Chapter Three, Open for Business?

With that revelation, a number of journalists realize what the names mean and get agitated, some calling up their boss, others getting ready to take serious notes. A few of the more clueless journalists ask questions to others, who then become excited too. Frank holds the microphone and tries to regain their attention. "People, please, everything will be explained to you in a second. Do try to be civilized and keep the noise to a minimum." Saying that, the four of us walk to the scene, behind Frank, and he shows me to the podium, telling me, "Your responsibility now, son. Good Luck."

"Good evening, Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Reed Richards. I was one of the main scientists working on a project a few weeks ago, who backfired, sending us to another dimensions for a few weeks. We came back relatively unscathed, and learned of the state of the Baxter foundation, so we took it upon ourselves to make a bankable project to put the foundation in the green once more. Without further ado, I am pleased to present to you tonight, the Fantasti-car!" With that, the curtain behind us opens up on a red car with flames on the side, hovering just above the ground without a sound. Johnny, all smiles, takes the key from my hands, presses it, and the car descends. He presses it again, and the driver door opens for him. He climbs, closes the door, and start the car, hovering over the ground before levitating just above the podium. I see him in the car looking at me, asking me with his eyes if he can take it for a spin. I look at Sue, and she nods, so I do as well. 

Johnny grins, and the car roars, flying through the windows Alfred opened up as soon as Johnny entered the car. With the multiple cameras on board, a projector screen pops up behind me so that the journalists are able to follow it through the city while I continue my presentation. 

"This is the first generation Fantasti-car, with a theoretical speed around 210 km/h and a 550 km range on the ground, about 300km in the air. These numbers are theoretical at the moment, but further actual testing will be done in a few weeks. The car is entirely electric, and this one was charged by solar energy. At the moment, it can be charged through a regular wall outlet, but once production really starts, we are hoping to create a network of electric superchargers around the world." I realize that I'm totally ripping off Tesla's strategy, but if it works for them, it'll work for me. "This network will also be open-source, so that other car companies aiming to build electric vehicles will be able to charge them in the supercharger stations as well."

On the screen, renderings of supercharger stations popping up around the world are depicted, as well as all the statistics calculated by computers.

"As you can see, our test pilot and Automobile Mechanical Director Johnny Storm is pushing the car to its limit in the air, without any strain visible on the car. Obviously, we understand that a set of rules for driving in the air will have to be put in place, but at the moment, when the car will be launched, the Air driving will be automated, no driver will be able to take the wheel and crash into a building. Johnny if you would please engage the auto-pilot and return."

Johnny's smile fades a bit, but he still has a grin on his face, appreciating the ride home while seated on the passenger seat.

"An infrastructure project is planned, where instead of parking, the driver will lead the car to a specific building, and once the car "parks", the driver will indicate his destination. As the destination is imputed and the car recognizes that "parking" space as a lift off point, the car will take off, and engage the automated air driving. "Air tunnels" will be programmed, in which the cars will be, just like a road, with several lanes on each side. Since the car is electric, it won't emit neither nefarious gases nor noise pollution, keeping our streets clean of bad air and sounds. We understand that this is a huge undertaking, but we are hoping to sell not the car ourselves, but to other companies. All related softwares and infrastructure plans will be sold as one batch. In other words, we are selling a finished product so that another company may build it, produce it, and sell it. At Baxter foundation, we lack everything to do any of it, so the funds from the sale will allow us to start again. This sale will be a bid, organized at a later date by a fair and impartial third party. If you have any questions, regarding us, the car or something in relation to it, I will have to ask you to send them by e-mail at inquiry@baxter-foundation.com with the subject being "PressJune2010". You should receive an answer within minutes. Thank you very much, and see you later."

With that, I leave the podium, followed by Ben, Franklin and Sue. Johnny and the car came back through the window and behind the closing curtains as I finished my speech. The journalists erupt in questions, but none of us look at them, choosing to escape instead of anything. 

I gave an AI all the information concerning our adventure in Dimension Zero, as we decided to dub it, as well as everything concerning the car and infrastructure. I then opened up an email receiving and sending box, so that the only thing the AI can do is read, write, and send the email. The delay between the arrival of the question and the answer is less than a second, but to make sure that the AI does not send anything weird, a dozen of algorithms check the outgoing mail before allowing it to leave the building. 

"That was amazing, Reed! Look! I have goosebumps!" Says Sue, excited by the presentation. 

"Yeah, stretch, it was something alright." Ben manages, before transforming. "Oh damn, I couldn't hold it anymore, you have no idea how stressful that was for me to focus on my form while you were there, blowing everyone's mind."

"Do you know how stressed I was? Look!" I say, putting my right hand forward, with it shaking a lot. "If I had to stay one more second, I would have pissed myself!"

"Hahahaha! That was Insane! I loved it! I'm going to name her Lola!"

"It's taken already." I reply to Johnny, still exhilarated from his outing.

"What do you mean taken?"

"I mean that a red flying car has already been named Lola before."

"How is that possible?" asks Ben. 

"Well, Howard Stark, in one of his Stark Expo showed off the model. It didn't work perfectly, but someone made it work later, I just don't know who or where it is."

"What about Firefly?" at that, my inner Whedon fan drops a tear. 

"I think that it's free…"

"Firefly it is, then! Whoop whoop!!"

"So, what now?" asks Franklin. 

"Now you hide, and we prepare for war. Sooner or later, the news will reach Latveria and you know who." I say, and everyone's except Johnny's faces become a lot more serious. 

"Wait what? What do you mean, war?"

"Sorry, Johnny, I hid something from you. Victor is probably still alive." and I proceed to tell him everything. He looks in turn shocked, excited, worried and finally betrayed.

"Why didn't you tell me!?"

"Because you were not ready yet, we hid for six months because none of us were. Now we are. Now we can-"

"Why didn't you tell me? ME!? Everyone else seems to know, why not me?"

"Because you're the youngest, hotblooded and are prone to immature reactions. We couldn't make sure that you wouldn't have gone to the dimension yourself, or went to Latveria to talk and or fight him." Ben says, harshly.

Ben looks at Franklin, who looks down, at Sue, who does the same, and finally back at me. I look into his eyes, without diverting my gaze. "It's harshly put, but it was the truth when we came back. Now all of us have changed, and I'm hoping for you to have changed as well. What will you do? I would understand it if you want to leave, but I'll ask you to wait until Victor is taken care of before you do, because the five of us are a family, and we'll need you for what's to come. Hate me if you must, as I'm the one who made the decision to keep it from you, but don't scorn them. They did what they thought was best to protect you, even if you feel that you didn't need protecting. I want you to-"

"Sir. Circe informed me that she is under attack from powerful computers based in Eastern Europe. She told me she could hold them off, but that the attacks contain an unknown element. She is requesting access to more processing power to fight it off." Fucking Magic. I forgot that Doom could add magic to his damned cyber attacks.

"Engage defenses protocols to Defcon 2. Reduce every AIs' but the mailbot's consumption down 20% and allocate it all to Circe. Keep me informed of the state of affairs. Ask the journalists still in the building to evacuate, state a fire drill or something like that."

"Yes, Sir. I have an agent Coulson in the building, asking to speak to you or Dr. Franklin."

"I'll talk to him. Send him to my office, tell him I'll be there shortly." I look to everyone, visibly worried. "This is just a prelude. Knowing him, he's just testing the waters. The first wave of attack. The second wave should be robots. He was already working on them when we left, and with his newfound powers, he seems to be more adept at technology. Johnny, I'm very sorry, but I'm going to have you to make a choice."

"I'll fight. And then we'll talk again." He says, before flaming off and flying to his floor.

"Sue?" I ask.

"I'll talk to him."

Ben looks at me and says "I'll escort Dr. Franklin out, and come back as soon as I can."

"Thank you," I say, before heading to my office for a much awaited conversation. Stepping through the door, I see him seated just in front of my office, with a small smile on his face. Hearing me come in, he rises and holds his hand out. "Mr. Coulson, right? I'm Reed Richards. You wanted to see me." I shake his hand and sit in my chair. 

"Agent Coulson, yes, and I did. I hope I'm not interrupting anything, I heard about a fire drill. Is everything okay?"

"If I'm being honest, it's a difficult conversation. Who did you say you worked for already?"

"I didn't. I work for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. It's a bit of a mouthful, we're working on a shorter name."

"Huh-huh. And what is it that you do exactly there?"

"We're a special Law Enforcement agency, think CIA or FBI but with a more focused field of action. I'm here to debrief you about the term of your dimensional travel and subsequent power bestowal."

"Wow you are really well-informed about that. How did you hear about it?"

"We have our sources. Now, if you could answer my questions, please."

"Sure, go ahead."

"Is it correct to assume that all four of you, being Reed Richards, Susan and Johnny Storm as well as Benjamin Grimm got powers from your trip?"

"Not entirely. We have reasons to believe that the fifth member of our trip also got his share of powers. Victor von Doom, heir apparent to the crown of Latveria metaphorically speaking."

"I was not informed that he came back with you?"

"He didn't. During our trip, he was the first affected by the cosmic storm, and disappeared from our view. We got affected while we got into our pods. When we came to, we found ourselves in rooms in a small building in the Arctic Circle. He apparently found a way back different from ours. He is allegedly responsible for the subsequent death of four scientists during the incident a few months ago."

"What do you mean, allegedly?"

"That until now, we don't have proof that he's still alive, but that in a few hours, we should. A cyber attack on us is ongoing, as we speak, from an Eastern European country, probably Latveria. I would advise the evacuation of the surrounding buildings, as the Baxter building might become a battlefield soon." I say to the agent, who apparently is struggling to maintain a poker face. "Other than that, it is correct to assume that yes, the four of us also got powers as well."

"Are you positive that an attack is iminent? Do you have proof?"

"Alfred?" I ask, seemingly to the air.

"Sir, no attacks have been detected on the building beside the cyber attack yet, but based on the behavioral analysis of Victor Von Doom, retaliation in the form of a physical attack against this building is 87% probable."

"Alfred? Are you Jarvis' brother? Why wouldn't you answer me while I came up here?"

"Sir? Who is Jarvis?"

"Tony Stark's AI?"

"No Sir, I believe not. I was created by Mr. Richards here. I cannot answer inquiries from the public in the absence of any of my masters."

"Agent Coulson, can I call you Coulson, or do you prefer Agent? Do you have any other questions, otherwise I'd like to prepare my defenses against Doom."

"I'd prefer Agent Coulson. And not for the moment, though I'd like to talk to you again once this "battle" is done. If your AI could contact me, I'd appreciate it."

"I'm sorry Sir, I'm not connected to the outside world."

"Yup, like he said. Do you have a card or something, I'll try to call you when it's over. But please, try to evacuate the surrounding buildings. Since we already used a fire drill alarm, you would just have to claim a gas leak or something to evacuate without creating too much panic." I say, rising to my feet and holding my hand out. 

"I'll be sure to do that. Here's my card," he says, shaking my hand and pulling a card from his pocket, and putting it on my desk. "A pleasure to speak with you. I won't take up any more of your time. I'm sure Alfred can guide me out." He concludes, leaving my office. 

"Alfred, talk to me."

"Sir, Circe says she's twenty minutes away from completely suppressing the attack, and says that she isolated the unknown element in the code of the attackers. She says that learning and using it could potentially boost her capacity by 47% while decreasing her consumption by 66%."

"Declined, when the attack is over, send it to a virtual black box for analysis, and purge her systems from it. Anything else?" 

"Mr. Grimm came back and is en route to the living room. Ms. Storm and Mr. Storm are still in Mr. Storm's room."

"Got it. If any of them come out, tell them to come to the living room. In the meantime, once Coulson has left, lock the building down and focus on threat detection. Prepare to shut down all non-essential AIs for the duration of the fight as soon as it starts, to allocate their powers to defense. Same for Circe, once the cyber attack is over, purge her form the unknown elements as quickly as possible and allocate 10% power consumption more for her. I'm going to the living room, light it up as a panic room with all essential information screens." I say, leaving my office. 

This is it, as a wise man once said, that's the endgame. Doom is coming, and I hope I'm not underestimating him. I already made the mistake of forgetting about his cyber-magic, let's hope that's the last mistake I'll make. 

I prepared a few laser defenses, hard wired into the building, so unless they find an entry point, they won't be able to hack them. I also added a few things against robots, such as powerful magnets in different floors, as well as electrifying said floors. I had a program prepared that hacked into different intelligence communication networks, but the only thing I programmed it to do was to give me an access. This access was then passed to an AI specialised in analysing, decoding and interpreting the messages passing around those networks. In theory, with the list of criteria I gave it, it should warn Alfred when one or more of the items on this list is talked about. I should hear news about Latveria pretty fast if he plans to move. 

I really hope SHIELD will listen to my warning and evacuate around us, because it would be a terrible start for the Fantastic Four. Then again, helping the people out of destroyed buildings if we win against Doom would make for good publicity, but if we can avoid civilian casualties like so, why wouldn't we? 

"Sir, lockdown is now in effect, and a number of UAVs left the Latverian airspace about a minute ago. Their ETA is 9 hours and 45 minutes." Good, everything worked out. But I'm pretty sure Victor 'Magic' Von Doom would launch an attack that would only show results 10 hours later.

"Probably not. Act like they'll be here in less than an hour, prepare as such. Relay the message to the team, but leave the ETA out. Tell them to meet me in the living room as soon as possible. Oh, and Alfred?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Defcon One. From now on, this is war."