Sue Feels Regret

It was a long walk back to the Baxter Building.

Sue Storm's steps dragged out, one foot in front of the other. She took the long way around Central Park, lost in her thoughts. Replaying the events in the massage parlor—and everything that had led up to that. How she had listened to Dr. Stone's advice, followed it. Let herself be seduced into going to the massage parlor, letting Nairobi touch her. It all seemed so strange in retrospect, like a dream.

Only it was real. All too real. The Invisible Woman could still taste Nairobi's chapstick.

Regret hung on Sue Storm like a shroud. She barely paid attention to the world around her. Could almost feel the accusing eyes of the passers-by. As if they knew what she was. What she had done.

Instinctively, Sue groped between her breasts for the crucifix she no longer wore. A symbol of her faith that was, unfortunately, not practical for an active heroine. Recalled the vows she had made to Reed. Fidelity. Honesty. They had been through so much together, and yes they'd had their ups and downs, and sure their sex life wasn't everything she hoped and dreamed for but—and yes, they had kept secrets from each other.

Yet she know, with absolute certainty, that this shouldn't be one of them.

With thought came resolve; with resolve came action. Sue raised her foot high and set it on an invisible step. To the amazed crowd, the woman would seem to have walked straight up an invisible stair into mid-air, only to vanish as she cut a shortcut above Central Park.

Then again, this was New York. Few people looked up. Fewer cared. These things happened.

Sue arrived breathless in the Baxter Building, legs burning, face flushed from exertion. She waved at the children, who were running around the living room with nets, trying to capture a small metal sphere the size of a baseball that shimmered like liquid mercury. The Invisible Woman didn't see any need to intervene; Johnny and Ben were there, money in their hands, placing bets on who would catch it.

She found Reed in the lab. He was looking through a microscope, carefully adjusting the smallest screwdriver she had ever seen on a device that looked very much like a cockroach. His face broke into a grin when he saw her, and the Invisible Woman's heart quivered.

"Darling! How was your session with Dr. Stone? And your massage?" he asked.

"Reed," she said, hands bunched into fists at her side. "I...have to tell you something."