Ext. New York University

October 1934

New York University stands tall as rain pours down around it – It's a cold and dreary autumn day in the big apple

Int. Reed Richard's office

Professor Reed Richards is sitting in front of a small group of students who have gathered to hear him speak out of hours

Reed:

And that's why we should never jump to conclusions when dealing with Doctor Einstein's theories... especially his newest theory

Greta:

But you can't talk about that can you, Professor

Greta is the only woman in the class, her hair is black and her glasses look like they have been broken at least a few times and are held together by a small piece of green gloop

Reed:

(Reed laughs) no, no I can't... what little I know of Einstein's latest project, I still can't discuss right now

Billy:

I thought you said it was a theory not a project

William "Billy" Stapleton is a young man from a particularly wealthy family as seen by his tailored clothes, his well groomed hair and his expensive cufflinks – he has blond hair and a snide almost patronising smile

Reed:

Ah now that's the cleaver part

Someone knocks at the door

Reed:

Come in

The door opens and Natalia Romanoff walks into the office, her hair is a dark orange and she is dressed in a formal shirt and beige trousers

Reed:

But a discussion for another day perhaps, class dismissed

The students get up and leave the office, leaving Natalia alone with Reed

Natalia:

I hope you are not discussing military operations with your students' Professor Richards

Reed:

Of course not Miss Romanoff

Natalia closes the door and Reed kisses her - she pulls away

Reed:

What's wrong?

Natalia:

I'm not here on personal business dear

Reed:

Oh

Natalia:

Your presence has been requested Professor Richards

Reed:

Is this about Albert?

Natalia:

No this is a separate matter that the Agency wants you to act as an adviser on

Reed:

So... what is it?

Natalia shakes her head

Natalia:

Doesn't work like that I'm afraid... I have orders to take you to a base where you will be debriefed

Reed:

Alright... but are we still on for dinner tonight

Natalia smiles

Natalia:

Perhaps

Ext. Baxter Building

The Baxter Building is a giant office complex located on a street in downtown New York – the building itself is 35 stories tall and as the rain starts to die off, it leaves the building looking damp and dark against the smoky clouds

A black car pulls up to the sidewalk - Natalia and Reed get out of the back and close the doors behind them

Reed:

I'm surprised FDR let the Agency buy another building

Natalia:

You're not the only one... welcome to the Baxter Building, Reed... the Agency set this up to be a place for strategists, scientists and

As Natalia and Reed are walking into the Building a woman cuts in front of them, muttering a brief apology

Natalia:

Like I was saying, this is a place specially for the thinkers

Reed:

That's nice but I would still like to know what I'm going to be doing

Natalia:

You'll see

Int. Baxter Building

The lobby of the Baxter Building simply consists of a receptionist's desk and some mirrors at the back as well as a large elevator

Reed and Natalia walk over to the elevator – the large metal gate door of the elevator is open and the woman who cut in front of them is inside

Reed and Natalia walk in - no buttons have been pressed, Natalia looks confused for a second then presses the button for the 34th floor - the gate automatically closes and the elevator ascends

Throughout the entire ride, no one speaks - the elevator stops at the 33rd floor but the woman doesn't notice - the gate opens and she walks out - into a large empty room

Natalia:

This thing always stops at the 33rd when you tell it to stop at the 34th

The woman gets back in - saying nothing just nodding and pressing the button for the 34th again - the gate closes and the elevator moves up a level - the gate opens revealing a giant room filled with machines and scientists and a big window looking out over New York City

Reed, Natalia and the woman get out; Natalia quickly walks over to a young guard in a black suit and whispers something into his ear - the guard looks over at the woman who is now examining a machine in the room

General Ian Stevenson walks over to Reed and Natalia - Stevenson holds his hand out to Reed and Reed shakes it

Stevenson:

You must be Reed Richards, I'm General Ian Stevenson

Reed:

Good to meet you... excuse me but what is this

Stevenson:

All about, yes well it probably would have been faster if I told Natalia just to tell you off the bat so to speak... very well, about a month ago a transmission was received en route to Germany, Specifically to someone in the upper ranks of the Nazi party

Reed:

I don't see anything extraordinary about that

Stevenson:

Me neither except for the fact the transmission was coded like an American transmission... an American transmission it took our guys two full weeks to get any progress on cracking

Reed:

So someone was making it look like the U.S is talking directly to the upper ranks of the Nazis

Stevenson:

Maybe... maybe the Germans have one of our machines and are trying to spread suspicion to the Brits and the rest of the world... we put a team of the best code crackers we had on it

Reed:

And

Stevenson:

They finally started to decode it after like I said two weeks... then yesterday one of the guards checked in on the team... they were all brutally murdered, their work was taken and all the copies they made destroyed

Reed:

Was there anything left?

Stevenson:

... One thing

Reed:

What was it?

Stevenson:

The reason you're here... among many things you're one of the foremost authorities in hematology right, the study of blood

Reed:

I am, yes

Stevenson:

Well we have something that you will want to see

To the far right of Reed, the woman takes something out of the machine she was examining - she puts it in her pocket and casually walks away from the machine

The woman is about to walk by the guard when Natalia nods at him - the guard grabs hold of the woman

Natalia walks over to the woman and takes the machine part from her pocket

Stevenson:

Who is this woman?

Natalia:

Oh there's only one person so bold to simply stroll into a government facility, take what she wants and stroll out... isn't that right Sue Storm

Sue grins at Natalia

Natalia:

What is so funny?

A Molotov cocktail breaks through the large window - fire spreads over the floor - on a nearby rooftop of a smaller building someone waves to Sue and then throws another cocktail

Sue breaks through the guard's grip on her and punches him - she holds her hand up for the man on the other rooftop to see and then looks at Natalia

Sue:

If you don't let me go right now... my brother will kill us all

NEXT: A MYSTERIOUS BLOOD SAMPLE, A YOUNG MAN WITH A THRILL FOR FLAMES AND A MISSION DISCLOSED!