Disclaimers: I only own Maria, none of the F4 characters… I also own every other characters that may crop up that isn't from F4… I don't own Sailor Moon.
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Chapter Twelve
Maria was running, but every time she looked over shoulder, she could see the darkness closing in on her. She ran faster, yet the faster she ran, the quicker the darkness came.
Suddenly she tripped, and hitting the ground hard on all fours. She looked back, the darkness enveloped her…
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"Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!" she screamed, she sat upright in her bed and came into contact with something hard, that knocked her back down onto the bed.
"Awww, baby, I'm sorry," her father's voice came to her as she shook her head trying to shake the dizziness she was feeling.
Her vision cleared, "Dad?" she asked, "What are you doing in here?" she asked referring to her room.
"I heard you screaming, and came in," he explained, "You were tossing and turning."
Maria nodded, "Yeah, bad dream…" she said, stating the obvious. It was the third night she'd had a bad dream of some kind, this was the first time anyone had heard her having one, at least to her knowledge.
"Do you want to come and have some breakfast?" he asked softly.
Maria nodded, "Yeah," she said. "I'll be out in a minute," she promised.
Her father nodded, got up and left her room. Pushing back the quilt, she swung her legs over the side. She drew pack the curtains letting the sunlight flood her once darkened room, and opened the window. Stepping out on to the fire escape, she looked down and saw reporters outside the building. She smiled and held up a hand, shooting a short spurt of water out of her right index finger. The water landed just on the outside of the ring of reporters, not hitting any of them, but getting their attention.
They all turned to face her, excited cries of "Up there!" rippled through them. Then came the flashes of the cameras. Maria smiled, waved and walked back into the warmth of her room, closing the window behind her, wandering what they'd make of her Sailor Moon PJ's.
After she got dressed, she studied her reflection in the mirror; she had a frown on her face. She still hadn't quite gotten used to seeing a 'not blue' face looking back at her.
Shaking her head, she left her room and made her way to the kitchen where Ben, Johnny, Sue and Reed were already sitting.
"Morning," she greeted, her greeting was returned by the other four.
"Got you some toast," Sue informed her, pointing at the plate in the space in between Ben and Reed.
"Thanks," she replied, sitting down on the seat.
There was a short silence, "So, what go the reporters so hyped?" Ben asked her, smiling.
His daughter blushed, "Just gave them a little something to put in their papers," she replied. "Plus, I wanted to make sure my powers still worked," she said, although that wasn't exactly true. For the last three day, she'd been doing tests with Reed on her powers.
She could do everything that she couldn't do before, except drink anything, and eat anything hot and wet. That's why Sue had just given her toast, that had already cooled down, and was un-buttered.
As for her powers, she could only shoot water out of the tips of her fingers, as opposed to the palms of her hands as she did before. Her main asset though was that she was virtually indestructible, as far as her skin was concerned anyway. If someone kidnapped her, and force-fed her liquid substances, she would be in trouble-bullets? Not a problem! "Do you not want your toast?" Sue's voice interrupted her thoughts.
Maria shook her head, answering the question, and shaking out the thoughts from her head. "Sorry, I just don't have an appetite," she apologised.
Sue smiled at her, "That's ok," she said. "I thought maybe we could have a girlie day, what do you think?" she asked her.
Maria smiled, "Complete with movies?" she asked, and Sue nodded her reply. "Sounds great to me!" she said ten turned to Reed, "That's if we're not doing tests today," she said.
Reed shook his head, "Nope, you girls go do your girlie things," he teased, causing the other two males in the room to laugh.
"Excuse, but we are not girls! We are fully grown women!" Sue exclaimed. "Come on Maria, lets leave these pr-schoolers to their little games," she said, making the younger 'woman' laugh.
"See you dad," she said getting up, kissing his head before leaving the room.
Ben waved as she left, he then turned to Johnny. "So, what are you doing today?" he asked him.
Johnny just stared at him, unsure whether or not to answer.
"You gonna answer me, or what?" Ben asked.
The younger male swallowed, "I… uhhh… was…" he stuttered, then coughed. "I was planning on doing some flying," he said finally, but his voice was laced with nervous fear.
Ben sighed, "You don't need to be afraid of me Torch, I'm not gonna hurt you," he said.
Johnny nodded, "Ok," he said then got up. "I'm gonna get gone," he muttered, leaving his breakfast things on the table before exiting the room.
Reed put a hand on his friends shoulder, "Give him time," he said.
Ben scratched his head, "I don't know…" he said, "I don't know if I can even forgive myself for saying what i did…" he paused, "Did they ever find out what caused the quake?" he asked Reed.
Reed nodded, "Yeah, i've ben waiting to get you on your own. I spoke with Tony, you know the head of the fire dept?" he waited for Ben to nod before continuing, he said it was caused by an underground bomb, planted directly beneath the city. When it exploded, it gave the impression there was an earth quake," he said.
Ben nodded again, "Do they know who did it?" he asked.
Reed took a deep breath and nodded, "Yeah," he replied. "You're not going to like this…" he warned.
Ben laughed, "So long as it ain't Doom," he said, then paused, "It's not Doom, is it?" he asked looking serious.
Reed shook his head, "No, worse," he said, causing Ben to wander what could be worse. "Did you ever meet Jack's dad?" Reed asked him.
Ben shook his head, "No, Jack never spoke about his dad," he replied. "He said he worked away, that was about it…Oh…" he paused. "I did talk to his Mom once, she said he did a lot of work with chemicals…" he paused and looked at Reed. "Reed, tell me you don't mean what I think you mean," he pleaded.
His friend shook his head, "I'm sorry, but I fear I mean what you think I do… It seems Jack's dad helped plant, and make, the bomb…" he said sadly.
Ben shook his head, "What am I supposed to tell Maria?" Ben asked…
Reed shrugged, "Best not say anything at the moment," he said. "I haven't told Sue or Johnny yet…" he said, and his friend nodded.
Unbeknown to the two of them, Johnny was standing just outside the door, and had heard everything that had been said from , and made his way to his room. He opened his window a stepped out onto the balcony making sure he wasn't spotted by the press. Making sure he was safe, he silently said "Flame On," he flew in the direction of Jack's house. No one noticed him, after all, it was a nice day.
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End of chapter
A/n I was going to have the Mole Man being the baddie, but then my mind turned to mush, as I would have to expalin what he, why he what he is, how he became that way and all the other twists that fan's of the comic know about. I didn't want to spoil any sequels to the movie that might have him in and stuff. I think the next villain is the Puppet Master though... but either way, I didn't want to spoil anything. I don't know when the next chapter will be up.. as I studpiyl said I would work today, as in the whole day (I normally have Wednesday afternoons off), and I normally type up my fiction that I write during my lunch breaks at work. Only I havn't gotten a chance yet... so bear with me.
