Discovery pt.2
They left before the sun even rose. Reed sat in the front of the taxi while Merc sat between Sue and Johnny in the back.
"Ok…Debbie says she'll meet us on the other side of the bridge." Reed said, hanging up Merc's phone and turning around to give it back to her.
"Gee…could you have taken any longer?" Merc asked, looking at it. "I told you the battery was gonna die." She grumbled and turned it off. She looked past Johnny, out the window.
What's going on up there? Sue thought. Merc looking at her then out the front window. There were fires! The taxi driver hit the breaks causing all of them to move forward slightly. Johnny threw his arm out and caught Merc in the chest to stop her from going too far.
"Ow!!" Merc said.
"It's bumper-to-bumper out there." Reed said. They all got out of the taxi and headed towards where the main problem of the accident was. Johnny held tight to Merc's hand so as not to lose her. She felt like a little kid.
This just isn't my day. Ben thought.
"Guys! My uncle is here!" Merc said. "I just…I just heard him!" They stopped.
"There's no way we're getting past them." Reed said, looking at the bridge cops. He then looked at Sue. "But maybe you can."
"Wha…" Merc started. She stopped as she saw Sue close her eyes and a few seconds later was invisible…except for her clothes.
"Sue…your clothes." Reed said.
"What about them?" Sue asked.
"Lose them." Merc said.
"Why…oh." Sue said. She began removing her clothes.
"This is so wrong." Johnny muttered, looking everywhere but at his sister. Sue suddenly became visable as she got to her underwear. People gasped and a few of them giggled. Sue gasped as well and tried to cover herself.
"Wow…you've been working out." Reed said, staring at her.
"Shut up!" Sue said. "Any more ideas, Reed? Maybe you should strip naked and have hundreds of people stare at you!" She disappeared again.
"Sue!" Reed said.
"Oh." Sue said. She finished removing her clothes.
"I'm gonna need serious therapy." Johnny said.
"Come on." Reed said, starting to walk again. Johnny picked up Sue's clothes and, with Merc, followed Reed. They met up with Sue again behind some vehicles and she got dressed before becoming visable.
"I still can't believe you made me do that." Sue said.
"We got through." Merc said.
"Just find Ben, alright?" Reed said. He went off and Merc quickly followed him.
"Reed!" She called. He stopped and looked at her. "What's that hissing noise?" They both looked just in time to see a gas tank explode. Reed grabbed Merc and stretched to cover her. "Holy shit!" More cars blew up. Merc saw a fire truck swerving, the back end slashing out and punching through the guard rail. She ran from Reed over to the truck but stopped as he caught up and grabbed her. Both of them leaned over the side of the bridge.
Merc looked at the truck and stepped back as it started sliding backwards, going more and more off the side of the bridge. She threw her hands up as if trying to grab it. The fire truck stopped falling and Merc had the weirdest feeling as if she actually was pulling it.
"Mercy! Don't stop doing what you're doing!" She heard Ben's voice, rougher then usual. She didn't bother looking around, afraid to lose her concentration and wind up allowing the truck to fall. Her hands shook as she focused on moving the fire truck. There was a crunching noise and her head shot to the side as she saw Ben, looking like a giant orange rock, grabbing the front of the truck, digging his heels into the ground and trying to pull it back onto the bridge.
"Uncle Ben!" Merc said.
"I told you not to stop!" Ben said as his feet started dragging across the concrete, digging grooves into the road.
"Oh…right." Merc said. She turned her attention back the truck and narrowed her eyes, focusing. The most she was managing was keeping the truck from falling as Ben pulled it back. Her eyes shot to her uncle as he seemed to be losing his strength. With a final effort from both of them, Merc swung her hands towards the middle of the bridge and gasped as Ben nearly got flattened by the truck. He moved away from the front of it and fell to his knees. Merc used her remaining strength to walk over to him and do the same.
"You did good, kid." Ben said. Merc smiled but jumped as guns were suddenly pointed at Ben and she was pulled away from him.
"Hey! That's my uncle!" She shouted. The firemen all shouted protests to the cops and began applauding. The crowd joined in. Reed, Sue and Johnny all came over to them as Merc ran back to Ben's side. It was then the headache hit her full on as she heard different people thinking their praises to them. One voice stood out the most.
Oh my god. Debbie thought. Merc looked up and at the face of the person who she thought would be her future-aunt. Ben noticed her as well and stepped forward but Debbie shook her head, raising her hand.
"Merc?" Johnny muttered. Merc looking at him then at Debbie as she stood up and left quickly. Ben went over to where she had been and bent down. Reed joined him and picked something up before placing it in Ben's hand.
"Oh my god." Merc muttered, tears running down her cheeks. Reed and Ben came back to them and Merc threw her arms around Ben as much as she could.
I wonder where his ears are. She looked at Johnny as they sat in a tent.
"Johnny…" Merc muttered.
How mad would he get if I asked? Johnny thought.
"Johnny don't…" Merc started.
"Where are your ears?" Johnny asked. Merc groaned and made a hitting motion. Johnny flinched and slapped his hand onto his arm. "Ow! What…the hell was that?"
"I don't know." Merc said. "But you deserved it!"
"Excuse me." Everyone looked up to see the Chief Fireman standing at the tent entrance. "There's some folks outside that want to talk to you."
"We're not going public with this." Reed said. Merc nodded. "We're scientists, not celebrities."
Speak for yourself. Johnny thought. Merc made the hitting motion again and he flinched and glared at her. She stuck her tongue out.
"It's too late for that, son." The fireman said. He turned on the little TV in the corner. "That's what they're calling you. The Fantastic Five."
"Sweet!" Johnny said. He got up and started to leave the ten.
"Where are you going?" Merc asked.
"To talk to them." Johnny said.
"Johnny hold on!" Sue said. "We have to think about this for a second."
"That's great. Brainstorm." Johnny said. He hurried off. Merc jumped up and ran after him.
"Johnny! Maybe we should think for a moment." She said.
"What's to think about? They love us!" Johnny said, not stopping.
"That doesn't matter!" Merc said. She grabbed his arm just as they got to the barrier where a dozen or more flashes were going off. Sue, Reed and Ben showed up. Merc found herself between Ben and Johnny, as usual.
"So which one of you is the leader?" The fireman asked.
"That would be me." Johnny said.
"No…really." The fireman said. Sue nudged Reed who stepped forward. "You're on, son."
"During our recent mission to the Von Doom space station, we were exposed to an as yet-unidentified radioactive energy." Reed said. "Most likely some kind of nucleotide compound…"
"What happened on the bridge?"
"Does it hurt to stretch?"
"Were you really on fire?"
"Is it true that one of you can fly?"
"Yeah I'm working on that." Johnny said. "It's actually a lot harder…" Merc elbowed him in the stomach.
"Actually, we don't know much more than you do at this point." Sue said. "We will be going directly to our lab where we can diagnose our symptoms…"
"Symptoms? So it's like a disease?"
"No!" Merc said. "We don't have any kind of disease."
"But if having special powers did mean having a disease then we got it bad." Johnny said.
"That thing…doesn't look too fantastic."
"Hey! That's my uncle you're talking about!" Merc said. The crowd at the front was pushed back slightly, causing a few people to fall over. "Uh…sorry."
"Ben Grimm is a genuine American hero." Reed said. "He's been through…"
"What he's trying to say is: every team needs a mascot." Johnny said. He put an arm over Reed's shoulders and another over Merc's. "A new day is dawning. The day of the Fantastic Five."
That wise ass little… Ben thought. Merc pushed Johnny's arm off.
"Look, everyone." She said. "We went into space to…find a way to understand DNA." She looked at Reed and Sue. "Ok so…they wanted to understand it. I just went for the free trip." The reporters laughed and Merc rolled her eyes.
"We did it to find ways to cure disease, save lives." Reed said. "Well, now it's our DNA, our…disease, for lack of a better word, and our lives on the line." He looked at Sue, Ben and Merc. "Thank you. No more questions." Reed, Sue and Ben all turned. Johnny looked from them to the crowd as they started walking away.
"Come on." Merc said, taking Johnny's hand. He wouldn't move. "Johnny!" She yanked on his hand and he finally followed. "God, Johnny!"
"What? You were enjoying it, admit it!" Johnny said.
"Just because I can read minds, doesn't mean you can too." Merc said. A noise from the crowd behind them made both of them spin around. Merc finally let go of Johnny's hand as they realized they weren't very far from the reporters.
"Trouble in Fantastic paradise, you two?"
Merc rolled her eyes and hurried after the others. She knew there would be no way that this wasn't going to be turned around on them somehow in the next day's paper.