Swallowing The Spider

[Before Transition]

So yeah, Mary Jane was a bit upset that I was gonna have less time to tutor her but most of the shock and surprise came from the fact that I was interning with The Fantastic Four, turns out that they are have very high celebrity status though I didn't really pay much attention to that sort of stuff but it turns out that Ben Grimm (The Thing) is a big hit with the kids on account of him being a rock monster and clobbering stuff, Johnny Storm (The Human Torch) is adored by a veritable army of teen girls/girls in their twenties, Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) doesn't have as much of a following as the others but he is held in high regard in the scientific community while Susan Storm (The Invisible Woman) is a huge inspiration to women everywhere on account of her being one of the first female superheroes and kicking the shit out of guys on national television.

I hadn't really payed much attention to this sort of stuff as I was so focused on my research but I didn't really think they would be this adored but I suppose it makes sense, they are the equivalent of celebrities in my old world but put on a much higher level (at least the popular superheroes are). It's like when all those people in my previous world used to go crazy and cry at the fact that one of the members of the One Direction waved in their general direction or Justin Bieber looked at them, the popular superheroes are held in such regard in this world though not everyone is extreme as that but like all celebrities a superheroes reputation is affected by the news and media which (is why Tony Stark has people do PR for the avengers) can subvert public opinion and make everyone hate them, it's a topsy-turvy situation which I would not like to be a part of.

Anyway it's my first day interning at Fantastic Four, Inc and I've just taken the visitor elevator up to the 30th floor where Roberts the robotic receptionist had to verify my identity which took quite a few minutes before I was allowed to use the other elevator up to the 34th floor where I came upon Susan clearly waiting for my arrival and without wasting any time she immediately got down to business. "Right, glad that your here Nick, now here is your pass to use the express Fantastic Four elevator up to any of the top five floors. It has a solenoid activator embedded in it such just like its embedded in our Fantastic Four uniform belt buckles, be was are that on the way up hidden scanners will identify the passengers and check them for hidden weapons or devices so make sure that only you use this elevator. If questionable material is found the elevator will stop in midshaft until the Fantastic Four are prepared to deal with the intruder so make sure not to have anything suspicious of dubious in your pockets when you come in to intern." She hands me my pass which is a bit chunky probably on account of the solenoid activator embedded inside.

"Why are you giving me my own personal pass? Doesn't this make me a security risk and a target for any super villains, I mean it's easier to take my pass off of me then try to take it off of any of you four, are you sure I should have this?" I ask while scratching the back of my head, don't get me wrong this will be great to make my espionage in the Fantastic Four easier but I don't want it if it's going to bring negative attention to me and make me a target. "Don't worry about it, anybody that wants to get into this building and has the power to do so won't try to use you or your pass as a way of entry, our express elevator to the top five floors double as a freight elevator to bring heavy tools, materials, parts and machinery up to the top floor and we get a lot of deliveries with all the work that Reed does so if anyone wanted to get in they'd use one of our deliveries to do it rather then going after you."

Susan pats me on the back as she leads me to the elevator. "If someone does come for you to get your pass just give it to them or preferably run away while throwing your pass at them, you don't have to worry, we've had quite a lot of intruders try to use the elevator to get in and we've made the necessary precaution in case someone tries to use them." We get into the elevator and Susan presses a button though I don't pay attention to which one, I'm more focused on how some manage to get access to the elevator when the solenoid activator was in their belt buckles, my face must've showed my puzzled expression because Susan started to explain it during our trip in the elevator.

"Back when we first became the Fantastic Four which was only a few years ago but feels like a lifetime ago our costumes weren't as advanced as they are now, back then we also used passes to gain access to the top five floors and everything was fine, we all kept out passes safe and secure, of course all of us except for Johnny. Johnny was a real playboy even more so then he is now and he took advantage of his new fame to help him get dates with girls and more often then not he would end up losing his pass in those girls houses which would then somehow find their way into the hands of people who wanted access to the top five floors. After the first few times we began to come up with more security but Johnny kept on leaving his passes everywhere and even though those passes wouldn't enable anyone to get to the top floor it was still an annoyance making Johnny new passes so we eventually just decided to put the solenoid activators in our uniforms belt buckles, Johnny would never forget his uniforms so it all worked out." Susan finishes her lengthy speech.

"So this pass I have won't work for anyone else except me?" I ask her. "That's right, you see the express elevator works based on the fact that when 110 volt AC from the activator is converted to 24 volt dc and to a solenoid attached to a panel in the elevator which will activate the elevator and send it up. While the elevator is going up a series of other tests will be ran such as hidden scanners identifying the passengers and check them for hidden weapons, devices or questionable material and if it's found the elevator would stop in mid shaft effectively stopping the intruder." Susan explains to me but I'm still a bit puzzled.

I satisfy my curiously by asking Susan another question. "Why would you let the elevator go up, surely you would be able to identify them and stop them from going any higher once they entered the elevator?" Susan nods her head. "You see, each one of those tests that are ran while the elevator is going up sends an electrical impulse making the elevator continue to go up if any of those tests fail these electrical components fail and the system fails making the elevator stall. See the express elevator unlike the rest of the elevators in the building only has opening at the lobby and the top five floors so if the elevator is stopped halfway up there's no where for the intruder to go which gives us time until the Fantastic Four are prepared to deal with the intruder."

"Well, that has reassured me alright, I guess you guys wouldn't be superheroes with a cool base if you didn't have proper security." All the information she's given to me about the security while interesting is ultimately useless since I have already been given a way to bypass those security features in the form of my pass but it does worry me because if that's the security they have to get into to the building what security do they have to keep the inside safe?

The elevator stops at our destination though I don't know which exact floor that is, Susan looks at me as the elevator dings and the doors open. "Follow me Nick, I'll be showing you where you will be working and what you'll be working on." She then walks out of the elevator without looking back expecting me to follow.

I'll see if I can drag any more information out of Susan about the security of my new workplace...

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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.

(pa treon.com/GutsyRipper)

A special thank you to my patrons Tim Brown, Stormrall, Turtle, heller8284, Wanous, Matthew Laird and Sage Honos. Thank you for the support.