Nairobi Is Invited To The Baxter Building

The Invisible Woman met Nairobi in the lobby. In her usual costume, not civilian clothes.

"So, I talked to the others," the blonde said. "And they agreed that it might be nice to have a masseuse that could...service us...at home."

Nairobi blinked her dark eyes, and instinctively tugged at the hem of her thigh-length skirt. It felt a little too revealing for what had turned out to be something closer to a job interview.

"You can still work at the massage parlor, this is freelance, which means you need to file your own W9 for taxes," Sue went on. "And you'll need a security clearance for access to the building—paperwork, DNA sample, retina and fingerprint scans, basic background check, interdimensional and chronometric aura scan to make sure you aren't a Skrull, an interdimensional predator, or time-displaced doppelganger. We'll get most of that done today, although the full security check will take a week or two."

"Okay," Nairobi said. She fingered her guest badge as Sue escorted her from security station to station to be pricked, scanned, and fill out what felt like an interminable number of forms—thankfully electronic, not actual paper—all under the eyes of friendly, smiling Baxter Building security personnel. "I admit, this wasn't exactly what I was thinking about when I made the offer. If I understand you correctly, I'll be...available for all of the members of the Fantastic Four."

They were in the elevator now, heading up to the family quarters. Sue's blue eyes met hers.

"Well, I don't think they need—all—of your services. But it would look odd if it was just me. I don't expect you can do anything for Ben, but it is possible Johnny or Reed will ask for your services. And we occasionally have replacement members of the team. Of both sexes. Are you comfortable with that?"

Nairobi had seen the cost for her services—substantially more than what she earned at the massage parlor—and nodded.

"Oh, I'm not complaining. Just want to be clear," Nairobi said. Her dark hand touched the chrome support bar near Sue's own hand, their fingers touching.

When the elevator arrived, Sue and Nairobi both immediately parted from the momentary skin contact. Two blond children were in the living room, playing three-dimensional chest—with, from the sound of it, some home rules.

"Franklin, you can't teleport the pieces!" Valerie hissed. "That's cheating!"

"Is not!" He said. "I just moved them four-dimensionally!"

"Kids!" Sue announced. "This is Miss Nairobi. She's going to be dropping by from time to time."

Nairobi gave a little wave. Still unsure how she felt about kids. Sue quickly ushered the masseuse off to a small room. It was an effective copy of the massage room back in the parlor: table, storage with towels and oils, remote control for custom lighting and sound setup.

"And this is your work area," Sue said, as she shut the door. And locked it.

"Do you...want to get a feel for the workplace?" the heroine asked, her children on the other side of the door as she began to strip.

The dark-skinned young woman grinned and cracked her knuckles. This was going to put her through grad school.