Chapter 1 – Revival
Deanna sulked as she left the manager's office. She was just tired – what was wrong with a little nap while the machine mixed the chemicals? But no, the manager of the chemical plant she worked in had just fired her. She was broke again – her mother's bank accounts were empty.
She looked at the huge vat of mutagen in one of the storage chambers. The chemical would fetch a lot of money from splicers, who more often than not had regularity problems with their DNA. Millions of credits, probably.
Deanna walked up to the vat. In cases of contamination, there was a flush function included all the storage vats. She crept into the chamber, found the button, and pushed it. The drains opened, and out went the million-dollar mutagen. Deanna snickered and went on her way. Vengeance was sweet.
Below Gotham, somewhere in the sewers, Inque lay on a patch of dry concrete, too weak to sustain her human form or shapeshift. She was just a pool of black liquid. And she was dying. She knew it. Deanna, how could you betray me?
Something was rushing along the adjoining pipe. Even in her weakened state Inque could hear it. There was water, and lots of it, rushing right towards the spot where she lay. Then the smell wafted ahead, and reached her. Somehow, the smell of the stuff was familiar …
The pipe filled with the odd-smelling liquid. Then Inque realised. Mutagen. Gathering the last of her strength, she took the form of an elongated cord and wrapped herself tightly around a pillar.
The mutagen hit her hard, but she held on to the pillar, absorbing as much of the life-saving chemical as she could. It seemed as if the mutagen would never stop coming. Just as Inque began to lose her grip, it was gone, as suddenly as it had come.
Inque slithered to the floor, which was now damp with mutagen. She was exhausted. But she was relieved, too. She would not die after all. In a few hours, she would be all right …
What was I thinking? Deanna berated herself as she ran from SynPlas Corp's security guards. Of course she would get caught. She had sent half the company's stock of mutagen into the sewers. And she was probably going to get shot for her trouble. So she ran, and took as many turns as she could.
The sliding doors were just up ahead. If she could get out before they locked her in, she could escape. She threw herself at them, slipping through a narrowing gap just before the two halves of the bulletproof glass door came together with a final kind of click.
Deanna heaved a sigh of relief as the guards pounded on the locked door. Then she was off without so much as a backward glance. She knew SynPlas would not risk losing more money to file a lawsuit against her. She supposed there was still enough money in Inque's second bank account to put up a good fight.
She went home. She lived in a small apartment in the lower-end living district of Gotham. No matter. She could always get another job somewhere … a job with better wages and less work. With a dreamy smile she collapsed on the bed and promptly fell asleep.
Inque resumed her human form and stretched luxuriously. The large amount of mutagen she had absorbed had done wonders for her. She was as strong – stronger, even – as she had ever been. She thought of all the sabotage missions she had done in the past, and where they had gotten her. Never again.
She shapeshifted, becoming thin strands of black substance. She found a manhole covered with a metal grid. She slipped between the strips of iron and emerged into night in Gotham's park. And a very interesting battle was going on across the pavement from her.