Eve gets her powers! Yay!
Chapter Seven - Rescue and Outburst
The next morning, I stumbled out of the airport and ignored Johnny's laughter on my part.
"How are you scared of flying? Seriously?" he laughed.
"Shut up," I growled. Reed ran out and grabbed a taxi as it pulled away. The very little luggage we had we left in Switzerland with the promise it would be sent over as soon as possible. We took the first flight – which ended up being seven hours long, or all night. I didn't sleep once the whole trip. I just sat there, gripping my seat and praying to every god I could think of to keep the plane from crashing.
Everyone climbed in the cab before realizing there was no room for me. I just rolled my eyes, pulled myself together, and slid into the passenger seat. Over the seven hours, Reed and Sue came up with a list of places Ben would go. Before we had exited the airport, we had called Debra and in the short conversation, Reed figured out Ben had already met her and he was "a monster" and that we should "avoid him at all costs". The next place on the list was Reed's place.
"The Baxter Building, please," said Reed to the driver. I made a point to read his name – Donald Reilly. We sat in silence as Donald weaved his was through New York traffic. As we went down the Brooklyn Bridge, suddenly traffic stopped. Horns honked, and I could see a jumble of cars smashed up ahead. There was a huge wreck. We clambered out of the taxi and heard people screaming and shouting up ahead. Then the police arrived – in record time, to me – and began pushing back the people who were trapped on the bridge.
I had a glimpse of a rocky orange hand, and pointed it out to Reed. "Ben," he murmured. We were at the edge of the crowd, and couldn't get through very far.
"What are we gonna do now?" asked Sue.
"We're not gonna get past these guys," said Reed, waving his hand towards the police officers. "But you could." I put my hands in my head and backed away a bit.
Sue looked down at herself, then back up at Reed. "Fine," she said, closing her eyes, and quickly, she faded away. Well, everything but her clothes.
"Sue, your clothes. Lose them," whispered Reed. Everyone around was staring, and I backed a few more steps away. It was getting awkward.
"Oh. Right."
"This is so wrong," said Johnny, looking away. Sue began stripping, and got down to her bra and underwear when she reappeared.
People gasped, and Sue asked, "What?" She looked down at herself and gasped, trying to cover up. "Oh!"
"Wow," said Reed. "You've been working out."
"Shut up!"
The guy standing next to me looked at me, then looked at them. "Hey, I saw you! Aren't you with-"
"I don't know those people," I said, moving away.
Sue grabbed her jacket and wrapped it around herself. "Any more great ideas? Why don't you strip down and have 100 people stare at you?" she spat at Reed. She vanished again, and Reed said her name. "What?" she asked again. Johnny looked back as she dropped the jacket and finished stripping.
"I'm gonna need therapy," he said, looking away again.
Reed looked around and said, "Come on. Let's get out of here." Johnny bent down and scooped up his sister's clothes before following Reed.
I heard Sue's voice say, "Excuse me, coming through," and saw the crowd spit apart and stare at the empty space in shock. I followed Reed and Johnny at a distance, praying that no one else noticed me. As we neared the wreck, a shot went off, and saw the giant, orange creature running behind an empty car. Then I heard sirens, and saw a fire truck headed towards us. We made it past the line of police and hid behind a crushed truck. Sue pulled her clothes back on and reappeared.
"I still can't believe you made me do that," she grumbled.
"We got through, didn't we? Just find Ben," said Reed, running off and weaving his way through the cars. Johnny and Sue followed behind him, but I stayed back. I had a really bad feeling that something was going to happen. Something bad. Then Sue climbed on top of a taxi and began shouting for Ben. Out from behind a truck came rocky Ben, and we could see him close up. He was huge, and seemed to be made of rock completely. Sue gasped, and I saw Reed stop in his tracks.
Then I heard the sound of a girl yelling for her mom, and all I saw was a flash and Johnny jumping over to the girl before the cars next to her exploded. I moved back and saw glimpses of rock dodging flying cars, and Johnny's jacket getting enveloped by the flames. The cars flew up right in front of the fire truck, and the driver swerved to dodge them. Then the back of the truck smashed through the side of the bridge and began skidding, halfway on the bridge.
The cars exploded again, and out of Sue came a bluish force-field of sorts. It enveloped the explosion and protected the people around from the fire and debris. Then Sue seemed to push the fire away with the field, grunting, and swayed on her feet. I rushed forward and saw Johnny, with scorched clothes but nothing else, let go of the girl and jog over to where the fire truck was tilting dangerously over the edge. I followed, feeling a bit useless, and saw some firefighters climbing on the ladder, trying to reach one of their own who was hanging over the water. Then Ben grabbed the front of the truck and began to pull down, grunting. The truck came back onto its wheels, but the ladder slid down, another firefighter dangling from it.
As Ben struggled to pull it back up, I saw the first man slip and fall. Bystanders screamed, but I saw Reed dive... and stretch, catching the man in his arms. As he pulled him back up, Ben yelled and dragged the truck back onto the bridge. Mostly. I looked up and spotted the glint of a camera lens – this was being taped. As people started cheering, the reinforcements arrived. I slipped to the side, unseen in the crowd, as the police surrounded Ben, guns pointed at him. Some of the people around me began yelling at the police to leave him alone, and I saw Reed, Sue, and Johnny run up to the police holding the crowd back on the other side. Then the firefighters began clapping and cheering, and the rest of the crowd joined in. Ben looked around at the people, then saw someone in the crowd, whom he stepped toward. Debra. I saw her place something sparkling on the ground.
Ben knelt to pick it up, but Reed grabbed it and placed it in his hand. An engagement ring. Reed said something forcefully to Ben, then turned back to face the others.
"What now?" asked Johnny over the cheering.
I sat on the ground in the corner of the tent, watching as the paramedics clear Sue, the police mutter to each other about Ben, and Johnny watch Ben in confusion. "Where are your ears?" he asked. Ben looked up at him, and Johnny shrugged. I shook my head and laughed softly, but Johnny noticed me anyway. "Why are you here anyway? You don't have any powers, and you didn't help at all!" He looked at me expectantly.
I wasn't sure either. Sue made it a point to make the police let me through, and Reed agreed. I shrugged and looked up as the fire chief walk into the tent.
"There are some folks outside that want to talk to you."
"We're not going public with this," said Reed. "We're scientists, not celebrities."
"I second that!" I said, standing up.
The chief looked at me, then back at Reed. "It's too late, kids." He moved to the TV they had set up in the back. "Look." He turned it on, and it showed footage of us. All of us. "See that?" The reporter began describing Reed's rescue. "That's what they're calling you – the Fantastic Four."
"Cool!" Johnny looked back at me. "See? Even the public doesn't recognize you as one of us!"
"Good," I said, turning back to the fire chief. Johnny, however, tried to leave, but Sue stopped him.
"No, wait! Where are you going?"
"I'm gonna go talk to 'em."
"No!" said Sue and I at the same time. "We should think this through," she continued.
Johnny gestured to all of us. "That's great. Brainstorm." He began backing out of the tent. He stopped to ask where the reporters were, and Sue and Reed looked at each other, then chased after him, me right behind them.
"Get back here right now! Johnny!" cried Sue.
He looked back at us and smiled, then came up to the crowd of reporters. "Settle down!" he said, holding up his hands. He looked back at Reed. "Do you believe this?"
The chief stepped in front of us. "Which one of you is the leader?"
"That would be me," said Johnny.
The chief just laughed. "No, seriously." Johnny looked disappointed. Sue shoved Reed forward and gave him a look. He nodded and stepped up. "Okay, son, you're on." He moved forward to face the press. I turned and saw Ben come up behind Johnny, and moved to hide behind his huge form.
Reed began like any amateur. "Uh..." I sighed and looked away. "...during our recent mission to the Von Doom space station... we were exposed to an as-yet unidentified radioactive energy."
"What happened on the bridge?"
"How can you stretch?"
"Is it true you can fly?"
Reed looked flustered by the questions, but Johnny smiled. "Yeah, I'm working on it. It's actually difficult-"
Sue cut off her brother as we all glared at him. "No, actually, we do not know much more than you do at this point. This has only just happened, and we will be going directly to the lab to diagnose our symptoms."
"Symptoms? Is this some kind of disease?"
"No!" In jumped Johnny. My head began to pound, and I was feeling more and more irritated. "No, no, no. It's not a disease." He looked at his sister and whispered, "Symptoms?" He looked back at the reporters. "If having special powers is a disease, then, yeah, we got it bad."
"Excuse me. That thing," said a reporter, pointing at Ben, "doesn't look so fantastic."
"Ben Grimm is a genuine American hero," said Reed. Ben moved forward, exposing me to the crowd again.
"What he means is, every team needs a mascot," said Johnny, putting an arm around Ben. The crowd laughed, and Sue glared at Johnny. He grabbed Reed and put an arm around him. "A new day is dawning." My head was about to explode. I stepped forward, into sight of the cameras. "The day of the Fantastic Four!"
There was a short pause, where everyone seemed to freeze and look in my direction. Then everything building up in my brain was let loose. I screamed, the sudden burst of power running through me making my skin sizzle. On impulse, I threw my arms out, and just like that, every car, light, camera, phone, and electronic device shut down. I fell to my knees and felt a rush. Then everything seemed to shift back into focus, and I felt full, whole, refreshed. I looked up to see everyone staring at me. There was a short pause. Then Johnny smiled.
"I guess that makes us the Fantastic Five!"
Furious, I stood and stalked up to him. "You know what, I'm sick of you and your fame-hunting!" I jabbed a finger at him, and saw sparks dance on my skin.
"Whoa, whoa, hey now. Calm down," he said, putting his hands up.
"Shut. UP!" I roared, shoving him. And just like that, he flew backwards and landed eight feet away, unconscious. Now people were really staring. Sue grabbed me and pulled me aside before I hurt someone else, and Reed turned back to the reporters.
"Look – Look, we went up to space to find a way to understand D.N.A., cure disease, save lives. Well, now it's our D.N.A., our 'disease,' our lives on the line. Thank you. No more questions."
He turned and joined Sue, who was holding my shoulders. "Are you okay?" she asked me. "What did you do?"
"I don't know," I answered truthfully. Johnny groaned and sat up.
"Jesus , that felt like I was getting struck by lightning," he said, crawling to his feet.
"You deserved it," I said, glaring at him.
Reed looked around at everyone who was banging on their car or shaking their phones. "Eve, I think you just shorted out every electronic device around here."
The fire chief, who was standing nearby, said, "Oh boy. Now how are we gonna get you guys back to wherever you're staying?" Everyone turned to look at me.
"What?"
Yay! Eve can absorb electricity and shock people with her hands. Who does that sound like? And what can this mean for Eve? Keep reading to find out!
Next chapter has a big surprise involving Tessa! Review to get more!