"Get these people clear!"

"We need more oxygen tanks!"

"Another blanket over here!"

"Just keep breathing ma'am, keep breathing."

"They need to be treated for smoke inhalation!"

Flames flicked out most of the building's open windows like a snake's forked tongue would lick at the tastes in the air. Smoke plumed into the sky, visible for miles in any direction.

But the NYFD were on the scene, and they had Fantastic help!

With a violent crash, Thing's enormous fist appeared in the fifth floor office room's ceiling.

"Hey! Watch where you're clobbering!" Johnny Storm, aka The Human Torch complained, shielding his face from raining splinters.

"Sorry, Kid." Came The Thing's gravely reply as he peeled back from the hole he'd improvised and made it bigger.

"Torch! Keep moving!" Bellowed Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic. "Make sure the other floors above us are clear."

Mr. Fantastic himself was stretched out from the street and poised as a living slide for the people escaping the burning building. And now that Ben Grimm aka The Thing had made another escape path, Mr. Fantastic reached out to the opening in the ceiling so more victims could use his arm as a zip line, before sliding the rest of the way out.

"That's good, Ben. Johnny can direct people to this location. Make your way downstairs and help the fire department rescue people from the lower floors."

"You got it, Doc."

Shortly after becoming the Fantastic Four, Reed developed a durable radio wave communicator in the form of an earpiece. It was also voice activated making it hands-free.

Reed used it now to check in with his fiancé, Sue Storm, aka The Invisible Woman.

"Sue, how are you doing?"

"Well, with the help of a lot of water we've managed to prevent an explosion, but nothing is safe until the fires are out, and…I'm getting tired."

"We're getting people out as fast as we can, in case you can't hold it back, but I think we're beating the fires. Hand in there, Sue."

"There's no one else up here!" Came Johnny's shout from the hole in the ceiling.

"The fire department is calling an "All Clear" for civilians down here." Came Ben's voice over the radio.

"Hold tight, Sue. We're coming to back you up."

The sleek black limousine pulled up in front of the building as Aydin stared out the tinted window at the now smouldering shell that had once been a pet project of hers. Her heart broke at the sight of it. She had spent months working on this building, making it liveable and safe again for the tenants and employees that resided in it.

When the car stopped and the driver came around to open her door, Aydin perched a pair of Gucci sunglasses on her nose, and slipped out of the cool, air-conditioned environment. She stood on the sidewalk with her hands on her slender hips, looking absurdly out of place in her black tailored suit, which she had cropped the jacket on to reveal a tiny line of her stomach, and then paired it with a hot pink camisole and large chunky belt of the same bright colour.

She spotted a group of police officers and firefighters and began to stride in their direction, her knee-high leather boots clicking on the pavement. As she drew closer to them, she saw four others, wearing what looked to be wetsuits. Yikes, she thought as her steps faltered slightly, staring at the massive, rock-like, well, thing standing there. How the heck did I miss that?

Regaining her composure as quickly as she lost it, she arrived at the small gathering. "Excuse me, but I would like to know the extent of the damages, and how this fire started." she said confidently, and coolly, trying to keep her gaze from shifting towards the incredible creature, man, beast? standing with them.

A smooth, cocky voice piped up. "Oh, gee, Princess, and aren't you a little far from Macy's?"

Aydin's head snapped around in the direction the voice had come from, and she swept the glasses up onto her head as her cool blue eyes rested on the speaker's rather handsome face. "Just so you know, I own this building, and you're a little far from the catwalk, maybe you should just sit back and let us people with intelligence speak about important things," she said icily.

Aydin watched as the cocky expression on his face dropped slightly and he was about to snap back at her, when a petite blonde drove her heel into the top of his foot. "Johnny," glaring at him slightly, the blonde said. When Aydin turned to acknowledge the speaker, Aydin momentarily realized that she recognized her. "She's Aydin Avallon, smart ass, as in the daughter of Arthur Avallon, CEO of Avallon Industries," the blonde continued. "You know, the leading competitor of Von Doom Industries."

Johnny's eyebrows rose slightly, then he said smoothly, "so, how about I pick you up Friday night at seven?"

Aydin face took on an expression of false sincerity as she said, "as tempting as that offer is, Mr. Strom, I'm afraid that you may be too busy having your body cavities searched to make the date, because if you keep it up, I'll have you slapped for sexual harassment."

Ben Grimm snickered softly at Aydin's biting remark, which caused Johnny to turn to him and say, "I'd like to see you do any better, you glorified garden gnome."

Aydin turned her head in Johnny's direction, and raised one perfectly arched eyebrow slightly. "Yes, well, his body may very well be stone, Mr. Storm, but at least the rocks aren't in his head." She then turned to Sue and said, "it's been nice seeing you again Susan, we should have lunch sometime." Turning to the rest of the group she continued, "you'll have to excuse me though, I need to speak with the fire chief about the extent of the damages, and then inform my father and deal with the headache of the insurance company."

With that, she quickly handed Sue a business card, turned on her heel, and walked back towards the limo.

As she walked away, Johnny's eyes slowly skimmed over the back of her figure and lingered briefly on her posterior, as he thought, I've seen that ass walk away from me before.