such a long hiatus. Please do keep them coming! It's encouraging to know that people are actually enjoying the nonsense that I write. - Thanks again for your support!- Elora

Oh, btw, I do reply occasionally to PM's and reviews if someone feels like asking a question or having a conversation, but I've been lazy lately and haven't gotten around to it. If you have messaged me in whatever way, I will get to you! Cross my heart.

TO BE CONTINUED...