I had some problems with this update, but I finally got it up.
What finally woke Sue up was a pain in her arm. She cracked her eyes open slightly and turned her head to locate the source of the pain.
When she could see, she noticed that her body was resting out on a white sheeted hospital bed. A doctor, whom she recognized as one of the doctors that the team trusted, was standing at her bed side drawing blood. But instead of looking at her arm for vein reference, his gaze concentrated on a nearby monitor screen. The monitor was hooked up to what appeared to be a heat sensory system. A needle was what the piercing feeling was.
Feeling satisfied that she had identified her source of discomfort, Sue shifted her head farther to her left. She was in a large hospital room. Complicated pieces of medical machinery were located strategically around the room. Reed and Johnny, in their suits, sat in chairs. Ben was standing near the door; if he tried to sit down he would end up breaking the chair.
Feeling strangely removed from the scene, Sue watched with the rest of team as the doctor withdrew the needle with a sigh of relief. He switched the monitor view from just the heat in her arm to her entire body.
He turned to three men. "I'm just going to run this blood sample down to the lab, and then I'm going to go see if Cora saw anything of interest in the x-rays. We may have to do a CAT scan if nothing turns up." The three men nodded mutely and the doctor briskly walked out.
Johnny, Reed, and Ben stared at the tiled floor in silence, each in their own thoughts.
Finally Reed spoke up. "We're lucky that Sue's invisibility power doesn't affect machinery tests."
"Yeah, big whoop," Johnny replied sarcastically.
Reed shot him a look. "Sorry," Johnny mumbled.
Sue felt like she should speak up; let them know she was alright.
She opened her mouth to say something useful like, "I'm awake now guys." But all that came out was a groan.
It had the same effect anyway. Reed's, Johnny's, and Ben's head all shot up to stare at the dent in the seemingly empty bed.
Reed came forward.
"Sue?" He asked uncertainly.
"Reed," she responded.
He smiled at the sound of her voice. "Do you feel okay?"
She wanted to make all of them feel better, so said jokingly, "Do I look okay?" This drew a gravelly chuckle from Ben.
"As a matter of fact, no. We can't see you. Can you turn yourself visible now?"
Sue concentrated. She flickered into view for a moment before fading back out of sight.
"I can't." Sue felt very down hearted, and her head throbbed painfully. Her attempted power usage only increased the level of pain she felt running up and down her brain stem. Bile rose up in her throat.
"Could someone please hand me that trash can?" She asked calmly. She pointed to a plastic bin sitting nearby even though nobody could see her finger.
Ben was standing closest to the trash can. "Sure, Suzie," he said, leaning over to pick it up in his oversized hands. "What-" He was cut off as Sue snatched the bin from him, and promptly threw up. It was nasty, and also kind of cool, to see green bile seemingly magically appear at the bottom of the bin.
After she had finished retching, Sue felt even worse than she had a moment before. Not to mention the ever present pounding going on in her skull. She wanted to be comforted.
"Reed," she said brokenly. She plucked at his shirt sleeve.
Reed knew what was expected of him. He sat on the edge of the bed and leaned over.
"It's okay Sweetie," he whispered, embracing her trembling frame. "We're going to fix this. You'll feel better… promise."
Unseen tears edged their way down Sue's cheeks.
Any other time Johnny would have been unendingly amused by the image of Reed comforting someone that he could not see; but at that moment, it was the unfunniest thing that he could think of.
Ten hours later...
Dr. Adam Keris briskly walked down the east hospital wing, holding a stack of papers that came standard with the job. He proudly lead a great life. He was a rising neurosurgeon stud at the hospital, in good health, engaged to the love of his life, and had the most supportive parents ever. He frowned. At least he used to have the most supportive parents until a few days ago. Now he was down to one. He recently lost is mother in a freak boat accident that could have been prevented by the fantastic four. His supervising surgeon had offered to give Adam a vacation to deal with his grief, but Adam needed to get his mind off of it, which meant getting back to work as quickly as possible.
He continued his brisk walk down the corridor, half-heartedly glancing into patient rooms as he passed. Suddenly he froze in his tracks and backed up. Could it be? He peered in through the viewing window, but the room was only dimly lit.
He opened the door and took a step inside. A dark haired man with silver streaks at the temples lay on his side on the hospital bed. He was hunched over oddly, as if he was giving someone space, and one hand rested in front of him on thin air. The man appeared to be asleep, but when Adam opened the door, he raised his head to glance at Adam.
Adam took a shot in the dark.
"Good morning Mr. Richards." When the man didn't correct him, Adam knew he had guessed right. "I'm Doctor Keris, I'm just checking in."
As if he had every right to be there, Adam strolled over to the end of the bed and picked up the patient chart that hung there.
Patient Name: Susan Richards
Adam skipped down to the blood test results.
White blood cell count: 5,000
Glucose: 50 mg/dl
Protein: 5.75
Diagnosis: Bacterial Meningitis
'So she's going to be here for a week at the very least,' Adam thought. 'I have time.' He nodded at the husband and slipped out of the room.
He waited until he was positive that he was completely out of view to let the delighted sneer that he had been hiding slip onto his face. He could work with this. Revenge wasn't as far off as he had earlier believed.