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That really was a very good suggestion Josh came up with. And the very next day, Noh-Varr heads over to the Baxter Building. After looking around the lobby, he walks over to the receptionist's desk and gives her a smile. Expecting some resistance, he chose to wear his uniform which got him more than a few stares. "Captain Noh-Varr of the 18th Kree Diplomatic Gestalt. I'd like to see Reed Richards, please."
The uniform and 'Captain' and 'Kree' manage to cut through several layers of flappers, though it isn't quite enough to get through them all. There's some murmuring and a secretary steps away to a sealed office, where calls are made. It does draw Johnny Storm, though technically he's bypassing some of their own protocols. Still, the elevator opens and Johnny steps out. He's dressed in a pair of jeans and a very fitted black t-shirt, with 'F4' over the chest. As the secretary indicates Noh-Varr, Johnny stares for a thoughtful moment before grinning as he approaches. He offers a hand, "I don't suppose you can prove who you are claiming to be?" he asks as an opening.
Noh-Varr glances over to the elevator as it opens and looks Johnny over. Smiling as he clasps the hand, he says « That depends. Do you speak Kree? » in Kree. Switching back to English, he continues. "Or if you don't speak Kree, we can try Skrull? Shi'ar? I could show you my blasters but I thought that would alarm people."
Johnny's expression is utterly blank at the language, clearly not undestanding, "I don't speak anything but English, sorry. Blasters?" He pauses a moment, shrugging with a grin, and he cocks his head towards the elevator, "Sure, that'll work. But not here." Once in the elevator, he presses a button marked P1, and nothing happens. Its only when he pulls out a key and inserts it followed by a code that the elevator closes and begins its ascent. "I'm Johnny Storm." he offers by way of greeting.
Noh-Varr nods at the intro, not bothering to give his own again. "I didn't think you looked like Reed Richards. It's him I need to talk to about business. Advanced technology, specifically. Is he here?"
"We haven't established if I believe who you are yet." notes Johnny, and as the elevator opens he leads Noh-Varr to the side, to a second elevator. "You must understand, we get people coming asking for us all the time, making wild claims. If we let everyone who wanted to see Reed about business actually meet with Reed, then he'd never have time to get anything done. There's a blast chamber upstairs used to test my powers, you can safely shoot your blasters there. I'm not Reed but I'm aware of the limits of human tech, both mainstream and our own."
"Then we don't actually need to fire them." Noh-Varr says as he follows Johnny. Holding out his hand, his wristband alters into a blaster. Giving Johnny a moment to get a look at it, he taps it against the side of the elevator. *clank* Then it alters into a knife large enough to be called a short sword. It too makes noise when tapped against the wall. Then it changes back to a wristband. "Sufficient?"
Johnny blinks a moment, and then chuckles, "Okay, Captain. We thought Kree were blue, thus the skepticism." But, still, he presses a button and the elevator goes back down to the first penthouse floor, and steps out. "Reed is out of the country right now, but I'm on the Future Foundation's board and can have some preliminary discussions on business. I can pass the details on to Reed."
Noh-Varr just sighs. "Yes, everyone on this planet seems to think that. Blue Kree are a small but vocal minority in the Empire. They have a lot of political power but are more impressed with themselves than anyone else is. In any case, I'll cut to the chase, as you say. I'm from another reality. My ship is damaged, perhaps beyond repair, and so I'm stranded here. Your world runs on monetary units and so I need a quantity of them. Someone suggested I speak to Reed Richards about trading a sum of it for knowledge."
That's a lot to take in. Johnny heads over to sit on a couch, and gesture for Noh-Varr to make himself comfortable. "Well, what sort of knowledge did you have in mind? We'd certainly be interested. The Future Foundation's entire purpose is advancing the cause of knowledge and science."
Noh-Varr flops down on the other end of the couch, angled to look at Johnny with one leg bent and half on the couch. "I was intending to 'invent' things but was told the procedure is time consuming and also requires a legal identity. Instead, it was suggested I sell the knowledge itself for an outright sum and, perhaps, a share of future profits. As to what, I was thinking computer technology. Nothing too advanced since the planet is still pretty primitive and you wouldn't be able to make use of it."
"We have some fairly advanced computers here in the Baxter Building, better then possibly anyone elses— besides perhaps Stark's— and the Foundation has some patents on technology we're licensing out to spread the technology. Currently the Foundation is researching creating a fault-tolerant 'network' of computers, though I don't believe the tech is sound yet." explains Johnny, shaking his head slowly, "That's not my field, just what I gather from reports."
"Whatever level of technology currently exists here, I can advance that." Noh-Varr assures Johnny. "Or if you'd be interested in something else, there's a lot of possibilities. The mathematical proof of the existence of parallel realities might be interesting to him. Galactic star maps. Information on the alien races. Keeping in mind that there are variations in realities."
"Technology is likely going to be what interests him; we're not really anywhere near the place where we can even consider interstellar travel." notes Johnny wryly, tilting his head to the side as he regards Noh-Varr thoughtfully, "Is there anywhere that we can contact you if Reed wants to discuss details?"
Noh-Varr needs to think about that a moment. "Well, no. I've only been here about a week. I'm mostly staying in my ship but it emerged underground so your radio signals won't reach it. You could… No, not that. No, there's not." he decides.
There's a pause, and Johnny shakes his head, "Well that's going to be a problem. We can't really enter into a business relationship if there's no way for us two reach out to you; we can't rely on just you reaching out to us. What if we're developing a technology in a key moment and need information?"
"If we were at that point, you'd have already given me money which I would have used to live somewhere that you could reach me." Noh-Varr points out. Looking around at the penthouse, he adds "I'm guessing this would be considered expensive?"
"Since we own the whole building, the cost of the penthouse floors— the top four are all for us— is hard to quantify. A penthouse in any other building would be considered very expensive." Johnny considers, tilting his head to the side, "Well, I'll talk to Reed. You can come back in a few days and then either he'll be back or he'll leave instructions for how to hash out the deal."
Noh-Varr nods and stands up. "I'll do that. Computer technology does seem like it would be the easiest. Of course, I'd need to see just how advanced your computers currently are." Or rather, how advanced they are not. "Then I'll be able to get a better idea of what would be a reasonable advancement that you could actually make use of without needing several intermediate steps."
"I'll have to get Reed's agreement in principle before I can show you our computer, its proprietary. But once he agrees in principle we'll open the tech lab to you and let you examine what we have. Do note that some of our technology is far in advance of the rest of the world." Johnny notes this last with a faint grin, but hey. They have a car that flies.
That wouldn't be hard at all, given the state of technology on the planet. "Why haven't you put it into general use?" Noh-Varr asks curiously. "It would benefit everyone and make you quite a bit of money, I'd think."
"Oh, we have every intention to. Much of it is experimental and simply not ready yet. Some things are so specialized they're essentially hand-made and we have to develop the industrial base to mass-produce. We've already released a number of technologies— The Future Foundation is quite wealthy. That's how they can afford me and all my legal bills." Johnny's grin is thick at that.
Noh-Varr nods his understanding. "Yes, even if you understood how to make something, it would do you no good if you have no ability to produce it." But then… "Legal bills?"
"I admit I have a casual disregard for laws that I don't think should apply to me." remarks Johnny with a cocky smirk, "Particularly, laws related to vehicular speed and safety. But I tend to view laws as… suggestions."
That's an attitude Noh-Varr can agree with and he grins. "I like that attitude. You should show me what's fun to do on this planet. There must be something, despite how boringly repressed and conservative your cultural mores are."
"The trick is knowing which ones you can break with impunity if you're rich, and which will stick." Johnny explains, giving a grin and a shrug, "Oh, there's plenty of fun to do. I enjoy racing, for example; I'm somewhat famous for it besides just the fame of being The Johnny Storm. There's also dancing, drinking, things like mountain climbing, skiing…"
"I want to start with the dancing and drinking." Noh-Varr tells him. "If there's one thing good about this planet, it's the music. You have very good music. And someone made me a drink that was very good. It was sweet and not beer."
"I should introduce you to a friend of mine. He's an alien too, and he's a bartender. He makes some of the most imaginative drinks. Beyond that, you might want to check out Lux. It's high class and inventive." Johnny purses his lips thoughtfully, "Yeah, I'll show you Lux and introduce you to Mike. There will be much drinking and all of it will taste very good. Though I do like a beer from time to time."
"An alien?" Noh-Varr asks, looking very curious. "What species is he? I didn't know there were any aliens on this planet but Kree and Skrulls. You're not really near any of the other empires, except for the Shi'ar and they consider it beneath them to pay attention to lesser species."
"He's a Daxamite, though I've also met a Kryptonian. There's not many of them left, as I understand it; the latter's world blew up and the pieces took out the former. Last of their kind." Johnny's expression becomes serious, sober, "Earth seems to be a popular destination for exiles and refugees."
Noh-Varr thinks a moment then shakes his head. "I don't remember anything about those worlds. They're probably beyond the Empire's borders and since they're destroyed, posed no threat to us. Much like your planet." he adds. "It's out of the way for most of us. If it weren't for the Celestials experimenting with your species' DNA, you wouldn't be all that interesting."
"You sure about that?" Johnny lifts a hand up and suddenly his arm from elbow to fingers becomes pure liquid flame, no flesh at all. Flesh blends into the plasma seemlessly, "I'm not a mutant." He grins, lifting a finger up and drawing a smiling face in the sky, and it remains there burning through his will alone. "I don't know who Celestials are but there's more then a few humans who are… different. And not mutants at all."
"Very sure." Noh-Varr agrees, studying the flames. "Interesting. But most races have some individuals with unusual abilities. They're either born that way or designed. It's the number of mutants which makes it unusual, especially as they seem to be increasing in number. They'd make excellent troops."
"The Fantastic Four were neither created nor designed." points out Johnny, even as the flames vanish and just his strong hand remains. He drops it to his side, "Troops?" That brings up a frown, "I'm not sure the mutant population is keen on being anyone's troops." He shrugs and rises, "So, see you in a few days."