[center][quote=@Master Bruce][color=#6aa84f]"Thank you. For showing me... the way back."[/color][/quote][img]https://i.imgur.com/ZfvPPwT.png[/img][/center]
[b][color=#ffffff]The Raft, New York[/color][/b]

[color=#ffffff]Amid the carnage, Scott Free’s words had given Susan Storm reason to hope. If Free could claw his way out from beneath Darkseid’s control, then perhaps [i]anyone [/i]could. Though their world was out of their reach now, perhaps there was hope for it yet. Sue comforted herself with that thought as she held her brother Johnny’s hand tightly between hers. He was still unconscious. [i]Deep [/i]unconscious at that. With the Surfer defeated, the other heroes had made swift work of holding what remained of The Raft together and the Fantastic Three had joined Johnny on the other side of the bridge.[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“He’s gonna be alright,”[/color][color=#ffffff] Ben said confidently as he stared down at the Human Torch. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“It’ll take more than a little [i]supernova [/i]to put Matchstick down. The kid’s tough.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed nodded in agreement. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“Ben’s right. Johnny’s vitals are [i]already [/i]looking encouraging. There’s no reason to think that he won’t come be able to recover from th-”[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“I know that.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed seemed taken aback by the abruptness of his fiance’s response. He looked to Ben for some kind of explanation, but was greeted with a shrug. Sue was still holding Johnny’s hand as tightly as she had ever done, staring down at him protectively, whilst the two of them watched on. After a few moments, Reed summoned up the courage to speak again.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“What’s wrong, Sue?”[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“Nothing is [i]wrong[/i] as such. I mean, not [i]nothing[/i] – look around us, there’s clearly plenty wrong. I just… Nothing is going to be the same again, Reed. Whatever happens, there’s no way we ever go back our lives the way they were. Not the way they were back home, not even the way they were here before Hammond attacked. Things are going to be different now, for all of us, and there’s nothing we can do to stop that.”[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“Differen’t don’t have to mean bad,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Ben piped up from behind Reed. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“Different can be good sometimes, Suzie. I mean, I’m as torn up about the craft being destroyed as can be, you know that, but that doesn’t mean that our lives are over and done with. We can still go on living.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Sue shook her head. [/color][color=#9fc5e8]“Not the way things were.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Reed opened his mouth to speak but stopped as he noticed that Sue was pointing out into the street. She hadn’t so much as turned her face to look where she was point. Reed followed her finger’s path and noticed several television trucks that were packed up across the street. Their cameras were pointed directly at them. From behind the cameras, came half a dozen voices shouting Reed’s name at him. He stared at them unblinkingly for a few seconds before he realised his mistake. One of Reed’s stretchy arms pulled Ben in front of them to block the cameras views.[/color]

[color=#3d85c6]“So the world knows that we’re back,” [/color][color=#ffffff]Reed shrugged. [/color][color=#3d85c6]“So what? They were always bound to find out sooner or later, weren’t they? What were we meant to do? Spend the rest of our lives hiding in SHIELD facilities. Maybe this will be a good thing for us. Maybe we can finally starting living a-”[/color]

[color=#9fc5e8]“It’s not [i]us [/i]that they’ll think have come back home, Reed. It’s them. [i]Their [/i]Fantastic Four – their Reed Richards. We won’t get our lives back because our lives here don’t exist. We’ll have to live out [i]their [/i]lives in the public eye until our dying days. Is that what the two of you want? Because it’s definitely not what I want and I can’t think it’s what Johnny would want either.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Ben sighed. [/color][color=#f6b26b]“What choice do we have, Suzie?”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Her shoulders sunk in defeat. Despite her reservations, she almost knew already how this was going to play out. Ben was right. Though [i]every [/i]part of her disagreed with it, they really didn’t have much of a choice at all. She would have to pretend to be the Sue Storm that grew up with a father around – and worse still, she would have to live up to her promise to Namor. Her mind raced with all of the millions of potential unintended consequences of their remaining in this world she’d suppressed. This was it. This was their lives now – and, perhaps in more ways than one, there was no going back.[/color]

[color=#ffffff]And then unexpectedly Johnny’s hand tightened around his sister’s. Sue glanced down towards him and his eyes had crept open somewhat. She flung her arms around his shoulders and let out a relieved laugh but Johnny’s exhausted eyes seemed confused by all of the commotion. He waved his sister away from him.[/color]

[color=#ea9999]“What happened?”[/color][color=#ffffff] Johnny asked in a voice that was so weak it was almost silent.[/color][color=#ea9999] “Did I get the Surfer? Did I save everyone?”[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]“Too right you did, kid. You shoulda seen the way Chrome Dome went down after you lit his shiny behind up like the fourth of July.”[/color]

[color=#ffffff]Johnny smiled weakly before drifting back into unconsciousness with a smile on his face.[/color] [color=#ea9999]“Good...”[/color]

Sue shot Ben a disapproving look and he shrugged his shoulders. [color=#f6b26b]“What? What did you want me to tell the kid? That he swung and missed? Let Matchstick have his moment. When he wakes up in the morning, he’ll barely remember what he had for breakfast this morning, let alone a little white lie. Gimme a break, Suzie.”[/color]

Another wave of camera flashes interrupted their conversation and this time Ben's large torso wasn't enough to block Reed, Sue, and Johnny from their path. Sue attempted to shield her brother's face from them in vain, despite knowing he'd likely been photographed hundreds of times during the fighting, until finally Ben lifted the wounded Storm into his arms.

[color=#3d85c6]"Let's go home."[/color]

[color=#f6b26b]"Home,"[/color] Ben muttered as he scanned the New York horizon as if looking to be directed. [color=#f6b26b]"Remind me, Stretch, where exactly [i]is[/i] that again?"[/color]