A/N: Expect things to move a little slowly for a couple of chapters. Unlike the usual stuff, I want to flesh these scenes out. Plus, exploring the extent of Invisible Woman's powers is also going to be pretty cool.
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The sun was shining directly in her eyes when she woke up, making her squint and put her arm over her face. After a few seconds, as her eyes got used to the light, she removed her arm and sat up with a frown on her face.
"That cosmic storm," she spoke to herself before taking a look at her surroundings. She was in the middle of a large double bed with medical equipment on both sides. She then realized that she was wearing a hospital gown and felt the presence of the electrodes, heart rate monitor, and other monitoring equipment attached to her body. The rest of the room was mostly empty, with a large TV across from her and a massive window on her left. "Where's the door?" She spoke with a confused expression, seeing that the other three sides of the room were all clear walls with seemingly no way to enter or exit the room. "Am I being quarantined?" She asked out loud, hoping for a response.
"Good morning, Miss Storm," a woman's voice came through a speaker in a remote beside her. "My name is Alice, and I am your nurse. I've been taking care of you for the past two months."
"Months?" Susan frowned.
"Unfortunately, yes. You've been in a coma for two months," she said.
"What about the others? My brother, Reed, Ben…Victor." She had a slightly complicated feeling when she thought of the self-absorbed man she was currently dating.
"They are all fine, as far as I am aware. Unfortunately, their information wasn't shared with me since they are in a separate facility."
Susan frowned, feeling a creeping suspicion. "What do you mean by a different facility?"
"Your situation is a little unique, which is why you are in quarantine right now. They don't have such issues and are in a normal medical facility. I don't know much more about it, you'll have to ask Mr. Von Doom about the rest."
"I see," Susan nodded. "So where am I?"
"This is a military facility," she said. "I am not at liberty to tell you anything more."
"Can I meet Victor?"
"Yes, of course. He was notified the moment you woke up. He should be here within the hour."
"I understand… Thanks, Alice."
The connection was cut off with a beep from the remote, and Susan was left staring out through the window silently.
"Military facility… Then why is the view outside the same as my bedroom in Victor's apartment?"
She thought about getting out of bed, but then saw the numerous wires attached all over her body before choosing to sigh and lie back down.
"At least the bed is more comfortable than anything I've ever seen before... Two months…" She had a thought and grabbed the remote beside her to turn on the TV. "Cable? At least get me Netflix. I'm an accomplished scientist, for god's sake. I don't even have my phone." She sighed before switching to a news channel to see what was going on in the world after she disappeared for two months.
After switching through a few, she saw a repeat report that made her widen her eyes.
"…when a New York Fire Department truck became part of the tragedy. But the rescue itself is not the story. One of the three stretched to an amazing length to help keep the firefighter from falling to certain death…" The broadcast switched between three different people.
"That's Reed, and Johnny…" By deduction and simple reasoning, Sue could only conclude that the third man, made entirely of rocks, was also someone she knew. "Ben?"
"And now, to a live interview of one of the Terrific Three, Mr. Johnny Storm." The screen shifted to Susan's brother with a smug smile on his face.
"What the fuck…" Susan couldn't help but curse as she heard her brother go on a spiel about how awesome he was and how he was the leader of the team. Soon, Reed intervened and clarified the situation by announcing that they would be going off-world to one of the other Earths for an important research project.
"Other Earth, what?" She shook her head and directly turned off the TV, choosing to look outside the window instead. Suddenly, she noticed something that made her skin crawl. There were huge spherical shadows in the sky, looking larger than the moon. She didn't need to focus too much to make sense of that and realized that those were the other Earths that Reed was talking about.
"It's decided. I'm dreaming… I just need to go back to sleep, and when I wake up, everything will be normal again…" Susan closed her eyes, wanting to go back to sleep despite being fully energized and awake. Almost miraculously, it took her barely a few seconds to fall back into a deep slumber.
…
When Susan regained consciousness, she heard the sound of hissing, which made her squint her eyes and look at its source. The wall behind her bed had receded into a doorway. A figure wearing a thick hazmat suit walked in and stood beside her.
"Alice?" She asked without looking at the face of the figure.
"No, it's me," what came through a speaker in the suit was Victor's voice. "How do you feel?"
"All things said, pretty good," she said. "Like I just woke up from a comfortable nap. What's going on, Victor? What's happening here?"
"I know just as much as you do right now," he said. "That cosmic storm caused some mutation in your cells that is causing them to morph and transform. Unlike the other three, there is a chance that your transformed cells are deadly to others. If you come into direct contact with anyone, it can cause significant problems."
"Oh…" Susan didn't really process the words due to the shock of the situation.
"Do you know what happened with the others? Reed, Ben, Johnny?"
"Yeah," Susan said.
"What you may not know is that I am also joining Reed and Ben on their expedition."
"Johnny?"
"He's staying here. This…off-world opportunity. It is a research project for Apex. Johnny can't contribute anything to it."
"Who?"
"You'll know when he gets here. In a few minutes, he'll come and meet you. He will also explain everything about this situation to you."
"Hmm…"
"Um…Susan, also, considering the circumstances and the fact that I'm going to be away for who knows how long. I think it's better if…you know…we separate for a while."
"Yeah, whatever," she waved her arm.
"You aren't even listening to me, right now, are you?"
"We're broken up. I got it. You don't have any answers for me, so you might as well leave now. Looking at that suit you're in only makes things worse."
With a faint hum and a nod, Victor stepped back toward the wall as it opened up with a hiss. When he left, it closed back down, leaving Susan isolated and confused.
She suddenly groaned. "This is bullshit." Annoyed, she directly got rid of the IV drip attached to her arm before yanking off the electrodes attached all over her body. Lastly, she took off the pulse-ox on her finger and finally got out of bed. "I can't believe him…" She stood in front of the window, overlooking the New York skyline and the cars going all over the streets. "To think they would just go off-world like this without even talking to me. I'm in this situation just as much as they are. Now, I'm stuck in some military facility, quarantined, and probably going to get experimented on by this Apex whatever."
With an angry grunt, she punched the glass. Suddenly, a cracking sound reached her ears, making her widen her eyes. It wasn't the glass that cracked—her fist never even made contact with it. What was cracking was the air between her fist and the glass. Suddenly, she realized that her arm had disappeared from her vision.
"What the…" She looked at her body with morbid fascination. "I can turn invisible... But what was that cracking?" The cracks in the air had disappeared, but she tried to focus on them to see what was going on, but it was useless. Everything had turned completely back to normal.
As she drew closer to having an existential crisis, the door hissed again. Without putting any thought into her plan, she turned invisible and dropped the hospital gown before kicking it under the bed.
"Greetings, Miss…Storm," a man with black hair, wearing a blazer, entered the room and paused after not seeing her present.
She didn't think about the fact that the man wasn't in a hazmat suit, unlike her now ex-boyfriend. She just wanted to get out of here. So, she slipped past him and tried to enter the doorway before it closed. Just as she pushed her foot through the doorway, a powerful electric shock assaulted her foot. She cried out in pain and immediately recoiled. In that time, she had lost the opportunity to escape, and the door closed right in her face. As a consequence of the shock, she was now visible, and unfortunately for her, entirely naked.
"I won't turn to look at you," the unfamiliar man said. "Do you mind turning invisible again and putting on the hospital gown?"
"Fine," her voice sounded almost pouty as she turned invisible again and walked back around the bed to pick up and pull the hospital gown over her head. She then turned visible again and finally looked at the man with a slightly awkward smile. "Hi…" Then she realized that he wasn't wearing a hazmat suit like Victor had been. "Shouldn't you…you know. Keep yourself protected?"
"Those precautions are necessary for people who have a chance to get radiation poisoning by being in your presence," he said. "I am Apex, and I am the leader of the Gaia Federation."
***
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