Sue Storm Lies, Says She Encountered A Minor Villain

A long-sleeved shirt and pants covered most of the marks left by the ropes fairly well. Sue Storm didn't even give any thought to them...until she was reaching across the table at dinner, to try and get Franklin to eat some spinach (Try it! You'll like it!), when suddenly Reed had stretched his arm out across the table and grabbed her hand. There, for all to see, was the pink ring around her wrist where she had rubbed too hard against the rope.

"Sue?" he said, voice full of concern. "Where did this come from?"

A moment of panic swept through Sue...and then she tried to laugh it off.

"It's nothing. There was just a little incident on the way home. I was passing an alley and looked in, and there was a woman in a costume trying to climb into a window. I surprised her, and she raised a hand...some kind of bracer...and threw these energy rings at me. I wasn't quite fast enough with an invisible forcefield. You can imagine how surprised I was! And as I struggled to get loose, she ran away. I didn't even get a name, or even really a good look at her."

It was a complete fiction, and as much as Sue tried to play it off as some minor incident, her family were clearly concerned.

"Can you remember any details?" Johnny asked.

"Color of her hair, her skin?" Ben Grimm grumbled. "How tall she was? Thin or fat?"

"Blonde. White. Maybe 5'8"? Lithe, athletic build. I only had a few seconds before the energy rings grabbed me, and then I was struggling. By the time they faded away, she was gone," Sue lied with the same ease she had when she told her son he'd like the bitter vegetables. In truth, Sue realized she was describing Dr. Stone. So it wasn't entirely a lie...if not an honest one.

"You should come to the lab so I can scan you," Reed said. "There could be lingering effects...or residual energy signatures that would help us identify who did this to you."

"After dinner..." Sue protested, and she saw Franklin deftly squint at the spinach on his plate, which vanished in a green haze.

"Really, I have to insist we do it now, sweetheart," Reed said, as he rose from the table and guided Sue toward the lab. "Before the energy signatures fade!"

Mentally, Sue cursed herself for her compounded lies. But of course, there were no energy rings, no energy signatures, and no villain. So she allowed herself to be led to the lab, confident that Reed Richards would find nothing wrong with her.