Author's note: I have no clue about hospital procedure. So if I get anything wrong, please feel free to correct me.
Four days later…
Adam glanced around the room to double check that he was indeed alone. He looked at the window to make sure no one was loitering in the hall outside either. He was safe, but he would have to be quick.
He walked over to the cabinet where the hospital kept the in-patient's medication. After unlocking it with his key, he managed to locate a specific bottle of antibiotics. It was a small brown bottle with a white label. Vancomycin was typed across the top, and the name 'Susan Richards' was neatly hand-written under it. He reached into his white coat to produce a glass vial containing green powder.
With his teeth Adam pulled out the vial's cork before proceeding to carefully pour the powder into antibiotics bottle. When the vial emptied out completely, Adam put the vial and stopper back into his pocket. He shook the Vancomycin bottle gently to mix it up and then replaced it in the cabinet.
He quickly walked across the room again and was out into sterilely white hospital corridor again. Dr. Keris had acted just in time. For Mrs. Richards was to be discharged from the hospital the next morning.
Adam couldn't help but grin delightedly at his own cleverness. The powder's side effects would appear in a few days, two weeks at the most. And when that happened, Sue Richards would do Adam's job for him and take out her own team before destroying herself. It was killing four fantastic birds with one stone.
Johnny Storm strolled down the Manhattan Medical Center's long hallway, humming under his breath. His big sister was going to be released in the morning, and she would finally get to come home with them to the Baxter Tower. The doctors had informed Sue that she was very lucky. She only had a mild case of Meningitis (a very serious disease even then), so she didn't get some of the disease's scarier effects, such as seizures, nervous system damage, and permanent hearing loss. Instead she only had chills, headaches, sleepiness, light irritability, and a high fever.
Johnny thought all of that still stunk, but everybody else acted relieved because it could have been way worse.
Johnny looked in a window as he passed and saw a cute red headed nurse. He backed up to flirt with her, but she looked too busy to bother with him. He continued on his way. Johnny glanced into the next window he passed in the hopes of seeing a just as pretty nurse as the red headed one who wasn't as busy.
Instead of the young nurse he had been hoping to see, he observed a doctor in his early thirties with dark hair cropped short. He was standing at a medicine cabinet holding a small brown bottle in his hand. Something about the scene made Johnny pause. The man seemed somewhat sinister to Johnny. Maybe he had learned to pick up a bad-guy vibe from all the criminals he had fought in the past two and a half years? Figuring that he was over reacting to nothing, Johnny brushed off his bad feeling and continued on his way.
Johnny walked into Sue's room to find her sitting up in bed. The latest edition of a celebrity tabloed was open on her lap.
"It's nice to see how dreadful you look without having to guess," Johnny said. Sue just smiled at his teasing. She had regained her visibility after two days of morning, noon, and night antibiotics. Johnny felt comfortable ribbing his sister again now that he was sure that she would be fully recovered in a couple more weeks.
"Look at this," Sue said, holding up the magazine for Johnny to see. Johnny peered at the article she was holding up. A glossy photo showed Ben and Johnny himself walking into the Manhattan Medical center. Judging by the clothes in the picture it had been taken only the day before. A photo inset showed a picture of Sue in her uniform that was taken a couple of months ago. The article's title boldly proclaimed, "The Invisible Woman on her Deathbed". The sub headline read, "strange mutant virus attacks a member of the fantastic 4, with dire results." Johnny couldn't help but shake his head at the press' constant folly.
"We are so going to be mobbed by reporters when you leave tomorrow," Johnny informed her. "They've been staked outside ever since news got out about you. And the mob grows every day."
"I heard," Sue responded dryly. "Reed told me."
"Where is doc at anyway?" Johnny asked.
"I sent him away. He's been hovering all day. He needed a nap and a shower."
At that moment a nurse walked in holding a large needle and a small brown bottle with Sue's antibiotics inside.
"Time for your next round of shots," she announced. The nurse put the shot needle into the bottle and pulled the back out until the tube was half full. Sue obediently stuck her arm out and made a face as the large needle pierced her vein.
Johnny winced in sympathy. "Just think," he encouraged. "Starting tomorrow you only have to take the pills for a couple of weeks.
Sue only nodded as the nurse pressed the rest of the shot in. Little did they know what substance polluted the medicine as it surged into Sue's blood.
I know that this was kind of a boring chapter, but it will get more interesting. This chapter was necessary for later plot points. I'll update faster next time. I promise!