A shocker

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This is the seventh chapter. Hope you enjoy it.

The next morning...

Garth was walking out on the streets of New York. He wore a grey overcoat over a blue buttoned shirt and black trousers. Though was wasn't fond of the pollution levels of the city, he needed some time out of the Baxter Building, away from the others, particularly Johnny. He came upon a shop on his right with TVs and newspapers behind its windows, and when he looked, he saw that every talk show, magazine and newspaper were talking about him and group, and their faces were even on most of the front pages! Taking a step backwards, he then turned leftwards to see several eager looking people come up towards him. "Uh..." He spoke as the incoming crowd kept getting bigger and closer to him. In panic, then then turned around and started running down the street. He looked over his left shoulder and saw the crowd was now running after him. Looking forwards again, then slightly rightwards, he saw a taxi coming down the road. He then slowed down and waved his right arm about, which made the taxi stop. He opened the door and scrambled inside. "The Baxter Building." He panted, hoping he was out of the embarrassing situation. "Hey. Your the furry guy, right? Of that Fantastic Five group from the bridge?" The driver asked, looking at him in the mirror. "Oh, no," Garth thought in his head. "Just drive!" He yelled, not wanting this to get worse. And so, the driver just drove and a few minutes later, the taxi was outside the Baxter Building. Garth got out quickly, paid the driver, and ran back inside. Until he could be cured, there no way he was going outside again.

A few minutes later, he was sitting at a table with the others having breakfast, sitting parallel to Sue. He was out of his overcoat, his top button undone, and was having pancakes and maple syrup and orange juice. "All right, I'm here. Let's make this quick. I got a lot of places to go today. Oh, wait. I don't go anywhere." Johnny said as he came over, taking the bowl Ben has used to squish the juice out of a handful of oranges. "Johnny, it's imperative that we stay inside for the foreseeable future." Reed told him. "I know, I know, Reed, but when you said that last time my brain heard a week." Johnny said back. "Johnny, its too dangerous for you to be in public." Sue added. "You've been saying that for years." Johnny said back. "She's right, guys, and not just because our powers, eh. We're on the cover of pretty much every newspaper, to show and magazine. The media is kissing us, so much that we can be spotted in an instant, and it's a few seconds before we're swarmed by admirers." Garth said, referring to what had just happened to him. "What worries me is that our powers are evolving." Reed said. "I know. I know! I am so close to flying, guys, I can taste it." Johnny spoke, after which Garth heard a flame like sound. "You can't fly." Sue chuckled. "Yet." Johnny said back. "Johnny, could you put that napkin out?" Sue then asked, which made Garth look over his right shoulder and saw a small fire was on the table. "Oh, Jesus." Johnny muttered, Garth looking forwards again, hearing a few more flame sounds from behind.

"So, what's going on, Reed? How you gonna cure us?" Ben asked. "I'm gonna build a machine to recreate the storm." Reed answered, holding up a drawing of two machines, one circular, one bigger and more rigid. "The cosmic rays will travel from this generator to this chamber." Reed explained. "What, no pop ups?" Johnny asked rhetorically. "If I can reverse the wave signal..." Reed began saying. "It'll turn us back to normal." Ben finished the sentence for him. "Question. How are you gonna recreate the Storm, eh?" Garth then asked, who'd finished eating breakfast. "Uh,...I'm not sure." Reed answered, as Garth began to remember something, as he then pulled out a folded up piece of paper from his left pocket, then unfolded it with both hands. "Hang on. Maybe there's a way. I asked for a report from the flowers we took to space. It's seems they were also affected by the storm, as they have traces or particles of the storm on them. If we can harness those particles, we could use them recreate the storm." Garth explained, placing the unfolded paper close to Reed. He then looked at Sue and Ben, who were both looking at him. "That... that's a way." Reed spoke, looking at the paper. "Right. But what are the risks?" Sue asked, looking at Reeds drawing, with concern. "Even a small miscalculation could increase our symptoms expantentually. Or perhaps even kill us." Reed answered, also with concern. "Now, dying, that's bad, right? I say we just let sleeping dogs lie, guys." Johnny said, which made Garth roll his eyes. "So how long till this contraption's up and runnin'?" Ben asked. "I don't know. It's hard to say." Reed answered. "How long, Reed?" Ben asked again, his tone louder and angrier. "I don't know, uh..." Reed tried to say. "You don't know?" Ben asked, standing up, louder and more aggressive. "Ben, patience." Garth spoke. "Garth's right. You and him don't want this get worse." Reed said. "Worse than that?" Johnny asked rhetorically. And that did hurt Garth. Sure, Ben was taking his changes a lot more than he was, but he did not completely like having a long mouth and nose, which he was pretty sure was a muzzle. "Guys, look, we're gonna be stuck here for a while. So let's just try and get along." Sue spoke, trying to diffuse the situation. "Yeah, eh." Garth spoke, just before he looked at the clock on the wall. "Oh." He said, rembering the date, before he then got up. "Excuse me, guys. I have to go." He said, before he then went along the table and went behind Ben and began walking towards the room entrance. "Where's the fire?" Johnny asked him, but he didn't answer. "Didn't you just say something about not being out in public?" Sue asked, looking over her right shoulder, confused. So Garth stopped and turned around and looked at the others. "Uh, doctors appointment. Booked several months ago. Gotta go. Get a taxi." He said quickly before he turned around and continued walking. "You know, he hasn't been coughing at all since he changed into... that." He heard Reed say to the others as he left, but as he was in a hurry, he didn't reply. It was then that Garth realised that he hasn't been coughing at all since he got his 'power'.

A few minutes later, Garth, wearing a fedora hat to try and hide his identity a little bit, arrived in a taxi at the hospital. He went to the reception (or front desk in America), tried to ignore any comments made about him and the group, the bridge, the Fantastic Five, etc. And after going up in the lift (or elevator), he reached the doctors room just in time. Inside the room, he sat down in a chair, facing the doctor, who had a clipboard, was a women around 30, whom Garth did mentally note that she did look slightly attractive, wore an average doctors coat, lavender eyes, but the most startling thing about her was her hair, which was pure white. "So, Mr Martins, you've been feeling any symptoms?" She asked. "Mainly the coughing, but, as I've noticed now, ever since the... the bridge event, I haven't coughed even once." Garth admitted. The doctor, whom Garth noticed from her badge that her first name was Lily, narrowed her eyes and said a "hmm", before putting it down on her board, then looked at him. "Maybe we should do an X-ray, if that's all rigth, sir?" Lily asked. Garth nodded, and twenty minutes later, his image was finished, placed up on a white lighted wall, and Lily was staring at it, her eyes and mouth widening slightly, her rigth hand lifted up, facing the image, her fingers wide, probably in shock. "Well? How is it?" Garth asked, with a raised brow. One or two seconds later, Lily turned to face him, her face, arm and hand still the same. "Garth, your not gonna believe this. I see absolutely nothing of it." Lily answered. "What do you mean?" Garth asked, confused. "Your better! Your cured!" Lily replied a little louder and more enthusiastically. "Cured?" Garth asked, his eyes widening. "Yes! There's no traces of it whatsoever now! You know what this means? Somebody's been cured of it! Maybe it has something to do with your superpowers. I mean, I hear you survived flames after all on the bridge. Maybe your body can cure, or possiblyheal anything." Lily added on frantically. "Good, good, eh. That's... that's great." Garth said, but without any enthusiasm. He didn't think he should mention the hand growing back part, as he didn't want to overwhelm Lily, whose shock turned to confusion, as she moved over to him. "Thought you'd be a little more enthusiastic, Mr Martins." She said, with concern. "How can I be enthusiastic when I look like this, hmm? How can I happy when I'm, i'm... some furry thingy?" Garth snapped, pointing at his face with his right index finger, before he then got up out of his seat and then turned to leave the room. 

He went out the door, igoring Lily say something. He had a grumpily look on his face as he then went down the stairs, barely feeling tired at all when he got to the bottom, and got a taxi back to the Baxter Building, now starting to know how Ben felt. Why was he so grumpy? The answer was simple. He was covered in fur, had a muzzle, his ears were pointy and at the top of his head. 

And that's the seventh chapter. Hope you enjoyed it. So, Garth's met Lily now. By the way, I intended for Lily to be a nurse, but at the last minutes, changed my mind for her to be a doctor. For those who are curious about Garth's medical condition, you'll just have to wait and see. Don't know when the next chapter will be out, so you'll have to be patient.

I'd like to say this: I'm frustrated that the US Congress keeps delaying President Biden's infracture bill, which I greatly support, even though I live in the U.K. I'm very political, liberal, and leftist, just to let you know. I believe it should be passed, as it'll be very good for America climate policy, and to help her infrastructure, which I've heard is terrible, decades old and crumbling. And I hear some members of Congress demand it be reduced, which I'd hate. I really think they should pass it soon, so they can get on with other things, for thr sake of our children!

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