As a scientist who had achieved the pinnacle of success across dozens of different fields, Reed Richards' personal safety was, to some people, even more important than that of the President of the United States.
After all, if the President were gone, another could be elected. But if a scientist like Reed Richards were gone, he would truly be gone forever.
The world once boasted two such brilliantly exceptional minds: one was Dr. Banner, and the other was Reed.
But Dr. Banner had mysteriously disappeared three years ago with no news since, leaving Reed Richards as the only one still active today.
Not everyone knew that Dr. Banner was the Hulk, who had been hunted by General Ross for the past three years, forced to hide and run from place to place.
Because of this, an individual with ultra-high intelligence like Reed Richards was valued more than ever.
So much so that the moment the little girl Lunella and Ben Grimm returned, carrying a circular device they had dug up from under the Brooklyn Bridge, the alarm triggered by the device was immediately transmitted to a series of relevant government departments within seconds.
Ring, ring!
Telephones rang frantically. Hundreds of calls from different departments poured into the Baxter Building at the exact same time.
At that moment, Reed Richards was deeply engrossed in his experiments; he felt that his research had brought him one step closer to achieving interstellar travel.
However, the frantic ringing snapped him out of his scientific reverie. Reed practically threw himself forward, lunging toward a control console.
As he continuously pressed buttons on the console and adjusted various complex parameters, the walls of the laboratory around him rapidly became transparent.
It wasn't just that one laboratory wall. As Reed straightened up and his gaze darted around, every wall in his line of sight quickly turned transparent.
It allowed Reed Richards to see Ben Grimm and the little girl Lunella directly from his lab, straight through dozens of thick floors.
Reed was just about to step forward, but the deafening cacophony of ringing phones forced him to stop.
By now, almost every device capable of receiving external communications inside the Baxter Building was ringing off the hook, including Susan Storm's and Ben Grimm's personal cell phones.
"Reed! What happened?" Susan, wearing her pajamas, sprinted all the way from her room into the lab. She asked this while watching Reed, whose eyes were rapidly scanning in every direction across the entire Baxter Building.
"Don't be afraid, Susan," Reed said, reaching out a hand to steady her and offering reassurance. "Something interesting triggered the Baxter Building's alarm, don't worry about it."
Ring, ring!
The ringing grew even more frantic, and the person on the other end of the line was likely jumping in anxiety. Fortunately, Reed Richards finally answered the phone at a leisurely pace:
"Hello."
The person on the other end was none other than the current U.S. Secretary of Defense. Upon hearing Reed's voice, he practically let out a massive sigh of relief, and then words began flying rapidly from his lips:
"Reed? Are you safe right now? Can you evacuate? I've already deployed armed helicopters to the Baxter Building!
"The NYPD is also sending helicopters to provide an escort. Three minutes! You have to hold on!"
Amused, Reed Richards pulled the phone a little further away from his ear. He waited until the Secretary of Defense on the other end finally died down before speaking:
"Mr. Secretary, I triggered the alarm by mistake. Don't worry."
"By mistake? You—!" In his excitement, the Secretary of Defense nearly bit his own tongue. He really wanted to ruthlessly chew the man out.
The exact moment he received the alarm earlier, the Secretary of Defense had sprung right off a subordinate's wife, rushing to a deserted rooftop in a disheveled state to make a call from his cell phone, ordering the Department of Defense to send gunships to rescue Reed.
The September night was cold enough already. The half-dressed Secretary had stood shivering on the roof, making who knew how many calls before Reed finally answered.
But regardless, as long as Reed was fine, a false alarm was just a false alarm. It all came back to the same point: if the Secretary of Defense was gone, he could be replaced; if Reed Richards was gone, he was truly gone for good.
Ring, ring!
The Secretary of Defense wanted to say something else, but Reed interrupted him:
"The White House is calling me, Mr. Secretary."
"Oh, oh, alright," the Secretary of Defense said.
"Susan, handle this for me." Reed shoved the call from the President into Susan's hands, then sprinted like a madman toward the laboratory exit.
"Hurry, hurry!" Leaving the lab, Reed dashed into an elevator. He frantically jabbed the elevator button while urging it on anxiously.
Thirty-five, thirty-four... The floor counter above the elevator ticked down continuously until, under Reed's impatient gaze, it finally reached the ground floor.
"Lunella! Ben!" Reed practically squeezed his way out of the elevator doors before they even fully opened. He shouted loudly as he ran madly toward the lobby corridor.
"Reed, acting like that makes me think I've got a debt collector coming after me," Ben Grimm remarked as he and the little girl Lunella walked over from the end of the corridor.
Reed Richards ignored Ben Grimm. His eyes were entirely glued to the circular device clutched in the little girl Lunella's arms:
"Lunella, where did you find this?"
"Reed, do you know what this is?" Lunella held up the circular device and handed it to him. "We dug it up from under the Brooklyn Bridge."
"That's right, and it's got a catchy name. It's called 'Batman'," Ben Grimm added.
Reed Richards didn't pay any attention to Ben Grimm. He took the circular device Lunella handed over. It was still covered in dirt, clearly freshly dug out of the ground just as she had said.
"I don't know what this is, but it triggered the Baxter Building's highest alert."
Reed examined the circular device over and over, turning it in his hands, before he spun around and bolted back toward the elevator.
The little girl Lunella and Ben Grimm froze for a moment. Then, Ben grabbed Lunella, scooped her up onto his shoulder, and took off with giant strides to chase after him.
"Wait, Reed, what are you doing! I found that!" Lunella shouted from her perch on Ben Grimm's shoulder.
"Let me borrow it for research!"
Two hours later, the fallout caused by the Baxter Building's maximum security alert finally slowly dissipated, thanks to Susan Storm taking the time to explain things to everyone.
Reed Richards and Lunella stood in the laboratory, jointly studying the circular device. Jonathan "Johnny" Storm and Ben Grimm were off to the side, arms draped over each other's shoulders as they drank and discussed what had just happened.
"Man, Reed owes me at least one beautiful young woman as compensation. Heaven knows how awkward it was earlier when I was kissing her on the sofa, and the phones just started ringing like crazy," Johnny said, half-depressed and half-joking.
His words immediately drew a fierce glare from his older sister, Susan Storm:
"Johnny!"
Johnny immediately threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender, though the look on his face clearly showed he wasn't taking Susan's glare seriously at all.
Ben Grimm was chuckling on the sidelines, just about to say something.
Whoosh!
Reed had attempted to activate the circular device. Immediately, an invisible energy signal radiated out madly. Like a beacon in the cosmos, it leaped across space and tore through time, connecting to a world overflowing with a primal aura!
A yellow-green vortex projected outward from the circular device, much like an image cast by a projector.
The vortex expanded rapidly. Just as Reed and the others were trying to make sense of it, a wild, bestial roar echoed out from within the swirling portal.
At the exact same moment on Bat Island, Batman furrowed his brow and looked in the direction of the Baxter Building.
And on South Brother Island, separated from Batman by only half the width of the East River, the sleeping Lizard suddenly snapped his eyes open.
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