Chapter III

4 Weeks After That

The air smelled and tasted of coming rain. Every minute or so, a sound so low it seemed to be almost on the edge of comprehension traveled through the air, warning all that could hear of the coming storm.

Despite the rapidly worsening weather, Reed Richards stood in the middle of the sidewalk, hands plunged deep into his coat pockets, staring up at the rather imposing apartment building of his former lab assistant.

It had been four weeks now, roughly a month, since the trip into space that had changed all of their lives. Despite the upheaval, his life had been going fairly well. Dr. von Doom had been defeated and shipped back to Latveria, the long-time feud between Ben and Johnny had cooled, and Reed himself was engaged to the love of his life, Susan Storm. He seemed to warm against the cool air at the very thought of her.

But in the suddenly and dramatically increased pace of life, the publicity, the funds, the relationships, he now realized that he had neglected his friend entirely. Unlike the other five who were affected by the storm aboard the space station, Anna had been the only one to escape unscathed. While Sue, Johnny, Ben, Victor, and himself had been undergoing all of these changes, Anna had sailed through all of the quarantine medical tests without displaying a single abnormality. The only theory that Reed could come up with was that Anna had ridden out the storm in a more heavily reinforced section of the space station, therefore minimizing her exposure to the storm, if not eliminating her radiation exposure entirely.

Bringing himself back to the present, he finally pushed through the golden double doors of the older New York City building.

"Well, hello there, Dr. Richards, or should I say 'Mr. Fantastic'."

"Hello, Donny, good to see you again," Reed said in greeting to the aged doorman.

"Here to see Anna?" Donny inquired, his gravelly voice reminding Reed of Ben's.

"As a matter of fact, yes."

Donny's demeanor turned suddenly grave. "Good luck to you, then."

Reed gave him one of his trademark questioning looks.

Leaning forward conspiratorially, Donny whispered, "Now, I'm not one to spread gossip…." At this, Reed suppressed a smirk. "…but I've been talkin' to some of the other guys who work at this place. You see, I've been askin' around, seein' as how I haven't seen her come down from her penthouse up there for about four weeks now. They say she's cancelled her telephone, Internet, and cable service; just about everything except her electricity and natural gas. She has her groceries delivered now, but won't allow the delivery boy to go up there; she makes him put the groceries on the elevator and send them up on their own." At Reed's skeptical look, Donny protested, "It's true! I've seen it with my own two eyes. But do you know what's really goofy?" At this, Donny leaned in even closer, causing Reed to recoil from the old man's grisly face. "The people who occupied the two floors below her…they suddenly moved out two weeks ago, even before there lease was up. They say that she bribed them." Donny fixed his eyes on Reed's face, eagerly trying to detect any kind of reaction to this sensational news.

"Yes…um…that's very interesting. Thank you, Donny." With that, Reed skirted the old man and went to the wall containing the intercoms to call the building's various occupants.

As he reached for the one labeled "Penthouse," Donny called out, "Won't do you no good; she's disabled it on her end."

Giving Donny a quizzical look, Reed went to the elevator and punched in the penthouse's security code, and was surprised to see that it hadn't been changed. "Good luck to ya," Donny said solemnly as the doors closed between them.

Reed had always had the feeling ever since Anna had chosen that building a little over three years ago, that Donny was a little bit off-center. But he had never thought that Donny was crazy enough to fabricate that much evidence, meaning that at least some of it was probably true. And if Anna really was hermit-izing herself, there had to be a reason. Not to jump to conclusions, Reed told himself, but that could mean that she had not escaped the storm as unscathed as he had thought.

While he was still lost in his thoughts, the elevator doors opened into Anna's apartment. But the greeting he received was not that of a dear friend who missed him horribly.

"Get out of here, and leave me in peace!" a voice screamed as one of Anna's antique vases flew past his ear and shattered on the wall behind him.