Disclaimers: I don't own the F4 characters.
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"What do you mean 'she's not with Johnny!'" Ben half asked, half shrieked.
Sue shrugged, "They were in the club, and Johnny said something not very nice, as a joke, and Maria didn't see it that way…" she recited what Johnny had told her, "she ran out of the club quickly, but by the time Johnny had reached the exit, she'd gone!" she exclaimed.
"Where is he now?" Alicia asked.
"He's looking for her," Sue said.
Alicia nodded, "What we really need to do is check all the train and bus stations, call cab services to see if someone matching her description has been seen heading to a destination." She paused, "I can feel eyes on me again!" she said, her tone filled with annoyance.
Ben smiled, "It's just you sound so authoritative," she said.
Alicia smiled, "I once volunteered at a missing person's association…" she said, "You don't need to be able to see wit find people," she said somewhat sarcastically as if reading the thoughts of the others.
Ben nodded, "Ok, you guys check the stations and stuff, I'm going to find my daughter!" he said gruffly, storming out of the lab.
The remaining four people were silent, and each winced as they heard Ben slam the door.
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Ben didn't need to pull his coat closer around his body to keep warm, he didn't feel the cold.
He trudged through the streets, ignoring the excited whispers of "It's The Thing," right now, he wasn't 'The Thing,' he was 'The Father,' and looking for his child.
"Ben!" he heard his name being called, and looked around to see where Johnny's voice (for that who owned the voice) was coming from.
He couldn't see anything, but the fire ball he felt on his left shoulder indicated the direction he could be seen. Ben span around, and began furiously moving in his direction.
Johnny was oblivious to the fact Ben was angry, until he found himself flying though the air in a way he hated, out of control. He stifled a cry as he crashed into a building, feeling pain shooting through his back, straight across his torso into his arms and down his legs. He then fell to his knees on the ground.
He came to his senses quick enough 'Flame on' out of Ben's way, until he was at a safe distance. "Ben," he said in a warning tone, "Bad publicity," he said emphasising a crowd that was forming around them.
Ben growled, he didn't care. He was an angry father, and nothing could be worse than that. He ran toward the young man, who was preparing himself to fly again. But, suddenly, Ben found himself unable to move, he glanced down and saw Reed looking up at him.
"Stop," his friend told him, "Come on Ben, calm down," he gently, slowly unwinding his body from around his friend. By the time he'd done this, Sue was with Alicia and Patrick, they'd just come out of the bus. The five stood as a group, with Johnny looking tentatively, wandering if it was safe to approach them. He caught Sue's attention and looked solemnly at her, his sister smiled indicating it was ok, and he walked towards them slowly.
"We should move from here," Sue suggested at news camera's appeared on the scenes. Only God knew how many pictures could already been taken. They all moved silently to the bus, neither spoke, and neither looked at the crowd.
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Back at the Baxter building, the six of them were back in the lab. It was the only room in the place that was big enough to harbour them all without feeling claustrophobic.
"Demon?" Johnny asked in a disbelieving tone. "Yeah right, that's impossible!" he said.
Sue laughed a little, "And you don't burst into flames and fly?" she said citing a sentence Reed had said to her just the day before. Had it really only been yesterday? She couldn't believe, so much had happened in the space of forty-eight hours.
Johnny smiled at his sister, she was right. Anything was possible now, someone could tell him the moon really was made of cheese, and he'd consider it. "So why are we here and not out looking for her?" he asked, but he got no answer. The truth was they didn't know either, they knew they should be out there the city, and not cooped up in the lab.
Perhaps they were afraid to look, as they were afraid what they would find.
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A/n still need suggestsion for the x-men corssover. What Maria do you wanna see? This one, or a normal one? Cos then I know how to end this one :)
