IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTE: When I began this fanfic, I had intended it to be an action-packed 20 chapters. Unfortunately I got extremely busy with life and lost my "Fantastic" muse. Because I hate it when authors don't finish their work, I will complete this even though it will be a super condensed version. So here is chapter 7, and the final chapter will be up by tomorrow. I'm so sorry you all got jipped out of the full story, but I'm really not feeling it anymore.
Susan Storm-Reed woke up slowly. It was unnaturally silent for the time of day considering that she was on the living level of the Baxter Building. Normally there would be rock and pop music pounding from Johnny's stereo system. She should also be hearing the natural thuds and bangs from Ben that come with having such a form. Reed's plethoras of machines were silent as well.
Sue caught sight of the time on the clock. Yes, it was much too quiet for a late afternoon. She hadn't glanced at the clock out of curiosity for the time; rather, it sat already in her field of vision. It was at that moment that Sue dully noted that she felt absolutely no emotion at all. She simply felt devoid. That realization had none of the appellation, amazement, or concern that should have come about.
Reed walked by her doorway at that moment to check on his wife. He "coincidently" sauntered by every half hour or so. Sometimes he would walk in and brush his hand against her cheek. This trip he noticed her blue eyes were open. The doctor in him noted the glazed eyes.
"You're awake," he stated softly, not bothering to conceal his joy. "How do you feel?"
"I don't know," Sue responded honestly. More out of habit than any real motivation, Sue got out of bed and went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. She pulled her pink toothbrush out of the cup and reached for the toothpaste. Her hand froze halfway to its destination. Her first real emotion flared hot and white insider her: pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Reed!" she shrieked. He ran in almost immediately, spurred on by the anger in her cry. His eyes darted back and forth frantically. He searched for the source of her rage. Had some nemesis broken in the building?
Sue whirled around. "How dare you leave the cap off the toothpaste again!" She didn't bother speaking softly.
Reed put his hands up, confused. If not for the deathly glare she was shooting him, he would think she was joking.
"I didn't know it bothered you that much, Honey."
His eyes widened in surprise as he felt a force field pushing against his internal organs. The force field expanded and expanded. His rubbery organs bent and stretched to accommodate this new visitor.
He looked up at his wife. Or, this shape shifter, his wife wouldn't deliberately attempt to kill him.
"Help!" Reed shouted out. "Ben?" "Johnny?"
Reed stretched out a limb toward his wife, but she notice this and enclosed his form in a force bubble. Instinctively Reed held his breath and tried not to panic. He had no fear of getting crushed. However, he could die from lack of oxygen. After more than a full minute his limbs began to feel rubbery, pun not intended, from not breathing. The scientific part of his brain reminded him that it took four minute for the brain to get brain damaged.
He hated how his mind worked sometimes.
Another minute passed. Sue stood still and watch emotionally as her husband suffocated. His lips were pale.
Suddenly a rock hard object pushed against her neck. She didn't even have time to get angry before she passed out. The deadly force field dissipated. Reed dropped to the ground and gasped in sweet air. Ben knelt over his best friend.
"Are you all right, Reed?"
"Yes," he gasped, "just give me a minute."
Both men looked at the still blond figure.
Concerned, Reed crawled over and checked Sue's pulse. It beat strong under his fingers.
"She's okay," Ben said. "I just put pressure on her neck. She'll revive in a couple of minutes."
"When she wakes up she may try to kill us."
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" Sue yelled. It was a few hours later. Reed and Ben, soon joined by Johnny, carried her to a lower level of the Baxter building to lock her in an iron interrogation room. Attached to her temples were electrode circuits to offset her powers. Her hands and legs were cuffed to prevent her from removing them.
"That seems to be the only level she speaks at," observed Johnny. Sue glared at him through the glass plate separating them.
The members of the fantastic team proved unable to talk her out of her fit.
"GO TO HELL!"
"Mmmmm….. I'm going to go with 'no, thank you' on this one."
Sue glared at Johnny some more. He continued to ignore it.
"YOU LITTLE INGRATE! AFTER ALL I'VE DONE FOR YOU!"
Johnny gritted his teeth and focused on the television propped on the corner. Some reality show was wrapping up on the entertainment network. It took a concentrated effort to ignore his incensed sibling.
"Good," approved Ben. "You're finally learning that logic doesn't work. It took you long enough.
Reed walked in at that moment. "I ran some tests. The results are bizarre. There is a chemical called VH 383 in her bloodstream. It is extremely rare."
"What does it do?" Ben asked.
"Are you kidding?" Johnny demanded. With a jerk at his sister he said. "Obviously makes you go insane with anger."
Reed chuckled without humor. "In very basic terms, yes. What happens is the human body's cells are composed o-"
"Please don't give us a biology lesson." Cut in Johnny. "Just fix her." Having his cool-headed big sister act so abnormally made Johnny antsy.
"The antidote will be ready in an hour," Reed reassured Johnny as well as himself. "It takes that long for the neurons to settle." He paused. "What I don't get is how she got infected in the first place. I mean, it's not a naturally occurring chemical."
"Revenge maybe." Offered Ben.
Reed said, "But how? And When? It only just began, and besides doctors, we were with her all the time."
A white lab coat… a brown vial… Johnny recalled the bad vibe he had received earlier in the hospital. "I don't know why," he said slowly, but I know who."
The cuffs trapping Sue began to shake of their own accord. Monitors began to beep in panic as measuring intervals shot up.
All attention immediately became focused on Sue. Her eyes blazed at the television set. On screen there was a picture of Sue at a coffee cart wearing casual jeans, a too big t-shirt, and a baseball cap. It was captioned, "Invisible Woman's biggest fashion blunders". The anchor's voice could be heard saying," should have been invisible before stepping out in this ensemble. The grunge look is out."
Johnny remembered that day. Sue had borrowed a spare shirt of Johnny's from his car because she had spilled sauce over her own top.
"I HATE PAPARAZZI! I HATE THE PRESS!"
Now the whole cage shook. Johnny backed up. "Reed, what do we do?"
Reed never had a chance to answer before the walls exploded outward. Johnny caught sight of Sue's face as she walked out of the cage a free woman. Her nose bled and she had the dazed look she had whenever she overexerted herself on the power scale. She glared at the door; it burst off its hinges and slammed against the opposing wall.
"We can't let her leave and kill innocent people," shouted Ben. But the warning came too late, she was already gone.
