Dr. Stone Has Sue Convince Johnny Storm He Needs Therapy

"I really don't know why my sis insists I come see you," Johnny Storm said, sitting in Sue's regular chair. He was dressed in a blue suit that matched his eyes, and black tie, very dapper. The Human Torch politely declined a cup of tea, but Dr. Stone, dressed in a pale blouse of a fabric that seemed to shift between transparent and peach-colored and a black pencil skirt that showed off her long legs, sipped hers.

"She loves you," Dr. Stone said. "She's worried about you."

"I'm all grown now," Johnny said, hands fiddling with his hat, settling deeply in the chair. "She doesn't have to mother me."

Dr. Stone smiled. "That's actually why I wanted to talk to you."

Johnny raised one blond eyebrow.

"Your sister's stress, it affects her work, her family life," Dr. Stone said. "I'm not trying to diagnose or treat you, Mr. Storm. I'm trying to gain a better understanding of her stress, and how she handles it. You can answer a few questions for me about that, can't you?"

"Of course," Johnny said, automatically.

"After your mother died, and your father went to prison," Dr. Stone said. "Your sister basically raised you, didn't she?"

"Yes," he said, and sighed. "And she got me on the rocket that went into space and turned me into the Human Torch. Never really forgave herself, I guess. Never really stopped being the little mother."

Dr. Stone nodded. She sipped her tea and then set the cup down. As she looked up at Johnny, the light seemed to catch her glasses at an angle that made them seem to glow. Johnny's eyelids fluttered, and his body assumed the kind of easy lassitude that he felt after about six shots of tequila, settling deeper in the chair.

"Did you ever think of your sister sexually?" Dr. Stone asked.

Johnny didn't answer. Moonstone's brow furrowed, her implants buzzing at a subtly higher frequency, as she applied gravimetric pressure to a different part of his brain. For a moment, the tips of the Human Torch's fingers burst into smokeless flame. Then she shifted her use of power and they went out. It took a few attempts before she found the right lever.

"We lived in a rooming house at university, when I was 18 and before she started living in the dorms," Johnny said. "I would do the laundry. Including hers. Panties, bras. Sometimes I would...feel them. The door to the bathroom had a pretty big gap...I could see her, sometimes, taking a shower, changing...she was the first woman I saw naked."

"And how did that make you feel?" Dr. Stone said.