1 Susan Storm stood staring at the commercial jet on the airport tarmac, its large belly reflecting the afternoon sun with a powerful glare. The engines of the jet were silent, at least to her, as she watched several figures on the ground loading luggage and moving around the jet with ear protectors fastened tightly to their heads. She lingered on the activity on the ground, the scurrying and the action that she was not a part of, grateful to have something else to focus on. Often she begged her fiancé, Reed Richards, to find some other way for them to travel, some other way that didn't make her feel so exposed, so seen.
Susan blinked away the darker thoughts, turning from the window of the airport terminal and letting her eyes become readjusted from the glare of the afternoon light. Inside the terminal at LAX, all silence was obliterated. A crowd had immediately formed around her and her family as soon as they'd arrived at the gate to wait for their flight back to New York. She tried to block out the squeals of delight from the onlookers, the rush of the crowd that usually seemed to suck all the oxygen out of the room. She attempted to refocus, to ignore the voices gathering around them, the clicking of cell phone cameras, the murmurs and whispers that stuck to her skin so quickly that sometimes she could feel them before she heard them. Before the strange hands touched her arms or shoulders. One time, there'd been a tug on her long blond hair.
Is that them? Oh my God, I can't believe it. They look so different up close. What the hell is she wearing? Do you think she's pregnant?
Of all the things that had changed about Sue's life since the cosmic storm -- the storm that altered her DNA and gave her powers beyond anything imaginable, powers that drew her back into the world of Reed Richards, powers that led to the defeat and death of Victor Von Doom -- it was being thrown into the public eye that remained the most difficult. She disliked it intensely: the constant staring, the roving cameras that followed them wherever they went, the intense scrutiny that came with such attention.
For the most part, she had accepted the fate that had befallen them. If they suddenly had powers that could be useful to mankind, so be it. She was willing to share them and to do her part to make the world a safer place. She wasn't haunted by the changes in her life, the way she suspected Ben Grimm might be; nor did she relish the limelight the way her younger brother, Johnny, did. And Reed? He barely noticed anything beyond a book or his PDA. With the outside world rushing so violently into their private space, she often wondered how he could remain so clueless to the million different ways their lives had been invaded.
Sue felt a small weight in her chest. She rubbed her hands together, staring at the slim band of silver around her finger, trying to dismiss her cranky, cynical thoughts. She knew these weren't the musings of a hero, or of someone grateful for her life and upcoming wedding, or of someone even the least bit fantastic. It happened to her sometimes, when the crush of it all became a bit too much, when she'd retreat inside herself, if only to get a break from the attention and the spotlight. But the thoughts were beginning to stay with her for longer periods of time, and even her power of invisibility, her ability to disappear from their sight, could not make them go away.
She walked over to where Reed and Ben were sitting, waiting for the flight. The airport lounge was large and quite generic, she felt, for such a metropolitan city. They had bypassed the coffee bars and newsstands, hoping to lose the seemingly necessary crowds. But they were unavoidable. She noticed the people all around them and made a note to speak to Reed again about finding a less public way to travel. An overhead television caught her attention as she noticed the people in the waiting area staring intently at the talking flat screen.
The TV showed a typical blond anchorwoman with too many teeth talking about Susan and the team. The anchorwoman stared blankly into space and spoke: "It's being called the wedding of the century. Reed Richards and Susan Storm, also known as Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman, will try again to tie the knot three days from now at a private ceremony at the newly remodeled Baxter Building. They're hoping the fifth time's the charm, as the unlucky couple has repeatedly had to reschedule the event due to 'unforeseen circumstances.' But even the delays haven't dampened the enthusiasm of the couple's fans."
Susan cringed at the thought of her personal life being so vividly displayed for the world to see. She and Reed were in love. It wasn't their fault that things kept intruding on their wedding plans. It wasn't like they were hesitant or filled with doubt, was it? She turned her attention back to the television screen, which now panned over a crowd of people. It seemed to her that these cable news shows always found the most extreme personalities to feature on their segments, making most of the public seem like freaks or extremists. This show was no different. The camera cut to rabidly cheering fans adorned with the now familiar and ubiquitous dark blue Fantastic Four T-shirts. Johnny had gone behind their backs again and struck a licensing deal to have their logo put on anything he could: clothing, hats, mugs, towels. Even a large lingerie manufacturer had been ready to make a deal before Sue put a stop to it. Her brother had no common sense, relying instead on his fiery ambition and, she hated to admit, his growing hunger for fame.
The news camera focused on a particularly ardent young couple, the man weighing about twice that of the woman next to him. He was wearing a blue T-shirt with a large number four on the chest and grabbed his young girlfriend for a particularly long, deep kiss, right on camera. When he came up for air he said, "My girlfriend and I are getting married on the same day. I even dyed my temples, right, sweetie?" He turned his large, round face to either side, showing the camera his gray temples. The young girl, with lipstick now smeared over her lips, was wearing a blue wedding dress also emblazoned with a number four.
Susan tried to dismiss the scene with a sense of humor. At least someone is getting married, she thought.
She made her way over to Reed and Ben. They were all dressed in regular clothes even though there was no way for them to blend in with the crowd. Johnny was standing a few feet from where they were sitting, surrounded, as always, by adoring fans. He was too busy signing autographs and having his picture taken to notice the others. A particularly loud group of screaming girls had just arrived on the scene, and Sue figured her brother would remain quite busy until before it was time to board their flight. Watching him interact with the public, it was easy to dismiss him as egocentric or selfish. But Susan knew her brother better than that, and for all his love of the spotlight and the fame and fortune that accompanied their high profile, he took his responsibilities very seriously. Wasn't he the first one to call this a job? She remembered him saying that, after their fight with Victor Von Doom. His powers, and his control over them, were growing exponentially. Susan, at that moment, almost envied how much her brother relished and was comfortable in the public eye.
Susan sat down next to Reed, who had his nose buried in some work, his long legs extended and resting on a suitcase. She smiled and rolled her eyes at Ben, who smiled back at her. Ben knew Reed almost as well as she did but was less frustrated by his distractions. She knew Ben had been working with Reed for years -- nothing much surprised him about the absentminded professor Reed so often claimed to be.
Ben Grimm watched Susan take a seat next to Reed, her slight figure hardly moving the cheap airport seats at all. It took Ben five minutes to find a seat that might hold him, and he had to ease into it gently so as to not send it flying through the large windows onto the tarmac.
Ben turned his attention away from his friends and watched a group of young kids inch near him. It wasn't that long ago that kids -- hell, most people -- had blanched in fear at the sight of him. Not that that didn't still happen on occasion. But for the most part, the world seemed to have made its peace with his appearance. Ben struggled to do the same.
The lead boy was pushed ahead, farther toward Ben, while the others lingered a bit behind. The kid, dressed in a white T-shirt and jeans, held a sheet of paper in one hand and a pen in the other. His young eyes traveled from Ben's rocky face to his blue Brooklyn varsity jacket down to his two large, stony hands. The boy's face was a mixture of excitement and trepidation, his feet not leaving the ground even as the rest of his body tried to move forward. Ben smiled to himself. If only most of their fans were this hesitant, this polite. Sure would be a change of pace for Johnny.
Ben moved his hands away from the sides of the chair and extended them toward the kids. The others flinched back, but not the one with the pen. He stood firm, his eyes growing wide at seeing Ben's large rock hands, with their thick, significant fingers. Ben put his hands together, palms touching, and raised them to a height just above the heads of the children. He moved his hands together slowly, grinding them, the sound of falling rocks suddenly filling the air. Small pebbles fell into a pile before the smiling children. "Cool!" said the boy, before joining his friends in picking up their bounty from the floor of the terminal.
The commotion of children at his feet caused Reed Richards to finally look up from the papers and PDA in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at Ben and watched his old friend shrug his large, rock-hewn shoulders. The entire row of seats moved along with him. The motion caused some papers to fall from Reed's lap to the ground. Reed looked up at the television monitor as if noticing ...
