Smoke and Mirrors
Chapter One
Today, Mayumi Sumiko would accomplish something revolutionizing. It would change the scientific world, leaving precocious, respected scientists wondering "How the h*ll did she do that?" and Mayumi, or better known as Maya, utterly fascinated.
She had no idea what was going to happen.
…
"And with the regenerative theorem of Dr. H. Marcus, combined with my own hypothesis of the Stable Gene, in theory, I should be able to stabilize any super-serum you might make, which would mean that you, Mr. Sanders, could create super-powered people. Biologically manipulative super-powered people, where you could, when creating the genetic code, splice particularly desirable genes, if you could get the blood of the subject who has the genes in question. Are you still considering my employment now, Mr. Sanders?" Maya straightened her back, staring at the man.
Mr. Jacob Sanders scratched the stubble on his chin thoughtfully. "I didn't understand some of that science-y talk, but I got the gist of it, and I d*** well want to hire you. You say you're the one who can make me super-powered people, I want those super-powered people. In fact, I have test subjects ready for you," he said in his Southern drawl.
Maya raised her eyebrows. "Live?"
"They're teens, they're sleeping. The information on the tablet should explain everything," he said.
"Of course. When should I start? And, do you have the blood of a super-powered individual for me to work with?" she asked. This was a big job, a job that could potentially skyrocket her to stardom, maybe even get her known as the scientific genius she knew she was.
"Quit 'yer worryin'. I do. I sent some of my best men out there, told them to rob a bank, hold some hostages, kill a few people, maybe. Sure enough, that little gang of superkids was on the scene. One of the guys sprayed that new DNA or whatsit mist that one of y'all nerds cooked up, y'know, the 'blood sweat' one? I planted a civilian in there, they got the blood after the superkids left to get my men to jail or whatever. In those vials, Miss Sumiko," he said, gesturing to the vials of reddish-bronze liquid that were sitting on the table Mr. Sanders was leaning on. Maya had seen them earlier, and she knew what they were, but she wasn't quite sure, so she didn't say anything. Maya and Mr. Sanders were in the conference room of Sander Industries, Jacob Sander's black market business. Mr. Sanders was easily a billionaire, but no one knew, due to his company specializing and selling some…shady…things. Sander Industries sold thugs for hire, secret information, they even gave payouts to aspiring villains, who's pay them back, of course. And if they couldn't, they'd pay for it with their life.
It was a high paying, but high risk job. And Maya knew the saying — no risk, no reward. She had faith in herself, and her invention would mean hundreds, no, thousands, or villains would depend on Sander Industries. And Mr. Sanders promised her a high position in the company and a s***load of money if that happened.
"What 'er ya waitin' for? I hired you, Miss Sumiko, so get to work! You have Lab 220 to yourself, it's got all the latest toys, don't you worry." Mr. Sanders stood up, handed her a tablet which she assumed had the information on it, and walked out of the room.
"Of course, sir!" She called after him. She hurried out of the conference room, and found the elevators, as the labs were on floor -10. Sander Industries was located in the Byrd Building, an suspicious office building. However, Mr. Sanders owned the Byrd Building, and while the less suspicious employees, the ones that handled the finances and whatnot, worked upstairs, the real work happened downstairs, in the belly of the beast.
When the elevator opened, she looked up from her tablet (courtesy of Sander Industries) and stepped in, eyes still glued to her tablet. Once she had finished reading about her job, she had begun to study a map of the Byrd Building.
"Hi," a voice said next to her. She glanced up, and saw a man who looked like he just turned twenty, maybe less, standing in front of her. His hair was parted in the middle and curled around his eyes, the kind of haircut that was popular when she was a kid, and chestnut brown hair. He was thin, but she could see the outline of muscles under his t-shirt. Not that she was analyzing him, because she didn't even know his name, and that would be weird, and, oh, forget it.
"Hi…" she replied, unsure of what to say, something that didn't happen often to Mayumi Sumiko. "I'm new here," she said, heat rushing to her face.
"I could tell. No badge, looking at a map, well…you make it obvious," he said with a smirk.
"I suppose I do…" She squinted, looking at the man's badge. "Shawn Rider."
"Yes. Yes you do, umm…what's your name?" He tilted his head a little in question, making Maya smile a little. Why, she didn't know.
"Mayumi Sumiko," she said. "But most people just call me Maya."
"Well, Maya, you do make it very obvious you're a newbie. Where do you work? We don't get a lot of new people down under." Maya laughed a little at Shawn's nickname for under the building.
"I'm a geneticist. With a little bit of chemist. Mr. Sanders wants me to work on…a project." She bit her lip, knowing she probably shouldn't tell Shawn about what she was working on.
"Project Mirror?" he asked.
She raised an eyebrow, surprised. "Yes, that one. Do you work on it, too?"
"Actually, yeah, I'm the field trainer. If the project works out, that is. Then I'm outta luck." he said.
"I'll make it work. I know what I'm doing, trust me." The elevator dinged, and Shawn walked out. Maya followed, as the Project Mirror had floor -10 to itself.
"I sure hope you do," Shawn replied, and then headed over to a blonde woman in a lab coat, a scientist, most likely. He started talking to her, and the woman leaned over and she kissed him lightly on the cheek, and went into Lab 225. From her map, Maya knew that as the Field Training room. Shawn followed her.
Maya quickly looked away. A romantic relationship on the job? She thought. Now that's just unprofessional. She made a note to now avoid Shawn, and whoever that blonde scientist was. She wouldn't get involved with unprofessionals.
She scanned the doors for Lab 220, and after a moment, she found it. She opened the metal door, with the key card in her pocket that Mr. Sanders had given her after her presentation, and the door slid open, revealing to what Maya thought might be heaven.
Holy mother of all laboratories, this was the one! All of the equipment was a sleek, shiny polished silver, and Maya saw the allotted subject cases in the middle of the room. In back of the subject cases was a lab station, the kind with the holographic, interactive display, the kind she'd always dreamed of having. And the vials of blood were on the polished metal table of the lab station.
She smiled, knowing it was time to get to work. She headed towards the lab station, pulling up the holographic interface. She studied the labels on the vials. "Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Nova, Power-Man, White Tiger," she read aloud to herself, fingering the vials. "Computer, bring up profiles on Iron Fist, Spider-Man, Nova, Power-Man, and White Tiger," she said to the display.
The computer complied, and profiles on the teen heroes were scattered on the display. She quickly read each one, focusing on their powers. "Now…what if we had an invincible Iron Fist?" She murmured, a smile playing along her lips. She took the vials of the said heroes' blood, putting a drop under the microscope at the lab station.
Maya pulled her sky-blue reading glasses out of her pocket, fixing them on her face. "Power-Man's blood was altered by a serum. I can work with that. And Iron Fist…" Her eyes widened as she studied the hero's blood, the DNA, on the display. "What the h*ll is up with him?" she whispered. "This isn't natural…this isn't man-made…he must be…I dunno, godly or something…" But then she smiled. "I can use it, though. It says here that he's a master of the martial arts, so that'll have to be trained, but the iron fist power…it's imbued in his DNA. Which means I can use it."
She then set to work. Copying strands of DNA, mixing DNA, picking and choosing which strands to use. She had finally gotten a suitable mixture when she looked at her watch, realizing it was almost 9:00 PM. Maya didn't care, though. H*ll, she'd work through the night. She labeled the serum "Power Fist" and set it on the display.
Maya then worked on her stabilizing serum. With the chemicals and resources there, it didn't take her very long. With the stabilizing serum and the "Power Fist" serum in her hands, she went over to the first of the subject cases. Inside was a teenager. Yes, a human teenager. Sander Industries had gotten babies from the local orphanage about 14 years ago, and had set them in the subject cases, which, when a new model came out, were replaced. The children were on life support, in a way, as they had been sleeping since Sander Industries had gotten them, with some of Sander Industries's finest minds made solutions and serums to make sure that they were well nourished, muscle decay would be prevented, their minds would develop correctly (tampering with dreams) and that when they woke up, they would have all motor functions of a normal teenager. There were people that took care of them, periodically took them out of the subject cases, but that was when they were younger, and once they got older, they had been left alone more. Most would call it unethical and cruel, but Maya, and the lab workers at Sander Industries, would call it science.
She didn't feel any guilt or remorse. She had taught herself to not feel a long time ago. Her favorite character in Star Trek, her favorite movies and TV show, had always been Spock, he was the reasonable, logical one, and always had a plan. Kirk was the loose canon, the one who did the "right thing" even if the right thing wasn't always the necessary thing to do. He was unpredictable, which was never good.
Pushing her thoughts aside from Star Trek, she injected the "Power Fist" serum first into the teenage girl. There were, out of four kids, two girls, and two boys. When the girl began to twitch and convulse, Maya quickly injected the stabilizing serum. The girl settled down, back into her deep sleep.
Maya wondered whether she should wake the girl up or not. The girl would ask questions, that was a given. Of course, that was only if her mind developed correctly, if she didn't die from muscle decay when she woke up, if she had motor functions. That was a lot of ifs, to many for Maya's liking.
So she decided to call Mr. Sanders. Wait, no, Mr. Sanders wasn't a scientist, he'd just tell her to wake the girl up, without even doing any precautions or safety measures. She didn't know who the head of the project was, the only scientist on Project Mirrors she knew was…Shawn.
Sighing, she left her lab, her new haven, to Lab 225, in hopes of finding Shawn. "Shawn?" she yelled through the door. "Are you in there?"
She heard a muffled "yes" and Shawn opened the door, his hair slicked with sweat, and his t-shirt soaked. He grabbed a towel from a table near the door, putting it around his neck. "Sorry. I was training." Maya peeked behind him, seeing a full blown gym, and a whole lot of punching bags.
She also saw the blonde scientist from before watching Shawn. She looked the same as before, and she wasn't sweaty at all, she was holding a tablet much like Maya's. Instead of asking her original question, she asked, "Who's that?" pointing the the blonde scientist.
"Her? Oh, that's Stephanie. She's one of the trainers, too. But in a different way. You see, while I'm the combat trainer," he said, gesturing to the gym. "She's helping the test subjects get adjusted to the world, you know, take them out of the lab and stuff. So they act like normal human beings."
"Except they're not normal human beings," Maya argued. "I just administered the serums to Test Subject One. I was actually going to ask you if I should wake her up."
Stephanie looked up from her tablet at Maya. "Well, I suppose you should, but after the safety precautions. And wake her up in a different environment. Shawn, you said the apartments upstairs are ready?"
"Last time I checked, yeah. So, Maya, what did you give her?" His gray eyes met Maya's.
"Well, I gave her the 'Power Fist' serum, a combination of Power-Man and Iron Fist's DNA, which enables her to have unbreakable skin, and the iron fist. You'll have to teach her in combat, though." Maya smiled inwardly, pleased at her creation.
Shawn whistled appreciatively. "Wow. Kid's powerful. That's a good combination. I just hope she takes well to..." He waved his hand across the room. "All this."
"If you'd like, I could alter her genetic code to-"
Shawn cut her off by holding up a hand. It seemed to Maya he gesticulated a lot. "Woah, no, no. I didn't mean that. If you genetically alter the kid, it'll just freak her out more, okay?"
Maya didn't really understand why Shawn reacted like that, but not everyone was in love with science as much as her. She understood that. "Fine, but it is a possibility, if things go wrong. Are there other scientists to preform the precautions?"
"There should be, but I don't know where they are..." Stephanie frowned. "But I can help, if you want. I'll send a call to the Project Mirror scientists." She then went back to her tablet, tapping away. "And...here. Francesca and Chloe will be in Lab 220 in a few minutes."
Shawn furrowed his eyebrows. "Why'd you have to call Francesca?" he whined. "She's, like, in love with me."
"Sorry, but I like to watch her flirt with you. It's one of my only sources of amusement on this job," she said, laughing.
Shawn pouted. "I hate you."
"Wouldn't be the first time," Stephanie said, smirking.
Maya assumed that they were probably good friends, and what she had seen earlier was just a sign of friendly affection. Stephanie and Shawn seemed like fun people to be around, and Maya knew that she probably needed more fun in her life. Even if her idea of fun was creating serums and hypotheses.
"I really mean it this time."
Stephanie snorted. "Sure you do."
Shawn didn't reply.
"That's what I thought," Stephanie said. She got up from the sofa she was on, and smoothed her pristine white lab coat. The only person Maya had seen in the 'down under' without a lab coat was Shawn. Not that she had seen many people, but still.
Stephanie opened the door for Maya, who nodded a thank you. They looked at Shawn, not moving. "I'm not coming," he said, his arms crossed.
Stephanie sighed. "Yes, you are."
"Under what authority?"
"The authority of being your best friend."
Shawn groaned. "Fine." He joined them, and they went to Lab 220 together.
Maya realized that she had never really been part of a friend group before. Sure, groups like classes, but never with actual friends. That is if Shawn and Stephanie wanted to be her friends. She really didn't know.
In Lab 220, a brunette and a dark blonde were already observing Test Subject One. "Hi Shawnie!" the dark blonde squealed.
"Oh dear god why..." Shawn muttered under his breath.
"So, are YOU excited to FINALLY wake up one of the test subjects? It's been like, forever. This is going to be so COOL!" Maya assumed the dark blonde was Francesca, by the sound of it. And her sing-song voice.
Shawn nodded in response, backing away a little from Francesca. Maya noticed that Chloe, the brunette, hadn't said a word, unlike Francesca. "Hi Shawn," Chloe said quietly.
"Hey," he replied, glancing at Chloe. Chloe smiled at him before adjusting the subject case. As Chloe was working, Francesca hovered near Shawn, talking his ear off, while Shawn smiled through gritted teeth and nodded. Maya took back what she had thought about him earlier, he was surprisingly professional.
As Maya was new to Sander Industries, she could only watch as Stephanie and Chloe adjusted the influx of the various serums and drugs Test Subject One was on, and tapped buttons on the tablet embedded in the headboard of the subject case. They then draped a white sheet over the glass front of the subject case, and Chloe pressed a button on the side, causing the subject case to rise into the air, floating. To anyone else, this would seem magical, but Maya knew exactly how they did it. There was a reason she was this accomplished at 21.
Stephanie and Chloe guided the subject case down the hall and to the elevators, while Maya and Shawn followed, Francesca hot on Shawn's heels. Maya slowed down a little, sidling up to Shawn. "See if you can lose her around a sharp turn or something," she whispered.
Shawn snorted. "Francesca might act dumb, but she's smarter than she looks. Specializing in biology."
"Makes sense. And, um, how are Stephanie and Chloe going to get the subject case – even though covered – through the upstairs level?" Maya said.
"The entire upstairs works for Sander Industries. They'll turn a blind eye to anything strange, I mean, this is the most profitable black market empire in New York. The upstairs workers have come to expect this by now," Shawn explained.
"Oh." She was silent for a moment. "What do you think Mr. Sanders wants to do with them? The test subjects?" No. No empathy. Empathy was foreign to her, and she knew it.
Shawn thought. Finally, he said, "I'm not sure. I've been with Mr. Sanders for a while now, and he isn't really the kind that wants to take over the world. More like just get money from it."
A thought struck Maya. "Maybe he'll put them out for hire? You can already hire thugs from him, why not superhumans?"
"Probably. Sounds like him." Shawn furrowed his eyebrows. "I just hope they aren't slaves, and more...workers."
"I hope," she agreed.
They had come to the elevators. Stephanie and Chloe pushed the subject case on board, Maya stood, watching the floors go up, and Shawn tuned out Francesca's ramblings. Francesca was still talking. She annoyed Maya.
Finally, the elevator dinged. They got out, and Maya got her second view of the upper level. For one thing, it was considerably brighter than the 'down under'. But that didn't matter to her, she spent most of her time inside anyway. The people weren't wearing white lab coats, they wore office clothes, and they sat in desks, not labs. It reminded Maya of the yin and yang sign, the former being downstairs, and the latter being upstairs.
As Shawn had predicted, no one even seemed to notice the lab people pushing a floating human-sized box down hall of the offices. Then again, there were only the night workers, so there were considerably less people. But still. They went up a flight of stairs, where everyone helped get the subject case up the stairs, to the apartments. From what Mr. Sanders had told her, the 'down unders' lived in the Byrd Building. The top three floors were dedicated to housing, and the apartments were very upscale and modern. Maya had accepted the offer to live there, though she didn't move in yet.
There was the 'Mirror' wing, the wing which the eight apartments were, five for the teens, and three for the handlers. Maya didn't know who the handlers were yet, though she hoped that she was one. To see how her project turned out.
They came to the apartment door labeled "Test Subject One" on a piece of paper, and Shawn opened the door for Stephanie, Chloe, and the subject case. Inside the apartment, one wall of the room was glass, providing a beautiful view of New York below them, there was a white queen size bed along the far wall, and a vanity and closet on the wall across from the door. The walls were painted a bright lime green, a color Maya liked. All in all, what Sander Industries was doing for them wasn't that bad. They were orphans, after all, and were lucky that Sander Industries decided to test on them.
Stephanie, Chloe, and even Francesca helped Test Subject One out of the subject case, laying her on the bed, but not unhooking her from the serums. Her nearly waist length, dark brown, almost black hair fanned behind her. She was thin, unnaturally so, but that was to be expected, and they'd have her on a real food diet soon enough. She was dressed in a hospital gown, as all of the subjects were. Chloe moved to unhook her, but Stephanie cut her off.
"Wait," she said, pulling Chloe back. "Shouldn't she have a name? I mean, I wouldn't want to be called 'Test Subject One', and we need something for the rest of her team and other people to call her..."
"OFFICE POOL!" Shawn cheered.
"Okay. I'm gonna go with...Misty," Francesca said.
"I think Emerald. She can be called Emmy for short," Chloe suggested.
"Bay?" Stephanie said.
"I like Rain," Shawn stated.
Maya thought. "I like Bay," Maya said. She agreed with Stephanie.
"I kind of like that," Shawn said, nodding.
Chloe and Francesca nodded.
"Okay, so can I wake her up now?" Chloe asked.
"Yes. Just – just be careful, though. We don't know what we're dealing with," Stephanie said, a hint of nerves in her voice. Maya couldn't agree more.
As Chloe undid the tubes and wires hooked up to the girl, Bay, Maya wondered if the girl would be fazed by the people around her. She hoped not.
They gathered around the bed, where the girl was beginning to twitch and move. Her eyes fluttered open for the first time in many years, revealing hazel eyes. They widened, taking in the world around her.
The next chapter will be from Bay's POV. Tell me, please, what you thought of the story, and the characters! It'll tie in more with USM, I promise.