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"I guess this is the place," Johnny said, landing in the middle of a deserted road. Debris was scattered all over the place, buildings were missing windows and at least 2 had massive holes in the walls.
"What great powers of deduction you have," Amara replied sarcastically. "What is it we're looking for?"
"Something unusual," Johnny said, turning around to survey the area.
"This whole thing is unusual," Amara said, shoving his arm lightly. Johnny laughed slightly and turned back towards her.
"Smart arse."
"That's me," Amara replied, grinning. She did a quick 360° and saw movement from the corner of her eye. "Did you see that?" Any trace of a grin quickly leaving her face.
"See what?" Johnny asked, coming to stand next to her.
"I coulda sworn I saw something move between those buildings."
"Well there's nothing over there," he replied. "But I'll check it out." Amara nodded and continued searching the street with her eyes.
"Be careful," she said quickly as Johnny walked towards the building where she saw something. He faced her and nodded briefly. Amara then walked down the street, circling every few minutes to make sure Johnny was ok, and to check nothing was following her. Johnny was just about to walk through the hole in the wall when something jumped out at him.
"Whoa!" He shouted and jumped backwards. Amara turned and ran towards him. He turned around to follow the progress of whatever attacked him. He frowned as he saw it was only a cat. A black cat. "That can't be right."
"You screamed at a cat?" Amara said as she arrived.
"I did not scream." Johnny protested. "And I swear it wasn't a cat when it jumped out, it looked bigger."
"That kinda makes sense, when I saw something it looked human shaped, but we must just be tired. I can't see anything else around here. I say we go back and report to my dear cousin." Johnny nodded and flew both himself and Amara away from the scene.
The moment the pair had flown out of sight, the cat crawled back onto the street, its shadow flung across a nearby wall. It was larger than a normal cats and it seemed to move. Then the impossible happened: it grew into a shape resembling that of a human and the spot the cat had been sitting in was filled with a young man of tall stature. His hair was the same shade of midnight as the cats fur had been. He stretched his muscles out and walked back into the building that he had been resting in.
"I'll make them pay for what happened to me." He said to nothing in particular.
"That was a waste of time," Amara announced, walking back into the living room in the Baxter.
"Didn't find anything?" Sue called from the kitchen. Johnny joined Amara in the living room and collapsed on the sofa. Amara rolled her eyes and laughed at the memory of the cat still clear in her mind. She sat next to Johnny and felt him put his arm around her shoulders.
"No, nothing of interest," she called back. "Just a cat." She added giggling. Sue walked into the room.
"A cat?" She raised an eyebrow. I wish they would take this seriously, she thought, taking in the scene of the younger couple. Amara stopped giggling and frowned. Johnny looked up as she suddenly stopped. He looked between his sister and his lover.
"What did I miss?" he asked.
"A lot as usual," his sister said.
"Susie doesn't think we're taking this seriously," Amara said innocently, still frowning.
"If we took things half as seriously as you do Susie our hair would look like Reed's." Johnny said, referring to Reed's grey areas. Amara half smiled, Reed was after all her cousin.
"That isn't fair Johnny," Susie said. "Especially as I've had to put up with you for all your life. That's enough stress for anyone." Amara felt Johnny tense slightly and subtly put her hand on his arm to stop him doing anything rash.
"He was just joking Sue," she said.
"What's going on?" Ben asked as he moved into the room.
"Nothing, Ben," Amara said quickly. "Why don't you come with me to see Reed?" she added, wanting to get out of the tension filled room. Ben looked from Sue to Johnny and back to Amara and nodded. Amara jumped up and lead the way to find Reed. She could here Johnny and Sue arguing as they walked away from the room.
"Oh come one Johnny, you think I won't tell Mum any of this?" Sue shouted, apparently not to old to play the 'mum' card, Amara thought to herself as she shared a look with Ben. It occurred to her Johnny hadn't mentioned his parents, neither had Sue.
"Ben," she said, waiting for him to respond. When he turned his head she continued. "Why is that the first time I've heard them mention their parents?" The Thing thought for a few seconds.
"I don't think there's a particular reason 'Mara," he replied. "I do know things got a little out of hand between Johnny and his ma and pa, same with Sue but for different reasons." Amara nodded, she could imagine Johnny being a pain, but Sue? "Obviously Johnny was the typical up-all-night teenager, always in some sort of trouble. Any parent would get angry. Sue was the opposite. She always defended Johnny, which got her into trouble, and her parents just always took her for granted. She's always been the peacemaker I guess."
"Oh," Amara said, not knowing what else to say.
"Don't get me wrong, things are pretty good between them all now," Ben quickly added, seeing Amara's expression.
"Oh Ben, I was about to come and find you," Reed announced as they entered the kitchen.
"You were?" Ben asked, surprised. "Must be my lucky day." Amara smirked slightly. Reed noticed and shot Ben a look when Amara looked away.
"I was just concerned about the level of cholesterol in your system," Reed said quickly. Ben plastered on a look of worry.
"Is that so?" Amara giggled and then grimaced as a crash sounded from the lounge.
"You stay and talk about Ben's 'problem'; I'll go do damage control." She left the room giggling again and when straight to the source of the noise. She was slightly suspicious of what Reed really wanted to talk to Ben about, but she felt more pressed to stop the growing fight between the siblings.
She ducked as she walked into the lounge. The sight in front of her shocked her slightly. Johnny was in full flame mode, with Sue standing the other side of the room, a shield raised and every few seconds she would 'push' the force field at Johnny, who would turn it to flame.
"Alright!" She shouted over the noise. The pair turned sharply in her direction, neither had noticed her appear. Sue looked embarrassed to have been caught being petty. Johnny on the other hand looked as stubborn as ever. "Ok, we'll just have to keep you apart. Stop using your powers now." She waited for both of them to turn their powers off. "Johnny, go to the kitchen and stay there, Sue stay here or have a bath. Either way you both need to cool down."
"Little hard for me," Johnny said as he looked down at his clothing. For the first time since they had gotten their powers, Johnny's clothing seemed to be on fire. Parts were disappearing and others melting.
"Fine, Sue go talk to Reed or Ben and sort your problems out," Amara ordered, hating how bossy she sounded. Sue sighed and walked out. "Now you, go take a shower and put your suit on."
"Care to join me?" Johnny asked casually. Amara glared at him. "I was kidding. Kinda." Amara laughed and walked over to him.
"If you hurry up then maybe," she said playfully and ran towards the bathroom. Johnny stood there for a full 10 seconds before sprinting in the direction Amara had just gone in.