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Sue was the only girl of the team, that was something that she surprisingly didn’t need to think about that much. Sure sometimes villains were creepy but in general to their credit they treated her and the boys with the same amount of respect. The boys also didn't care. Why would they, they were family after all?
She didn’t see her for the fact that she wasn't a man, they didn't see her as any weaker or more emotional. They didn’t see any of that, in fact all that the boys saw was her. Nothing more nothing less, to them she wasn’t the invisible woman she was just Sue. It felt nicer than she would ever admit. Sue had spent her entire life being creeped on and groped and harassed.
It had gotten to a point where she had been used to that kind of treatment and didn't bat an eye, it had just been how life was. That was around the time that Johnny started to notice, around the time where she met Reed and Ben.
Then suddenly what felt like overnight she had people in her corner. People who loved and appreciated her who wouldn’t just stand around and let people treat her like garbage. Nights where she would walk home alone, her keys tightly gripped between her fingers as she tried to ignore the fact she was being followed were gone. All of a sudden she was being walked home, not needing to fear the fact that she was alone.
Sue wasn’t some defenceless maiden by any means, if a guy did try something then she would kick, bite, scream. Whatever it took to make them get away. She could defend herself, but with the boys around the need too didn't seem to come along anymore.
Anytime that a guy did try to harass her? Well, that never seemed to end well for them, not only did she have three people in her corner but she had the three best people in her corner. A professional footballer who also excelled in boxing, probably the smartest man in the world and her frey tempered little brother who made it his mission to end every fight he was in.
Sue can still remember the time that a guy catcalled her on the street in front of them.
It hadn’t been the worst thing she had heard, just a vague yell to ‘come back home with him’ but even that had seemed to trigger something in the other three. Next thing she knew the guy was on the ground being kicked and punched while Reed held her close, one arm slung across her shoulders before he carefully kissed her hairline.
It had surprised her at first just how angry it made them, how violently they reacted when it happened. That's until Reed explained it to her. She hadn’t reacted. She hadn’t blinked. Had barely even looked up from what she was doing.
All three of them had hated how normal being mistreated had been to her. This never stopped, not for a second as they got older. But at least it had toned down from beating the ever-loving shit out of the person who had creeped on her to just glaring very hard at them. Luckily when they got their powers and became superheroes that suddenly turned out to be much more effective.
Turns out being silently threatened by someone who could set you on fire, someone who was made of rocks and someone who could stretch their body to any length they want was a thousand times more intimidating than just normal guys. As a superhero though Sue felt that there wasn’t even really any reason to be so paranoid anymore.
After all she was power, basically the most powerful on the team.
If someone really did pose a threat to her then she could deal with it. There was no reason to be scared of being followed when you could literally just put whoever it was in a forcefield and throw them across the room. Sure, it could be annoying to hear people at the gift shop asking if they sold nude photos of her or having interviewers asking her blatantly creepy questions but still.
It didn’t really matter since she felt so above it all now. No one really could hurt her in the way that she used to fear, and god help them if they did because they would be facing down some one of the most intimidating men on the planet. All of those reasons are why this in particular had caught her so off guard. She had felt scared for so long then suddenly and without warning she had been above it.
She had been safe from feeling scared or like she was some kind of monster. In a way Sue really did start to forget what it had been like to feel scared as she walked down the street. Being able to forget those feelings was the biggest blessing that she could have honestly ever asked for. She really had felt blessed.
God how she had gotten so comfortable with it, so sure that everything was okay now and nothing could go wrong. But now as she laid on her back with this fucking creep standing over her she felt small yet again, she felt nineteen walking home from collage terrified to look behind her to see who was waiting.
“Well pretty thing, guess it's just me and you now..” This guy figured himself some new villain they had been fighting. Somehow the idiot had managed to catch her off guard and strap power dampening handcuffs to her wrists and ankles. It wasn’t the first this had happened but it sure was annoying
“Go fuck yourself you old creep” she hissed softly, she had half the mind to spit at him or to use her powers to blast him against the wall but right now she could do neither with the position she was in
“Thats no way to speak to me, not when you’re tied up like that” he crouched so that he was inches away from her face, smiling down at her with a creepy look on her face. Even worse was his breath, Sue had to turn her head away slightly as she tried desperately not to gag “You know everyone always says you’re hot but they really ain’t doing you justice” the creep whistled when he said it making Sue roll her eyes
“You better hope i get out of these first because if the boys find you they’ll flip” Which was the understatement of the century. The boys didn’t react well to creeps, much less creeps who had her tied up and were now trying to flirt with her as he had her tied up. They would be having a few choice words with him after this that was for sure.
“They won’t actually sorry” The guy said mockingly giving her a fake pout “See, they have a soft spot for you” he pointed out as if that wasn’t obvious. They were family; they all had a soft spot for each other. It kind of came with the whole deal.
“One that I can exploit if I so wanted to.” Sue was trying to focus but it was really hard because of how up his own ass he was.
“If I threaten to hurt you if they don't comply? Well then they’ll do just as i say” She watched in amusement as he put his hand to his chest before puffing it out like he was some kind of hero for this. Like he was finally going to be the one to defeat the fantastic four with this brilliant totally original idea that he had
“No they wont” Sue rolled her eyes as she spoke. If anything having one of them tied up and treating to hurt them would probably convince the other three to not do what they asked and rather just to get the whole situation over with quickly
“With you on the line, of course they will” His smug grin almost made her laugh, he really thought he was the first one to come up with this kind of plan wasn’t he?
All that she could do was stare up at him as she tried her best not to laugh in this creep's face. He was sitting next to her babbling the most generic plan ever like he was some kind of second coming of villains and not just some newby who would be thrown into prison in less than an hour “Do you know how often someone tries and fails to hurt one of us to use the others? It gets old we have safety procedures”
The smile fades off his face as he looked at Sue with a blank expression “Well we’ll see about that”
“You know… we still have a little time before your boys arrive” his back was to Sue as he said it. But she could hear the grin that he had planted across his face from a mile away. He suddenly sounded gleeful.
“So what?” She asked, rolling her eyes, what was the worst he could do? Prattle on more horrible plans?
“So I say to you and you have a little fun.. Huh miss storm?” He turned around to meet her eyes and Sue’s body turned cold as she saw the perverted expression the man had on his face as he leaned in closer.
“What's that supposed to mean?” Suddenly her heart started to race as she stared up at him, no way was he going to try this right now. She must just be overreacting there was no way that this creep was about to go there.
“Just stay still, I'll make it worth your while don't worry,” he said, his grin getting wider as he adjusted himself so that he was on top of her. Her breaths were quickening and she could feel her whole body shaking as she stared up at him.
“Wait. NO” her voice was loud and shrill but he didn’t listen. Sue could feel him tugging on her suit ripping it a bit as she flailed trying to get away.
“Dont worry we’ll have fun, god aren’t you feisty?” He mumbled to himself. Sue was struggling as much as she could. He was holding her hands over her head and keeping her legs in place with the cuffs.
This wasn’t going to happen.
This wasn’t going to happen
That’s when she heard the sound of a zipper being undone
“I said NO” She screamed as suddenly her vision went pure white
The thing about Sue’s powers that some people didn’t understand was just how violent they could be. How intune with her emotions they were. Because of this it meant she had to keep a very tight grip on them in case something decided to go wrong. She needed to be able to have full control over her forcefields.
They were more dangerous than people thought they were, she could put them in someone's body and expand it to make them expose. She could crush an organ or a bone without even having to lift her finger.But after so many years Sue had been good at keeping herself and her powers in line. In almost every case she had full control over them to even the slightest degree.
She could make them smaller than a hair and remove a tumor from a man's brain or construct them into a laser gun. She couldn’t even remember the last time that she had fully lost control over them. But right now as the man standing over her unzipped his pants preparing himself to do the worst thing imaginable to her Sue couldn’t think straight.
Right now she felt like a scared little girl again looking desperately for any kind of way out before something horrible happened to her. That was when it happened.
The man paused what he was doing, suddenly freezing as his eyes went wide. Slowly he looked up at Sue with fear in his eyes, his gaze darted back and forth from her face to around her room
‘What did you do?’ he asked as suddenly blood started to drip from his nose, from his mouth, from his eyes. He put his hands up and watched as blood started to pool in them. All Sue could do was watch as the man's breathing got heavier and heavier with every second trying to find some way out of the situation that he had gotten himself in.
For a few seconds she could see him trying to think of a hail mary. That's until he made eye-contact with her again. His shock turned into a growl as suddenly he screamed
"What did you do to me!” He lunged forward, bloodied hands going and grabbing at her neck. He wasn't holding on for long. Sue's eyes went wide when suddenly something in the air shifted and within a second the man's head suddenly burst like a balloon. She couldn’t help the scream that erupted from her mouth as the body slumped forward falling on top of her.
His head was completely missing,
she was covered head to toe in his blood. It was splattered across the walls and floor and every surface of the room. She couldn’t do anything but sit there breathing heavily as she tried to process what she had just done.
She just made a mans head fucking explode
Sue stared at the ceiling softly. After all what else did she have to do, she couldnt get the fucking restraints off herself and the creeps body had fallen on her making it even harder to get them off. Slowly she reached down and pressed the small calling symbol she had on her belt. The thing lit up to signal that someone was coming for her.
Sue would have done it before but she couldn’t have risked the creep seeing it and destroying it before the boys had gotten to her. She didn’t know how she was going to explain this to the boys without crying her eyes out. It all just felt like too much. Sue just wanted to go home, take a long bath and go to bed. But unluckily For her that was probably off of the cards now. There would be questions about the body and the state that it was in. People would want to talk to her, she’d have to explain.
That's when the doors to the cell burst open, or well were knocked off their hinges as the boys walked in. Instantly all three of them froze. Sue knew it must have been an insane sight to see. She is on the floor with a man's dead body draped on top of her. His head was blown completely off. His blood splattering the walls, floors, even her.
They were likely expecting another stupid scheme, Sue tied to a chair while the guy went on and on about his plans before they just casually walked out. Today clearly wasn't going to be like that though. Sue watched them for a second before she tilted her head away with tears in her eyes. She really hadn’t meant to do it. She had just wanted him to get off her and now he was like this.
Sue had always promised to herself that no matter how many times she joked or threatened it she wouldn’t ever use her powers like this. She wouldn’t kill a man in cold blood. But she had, so what now.
Even if they didn’t speak up she could hear the boy silently talking to themselves through looks, Johnny signalled to the fact the guys fly was undone, her uniform was torn and she was laying there with a thousand yard stare. It didn't take a genius to figure out what had happened. The other two nodded softly, a silent understanding passing through them.
Whatever happened it wasn’t sue’s fault
The three men walked over to her, Johnny and Ben grabbing the corpse and dragging it off of her throwing it across the room, sue watched softly as they gave it a kick. For a second she was brought back that night on the street so many years ago. The boy's violent protectiveness as they gave the guy a piece of their mind. Reed gently kneeled next to her whipping out tools so he could undo her restraints
“Did he hurt you?” Reed asked, his voice suspiciously calm but Sue could see the way that his hands were trembling with anger. The way his eyebrows knitted together and his jaw was tense. Reed was angry and trying his best to hide it.
She didn’t respond at first, instead just staring at him “No.. he tried but…” her voice came out way more shaky and fragile than she had intended. Usually she was so good at being upfront but as she glanced back at where Ben and Johnny were still standing above the body clearly trying to figure out what to do with it she couldn’t find the words
“But you stopped him, good im proud” Reed said simply, as his hands worked harder to get her out of the restraints that she was in. A part of her believed that she should have found another way around it, should have been able to free her hands. If she had managed to use her forcefield in a state of shock she should have been able to push back against the power dampeners
“We’re gonna get in trouble” Sue whispered tears brimming in her eyes as she spoke. She hadn’t meant to put them all in danger with the government because no matter what there’s no way they were getting out of trouble for her doing this.
“What's the public gonna say when they realise I can do that” She felt like a goddamn monster. She was a superhero. She was supposed to be the person to take the high ground and do what was right.
But she had just blown a man’s head up
Reed didn’t even glance up as he finally managed to undo her cuffs. "Doesn't matter,” he said simply as he gently took them off and put them on the ground next to her. For a second he examined her wrists, rubbed raw and painful from the contraption that had been attached to them “because they’re not going to find out”
“What do you mean they’re not going to find out? We can't hide this” she asked as he moved on to unlocking the one around her ankles, going faster this time since he actually knew how to take it off
“Yes we can.. We can just say the bomb he had planted a few rooms over exploded in his face” Reed gently undid the device around her ankles. Helping her slide her way out so that she didn’t cut herself in the spiked edges
“He had a bomb?” Her eyebrows shot up at the news, she hadn’t actually expected that. It’s not like it’s that out of character but still.
“Mhm…” he hummed staring at his wife
Reed leaned forward gently tucking a loose strand of hair out of the way of her face before he gently tilted her head up to look at him “Don’t feel ashamed, I’m glad that you did it.” He stated earnestly as he looked at her exhausted face
Tears started to run down her face, how could he not see her as a monster. She had killed a man violently. Sure he had tried to hurt her but how many supervillains had tried to hurt her before? How was he any different? They could have just stopped the threat and went home easily but she had murdered him “I still killed him Reed I know we’re heros and all but i still don't want to hurt people like that it isn’t right”
He nodded his head softly “I understand you but he deserved it” he stated like it was an absolute fact. Reed, the man who fully wouldn’t kill a man because he didn’t believe it was right, was telling her that the man whose head she exploded deserved to die.
“Reed-” she tried to say but he interrupted her
“Just listen okay? If anyone tries to do that again? You fucking kill them, i dont care how you do it you stop them” His hands were on her shoulders as he forced her to look him in the eyes. She needed to see what he was saying right now. His fingers were digging in slightly from desperation but surprisingly she didn’t mind.
“We can’t just go around killing people because they threaten us” her voice was soft. She glanced back to see Johnny spitting on the body and shut her eyes. The guy tried to hurt her but she had killed him.
Slowly Reed's hands moved from where they had been on her shoulders so that he could cradle her. “Someone who tries to do that isn't a person” the whisper was soft and gentle like if he spoke too loud it would shatter her somehow.
‘I want you to promise me.” He insisted on his thump stroking his wife’s face as he looked her in the eyes. He needed this more than anything. This incident couldn’t put her off defending herself if it happened again Reed wouldn’t let it. He needed to know she would defend herself
“What?” Sue asked wide eyed.
“Promise me, that if anyone tries that again you will kill them” He spoke her head ever so slightly not enough to hurt her but enough so that it would drive the point home. If someone ever had those intentions against her Reed needed them dead.
“Reed i can’t” She whispered, she could still feel the blood on her, hear as it dripped off the walls. She could still see the horror in his eyes as he realised that she was about to hurt him. She never wanted to do that again.
“Please sue. Please” He pleaded
Sue stayed quiet for a second before whispering “Okay… i promise”
Instantly the tension bled out from reeds shoulders. As he pressed his forehead against his wife's. “Good.” He whispered in relief
“You’re safe now” as he spoke she realised he was more trying to convince himself than her. She let her hands tug into his clothes as she pulled him closer to herself. Letting herself bury her head in the crook of his neck
“You’re safe.”