|CHAPTER 6|
INTERVIEWS
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LUCY sat next to Johnny, watching Ben closely. He had just lost his wife and had nothing to do but sit on a large crate, and stare at the ring Debbie 'dropped' on the ground.
"Where are your ears?" Johnny looked at Ben.
Ben only glared in response.
The chief walked in. "There are some folks outside that's wanna talk to you."
"We're not going public with this. We're scientists, not celebrities." Reed explained.
"It's too late, son. Look." The chief grabbed the remote of the TV.
"When a New York Fire Department ladder truck became part of a tragedy,"
"See that?" The chief pointed.
"But the rescue itself is not the story. One of the five stretched to an amazing length, another one of them was able to break the laws of physics by making the truck levitate, "
"That's what they're calling you, The Fantastic Five." The chief smirked.
"Cool! Come on, Burns let's get out of here!" Johnny grabbed Lucy's hand.
"No, Wait! You two, where are you going?" Sue stopped them.
"We're gonna go talk to them." Lucy said, plainly.
"No. We should think this through." Sue turned to face the TV.
"That's great. Brainstorm." Johnny said, running out with Lucy.
"Get back here right now, Johnny!" Sue whisper-shouted as she, Ben and Reed chased after the two.
He raised his hands up smirking, looking over at Lucy who was stunned at the crowd. "Settle down."
"Do you believe this?" Lucy chuckled.
"Which one of you is the leader?" The chief asked.
"That would be me." Johnny responded jokingly.
"No, seriously." The chief shook his head.
The five looked at Reed as he sighed and stepped in front of them.
"Okay, son. You're on." The chief smiled graciously.
"During our recent mission the the Von Doom Space Station, we were exposed to an unidentified radioactive energy . . . " Reed explained.
They then started to bombard them with questions Lucy put two fingers on her temples. Her head started aching cause of all the questions and voices sounding in her head. She felt like she was gonna lose it before Johnny cleared his throat.
"Yeah. We're working on it." Johnny nodded.
"At least tried to," Lucy sighed.
"Actually we don't know much more than you do at this point." Sue smiled.
"Can you believe this Lucy?" Johnny smiled widely.
"Well, it's not really a new thing to be bombarded with questions." Lucy's smile faded. For one moment Johnny remembered all the missed calls and phone ringing he had ignored from her before and awkwardly sighed.
"We will go to the lab to test our symptoms." Sue smiled awkwardly.
"Symptoms? Is it some kind of disease?" One of the reporters asked.
"If having superpowers is a disease, then we've got it bad." Johnny shrugged slightly.
"Grimm doesn't look that fantastic." One of the reporters commented.
Lucy cleared her throat. "Ben Grimm is a genuine American hero--"
"What she means is, every team needs a mascot." Johnny wrapped an arm around Ben as the reporters laughed. He then wrapped an arm around Lucy. "A new day is done. The day of the Fantastic Five!"
Lucy had enough of the crowd asking questions left and right, her headache increased by her telepathy. She walked back into the small tent the firefighters setup and tried to calm herself down.
She put her head in her hands as her headache got worse, some things in the tent started having black bubbles, almost burns on them like they had previously been set on fire. Before anything else could take effect by her current state a hand placed itself on her shoulder.
"Hey, don't worry. I'll find a way to fix this, you're just gonna have to deal with the voices just a little bit longer." Reed reassured. Lucy only nodded in response still calming herself down.
They were driven back by multiple cop cars as they passed screaming fans waiting behind the barricades near the building.
Lucy got out of the car with a little help by Johnny, as her thoughts were racing. Ben was brought back to building in a large truck, cause he couldn't fit in the taxis.
They entered the Baxter Building as the nice and cold air of the air conditioning in the building gave Lucy enough energy to walk by herself. Johnny was still holding on to her arm before she cleared her throat.
"I'm fine." Lucy then walked ahead, just behind Reed and Sue.
"Is that all for you, Doctor Richards?" A man rushed down the stairs with a warm smile.
"I'm afraid so." Reed chuckled.
They went up the elevator, sighing in relief. Even though Lucy didn't feel the greatest, she mostly felt bad for Ben. The way he was looked at by his wife and a bunch of others, the way they ridiculed him for his condition was unimaginable.
"Welcome back or the Baxter, Doctor Richards." A man in shades, a navy suit and hat came up to Reed and shook his hand. "I got the usual for you." He reached in his bag and handed Reed a stack of letters.
"Thanks, Willie." Reed smiled as Willie walked off with a large smile.
"We have had a tough year." Reed muttered.
"Yeah, like nine straight." Ben said walking into the elevator.
They pressed the button for the floor they were going to, and waited. The elevator made creaking sounds, almost as if it was breaking.
"Either were moving really fast, or not at all." Johnny awkwardly looked around.
The alarm of the elevator then set off displaying the fact that Ben, in his rock form, was gonna have to go by the stairs. They awkwardly looked at Ben as he sighed.
"I'll take the stairs." Ben walked out of the elevator with a grim look on his face ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°).
"How come Ben can't turn it off and on like we can?" Johnny raised an eyebrow.
"That's what we're here to find out." Reed sighed.
Sue looked back at him. "I mean, if it happened to him--"
"What? You mean, like, we won't be able to do turn it off either?" Johnny asked as the two nodded.
"That would save time, but would probably give her a headache." Johnny looked at Lucy.
"It's almost like everyone's screaming. Only happened once though." Lucy shrugged slightly.
"Screaming in your head for quite a while without control is maddening." Sue frowned.
"Doesn't Sasha have a similar mutation?" Johnny raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, but when her mutation gets to her, the effects are much worse. So, might wanna consider Sasha a bit more lucky. " Sue shrugged. The last time Lucy ever saw Sasha was MIT. She recalled her to be looking if not exactly like Sue. They were twins after all. If Sasha didn't dye her hair brown of course.
"You don't really wanna walk around on fire for the rest of your life, do you?" Sue tilted her head. "Grow up."
"Come on. Am I the only guy who thinks this is cool?" Johnny frowned.
"You're the only guy. I'm the only girl." Lucy smiled. Although her mutation had a few side effects, she thought it was rather cool. Johnny smiled back at her, sighing as the elevator doors opened.
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