Pulling up in front of the Baxter Building, Kayla climbed out of the police car after Reed, Susan and Johnny while Ben climbed out of a police van.
Everywhere the five looked, they could see crowds of people gathered, cheering for the 'Fantastice Five'.
With a slight roll of her hazel eyes, Kayla quickly made her way inside the Baxter Building with her brother and Susan in close pursuit.
Upon entry, an older doorkeeper walked up to the siblings with a kind smile. "Is that all for you Dr Richards, Miss Richards?"
"Unfortunately, yes." Kayla replied instantaneously.
Reed nodded with a small smile and a light shrug of his shoulders. "I'm afraid so."
Noticing the unusual silence behind them, the brunette looked around for Ben as well as a certain blonde. "Where's Ben and Johnny?" She asked before her gaze settled on their figures outside of the building. "Nevermind." She said.
She then met up with her brother and Susan at the elevator, not even noticing that Johnny and Ben had walked up behind her as her eyes fell onto a friendly face.
"Welcome back to the Baxter Building, Dr Richards and Miss Richards." The mailman, Willie, greeted as he walked up to the siblings before reaching into his bag. "I've got the usual for you."
He handed a stack of letters to Reed before smiling at the siblings once more. "Good to have you both back." He said and walked off.
"Thanks, Willie." The Richards siblings called out to him simultaneously before Kayla grabbed the letters from him, looking through each one as the elevator doors rolled open.
Susan peeked over their shoulder and looked at Reed with concern.
"We've had a tough year." The scientist said and entered the elevator with the rest following in behind, Kayla not looking up once as she skimmed through each letter.
"Yeah, like nine straight." Ben scoffed, glancing at Susan as he stepped into the elevator.
The elevator began creaking once everyone had filed in, the young brunette finally lifting her gaze when she handed the pile of letters back to her brother.
The doors rolled closed but none of the five felt the elevator move an inch and it was the perfect moment for Johnny to open his mouth.
"Either we're moving really fast or not at all." He said sarcastically.
All of a sudden, a buzzer sounded which made all eyes turn to the corner of the lift where the level teller was located, a rea notice flashing that read 'Exceed Maximum Weight'.
The doors re-opened, making the rocky figure realise that he was the cause of the elevator not moving.
"I'll take the stairs." Ben said sadly, not meeting anyone's gaze as he stepped out.
Kayla dropped her gaze to the floor sadly as he left and only looked up once the lift had begun moving.
"How come Ben can't turn it on and off like we can?" Johnny asked with curiosity, breaking the silence that had ensued.
Reed shifted his gaze to the blonde male. "That's what we're here to find out."
"I mean.. If it happened to him--" Susan began but was cut off.
"What?" Johnny asked, leaning himself against the handle of the lift's wall. "You mean, like, we won't be able to turn it off, either?"
Kayla gave him a pointed look while Reed gave an unsure look.
"That would save time." The blonde male chuckled as if it was the most amazing idea ever.
The blonde woman looked at her younger brother with disbelief. "You don't really wanna walk around on fire for the rest of your life, do you?" She asked.
"Don't bother asking." Kayla replied. "You'll know he'll say yes. He'll be immature enough to say that."
The brunette didn't care about how harsh her comment sounded or if it hurt Johnny because that's what he's been doing to other's lately.
It was just the way he was.
Especially with her.
It felt as if he was toying with her emotions by being the sweet caring Johnny Storm she knew to being a complete ass the next.
It wouldn't come as a surprise to her if he hooked up with a girl in the next coming days.
She will be damned if she allowed him to toy with her like this.
She didn't put those walls up around her heart for nothing.
As for Johnny, he was hurt at the harshness of her comment but as usual, he quickly covered it up with a grin.
"Come on, am I the only one who thinks this is cool?" He asked, looking between his sister and the Richards siblings.
"Grow up, Storm." Kayla said as the elevator came to a stop and the doors opened.
The four filed out with Reed in the lead, the scientist tossing the letters onto a table as he spoke. "We should stay here until we can define the extent of our changes and figure out how to reverse them."
"Woah!" Johnny exclaimed as his blue gaze scanned the room.
"But I should warn you, it's gonna be a little crowded in some areas." The older Richards sibling added as he flicked all the light switches on with the help of his sister.
Kayla smiled softly as she walked over to the Storm siblings, Reed approaching them with a grin. "So, what do you think?" He asked.
"I don't know." Johnny replied as he looked around in amazement. "I think you might be bringing your work home with you."
The scientist chuckled as he rolled the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows. "Come on, I'll show Sue where she'll be staying. Kayla, can you show Johnny?"
The hazel eyed woman glared at her older brother, highly unhappy about his decision before letting out an annoyed sigh.
"Let's go, Storm." She said and walked ahead of him, leading him out into the hallway and turned a corner until she game to halt outside a door.
"You'll be staying here." She said and finally looked at him. "My room is right there if you need anything." She added, pointing towards her bedroom which happened to be across from his.
Without another word, Kayla began to walk until she was stopped by the playboy.
"Are you okay?" He asked softly with a slight frown.
The brunette gave a casual shrug. "Peachy." She replied.
"No.." Johnny shook his head. "You're.. I don't know.. Cold? You're so different around me, easily riled up."
Kayla's temper flared but she kept her cool. "Okay, so would you like me to act how I was before you screwed up our relationship or before we started dating?" She asked sarcastically, her voice was eerily calm which quite frankly, scared the blonde.
"So you expect me to act normal like you didn't crush my heart when I caught you making out with another girl. A girl who happened to torment me throughout high school, might I add? That a year and a half meant absolutely nothing to you? That I wasn't just a play date to the playboy? Really, Jonathan?" She continued, anger now seeping into each word as she continued.
"You pretend to care and be so concerned about me but how long is it going to be until you lose interest and find another girl, huh? So, I'm sorry for trying to protect my heart and for refusing to let my walls, that I spent so hard working to build up, crumble to keep you happy? I'm NOT going to be hurt again." She said with unshed tears in her eyes.
Johnny frowned deeply, wanting nothing more than to pull her into his arms and apologise, no, get on his knees and beg for forgiveness. He reached for her but she flinched away, much like she had when she had caught him in the hallway wit Alena.
Only this time, she was glaring with unshed tears instead of allowing them to fall freely.
"Don't." She warned and walked off, leaving the younger Storm sibling in the hallway, watching her retreating figure with a heartbroken look.
Ridding her eyes from her tears by wiping them, Kayla rounded the corner into the main area of the loft only to find Victor standing in front of her brother.
Uh, when the hell did he get here?
She narrowed her eyes as she tuned into the conversation.
"Didn't go as planned?" Victor repeated her brother's statement. "It was a catastrophe. You've ruined the lives of five people."
With an arch brow, the brunette folded her arms. "Actually, my brother told you to abort but, you being you, clearly decided against it and kept on going." She said, making her presence know to the men as she rounded Victor to stand beside her brother. "So, its OUR fault."
"Abort?" Victor scoffed and began to make his way closer towards the siblings. "I put my company, my name, billions of dollars on the line. I will not let either of you make me look like a fool."
"Victor," Reed said in attempt to get the man before them calm. "If we can understand--"
"I don't want to understand it!" Victor yelled cutting the scientist off but the Richards siblings stood in silence as the lights in the loft began to flicker as he yelled. "This isn't one of your science projects! I just wanna fix it! Fast!"
Heavy footsteps ensued behind the siblings before a voice called out. "Is there a problem here?"
Victor's gaze fell onto Ben as he arched a rocky brow in question.
The man scoffed tiredly. "No." He said and shook his head. "No problem, Ben."
The sound of the elevator opening sounded before Victor returned his gaze to Reed, subtly throwing a glare in Kayla's direction. "Just pay your damn electric bill and get to work on finding a cure." He hissed to Reed before he turned and stepped into the elevator.
The siblings watched the doors close before Kayla let out an exhausted sigh. "Let's get some shut eye, boys." She said and stifled a soft yawn behind her hand.
Reed nodded his head in agreement. "It has been a long day. We'll see you in the morning, Kayla."
"You bet!" She called back after bidding her brother and Ben goodnight and headed towards her bedroom, where she stripped her clothing and got into a pair of sweat pants and a tank top.
Once she had climbed into bed, and her head had hit her pillow, she was lights out.