Rating: TEEN
Disclaimer: I'm borrowing the characters from Fantastic Four, a Marvel comics supergroup created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby. I do not own them, and don't plan on getting any fame or fortune out of writing this fan fic. I was just bored this afternoon.
Author's Note: This fic picks up where the movie leaves off. I'm not a comic book reader. Please forgive me any flaws.
Chapter One - A New Development
Torrents of rain pelted the windshield of the taxi cab, washing away what Susan could only guess was over a month’s worth of bug guts and dust. She peered out of her own window as the cab came to a dead halt in the midst of heavy midday Manhattan traffic -- now made worse by the sudden rainstorm -- and saw pedestrians scurrying in all directions on the sidewalk. Some were huddling under umbrellas, others leaping over puddles to get to the nearest shelter. A few dozen people sought to cram themselves into the same tiny coffee shop, with amusing results. A squat woman who’d one moment congratulated herself for avoiding the downpour was now mopping latte macchiato off the front of her blouse. The man next to her was slowly inching away, but not before the latte-soaked woman popped him on the backside with her damp umbrella.
Susan chuckled to herself as she witnessed the scene, then glanced at the back of the cab driver’s head and inquired, “Do you think we’ll be moving any time soon?”
“Be quicker to walk, I think,” grumbled the cabbie as he laid a hand to his taxi’s horn. “Or maybe swim?”
“Yeah,” agreed Susan as she watched the rain begin to fall harder. She slouched down in her seat and began to tap her fingers in cadence with the falling raindrops. The rhythm of the driving rain lulled her and before she knew it, her eyes had closed.
“Hey, lady!”
“Huh?” Susan snorted as she jerked herself awake. They were moving again, she noticed. Slowly, but surely moving again.
“Your phone’s ringing, lady.”
And so it was. Susan rummaged through her bag and retrieved her cell phone, flipping it over to check the caller ID. The display screen read “Johnny” in neon blue letters. She groaned and considered not answering. He was probably calling to tell her they were out of peanut butter. Or else to tell her he’d accidentally burned the building to the ground in the process of trying to fry eggs in the palm of his hand. Sometimes her brother could be so immature.
“What, Johnny?” Susan barked into her phone.
“Well, how do you do, too?” said the injured-sounding voice on the other end.
“Cut the crap,” replied Susan. “And tell me what you’re calling for.”
“To hear the sweet dulcet tones of my fair sister’s voice, of course” Johnny answered.
“You’ve got about two seconds before I hang up--”
“Okay, okay,” he broke in. “Just was wondering -- are you anywhere near a market, because we’re all out of…”
“Dammit, Johnny, if you say peanut butter!”
“What, we’re out of peanut butter, too? Well, you’d better pick up some while you’re at the store…along with some more root beer.”
“Have you noticed the hurricane blowing outside, Johnny? I’m just trying to get home without drowning!”
“It’s raining out?” he said lazily. “Wow, I just got out of bed. I didn’t even notice.”
Susan ended the call without another word. If she ever made it out of this deluge and back to the Baxter Building, she was going to strangle her brother.
She squinted her eyes in an effort to establish just where the cab was at present, but the rain was coming down too fiercely for her to make out any sort of distinguishable landmark. The cab driver was barking a series of expletives in a foreign language and shaking his hands angrily at the taillights of the car in front of them.
Susan gritted her teeth and sunk her fingernails into the palms of her hands, realizing she’d balled them into fists when she saw the driver take both hands off the wheel. Before she could say anything, the driver impatiently maneuvered the cab into the next lane. Susan felt her pulse quicken as the cab began to move faster than it should have given the current weather conditions and she thought her heart was going to leap out of her chest as she saw the back of a bus growing closer and closer as the taxi sloshed through the flooded street.
“The brakes!” roared the driver.
Susan swallowed hard and did what came naturally in these types of situations.
Well, naturally if you’re Susan Storm, and have endured exposure to a high energy cosmic storm that has left you with certain unique abilities, that is.
The ability to project telekinetic force fields didn’t often come in handy on cab rides across the city, but every so often…
The cab bounced like a bubble off of the back fender of the yellow bus. The cabbie bellowed, his voice quavering. Susan gasped as she saw the faces of schoolchildren peeking from the rear window. She felt her hands relax and then tense again as she laid them to rest on the seat. Slowly, her nails sunk into the rough upholstery.
The force field died and the cab sat still in the street, gently nudged against the school bus, no harm done.
“What the hell?” the cab driver gasped. “Are you? You’re one of them, right?”
The cab driver’s voice sounded distant. The faces of the children, blurred by the rain, swam in Susan’s eyes. She gripped the cushion harder and then…they were gone.
All of them gone. Susan, the driver, the cab, the bus, the children…
Susan held her breath. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
The driver’s voice broke through her shock like a whip crack, and suddenly everything reappeared. The blurry images of the children on the bus were jumping up and down, cheering and clapping their hands in approval. The rugged, pale face of the driver was in hers, telling her in no uncertain terms to get the hell out of his car.
“Now, before I call the cops!”
Susan was stunned. Sure, invisibility was one of her gifts, but she’d only ever been able to render her own physical form unseen. Never another object. Not even the clothes on her back -- she had to rely on the suit she’d worn in space if she’d wanted complete invisibility, but now…
Now she’d managed her clothes, along with several dozen people, a New York City taxi cab and a school bus.
“Do I have to drag you by your hair, Invisible Lady?” growled the driver. “I said out!”
Susan stumbled out of the car and into the rain.
“What thanks,” she mumbled. “I just saved your life.”
She turned back in time to see him swerve the cab into the slow flow of traffic once again. The children on the bus were still cheering as she trudged through the puddles on the sidewalk past them. One of the boys from the back of the bus -- about ten years old, from the looks of it -- braved lowering his window to yell at her.
“That was fantastic, Ms. Invisible Woman, ma’am!” He was grinning form ear to ear. “Will you marry me?”
Susan smiled back and waved. “Sorry,” she said waggling the ring finger on her left hand proudly. “But I’m flattered, really!”
She toyed with the band around her finger as she quickened her pace along the soaked sidewalk. Reed’s unique engagement ring twirled effortlessly around her damp finger. She occupied herself by spinning it round and round as she took the last three blocks to the Baxter Building on foot. Reed would help her make sense of what had happened in the cab. Reed would know what to make of this turn her powers were taking.
The gold letters on the front of the building gleamed bright as ever, even as water poured over the sign, and Susan spun through the revolving doors, trailing a sea of rainwater into the lobby after her. She continued to drip as she boarded the elevator, and with a clammy finger she punched the button for the top floor of the building -- the lab.
The elevator doors parted and Susan was greeted by a familiar, craggy face.
“Hi, Ben,” she said as she sloshed off of the elevator.
“Hi, Susie,” Ben growled. “Forget your umbrella?”
“Ha,” said Susan sourly.
“I’m gonna kill that brother of yours,” Ben said, ignoring her response.
“Get in line,” said Susan, tugging off her wet jacket. “But first I need to talk to Reed…there’s been a new development.”
: Please update soon! This was great! 
