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<span class="mu-r">“You know, you never did say how you managed to get your hands on that suit.”</span> you said, turning to face him fully.
That got Sam’s attention. He seemed to weigh something in his mind, before nodding and turning to face you as well.
<span class="mu-s">“I, uh, snuck inside. I broke in.”</span> he said.
<span class="mu-r">“You just...broke into the Baxter Building.”</span> you repeated, trying to wrap your head around it.
Sam nodded. <span class="mu-s">“Yeah.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">“And how’d you manage that?”</span>
<span class="mu-s">“...Invisible suit.”</span> Sam said after a while.
<span class="mu-r">“Pardon?”</span>
<span class="mu-s">“I made a cloaking suit. It was a really rough design and ran on AA batteries, but…it worked.”</span> he explained with a shrug.
<span class="mu-r">“You made a cloaking suit. By yourself.”</span>
Sam nodded both times.
<span class="mu-s">“It ate up power like crazy, though.”</span> he admitted. <span class="mu-s">“I wanted to put a patent on it, but I was worried that somebody would just…steal my design and screw me over.”</span>
You paused and took a moment to digest that information.
<span class="mu-r">“Okay…”</span> you continued. <span class="mu-r">“And this cloaking suit just allowed you to…walk right through the front door?”</span>
<span class="mu-s">“Well, it wasn’t <span class="mu-i">that</span> easy. I still had to trick the thermal sensors, watch out for camera locations, disable any nearby pressure sensors…”</span> he began, listing things off on his fingers. <span class="mu-s">“But…I only managed to get that far because I did my homework beforehand. I don’t like improvising on the job.”</span>
You nodded approvingly at him. If any of that was true, then you would be truly impressed. He was clearly smart, but his lack of experience was showing.
<span class="mu-r">“And how’d you get caught?”</span> you asked.
Sam froze, his confidence from earlier flying out the window. He probably thought that you’d assume he got off scott-free because he was still clearly in one piece. But you were paying close attention to the news reports following the incident. Richards said on multiple occasions that the thief managed to “escape”. And that meant that he had been caught in the act. Now, the Fantastic Four were many things, but they weren’t liars.
Sam scratched the back of his head, looking more than a little embarrassed. <span class="mu-s">“I was caught by a, um…blind lady.”</span> he muttered.
<span class="mu-r">“I’m sorry, what was that?”</span> you asked, drinking in every ounce of the shame that was practically radiating off of him right now.
Sam groaned and let his arms sag towards the floor. <span class="mu-s">“I got caught by a blind lady. I think she’s Ben Grimm’s girl.”</span> he answered.
<span class="mu-r">“Alicia Masters”</span> you said with a nod. <span class="mu-r">“She could still sense that you were there, even if she couldn’t see you.”</span>
Sam nodded. <span class="mu-s">“Once she picked up on my general location, the Invisible Woman managed to manipulate the light waves around me until I was visible to everyone in the room.”</span>
<span class="mu-r">“And what happened then?”</span>
(Cont.)
