FantastaGirl:
Origin

By Aelius

 

Jake tried to steady his
hand as he sipped his coffee. The previous night's frantic study had all but
confirmed his suspicions that the company was on to him. Whatever he did this
morning had to count. He glanced from his newspaper over to the sealed manila
envelope on the table and pondered whether it would be wise to send it to one
of the only coworkers he still relied on. He trusted Stephen wholeheartedly,
but that didn't mean his superiors at BioGen couldn't intervene.

The sandy-furred collie sighed
put the paper down, rubbing his temples. A nearby TV relayed news of the prior
night's bank robbery, where one of the crooks used a flamethrower to keep
people from following. The report did little to distract Jake from his worries.

“What's wrong, dad? Didn't
get enough sleep?"

Jake glanced over to little
Andy sitting at the other end of the table munching on cereal. The pup would be
turning six in less than a month.

Jake smiled wearily. “No, I
didn't, but I'll be fine. That's what I get for staying up late."

His wife Mary trotted in and
set her messenger bag on the table before checking the coffee pot. “Everything
all right, hun? I fell asleep before you came to bed…"

Jake looked at the manila
folder and then the messenger bag, then turned to her. He couldn't help but
smile at the sight of her, even if she was just pouring coffee. A beautiful
collie form colored in the hues of Autumn and made complete by a face that hid
sharp wit behind a veneer of calm. “Just some deadlines from the office. I, uh…
might be a little late coming home today, too."

Mary smiled and planted a
kiss on his cheek. “Don't overwork yourself. You've already been promoted twice
in less than a year, so obviously they see something special in you."

She turned away but Jake
took her hand and gently pulled her back, still smiling at her. “I'll be
careful." He stood and kissed her back. “Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be
fine."

Mary grinned. “Fantastic."

Andy squeamishly looked away
at his parents' display of affection and put his bowl in the sink. Jake jolted
at the clank of dishes.

Mary blinked. “You sure
you're okay? You seem really on-edge."

“Nothing, just…" He shook
his head. “Everything will be all right. Make sure Andy gets to school on
time."

Mary glimpsed at the nearby
clock. “Oh! Right." She planted one last kiss on his cheek before gathering her
bag and heading for the door. “Andy, brush your teeth and let's get going."

As the two left the kitchen,
Jake looked out the window, lost in thought. He waited until hearing Mary and
Andy leave, then pulled out his cell phone.

“Stephen? This is Jake. Listen,
there's been a change of plans. Don't bring the package in. Send it to the high
school and address it to my wife, then come up with an alibi for being late. I
don't think I can stall Dr. Maxwell any longer."

 

 

Mary Raines walked into the
high school's administration office to check her mail, waving to the beagle secretary.
“Hi Sheila. Did Mr. McGavin call back about his daughter's midterm grades?"

“No, but you did get a
package just before you came in."

The collie blinked as she
read the label on the large box. “For my eyes only? I'm a teacher, not a spy…"

Sheila grinned. “Well, you are
pretty observant, the way you caught those students trying to run a homework
exchange last month. Anyway, the package cleared screening, so whatever's in
there is yours now."

Mary hefted it onto one
shoulder and glanced at the clock. “I'm running late again…"

 

Mary barely had enough time
to drop the package off in her office then trot to her classroom, entering mere
seconds before the bell rang.

She plopped her messenger
bag on the desk and searched for the day's lesson folders. “All right, sit down
everyone…  Today we start chapter thr—" Mary
paused, noticing a packed and sealed manila envelope among the folders. “Uh…
three, yeah."

 

Class had gone on as normal,
but after everyone was dismissed Mary pulled out the envelope and studied it. There
was no writing anywhere. She cautiously opened it. Inside were documents deemed
classified, all marked for BioGen, the research company her husband Jake worked
at. Despite knowing she probably should not be reading it, the material
discussed was both fascinating and somewhat horrifying. Her curiosity demanded
to learn more. It read of genetics research that involved alterations of the
brain itself, physical augmentation by way of manipulating the very molecules
making up the natural body, and formulas of biological mutagens and chemicals that
no company would ever admit to developing. What kind of research did Jake do
while there?

As students filed into the
classroom, Mary took the folder and dialed into the intercom. “I'm gonna need
someone to cover my class for a few minutes. Something just came up."

Mary strode down the halls
and entered her small office, tearing the delivered package open with her claws.
Within, supported by hard foam molds, she found numerous sealed bottles and
vials of colored liquids. The BioGen logo had been stamped onto each one of
them.

The collie's eyes widened.
“How in the world did this get cleared?"

She dumped the papers out of
the manila envelope and searched among them to find descriptions of the very liquids
in front of her. She only had time to wonder what Jake was trying to tell her with
this before the school's fire alarms went off.

Mary stuffed the papers into
the box with the bottles and made her way to the door, then froze. A tiny,
fleeting suspicion entered her mind, warning her of what might happen if the
fire marshal were to find to those bottles and research papers in her office.

She hastily taped the box
shut and carried it out among the crowds. Mere moments after blending in with
the others, she glanced back to see four figures in black uniforms break away
to enter her office using a strange mechanical key.

Mary narrowed her eyes and
continued on, unable to find any staff or security guards to alert. She knew
the biology and chemistry labs were on the way to the exits, so she made a
quick detour in hopes of hiding the bottles.

“I got her scent…  There she is! Follow her!"

Out of all the voices in the
crowd, Mary heard that one perfectly. She sped her pace and entered an empty
chemistry lab, locking the door behind her. At hearing footsteps approaching
outside, she headed for the back and hastily tore the box back open. Unfortunately,
the cabinets were all locked. There was nowhere to hide the bottles except the
UV cleaning station.

Mary heard a high-pitched
whirring at the door—the mechanical lockpick!

She opened the cleaning
station's door and stuffed the bottles in with the papers, then shut it quick,
unwittingly activating the ultraviolet sanitizing lamps within.

Someone kicked the door open
and four figures entered, three weasels and a bear. The lead weasel bared his
fangs. “Where's the box, lady?"

Mary leaned back against the
cleaning station, trying to act brave. “What box?"

The leader narrowed his
eyes, then punched a nearby tabletop nozzle, busting open a gas line for the
Bunsen burners. The others did the same to the tables they stood near. He pulled
out a lighter and continued, “Once again… 
Where's the box?"

Mary's eyes widened. “Are
you insane? You're willing to turn this place into an inferno over a box??" She
barely noticed sounds of hissing and bubbling in the UV cleaner.

“Let's just say we're paid
well by a bunch of people who really, really want it. The kind of people
you don't want to disappoint. You can call us crazy, but there aren't many
willing to die over a bunch of stupid bottles and vials." He pulled out a
silenced pistol with his other hand, keeping the first near the gas valve ready
to thumb the lighter, “Now… one last time."

Mary grit her teeth and
nudged the small box at her feet. “Fine, here, take it. Now put the lighter
away!"

One of the weasels swiped it
from the floor and held it out. “It's empty."

The leader growled and
stepped forward. “Do you think we're joking??"

The UV cleaning station
exploded in a wave of scorching-hot liquid and glass, hitting Mary from behind.
The weasels jolted back in impulse, the leader inadvertently snapping the
lighter. It sparked a swelling explosion of flame, turning the lab into a
violent firestorm.

Mary hit the floor, clothes
and skin shredded by glass and doused in countless chemical fluids. The pain
was indescribable. She could not even scream as the shock reverberated through
her body.  She noticed the flames coming
closer as the fire spread. She wanted to move, she had to, but her
weakening body did not respond. As her consciousness faded, all she could think
was, No, don't you do it. Not now. Don't black out. Don't black out! Don't…

 

 

“You were supposed to make
this a subtle operation, Janus!"

The lead weasel winced at
the tone of the voice on his cell phone. White bandages covered half his face
and most of his left arm while his clothing was left charred and smelled of
smoke. He glanced around the hospital's burn ward and replied in a hushed tone,
“Listen, none of us could've predicted his wife would figure something
out in all this. She was supposed to be gone during the fire drill!"

“How much did she know? And
more importantly, where are those chemicals?"

“She knew enough to realize
she shouldn't have had that box. We don't know if Jake alerted her or not. As
for the chemicals, you better send someone to the police department because
they're probably taking every piece of evidence left in there."

There was a pause on the
line, then. “Did you deliberately start that fire?"

“We just pulled the fire
alarm," Janus replied, refusing to mention their opening the gas lines. He
blinked, remembering the explosion behind Mary in the lab. “Those chemicals
weren't volatile, were they?"

“We don't know, which is why
we need you to bring them back. Jake had all the research, all the data, everything
about this experiment sent to her. He knew we were on to him, so she is our
only chance to get his findings."

“Why can't you just ask him? You're Dr. Maxwell, he works for you!"

“He's already gone. We drugged
him to keep him from alerting the authorities, thinking we could find
everything we needed in his computer and files, but by the time we realized he
was storing everything elsewhere, he had already died. His body had an adverse
reaction to the drugs and went into shock, and we couldn't resuscitate him. Now,
sources say his wife is in the same hospital you're staying at. Find her before
she has a chance to leave and bring her to us. We don't care how you do it as
long as she can still be interrogated when she arrives."

“Consider it done. I have a
few friends I can call in to help out and keep the staff from interfering."

 

At the other end of the
line, smoke wisped from a goat's mouth, baring grit teeth of frustration. “Janus,
there's a lot of money and contracts at stake here—don't screw it up."

Dr. Maxwell hung up the
phone and doused his cigar. In the dimly-lit conference room, he glanced up to
see the glowing eyes of the rest of the board, all impatiently waiting for Jake
Raines' information. Maxwell leaned back and steepled his hoof-tipped hands.
“Regardless of whether Janus is successful, this is going to bring us a lot of
unnecessary attention. How close are we to replicating Jake's predictions with
our current formulas?"

One of the glowy-eyed
shadows leaned forward, a jackal. “Not close enough. Test subjects continue to
degrade mentally within hours of exposure. Psychosis is inevitable unless we
gain something from what he learned with his latest combinations of mutagens."

Another shadow, this one in
the shape of an elk, boomed, “We have three black market distributors already
lined up for Jake's formulas. We promised them super-soldier serums, but if
they think our secrecy has been compromised we'll lose their contracts."

Dr. Maxwell narrowed his
eyes. “Indeed. Move all sensitive information to the hidden servers in the data
center and disconnect access, then put our current experimental mutagens in the
vault, including and especially Formula 48. Also, prepare an
experimentation chamber in case Mrs. Raines refuses to talk."

 

 

Amid the beeps of diagnostic
equipment, a voice droned, “Mary Raines, age twenty-nine, female, collie, found
after the fire was suppressed, which had taken approximately one hour…  Reported to have third degree burns over most
her body. Also reported to have multiple lacerations from glass shards, many of
which had to be removed at the scene…"

Mary groaned and groggily
opened her eyes to murmuring nearby. She turned to see a canine doctor turning
from his notes to stare intently at her.

“How do you feel, Mrs.
Raines?"

“Weak… and hungry…  What happened?"

“You were caught in a
building fire at the school. Luckily, there were no casualties, and no one was
harmed."

“No one? Then why am I here
in the hospital, and why did you mention I had third degree burns and
lacerations?"

“You were reported to
have them, at the scene of the fire, but you seem to have miraculously healed."

Mary leaned up. “What? How
long was I out?"

“Just eight hours, not
including the time you were lying in the rubble. By the time you arrived here,
your skin had already repaired itself. You looked like you'd only gotten
sunburned. Within the next two hours, your fur had completely grown back. Through
all this, your body has been absorbing nutrients at an extremely accelerated
rate. Never have we seen anything like this before!"

“You mean… it's like the
accident never even happened to me?"

The doctor pointed to a
mirror hanging from the room's closed door. Mary stared wide-eyed at her
reflection. She looked perfect, even more so than normal. A pinnacle of canine
health and beauty. “H-how…?"

“We're wondering that, too. We
tried to take a blood sample upon your arrival but… well, your skin kept
breaking our needles."

Mary stared at him. “You're
kidding."

“I'm afraid not. You'll
notice you don't even have an I.V. hooked up. About the only thing we could
manage was a feeding tube."

Mary stared down at her lap.
She examined her paws. “Nothing is able to pierce me? Who else knows about
this?"

“Myself and one other nurse.
I didn't want a news crew barging in here so I've sworn her to secrecy and I
can guarantee discretion. However… I'm concerned about what might have gotten
into your system. Ultra-fast healing with an unbreakable body is just… surreal."

Mary closed her eyes,
remembering the chemicals she hid. They were sure to have exploded and covered
her. Were they the cause? “Where's my husband?"

“We've tried to reach him
but there's no response from either his cell phone or his work phone."

“And my son?"

“At home, watched over by a
neighbor, per your contingency instructions with his elementary school. He's
safe, don't worry."

Mary leaned back and ran a
hand through her long, completely-grown-back hair, then let out a relieved sigh.
“Fantastic… thanks, doctor. Can I be alone for a moment?"

After the doctor left, Mary
pondered for a moment. She drew a claw across one of her arms, but her skin
remained intact. She didn't even hurt!

Mary got up and put on a
robe, then froze. The unmistakable scents of smoke and a hauntingly familiar
weasel filled her nostrils.

The door opened and Janus
entered, glaring at her. Part of the weasel's fur remained burnt away and he
now wore an eyepatch. “Time to leave."

“What do you want with me?"
Mary growled, trying not to tremble.

“All I want is for you to
come quietly. The rest is up to BioGen." He lunged and grabbed the collie's
arms.

Mary snarled in protest. She
planted a foot on his chest and shoved him back with enough force to send him
through the opposite window and into a wall. Mary blinked in amazement. “Whoa…"

She carefully walked out as curious
medical personnel approached. Mary turned to warn them but more black-clad
mustilids emerged and tazed them, sending everyone to the floor.

The weasels then turned on
Mary. She spun but found the huge bear blocking her path.

“We're only gonna ask once."

Mary steeled herself and
threw a punch, sending the bear sailing down the hall knocking over everything
in his way until he collided with the far wall. The others stared in shock. Mary
tilted her head, fascinated, then turned to face them and grinned. “Care to try
your luck?"

The weasels traded glances,
then charged at her.

Mary swiftly dodged and
grabbed their tazers, crushing them in her palms, then whirled and kicked one
into a wall and elbowed the other, cracking his shoulder and sending him to the
floor. She backed away, unable to stop smiling at what she had done. “This…
this is amazing!"

A savage scream resounded
behind her. Mary turned to see another weasel in a combat stance, fists
clenched and fangs bared. He threw a few punches at the air, then whirled and
spin-kicked toward her. He roared and unleashed a flurry of powerful strikes
against her body.

The weasel then crumbled to
the ground, wailing in pain. The bones in his fists and legs had been shattered
from the impacts, while Mary remained completely unharmed.

Mary blinked. “Huh…"

She then noticed the downed
medical personnel on the floor nearby and hurried over to check on them,
unaware the broken glass on the floor was not piercing her feet.

She only checked for vital
signs before realizing someone coming up behind her. She spun and grabbed
Janus's wrist, squeezing to send the weasel to his knees. Mary grinned, bearing
her fangs. “I'm not going anywhere. By the way… love the new eyepatch. Fits
the whole 'black-hearted villain' motif you've got going there."

Janus growled through his
cringing and threw a bottle of anesthetic fluid at her face, smashing it. Mary
stumbled back, suddenly delirious, and fell to the floor moments later.

Janus limped to her and
stood over her unconscious body. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed in. “This
is Janus. I think I found your missing chemical mutagens…"

 

 

A rabbit in a lab coat
studied the still-unconscious collie from behind mirrored glass. Mary had been
strapped to an exam table while robotic implements waited overhead, some of
them looking worn down after repeated attempts to break her impenetrable skin.

“This is unheard of…" he
muttered, rubbing his chin.

The door behind him slid
open and five figures entered. “Dr. Stephen Argus…"

The rabbit didn't even have
to turn. His ears folded and a chill ran down his spine. “Dr. Maxwell…"

The goat and his four other
board members stepped to the glass and observed the naked collie on the table. All
five of them towered over the nervous rabbit. Stephan could easily see their
empty, glowing eyes in the window's reflection, a trait shared by all but Dr.
Maxwell himself.

Dr. Maxwell clasped his
hands behind his back. “Did Jake really know these materials were capable of
this?"

Stephen tugged at his shirt
collar. “He had an inclination, but as far as we knew he never perfected a
formula. Apparently, whatever he was trying to hide would've been the key to
figuring it out, but now it's been destroyed in that fire." He let out a sigh.
“His wife is our only answer now. Janus said she was covered in every mutagen
packed in that box before room burned down. We don't know the doses, mixture,
transmission method… or even half the chemical names of what doused her." He
focused on the battered robotic implements. “The results… speak for themselves,
though."

Dr. Maxwell's expression
remained a frozen scowl. “I want her. Every molecule of her body. She is
the key to finding Dr. Raines' formula, and it's locked away somewhere in her now-altered
DNA."

The hulking elk next to him wrinkled
his brow, puzzled. “How can we get a proper tissue and blood sample if we
cannot break her skin?"

Dr. Maxwell studied the
screens in front of them, noticing abnormal readings every time lasers scanned
her body. “Hold on. It's as if every cell that makes up her form is emitting
some unnatural force." He then glanced over at the medical report stolen from
the hospital.

“Discovered after the fire,
having already begun healing…" He tilted his head. “After the fire…"

The goat's cell phone rang. He
gave an annoyed grunt and answered, “What is it? … Are you sure? Fine then…
we're on our way." Dr. Maxwell hung up and gestured for the board members to
leave, then turned to Stephen. “Use heat lasers at maximum output, and if that
doesn't work switch to ionizing radiation. I want results, and soon.
The black market distributors are getting impatient." He spun and walked out.

Stephen let out a breath. “And
to think, we began as a tiny pharmaceuticals company…"

 

In the exam room, another
robotic arm folded out with a focusing lens at the tip. It glowed red, then
shot a beam of pure heat energy directly at Mary's neck.

The computer readouts
spiked, showing invisible disruptions all over Mary's body. Stephan's eyes
widened in realization. “Heat and radiation… that's what disrupts her shield!"

 

Mary suddenly cringed,
jolting awake to find herself strapped down and in serious pain. Her pulse
raced and she struggled against the bindings, gritting her teeth in desperation
until the exam table warped under her. A blast of pure concussive force erupted
from her body, freeing her and destroying the laser emitter.

The collie rolled onto the
floor, gasping for breath, then looked up to see the cracked mirror-like glass.
She roared and charged through.

The observation window
shattered with little effort and Mary found the only figure within, a shocked
rabbit in a lab coat, back against the wall.

Mary approached. “What's
going on??"

The rabbit held up his hands.
“Mary, wait! It's me! It's Stephen Argus!"

Mary paused, glaring at him.
“Answer me."

Stephen flicked his ears,
directing her gaze to the camera above him.

Mary balled a fist and
lunged. Stephen ducked in reflex and the collie destroyed the camera, then
backed away looking just as angry as before.

Stephen stood and relaxed a
little. “Good, now we can talk…  Listen,
I had nothing to do with your kidnapping." He pulled off his coat and handed it
to the nude collie.

Mary snatched it from his
hand and tugged it on, though it hardly fit her muscled form. “Where's Jake?"

Stephen paused, taking a
deep breath, then said, “I'm afraid BioGen got to him first. He's… he's gone."

Mary blinked, shocked, and
stumbled back to lean against the broken window pane. “W-what? How?"

Stephen tugged at his
necktie. “He was working on a formula for… well, abilities similar to those you
now possess, but he and I both learned that BioGen had its sights on
less-than-noble uses for it. We had hoped to use the mutagens in the medical
field, like helping to cure paralysis and brain damage, or even regrow limbs,
but we stumbled upon documents from our superiors that there were buyers, both
legit and black market, that were lining up to purchase his formula. They knew
the effects on healthy bodies could result in either powerful, deadly
enhancements… or dangerous mutation and psychosis. Our own company wouldn't
care who got the mutagens, only that they could retire overnight with the
profits. Naturally, Jake objected and hid his research material, but our
superiors figured him out and tried to force him to hand over everything he had
on the project. By then, he'd already sent it to you, hoping you would hide it until
he could figure out what to do, but… well, I guess fate had other plans."

Mary stared at the floor,
dumbfounded. “He's dead…"

“I'm so sorry, Mary…  Please believe me, he never wanted you
to get involved, but this morning he knew he was out of options. He couldn't
stall them any longer by himself, and I'm already walking on thin ice with our
superiors."

“You? You were the one
trying to cut into me, Stephen!"

“Did you see that camera? They're
watching me like Big Brother here! If I don't cooperate, they'll kill me, too!"

Mary stared him in the eyes
and figured he was telling the truth. She thought for a moment, trying not to
break down at the realization that Jake was gone and Andy was in danger. “What
do we do?"

Stephen tugged at his tie
again. “I'm not sure, but since you destroyed that camera I'm certain they're
gearing up to storm this room."

Mary stiffened, ears panning
to the side. She heard footsteps. “They're already here."

 

Alarms blared overhead
throughout the complex and flashing red lights bathed the hallways in
disorienting pulses. Outside of the exam observation room, a crew of
fully-armed and armored guards gathered in front of the door, calm and focused
even through the alarms.

The leader motioned a
countdown on his fingers, then kicked the door open and charged in only to be
knocked back out, slamming into his teammates.

Mary burst from the room and
punched down the first one to get up. Another rolled away and lifted his gun to
fire, but the collie whirled to kick him into a wall, denting his helmet. Two
more jumped up and fired, but with reflexes no normal being could possess Mary batted
away the stun darts then spun toward the soldiers and smashed one in the face. Her
fist shattered his helmet's plexiglass visor while his teammate watched in
shock, then Mary struck his chest and sent him flying into the opposite wall.

The leader staggered up and
pulled out his sidearm pistol, “Enough of this…" He opened fire, but the
bullets harmlessly flattened against her back and fell to the floor.

Mary whirled, glaring at him
in anger. “What did you do to my husband?"

The leader blinked, stepping
back. “What are you??"

The collie growled and
delivered a powerful uppercut, knocking him into the ceiling.

Stephen cautiously walked
out, staring at the fallen guards. “Whoa…"

Mary panted for breath, then
clutched her head and stumbled back against the wall. “I dunno if I can keep
that up…"

Stephen hurried to her side,
“Mary, we have to move fast. More are sure to come after you."

“Why do I feel so dizzy?"

“It's a stress response, and
you're still recovering from the anesthetic fluid." He tugged her arm. “C'mon, I
know a place to hide for a bit while we figure out what to do next."

Mary glanced back at the
guards. “Are… are they dead?"

“I saw 'em breathing, don't
worry." He kept tugging her arm. “I know you're angry at them, but I'm glad you
have a stable enough mind to comprehend that. It shows you're not displaying
the psychotic effects of some of our earlier trials."

“Earlier trials? You've been
testing this on people?"

The alarms overhead went
silent, halting the duo, but the red lights continued to flash.

“What's that mean?" Mary
asked.

“It means the complex is
still under high alert, but the guards need the use of their ears. They're
hunting us now."

 

Mary and Stephen hurried
into a dark room and locked the door behind them.

The collie glanced around at
the old, unused equipment, barely lit by weak floodlights. “The alarm lights
aren't on in this room…"

“Main power was cut off to
it a while back. There were plans to renovate it but that never happened. This
place is little more than big storage shed right now." Stephen maneuvered his
way around metal crates and paused at one marked 'FG.'

Mary leaned against a
smaller crate, staring down at her still-unbroken body. The coat covering her
was in shreds, but the scuffle had not damaged her at all. She shut her eyes,
trying to contemplate the seriousness of her situation. An answer slowly formed
in her mind.

“Stephen, if you… if you truly
want to escape BioGen's eye, then you'll help me stop them. Permanently." She
stared at her hand, then glanced down at her feet. Surely she could survive. “They
forced this… power on me, and deserve comeuppance for murdering my
husband. If they seek to abuse his work by selling it to the black market… then
I have to take them down."

“Before you do, Mary…" said
Stephen, wheeling the crate over to her. “I've figured out that there's some
sort of forcefield surrounding your body that's protecting you. You're
extremely tough, but there might be a limit to how much you can take." He thought
back to the dented table and destroyed robotic arms back in the exam room. “Apparently
you can project that field with added
concussive force, too. However, prior to your waking up I learned that extreme
heat and radiation will disrupt that field, and I bet electricity will, too. Furthermore,
you still have to breathe, and it's obvious you're not immune to paralytic
inhalants, so be careful." He paused and tilted his head. “Um… how exactly do
you plan on stopping this company? They've got enough lawyers to stall an
investigation indefinitely."

Mary punched the nearby
wall, cracking it. “The alarms will ensure this place is completely evacuated. Once
it's empty, I want you to delete all traces of my presence from BioGen's system,
and I'll force an investigation by way of 'natural disaster.'  If the labs are critically damaged then
someone outside will notice, and when fire marshals and police investigators
are checking to determine whether to condemn this place, there's no way they'll
ignore the evidence I leave behind."

Stephen tugged at his tie
again. “This is seriously risky… but you have a point. BioGen's not going to
stop pursuing you unless you do something major." He tilted his head, looking
over her form.

Mary snorted at his glances
and tried to cover herself, but Stephen innocently held up his paws. “Easy now,
I'm just checking to make sure you're the right size." He opened the crate and
pulled out a white, reflective fabric. “If you truly wish to fight back then you'll
be facing more guards, and they adapt quick. This can protect you if they
resort to heat rays and tasers." He held it out in front of her, showing it to
be a bodysuit. “This… is a refraction suit. The reflective nature of the
material can weaken any sort of heat-related weaponry they might use to disrupt
your forcefield. We developed these for working in extreme-temperature
environments back when we studied adaptive mutagenics in hostile habitats. It's
also tough enough to withstand most firearms, and I'm sure your forcefield can
accentuate that."

Mary took it in her hands
and examined it up close in curiosity. “What's with the 'FG' stamped on the
chest?"

“I forget. Probably a code
relating to the environment it was designed to be used in, but these
experiments stopped long ago so I doubt anyone knows what it means now."
He pulled out a set of long boots and gloves coated in an even shinier light
blue color. He turned to hand them to her and saw that she was already wearing
the refraction suit.

Mary donned the gloves and
boots, then looked at her reflection in another metal crate's mirrored surface.
The collie grinned. “So this is how it starts, huh…  I look like a superheroine."

“Technically… you are
one, dear. You've got the powers to prove it."

Mary nodded. “Well, then
I'll need a way to hide my identity after you delete BioGen's records of my
stay here. How much of this blue-colored material did you guys produce?"

The rabbit glanced back into
the crate and smiled. “Enough for a mask and a cape."

Mary chuckled. “Fantastic…"

 

 

Janus stood behind a pair of
technicians studying an array of monitors. One by one, each screen turned to
static as the complex's cameras went offline. He wearily rubbed his one working
eye. “Just how much did you get from Stephen before that collie woke up?"

“Not enough…" said one of
the technicians, a raccoon. “The microphones were getting a lot of interference
from the lasers he started using on her."

Janus's ears flicked in
wonder. “Lasers, hmm?" He pulled out a radio. “All personnel in sectors five,
seven, and eight… head to the nearest labs and grab whatever experimental heat
cannons that are operational. Target may be vulnerable to high-intensity
temperature changes."

The technicians glanced back
at him. “Where do you think she's going?"

“If I were in her situation,
I'd be looking to cause as much damage as possible, and if she beat a response
out of Stephen, I'm willing to bet money that she's going for our data center
to find evidence of illegal activities before destroying everything in a
rampage." He looked at the monitors for cameras near that area. The screens
remained functional, displaying empty hallways. Janus spun and trotted out.
“Keep me informed when you see her."

As he briskly walked through
the red-lit hallway, Janus switched comm channels on the radio. “Dr. Maxwell,
you and the board better start working on some data backups fast. She doesn't
know your names yet, but she's coming after you."

“Understood, Janus. I
recommend you get her under control now. If she takes us out, there'll
be no one to stop the authorities from connecting you to her kidnapping or the
fire."

The weasel paused in front
of a large door marked, BIOHAZARD EXPERIMENTATION – LASERS PRESENT. EYE
PROTECTION REQUIRED. Janus grinned and responded, “Noooo problem…"

 

 

A small metal door slid open
to present a pair of oversized syringes, labeled Formula 48-c1 and Formula 48-c2.

The towering elk grabbed
them both and handed them to Dr. Maxwell.

The goat examined the orange
fluid within each and nodded. “If worse comes to worse… we'll have to hope we
can force an answer from her before the psychosis takes us. Head for the vault."

 

 

“I repeat, she's in sector
four!"

An armored guard watched in
shock as the masked collie tore through his team. Bullets did nothing against
her body, and her reflective suit rendered tasers useless. All the while, her
punches and kicks sent the guards into walls and through entire hallways as she
rushed. Soon, the guard was the only one left, and the collie had him against
the wall.

She crushed his radio in her
hand with little effort and glared at him. “I'm only going to ask this
once…  Where is the most secure location
in this facility?"

The guard saw subdued rage
in the masked collie's eyes, a fury held back by desperation and the slightest
hint of sorrow.

“S-sector nine, through the
south hall and five levels down."

The collie pulled the pin
from a smoke canister on the guard's belt then shoved him away, sending him skidding
down the hall while the grenade filled it with smoke.

 

Mary pulled out the spare
radio Stephen gave her and dialed into the secured channel. “Any luck on that
network?"

Stephen's voice crackled
through the speaker. “Not too much, I'm afraid. I'm not a computer tech. About
the best I've been able to do is mess with the camera feeds, and they've
disconnected the data center from the rest of this facility, so I need you down
there pronto to get that evidence. Now, I did manage to disable all
emergency response functions, so if you do something like start a fire, the
foam dispersers won't turn on. I'll see what else I can do from here."

Mary nodded and continued
down the hall. “Just keep at it. There's no telling how long it'll take for
them to figure out a way to neutralize me." She paused at a cross-junction and
lifted her nose, sensing a plethora of unfamiliar scents. Then, one stuck out
from all of them.

“Jake…"

She turned left and hurried
to a room at the end. The hall widened and the double doors at the end had a
large biohazard trefoil painted on them along with the words, DEEP FREEZE
STORAGE – BIOLOGICAL EXPERIMENT AGENTS PRESENT.

Mary's eyes widened. She had
found the repository for failed genetic experiments, a freezer storing the dead
bodies of countless subjects. Jake's faint scent led in.

The masked collie cautiously
opened the doors into an obvious mortuary. Closed cabinets lined the walls and
below-freezing temperatures chilled the entire room.

Mary glanced over the labels
as she passed, noting unfamiliar numbers corresponding to associated
experiments. Some labels even had names, and the barely-noticeable scents all
around proved to her they were once people. People who may or may not have
volunteered freely. Mary found herself surrounded by BioGen's guilt, a
testament to what the corporation continuously failed to achieve and the lives
sacrificed in its attempt to succeed in the field of modified genetics and
biological enhancement.

Soon, Mary found the label
that carried the name she dreaded the most.

Jake Raines.

Mary halted, stifling a gasp.
The label was blank other than his name. Though she feared what, or who, was
within, she had to see for herself if only to quell her worries of his fate. She
slowly opened the door and pulled the shelf out, revealing the black body bag
it carried. Mary hesitated, hand hovering over the zipper. She swallowed and
summoned her courage, then pulled it open.

There before her eyes lay
Jake's lifeless body.

Mary shuddered. Tears
streamed from her eyes as she gazed upon her late husband. His scent, his fur pattern…
everything confirmed that this was him. She was now a widow.

The collie whimpered, trying
to keep herself quiet, and lowered her head to that of her deceased husband's. She
let her tears fall freely, gritting her teeth in sorrow as she tried not to
wail. They had taken him from her, and now she could not even cry out lest they
discover her and harm her as well.

Mary finally straightened in
attempt to compose herself, feeling tears frozen onto her mask. She had to make
things right.

“You need a scent shield…"
came a voice behind her. “I tracked you here way too easily."

Mary whirled to find the
weasel standing in the doorway, grinning.

Janus lifted an oddly-shaped
firearm. “You are property of the BioGen corporation. I'm obligated to warn you
just once—surrender or I open fire."

Mary's ears flattened. “I am
no one's property! And neither was
Jake!"

She stepped forward and
Janus unleashed a red pulse from his repurposed laser gun. The beam nailed the
collie's shoulder, cracking a portion of her refraction suit.

Mary gasped in shock. “What
the…?"

Janus blinked, then laughed
as the gun recharged. “That reflective suit can't hold up in the morgue's frigid
air. Heat expansion from the laser will destroy it when it's that cold!" He let
loose another burst, searing a line across the room.

Mary dove and rolled to
dodge, catching part of the beam with her leg. Her refraction suit cracked
again, threatening to pull apart from her movement. The collie took cover
behind a half-wall in the back of the room.

Janus recharged the gun
again. “More are coming this way, Mrs. Raines. They all have guns like this,
and they know about your powers' heat sensitivity."

“Just why are you after me?"
Mary shouted from behind the wall. “Why did Jake have to die for a simple
chemical formula?"

“Oh, I can't just give up
classified intel that quickly. Surrender and maybe I'll answer all your
questions…"

Mary heard him approaching
and was already trapped. She crouched lower and focused. Okay… if I can
exert this forcefield around me like Stephen said…

Janus leaped over the half
wall and aimed, but a powerful wave erupted from Mary's body, blasting him and
everything nearby from the powerful shockwave. Concrete, ice, and mangled metal
soared outward and across the room.

In the middle of a small
crater, Mary stood among dust and mist, surveying the damage. “I gotta get the
hang of that…"

Janus staggered to his feet,
rubble tumbling from his body. He eyed Mary in frustration. “That… was a cheap
shot!" He grabbed the heat cannon from the ground.

Mary ripped open a cabinet
and tore out the metal shelf, blocking the laser at the last moment. She threw
it at him and the weasel ducked, but couldn't avoid her lunge right after.

She collided with the weasel
and both skidded across the cold floor, bursting out the double doors into the
hallway.

Mary grabbed the laser gun
and ripped it apart, then glanced up and noticed an entire squad of guards
raising their own guns at her.

Janus rolled away. “Stop
waiting and shoot her!"

Mary darted upward, blasting
through the ceiling.

The group rushed to the hole
she left and fired upward, but only steam and seared metal emerged.

Down the hall, the ceiling
burst again and Mary hit the floor, then rushed away before they could
recharge.

 

The collie ran as fast as
she could, hearing ice particles and portions of her suit cracking from her
movement in the warmer air. The reflective surface had already dulled in some
areas.

She slowed to a trot to
ponder what to do next. There had to be a way down. When she lifted her head,
the answer presented itself in the form of a sign pointing to the nearest
elevators.

Of course!

 

The elevators were not far,
and Mary had no reason to wait. She jammed her hands between the doors and
forced them open, revealing the gaping shaft leading down to more secure levels.
She hesitated only a moment, wondering if her forcefield would protect her in a
fall. Then again, if she could manipulate its force…

The collie stepped in and
let herself fall, then focused. Her body slowed its descent until,
miraculously, she began to hover. The air itself seemed to warp under her as
she remained aloft.

Fantastic! She could
actually fly!

She lowered to the doors
marked SECTOR NINE. The sub-basement of the entire complex. Mary forced the
doors open and strode through.

The hallway beyond was dark
and lacked proper walls, having instead been relegated to chain-link fences
stretched from column to column. Massive bundles of pipes and wires lay behind
them, all leading forward. Here, Mary realized her senses were heightened,
possibly another effect of the mutagens that granted her forcefield. Certain
scents were more noticeable, she could pick out distinct noises around her, and
she could see in the dimly-lit corridors much more easily than she expected. With
the heavy scent of ozone ahead, Mary knew exactly where to go.

She hovered above the floor,
then took off down the hall, soaring through narrow chain-link corridors. A
T-junction quickly came into her view and she sped her flight, gritting her teeth
in determination.

On the ceiling, a pair of
automated sentry guns lowered and opened fire, but the bullets ricocheted off
the collie's body. Mary roared and slammed into one gun, crushing it against
the wall, then lunged at the other and silenced it with a shattering punch. The
defenses neutralized, Mary paused to look at the nearby sign.

To the right were the
facility's power generators. To the left were the data center and chemical
vault.

Mary nodded and turned left,
but side doors opened and five figures stepped out to block her path. An elk, a
jackal, a snake, a lion, and a goat—Dr. Maxwell and the glowy-eyed members of
the BioGen board of directors. Each of them tossed large, empty syringes to the
floor.

Dr. Maxwell smirked. “Going
somewhere, my dear?"

Mary could already sense
something off about them and took a step back. “I'm here to demand you release
me."

The goat held out his arms.
“No."

The board members behind him
silently stepped close and grabbed his arms. Maxwell gave the slightest of winces
and his body jerked. Muscles suddenly bulged from his business suit, tearing it
apart as the goat's body grew. His horns lengthened and twisted into drill-like
spikes while bones cracked, reforming and reshaping to accommodate his hulking
mass. Behind him, the board of directors remained deadpan even as their bodies
began to merge, forming a grotesque mass of muscle and spiked bone. Maxwell
absorbed into them. His skin became like hardened scales, his teeth sharpening
into dripping fangs, and his horns sprouting gnarled, spiked branches.

Mary's eyes widened his
horror as she witnessed the infernal transformation. Standing before her was a huge,
taur-like quadrupedal monster—a terrifying chimera of the entire board of
directors, and forming its muscled torso was the mutated appearance of Dr.
Maxwell himself.

Maxwell stared down at her
and spoke in a booming, demonic voice, “You will­ submit to BioGen's experimentation. There are billions of dollars'
worth of profit to be made on your genetic code."

Mary
couldn't help but back away. “Billions for whom? What do you hope to
accomplish as a disfigured mutant? And just how did the entire board
agree to… to become like this?"

Maxwell
slowly approached, filling the entire hallway and forcing the collie toward the
generators. “The board have been my puppets for years—the result of an early
experiment with hypnotic brain-chemistry alteration. As for what I tend to do
afterward… I assure you, we have formulas that can reverse this… provided we
complete them with Jake's research. Research that you have within your
body."

“And
what about public opinion? There's no way people will support this corporation
from what you're doing."

“This
company has a dedicated staff of image consultants. I've managed to avoid the
EPA and numerous civil rights' groups so far, and I intend to continue that
trend."

Mary
halted and stood her ground. “That trend ends here."

Maxwell
launched his fist and smashed Mary backwards down the hall. The collie collided
with the doors at the end and tore them from their reinforced hinges, sailing
onto a metal walkway and skidding to a halt in front of a glowing glass column
of surging electricity.

Mary
wobbled up to her feet. “This is going to suck…" She turned to see the gigantic
glass column, then looked down at violently-swirling plasma at the bottom of
the shaft, glowing white hot and suspended within an altered-gravity field. She
heard Maxwell entering at the other end.

“Amazing,
is it not?" said the mutant. The metal walkway creaked and groaned as it tried
to support his weight. “This entire facility has its own power source, derived
from a potent form of geo-thermal power. All the energy we'll ever need to
power our numerous experiments, without fear of being disconnected or even
discovered by the authorities. And now, it will be the weapon that kills you."

Mary
floated upwards warping the air around her, and hovered out of Maxwell's reach.
“I may only be a school teacher, but that doesn't mean I can't fight!"

Maxwell
spit a stream of steaming acid, nailing her directly in the chest. Mary
shrieked and tried to brush away the fluid as it ate away her refraction suit. Maxwell
galloped forward and leaped up to grab her leg, then slammed her down on the
walkway, making a huge dent.

Her
radio fell from her belt and Janus's voice spoke out. “Mrs. Raines, I've found
Stephen and have a gun to his head. You have thirty seconds to drop what you're
doing and confront me before I pull the trigger."

Maxwell
grabbed the radio before Mary and flung it into the column, shattering the
glass and sending plasma wildly arcing out. “This is it, then…" he said. “You
wish to use your new talents to be a hero? You could continue fighting me with
the hope of surviving to download your evidence in the data center and shut
down the entire company, or you could abandon this fight, rescue him, then be
recaptured by myself and murdered for your DNA." He grabbed her neck and held
her out over the pit, close to the erupting plasma emissions from the cracked
column. “Or… you could just give up now. What hope does a simple housewife have
to be a defender?"

Mary
struggled in his grip. He was unbelievably strong, even against her own power. She
felt the intense heat rising behind her, weakening her shield already.

Maxwell
tilted his head and grinned, sadistically inching her closer to the plasma
spewing out from the broken column. “Don't worry, we'll take care of Andy. Perhaps
after we perfect Jake's formula from your remains, I could use the hypnotic
serums on him and turn him into BioGen's first corporate-owned super-being! What
better advertisement to a company's abilities than that?"

“No!!!"
Mary erupted in concussive force, blasting a powerful shockwave through the
entire chamber that completely shattered the glass column and sent Maxwell
careening backward. Plasma discharges released from containment coursed up the
walls and thundered all around the two figures, softening the metal walkways encircling
the chamber. The concrete walls cracked and pieces came tumbling down.

Mary
landed on a portion of the battered walkway and staggered forward, still weak. “You
should know better than to get between a mother and her pup…"

Maxwell
rose up to confront her, blocking the exit as heat lightning flashed from the plasma-infused
generator below. “You cannot possibly win, Mrs. Raines. I'm just as tough as
you are, and far more adept in combat."

Mary
glanced upward at the horrendously cracked ceiling high above. As weak as she
felt, she was out of options. She stood straight and flung her hands upward,
focusing a blast of her shield's concussive force. White light streaked from
her fists and nailed the ceiling, tearing a hole open to break the generator
room's seals. Lightning roared upward while debris and portions of the floors
above came down.

Maxwell
grabbed the railings as the chamber tore itself apart. “What do you think
you're doing??"

“Whatever
it takes…" Mary muttered. Summoning the last of her power, she darted up,
dodging debris as it fell from the rest of the facility.

Maxwell
leaped up to grab her, but missed. He landed on the weakened walkway, which
buckled from the constant stress and finally detached. The chimera roared,
tumbling down along with the remnants of the chamber and then plunging into the
churning plasma below. A blast of flame erupted, consuming sector nine in its
entirety, including the data center and vault.

Mary
strained, trying to fly up to escape, but her power was weak. She grabbed a
deformed girder and helplessly dangled above the fire. The collie looked down
and sighed, “There goes the evidence… but at least that mutant is gone, too."

“Mary!"
shouted a voice above. Stephen poked out from the remains of a ruined upper
floor. “Hold tight, I'll get something for you to climb!"

Mary
blinked. “I thought you were being held at gunpoint!"

Stephen's
voice echoed. “I escaped when the building started coming down. The authorities
are already on their way!"

Mary
hung there, trying to summon her forcefield to float her upwards, but was too
weak from the constant heat. After a few moments, she heard footsteps coming
close.

“So
you survived after all…"

The
collie looked up and gasped. “Janus…"

The
weasel crossed his arms and gazed at the plasma far below. “You killed him,
didn't you? Well I guess this means I'm not getting paid."

“So
are you going to stop stalking me?"

Janus
motioned to his eye patch. “Nope. You made it personal." He grinned, staring at
the portion of Mary's refraction suit destroyed by acid. “By the way, I love
the cleavage window you got there. I hear it's really popular with female
supers, particularly the bullet-proof ones."

Mary
growled. “You really want me to punch you, don't you?"

Janus
hefted another laser cannon and aimed down at her. “You won't get the chance."

The
weasel jolted and collapsed, dropping the gun. Behind him, Stephen held the
metal end of a fire hose. “These things make nice bludgeons!" He tossed it down
to help Mary climb back up, where she quickly tied up Janus's body with it and
carried him outside.

 

As
sirens filled the air from approaching fire trucks, Mary and Stephen stared
back at BioGen Labs' smoldering ruins.

“I'm
glad everyone was evacuated first…" said Mary. “Too bad all the evidence was
destroyed, though."

Stephen
smiled. “The company just lost its entire board of directors and
headquarters. At the very least, you stopped them from harming others, plus
your identity as a super-powered individual is buried."

Mary
nodded. She looked over at Janus, still unconscious nearby. “Some still know,
though…"

“I'll
speak with some friends of mine who can get you into a witness protection
program. In the meantime, I can also make sure he is kept silent by
doctoring some reports. Now that he's a mercenary in custody, I doubt he'll be
able to do much to threaten you anymore. I'm curious, though… what will you do
with your new gifts?"

Mary
stared at her gloved hands, still able to see a part of her reflection in the
shiny material. “This city still struggles with crime. Maybe I can do something
about it."

Stephen
nodded. “I'm sure we can find a few undamaged refraction suits still left in
the ruins. The one you're wearing looks pretty banged up."

Mary
chuckled. “Fantastic." She saw flaring lights approaching in the evening's
darkness. “Handle this for me, will ya? I have to go check on my son."

Stephen
smiled. “We'll keep in touch."

The
collie levitated, her powers having returned, and darted off into the night
sky.

 

 

In
the suburbs, a silver shape quietly landed. Mary saw no lights on at her house,
but a family friend's car was in the driveway—a friend who had agreed to take
care of Andy just in case the parents would be arriving home late. Mary quietly
walked in, careful not to disturb anybody.

She
poked her head into Andy's room to find the young pup sound asleep and safe. Mary
removed her mask and one of her gloves, then walked in and gently rubbed his
head.

The
pup shifted in his sleep and mumbled something in his dreaming. Mary smiled in
contentment. She wasn't sure how to break the tragic news that his father was
killed, but she took comfort in the fact the murderer had been dealt with.

She
glanced over at a nearby mirror and saw her reflection, suit and all. A
superhero... and a mother. She had super powers, but could she truly use them
to help others?

Perhaps…

 

 

A
car sped through downtown traffic, weaving past cars while police cruisers
pursued. The noon time rush did little to slow the car down as it barreled over
sidewalks and through barriers to avoid the cops.

It
breezed through an intersection but something nailed it from the side and sent
it rolling. When it finally settled on its roof, a figure gracefully landed on
the pavement nearby and approached. Her suit shined brilliantly in the
sunlight, perfectly fit to display every curve and muscle.

The
collie crossed her arms and grinned. “That'll make you think twice before
running a red light…"

As
police cruisers skidded to a halt behind her, robbers crawled out from under
the car and aimed their guns. One of the robbers hefted a flamethrower and
pulsed its flame.

The
collie pulled her cape around, deflecting the fire, then charged and kicked the
robber back. He hit the car and flipped backward to land on his stomach.

Another
crook fired his gun but the bullet ricocheted off her impenetrable body and
struck his partner. The collie quickly grabbed his gun and crushed it in her
hand, then delivered a powerful punch to flatten him.

She
turned to face the stunned officers. “You guys looked like you needed a bit of
help back there…"

One
of the policemen approached. “Uh… thanks. What's that 'FG' on your chest stand
for? That your name?"

The
collie blinked, realizing she never gave herself a “heroic" name yet. “Erm… Ffffantasta…Girl."
She grinned and floated upward. “Call me FantastaGirl." She waved and shot
skyward.

 

Up
in the air above countless skyscrapers, Mary surveyed her new domain. “Looks
like I have a new weekend job…" At hearing more sirens far off in the distance,
FantastaGirl smiled in confidence, then whirled and zoomed off to help.