Disclaimer: I do not own the Fantastic Four, Marvel etc.

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Rapid-Fire

Chapter 4:

The four decided to go to Debbie's house the next morning. They all entered the taxi: Reed sat next to the driver and Harriet sat between Sue and Johnny in the back. Harriet hated being cooped up in the middle and was glad when the taxi came a stop.

"What's going on?" asked Sue, climbing out of the car.

Harriet looked around and noticed that they had stopped on a bridge, along with hundreds of other cars. Everyone else got out and followed Sue through a crowd further along the bridge. A bunch of policemen pushed the crowd backwards.

Sue turned to Reed, "What do we do now?"

Reed thought for a second, "We're not going to get past these guys. But you and Harriet could."

Harriet noticed a gap between some of the policemen and nodded at Reed. She sped off through the gap, the police having not noticed her at all, and looked around at what was going on. Eventually she was reunited with the others.

"Find Ben," instructed Reed, running off.

Sue leapt onto a car shouting for Ben. Eventually, they all spotted him. Harriet gasped at the sight of her rocky friend, who looked at her sadly. She was snapped out of her thoughts as an explosion shook the ground and a fire engine swerved towards the scene. Thinking quickly, Harriet ran around the explosion in a large circle, travelling faster and faster, creating a vortex and making most of the fire disappear. With the help of Sue, the fire was contained. The fire engine had begun to fall off the edge of the bridge. Harriet rushed over. She smiled at Ben who was trying to pull the truck back. She leapt onto the truck and sprinted down the ladder to save one of the firemen. The other one slipped, but Reed and his stretching ability managed to save him. Harriet was standing next to Ben again and patted him on the shoulder as he pulled the fire truck to safety.

The police swarmed around them. Harriet frowned and gripped onto Ben's arm, though she wasn't sure that he had noticed. Suddenly the crowd spoke up and cheered for Ben. Meanwhile, Ben was looking into the crowd. Harriet followed his gaze and noticed Debbie pulling off her ring and placing it on the ground. Harriet looked back at a devastated Ben. He walked towards the ring and Reed walked out of the crowd and followed him. Harriet was almost in tears at the sight of Ben's heart breaking like that. Johnny hugged her from behind and Sue walked off to join Reed and Ben.

The medics were checking up on everyone, though Harriet didn't care about how she was feeling. She sat with Ben, rubbing his back soothingly.

Johnny broke the silence and asked, "Where are your ears?"

Harriet rolled her eyes. Knowing that Johnny didn't mean any harm, she decided to talk to him calmly, like an adult and sat next to him so only he could hear.

"Johnny, Ben's going through a rough time. Maybe you should give him a break okay?"

"All I asked is where his ears are."

Harriet sighed, "Any other time, it would have been funny. But not right now. Just be a little more sensitive."

Johnny nodded and swung his legs back and forth. He was bored and Harriet knew it. Teasing Ben was his only form of entertainment whenever he was stuck in one place for a while. He began to whistle. He was definitely bored. Harriet whistled along with him. They looked at each other and smiled as a policeman entered the tent.

"There are some folks outside that want to talk to you." He said.

"We're not going public with this," stated Reed, "we're scientists, not celebrities."

Everyone watched as the policeman pointed towards the television and explained, "It's too late son. Look. That's what they're calling you: 'The Fantastic Five'."

"Cool!" exclaimed Johnny.

Harriet rushed in front of him, blocking his path.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked in a motherly tone, folding her arms.

"I'm gonna go talk to them! Move please!" said Johnny.

"No," said Sue, "we should think this through."

"That's great! Brainstorm." Johnny said, attempting to get around Harriet.

He stepped to the left, she was already there. He stepped to the right; she was one step ahead of him. She smirked. Johnny sighed. He kissed her quickly on the lips. Harriet froze and her face turned bright red. Johnny smirked, grabbed her hand and rushed towards the excited crowd with Reed, Sue and Ben following.

"Which one of you is the leader?" asked a policeman.

Harriet snapped out of her daze as she heard Johnny say, "That would be me," in what she called his 'grown-up' voice.

The man laughed, "No, seriously."

Sue pushed Reed forwards and Johnny took a step back with Harriet's hand wrapped in his own. Harriet stared down at their hands. There was that feeling again. The feeling she hadn't felt since she was fifteen. Those butterflies. She blushed again and Johnny looked down at her. She refused to meet his gaze and focused on what Reed was saying to the crowd. He explained the mission to the Von Doom space station and the cloud. The journalists in the crowd were exploding with questions.

One asked if Johnny could fly, to which he responded, "Yeah I'm working on it. It's actually really difficult."

"Actually," Sue butted in, "we do not know much more than you do at this point. We'll be going directly to our lab to diagnose our symptoms."

Harriet and Johnny looked up at Sue in shock. She made it sound as if they were diseased!

"It's not a disease!" stated Harriet, stepping forward.

Johnny followed suit and draped his arm around her shoulders, "If having special powers is a disease then, yeah, we got it bad."

"Excuse me," said one of the reporters, pointing at Ben, "that thing doesn't look so fantastic."

Harriet frowned at the man as Reed stepped forward.

"Ben Grimm is a genuine American Hero!"

Johnny stepped in, "What he means is, every team needs a mascot."

Harriet glared at him and elbowed him in the ribs. Johnny didn't take any notice and continued with his little speech.

"A new day is dawning; the day of the Fantastic Five!"

At this point, Reed snapped and explained the facts to the reporters. When he finished, he led everyone back to the tent. Johnny brought Harriet close to him and whispered in her ear.

"I'm sorry, I did it again didn't I?"

Harriet nodded, "At least you know when you're being unreasonable. You're getting better."

"You know, you were really quiet over there," said Johnny, smirking, "it wouldn't have anything to do with that kiss would it?"

Harriet shrugged Johnny's shoulder off her own and stormed off, shaking her head.

"I knew it!" Johnny chuckled to himself and attempted to catch up with Harriet.

Thanks for reading. Chapter 5 will be out really soon.