That flash of light. That blinding, searing flash of pain that never left his mind. As much as it had scarred his chest, it had scarred his mind. It scarred him for the longest time... until now.

Floating away in the deep reaches of space, a small leisure cruiser passed by Europa when the jarring chime of its computer drew its pilot's attention. She too, was a bounty hunter, just like her father. Tall, lean, somewhat delicate, but furthermore, strong and attentive. She sat down in the pilot's seat and pressed a button on the interface to reveal her father's gruff face.

"Hello, father." she greeted him in her typical rough demeanor, "Anything interesting come up these past few hours?"

"Actually," he droned, "there has."

The look on her face brightened up at her father's reply, so she leaned forward, setting her chin on her fist and asking, "What have you got to offer me?"

He knew right away that she would be intrigued, so he sat back and sent her the one thing that he knew she would want to take on.

_-

Back on planet Earth...

Within her personal labs, young Kathleen Moore examined her microscope once more to find that the cells she had placed onto the petri dish were actively squirming. She sought to find out what kind of alien cloning process managed to birthed her, after her father, the famed Agent Kay, explained her story recently. She was determined, intuitive and strategic, just like him, yet she possessed her mother's technological and scientific finesse. And despite her wisdom, she obtained three degrees at a university, merely to sharpen her skills and prove to her colleagues that there WAS a way to clone a human being much more easily.

Once she was sure that she had wrapped things up in the lab, she tapped the button on the answering machine nearby and said to it, "Doctors Willard and Holmes. It's me, Kath. The study has been going well so far. What I've concluded is that the stem cells I've managed to replicate need to stay under protected conditions, in order for them to replicate further. Until the agent I'm about to test is ready, we must keep these stems cells under protection, in an effort to keep them alive.

For now, we must wait and see what'll happen until the agent's ready to test. I have informed Dr. Elgyn about this already, so he will take over while I'm away. Until I return, please be careful. Godspeed."

Once her message was done, Kathleen gathered her goods and left, walking her way home. She knew these streets all too well, so there was no need to take a transport back. As for would-be assailants, they never stood a chance against her, she always carried a gun with her.

But unbeknowsnt to her, there was someone actively watching her.

After the youthful genius passed by a thick hedge, a tall, pale creature rose out from its hiding place to eye her carefully. It observed Kathleen through a device magnifying her view, and judging by the way her features were, she was the one it was after. Putting the magnification device away, it slipped on a bracelet to change its form from a tall, cricketlike being to a young woman. The disguise was foolproof, even moreso with the way its movements matched with her own. Still hiding within the darkness of the night, she followed Kathleen, silently growing closer to the young scientist as she walked.

Kath stopped for a moment to catch her breath while sitting down on a bench nearest to one of the streetlights. She pulled out her phone to check for any text messages she might have received while she was at the labs. Only one, and from her dad, too. She was quick to put down her message and send it before she was met by a low voice from another woman, asking, "Excuse me?"

She looked up to see a tall young woman, with long blonde hair(around the age of seventeen, she presumed), who looked lost. In her arm was a large duffel bag that she felt was full of her possessions.

"Can I help you?" Kath asked, standing up to regard this young lady.

"Actually, you might." the younger lady asked, "Do you know the address to the Shady Towers apartments? I'm new here and I've gotten myself lost."

Knowing that young adults lived in the same apartment complexes she did, Kathleen felt this was another one of the young professionals moving into one of the buildings, so she replied, "I do actually. It isn't far from here, so I'm sure you'll get familiar the longer you stay here. Follow me."

Perfect, she knew that the scientist was going to escort her. As soon as they neared the building, the younger woman had swiftly gripped Kathleen's arm and pulled her into the hedges nearby. Since that evening, Kathleen wasn't heard from.