The Mysterious Top Five Floors...

[Before Transition]

Parking in the Fantastic Four's hanger was lot more exciting than I thought it would be mainly because I was unsure where we would be parking the Fantasti-Car, granted I have been to the Baxter Building before but I only went to the medical lab which was on the 32nd floor and that too I only got there because Johnny flew me through the window when he burnt my hand and afterwards I was shown straight to the elevator where they activated it and sent me straight to to the 30th floor where the reception area manned by the robot Roberta who was an attractive blonde though that was only the top half the rest of her is just attached to the receptionist desk. Roberta opened the elevator for me which took me all the way down to the ground floor/the lobby which I promptly left and went home, not much is known about the Fantastic Four's headquarters which is basically separate from the rest of the Baxter Building.

The Baxter Building has 35 floors and everything about the building is pretty much public knowledge, well all except the top five floors which are exclusively for the use of the Fantastic Four. The lobby also known as the ground floor is pretty basic and contains several shops such as Abe Shoenstein's snack shop, an optometrist's shop and a visitors' center, it also has elevator bank and the freight loading dock. The visitors' center was as close as most people could get to the Fantastic Four as it showed a multimedia show on the Fantastic Four's history and it was shown hourly from 9 to 4 while the floor directory listed building tenants such as Pierre Picolino (a famous abstract sculptor), the Ladies' Canasta, Mah Jonng Society, and Fantastic Four Inc.

At the elevator bank there are three elevators which serviced floors 1 through 30 which was just for the other non super-heroic residents of the building though the thirtieth floor was special as it had no residents but we'll get to that floor later. The fourth elevator was marked by the Fantastic Four's insignia which as everyone knows is a big blue 4 inside a blue circle sometimes seen on a white background. This was the express elevator to floors 30 (the floor with a specific purpose) through 35, the Fantastic Four's headquarters. The elevator I learn later in the day could only be summoned by a solenoid activator such as were embedded in the Fantastic Four's belt buckles (Johnny makes use of this particular feature to mess with me in the future). Normally this elevator stayed on these floors and only descended to street level when summoned and on the way up the elevator hidden scanners identified the passengers and checked them for hidden weapons or devices. If questionable material was found, the elevator would stop in midshaft until the Fantastic Four was prepared to deal with the intruder. All elevators doubled as freight elevators.

You can access the thirtieth floor from all of the elevators though if a visitor chose to take one of the regular elevators he can only be taken to the 30th floor and no further. The bulk of the floor was occupied by the building's mechanical systems (plumbing, ventilation, and elevator winches). Acoustic insulation kept the noise from affecting the Fantastic Four's reception area. This floor also acted as a buffer zone to absorb damage from battles in the upper floors. It also contained the magnetic repulsion system. This system was designed to lift the upper floors away from the rest of the Baxter Building with the theory being that this way the rest of the building could have been protected from a particularly damaging battle. The system was designed as a compromise to placate the other residents of the building and their complaints and I later learn that it can only be controlled from the Computer Center on the 33rd floor. Not all of the thirtieth floor is used for this purpose though, there is a section of the floor where the elevator arrives that serves as a reception for Fantastic Four Inc.

All the typical visitor saw on the 30th floor was the Fantastic Four's reception area and said visitor would be greeted by Roberta, a usuform robot. Her visible half (above the waist) appeared to be an attractive blond in her 20s and I was tempted to flirt with her when I first saw her before I reached the desk and peered over and saw her lower half though I wouldn't be opposed to wooing her if she gained proper sentience and feelings and the like though she would have to sort out her lower half as below the waist she was a pivoting arm attached directly to her desk but if she got a proper lower half I would definite hit that (though I do still wonder if I can get by with just the top half, food for thought). Roberta, I later learn, is tied directly to the Fantastic Four's computer system and could monitor the entire building. Behind the receptionist desk is a door which leads to the rest of the thirtieth floor incase any of the mechanical systems need maintenance or improvement. The reception room is also filled with hidden scanners to probe visitors. If the visitor were hostile, the floor was rigged to deliver a stunning electrical shock. Once the visitor had been cleared and it was made sure that they were expected, a panel opened to reveal a lift to the 31st floor which is completely separate from the Fantastic Four's express elevator.

That is all the floors that are known about in the Baxter Building though I have supplemented it with my own knowledge which I have learnt about from Johnny when he gave me the grand tour, why did he give me the grand tour well it should be pretty obvious by now. I got the internship though I'll get to talking about that later. Now where was I, ahh yes I was at the part where we arrived at the Baxter Buliding and entered through the hanger which I was very surprised about as the top of the Baxter Building is just a normal flat roof with domed windows in it that look down into the thirty fifth floor. My surprise was mostly because the roof was flat and featureless apart form a large Fantastic Four insignia, imagine my surprise when it turned out that that insignia marked the retractable hatch for launching and landing vehicles. Johnny explained to me that if a Fantastic Four vehicle approached, the hatch would open automatically. There were a series of observatory domes located at various spots on the roof. Through my own research of the Baxter Building (which I did when I decided to infiltrate the place and steal their research) originally a permanent dome was located on the corner opposite the rocket silo, yeah I know I was very surprised to find out that there is a rocket silo. The last dome was closer to the silo but retractable. The entire dome could be lowered through the floor to the 35th floor hangar. This left the roof completely clear for action and eliminated the only hiding place for a trespasser. The observatory equipment included a computer-linked telescope and twin telescopic cameras, I made sure to take note of them as I might have to make a hasty escape sometime in the future.

Once we landed in the hanger I didn't get much time to look around at it as Johnny took me by the arm and dragged me over to the elevator where we went down to the 34th floor and taken to a briefing room off to the side where I was in for a surprise, not really though but I did have to act like I was surprised for the sake of Johnny and the rest of the people in the room. Standing there in the room was Reed Richards AKA 'Mister Fantastic', Susan Storm AKA 'The Invisible Woman' and Benjamin Grimm AKA 'The Thing' though my awe was understandably diminished when I noticed that Ben Grimm was moping about on a sofa in the corner of the room and Reed Richards was sat at the conferenced table in the middle of the room though he was constantly tapping away at a pad and looked like he hadn't showered or eaten in days while Susan Storm was the only one being professional calmly sitting at the table while drinking a cup of coffee.

Susan looks up at us when we enter through the door and she smiles kindly. "It's good to see you again Nick, you're probably wondering why you've been brought here. Well, we've decided to accept your internship, congratulations Nick. Welcome to Fantastic Four, Inc."

Don't you just love it when everything works out...

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<AN> I now have a Pa treon up and running and when a chapter is ready it will go up on Pa treon first so please take a look. Some support from you guys would be appreciated and motivate me.

(www.pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

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