The Tricky Business of Science

Penelope Kendric stood at the edge of the room, her head cocked to the side, strictly observing. Loose strands of brown hair fell in her face but the British woman paid them no mind. Her eyes were too intent on the people in front of her. A man in his mid forties went by.
Scuffed shoes, tight paycheck.
Her dark brown eyes flicked to the next person at the scientific convention, a woman with ragged cuticles and stains on her teeth. Drugs of some sort.
She sighed, her fingers moving to her left wrist were a bandage was wrapped. Three spots of dried blood were on the fabric from her supersuit. The super suit itself was built into a watch and consisted of a series of microchips and metals that responded to her mind and her powers alone. There was an over ride code but that was buried in the back of her mind, there was no way anybody would get it out. The suit itself was on display, much to Penny's disapproval.
Unlike the rest of the female scientists wearing name tags and white lab coats, she wore a pair of black slacks, red converse, and a red button down t-shirt.
A child walked by dragging his mother, science-y geeky kid.
Penny shook her head, for her she felt like she was still in high school. The twenty-five year old doctor turned away and moved to grab her key card from her pocket. It was gone.
She glanced around to check if anyone was looking before laying her hand on the keypad and closing her eyes. The keypad burned beneath her fingertips as her mind wormed it's way into the system. That is what she was, the ultimate human computer. A woman with a photographic memory, muscle, and the ability to manipulate and download all information in technology.
Click, the lock came undone and Penny stepped inside and started moving down the hall, massaging her sore wrist as she did so. She shut the door behind her and it locked. This part of the building held the first aid kit, several offices, and bathrooms.
"Hello Penny," A secretary said cheerily.
"Afternoon Martha," She returned.

Penelope Kendric. That was the name on the keycard Dr. James Seis had covertly swiped from the scientist a few displays down from his. In a glass case next to him was a seven foot tall rack covered in the latest anti-metahuman gadgetry available to the public to buy. Everything from low-level defense watches to full on home defense cannons. Nearly everybody was stopping at his display, most likely due to the recent events that destroyed most of New York. Every ten visitors he'd hand out a free sample, but the other nine paid half price. He was raking in the profits by just sitting down, surrounded by his personal security team (who he had helped make stronger and more durable than your common body guard) and a few low-level assistants. He put them in charge when he spotted a woman standing next to a power suit on display.

"Just because I keep my best inventions secret does not mean others have the right to compete with me. For now, let's see how Ms.Scientist enjoys petty theft of plastic." he thought, as he walked past and took the keycard. It was easy.

But Dr.Seis was shocked when he looked over his shoulder and saw the female scientist put her hand over the keycard slider with the door opening afterward. He double checked the name on the card. He thought back a few seconds, examining the woman's nametag. Both names were the same. Which could mean only one thing: a metahuman who possessed technopathy. Most likely unprepared. He couldn't pass up an opportunity like this.

"You two, man the display. Every tenth person gets something free, but charge the other nine full price. Security, follow me please."

Dr.Seis walked up to the keycard slider. A quick swipe of Ms.Kendric's card and he was inside. He didn't want his own name showing up on the entry log. The door opened and he and his men stepped inside.

"Hello Doctor Seis. What can I help you with?" the secretary asked.

"I'm looking for a Ms.Kendric. Did you happen to see where she went?" Dr.Seis replied.

"She just went to the bathroom, Doctor Seis. I'm sure she'll only be a.." the secretary got out before Dr. Seis cut her off.

"I will go pay her a quick visit then. Men, secure the area and keep the security cameras looping until I can wipe them properly."

Without speak his men quickly responded. Two stood on either side of the secretary's inlet, two stood on either side of the door that entered into the hallway, and the other two stood on either side of the hallway that led to the offices. One agent by the door activated a device in his pocket that caused all security cameras within a 50-foot radius to loop a random five seconds of footage from ten minutes before the signal was emitted. The bosses orders were complete.

Dr.Seis had put his hand up to his heart and pressed down, activating his suit and causing it to expand outward around him. In under 15 seconds he was fully suited. Doctor Seismic's first move was to point the shock-net launcher at the secretary. Less loose ends and a free test subject to go with the metahuman genes he would soon have. The secretary, thinking she was about to die, cried and begged for her life before the net launched, wrapped around her, and delivered an electric shock until she was unconscious. It did not take long for him to retract the net and his men to handcuff the secretary. Then Doctor Seismic proceeded down the hallway to the bathrooms.

He stopped when he was in front of the woman's bathroom. He raised both arms, ready to fire a shock-net from either of them. A smile drew itself across his face as he kicked the door hard enough that it flew off it's hinges onto the floor. If Penelope was within site, he'd fire the shock-net's at her. If she was in the stalls however, it would only be delaying the inevitable.

Penny entered the bathrooms soon after she had finished talking to Martha. She had just barely finished unwrapping her wrist when she heard the Secretary scream and a continuation of male voices. Her head swiveled around and she strained her ears, her hurt wrist cradled next to her chest. The wrist in question held three small puncture marks. The bathroom itself had about ten to twenty stalls and two enter and exit doors. The woman abandoned the first aid kit on the sink and ran towards the opposite door. Just as she was slipping out the other door the door she had originally entered flew open, off it's hinges. She skidded to a halt in front of one of the security guards.
This guard was definitely not a rent a cop. He was about six feet two inches, thin and lean. What her best friend would call solid steak and potatoes. Though now was not a time to dwell on such an idea, Penny grinned and the guard looked apprehensive at the sudden look -what he took to be- confidence. The man moved in, Penny reached out, grabbed him by the back of his head, and rammed his head into her knee. There was a crunch and the guy's nose broke. However, since she was frazzled, Penny did not calculate the thought that the man might grab her wounded wrist, the woman gasped in pain. The guard smiled cruelly and twisted the wrist and pinned her hands behind her back, pinning her against him before leading her back, struggling, to doctor Seismic.
Her hair had come down out of her ponytail and she was wincing periodic. There was no doubt she was a beautiful woman, even when she was a frustrating captive. The guard halted in front of the Doctor and Penny sized him up, by now she had stopped struggling and the British woman's face had hardened into a mask of ice.
"Well," She said softly, "What do I owe this pleasure?"
Penny's voice was naturally soft but it held a hard edge of warning. He didn't know exactly what she was and Penny planned to keep it that way for as long as possible.

The woman tried to run. Doctor Seismic couldn't blame her. It was a natural human response. Just as it was his guards natural response to see a weak point and exploit it. For example, the girls wrist. She might have broken his guard's nose (the sound of it breaking wasn't pleasant), but his men were made of tougher stuff than to be stopped completely by a broken nose. Ignoring the blood pouring down his face, the guard brought the struggling woman to him. He waved down the hall and the guard dragged the woman to the secretary's desk, Doctor Seismic following close behind.

"I think you know why you stand where you are. What could you have done in the past few moments that would have made you a target to someone? That's right: You opened the door without your keycard. But don't worry, I won't make you go back into the convention, no. In fact, you are free to come with me, back to my little workshop. Maybe unzip those genes of yours." Doctor Seismic said, chuckling at his pun.

"Now if there's anything you'd like to say or beg for before we go, now would be the time to do it."

As he finished his sentence, he raised his right arm, a shock-net launcher pointed right at Penelope.

Penny's face hardened as she felt her stomach muscles tightened, the perv. Her eyes landed on the item on the Doctor's sleeve, so he thinks I need physical contact to mess with items. Shame on him.
"Well then," She drawled," if you insist." Penny fixed her eyes on the tube like thing pointed at her face, there was a hissing noise and the electronet exploded backwards in a motion to cover the Doctor. Then her eyes flicked up and the sprinklers turned of making the floor all slick. Then she jumped, barely wincing as pain lanced up her wrist, and the back of her head connected with the guard's already broken nose. The shattered bones on the nose drove back into his brain killing him instantly. The lights began to flick on and off wildy, there was a sound of a gun going off somewhere along with the noise of another body hitting the ground then it abruptly all stopped. Penny was on the ground, blood pooling under her head. She wasn't dead, just hurt from her head striking the side of a bathroom stall in the dark. A female, genetically enhanced, guard stood over her. Cradling her wrist and a bruise was swelling underneath her mask.
The guard crouched and examined the wound. The woman would only have a mild concussion when she woke up. The damage Penny had wrought though ended up with three guards dead, their blood rapidly staining the floor.
Another guard came in and picked up the unconscious scientist and hauled her over his shoulder.

He had expected something like this to happen. Not this exact scenario in particular, but something like this. The woman he made his forearm-mounted shock-net launcher fire backwards and he had seen one of his guards drop to the ground before the net began the electric shocks.

"The suit is experiencing a surge in power from an outside source. Estimated thirty seconds until suit is damaged by power surge." the suit computer chimed.

"Disable shock-net." Doctor Seismic said calmly.

"Voice authorization needed."

"Seismic."

Immediately, the shock-net stopped shocking, returning the suit to normal power levels. Doctor Seismic easily removed the net from around himself, as the net being fired backwards had cause it to not knot and wrap itself properly. He got up and smiled. His guards had already diffused the situation. Sure three were dead, but he had the girl. Not as quiet as he had hoped, but overall a success. Doctor Seismic took the shock-net off the ground and wrapped it around Penelope's unconscious body before re-enabling it.

"Go down that hallway to the third window on the right. The helicraft is waiting. Blindfold both her and the secretary in case they wake up on the way. Don't wait up for me."

His men carried themselves and the girls down the hallway, into the helicraft, and back to base. Doctor Seismic stayed behind for a minute, erasing the security camera footage for the entire day (remotely of course), and destroying the bodies and blood stains with his hand cannon. When he was done, all that remained were three burn marks in the floor and sprinklers that had gone off. Most likely, people would assume a fire had started, the two woman had run away from it, and the fire had set off the sprinklers. Clean as he could make it, he supposed.

Doctor Seismic then had his suit retract until it was once again and invisible piece of attire under his clothes. He slid Penelope's card to open the door before wiping his fingerprints off the card and dropping it on the floor. He walked out onto the main convention area and exited out the front door. His card had never accessed the room where everything had went down and plenty of witnesses saw James Seis walk out the front door. Clean getaway.

~Later~

Doctor Seismic stood in his laboratory, donning once again his power suit. The metahuman female was in a bulletproof, fire-resistant, plexiglass cells. Air came through a series of holes the circumference of a pencil. The cell was only given power when the door needed to be opened, and the power could only be activated by Doctor Seismic, who's suit was the only thing that could send out the open signal. Extra precautions had to be taken to assure that his quarry did not escape. He stood several feet away from her cell as she began to stir. They had already taken her DNA and were in the process of isolating the genes that gave her her powers. It wouldn't be long before they were able to gift a normal person the power that was once exclusive to metahumans.

"I know my "unzip your genes" joke earlier was a bit crass, but it's exactly what we did while you were unconscious. And soon enough those genes will be able to give others the power you possess. You should feel proud of yourself, the first metahuman to donate their powers to the less powerful." Doctor Seismic taunted, finishing up with mock clap and condescending laughter.

Penny felt sick, the woman opened her eyes blinking, before shielding them and from the bright light. Every portion of her body ached, every cell, every fiber of her being. She breathed deeply resisting the urge to spew all over the cell when she realized someone was talking.
It was Doctor Seismic, gloating over his victory. Penny paid him no mind however, she was too busy trying to find a place to curl up and die. She was allergic to whatever drugs they gave her to keep her unconscious so she would be vomiting until it was out of her system.
The attack passed quickly however so she was able to hear what the Doc had to say.
When he was finished she smiled wryly, "At least you didn't try to impregnate me with who knows what."
She said in a dark tone. She honestly wouldn't put it past him.
She stood on wobbly legs before walking around the room, her mind taking measurements of the room. Small, white, and she would imagine that the glass walls sent out an electric pulse every five seconds or so to keep her way so she couldn't tamper with anything.
"What do you plan to do with me?" She asked. Somehow she had an idea that Doctor Seismic would keep her as a prize of some sort, the first metahuman he has kidnapped. Penny kept her tone light and conversational but underneath she was a vat of acidic hate.

"Oh please, you're not my type. I prefer women who aren't so easily subdued. And with that, a good bit of what I could plan to do with you is null. I've already done to you what I needed to have done. I have your DNA. I took cell samples from different places all over your body compared them, and currently my science staff are looking for the anomalous genes in your DNA that gives you your technopathy. But that's not all. We're also going to be looking for and isolated any genes at all that set you apart from the levels of ability that a normal person would have. Mainly, the genes that help grant you your intellect. You might wonder why I still have you caged if I have all I wanted from you. That's what you're thinking by this point, yes? Well I simply cannot have you running about just yet, can I? I'll keep you here in that cell until I deem that I have no further use for you. Once we reach that point, it's the simple matter of whether I kill you or let you go."

It was then that a scientist ran up to Doctor Seismic.

"Sir," the scientist began. "We've isolated the anomalous genes. We've already input them into the Meta-Genetic Database for future use. We can easily recreate these power-granting genes whenever the need arises. We're a step closer to giving all of humanity power."

Then the scientist ran back to the main room.

"Here that, Penelope Kendric? Your genetic code has already been picked apart, and we've kept the important bits. Soon enough, technopaths such as yourself will not be a rarity among the population of the world. In fact, you could say that technopathy will become quite commonplace, as will all other genetically expression powers."

Though it couldn't be seen, Doctor Seismic was giddy with the first baby-step of his plan being accomplished. The smile he had under his helmet reached ear to ear, and his voice was laced with an extra layer of sickly-sweet condescendence.

"And now I must ask you, what have you to say to all this?"

Penny listened but the sickening feeling was growing in the pit of her stomach, not just from the the idea of her genetic code being picked apart. But at this entire program.
"To be honest, I find you idea fascinating. But, shouldn't you take genetic volunteers? I mean, people will notice I'm missing after twenty four hours."
Penny wasn't one of those faces who vanished off the grid easily. In fact, her Boss was probably going to be in a panic within the next few hours. Somebody had to move that dratted space suit.
"Most people wouldn't be opposed to equality, I bet if you approached a scientific board of some kind..." She trailed off, shutting her eyes and focusing. On the edge of her mind she could still feel the supersuit s pulsing life source even though it was hundred of miles away.
"Trust me, I didn't plan to get captured today." Penny opened her eyes. "Otherwise I would have taken some pain killers." She raised her wrist, the pain had settled into a dull throbbing sensation that seemed to beat in time with her heart.
As for the rest of the genetics went, he was only hunting down one of her powers. She wondered vaguely how long it would take for him to find the others. She laid back down as the room started spinning again with her hurt wrist cradled against her chest.

Could a mod please trash this thread.

Again, Anime is eligible for EXP. Trashed.