A day later she was still tingling from Victor's kiss and the touch of his hand on hers, much as she was ashamed to admit. She'd lied to Reed when she said there'd never been anything between her and Victor, and Reed was just clueless enough to fall for it. True, she no longer had an emotional attachment to Victor, but did Reed honestly think Victor was the kind of man who would ask a woman to marry him before trying out the goods, so to speak? He wouldn't propose to someone he didn't know was completely compatible with him. A lot of her appeal to him had been how she looked on his arm, but that wouldn't matter if she didn't satisfy him in other ways.
She had wanted to love Victor. She had loved him for a while. After her relationship with Reed had ended the first time she desperately wanted someone to make her feel desirable. It made her feel foolish sometimes -- after all, she was an independent woman, hear her roar -- but after breaking up with Reed she suffered from a definite lack of self-esteem. What was so wrong with her that Reed wouldn't pay attention to her? Why couldn't he just once spontaneously tell her she was pretty or give her flowers? Then she'd gotten the job at VDI and Victor had started showering her with gifts and roses and giving her all the attention she had craved from Reed. She knew a workplace relationship was hardly appropriate, but Victor was so handsome and attentive and the sex...wow.
Victor had asked her out to dinner shortly after she'd started working for him. She suspected it was more than a business meeting and that he had more amorous intentions. After dinner (at Le Madeleine, she remembered, wincing) he had invited her up to his penthouse for a nightcap. As they got into the private elevator to his suite on top of the VDI building, she told herself she would quite firmly inform Victor that anything other than a business relationship was inappropriate and entirely out of the question. By the time they reached the penthouse, half her clothes littered the floor of the elevator and her plans were completely forgotten.
Victor's aggressive hunger was the complete opposite of Reed -- and exactly what she needed. At first she basked in his attention. But she gradually realized there was no real emotion behind his words and gifts. Desire, sure -- but not love. He coveted her as a possession, an ornament, not as a lover. And so once again she settled and buried her feelings. It seemed she could have attention or affection, but not both.
The past year with Reed had been good. He wasn't perfect, but he tried harder than he used to. He remembered Valentine's Day and her birthday for the first time, though she suspected Ben reminded him. A dozen roses and a cheesy heart-shaped box of chocolates greeted her when she woke up the morning of February 14th, and he took her out to dinner to a romantic restaurant that evening. While she was genuinely touched by his gestures, it was still left to her to make the first move for the majority of their relationship. He recognized the importance of holidays and birthdays and anniversaries to her, but day to day displays of affection were still lacking. He'd stay up all night working if she didn't drag him to bed. He didn't want to sit still and watch a movie while cuddling on the couch and munching popcorn. She still came in second place to his research. Even her efforts to get him to choose a date for their wedding netted no results. There was always some burning research question that needed to be answered before they could settle on a date. That was not a good omen for her future wishes, like having children. What kind of father would Reed be if he didn't have time for his kids?
She loved Reed. She wanted to spend her life with him. But old habits were hard to break, and she wondered if Reed would ever be capable of fulfilling all her needs...like Victor had. And now Victor was back, claiming to have changed his ways. He might've been her perfect man if only he didn't put business and power first. She couldn't deny that the temptation was there, but of course she would never act on it.
"Look who's getting her freak on with the bad guy," Johnny said, walking into the room and tossing a paper in her lap, jerking her from her thoughts.
"What are you talking about?" she said, then gasped as she saw the cover of the tabloid. It was a grainy picture of her and Victor at the bistro, snapped as he had reached across the table to take her hand. "The Invisible Girl Romancing Doctor Doom!" screamed the headline.
She flipped through the pages until she found the article. There were more pictures, one of her and Victor at some function from about two years ago, one of Victor kissing her yesterday before he'd gotten into his limo, and another of Victor with a woman she knew wasn't her, but she was half in shadows and had her head tilted away from the camera. The woman's hair was the same color and length as her own, so she could understand the confusion. Trouble was, the photograph had been taken in an obvious intimate moment. The woman had her arms wrapped around Victor as he pressed her against a wall, his face buried in the crook of her neck. One of his hands was on her thigh, sliding up under her skirt. The picture was recent -- she could see the faint scar on his temple.
"I went along with your whole don't tell Reed all the details about me and Victor thing," Johnny said, "but he's going to figure it out once he sees this. You turning dark side on us, sis?"
"It's not what it looks like!" Sue protested hotly. "That's not me!"
Her brother peered over her shoulder. "Sure looks like you."
"That's me," she admitted, blushing, touching her finger to the picture of Victor kissing her outside the restaurant. "But...it was just a goodbye kiss. Nothing like what these people are trying to say!" She frantically scanned the article, which claimed that she and Victor were having a torrid affair and that Reed was allegedly devastated by the betrayal.
"So if that's not you, who is it?" Johnny asked, pointing to the other picture.
"He said he was seeing someone, and that she reminded him of me," Sue admitted, staring at the picture, and feeling an irrational surge of jealousy at the obvious intimacy of the couple. "That must be her..."
"So Vic's doing your evil twin and putting the moves on you," Johnny snickered. "Is he trying to get Reed to kill him? Oh, wait, this is Reed we're talking about. He'll probably never notice."
Sue threw the magazine at him. "Shut up."
Her cell phone rang; she picked it up and looked at the caller ID. Victor. She had never gotten around to taking his number out of her phone. "Hello?" she said, answering.
"Susan, it's Victor," he said. "Have you seen...?"
"Just now," she said, waving her hand at Johnny to shoo him from the room. He rolled his eyes at her and left, and she pushed the door closed behind him.
"I'm sorry, Sue," Victor said. "If I had known there were photographers around..."
"You've been saying you're sorry an awful lot," she said, getting angry. "How do I know you didn't plan all this?"
Silence, then he said coldly, "What are you suggesting, Susan? That I arranged for the paparazzi to be there? The ones that stalk you daily? Why would they need any help from me? And I suppose I hired those children to distract Ben as well so I could get you alone in my evil clutches. Tell me, what is my wicked plan? To break you and Reed up so I can have you to myself? Perhaps I'm going to turn you evil and use you to destroy the rest of the Fantastic Four. Or maybe I've chosen you to bear my evil hellspawn as part of a plot to take over the world."
She flushed, embarrassed by her outburst. How could Victor have told the photographers to be there, after all? He was in her sight from the moment she chose the restaurant to their arrival there. And when he put things like he just did, it made her suspicions seem ridiculous. "You're right...I-I'm sorry. It's just..."
His tone relaxed. "I understand. How is Reed taking it? Do you want me to talk to him and try to explain...?"
"He...I don't know if he's seen it yet," she said.
"Let me know if I can do anything," he said. "I am sorry, Sue. I know I shouldn't have kissed you, but I couldn't help myself. I was out of line and it won't happen again. I guess I was just caught up in the moment and wishing things could be different."
"If you still had your powers, I might ask you to electrocute the paparazzi," she said jokingly, trying to direct the subject away from the kiss. Bad taste, perhaps, but she didn't want to dwell on that particular moment. No, no thinking about Victor. Or Victor's lips. Or Victor's lips on hers.
He chuckled. "No, but I can buy their papers and fire them all," he said.
"They'd just find new papers to sell to," she said wearily. "You can't get rid of them. Trust me, I've tried."
"Let me know if I can do anything," Victor said again. "Call me when you want to set up a meeting to go over my treatment. I'm sure Reed would love to see it."
"I'm sure he would," Sue said. "I'll call you. Goodbye, Victor."
Victor ended the call and set his phone down, leaning back in his chair. Alone in his office, he let himself revert to his metal-skinned form, conserving power for his next public appearance. Only Leonard could come into his office unannounced, and he knew the truth already.
Sue had reacted just as he had expected, including her outraged accusation. He deflected her suspicions by essentially admitting the truth. The press was stalking him, he knew, and they'd bribed his secretary to be kept informed of his movements. She had obligingly informed them of his lunch with Sue and where it would be the minute they left his office. He'd hired Laura precisely for that reason and was very careful with what information she was allowed to see and hear. When the time came, he would expose her and fire her in outrage.
Leonard had meanwhile arranged for a VDI agent to mention loudly in a nearby arcade that the Thing was at the restaurant, attracting the attention of the children who adored him. And causing problems between Reed and Sue was his goal. He wanted her to turn to him for support, and now the seeds had been planted. He just needed to be patient and let them grow.
He flipped through the extensive files Leonard had prepared for him. It had not been a difficult choice to decide whom to destroy first. Sue would be last, of course, and only after he had taken away her world piece by piece. Reed's mind and Ben's raw physical strength were significant threats, rivaling his own intelligence and power. But no, Johnny Storm would be the first to fall. He was more vulnerable, as he spent a great deal of his time away from the others, living life like a movie star. And Victor didn't want to risk another rapid heat/cool-down attack to immobilize him. The Human Torch had to be neutralized.
The tabloids -- such a useful tool -- had Johnny romantically linked to some young up-and-coming actress, and Leonard had confirmed this through VDI industry contacts. Unlike many vapid Hollywood denizens, she actually seemed to have talent. Pity she was going to die.