Shards of a Shattered Glass

The correct answers had relieved Jade's suspicions somewhat. However upon seeing the message written out by Laser Ladette (Jade made a note to ask the superheroine about her updated identity) the girl frowned. Of course this was too good to be true, but then again what had she expected?

"Let me pay the driver and then I'll meet up with you," Jade called to her cousin as he stepped out of the car. She made a show of pulling out her wallet but spoke in a low tone so that he might not hear her.

"Is there any chance that I can destroy the chip without hurting him?" As she asked this question she places her number underneath a one dollar bill along with the doctor's calling card and hands it to the older hero. "And will you do me a favor and check up on this doctor for me? I know it's a lot to ask in one sitting... especially for someone you just met. But... I have no one else to turn to."

"Sure. I'll update you by the end of the week." Shauna assured Jade. She leaned in closer to speak to her quietly. "It's alien tech, wired into his nervous system. I'll need a lab and time to study it myself."

Vang, oblivious to the women's plotting, simply goes up and rings the bell to their family's apartment, waiting for the door to open. "Come join us for dinner, Jade. I got you some of those sesame balls you like too." He said with a completely Vang grin.

* * * A WEEK PASSES * * *

The police were dutifully informed of Vang's disappearance and hence a police car passed through the neighborhood every day. There was nothing unusual about Vang's behavior since returning, save perhaps for a renewed focus- his messy room was now impeccably clean, his food now home made, his instruments tuned. He had gotten a job as a clerical assistant at the clinic, and was overall more content.

"Being kidnapped... taken by those people... put a whole new perspective in my life, y'know... we have to make do with the time we're given..." He'd explain whenever Jade came by to visit, the life-changing experience having turned Vang into a new man.

A week passes, and Jade would eventually get a message from her 'doctor'. "Starbucks, 1:30pm. Dress incognito."

Over the course of the next few weeks, Jade visited her aunt constantly. Thankfully her aunt was too relieved to have a friendly face around after the traumatizing incident with her son that she didn't ask too many question about why her estranged niece started to show up so frequently.  Jade made sure to stop by for an hour at least four times out of the week, preferring to spend time with her cousin to monitor any signs of abnormal behavior.

As far as Jade could tell, Vang had just become more focused. His room had become impeccable to the point where her aunt pointed it out every morning. Vang even talked about going back to school with the support of his bosses at his new clinical job.  It was all too good to be true, but of course Jade was not about to tell her family the truth.  Her cousin was finally getting his life back on track, setting an example for his younger siblings and his mother was now not the sole bread winner for the household.

Jade too wished that she could be happy for her cousin, but the knowledge of the chip weighed heavily on her.  She spent several nights staking out the clinic that had supposedly tended to her cousin but found nothing out of the ordinary.   As the days passed, the suspense gnawed at Jade. She hoped that she was just paranoid and that everything would turn out well...

---

Blearily, Jade reached up to grab her phone on her drawer where she was charging it.  The girl yawned and swiped in her passcode. She immediately noticed the new message due to the fact that no one ever messaged her.  Jade checked the number. It wasn't someone in her contact list. However the content of the message made her realize who had sent her this cryptic text.

The covers of the bed went flying off as Jade stumbled out of bed and checked the time. 1:15 PM. Shit! She had overslept!  Jade threw on the nearest piece of clothing that she had, a black tshirt and a pair of white shorts, splashed water on her face, rinsed with mouthwash, ran her fingers through her shoulder length hair, sprinted out the door in flip flops... and then came back to lock the door.

She arrived at the Starbucks ten minutes late and out of breath. The young heroine then ordered a drink, gave her the name, and collapsed into one of the open tables while scanning the crowd to find Laser Ladette.

Entertainingly, Shauna had a strange concept for incognito. She was being one of those women in tight pants and expensive sport jackets, wearing shades and having a Trenta frapaccino. She ordered a grande caramel frappe for Shard as well.

"Pssst over here" Shauna called out as Jade passed by, before going back to reading her book. Once Jade was well seated Shauna went into what she knew. She put out documents and photos.

"...Okay first off, from public domain knowledge, the clinic is cleared with the medical boards. All the operating licenses and things are clean. This Dr. Manning though, he's supposed to be like, 100 years old, way past practicing age."

"When I took a closer look, all the procedures seemed alright. Miraculous, by modern medical standards- they cure cancer, HIV and AIDS like prescribing cough medicine. but they keep it low key and don't entertain media. There's also areas in the back and underground I can't see into with my x-ray vision."

"As for the chip. First off, did you notice anything unusual about your cousin?"

Shard sheepishly moved from her table to join the older woman. She took each file and picture as they were slid over.  The shots of the exterior of the facility was familiar to her though everything else save for the picture of the doctor was foreign.  Jade ran her finger along the jawline of the Doctor and then looked up at the heroine.

"So he's either a metahuman or a enhanced," Jade said, keeping her voice very low so as not to be heard by anyone who might be walking by.  She scanned the Starbucks and then sipped on the drink that Laser Ladette had ordered for her.

"He's more... I don't know, I guess the best way I can describe it is that he's got his shit together now?" She swirled the drink, sipped, and then drank some more, "He's got a job, his room is clean, he's thinking about going back to school. If I didn't know about the chip in his brain I would probably be kinda happy."

"By the way... should we be talking about this in public? What if they've been following me? Or us?"

"It's fine, nothing here but millenials and their expensive drinks." Shauna cleared her throat awkwardly and sipped her Trenta.

Shauna thought about what to do for a moment. "If you can, keep a closer eye on your cousin. Until we can confirm our suspicions, we'd only be interfering with a clinic that helps the underprivileged. I'll see if I can put Manning under surveillance." She scratched her chin. It was a clinic after all.

"...Or... you could... no, it's too risky." Shauna was about to suggest something but decided against putting the young hero at risk.

This was going far too slow for Jade. She wanted answers and she wanted them now. If there was a chance that her cousin was a danger to himself and his family then Jade needed to get to the bottom.

"No... no... you're right," Jade spoke, absentmindedly chewing on her straw.  Laser Ladette's last comment had given her a thought, but she wouldn't divulge. The older heroine would probably disprove of the method anyways.  "I'm sure there are enough people who are having a hard time without us ripping a non profit organization apart."

"Thanks for everything, La-Lady. I'll keep an eye on my cousin and I'll hit you up if I see anything usual?" As Jade said this she was rising from her seat and was heading towards the door. Even now she was gathering glass shards in discreet locations that she could access  once she left the Starbucks.

Ideas were running through her mind now, she was deciding on which point was the best to access the lab. When she had last been there she detected several windows on the ground floor, but she doubted that the lower levels would be so easy to access. Regardless cameras would not be an issue for her and she was confident that she could take care of most other security measures without being detected.

Shauna looked at the expression on Jade's face. It was a face she knew. Jade was probably going to do something rash. "Guess I'll see you very soon." she said, rather knowingly.

LATER THAT NIGHT

At some point of the day, Vang had messaged Jade, seeing as she and the extended family been quite involved lately since his reappearance.

"Dr.Manning heard about Ma's heart condition and constricted nerves. Offered free checkup and an overnight stay." And now with that, two of Jade's relatives had now subscribed to this miraculous clinic.

The establishment at night was more subdued, apparently to reduce its "light pollution impact" at least according to brochures. Everything about it was so saccharine; the landscaping using local plants and recycled water, the recycled steel and aluminum building materials, the pedestrian friendly layout and much more.

Shauna expected the young heroine, and waited for her on the sidewalk at the vending machines. She marveled at the clinic's corporate backing, even selling health drinks at the clinic's bus stop.

There was no time to lose. Whatever was going on here was too suspicious for Shard's liking and now that her aunt had been committed she was on an even shorter time table.  Under the cover of night the girl landed on a rooftop nearby, her costume tonight was one that she was taking to wearing in the night to afford some stealth. Black and blue classes made up a long cape that flowed in a non existent wind.  The same glass was gathered on a mask on her face, formed into a small tiara of sorts while the rest of the glass was shaped into an old fashioned armor on her body. None of the actual glass touched her skin because she wasn't sure where they'd been.  She also realized that she was a literal glass cannon, but this was better than going in with no armor.

Dusk fell as the heroine waited outside of the clinic, keeping a distance so as not to draw any attention to herself.  Once she was sure that the last of the important staff were gone she decided to make her move.  She took a running start and jumped off of the roof of the building, almost instantly her power kicked in and lifted the armor that she wore, carrying her into the air.  She was a whisper of clinking glass in the night air.

Shard hovered outside the windows of he clinic. She moved from room to room until she found one that was empty. With a flat palm against the glass, Shard's power pulsed and the window broke apart. She collected the glasses and added them to the end of her cape while she stepped into the room.  A glance upward indicated that a camera was up in the corner but cameras had been taken care of already.  Before Shard had even entered she had sent out a pulse to shatter the lenses of all cameras that she could detect. So far so good.

Right on time, Shard arrived to forcibly enter the clinic, and Shauna only had to have three cups of coffee waiting. She moved in behind, making sure she didn't surprise Shard.

"You know they could have motion sensors." She said, warning the young hero. She gives Shard some tips, as well as a little help, scanning the room.

"...Okay they don't. But I am seeing alot of funky electronics. What are you here for?"

They had entered one of the upper floor offices. It was, like everything else about the clinic, meticulously clean and organized, perhaps even too sparse for a clinic operating at this capacity. They surely took the no-paper policy seriously. "A terminal... You could probably get something from there."

When Shard heard the older hero's voice behind her, she spun around and reached out with her powers, touching the pieces of silicon in side of the hero's outfit. She wasn't surprised that the older heroine was here waiting. In fact Shard expected to find some sort of resistance or at least a pep talk from the more experienced super. Nevertheless she had a mission and she was going to see it to the end.

"They don't have motion sensors," Shard responded as she took a glance around the room, "I probably would've destroyed them when I got in here." Truth be told Shard probably fried a lot of equipment that was simply there to stabilize patients, but she wasn't willing to take the chances of being found out by a potentially hostile third party. Shard shifted her weight onto another leg, letting her glass clink with one another. "If you want plausible deniability in this you should probably get out."

She leaned out the door to make sure that there was no security coming and then turned back to Shauna. "I feel like something's up. The nihilist in me tells me that no one is ever truly altruistic. I'm looking to get to the bottom of things." Shard continued without giving Shauna a chance to speak, "You can stop me tonight, but I will keep coming back until I get the answers I need," She warned just as the older superhero pointed out a terminal nearby.

"Uh... I'm not the most computer savvy person. I-is there a password or somethin?"

Thanks to her friend Hel Atterius, Shauna's gear was nearly entirely silicate free, having been built of special alloys. "Relax, I'm on your side."

"You got me there. I'm a doctor, not a hacker." Shauna confessed, thinking she would be comfortable breaking into a clinic. It seemed they would need answers elsewhere.

"Let's ask that guy." Shauna crept to the door quietly, as she saw an armed and armored guard patroling the clinic... he was pretty loaded for a simple security guard.

As he walked past the office he peered in, on guard for trouble. What he wasn't expecting was being delivered a Judo takedown. The boy had some skills, trying to reverse the grapple and go for an arm bar, but Shauna knew BJJ too, and beat him to the arm-head choke. Shauna promptly deprived him of his pistol, a weapon of make the veteran hero was unfamiliar with. It looked very sci-fi. She handed it to Shard for their safety. Its frame was earth materials all right, but the power source was out of this world.

Gasping, the helmed guard spoke up. "Who... who are you?! ...You're in big trouble! You won't get away with this!" He said, furiously trying to escape. His voice alarmed Shauna deeply.

"Vang?" Shauna said, surprised.

With a suit as advanced as Shauna's, Shard had expected the other heroine to be an engineer of some sort. Nevertheless Shard kept her mouth shut when her companion opened the door and pulled a security guard through.  Shard reached out with her power to short circuit the suit, however she noted the sparse amount of silicon within the suit. To her chagrin she realized there wasn't enough silicon within the suit to severely impair it.  Which was strange since silicon was one of the most abundant minerals on earth.

When Shauna tossed the gun towards her, she fumbled with the weapon.  This weapon possessed the same qualities as the armor that the guard wore. What the hell was going on? It was at that moment that Shauna called out her cousin's name. What the fuck...?

Jade stormed over to the guard and punched the helmeted face with her glass gauntlets, using her powers to make sure that the glass didn't cut her as it fractured.

"What the fuck!" Jade half whispered half screamed as she followed up the punch with a kick.

Getting punched out and cursed by a familiar voice, the security guard gestured for mercy. "Jade? Jade? Is that you... you're... you're a vigilante?" Vang asked, dumbfounded. He quickly removes his helmet to show her it was him.

"What are you doing here...You shouldn't be here!" He said, his voice not really different.

Shauna had enough, and gave it to him straight. "Vang they got you chipped. A second one, at the base of your brain. The technology is way too advanced for mainstream. Jade and I are here to investigate."

"I... They did? How would you know? They only told me about the hand chip... oh god... what is going on here Jade?" He asked, the revelations too much for him right now. Shauna assured him she could see alot more than anyone else could.

There was no time now to entertain her cousin. Shard tried to consider what they could do now in this situation. She could try explaining everything to her cousin to get him on their side.  Then he would be able to get them access into the lower levels of this facility. On the other hand he could be potentially dangerous as they had no idea what kind of chip was inside of him.

"You stay here," She stated firmly after a momentary pause to collect her thoughts. "Right now I have no idea what's happened and it's better for you to act like you haven't seen us."

Shard looked towards the older hero, half hoping that the more experienced heroine would have some sort of words of guidance or at any case a better plan past this point.