author's note: I just got back from a family reunion in Washington yesterday. When I read my reviews I was completely shocked/bowled over at how many reviews chapter 2 had. Thank you so much you guys for all of the encouraging reviews, I really appreciate them! (And they make me update faster!)

"Sue? Sue?! SUE!!! Susan, answer me!"

Reed pressed his phone close to his ear and listened closely. Nothing but silence came to his ear. The silence scared him.

"What's up with you?" Ben ambled into the lab, clearly investigating what had caused his best friend to shout. "Did matchstick get into your…" Ben trailed off when he caught sight of his best friend's worried face.

Five minutes later…

"Hurry up with that will you?!" Johnny snapped impatiently at Reed.

Reed was hunched over his computer typing frantically. All three men in the room were more than a little anxious to find their missing team member. Reed was trying to track the location of Sue's cell phone, but it was a time consuming task. Ben and Johnny were suited up and ready to dash out the moment Reed finished.

"I'm so close," Reed muttered. He was feeling very frustrated. He wanted to find Sue more than anything, but first he had to hack into the cell phone company's network and track the number from there. And every minute it took was a whole minute less they had to find her. The back of Reed's mind taunted him with questions that he tried to ignore: What if we're too late? What if she's hurt? Why wasn't I with her? Why didn't I protect her? What if I'm too late?

The computer beeped to show it had found Sue's cell phone location.

"Got it!" Reed Shouted. He leaned forward farther than he already was and read aloud, "100 W 33rd St, New York, by Manhattan Mall."

Johnny didn't wait around to see if Reed had anything else to say. He jumped out the window and free fell downward. "FLAME ON!" Johnny sped as fast as he was able in full flame mode. When he was almost there he turned his earpiece on talk mode so he could communicate with his teammates who were following in the fantasticar.

"Reed, I'm almost there. What are the coordinates?"

Johnny listened closely as Reed told him the exact directions. Very soon he found himself standing in an empty alley that ran parallel to the mall. Disappointment engulfed him as he walked down the alley searching for something he might have missed. He lifted the lids of two large blue dumpsters with the intent to search their contents. They were both completely empty though, to Johnny's utter relief. The last thing he wanted was to see a body stuffed in the dumpster.

He slowly pressed his earpiece. "Sue's not here." There was silence at the other ends for a minute.

"Are you sure?" Ben finally asked heavily.

"Yes, I'm pretty sure. Reed, where do we go from here?"

The truth was that Reed didn't know what to do. Go home and wait for a ransom? Organize a search by grid to search for a body? He wished that this was just a terrible nightmare; that he would wake up any minute in bed, with his beautiful wife sleeping safely beside him. He always woke up way earlier than Sue. He liked to watch her as she slept. She had such a slender frame, delicate even. She needed protection, and it was his job as her husband to provide it unconditionally.

"Reed?" Ben asked, interrupting Reeds thoughts.

A new thought suddenly occurred to Reed. "Johnny, do you see her cell phone?"

"No."

"It has to be there somewhere, now find it!"

Johnny backtracked to where he had started, combing the ground even more carefully. He frowned. Sue's phone would be almost impossible to miss. It had a glittery pink cover. He saw it lying around Baxter Tower all the time. For him to miss it, it would have to be invisible.

As that thought crossed Johnny's mind, he actually groaned aloud at his stupidy.

Duh Johnny, He thought to himself, she's not called The Invisible Woman for nothing.

He backtracked to the beginning of the alley again. Feeling a lot like a pinball, Johnny walked back and forth, back and forth to and from each side. He was careful to make sure his feet dragged so that if Sue really was invisible nearby, he wouldn't step on her.

He felt his left foot brush against something soft. He immediately stopped and dropped to the ground. He hand touched a jean material that he could not see; Sue's leg. His fingers traveled up to the skin of her arm. It was ice cold! Sue had to have been dead for hours!

Johnny dropped his hand down in shock. This was his big sister, it could not be true. He had always taken for granted the fact that she would always be there in his life. Johnny saw his life stretch before him in that moment, and it was devoid of meaning. The only girl that had ever really mattered to him was Sue. The only girl he actually wanted in his life longer than a week.

Suddenly Johnny knew that from this point on he wouldn't be a nice person. All he had to live for anymore was his sister's revenge. He felt his skin rising in red hot fury.

And that was when he had his second major duh moment of the night.

His skin got hot when he got upset. And his emotions definitely fit into that category ever since Reed told him Sue was missing less than ten minutes ago.

Feeling incredibly stupid (he was never going to tell Reed or Ben about this) he felt around for Sue's pulse. Her pulse was faint, but definitely there.

Johnny scooted closer and pulled Sue into his embrace, making sure that his skin would not burn her. He felt hot tears welling up in his eyes. In the state he was in the tears were literally boiling. They evaporated before they even reached his cheeks. He heard the unmistakable sound of the fantasticar screech to a halt behind him.

"I found her," he informed Ben and Reed, who had come up behind him. His voice cracked on the words.

Reed knelt down beside Johnny.

"Do you know if she's hurt?" Reed asked.

Johnny shook his head. He had not even thought to check.

Reed reached out and skimmed his hands across Sue's legs, stomach, back, arms, and head. "Judging just by feel I'd say she doesn't have any wounds. I can't be positive though because I can't see her." He paused as he felt her pulse again. "Her pulse is weak and her skin is really clammy. I don't want to state the obvious, but we better get to the hospital now."

Reed changed positions so that he could more easily put his arms under Sue's arms and knees. He carefully stood up. Johnny reluctantly let go of his sister and stood up too. Sue's purse and phone appeared suddenly on the ground as she was lifted up and left contact with them. Ben walked over to where they fell and picked them up. The pink phone was still flipped open. Ben closed it and held it against his heart as he watched Reed try to situate a wife that he could not see comfortably on his lap. Ben would be devastated if anything happened to their only female teammate, so he could only imagine the pain the other two would feel.

Reed looked over at Ben at that moment. "Let's get going Ben!"

Ben hurried forward and jumped into the driver's seat. He glanced over his right shoulder at Johnny. Their chattiest, most easygoing member was unusually silent. He was staring out at nothing, and Ben couldn't judge from his expression what he was thinking. He didn't have the time to wonder though. Ben threw the fantasticar into drive and zoomed to the hospital as fast as he could without jolting their precious cargo.