Kayla skillfully led her daughter through the redone lobby of the former Avengers Tower. She felt her heart sink a little to see everything so different. Flashes of memories of this building haunted her memories, but now, those memories began to mingle with memories of the people who bought and redid the building.
Reed had absolutely hated how magnificent and gaudy Stark Tower was. Kayla thought it was ironic and sad that he found a way to take it over and make it his own.
"Bathroom should be just around the corner to the right." Kayla directed and Sarah darted ahead, swatting her mother away to go alone. Kayla leaned against the wall near the restroom, pulling out her phone to scroll through it lazily, but her mind ran a mile a minute.
Hey, I'm just checking in. Just thinking about you. I hope you're being safe. I... she deleted the letter to reiterate... We love you so much.
After pressing send, Kayla blew air out through her lips, knowing Steve would have her head for not telling him about the Enchantress's attack on Tony's cabin. In the grand scheme of things, it was water under the bridge, and she didn't want to worry her husband. She was more worried about him.
Sarah appeared from the restroom with her long hair pulled up into a ponytail on top of her head and hands still damp, "I'm ready."
"Alright, let's go." Kayla lifted her phone again and saw that James had texted. "Our ride is here... Shit!"
Kayla quickly pressed her back against the wall, hiding behind a plant as Sarah looked around for whatever scared her mother. "What is it? Is it him?"
Kayla grimaced, daring to peek around the plant again before ducking her face behind the leaves, "It's my ex."
"Your... ex?" Sarah trailed off, looking around and only seeing a bunch of people crowding around a man in a spandex suit taking pictures and asking for selfies. "Is he in the crowd?"
"He's drawing the crowd." Kayla growled, peering between the leaves to see the mob heading their way. "Johnny Storm."
Sarah shifted up to stand on her tiptoes to get a better look at the man. He was shorter than many of the people who cried out for his attention, but occasionally he'd lift up his hands and Sarah could see they were on fire. He had short hair and a beaming smile as he looked around, taking pictures with all the beautiful ladies and nobody else. He looked to be in his fifties, but had a youthful air to him, "You dated Johnny Storm? Before Dad?"
"Well obviously not after." Kayla hissed, unzipping her sweater to give her some air. "It was a... brief, yet fiery affair."
"Ha. That's funny. Because he's on fire." Sarah chuckled, but Kayla just stared at her.
"That wasn't a joke. There was a lot of fire involved. We were only together about two months. But Johnny, he was never one to get dumped, he was always the dumper, not the dumpee, so he wasn't a fan of me after the incident." Kayla explained, peeking through the leaves again. "I assumed he left, seeing as the jet already took off."
"What incident?" Sarah pressed, but Kayla just shushed her again, "What did you do? You dumped him?"
"I mean, yeah; though it wasn't so much the action of me dumping him, it was when I dumped him and why." Kayla explained through clenched teeth, and Sarah had to chuckle at how nervous her mother looked. "Alright, he's facing away, let's make a break for it. Black van, south door."
"Yeah Mom. I think I can handle it." Sarah mumbled as Kayla snuck her way into the crowd, taking the long way around and staring out the massive windows in an effort to keep her face in the other direction from the superhero.
Sarah, on the other hand, took advantage of the close encounter and watched as the man flirted and laughed with the crowd, eating up their affections with practiced ease. He was quite the opposite of her father, but Sarah could admit she saw a resemblance. Her mother definitely had a type.
Suddenly, a large man bumped into Sarah and she fell to the ground, startled and unsteady as she landed on her ass. She looked around, trying to see if her mother was in the vicinity, but it was Johnny Storm who appeared to help her. "Hey, are you okay?" He reached down and she took his hand so he could help her up but-
Sarah blinked quickly, realizing she was no longer in the lobby of the Baxter Building, but instead in a bedroom of some kind. "Oh great." She mumbled, looking around to figure out where she was. Sarah paused when she saw one whole side wall was floor to ceiling glass overlooking New York City. "Wow." She gasped, leaning against the glass to take it all in. Ahead of her though, a strange blue light broke through the sky and a round portal opened up. Moments later, alien monsters appeared and swarmed the city. Sarah looked down, figuring they were about ten stories off the ground as the pedestrians below began to scream and run away in terror.
Sarah whipped around suddenly when she heard a loud banging on the door, followed by a deep, gravelly voice yelling, "Get out here Kid, you gotta see this!"
"I'm a little busy!" A man's voice echoed from deeper in the apartment, followed by a flighty giggle.
"Well be less busy, there's aliens attacking the city!" The gravelly voice yelled before pounding again, causing the whole wall to shake, "Johnny!" A woman's voice was heard frantically calling outside the door, but the deep voice responded, "He's too busy with the President's daughter to care about the city being under attack!"
"Johnny, open this door right now!" The woman's voice called, and Sarah finally caught a glimpse of the young man as he tumbled toward the door with his pants undone.
Meanwhile, Kayla stumbled into the bedroom, laughing boisterously as she held a glass of champagne in her left hand. Sarah was awestruck by how young and beautiful her mother looked- she was slim with white hair to her waist that held a gentle wave, as if she'd had it up in a bun previously. Kayla wore a man's shirt, showing off her long, lean legs. She looked like Kayla from the memory when she was shot with the anti-serum: slim and weak.
For the first time in her life, Sarah saw a resemblance between herself and her stunning mother.
Kayla's eyes twinkled as she fell onto the bed, draining the rest of her wine and rubbing her legs together impatiently. Sarah began to worry where the memory would lead until Kayla looked out the window and screamed.
At the shrill sound, Johnny Storm quickly darted towards her, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake, "What's wr- Jesus!" A hoard of aliens came racing by the building, almost crashing through the windows. Kayla dropped her glass and it shattered, sitting up and sprinting to the other side of the room.
"Johnny, we need to go now!" The woman screamed into the bedroom, but the man didn't move as Kayla pulled her cell phone out of a pile of clothes that clearly belonged to her.
"Daddy?" She yelped into the phone, cradling it to her face. "Yes, I'm in New York. I'm with Johnny." Kayla looked up at the man, swallowing hard as she listened to the other line. "Yes. Yes I'm sure they can do that- Yes. Here, talk to Reed. Reed!" She called, and a tall man entered the room, taking the phone from her. She turned to Johnny with a knowing smirk that only faded when she saw a pair of aliens riding by on their machine.
"Yes. Yes, Mr. President." Reed Richards answered, looking over at Johnny angrily, "With all due respect, I really think he can handle it by himself... oh. Oh, I- I understand. Yes, Mr. President. Thank you." Reed handed the phone to Kayla and she began talking quietly as the Fantastic Four barked at one another.
"Damn it Johnny, he says we have to stay here." Reed growled, and Johnny just laughed, causing the woman to smack his arm and cry out, "This isn't funny, Johnny!"
"I think it's hilarious, and you're welcome. Now we don't have to deal with all of this." He gestured toward the windows, but Reed snapped at him again.
"They're bringing in the team from SHIELD, the Avengers or whatever they're called." Reed looked from Kayla to Johnny and lowered his voice, so Sarah got closer, practically standing in the middle of the group, "If this gets worse, I'm leaving her ass here with you and we're going."
"Sounds like a plan to me. I have big plans for that ass." Johnny replied and the woman rolled her eyes before storming away, followed by Mr. Fantastic.
By this time, Kayla was off the phone and grinning like a fool, running and jumping into Johnny's arms as he kissed her passionately. Sarah leaped out of the way, not needing them to walk through her. In fact, Sarah was just beginning to pull herself out of her trance when a jet came crashing down onto the street beside them. She darted to the window, leaning against it as she ignored the moans that escaped her mother's throat.
Sarah stared down as three people came charging out of the back of the jet, a man wearing a sleeveless vest, a man wearing a very bright blue suit, and a woman in black with short red hair. As they took off running down the street toward Grand Central Station, the redhead slowed and looked up at the building, meeting Sarah's eyes.
"What the hell are you doing up there?" She called, fully aware of Sarah's presence, and it was then Sarah realized it was the same redhead from the orange world.
"Who are you? Why can you see me?" Sarah called out, but the redhead just turned to look at the serpent coming down from the sky, back in the memory as it was. Sarah turned, seeing the two on the bed unfazed by what was happening down below. "Ugh, let's speed this up a bit shall we." Sarah raised her hand and waved it to the side, fast- forwarding through time until her mother's back crashed against the window next to her.
Johnny Storm held her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist, but she fanned her face as she pulled away from kissing him, sweating from head to toe. She leaned her head against the cool glass as he began to kiss her neck, but then Kayla twisted her neck and looked down, catching a glimpse of something interesting.
Sarah saw the shift. It was instantaneous, and it was significant. Sarah followed her mother's glance and smiled, seeing what Kayla had latched on to.
"Hey... hey Johnny... baby..." She moaned as she tried to wiggle out of his grip, but he didn't understand that she was trying to get away. "Who are they?"
Finally Johnny lifted his head to see who she was pointing at, the redhead, the archer, and the man in the blue suit. "A bunch of SHIELD's costumed clowns." He growled, latching onto her earlobe as aliens shot up the street, sending cars flying into the air as people ran for their lives.
Kayla narrowed her eyes though, and Sarah could see the man who held her didn't exist anymore. "No, wait... look." Finally Johnny let her down so she could get a good look. She began to walk slowly away, pushing open another door leading to a corner sitting room with floor to ceiling windows as well, allowing Kayla a perfect view of the Pershing Square Bridge.
Sarah ran after Kayla, invested in what was about to happen, and Johnny Storm reluctantly followed, seeing what she was staring at, "Baby, it's not who you think it is. Reed's heard the rumors, it's just a guy in a costume-"
"You don't know that." Kayla spat back, hope sparkling in her green eyes, "It could be him... Could you imagine Johnny? Imagine the breakthrough I'd have, if I could just get a sample of DNA..."
"Or, I could give you a sample of my DNA, and you can see what you can cook up with that." He purred into her ear and she allowed it, giggling as she leaned into his lips. All of a sudden the explosions picked up and started blasting at Captain America as he dove off the Pershing Square Bridge, somersaulted onto a bus and outran the blasts before spring-boarding off of a flipping car, and front-flipping, and then landing on his feet to begin running.
Kayla's jaw was slack as she stared for a moment, pressing her palm flat against Johnny's chest, the sweat causing steam to rise from their contact. "I have to go."
Johnny shook his head in confusion, chasing after the stunning blonde as she ran back to the bedroom to collect her clothes, "What do you mean go? You can't go, your dad said you have to stay here with us!"
"No, Dad said you had to stay here and protect me. It isn't the same thing. I wasn't told to stay." Kayla pointed out as she pulled on her dark wash skinny jeans. "You can stay here and pretend to be watching me! It's perfect really, because then Daddy won't know that I'm out there in all that." Kayla gestured to the battle as casually as Johnny had earlier.
He still gawked at her as she unbuttoned his shirt and pulled her own fire engine red top on, "Kayla, you can't be serious-"
"I'm dead serious, I'm not throwing away this opportunity! Plus, the sooner I find out whether he's the real deal or not, the sooner I can stop thinking about it. Because I'm going to be thinking about him for a long while." Kayla drawled, fanning herself dramatically, which only made Johnny's blood boil more. Kayla noticed the temperature rising and turned to face him with a knowing expression, "Johnny, darling, don't take it personally. I've been studying Captain America for years, it's for science."
"Are you going to fuck him for science, too?" Johnny sneered, crossing his arms bitterly.
Kayla shrugged, "Maybe. I'll need to see what's under that mask first, but maybe." Kayla tilted her head, letting her hair cascade over her shoulder, "Listen, I've had a great time with you, it's been fun! It's been great for both of us PR wise, and the sex has been phenomenal, but we both know this isn't going to last. I'm going to go now, and I need to keep my options open."
Something between a growl and a groan left the man's throat as he threw her jacket at her, but she caught it easily, "Sorry, baby. It's nothing personal."
Sarah followed her mother as she swept out of the room, trotting to the elevator past the rest of the Fantastic Four with nothing more than a coy wave. When she reached the elevator, the little brunette Sarah was used to seeing hopped in with them and turned to Sarah expectantly, "She's impossible, right? The most difficult human being I've ever met."
"What happens now?" Sarah asked, finding it funny how this girl could talk to her, but Kayla continued staring ahead with wild, excited eyes.
"We went to the tower, but we couldn't get past the main lobby, so we called a cab and got out of dodge. Your parents met a year later."
"Who are you?" Sarah asked as the elevator doors opened up and Kayla charged forward, leaving her friend in the dust, "Why can I talk to you? And the redhead?"
"I'm Tiffany. I was your mom's best friend. The Red Skull killed me before you were born. The redhead is Natasha Romanoff, the Black Widow. Your mother freed the Red Skull to save her, but she died anyway." Tiffany explained quickly as Sarah began to fade, "Good luck Sarah. Just remember, everything will turn out alright in the end."
Sarah blinked rapidly and looked around, finding herself still on the ground in the lobby of the Baxter Building. She scrambled to her feet and wiped herself off, "I'm so sorry. I-I have to go."
Johnny Storm studied her, but he didn't seem alarmed, which gave Sarah hope she hadn't actually been zoned out as long as she was in the memory. "You look familiar."
"I just have that kind of face." Sarah said quickly, giving an awkward wave as she darted toward the door. She pushed open the glass and was quickly yanked to the side by her mother.
"What happened back there? I was worried sick about you!" Kayla cried, wrapping her daughter in a hug. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just... did the thing. Again. I saw you, during the Battle of New York-"
"Oh gosh, how much did you see?" Kayla moaned and Sarah chuckled.
She looked her mom up and down, finding her familiar and chaotic and strong. All the things that comforted Sarah about her family. "I guess I'd say love at first sight."
Kayla smiled weakly, toying with her wedding ring on her left hand as a black van honked at them from the curb, "Something like that."