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Reed, Sue, Ben, Rachel, and Johnny all sat together, getting changed. They got ready to go, but the chief fireman entered, stopping them. "There's some folks outside, want to talk to you." He said.
"We're not going public with this. Right?" Rachel questioned.
"No. We're not. We're scientists, not celebrities." Reed told him.
"Too late, son." The chief said. He turned on a little tv monitor in the corner. News footage played on all stations, with the tag line: FANTASTIC FIVE! "That's what they're calling you. The Fantastic Five." The chief continued.
"Nice." Johnny said. He then headed for the exit.
"Johnny, slow down. Let's think this through a second." Sue said. Johnny paused. Rubbed his chin once.
"Okay. Done thinking." He then ran out. Sue, Rachel, Reed, and Ben ran swapped glances, knowing Johnny could not be their spokesman. They took off after him, out to the Press Field.
Click! Fifty cameras flashed. The field was full of press. The heroes froze, shocked my the crowd.
Johnny are up all the attention. Rachel noticed that Ben turned, self- conscious. The chief fireman turned to them. "So which one of you's the leader?" He asked.
Johnny didn't hesitate. "That'd be me."
The chief chuckled. "No seriously."
Rachel pushed Reed in front of the group. The chief then handed him the mic. "You're on, son. They all want a statement." The chief said.
All eyes went to Reed. He looked out, and gulped hard. "Uh, during our recent mission to the Von Doom space station, we were exposed to as yet-unidentified radioactive energy, most likely some kind of nucleotide compoun--" Reed tried to explain.
Nobody would come for a science class. That was why when the people asked questions, Reed felt overwhelmed. They all did.
"What happened on the bridge?" A reporter asked.
"Does it hurt to stretch?" Another questioned.
"Were you really on fire?"
"Is it true that one of you can fly?"
"Working on it. And it's a lot harder --"Johnny tired to explain.
"We don't know much more than you do, at this point. Which is why we will be going directly to the lab, where we can diagnose our symptoms and --" Rachel got cut off by more Reporters.
"Symptoms? So it's like a disease?"
Reed looked at Ben's face, feeling the guilt. Ben was lost in thought, looking at Deb's engagement ring.
"Symptoms? Please. If having powers is a disease, then yeah we got it. And we are gonna blow your minds. There's a new day dawning. The day of the Fantastic Five." Johnny leaped in.
