Let them go and run into trouble

One by one, the women departed, heading in different directions toward their respective homes. Susan was the last to leave, needing a moment to collect herself before the journey back to the Baxter Building.

She walked slowly, the cool night air helping to clear her head. Her body still hummed with unresolved tension from her performance hours earlier, compounded by the flirtatious attention from her fellow dancers.

She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice the man until he spoke, his voice cutting through her reverie like a blade.

"Interesting evening, Mrs. Richards?"

Susan froze, her blood turning to ice. She spun toward the voice, finding a figure leaning against the wall of a nearby building. He straightened and stepped into the pool of a streetlight, revealing a man in his late thirties, unremarkable in appearance except for the calculating gleam in his eyes.

"Excuse me?" she managed, desperately hoping she'd misheard.

"Susan Storm-Richards," he continued, his tone conversational, as if they were old friends catching up. "Member of the Fantastic Four, wife of Reed Richards, respected superheroine, and now..." his lip curled slightly, "latex fetishist and stripper at Sakura-Mai. Oh, and apparently experimenting with women too. That's new, isn't it?"

"I think you have me confused with someone else," Susan said. She reached for the perception filter controls. Was it broken?

"Don't bother with the disguise," the man said. "I can see through it. Interesting tech, by the way. Your husband's work?"

Panic surged through Susan, followed immediately by the instinct to turn invisible and flee. But something stopped her. If this man could indeed see through the perception filter, he might have other capabilities that could track her even when invisible.

"Who are you?" she demanded, her voice steadier than she felt.

"Ralph," he answered simply. "And we should talk, don't you think?" He gestured toward the entrance of the bar she'd just left. "Shall we go back inside? You look like you could use another drink, and I think we have a lot to discuss."