Disclaimers: I wish I did, but I don't own the F4 characters or the plot of the movie, in fact the only person I own in the story is Maria…

Just a note, I'm referring a little to the novelisation in this one, so it wasn't my idea. Hopefully those of you who have read it will know what I'm referring to. Question, did I spell 'novelisation' correct, because it's coming up wrong on my spell check…?

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Chapter 9

For the second time that night, Maria found herself running. She couldn't see Johnny, but she could follow the trail of smoke he'd left in the sky, that was illuminated by the city lights.

She slowed down as she reached the harbour, and looked around for Johnny, only he was no where in sight. But she knew he'd been there, on the water in front of her was a burning vessel, and several burning bits of floating cargo scattered around it.

Plus, if that hadn't given it away, the excited voices of "Did you see him? It was the Human Torch!" coming from a crowd of people standing a few metres away from her would have.

She ran closer to the direction of the vessel and stopped at the waters' edge, raising her arms up, she concentrated all her energy onto making streams of water shoot from her arms to distinguish the blaze. She would have heard the same excited voices shouting "Look! It's Aquatica!" if she wasn't concentrating so much on putting out the fire, her mind also raced with worry as she constantly looked around her for any signs that Johnny may have re-surfaced.

She could feel herself beginning to weaken as the water streams slowed down, before stopping altogether and she had arms again. She allowed herself to flop down on the ground to get her strength back. Her body wasn't used to running so much and her exerting herself.

As she was concentrating so much on regulating her breathing, she didn't notice the ring of fire forming around her, sectioning her from the crowd of excited people who'd witnessed the fireworks display. Neither did she notice the Johnny's presence as he sat down beside her, until he asked "You ok?"

He scared her so much that she nearly fell into the water, and she would've done had he not grabbed her arm, letting go as soon as he pulled her back.

Maria waited for the pain of his touch to subside before replying, "Yeah," then paused, "Where did you go?" she asked him.

He pointed to the water, "Dropped down there after setting the vessel alight. It was safer watching it explode under the water than above it, it could've missed…" he explained, joking a little.

Maria shook her head, "No," she replied smiling slightly, "I meant after you left the group, and why did you come back?" she asked.

Johnny didn't look at her for a while, she could tell he was thinking of how to put his words. "Let's just say I know how you're dad feels," he replied their eyse meeting. That was when she saw it, something she knew he had but deep down inside of him. Johnny Storm, Mr. Insensitivity, had a soul.

The two were silent for a moment, "We should go find the others," Maria said slowly getting up, and putting out the ring of fire around them, noting mentally how sweet it was for them to have a moment of privacy. But the crowd of people was gone, they'd gotten wind of the commotion that was coming from the city. Also, had the flame barricade not been up they would have noticed that the city lights flickered for the second time that evening. But the flames also flickered, so how would they have been able to tell?. A fight had broken out between the other members of the Fantastic Five, and a man who seemed to be made of metal. The fight scene was their next stop.

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End of chapter

A/N I value all feedback from my reviewers, I know a few have a couple of quieries about Maria, and her powers. Please don't think I am ignoring you, but since this story is almost finished, and I have already planned the sequel, it is a little late for me to change it. More about everything will be expalined in the sequel anyway, I just want to establish the character in this one... Hope evereyone has a great New Year, and take care.