The Baxter Building is a 35-story structure, each floor being 24 feet high (approximately 7.3 meters), with a total height exceeding 255.5 meters. It's situated at the intersection of 42nd Street and Madison Avenue in the New York City of USA.
Originally built in 1949 by the brothers Leland Baxter and Noah Baxter, it was the first building in the world to employ the "K-brace" steel frame structure, making it extremely robust.
After the military liaison of the Fantastic Four recommended the building to them, Mister Fantastic purchased it and hired his former professor, Noah Baxter, to redesign the top five floors of the Baxter Building as the headquarters for the Fantastic Four.
However, in the primary universe, this building endured many times of destruction and reconstruction.
For instance, it was lifted into the air by the Doctor Doom, and Tyros disassembled everything above the 32nd floor, causing extreme panic among the building's other tenants.
— This is also why Mister Fantastic decided to directly buy it, after all, only one's belongings could be casually "remade".
And in the most severe incidents, the entire building was even destroyed.
In a room of the nearest building to the Baxter Building,
Unlimited Spider-Man was sharing the information he knew about the Baxter Building with his companions:
"The ground floor of the Baxter Building houses a food court, an optician, a tourist center, an elevator bank, and a loading dock. Each day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the tourist center plays a multimedia program about the history of the Fantastic Four hourly. There's also a directory there. If that inheritor villain called Jennix hasn't changed it much, perhaps we can find some clues from the directory."
"The first 30 floors are actually rented out to other tenants as ordinary floors, while the 31st to 35th floors are used by the Fantastic Four themselves. If I were Jennix, I'd surely directly utilize the top five floors previously modified by the Fantastic Four as the cloning company, as they originally had the necessary conditions!"
The group nodded in agreement with Unlimited Spider's speculation.
It would be the same for anyone.
Making moderate modifications on an existing foundation is always faster than building something from scratch.
It's a logical inference.
Unlimited Spider continued, "Apart from that, there are four elevators in the ground floor lobby, with three servicing the 1st to 30th floors, and one bearing the Fantastic Four emblem... perhaps replaced with other symbols by now? Anyway, that particular one leads to the 31st to 35th floors, which is the Fantastic Four's headquarters, the express elevator."
Spider-Gwen interrupted the rambling Unlimited Spider, helplessly stating, "Do we take the elevator up? Can we skip these useless descriptions, please? Our time is limited."
"Uh," Unlimited Spider scratched his head, then grasped the ear part of his mask, looking conflicted. "But inside the Baxter Building, there's a central computer that monitors every part of the building through comprehensive visual, audio, biophysical, and electronic surveillance. And if there's an emergency, the central computer activates a special 'field' that completely seals the entire building. We'd be trapped then."
This meant that except for Miles who could evade detection with his fully activated abilities, the invisibility of the others might be compromised.
This significantly increased the difficulty of their infiltration.
Ultimate Spider frowned, "What about the external glass?"
Unlimited Spider explained, "The building has an armored outer wall, with the surface covered in mirrors. As for the windows... they're about 2 feet thick, made of high-polymer composite material. If we choose to break in directly through a window, it will definitely trigger the alarm system. Even just climbing on the surface has a chance of being detected."
Spider Noir shrugged, "Sounds like it's not just a building, but a fortress."
Unlimited Spider chuckled awkwardly, "The enemies of the Fantastic Four are myriad; some are powerful beings from Earth, while others are strange creatures from different pocket dimensions. That's why the building is designed like this."
Spider-Gwen sighed in frustration, "If only we recruited a few members of the Fantastic Four from other worlds. It shouldn't be particularly difficult for them to invade their own base, right?"
Ultimate Spider suggested, "Actually, in my world, we have Mister Fantastic. Why don't we go back and bring him here?"
Spider-Gwen shook her head, "While Mark has granted me the ability to traverse time and space, my control over the space-time energy is limited. The remaining energy might only be enough for us to leave this world. Moreover, since Mark's plans have been completed on his end, it means the connection between Jennix and the other inheritors has temporarily ceased. Consequently, he'll surely strengthen his control over this world's temporal energy. Traveling between worlds at this moment greatly increases the risk of exposure."
Ultimate Spider nodded in understanding.
"But if that's the case, it eliminates the possibility of entering the Baxter Building from the outside. What about from above?" Ultimate Spider pointed towards the top of the Baxter Building.
The top of the Baxter Building is a flat surface, seemingly a decent entry point.
"Flat at the top, no extra structures, just a massive Fantastic Four emblem and a retractable hatch for launching aircraft," Unlimited Spider explained.
Spider Noir rubbed his chin in thought, "Seems like a good entry point then, isn't it?"
Ultimate Spider nodded, "Indeed. The top floor lacks any cover, making it hard for normal people not to be detected, but perhaps we can invisibly infiltrate it. The only issue is, it sounds like apart from the retractable hatch for launching aircraft, there's no other entrance to access the lower floors from the top level, right?"
Unlimited Spider clarified, "Not entirely true. In one corner of the top level, there's a dome that can lower through the floor directly into the hangar located on the 35th floor. It's used for launching rocket ships, docking, and the ingress and egress of large aircraft."
"But that would require someone to infiltrate the interior of the building and activate this device, right?" Spider-Gwen detected the issue.
Unlimited Spider nodded, sighing, "Yes, that's the problem."
"In that case, should we start from the elevators?" Spider-Gwen seemed to understand why Unlimited Spider initially mentioned the elevators.
Unlimited Spider nodded, "Yes, that's how I got in originally. Find that direct elevator to floors 31 to 35, then climb in from the elevator shaft."
Ultimate Spider shook his head, "This method might work, but there's a significant problem."
°°°
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