The Fantastic Four Page #18

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VICTOR:

No problem, Ben.

He turns back to Reed. Close, quiet. Lights flicker.

VICTOR (CONT'D)

Just pay your goddamn electric bill,

and get to work on a cure.

Victor steps away, toward the elevator. He passes Ben, who

just smiles and waves "goodbye." Before Victor's finger taps

the down-button, the button lights up (as if the circuit

responded to him). Reed exhales, shaken. Victor steps into --

INT. BAXTER BUILDING - ELEVATOR - DAY

The doors close, and Victor really LETS LOOSE. He SLAMS his

fist into a STEEL WALL. The wall BUCKLES, steel DENTING.

Victor shakes out his hand, and sees...a rippling METALLIC

SHELL under the skin. He stares at it in horror. The dark

surface pulsates with electric energy. What is he

becoming...?

INT. BAXTER BUILDING LABS - DAY

Sue works the controls. Reed approaches Ben with an

ELECTRODE NEEDLE. He tries to stick the needle into Ben, but

it SNAPS.

BEN:

You got a chisel round here?

REED:

If we're going to identify the source

of the mutation, we need to isolate

your recombinant DNA so we can

activate positional genomes.

Ben looks to Sue for translation.

SUE:

We need to give you a physical, so we

know what got zapped.

BEN:

Well why didn't you say so? You want

me to lift some weights or something?

Reed shakes his head. He approaches with an X-RAY MACHINE.

REED:

No, just sit back. We have a good

sense of your strength from the

firetruck. We need to find the source

of your strength.

He turns on the X-ray machine. The graph shows SOLID ROCK.

The rays don't penetrate. Sue and Reed look confused.

BEN:

How bad is it? You know I used to

smoke.

Reed grabs a BLOOD PRESSURE MACHINE, but the strap is way too

short to wrap around Ben's arm. Reed stands stumped. He

looks at his tray full of instruments. He picks up the

little rubber REFLEX-HAMMER. But it looks miniscule compared

to Ben.

Reed has an idea. He opens a drawer full of HARDWARE TOOLS.

He pulls of a real HAMMER. He approaches Ben.

REED:

Okay, this might smart a little.

He taps Ben's knee lightly, and BEN'S LEG KICKS! SLAMMING

UP! RIGHT BETWEEN REED'S LEGS! The ultimate kick in the

crotch. Reed STRETCHES UP a few feet, then SNAPS BACK,

wincing.

REED (CONT'D)

(high-pitched voice)

We'll...continue this later.

INT. BAXTER BUILDING LABS - DAY

From their second level control room, Reed and Sue observe

Johnny in an enclosed fire-proof chamber. Flames escape

through the vents of the chamber...he's fully torched!

Reed watches the read-out: it climbs from 2000 to 4000

degrees Kelvin. They are essentially taking his temperature.

INSIDE THE CHAMBER: Johnny turns white hot, blinding to look

at:
the chamber walls begin to glow red. Machines go

haywire.

His feet even start to LIFT OFF THE GROUND, LEVITATING a foot

or two. He looks down, excited, burning hotter and hotter.

REED:

Back it down, Johnny!

JOHNNY:

I can go hotter!

He won't stop. Reed pulls a switch on the wall. FOAM sprays

out of nozzles, dousing Johnny's flames. He stands there,

covered in thick FOAM. His body steams. So does his temper.

JOHNNY (CONT'D)

You're really cramping my style here.

SUE:

You were at 4000 Kelvin. Any hotter,

you're approaching supernova --

JOHNNY:

Sweet.

SUE:

That's the temperature of the sun.

REED:

Not only could you kill yourself, but

you could set fire to Earth's

atmosphere and destroy all human life

as we know it.

JOHNNY:

Gotcha. Okay. Supernova bad.

Reed looks at the control panels.

SUE:

He cooked the equipment.

Frustrated, Reed looks at the smoking system. And we CUT TO --

INT. BAXTER BUILDING - LAB - DAY

Reed and Ben sit in chairs, facing each other. A beat

passes. Ben taps his fingers on the chair, making small

DENTS. Reed looks down at his clipboard. A little awkward.

REED:

Okay. I've uh, got some questions,

from Sue. That she thought might be

better coming from me... Can you, you

know, go to the bathroom...like

normal...

BEN:

Yeah.

(a beat)

You don't wanna know the details.

REED:

Ben, I'm afraid I've got to ask --

BEN:

Not unless you want that clipboard

stretched up your --

REED:

O-kay. We'll skip that question.

INT. BAXTER BUILDING - LAB - DAY

Reed and Johnny now. Johnny exercises. Reed stands nearby.

Clipboard in hand.

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