chapter two!
002. burnt bridges

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    DR. REED RICHARDS could often describe himself as positive. Or, at least, trying to be positive. Sometimes, what it took to find a new path was to open a door that might, at first, seem like the worst option. Currently, it very well seemed like he was going to be robbed of his money in the percentage Victor would take from this project. But also currently, he was only just crawling on the edge of bankruptcy to try and keep the Baxter Building. After every other large research company turned them down, NASA included, the only door left was this one. And this door included less than six weeks of preparation, stepping to a low of asking his rival for help, and money, and also watching Victor Von Doom have his arm around the love of Reed's life. These were sacrifices. And he knew that if he was making sacrifices, whatever the outcome would be, it was going to be worth it. 

    Admittedly, he was anxious for the day of the launch to arrive. He had spent six weeks going over his calculations, double-checking and triple-checking and quadruple-more-checking. Six weeks of losing sleep, of hunching over his work table with just a lamp as company, and stressing every possibility to make sure nothing went wrong whatsoever. 

    And now those six weeks have passed, and here he was, Dr. Reed Richards very well wondered if he was dreaming. 

    To have enough money to build his own statue was one thing, to have enough money to own his own space station and shuttle was another. Reed climbed the stairs to the entrance of the space shuttle and glanced out at the stretch of land▬an entire field station hidden in a valley of tall mountains in Canada. A field with a wonderful view of dark green forest trees, and even a tranquil lake to the left. Of course, Dr. Victor Von Doom was nothing if not elitist enough to enjoy a nice view to wave goodbye to while he left Earth to travel to his very own space station for three days. 

    Dr. Reed Richards climbed to the landing, fixing his helmet as he glanced up to the rest of the shuttle looming above▬an impressive sight. A towering, white cone the size of a small skyscraper with the big black lettering VON DOOM along the side. He let out a breath, struck with awe of all that was happening; a dream which was finally turning into a reality. He smiled, fixing his jacket over his shirt. 

    "This is ridiculous."

    Reed blinked, taken aback and confused by Ben Grimm's gruff, annoyed comment. He turned to his close friend and business partner▬perhaps he meant the view and he glanced around, confused once again. "Oh, well, I think the view's quite nice."

    "No," Ben stressed, shaking his head with slight exasperation at the way his comment flew right over Reed's head. "This▬" he gestured around the field station. "The crew, this is all ridiculous."

    Reed sighed and tilted his head. "Come on, Ben," he tried to coax his friend. "Look at the opportunity this is giving us. How many years have we been grilling on this? Finally, we have the chance to change the world!"

    Ben scowled up at him, a frown etched like stone onto his square face. His Von Doom Industries helmet was fixed tight onto his head. "An intern," he said in a very flat, deadpan tone. "Is Victor mad? He has recruited an intern, Reed."

    "Let me worry about the intern," Reed fiddled with his binoculars, twisting the strings around his fingers and then unwrapping them. He took a deep breath. Yes, even he had his reservations about this decision. No matter his positivity about the door analogy, offering an intern this job was a risk on many levels. "She seems like a very smart young lady with a lot of potential," he offered, keeping his reservations quiet for the time being. "She's almost finished her bachelor's in physics, and her GPA is very impressive. Besides, she seemed very nice when we met her in the elevator▬"

    "GPA is nothing," Ben argued very good points that Reed was reluctant to listen to. He was determined to keep himself positive▬to save himself from any chance this might go wrong. This was all he had▬he really was desperate. "Experience is everything. She hasn't seen a day outside of her egghead textbooks. She's fresh-faced and in way over her head."

   "Maybe," Reed said, stubborn. He took another deep breath and glanced down as a car pulled up right outside the garage. "But we were all fresh-faced once, weren't we?"

    His loyal best friend continued to frown at him. Despite all of his grumblings, Ben Grimm was incredibly loyal and trusting. He would follow Reed to the ends of the universe if he could▬he would complain and grumble the entire way, but he would do it. He knew him better than anyone else and could see the intrigue and flicker of responsibility in Reed's eyes which had grown the moment this conversation began. "You know nothing about her," he warned him. "You can't take this kid under your wing on this, Reed."

    "Well, it's like you said, Ben," Dr. Reed Richards glanced back at Ben Grimms as the car door opened and a young woman, no older than twenty-three, perhaps, stepped out into the bright sun. "She's in way over her head. Someone has to look out for her, and ..." he nodded to himself, "she has a lot of potential."

    Ben took a sharp breath through his nose and shook his head. "Can't do it. Cannot do it," he said and Reed frowned, taken aback.

    "What, why?" he let out, wondering what the problem was now. For a moment, he thought whether his friend was talking about the shuttle itself. He glanced up at the spacecraft. "Why not? It's external S.R.B.'s, orbital system engines ... It's just like the shuttle you flew▬"

    "No▬!" Ben cut him off, his guff voice grumbling in the back of his throat. He held up a hand, stopping Reed before he continued any further. "Look, I can handle one fresh-faced intern who shouldn't be here, but I cannot take orders from the underwear model."

    Reed realised what he meant with a long sigh, closing his eyes briefly. Oh. He chuckled, shaking his head▬he couldn't help but find a slither of amusement in this. "Oh, come on, now. Johnny isn't that bad▬"

    "That wing-nut washed out of NASA for sneaking two Victoria's Secret wannabes into a flight simulator," protested Ben. 

    Positive ... door analogy, Reed repeated his affirmations as he tried not to speak ill of his ex-girlfriend's younger brother. He shrugged, and the only compliment he could find was: "Youthful high spirits..."

    "They crashed it into a wall."

    Reed chuckled, sheepish at Ben's furious huff of breath. He shrugged again. His friend wasn't impressed. "A flight simulator," he repeated. 

    He had a point there. "I▬well▬okay▬" relented Reed and held his hands up in gentle surrender. "Look, I understand this crew isn't the best crew we could have been given▬"

    "▬It's the worst▬"

    "▬But when have I ever asked you to do something you absolutely said you could not do?"

    "Five times."

    Reed frowned. He watched Ben turn on his heel and begin to storm his way onwards to the shuttle entrance. "I ... I had it at four."

    "Well, this makes five!"

    Down the flights of scaffolding and stairs, Ingrid Rivers took a deep breath to swallow her nerves. She tugged the sleeves of her shirt down, gripping the ends underneath her fingertips before reaching for her bag. She slung it over her shoulder, hiding how much her heart was racing and how she was sure she had lost feeling in her legs. She was scared that if she took a step, she'd collapse because her legs were nothing but jelly. 

    She closed the door and looked around. The scenery was not enough to calm her anxiety. The gentle breeze that sent small waves across the lake surface past the warehouses and garages under the shadow of beautiful mountains might've soothed some, but not her. Ingrid took another deep breath, swallowed by the shadow of the space shuttle right behind her. When she looked up at it, she felt like she was walking the streets of New York City, and suddenly felt stupid enough to peer at the towering skyscrapers right beside her. She'd feel her knees buckle and her head spin▬and it looked as if the buildings were falling onto her, ready to crush her in their glory and mighty importance. They made her feel small and insignificant; barely keeping herself afloat in all of her responsibilities, insecurities and things she had to do. They made her feel not so invincible. 

    Just like now. Which was the last thing she needed. 

    Ingrid pursed her lips and turned back to the car to speak to the driver. "Um, do you happen to know where I'm supposed to go...?" her words trailed off as she watched the car take off back towards the road. "Okay..."

    Huffing out a frustrated breath, her gaze went down to her bag. She struggled to hold it in front of her as she unzipped it, searching for her phone. Ingrid hoped Sue hadn't put away her phone yet, hoping she'd be able to meet up with Ingrid and tell her where she needed to go. Ingrid knew she had to be somewhere. There was preparation before taking flight▬Susan told her yesterday once Ingrid arrived in Canada. She couldn't take her phone, she had to sign some paperwork and be given equipment. 

    There was a strict deal with Ingrid's inclusion▬A set of rules she had to follow. She couldn't touch anything, or go anywhere without supervision. Ingrid was a 'watch-only' party like a glorified student on an extremely glorified field trip; a tourist, even. Who wouldn't want to be a tourist visiting outer space? Her physics degree and internship were getting her into a place right next to Dr. Reed Richards for the entire experience. She will observe his work and equations, learn from him and hope that between now and when she sees him again, Ingrid will have found a way to store every single word he will say like a movie she could replay in her mind whenever she needed it. Or wanted to show off to whatever obnoxious student in her tutorials who patronised her and her intelligence. 

    She was excited, despite her nerves. Ingrid was excited to be paired with Dr. Reed Richards because she was sure he would listen to her. She was sure she'd be able to showcase all she'd learnt and her potential for everyone to see through him. Ingrid couldn't help but imagine all of the possibilities▬however outlandish they might be▬where for some reason, all of a sudden, they needed her expertise and it was somehow her mind that brought them to the finish line. She could imagine her name on the front of a newspaper; headlined next to scientists with multiple degrees and remembered as somebody extraordinary. 

    And her father would be so proud. He'd frame every newspaper copy, and every magazine and tape every television interview and broadcast on VHS even though no one used VHS anymore, and then stress about taping over one of his episodes of Hogan's Heroes, but he wouldn't care in the end, because his favourite girl was out changing the world, and her mother would be so proud. 

    Ingrid's fingers wrapped around her phone and she awkwardly pulled it out, zipping up her bag when she heard the loud rev of a motorcycle echo across the field. She frowned, confused, and then glanced over towards the lake. 

    Fashionably late, the owner of the motorcycle appeared through the slope pass at a dangerous speed, racing the stylish sports car behind them. The driver wore no helmet, and barely any leather▬gripping onto the handlebars of his bike with fingerless gloves as his only form of protection. Dust billowed behind his back wheel, and as he drove down the strip of road across the centre of the lake, it almost looked as if the water itself split apart around him. Not even water could douse the flames that ignited his thrill of adventure. 

    The sports car almost clipped his wheel, until the driver swept his bike sideways and slowed down▬just enough to ride nose-to-nose with the gorgeous woman in the driver's seat. Beach blonde curls flew back over her smooth seat in what was most definitely her father's car with no roof. 

    Ingrid watched on, feeling both incredulous and far from being impressed. She arched a brow. And even from here, she could see the woman lean over her door▬looking away from the road to plant her pretty red lips onto the man's own, dangerously close to knocking him right off the seat on his motorcycle. 

    After one kiss, he left her in the dust, grinning over his shoulder before revving the motorcycle once more. He was a blur of bright red and dust, heading straight for the field with a joyful laugh lost in the whistling wind and growling engines. 

    And just like that, Ingrid Rivers didn't care about having her name on any newspaper or broadcast headline. She wanted to leave. Now. Right now and never come back. 

    Ingrid Rivers was meticulous. She had an equation for everything. She prepared and prepared again, over and over▬she knew what to say and what to do; she knew how to avoid every mistake and every curve life would throw at her ... Except for one. 

    All it took was one work Christmas party▬just one night and gone like a river current in the morning. But one night was all it took to make Ingrid Rivers not as perfect as she liked to believe. And she thought she would never have to face that night ever again. 

    And now, that night was revving obnoxiously in her ear as it drove right towards the garage▬and if there was one way to lure the likes of Johnny Storm, was the sight of a girl who looked like she needed charm and arrogance disguised by charisma to save her. 

    Ingrid coughed away the dust that washed right into her face as the motorcycle skidded to a stop right in front of her. It was too late. There was nowhere for her to run. 

    Once the dust subsided, there he was. 

    He took off his sunglasses and sat back in his seat, tilting his head at Ingrid and then, slowly, grinned. "Well, look who it is."

    Johnny Storm was incredibly handsome▬and that was the only compliment Ingrid would give him. He had this boyish look about him as if he never truly stepped out of high school; a jock with a new date at every party who joined the football team just for the cheerleaders. And yet, it suited him so well. That boyish, clean-shaven look also mixed with the sharp jawline and charming smile, turning Johnny Storm from the immature high school quarterback into the annoying guy who mansplained how to use the equipment at the gym. And only the annoying guy at the gym believed he looked good with a buzzcut.

    (Well, Johnny did, but that wasn't the point Ingrid was trying to make. The point is: Johnny Storm was an asshole).

    "Wait, don't tell me your name," Johnny held out his hand as he stepped off his bike, supporting a black biker's jacket, a deep red shirt and jeans. He kicked the motorcycle stand out and left it, walking towards her. "I can guess it. Let me guess it."

    Ingrid didn't say anything, scowling up at him▬not that he noticed. Johnny was a burst of energy, not quite able to stay still as he shuffled on his feet, trying to think of her name off the top of his head. "It's ... it's something pretty, cute and yet mysterious, right?" he looked back down at her, grinning. Johnny winked. "Just like you."

     She stared at him, annoyed. When he didn't end up guessing, she fell for his trap and grumbled out, curt: "It's Ingrid▬"

    "Ingrid!" let out Johnny, as if he just had an Eureka moment. "Ingrid. See? I knew that. Tip of my tongue."

    Ingrid crossed her arms. "No, it wasn't. You only remembered my name because I said it."

    "Ah," he shook his head, sighing. He chuckled, faking a breath of nostalgia. "I missed that cynicism and lack of belief▬you have trust issues, you know? I think you should talk to someone about that."

    "Hmm, I think you should talk to someone about your textbook narcism," Ingrid shot back and Johnny chuckled, snapping his fingers at her. "What are you doing here, Johnny?"

    "Awe, you remember my name," Susan's younger brother rested one hand on the railing outside the garage, the other on his hip. He leaned on the railing, subtly hovering close to Ingrid, and Johnny wasn't the one to hide the way his eyes would wander. "Was I that unforgettable, princess? I'm flattered." Before Ingrid could voice her frustration at the name, Johnny took a deep breath and stood up straight. "Surprise, surprise, but I'm the captain of the ship. And I'm telling you now, half of what's in that bag you can't take up there▬" his hands swiped her bag right off her and put it over his shoulder. "But it's okay, I can guide you and teach you all I know. I'll be your captain if you want, just say the word."

    "You're gross," muttered Ingrid, snatching back her bag. Johnny chuckled, letting her take it▬it was just an excuse to get her to step closer, and she fell for it. She always fell for his tricks, and she hated it. 

    Her gaze glanced up to meet his as she awkwardly put her bag strap over her shoulder, and Ingrid's chest fluttered with memory▬as if her heart held muscle memory over the way her blood pumped and her skin tingled when those lips had explored her all over.

    Ingrid quickly adverted her gaze and began to walk away. Johnny watched her go, biting his lip and hiding his chuckles to himself. He let her get a few steps before fixing his jacket and calling out: "That's the wrong way, Ingrid."

    She swivelled on her shoes without a single word and marched back towards him. Johnny Storm grinned, letting her push past him towards the sleek complex on the opposite end. He took a moment to enjoy the view before following her. 

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    INGRID MET Johnny Storm before she knew better. She believed she had known everything▬that she had prepared for any circumstance and conversation she could predict. Truth was, she had been naive about anything outside a pleasant conversation and small talk. There was no way to prepare for somebody like Johnny Storm. He was unpredictable▬an open flame. He had a nice smile and made her laugh, and even if she had tried to roll her eyes at his flirtatious jokes, he had her blushing by the end of the night. Ingrid had no clue what she had gotten herself into when he introduced himself as Susan's younger brother ("The better-looking sibling," he had grinned). He had shown her something Ingrid never let herself melt to experience▬excitement, fun; a thrill of testing the waters outside of her comfort zone. He could have persuaded her to jump off a small cliff into the ocean if he promised he'd be on the other end to catch her, and Ingrid had been stupid enough to believe him. 

    Instead of a cliff, he had taken her out. He had showed off his sports car and made her laugh amongst her exclaims to slow down! when he joked about going over the limit. He had driven without his roof and Ingrid had felt her hair flying in the wind▬seen the city lights and realised none of them shined brighter than Johnny's smile. When they reached his apartment with a view Ingrid could only dream of, he had melted the frost on her skin and sent it burning with his touch and teasing kisses. She had sighed into his ear and he had whispered sweet nothings, taking her to his bed and promising her that she was unlike any other girl he'd ever had. And she had believed him. 

    (That had been the worst part. She had believed him). 

    "Were you gonna tell me Johnny would be here?" Ingrid asked in a soft murmur to Susan as she pulled her blonde hair off her face inside the women's changing rooms. 

    Sue Storm twisted the pretty blonde strands inside a clip, letting them twist together as if it were nothing. She looked effortlessly gorgeous. "I thought you knew," she turned to one of the lockers and double-checked her things. "Johnny's the only pilot on our payroll qualified."

    The words 'qualified' and 'Johnny' didn't go well together in Ingrid's mind. Susan reapplied some lip gloss and Ingrid tilted her head, curious as to the reason why. She glanced back at her. "He's not going to be a problem, is he?" the way she said it made Ingrid feel as though she wasn't allowed to have a problem about it. Johnny was Susan's little brother▬after they lost both their parents, Susan felt like she raised her brother herself for most of his late teens; she was protective of him. 

    Ingrid pursed her lips and shook her head. "It was just one night. I'm over it. One night, months ago, it'll be fine."

    Susan hummed. She turned back towards the mirror and fixed her contacts. "Johnny is Johnny," she decided to say in the end. She grabbed the suit on the benches and chucked it towards Ingrid who caught it. She felt the surprisingly smooth blue fabric in her fingers. "He's gonna make his jokes, and as much as we all hate them, he's not gonna stop them. You just can't let him get to you, hon, okay? Now put that on, will you?"

    Ingrid glanced down at the suit in her hands and then back up at Susan Storm, taken aback slightly at the tone of her voice▬Ingrid almost felt like she was being ushered along by a parent. She supposed she couldn't blame Susan for naturally slipping into that mindset about anyone Johnny's age or younger. "Right."

    She looked at the suit again, almost incredulous. Susan was already wearing it. It was a skin-tight, rich blue one-piece▬snug and form-fitting; wrapping around her curves. She, of course, looked great in it. Susan probably looked amazing in everything. But it wasn't made for how it looked. These suits were fabricated from a protective material to adapt to the conditions around them to keep their individual needs up to standards. It was impressive science, really▬if only it didn't make Ingrid feel like she was put under a microscope. 

    They still had a few more hours before launch, at least five hours journey to the space station, and then six hours from that until the storm. Despite being an independent research company, Von Doom Industries spacecraft made use of prime technology that allowed a space journey that might have taken up to at least three days with older technology shortened to a drive from New York to Vermont. 

    Ingrid struggled to pull the suit up over her body, the material sticking like a second skin. She zipped it to the base of her neck, glancing over herself in the small mirror. She took a deep breath, feeling those nerves return. She swallowed them down. Ingrid tried to think of her mother. If she were alive, and she had known all Ingrid had done to get herself to this point, would she look at her, ready to change the world, and smile? Would she see her daughter following in her footsteps and hold her close to wish her well▬Say that there is nothing she'd ever do that wouldn't make her not proud of her.

    She couldn't help but feel the fabric on her body, sliding it across her form with a tilt of her head. Sure, it was snug, but she didn't look too bad in it. 

    Ingrid's gaze dropped to her phone when she noticed she had received a text. She picked it up and felt a soft wave wash her nerves away at what her father had sent her: Knock them off their feet! I'll be watching from the ground! 

    She smiled. Her father wouldn't be able to see anything, but she knew he had already opened the blinds of their apartment, sat a chair there, and was going over his job applications while gazing out at the grey sky of New York. 

    Ingrid missed the way Sue stopped at the foot of the lockers, glancing at her and unable to look away▬as if she knew who had texted her. Susan Storm pursed her lips and looked away, unable to stop the slight bitterness that choked in her throat at the thought of Ingrid having a father who was still around and unconditionally proud of her.

    She took a deep breath, refusing to let those thoughts control her and walked back over. "Here," she passed Ingrid a duffel bag. "I'll help you pack."

    With two hours left until launch, Johnny Storm was for once▬in his life▬chronically early in being ready for the journey ahead. Across the hallway, he had a slight perk in his step as he marched onto the ready room. He was excited, mostly smug, but excited. Adventure and life called out to him like fate and destiny▬life's Siren that lured him into addicting experiences out in the world that only money can buy, and girls could get him. But to experience an adventure outside the confinements of Earth? To explore the stars and to see the world through a different lens▬Johnny felt like he was Hans Solo piloting the Millenium Falcon to save the entire universe. All of his Star Wars figurines had turned into a reality. 

    But something even more satisfying? Johnny grinned as he held up his new camera, peering through the lens at the back of a man gruff and rigid on the outside, but a furious cluster of soft emotions on the inside. Oh, to see the look on Ben Grimm's face after all these years▬it was pure enjoyment and fulfilment; amusing even. 

    "Captain on the bridge!"

     Pure enjoyment indeed. Ben Grimm jumped at the voice, jolting away from his duffel bag and standing at attention for the one person he'd never want to take orders from▬oh, yes, Johnny loved every single minute of this. 

    He had to take a picture and save that memory forever. Johnny grinned at the slow realisation on Ben's the moment the flash sparked. 

    Johnny stepped into the Ready Room, chuckling under his breath as he checked the photo. He could feel Ben's glower like fuel to his racing cars, exhilarating and bursting to go. "Digital camera, two hundred and fifty-four dollars. Memory stick, fifty-nine dollars." His eyes looked over his camera and grinned at Ben's furious sigh; the clench of his jaw. He had not changed a bit. "The look on your hard-ass former C.O.'s face when he finds out he's your junior officer ... priceless."

    His gaze briefly drifted over the long face behind his laptop, frowning over his calculations and desperately trying to hide his amusement for his friend's sake. Johnny let out a quick and very unimpressed, "Hey Reed," before sitting down, not particularly happy to pilot his sister's ex. 

    Reed lifted his pencil as a wave from behind his laptop, not yet dressed. Johnny made an incredulous face. He arched a brow at the shadow looming over him. He looked up at the chiselled frown on Ben Grimm's forehead as he stood above him. Some people might be intimidated, but all Johnny saw was a big old soft teddy bear that was left behind at the toy store. Anyone else who scowled like that was ready to punch him, but Ben Grimm just angrily snatched the zipper on Johnny's suit and pulled it up the rest of the way.

    Johnny chuckled. He didn't realise he had forgotten that. "Thank you," he shrugged it off with that smile that infuriated Ben to no end▬and Johnny knew it. "That's sweet."

    "I can handle this ship," Ben Grimm told him. Johnny pouted and nodded sympathetically as if to say, sure you can like a teenager who reassured their aging parent that they still could swing a baseball bat. "I can even handle Mr. Blond Ambition."

    Reed bit his lip, having a very hard time not chuckling at those words. He failed. 

    Ben moved on from Johnny towards the open closet. "But I don't know whether I should be flying or doing Swan Lake in these suits. I mean, who the hell came up with these▬?" he pulled out his suit and showed it to them. Johnny chucked his camera back into his bag before zipping it up. 

    "Victor did."

    Johnny rolled his eyes subtly at his sister's frustrating timing▬she always seemed to show up at the perfect moment to make her entrance by answering someone's question, or even finishing their sentence. It was annoying. She always stole his thunder. 

    He let out a dramatic sigh at his sister's entrance and Susan frowned at him, reaching out and smacking his shoulder with her files. He hunched up and held his hands out to defend himself from her attack. 

     But when Susan was followed by someone else, Johnny's attention drifted. He sat back in the chair and expected the eye roll Ingrid sent him at his small smirk. His fingers lifted off his leg in a subtle wave. She didn't send him one back. His eyes couldn't help but follow her as she moved▬especially in that snug suit. Ingrid wasn't some blonde-haired, blue-eyed model Johnny usually ended up charming with their sharp beauty and slender legs. Ingrid was underwhelming in comparison. Her youthful cheeks, soft jawline and petite figure made her seem like she was still just a step out of high school. She was the kind of girl that belonged behind a book, and not on a runway. She was cute, not stunning. 

    (And yet Johnny Storm had remembered Ingrid Rivers's name, even if he pretended he had not). 

    "The synthetics act as a second skin," went on Sue, approaching the group of them, "adapting to your body's individual needs."

    "See, now that means it keeps the hot stuff hot," said Johnny, speaking to Ben as if he were a child. He scowled, "and the cool stuff cool."

    Those words grabbed Reed's attention. His eyes fixed on Susan Storm and he finally set aside his papers. He walked up to her and Sue stood still, noticing his interest with a soft hitch of her breath. She couldn't help but stand a little taller at the impressed stare on Reed Richards's face. "Wow. Fantastic▬" he picked up Ben's suit. "Material made from self-regulating, unstable molecules."

    Sue's shoulders slumped slightly. Her smile slipped. For a moment, she began to wonder why disappointment hit her▬why it had mattered so much if Reed thought that she was impressive, and not the science. A flicker of hurt twisted in her chest▬an old insecurity; a feeling of being seen right through, as if she weren't even there. 

    Johnny noticed. He didn't say anything but stared his sister down with an accusing look to which she set her jaw and looked away. 

    "I've been working on a formula for this," Reed continued, always oblivious to whatever lay underneath the tip of his long nose. He seemed very happy▬like a puppy in front of new toys. 

    Sue swallowed her frustration and pushed it away. "Great minds think alike," she settled with saying. Reed didn't care. He was too captivated by Ben's suit to even register the slight curtness of her tone. She rolled her eyes. She sighed and passed Ben his uniform. "Here you go, Ben."

    "Thanks, sweetie."

    "Reed▬" she threw his suit right at his chest as she walked past without another word, and he was left bewildered. 

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    a/n: the ending of this chapter could have been better lol sorry.

    johnny is such a walking red flag until he isn't because ✨ character development ✨. bro is an asshole, but you do end up loving him for it. like i said in the warnings, bro is a warning heh. 

     lol, just saying this now, focus on the way johnny describes ingrid throughout this book, because its gonna be important. you'll see a lot of the development through that.

     this chapter is just a compilation of reed being confused. bless him. 

    also adding some of the comic stuff i read about that i found super interesting, like the relationship between sue and her father, and also Johnny - and just how johnny losing his mother and believing he lost his father would just completely make sense to his character which because we only got two movies, we never got to see be fleshed out. and just the idea of how sue always felt overlooked by her father, and then seeing ingrid be absolutely loved by her own father seemed really interesting for me to explore. and then also just that aspect with johnny, too. i smell interesting dynamics that i hope i can write well in two acts. we'll see. 

    (limited editing).