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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.