Who: Reed Richards, Susan Richards, The Riddler What: Eddie hacks into the FF's personal computer drives and photobombs Reed and Sue's wedding photos. Where:Reed Richards' laboratory, The Baxter Building, New York City, New York When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 Rating: PG-13 for implied nudity (it makes more sense when you read it, trust me.)
The folder entitled ‘Wedding Photos’ was located on Reed and Sue Richards’ shared computer network, but upon opening and viewing the images, something was very wrong. Every digital photo in the folder had been replaced with a photoshopped duplicate. Sue in her gorgeous gown coming down the aisle had been replaced by the image of Sue from her Playboy article (in other words, completely nude); the photo of them taking their vows was no longer at the altar, but in a Wild West saloon; in front of the church; instead of throwing rice, guests were tossing dead fish upon the happy couple.
The thread that followed through all the photos was the obvious addition of an individual who was most definitely not originally invited to the ceremony. Instantly recognizable as the Gotham criminal, the Riddler, in his suit, hat and questionmark cane, his image was added to every single file. He was there, in place of the preacher as the bride and groom exchanged rings; exaggeratedly poised with a fork to his mouth while Sue and Reed cut the cake. In one photo, every single person’s clothes was photoshopped to resemble his own, green with multiple question marks all over.
But the pièce de résistance was the group photo with all the guests posing happily in the garden. Sue and Reed were right up front, and beside them, the Riddler stood in an exaggerated posture, tipping his hat with a manic expression upon his face. The photo turned out to be an animated gif: each progressive image zoned a little bit closer upon the Riddler’s face. Riddler, Riddler, RIDDLER, RIDDLER!! And finally the image pulled back and every guest in the picture had the same Riddler’s face.
The very last file in the folder was a message, which read,
Thanks for the memories! Oh, and I took some things on my way out!
Reed tilted his head to one side, considering the edited images. He certainly didn’t remember guests throwing dead fish-- let alone being married in a Wild West saloon. “Interesting.” He mused to himself, one arm reaching across his lab and pressing a seven digit code into a keypad which opened a hidden wall safe with a hiss of pressurized air. His hand disappeared into the safe as he retrieved a small SD Memory Card which was neatly labeled ‘Richards Wedding’ along with the date.
He closed the safe and loaded up the SD Memory Card and began to restore the photos to their original forms.. All of that was relatively straightforward; if time consuming.
Once he had the photos uploading, Reed switched his focus entirely. Whomever had hacked into the FF’s network this time had done it before-- and though Reed had completely rebuilt the security programming from the ground up, it had happened again a few weeks later. Then again. This was the third time this had happened and while the perpetrator had yet to access anything dangerous nor had they seemed to have done anything with what information they may have gleaned from the system; but this was just getting ridiculous. And annoying.
Once again, Reed dismantled and reassembled the security coding on the server. He spent ten hours in his lab doing just that, trying, once again, to prevent this hacker from getting back in. However this time, Reed added some extra code. Should someone hack into the FF server again, they would be automatically kicked to a screen which simply read, Chess? The Central Park tables, 2:00 pm EST --R.R.