Chapter Two
Paige walked along the sidewalk, gazing at store window displays as reporters with cameras followed in a swarm behind. It actually quite annoyed her that she had her own squad of paparazzi on her heels whenever she set foot outside of the Baxter Building. Propping her aviator sunglasses on top of her head, she ducked into the Abercrombie & Fitch to her right, hoping to lose the reporters.
Paige headed toward the back by the dressing rooms to find a tall guy hanging sweaters on a clearance rack.
"Tell me you actually came to see me this time and not just escaping your paparazzi posse," the blonde snickered as he turned and smiled at her. Paige leaned against a display table and sighed.
"They do nothing but piss me off, but yeah I actually did come to see your gay ass." She laughed as the guy gave her a look.
"Nothing about my ass is gay, honey, it's all in the front." Adam said in a highly homosexual voice before laughing. "So how's my girl doing?"
Paige had known Adam since her first day of high school, the day before her parents had pulled her out to be home schooled after countless news reporters had been taking pictures of her through windows during class. Adam had been the newly-come-out gay boy, which made him a walking target for the high school bullies. Paige couldn't stand seeing the poor kid suffer, and after delivering a sharp right hook to the jaw of a football player who'd been following Adam around calling him a "faggot," the two had remained friends, even after Paige had left. After much maturing and self-esteem building, Adam took pride in his gayness, and would've walked carrying a flag saying "Gay Pride" if he could.
Paige bit her lip. "I finally did it." Adam dropped the sweater he was holding.
"SHUT. UP." Paige nodded, only able to smile as Adam broke into a girly clapping fit. "Oh my God I'm so proud of you! I'm taking you out to eat, let's go. Right now." Adam dragged Paige toward the door as he yelled at the girl working the cash register, "Leslie I'm taking my lunch break be back in an hour!"
The two walked through the crowded city side walk, hurrying towards the Starbucks down the block before they were seen by Paige's photography crew. Sitting down at a table, Adam ordered their usual coffee drinks and proceeded to drill Paige with questions.
"What was it like? What happened? You didn't kill anyone, right?"
"Of course I didn't kill anyone! It was just so amazing, I didn't think I could do it but I did this time. And my dad was really proud."
"Well he should be! Not every superhero's daughter can shoot lightning bolts out of their fingertips! Which reminds me, my nail artist said that electricity will ruin your cuticles, so I made an appointment for us to get mani-pedi's ASAP."
Paige covered her face with her hands to keep herself from laughing. "Adam, you're gayness never gets old."
"I sure hope not! I'm nineteen years young, sweetie, the word 'old' isn't in my vocab."
Glancing out the window, Paige groaned and slipped her sunglasses back on as a group of men with cameras crowded at the window of Starbucks, taking pictures and shouting things through the glass.
"Paige! Who are you with?"
"Is that you're boyfriend? Paige Richards has a boyfriend!"
"Paige! Have you gotten any superpowers yet?"
"Oh dear, gotta fix this, give me your lipstick." Adam demanded and held his hand out from across the table. Knowing he was going to pull another stunt, Paige smiled as she handed over her tube of Taylor Swift red lipstick and watched as Adam proceeded to write on the glass "SORRY BUT I LIKE BOYS." Paige laughed herself to tears as one by one, the reporters began to leave he window, disappointed that they hadn't gotten any new Paige Richards gossip.
"So back to what I was saying, you need nail treatment pronto." Adam said calmly as if he hadn't just written across the window of a public establishment in lipstick. Paige laughed as she felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket, and sighed as she saw her dad's picture lighting up the screen.
"Hold that thought, my dad's calling." She slid her finger across the screen and put the phone to her ear. "Hello?"
"Hi Daddy Richards!" Adam yelled out, only giggling as Paige shooed him away to be quiet.
"Paige? Paige where are you? You need to get home right now," Reed said breathlessly from the other line. In the back, she could hear the muffled shouts of her mom and uncles.
"Dad I'm with Adam, what's wrong?" Paige demanded sharply as she automatically switched into alert mode. Something was wrong; she knew it instantly by the tone of Reed's voice.
"Something's happening—you're not safe" The line crackled and buzzed as Paige struggled to hear her father's voice. "—bring Adam with you—get here soon—Paige there's—"
"Reed it's here!" Paige heard her mother shout in the background before the line went dead.
"Dad? Dad!" Paige shouted before cramming her purse into her bag and getting up.
"Paige what's the matter?" Adam asked wide eyed and looking definitely freaked. At that moment, the lights of the coffee shop flickered out, and the sound of humming electricity was instantly silenced. Running out onto the sidewalk, Adam and Paige watched as huge New York light displays and billboards went dark and hundreds of speeding cars and taxis skidded to a halt as their engines were cut.
The entire city was out of power.
"Don't tell me this was you…" Adam gawked as he stared up at the darkened world.
"Not a chance," Paige said softly before grabbing his hand and running with him back to where she parked the Torch Mobile. "My dad said something was happening, we need to get back to my place now." Hopping into the open convertible, Paige jammed the keys into the ignition and repeatedly tried to start the car. "Dammit! There's no way it's gonna start!"
Adam punched her shoulder. "Hello! Mother effin' energizer bunny! Start this bitch up!"
Paige looked down at her hands, adrenaline pulsing through her veins. She clasped her fingers tightly around the steering wheel and concentrated, mustering the same will power she had earlier in the lab. She willed a spark to start within her and spread to the engine of the car. Adam watched her in suspense, gripping his seat. Deep inside the engine, they both heard a low rumble.
"You got it, Paige," Adam breathed.
"Come on…" Paige said to herself, clenching her teeth. Blue sparks fuzzed across her hands as the engine grew louder in short revvs. "Come on come on…Start you son of a—"
The engine roared to life and the car lurched forward as Adam let out a cry of triumph.
"Alright let's get back," Paige said confidently as she switched gears and sped back toward the Baxter Building, weaving in between stationary taxis and bewildered people looking up at the sky as the sun began to set and darkness took over the lifeless city.
Earlier…
Once Paige had left, Reed headed back to his lab to begin cleaning the sea of light bulbs left on the floor and perhaps get some more research done. He was working on a theory for cold fusion and was determined to make some kind of progress on the topic. Sitting down at his desk to open up the series of files he'd created for his theory, he paused to look at the picture frames bordering his work space next to the computer monitor. The first was a picture of Sue and him holding Paige as an infant when she was first born. Beside it stood a photo of Paige on her 11th birthday shoving a piece of cake into Ben Grimm's face as she grinned wildly. The last photo took a while longer for Reed to look away from. It was simple picture taken by Sue of himself asleep on the living room sofa with a newspaper in his hand; Paige lie sleeping on his chest, curled up against her father while she was still small enough to do so. Reed couldn't help but smile; his little girl had grown up so fast.
His reminiscing was abruptly cut short as a loud alarm sounded in the lab and satellite image of outer space opened on the left wall of the lab, a huge screen that hadn't been used in years. On the screen, a diagram of the solar system appeared showing a close up on the distance between Earth, the Moon, and its neighboring planet, Mars. A small white blip was blinking rapidly as it traveled a steady course toward Earth, moving rather quickly. As Sue ran into the lab to find the source of the alarm, Reed had jumped onto his computer, trying to get a lock on the moving object.
"Reed what's going—"
"This satellite hasn't detected anything in years and all of a sudden it picked up and unidentified object heading right at us. Sue when was the last time something like that happened?"
"I don't know. How could anything be coming at us that fast?"
"Or undetected until now? Whatever it is, it's moving quickly and it's not decreasing its speed."
"Connect us to the pentagon; we've got to notify the Secretary of Defense. If we didn't see this until now, they probably have no idea this thing exists." Sue said firmly and stepped closer to the wall screen.
"I've got to call Paige," Reed retorted and pulled out his phone, dialing her number as fast as his fingers could type as Ben and Johnny rushed into the lab.
"Hello?"
"Paige? Paige where are you? You need to get home right now,"
"Dad I'm with Adam, what's wrong?" Paige replied. He could hear the change in her tone as she sensed his urgency.
"Something's happening, Paige. You have to get home as soon as possible. You're not safe." Reed could hear Paige struggle to respond as the line began to break up.
"Reed its increasing speed! Six miles until it breaks zero barriers!" Sue yelled as she stared at the screen in horror. The white blip was closing in fast.
"Paige bring Adam with you. You have to get here soon! Paige there's—"
"Reed it's here!" Sue cried as the call dropped. The lights and generators in the lab went dead and the sound of silence took over. From the windows, Ben and Johnny watched as on the streets, cars slammed into each other from engine malfunction and the building lights went out.
"What's going on out there, Reed…" Ben muttered, staring out at the darkening world.
"I don't know, Ben." Reed replied, fearing more for his daughter than the city.