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The sun set hours ago, but Sue Storm has been stuck in meetings. So many meetings. The discussion and questions had hinged on things surrounding the security detail, the weapon, and what became of it. All items had been left in the lab, including Doctor Storm's favourite yellow dress… that was traded for her unstable molecules uniform. So much for trying to blend in the crowd.
The questions had been many. They'd probed at her plan. Who she'd told. Where she'd concluded its end.
It'd taken longer to get where she was going, mostly because she'd first told the cab driver the Baxter Building, only to arrive and realize this is not where she's saying. The hotel the Four are staying at is plenty nice enough, but it's not home.
The elevator dings on the appropriate floor, and she warily reaches for her keys… which are in the pockets of her dress… in a government lab.
She turns around, leans against the door, and slides down it until she's sitting on the floor. Her face presses into her hands, and, uncharacteristically, she begins to sob.
*
Laura has been shadowing Sue all day, in her own expert way. If there had been any doubts about her abilities, the fact that it would be beyond easy to forget she'd been nearby the entire time might just clear them. But now the day is at an end, Sue's done with the job for the day, and she's clearly distressed. It's reason enough for Laura to slip around the corner and let her boots tread silently along the carpeted hallway.
Truth to tell, she's terrible at the emotional stuff, in general. All she really has for this is something she saw once— the girl crouches down quietly next to Sue and wordlessly offers her a square of pretty-clean cloth, letting it enter the edge of her vision and hang there. It's not really a handkerchef but it'll do the job.
*
The hands drop down from Sue's face after a few moments, prompting her to cast a puzzled look towards Laura. Red-faced, puffy-eyed and altogether alarmed, Sue squints to bring the girl into focus. The square of cloth is accepted and then used to dab her incredibly moist cheeks — not that it makes much difference.
Doctor Storm sniffles loudly and swallows hard; she is, by no means, a pretty crier, and never has been. Her head turns to watch Laura, but within moments, her shoulders bob again, her face buries into her hands, and she can't bottle the weariness that clothes her.
*
Steve has arrived.
*
Steve leaves, heading towards Baxter Building [O].
*
Steve has left.
*
One of the nice things about an oddity like Laura is… well, she is entirely non-judgemental about the crying thing. Once Sue takes the cloth, she settles her arms on her knees. She looks, briefly, like she's wondering what she should do next… at least until some internal timer goes off and her eyes flick up to scan their surroundings again. She finally settles on something to say— "If you need a moment, we have the time." Yeah, that's about as un-awkward as she gets right here.
*
Speaking of un-awkward — the door to the hotel room that Sue has lost the keys to opens inward, which makes it an awful lot harder to lean against for support. It leaves a very confused Johnny Storm standing in the doorway, blinking down at the pair with an increasingly worried expression on his face when he realizes who just fell backwards into his legs. "…Seo?"
*
A very loud sniffle follows Laura's remark. Sue turns to face her and looks like she's going to say something until she's falling backwards.. into her brother. Her very puffy, very unpretty crying-face blinks blankly up at her brother. Her jaw tightens and she emits a soft sigh.
"Joon," she murmurs softly. "…hi." She swallows hard and shakes her head slightly. She points towards Laura, "Uh… Laura. Joon. Joon… Laura." She sniffles again, but remains on the floor. Yeah, she doesn't feel like putting in the effort to sit up.
*
Laura just turns her head up in Joon's direction when the introductions get made, and nods once. She knows of him, of course. Not for the reasons people usually do, but as a matter of course, she didn't get involved without knowing something about the people she expected to be involved with. Researching Sue inevitably brought Johnny into view.
"Joon," she says in a polite, level sort of greeting. "An-nyung-ha-se-yo." Her korean is… overly precise. "It has been a day of necessities," Laura offers in a wholly honest fashion. "It is difficult if one is not fully prepared for such measures."
*
"Hi," Joon echoes his sister, his eyes flicking over to Laura when she's introduced. And he blinks again at the greeting. This is a very strange… week? Yeah, let's go with that. "I see. Why're you two sitting out here in the hallway, though?" he asks, already crouching down to try and help Sue up to her feet. "There are much more comfortable places to be miserable, c'mon in."
*
Johnny's efforts have Sue shuffling back to a standing position, but it's not an easy shuffle. Her body is relaxed. Too relaxed. Defeated. She sniffles again, but is drawn easily enough into the suite. Her shoulders weigh down with obvious defeat. "…my key was in my dress… they took it…" as evidence. Not that she dares say that.
Once inside, she slumps onto the couch and stares at the ceiling over head. She motions vaguely towards Laura, but offers no comment as she tries to collect herself and her expression. The misery isn't intended to discourage anyone else, and, in fact, she's held it together most of the day. "I…" she rubs her cheeks again with that piece of cloth from Laura. Finally, her gaze sweeps to Laura, "…what are you doing here?"
*
"Making sure you would be okay," Laura says, with a slight headtilt to one side. Isn't that obvious? "The man with the blue face might have appeared again. If he did, I would be there to deal with him," she concludes simply.
The implication, that she's been shadowing Sue all day in order to do so and also that she knows about Kang in the first place, is an important but glossed-over set of details.
*
Once Sue is safely slumped onto the couch, Johnny takes a moment to fetch her a glass of water and a box of tissues before he comes to sit down with her. Whatever he was going out for, apparently, is no longer important. "Here. Reed's at a meeting," he supplies quietly, glancing between the two with a slight furrow of his brow. Blue face? …oh, right. That guy. "Thank you, Laura."
*
Sue's lips part and she turns her head to eye Johnny a moment when Laura mentions something that captures her attention. "…how do you know about the man with the blue face?" that's an oft-glazed over detail that few and far between know. "And… " her gaze darkens "… why would he come back?" What on earth does Laura know that she doesn't?
She swallows hard and stares at Laura a few extra beats as she accepts the water and tissues. "Thank you," she murmurs towards Johnny. She pinches the bridge of her nose. "I want to go home," she whispers. Because sometimes you just want to be in your own bed.
*
Laura has started just sort of… pacing the room. And looking around in a fashion that is… not quite the way people who are just curious about their environment randomly cast their gaze around. Nope, she's cataloguing. It's not that hard to tell once you recognize the pattern.
"He hurt Lucy," she replies flatly. "I misjudged my attack when I got there. I do not intend to miss twice." A pause.
"There was… a young lady there. She smelled… wrong. She said she was from here but she did not smell like New York." A shrug, as it doesnt' seem very important to her. Neither is keeping information Val was reluctant with to herself. "She did not want to tell us much. But she did say he was after the Fantastic Four."
She stops walking, and her eyes slide over to Sue. "You were the best target today. Exposed, occupied. Especially during the attack and on your way home. It is how I would do it. So." She shrugs. That's why she chased Sue around all day. Simple, yes?
*
"We'll be back home soon," Johnny promises Sue, leaning over to hug her around the shoulders. "Damage Control and Reed are almost done with the clean up, and then we can start with the build. It won't take long." Sure, the landlord might be a complication, but eh. What's the worst that could happen?
Johnny couldn't even think of options if he tried, now. Laura's terribly distracting. An arm still around Sue's shoulders, he peers after Laura with an odd expression, blinking slowly as he takes all of this in. The words, and the source they're coming from, just… don't feel like they should match. And yet.
*
When Laura explains the blue faced man, it's probably good Sue is already sitting. If she weren't she'd need to take a seat. "What lady? What did she look like?" her jaw tightens and she leans forward. Suddenly her posture has changed. They'd already deduced the man had specifically attached them, but to what end? As far as being the best target, she frowns.
She leans into the hug at her shoulders and her body slumps further. She inhales a slow breath, "I don't know any blue-faced people that should actively seek revenge on any of us," she casts a glance towards Johnny. "So. That's something to know."
*
"She said she was a doctor," Laura replies promptly, cocking her head to one side to help her sift through the information. Her posture slides into a patient, attentive, straight-backed stance, feet shoulder width apart and hands clasped behind her back. It's… not a random choice, anyway.
"Dark hair. Slender. She said she was Korean-American and it was why she called you Seo and Joon. It made sense." Sort of. "She had a lot of reasons that made sense for things." Which is suspicious to Laura.
*
"I haven't pissed off any blue guys that I know of," Johnny tells Sue with a helpless shrug, keeping his arm supportively around her shoulder. He might be taking some comfort from the contact himself, what with just how… weird and clinical Laura's reporting of the facts is.
Johnny slowwwwwly tilts his head to one side, one eye squinting. "…mayyyyyybe I should go to Koreatown? She might. Be there. And I could try to follow up." He kind of doubts it.
*
There's a lot in the facts described that irks Sue. And finally, she shakes her head, "Alright. So. Random Korean woman uses our names and … says a blue faced man is trying to hurt us?" Her eyes squint. "But that doesn't explain what happened to Lucy. You said she was hurt — presumably from the blue faced man." There's a long pause. "Wait." Only now does that sink in. "Lucy was hurt? Did she see a doctor?" Sue frowns. "This week is just getting worse."
As far as Joon going to Koreatown, "You could. It can't hurt. And if someone is looking to hurt us, it's just a matter of time until they find one," or all, "of us." Sue's fingers rake through her hair. "They hurt Ben," she manages weightily. "I can't imagine they don't have a strategy to bring each of us pain."
*