Damn, It Feels Good to be a Gangsta (Shauna)

A grand railway connected the conjoined islands through a massive set of connecting terminals running the span of the islands. It made a great spectacle of the islands, basking in the glow of the sunlight as the car pushed through the shimmering glass tunnels. Everything in Fiji looked grand at this opportune time for a greeting card companies. Palm trees waved just enough to seem inviting, not stalker crazy. The waves crashed like jovial bumper cars, not intoxicated fraternity brothers going back to house. The sands glistened under the sunlight in a bright, white glow embracing alll, not like a 50s film casting an ethnic character. For all of these reasons, Clement Corp decided to host their annual Tech Crunch event within the bright and inviting climate of the tropical paradise.

Unfortunately for them, it invited Bliss.

"Once we're done with preparations, we can definitely think about how we're going to get those servers out of the basement and onto a flight deck." Bliss sat back in a plastic chair overlooking a private pool in a one piece swimsuit. For how broke Bliss was, she still managed to get Danny's trust fund to clear her travel expenses- and pay her money loving friend.

"And the class president cheerleader is okay with everything we're doing?" A Japanese woman held a drink in her hand with slender cheeks and deep red hair sat next to Bliss, wearing a two piece with a towel over her lap. "She isn't going to try to check us on anything?"

"If we did, she would get mad and go all girl scout, so guess who doesn't get to know about any of these details?" Bliss needed Danny more than Danny needed to do good in this world. Mainly because if she hung around Bliss too much, only Bliss would get the good side of Danny. "Danny loves me and looks up to me. Sometimes people tell me she reminds me of a young me." Only Bliss ever said that, and it was used as a threat. "But, it's best she think this is something else."

"What else? Like a-"

"That's for you to decide. I need Danny's trust fund, and that bracelet of hers. If I could get that thing to work for me I would- actually, figure out how that thing works. I might cut out the middle man."

Mia rolled her head to look at Bliss. "When you say cut out-"

"Not like that. Just don't have to put her in so much danger if I can do everything my- you know what, I pay you not to question me on these things. Take Danny around and keep her from messing up my plans and we can tell her all about the theft she was a part of after we do it. After. After we do it."

The two glasses clinked in agreement and the deal began to situate itself.

The tech crunch convention sprawled across a coliseum, spreading tiny elements of itself into the adjoining office buildings around the area. Danny walked through a number of the booths for technology ranging from everything from telecommunications to medical services. Air conditioning unleashed full arctic blasts to maintain the sixty-eight degree temperature within the halls. She kept her bracelet on her wrist, wearing a tan jacket with a black skirt falling just above her knees. The same slender faced woman with red hair who met with Bliss earlier walked beside her in pair of black shorts and a pink T-shirt. "Mia, what exactly are we looking for? I thought Bliss wanted us to-"

"Hey! Look!" Mia found a pair of glasses on display. "Take a journey anywhere in the world and never leave home. Danny! Maybe we can find your parents!"

Danny bit her lip as Mia began to mock swim. "I don't think we'll be doing that, but I'm sure my guardian will pass on their concern about taking two people to Fiji."

"Don't be so down Danny. I didn't have parents around either, now I'm doing just fine." Mia took the glasses off and put them over Danny's eyes. "Let's go find some of those old buildings you like so much."

While Mia continued to preoccupy Danny, Bliss enacted her would be infiltration. Bliss kept her hands tucked inside the pockets of her hoodie as her skirt bounced back and forth from the middle of her thigh as her knee high boots treaded the recently vacuumed carpet. All the tech booths looked mediocre enough for Bliss to dismiss, but she needed to get to the behind the scenes parts of this convention.

Only one woman with wavy black hair in a white suit with a black skirt stood in her way. The approach of Bliss took her away from checking a clipboard and challenging Bliss with a friendly smile. Her hair flipped from one side to the other as she straightened her posture. "Excuse me mam, but do you have clearance to go beyond this point?" Her accent rang of her origins within the islands and for a moment, Bliss stopped.

"Yep." A telekinetic grip held the woman's jaws closed while Bliss pulled out a roll of pink duct tape.

Bliss put the duct tape back in her bag and readjusted her ponytail. The access terminal she found should lead on for a while before she could find a staircase. Up or down would be fine choices, she just needed to make sure she could locate where the power spread came from. "Later." Bliss put her hand on the closet door. The woman manning the access point wiggled from inside the closet. Pink duct tape wrapped her bound hands to her chest while tape wrapped around her knees and ankles, all ending with several pieces pushed over her mouth. "Next time, don't work for losers. But, when I get everything back, I might hire you to make up for this." The closet door closed.

Shauna too had a named companion this day at the convention. The hero turned doctor was at the medical expo with a colleague from Korea, taking a good look at the hospital and clinic machinery and chatting away about good times and bad times. They were dressed in their business suits, with Shauna in her pastel blue designated as a guest while her short-haired companion in dark gray was an exhibitor.


As Mia and Danny were passing through the exhibits, the enthusiastic Doctor Kwon flagged them down at their booth. "Hello there! I'm Dr. Ji-Hun Kwon, with Soon Medical Industries. Would you like to try our latest device in healthcare? This portable lab gives you a blood analysis in one minute!" Ji-hun pointed to the space-age, apple-device looking machine, with a thumb scanner located within a comfortable reach. A light prick, and a minute later one could know the state of their blood pressure, cholesterol and sugar and other pertinent health information.

Shauna got a notification from her HeroTinder App, telling her that Danny, friend of June, was standing in front of them. She looks at the photo and the person, and decided they more or less matched. She pockets her mobile and extended a hand to greet her friend-of-a-friend. "Oh hey, you must be Danny! I'm a physician and friend of June's. What brings you to Fiji?"

Mia kept toying around with the device on Danny's head, sending her near and far, high and low- all while Danny kept the same annoyed look covered by a headset. "Oh come on Danny, I'm supposed to be keeping you busy for a while. Try to enjoy it."

"Keep me busy?" Danny lifted the visor from her head. "At best you're being condescending. At worst, you're actually working for Bliss right now. Where is Bliss?"

"Said something about a new cell phone plan." Mia began moving her arms in a swimming rotation. "Now, how about you calm down and enjoy the booths-or else."

"Or else you'll-" Before the situation could move any further, a warmer reception greeted Danny. "Oh, you know June? Well, that's great. Most of my time with her is mostly good. The bad times are pretty terrible though."

"Who are you talking to?" Mia poked her hand around to try and shake hands with anyone directly in front of her, causing Danny to help Mia into locking action with Dr. Kwon.

"This is Dr. Kwon. She'll be giving you a check up-in-a-box. Super sciencey from the sounds of it."

Mia lifted the visor to see the display. "But, I don't-"

"I'm enjoying this booth now, Mia. Take the check up."

Bliss found her server room. Cracked her knuckles. Then, set off a silent alarm. Security would be here any minute, but Bliss did not care a bit. Her infiltration was flawless and soon she would regain some, if not all, of her intellectual property. "Booyah."

Eager to get started with her newfound volunteer, Dr. Kwon puts Mia's hand into the machine. "Now, this'll be over in just under a minute..." She secures the straps as well, keeping Mia immobile. "It can get sensitive from movement."

The high-tech machine begins to make all those high tech noises and makes sounds. Then it starts to display Mia's results on a screen. The numbers tell the story, and Mia should probably lay off the cupcakes.

"Bliss? You mean the old lady... who turned out to be younger than me." Shauna paused to sigh. "We dealt with Nazis in Argentina once, it never got resolved. Is she here with you?"

The machine begins to make a strange noise and the screen produced an error. "Oh dear, this isn't supposed to happen." Dr.Kwon checks the computer, but it seemed the machine held Mia in place. she wasn't going anywhere, unless she had a moderately sharp object or tool to break loose.

Shauna helps, but rather half-heartedly, and was unable to help Mia. "Sorry, I don't wanna get charged for breaking something." She turns to Danny once more.

"...So, is Bliss here to look for new tech to invest in? Where is she now?"

The prospect of being strapped to a device did not sit well with Mia, but she needed to keep Danny occupied. The clamps began to tighten around her wrists and ankles, securing her in place. Danny smirked as the exam continued with Shauna speaking to her. "I have no idea how old Bliss is, but if it weren't for how good she is with computers, I would assume she was 60 with good make up."

"I've seen Bliss do her makeup. She's not hiding anything." A look of relief passed over Mia's face as the blood pressure machine released. "Shouldn't this thing be letting me out?"

"This is keeping me pretty entertained Mia, but I might need to go check on some things. You'll be fine right?" Danny pointed behind her towards the general bustle of the convention floor.

"Use your bracelet and get me out of here!" Mia tried pulling her wrist out of the strap, shaking the contents of the neighboring table.

A clenching of cheeks swelled in Danny's face. "I already paid for your trip. I don't want to pay for an expensive medical machine. Just be patient- while being a patient."

"Give me my swords! I'll just cut myself out of here!" Whatever material the doctor crafted these straps out of continued to hold all of Mia's struggles. "Doc, I hope you have good malpractice insurance!"

Danny walked over towards one of Doctor Kwon's tables and pulled out a roll of medical tape. A few wraps around Mia's head and she became much more quiet. "Now, let the doctor finish getting her machine to work." With lipstick, Danny drew a smile over Mia's mouth. "We'll be back later. Take your time Doctor Kwon."

With Mia more quiet- but far less docile- Danny looked over to Shauna. "Bliss doesn't have money. She's broke, so I'm pretty sure she is just here to get back the things she lost. I'm just going to make sure Bliss doesn't wind up in prison for this."

Stealing a server room would take some time, but when a swarm of security guards flood the room, most of the time is lost. Too bad for them they found the doors sealed to them, but it still locked Bliss in a tough spot. "Mia, I need some help. Probably need Danny for this one." No reply came back from the communicator in Mia's back pocket. "Mia? Mia, dammit!"

Little to Bliss' knowledge- not a phrase Bliss ever liked to utter- the information currently stored on these computers held medical information pertinent to breakthrough advances in the field. Bliss planned on exhuming the information, but in the hands of Bliss, it may or may not be returned for free. "I should make servers that are just round balls I can roll. Then when people steal my stuff, I can just roll it out. That's a good idea."

A text message would ring on Shauna's phone. This is Elizabeth Jules, CEO of Clement Corp, I need to inform you of a breach in the security of this convention which looks to undermine your interest. Three women are trying to pull a heist of information important to you- by removing security protocols of mine. If you could assist me in capturing these three women, I believe we can get to the bottom of who is behind this malevolent attack.

Dr. Kwon was trying to undo the latches. Mia's anxiety only added to her anxiety. "I'm so sorry, I'm a family medicine doctor, not a techie!" She says, before starting to talk to herself in Korean to calm herself down.

"Stealing back things that belong to you... Always a hassle." Shauna sighed as Danny explained their situation. She'd been in it before and would give Bliss the benefit of the doubt.

Then Shauna received a message from some Elizabeth Jules, who she didn't know but presumed was one of the Con sponsors.
Why was this sent to me? Still, three women? surely it couldn't be them? Shauna felt her stomach sink. What sort of trouble was happening here at the convention? were these friends of June involved?

"Let's go look for her then. Hope she's not causing trouble." She looked around with her x-ray vision, and far outside the convention hall security teams were heading to wherever trouble was. Shauna started following where they went with a brisk walk. "I got a feeling she's this way." She said to Danny.

"Uh, I can't believe Bliss dragged me here just to-" Danny caught herself before glancing over to Shauna. "Yeah, I bet Bliss is this way. And not causing trouble." Calamity called. And, it called with an amazing gusto. "Let's just hope no one else caught up to her before we got there."

Before they could catch up to the entrenched position, two security guards flew through the air, impacting behind Danny and Shauna. "Would you call this trouble?" Danny pulled on Shauna's arm to try and hold her back. "I think things are going just fine in there. Maybe we can go take care of something else while Bliss and these guards take care of their misunderstanding. It would be great if you would just leave with me-on your own accord." A turquoise baton came out of Danny's hand. With one swift hit, Danny would try and hit Shauna from behind.

Mia kept squirming against the contraption she remained strapped in, trying to vocalize her discomfort as bypassers walked by the restrained dye red headed woman. "Excuse me Dr. Kwon." A woman with a tightly pulled bun and sharp edged glasses walkd up to Dr. Kwon. "I need you and your guest to follow me. She doesn't need to be released, so don't worry about your machine."

Mia tried to signal Dr. Kwon with her eyes, but her voice failed her.

The last security guard fell to Bliss' onslaught of telekinetic prowess. Towers full of data followed from behind her. "Danny, let's go. I got the stuff. I don'tcare who your friend is; get your phone numbers later and text on the plane. Where's Mia?"

"What are you talking about. We should-" A sneaky sneak attack from someone Shauna assumed a hero put her lights out. She gets knocked out cold and acquainted with the rich carpeting of the convention floor.

Dr. Kwon took cover behind an overturned table when the crazy teenager delivered a blow to Shauna's head, not wanting to fight a metahuman. Then a convention spokeperson approached She turned to face the woman, "Oh hello! are you with the convention organizers?" She looked around, then at Mia. She had to come up with a decision. "Please don't hurt Shauna, superpowered american teenager lady!" Ji-hun was worried for her friend, but she knew better to worry for a retired superhero. She gets up and follows the Convention authority.


Bliss and company would have a few minutes to do as they pleased, before Shauna slowly came to, rubbing her head and quite vexed. What was happening again? Someone stole something? right, right... She began fiddling with the controls of her grav-belt and get back on track.

"Holy shit, Danny." The lumped over form of Shauna dropped to the ground in between Danny and Bliss. "I didn't think you had that in you."

"Um?" The turquoise baton dissipated from Danny's hand quicker than her respect for her own restraint did. "We need to-"

"Way ahead of you." Bliss pulled out her handy roll of pink duct tape and within a few seconds, Bliss had Shuana's legs taped together.

The actions of Bliss shook more trauma into Danny. "What are you doing?"

"Tying her up. Duh." Bliss began wrapping Shauna's hands behind her back before wrapping her arms up. "Can you grab her legs and help me get her in that closet?"

"No! This is wrong!" Danny took a moral stand, but left her moral legs open for a swipe.

"Oh cool, because I thought differently since you hit her in the back of the head when she wasn't looking. I must have been wrong and you didn't do that." Bliss ripped off another strip and put it over Shauna's mouth while Danny looked for a response in a blank face. "That's what I thought; grab her legs."

"Ugh, sorry Shauna. It would be nice if you just forgot about all of this and didn't hold it against me." Danny lifted Shauna's legs while Bliss hoisted her shoulders. The duo walked Shauna towards a supply closet and tossed her in the darkness. "Hey!" Danny grabbed Bliss' shoulder. "You gotta tell me why we are here and why I had to come with you?"

"Um, no I don't. Shut up and get your crap; we're going." Bliss walked back to her servers, lifting them up with telekinesis so she could walk into the open convention floor with them.

Elizabeth Jules watched a terminal monitoring the ongoings of the convention when Dr. Kwon entered the room. "Dr. Kwon, I'm afraid we've had a security breach coming from the server rooms." Jules rested her hands in front of her as she looked at Kwon. "I was hoping your friend could deal with it, but it appears she may need some assistance. Please provide it to her, so your works will not be lost to a thief."

So it turns out Shauna just concussion-dreamed about getting up and putting on her gravity belt. She awoke startled, realizing she was bound and gagged inside a supply closet. The effort was not bad at all, if it were any other hero.

Dr. Kwon was no hero. Sure she served in the military when she was a young adult, but that was as universal as all koreans getting plastic surgery.... Still, she knew she'd spend the rest of her career explaining the loss of the collective work of the medical community. Maybe they should have backed it up on a different hard drive. That was why she was back on the floor helping to wake Shauna up from her dazed state with some smelling salts.

"Shauna! Your acquaintances are stealing our work and getting away!" Dr.Kwon stated the obvious as she used her laser scalpel to free Shauna's limbs.

"OW!" Shauna winced in pain when the tape came off her lips. "You don't say? Might wanna hide then."

Shauna followed the ladies by X-ray and binocular vision, and saw they were soon to be leaving the conventional hall. Green laser eye beams promptly go through drywall, melting their exit door shut.

"Okay. I need an explanation now. Why are you taking the giant external drives?" Shauna stepped out onto the floor, not in the most agreeable mood but still willing to talk. She shot a harsh glance at Danny, yet said nothing. She keeps frosty on the things in the convention hall, recalling tactics to deal with telekinetics.

"We need to find Mia before we head out." Danny trailed behind Bliss, keeping her eyes on the halls behind them. Any moment this colossal complication could collapse and when it did, Danny would have no choice but to abide by her morals- or throw them away like she did before. "When we leave, we are never talking about this again. Ever."

"Good job Danny. You got the first rule of espionage down." Bliss put her hands in her pockets as the servers moved in column formation behind their leader.

"Espionage? This was a step above petty robbery. And, like I said, we need to find Mia." The booth where Dr. Kwon offered Mia a trial of her machine no longer contained the machine, nor did Danny see Mia.

"She'll meet up with us later. She's probably hanging low for now." Bliss pushed on the doors in front of her but they refused to budge.

"I left her strapped to a medical device, so that might not be what happens."

"Wow, Danny, you're just throwing wrenches in everyone's gears today." Bliss put all of her effort into trying to open the door before turning back to Danny. "Okay girl wonder, stop holding the door closed with one of those turquoise thingies and let me out."

"I'm not holding the door shut."

"Well then who-"

Shauna burst onto the scene with a mild case of tape burn still visible and questions she needed answered. "These are mine, and I need them. Good enough? Cool. Open the door, before I make you open the door."

"Woah, woah, we want to avoid a fight. That's why I um- incapacitated you Shauna. Bliss taped you up."

"Wow, make sure to stretch before you throw people under a bus like that." The quick blast of telekinesis barely budged the door, but Bliss assumed she could eventually get it down. "So, yeah I taped you up and stuffed you in a closet. Big deal. Are we done or are people still needing-"

"Why do you sound like the worst villain I've ever had to deal with. Shauna, I'm sorry I hit you; I really thought you would dodge it. I'm really surprised it knocked you cold. Bliss, is sorry for a lot of things too. Now, we need to get these servers out of here, because Bliss needs what is on them."

"Not really. I have no idea what is on them; I'm just wiping them and going back to rebuilding the infrastructure Jules stole from me in court."

"Bliss. God. That's not how that works. Do you know what's on these servers? And do you happen to know where the woman who was with me earlier is now?"

Shauna patiently listened to everything the two said, ignoring most of the irrelevant banter.

Shauna accepted Danny's apology, realizing the young lady was just dragged into this. "I don't blame ya, Danny. This is a complicated situation. Like immigration."

Shauna put two and two together, and couldn't help but shake her head at the absurdity of it all. "So... these stupid corporate stooges used court-obtained computers to develop and store their new medical tech. Why couldn't they just get their own computers? Ugh, I had big establishment business."

Just like a straight up superhero, Shauna offered a compromise. She had a gut feeling it wouldn't work. "Still. I think its best you put the... your servers down and let them copy their data. People worked on that legitimate tech, my friend included with the one minute blood test. So what's it gonna be, Kiddo?" Urgh, Shauna shouldn't have said that. It just enforced her age.

The more Shauna talked, the more Bliss began to twitch in frustrated anger. "Get their own computers? Because these dumb monkeys can't make the computers I can! You can't buy what doesn't exist, and any server not made by me is shit!" The servers slammed to the ground with a crash, no longer cradled by their custodian. "Need a better explanation? I'll show you."

"Woah, Bliss, I'm not just going to let you-" Before Danny could get her fingers down to her bracelet, the ancient jewelry flew off of her wrist and into Bliss' hand. "Are you serious?"

"I don't get why people don't just do that to you before fighting. You're pretty useless right now, right? Cool."

With Danny made useless, Bliss put the bracelet in her bag. In preparation for the showdown with Shauna, Bliss began to levitate chairs from around the immediate vicinity. If Shauna got aggressive, Bliss would put the smackdown on her with a barrage of plastic and metal chairs. "I can't let you make copies, because I can't let Jules know I'm here. I already wasted enough time fighting security and tying you up in a closet. I can't waste anymore, otherwise Jules will try and track me down."

"Can't we just take them and make copies- Bliss?!" The crash of a chair rang out as Bliss began her sneak attack against Shauna, trying to strike her in the back.

"Nope, gotta keep it untraceable.If Jules gets me, it's game over for the Internet being a free place. Although, I can see why she would want a one minute medical treatment."

Fool her once, shame on you. Fool her twice, shame on Shauna. A rear attack did not work twice (in the same day at least) and Shauna ducked the thing. She reduces it to a pile of molten plastic and metal with a laser blast, though in retrospect that only made it a more dangerous projectile for Bliss to use. The smell of molten plastic filled the air, as did the smoke from Shauna's beams lingering in the room. The heat of the beams was enough to trigger the sprinkler system, dousing the place in water.

"So the establishment is the bad guy, big surprise." Shauna snarked, as she drenched. Her mind began to process the situation, arguing over who was in the right or wrong. Bliss had every right to reclaim her property, even if it was taken by court manipulation. However, innocent and unwitting medical professionals had deposited their honest work into those servers.

This situation got on Shauna's nerves. Not to mention getting her dress wet. She wondered if Elizabeth Jules was listening. Shauna decided to speak up loudly, so if someone had a security feed of this...

"Well then! If everybody's being such an ass about those computers. Maybe... maybe nobody should have em!" She powered up her eye beams, deliberately putting a small time delay, but fully intent on melting them into piles of slag.

"You just destroyed my servers- with your medical technology by the way- because you got to decide no one gets them!?" The hiss of the server as they sparked almost match the intensity of Bliss. "Danny, hit her!"

Danny shrugged and looked down to her empty wrist bearing no bracelet,
"I'm not going to do that, but Shauna, you did just destroy medical technology- that Bliss just became interested- so, maybe everyone is kind of at-"

"Shut up! Sneak attack!" Two of the beloved servers flew towards Shauna, breaking apart in the air. Bliss planned on overwhelming Shauna with too many projectiles to blast all of them, opening her up for the eventual attack from Bliss in a more up close and personal way.

"Make sure these two both come out of the fight in bad shape. If Bliss wants these servers so bad, we can put her to work fixing them for us. Capture the others. We'll dispose of them later." Jules took her phone down from her cheek. Her orders went to the remaining members of the security. After seeing what Bliss did the first time around, they planned on following their orders to the 'T' with letting Bliss and Shauna knock each other out.