Moonstone Collapses Before Sue Gives In Completely

Time was not on Moonstone's side; neither was geography. Every leap required her to use her powers, on top of the continued gravimetric manipulation of the Invisible Woman, which cost her something. She tasted blood. The world seemed to spin. As Sue Storm crossed a street, the villain leaped again—and misjudged it. Badly.

The Invisible Woman looked up as the costumed blonde woman smashed face-first into the side of a building. Automatically, Sue raised her hand and an invisible platform stopped the fall. A few people looked at her, but this was New York City. With a thought, Sue and the woman she had saved disappeared. There was a brief moment of confusion in the crowd, but traffic continued to flow, and there was nothing to point a smartphone or camera at.

The Big Apple moved on.

The Invisible Woman ascended from the street on invisible steps. She stepped off onto the roof, and once she was sure that they were out of sight, she turned them both visible again.

The woman was dressed in white, trimmed with gold. As tall as Sue, and as thin, but more solidly built, with visible muscles and bigger breasts, clearly visible through the nearly skin-tight uniform. Face-down, the costumed stranger didn't look very injured. Sue waved her hand. Layers of clothing disappeared. She couldn't make out any cuts or bruises. She went deeper, layers of skin and integument vanishing as Sue swiftly looked for spinal damage, internal injuries. There were only two things of note—a pair of dull chromed metal implants in the skull, and a large crystal or gemstone lodged near the base of the spine.

With no signs of broken bones or internal bleeding, Sue carefully turned the woman over.

The face was a mess. Blood streamed from mouth, nose, ears, and eyes—but again, there were no cuts, and only superficial bruising, despite having landed face-first in a wall. The familiar features of Dr. Karla Stone stared up at Sue, oddly innocent in unconsciousness.

Sue Storm wasn't stupid. She sat down heavily next to the **** villain. The alien gem, the costume—a codename swam up in Sue's memory. Moonstone. Doctor Karla Sofen. Gravity powers from a Kree gemstone. Psychologist, adept at manipulation. There was nothing in Sue's memory about those implants in Karla's skull, though.

"What were you doing to me?" Sue Storm wondered, her mind and heart still unsure. Her jaw worked as she tried to imagine what the consequences would be if she turned Moonstone in. Everything would come out. Not just whatever Moonstone had been up to, but Sue's relationship with Nairobi. The Invisible Woman's hands rubbed together as she imagined her life falling apart.

Unless... the heroine thought, her morality resting on a knife's edge. Moonstone were just to die. Or disappear.