Alicia Masters Notices

Ben Grimm smelled like concrete after the rain. Sometimes, after particularly severe exertions, he smelled like rock oil with a hint of petroleum.

Johnny Storm carried a whiff of ozone that was detectable no matter what cologne he wore.

Reed Richards gave off an aroma like fresh rubber, and whatever shampoo Sue had bought for him this month.

Sue Storm had ceased wearing perfume a long time ago. She was allergic to many dyes and fragrances, and so her smell was often a natural smell, only diluted by regular showers and neutral ethanol-based deodorants that gave her a lingering after-scent like a high-end vodka.

There were food odors, of course. Battle damage. Sweat, charred clothing, exotic metals and plastics that normally surrounded them. Yet Alicia knew their smells, the olfactory landscape of the Baxter Building. When she lay in bed with Ben, she could smell the coffee brewing, or the warm scent of bacon that preceded the crackle of the grill. She could smell when Sue was menstruating, and when Johnny briefly engulfed his hands in flame after using the bathroom instead of washing them, a disgusting habit that left a lingering smell of burned piss for up to an hour.

So she noticed the trace of perfume that hung about Sue Storm's body and clothing. A scent that Sue had never worn. Not present when Sue left in the morning, but which clung to her whenever she returned from the massage parlor. Mingled with other scents. Sweat. Vaginal secretions.

A suspicion grew in the blind woman's mind. A suspicion that grew when she found Sue leaving the Baxter Building more frequently. Arriving back smelling of that other woman again. Stronger, each time. The others didn't notice; it was too subtle, and they didn't understand the world the way that Alicia did.

Yet it was so obvious, even a blind woman could see what was going on.

One night, Alicia was getting a glass of water when she heard Sue come in. The Invisible Woman hadn't taken the elevator; that would have been too obvious. She had taken the stairs, and Alicia heard that door open with the almost-silent squeak of the hinge. The soft pad of bare feet on the carpet. Alicia wondered if Sue had actually turned invisible, to hide where she had been, what she was wearing. A cloud of ****-scents surrounded her. Tequila. A date night?

After the master bedroom door had opened and closed, Alicia traced the path that Sue had taken. That's when she found it.

A pair of panties.

Wet.

Used.

And they did not belong to Sue Storm.