Growing Fire {Fantastic Five}

10) Baxter Building

Valerie POV

As the police convoy rolled to a stop, I found myself gazing out the window at Reed's famous Baxter Building. Johnny opened his door and stepped out, gesturing for me to follow. I scooted across the seat and gingerly stood up out of the car.

Johnny took my hand as we made our way to the doors of the building. There was an aisle way that had been cleared, and on either side were hundreds of screaming New Yorkers. Some even held signs reading "Thank You Fantastic Five!"

Word sure travels fast around here. Don't these people have work? Shouldn't those kids be in school or something?

The cheers only got louder as Johnny and I approached. He had his own fan section chanting his name—however, they seemed shocked to see him walking in with me, and many of his fangirls started crying and getting upset. What is wrong with people? I thought with a shake of my head.

Johnny raised his other arm in a wave to the fans. His face held his signature smirk, and I could tell he was eating up the attention.

Meanwhile Reed and Sue had already exited their own police car and were through the doors of the Baxter Building and in the lobby. I heard thumping as Ben climbed out of a paddy wagon and stomped to the doors.

Ben was walking in alongside Johnny and I. Over the cheers of the crowd I heard Johnny say, "Come on, they wanna like you bud. Say hi!"

Ben stopped in front of a few kids and seemed to fumble for what to say.

"Uh, don't do drugs," he finally grumbled. The crowd stayed in a shocked silence for a minute before cheers and applause broke out from some of the adults. The children, however, still looked terrified. I gave them a cheerful smile before allowing Johnny to tug me inside.

We passed the doorman—Jimmy if I recall correctly—and made our way to the elevator. I could hear Ben grunt at the poor man behind us as Johnny and approached the elevator. Reed and Sue were waiting for us, but Sue didn't appear to be happy about it.

Reed was intercepted by a mailman that started reaching into his bag for something—presumably the mail Reed had missed while we were gone.

"I've got the usual for you, Dr. Richards," the mailman said, handing a packet of envelopes to Reed. All of them were bills with stamps reading 'past due' in harsh red text.

"We had a rough year," Reed explained quietly, stepping into the elevator.

"Yeah, like nine straight," Ben muttered. Johnny snorted.

We all squeezed into the elevator before the doors closed softly with a ding. Reed pressed the button for the highest floor. The elevator creaked and rumbled around us as the pulleys struggled to lift the elevator. Finally it stopped with a final groan.

"Either we're moving really fast, or not at all," Johnny stated. I gave him a playful slap on the shoulder from where I stood next to him, with our hands interlaced.

A loud buzzing rang through the elevator in agreement. Exceed maximum weight began flashing on the display. The doors reopened with a another ding. We all looked around at each other awkwardly as we realized who would have to leave.

"I'll take the stairs," Ben mumbled before thumping out.

I felt really bad for him. Out of all of us, he had it the toughest. At least we could control when our powers were in use, but poor Ben was stuck as a giant rock for the rest of his existence.

"How come Ben can't turn it on and off like we can?" Johnny asked, mirroring my thoughts.

"That's what we're here to find out," Reed said quietly.