Attention Christmas shoppers, a cheerful voice broadcasted over Bloomingdales' speakers. There are only 23 days left to get that something special for the ones you love. There is a sale of cashmere Christmas sweaters on sale now for only…
Sue tuned out the sound and focused on the dressing room mirror in front of her. She wore a sophisticated blue pant suit that complemented her skin tone and matched her eyes. It was perfect. It fit snugly in all the right places and would be a great piece to wear at those publicity and charity functions Johnny always dragged her to.
In the mirror, Sue's eyes traveled up from her body to her face. The very edges of her eyes were rimmed with red; A permanent feature for the past three days. A painful, unwanted memory from three days ago edged its way into Sue's memory.
The members of the Fantastic Four stood on deck of the rescue ship, waiting for it to dock. A man in his late sixties stormed up to them. His face was bright red from his neck to the top of his balding head.
"DAMN YOU!" He screamed in rage. "YOU KILLED HER, FREAKS!"
With that, he made a sudden lunge a Susan to attack her. Before he got even halfway there, Ben picked him up easily.
"What on earth are you talking about?" Ben asked.
Finger shaking, the man pointed accusingly at Sue and Reed. My wife fell and drowned because of them!" Reed remembered the old woman he saw getting pulled out of the water. Suddenly quieter, the old man stated matter-of-factly to them. "I'm going to ruin you if it's the last thing I do." Ben set him down and he stalked away.
"Hey we helped you dude!" Johnny shouted to the man's back. "Everybody would have drowned if it wasn't for us!" But it fell upon deaf ears.
Sue had felt devastated by the news. If she had only concentrated harder, that poor little old lady would still be alive. And despite her family's reassurances that it was a fluke, that it couldn't have been prevented, she still felt sick at heart.
This is what brought Sue to Bloomingdales; she had always been an upset shopper. When her mother died she bought dresses. When her father landed in prison she bought shirts. When Johnny got kicked out of NASA she bought shoes. When her weddings were ruined she ended up buying an entire winter wardrobe. Now here she was again, not feeling well at the mall. She blamed her recent headaches and short temper on guilt.
After buying the pantsuit, Sue wandered around the mall. A sudden wave of dizziness attacked her as she walked past the food court. She sat down abruptly on a nearby bench and put her head between her legs. A metallic taste filled her mouth, and when she touched her hand to her face she realized that her nose was bleeding.
People in the food court began to stare as they one by one noticed the weird acting lady. Sue felt rather than saw the attention that she was publicly attracting and forced herself and her bags to become invisible. Naturally, at that moment the public realized the weird acting lady was none other than their favorite superhero celebrity- the invisible woman. Crowds of people screamed excitedly and ran to the bench where she was last seen. They would never find her though, because Sue was already up and running the opposite direction.
Outside the mall, the invisible woman leaned against the building and panted heavily. This is crazy. Sue thought distortedly. I ran like 300 feet, tops! I should not be this exhausted. She stumbled to the street and attempted to hail a cab. None pulled over for her. She didn't understand why until she looked at the arm that was hailing the cab: it wasn't there.
Sue stared confusedly at where her hand should have been. It took a moment (a moment longer than what would have normally been necessary) to figure it out. She concentrated on reversing her invisibility to find that she couldn't become visible again! Her powers would not do what she told them!
Finally deciding that something was definitely wrong with her, Sue dug in her leather purse for her cell phone. Finding it, she flipped it open and pressed down on the number one speed dial button.
While it rang Sue stumbled to a clean alley running alongside the mall and leaned against a blue city dumpster. While leaning on it, she sank slowly to the ground. Why was her vision so blurry? She pressed the phone closer to her ear and listened to it ring.
In the lab, Reed Richards was bent over a new gadget he was working on. He was concentrating so hard that he jumped a little when his cell phone rang. It was playing 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' so it had to be Sue calling.
He stretched his arm across the lab to grab it.
"Hello."
All he heard was heavy breathing on the line. Reed immediately panicked, but he sounded calm for Sue's sake.
"Sue? Honey? Are you okay?"
"Reed?" Her voice sounded weak, exhausted
"What happened?! Where are you!?"
"Help me. Come get me." Sue breathed into the phone.
"Of course, I'll be there right away! Just tell me where you are Susan!" Reed commanded.
She never answered. All Reed could hear was breathing that was getting lighter every moment.