As Johnny looked deeply into Natasha's face, the lovely woman's eyes snapped open and she purred "I'm quite all right, Mr. Storm.  No need to worry yourself or your... guardian."  Even though the phone was still up to Johnny's ear, the Russian bombshell could hear Susan's laughter. The young hero's face blushed with humiliation, but Black Widow observed that she had the proper effect on her target. She could see the artery in his neck pulsing faster and stronger than it had during his workout and his breathing was deep and heavy. While the bulge in his tight shorts looked like it was trying to tear its way through the clothe, her earlier experiences with the man told her it was more than just being hot for her. She could see clearly that even through he still had fury for the master, the control signs of his control still were visible.

Johnny stared at the beautiful redhead before he spoke into the phone "Umm... Thanks Sue.  I think I've got it from here." 

As he put his phone away, Natasha smiled and said "I'm glad you don't let Susan make all your decisions Johnny. I was worried that the *man* that helped me resist the total control Killgrave had on Maria might be nothing more than a boy."

The young hero's emotions were in chaos. Even the mention of Killgrave brought a rage to Johnny, but it also brought the deep desire he had for this woman even more forcefully to the surface. Truth be told, he had a huge crush on the Avenger babe and even through the villain's thrall, the sex with Natasha was the best in his life. Still, her statement about his help caught his attention and fanned his ego as he replied "What was that about helping you resist?"

Natasha looked dreamily into his eyes as she cooed "You mean you don't know?" As Johnny shook his head in response, the sexy Avenger laughed lightly "I've been watching you, sir. After all, it's my training to learn everything about those I work with or might work against. You put up the front of the wild bad boy, but you don't mess with the heroines. Oh, you've had plenty as girlfriends, but the real strong noble types always made you lose your heart to them, didn't they? Well, I could see how our love making was affecting you while that bastard had us in his power. You were falling for me and I could feel it.  It was knowing that I was corrupting the heart of such a heroic man that gave me the strength to snap the spell."  As she continued her hand lightly stroked his face "When I feel the conditioning stirring in me again, I relive what gave me the strength to resist." As her lips curled in a twisted smile, the heroine's other hand moved behind his head. "You see, I was starting to fall for you too stud and what the Widow wants... She takes!" 

With a sleek strong motion, Natasha pulled the stunned Human Torch into a fiery embrace, but now it was he who was under her spell as he quickly added his own pent up passions into kiss. Soon hands roamed freely about the fit bodies as each lover enjoyed the physical gifts of the other. Clothes practically flew off as the lovers got down to business. Soon Johnny's face was buried in the spy's glorious love mound preparing her for what was to come as deep in her mind she could feel the old compulsions of her beloved master grow with the passion shared.  Natasha threw her head back and growled her delight as she thought 'I'll never yield, my master. I will use this fool as you meant me to. I will hold to your sovereign will.' As Johnny coaxed the first orgasm out of her, the duplicitous wench scream "I'm yours... I'm *yours*!"  As Johnny smiled up at her, Natasha couldn't help but chuckle.  Of course the young stud thought she meant him when really she had to bite her tongue at the end to keep from saying 'master'.

*********

As Ben Grimm rode the elevator up to Gina's private lab, he had to wonder what prompted her call. She sounded excited but wouldn't elaborate. Hell, the way she and stretch had been going at it, was she pregnant? When the elevator doors swished open, Ben was greeted by a cheerful Roberta "Welcome back Ben. It's good to see you again.  I'm sure you're anxious to meet with Gina.  She's waiting for you lab 2-03." 

As the lovely AI took the hulking hero's arm and guided him to the lab, Ben winced and growled "Well howdy to you to, Roberta! Nice ta see you too, but last time I saw ya I don't think you were quite so comfortable with the social niceties... Or physical"

Roberta laughed as she answered "Why, thank you for noticing Ben. The answer to both questions is Gina. She's taken a great interest in me and improved my social algorithms as well as adding vast improvements to my avatar's 'hard light' capabilities. She wanted me to be more a part the family and to do that I need to be more human-esque. Isn't that wonderful?"

Ben eyed the holographic woman warily as he replied "Yeah, just peachy. Gina's full of surprises, ain't she. Speakin of which, you wouldn't know what she has to talk to me about would ya?"

Roberta chuckled "Now Ben, you know I do but I wouldn't betray her trust any more than I would yours. Besides, I don't want to spoil the surprise, but trust me, you'll be glad she did."

It didn't take long for the pair to reach their destination. As Ben inspected the large chamber, he heard a familiar voice from behind him "Hey big guy! Good to see you!" As Ben turned to look at the curvy scientist he had smile at his friend as he couldn't help but notice her stunning beauty and how lucky Reed was to have her. Without further word she dove into his arms and gave him a bear hug before she continued "I've got some fantastic news for you, Ben. We've done it! We've found the cure for your Thing form. Reed's inventions held the key, but he needed a different perspective to solve the problem.  To solve this he need someone with the vision to find the path that thread the needle between blessing and curse to understand how to unravel this puzzle but, thankfully, that is one of my gifts." In her excitement Gina continued to pull the Thing forward, not even giving her friend the chance to speak. As they approached a terminal she announced "This was the first piece of the puzzle.  Reed invented a nanobot serum to help Sue her addiction. Its design is simple and elegant but essentially the point is that it can target illness, addiction, and bodily damage like a healing factor and render damage essentially mute. To be affective on Susan, the nanobots had to be made of unstable molecules so they could be attuned to cosmically powered individuals."

Ben was nearly in shock from this news. It had been so long that he was locked in this armored shell that he had almost given up hope of ever being human again. Still, he found the clarity of mind to ask "It says there the stuff is an injectable liquid. Can I drink it cuz needles ain't exactly easy on me?"

Gina smiled wryly as she answered "I'm afraid not Ben.  Your digestive system wouldn't hurt the nanobots, but they would be flushed from your system too fast to be of a lasting help. No, I had to come up with something a little more out of the box." The sexy scientist turned her friend back toward the chamber and continued "Here we have the Energon Chamber.  Within it you will be bathed in a highly specific array of energies to negate your cosmic powers. I know these methods have been used unsuccessfully before, but it was in their temperary nature that they failed, but for our use, they will be perfect. Since they have been eached used before, they can't completely turn you back, but all they have to do is soften you up enough for phase 2." Dr. Rodriguez held up vial with a rather large silver pill. "Before we turn the Energon Chamber on, you will need to take this pill.  It contains a large concentration of the nanobots that will be hyper-energized by the radiation bath you'll be exposed to.  While those nanobots are working from the inside, airborne variations will be released in the atmosphere of the chamber.  They will work both on your skin and your lungs. As the nanobots react to the energy bath, they will accelerate the curative effect making your rocky flesh revert back to human. When the effect gets to 60% return to normal, you will get the first injection directly to the carotid artery and the power will drop 20%. This will be repeated for ever 5% reversion to human until the process is complete." Gina's smile faded for a minute as she concluded "Ben, I'm not going to lie to you. This process is far from painless and no drug exists that can dull that kind of pain for you, but I *guarantee* that when its complete you will have complete control of your transformation. Ben, you will be able to go from human to Thing at will and almost instantly."

Ben smiled down on the petite beauty as he too the vial from her and replied "Yeah, well pain goes with the territory, sweetheart. Lets get this show on the road!"