Disclaimers: I don't own the F4 characters, so don't sue me, ok?

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Chapter 5

When the shaking stopped, Maria opened her eyes. "You ok?" she asked Johnny, who nodded , his eyes wide.

"What the heck was that?" he asked, his voice shaking a little with fear.

"I'd say it was an earthquake, but we're in New York," Maria stated. Crawling backwards from underneath the table.

"Sure it wasn't your Dad falling over?" Johnny joked as he to made his way out.

"Funny," she replied, "Just damn hilarious," her voice dripping with sarcasm.

They moved slowly out of the room to look for the others, and met them in the corridor. It turned out that the other three were looking for them too. "Well?" Maria looked art Reed, after all he was the scientist.

"It seems, we've experienced an earthquake," he informed them.

Maria turned to Johnny and raised her eyebrows, "Told you."

"Huh!" he muttered, " Then why didn't the building collapse?" he asked, trying to make him sound 'know it all' too.

"The source of the quake was at the very edge of the city, so as it panned out it got weaker," "We're at the other end of the city, so we only had a mild tremor."

"Plus the foundation and structure of this building if very good," Ben added hanging up his cell phone. He'd called Alicia to let him know he was all right. She was in Ohio visiting some friends of hers.

"Yeah, we know that…" Johnny started, "Ben's been clomping around for months, and it's yet to collapse."

Sue jabbed him in the ribs, "Stop it!" she scolded. "We still don't know why it happened, but we can find out later… we should go to the areas worst affected and see what the damage is." She looked at everyone but no one moved, "Now!"

With that they all headed to the stairs, as it's never wise to use an elevator after an earthquake.

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Apart from Johnny, they all piled into the new Fantastic Five van and headed through the city. The Human Torch acted as a guide, sending flame signals in the direction of what appeared to be the worst area. It was no surprise that rescue workers were at work in a small area near the edge of the city.

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" the head of the fire department, Tony, greeted as the five heroes appeared.

"Where do you need us?" Reed asked.

Tony pointed at what used to be a supermarket, "There are people trapped in the rubble of that building." He moved slightly, "there are people trapped in part of that hotel," he said nodding in that direction.

"We'll split up," Reed announced. "Me and Sue will take the supermarket, Maria and Johnny will go to the hotel," he looked at Ben, "You can help move the rubble with us."

They all nodded, except for Maria. "I'm not going with him," she stated nodding to Johnny. She knew she was being childish, but she didn't like the thought of having to work with him, not right now.

"Do as he says honey," Ben told her taking her one side. "It looks safer than the supermarket, plus there may be fires inside than need putting out," he explained to her.

"Ok," she nodded giving him a hug. He hugged her back, careful not to crush her. "Be careful, ok?" she told him.

"I'm the father, I'm the one who tells you to be careful," he playfully scolded.

"I love you," she told him.

"I love you too," he said as she gave him a kiss. She'd gotten used to the rocky feel of his skin, and it didn't scratch so much either.

The two rejoined the group, and they prepared to break off into the assigned groups.

"So, do we just go straight in using the main entrance, or do we have to find a safer way in?" Johnny asked, causing Maria to look at him, as he was asking surprisingly intelligent questions.

"You can use the main entrance, just be careful," Tony explained, "don't go near the walls in case it collapses." He took off his fireman jacket and handed it to Maria, "It might get hot in there…" he smiled.

Maria took the jacket and returned his smile. But a concerned look crossed her face, and looked at Johnny, "Shouldn't Sue come with us? She can create fields to stop anything from hitting us," she stated looking then at Reed.

Reed looked at Sue, the truth of the situation was that he didn't want Sue to leave his sight, but that wasn't his answer. "I need her to help the survivors," he said.

Maria wasn't at all convinced by his answer, but it appeared the others were so she didn't argue. She only prayed that she wasn't going to regret not arguing her point as she and Johnny were given emergency oxygen, complete with radios, and made their way into the entrance of the broken hotel.

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End of Chapter