Sue and Reed Richards sat in the lab of the Baxter building, CNN playing on the television quietly across the room from them. They were silently working, or rather, trying to work. It was the first time that the world had even had the remote possibility of calmness. They hadn't had to save it in months. It was actually quite peaceful in the world and honestly enough, they knew it wasn't all because of them. But it was nice to have other superheroes around doing what they had been trying to do it felt almost single-handedly. Ok, truth be told, they weren't always doing it single-handedly, but they were the new guys in town, a team of four, working together for the greater good of the world.
But now there was another superhero team in town, well, in the world. A team of six assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D. The Avengers. Iron Man, genius in the world of advanced weaponry. Thor, super soldier from another dimension. The Hulk, another scientist whose experiment had gone wrong, turning him into a giant green rage monster. Black Widow and Hawkeye, a black ops duo. And another. One who was on the television screen right now. He wasn't giving an interview or anything, but CNN was doing an depth piece on the sixth member of the Avengers team.
The Fantastic Four hadn't been paying too close attention to them since the Angers moved in, but as the screen showed a close up of Captain America, Sue turned her head away from where she was nuzzling with her new husband, her eyes widening. "Johnny!" Reed turned his attention toward the television as well, standing up and moving over to the television, turning up the sound. "Steven Rogers, World War II hero, after having been in a coma-like state for seventy years, is now a part of the greatest superhero team since the Fantastic Fou-"
Reed turned off the television, looking at Sue who had her arms wrapped tightly over her breasts, hugging herself tightly. "Why does that man look like my brother?" she asked, still looking at the blank television screen as if she was still looking at the images of Captain America on the screen.
"I don't know, Sue."
She turned her head to look at him. "Is he related to us somehow?"
Reed shook his head. "I don't know, Sue."
"Why didn't we realize this before?"
That was the only thing he knew the answer to. "We really haven't been paying attention to these Avengers since they came onto the scene, Sue. How would we know?"
Just then, Johnny came walking in to the room, laughing and going on about something amazing he'd just done, but once he saw their faces, he froze, his shoulders slumping. "What did I do now?"
Reed reached over and turned back on the television. Johnny walked over, placing his hand on the equipment table across from the television, leaning over and watching the CNN coverage of Captain America. After a moment, he snickered, looking between his sister and brother-in-law.
"Yeah? So what?" he said, standing up straight, waiting to see how they were going to blame something on him.
"So what?" Sue said, her eyes wide and almost incredulous. "Doesn't this mean anything to you?"
Johnny looked back at the television for a moment and then to Sue again. "So there's another superhero team in the world. That's great! Maybe now the world won't keep hounding us for saving."
"Johnny!" Sue threw held her hand up toward the television. "Do you not see?"
Johnny shook his head, his eyes narrowing in on his sister. "Are you really upset about more superheroes coming in? They can pick up some of the catastrophe's we face every day."
"Johnny, he looks just like you!" Sue pleaded with him now because he obviously wasn't getting what was going on here.
Johnny scoffed, walking closer to thetelevisionscreen to look at him. After a moment, he shook his head, turning around to look at Sue and Reed again. "You guys are crazy." He patted Sue on the shoulder and started to leave the room. "I'll hit you guys up later," he said, stepping into the elevator and leaving the twoof them alone again.
"I can't believe he doesn't see it, Reed!" Sue said, reaching out and flipping off the television again. "It's almost as if he could be looking into a mirror."
"I know, Sue, but if he doesn't see it, he doesn't see it."
Sue pursed her lips, shaking her head. "We have to find out why this Captain America or Steven Rogers looks like my brother, Reed. We have to."
Reed didn't understand why this was so important to her. Of course, he saw the similarities, and curiosity made him want to know too, but he didn't see exactly why Sue justhadto know. But he was going to help her find out. And the first step would be going to talk to Steven Rogers.