Author's Note: Not going to lie, I put my Addams Family Musical shot glass to good use before editing this, so I apologize in advance for any possible typos.
"What the hell was that?" Wednesday asked the moment they were outside the building.
"I have no idea." Lucas admitted. The images of the synthetic superhero still invaded his thoughts. Something about him, even after the transformation, seemed somewhat off.
"We need to get to my lair. I need to run some tests on you." Wednesday said bluntly and grabbed Lucas' arm.
"What tests?" He asked with suspicion.
"I need to see if your powers are like mine." She admitted.
"You have powers?" Lucas asked. Wednesday cocked her head.
"Of course I have powers! I'm stronger than you, I'm durable, and also, I can kill you with my brain." Lucas raised an eyebrow. "Actually not the last one, but you get what I mean." She admitted.
"Even so, I don't want tests done on me. Especially since you were just threatening to kill me." He said defiantly.
"Look, I really don't have a clue as to what I can say to you that will make you trust me." Wednesday started. "But you should know that I really don't care about anything aside from finding out what's happening in that company. I know you can see something wrong with it." Lucas sighed and reached into his back pocket, from which he produced his black mask.
"You're right." He put the mask over his eyes and tried to mess up his hair.
"I don't know whose side to trust anymore, but you have your moments." He held out his arms. "Ok, hop up." Wednesday raised an eyebrow.
"No. We are not flying to my house." She refused.
"Why not?" Asked the somewhat annoyed Lucas.
"Because being carried by you would be degrading." Lucas rolled his eyes. "Also, I don't trust anything at flies without any logical explanation of how they do it." She added.
"What do you mean?" He inquired.
"What is your means of propulsion? HOW do you fly?" She specified. Lucas thought for a moment.
"I guess it's kind of like a ghost, you know? I pretty much just float." He explained to the best of his knowledge, which came purely from experience.
"Ghosts can float because they have no mass, and all of the ones I've met have preferred to walk." Wednesday shot back as she too produced her mask. Lucas would have asked how she knew ghosts, but decided against it. "So do you mind if we take my car?" Nera asked. Lucas remembered the sleek classic.
"Fine, but please don't drive off any closed bridges." He joked as he followed her to the parking garage. The car was back into pristine condition. "You must go to a really good body shop." He commented, not finding even a scratch in the paint.
"My brothers' work." She said passively and unlocked the doors with a remote on her keys. Definitely a modification from the way it was in the '50s, though not as extreme as what could be found inside.
"Oh, look. The Neramobile." He said as he got into the passenger seat and buckled his seatbelt.
"Yes, it's a bit much. But It does come in handy in a crisis." She gave him a pointed look and started the engine.
"I thought you were an insane drug lord!" He admitted.
"Thanks." She said sarcastically and began driving home, wondering if she should ask him to close his eyes or something so he couldn't find her lair again. But it had gotten to the point where she knew she was no longer his top priority.
"Were you expecting that?" He asked quietly. Nera knew what he was asking about, and nodded.
"-Well, I didn't think it was actually going to work." She amended.
"Why didn't you tell me about it before?" Lux asked.
"I didn't know if my source was reliable." She said without hesitation. "My father was invited to that party and I volunteered to go in his place in case anything went wrong." Wednesday used her peripheral vision and without warning, turned onto an unmarked road. Lucas noticed the trees.
"Your lair's in Central Park?" He asked in disbelief. She nodded wearily as if this were a common reaction. They broke into a dark clearing where a dilapidated Victorian mansion stood with a few lights coming through the windows. Wednesday turned left into a somewhat hidden little garage that Lucas was surprised to find led to a downwards ramp. It was from this that they descended into the underground lair.
"Come with me." Wednesday parked the car and got out before heading through a door. Lucas followed her into the surprisingly brightly-lit room. "Again, my brothers." She explained. Lucas nodded and took in the place that kind of looked like an especially modern studio apartment, though he noticed other side rooms.
"You must have a lot of time on your hands." He remarked.
"Yes, well I finished homeschooling last year." She said as if it could explain away the massive underground fortress, and led him past a TV set and through a sliding metal door. Surprisingly enough, the little room reminded him of the doctor's office he'd seen only once as a child, when his mother was convinced he'd broken his arm trying to fly from a tree. Of course, he HAD broken his arm, but it mended itself considerably by the time they'd taken the x-ray. However, the sight of Nera in a dress, putting on the latex gloves, was slightly more amusing than a nurse in Ohio.
"I'll just need a blood sample from you." She said and produced a syringe from a drawer. "Don't worry, it's sterilized." She assured him and prompted him to remove his jacket and roll up one sleeve. This gave the both of them horrible flashbacks of normal Carson Kelven, but they powered through it, and Wednesday quickly found a vein.
"Have you done this before?" He asked as she skillfully drew his blood.
"On myself." She replied just as she could withdraw the needle. "Do you need a bandage?" She asked and Lucas shook his head. Without another word, she led Lucas into yet another room. This one, a dark laboratory, seemed much more Nera's style. She brought the vial of Lux's blood over to one machine.
"Top of the line?" He asked, noting the design was different than anything he'd seen on his forensic investigation TV shows. Wednesday nodded and put the vial in a spin tray before typing in something and starting the machine, which whirred for a minute or two before stopping. Lucas heard a printer a few feet away, and Wednesday examined the screen.
"Ah ha. Yes, just as I suspected." She said with a smile as she viewed a model of a strand of Lucas' DNA. He rushed to her side.
"What? What did you find?" He asked desperately as Wednesday reached for the printout.
"An XK." She said simply and scanned the paper. Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"Layman's terms, please?" He asked in confusion.
"So, you learned in biology that normal DNA is made up of four nucleic acids which are often simplified down to A,T,C, and G?" She asked, and he nodded slowly. "Your DNA also contains a completely unexplainable pair that is not either." She pointed to a mismatched rung on the DNA ladder example. "I've dubbed it the XK pair. No human being can have it without being a little, well, abnormal."
"So, does this mean I'm a freak or something?" Lucas asked and looked down at his arms for anything inhuman. She shook her head.
"We all get our DNA from our parents, and the XK pair has usually been completely hereditary." She started. "Well, just look at my family."
"They all have the XK?" He asked.
"Oh, of course." Wednesday typed a code into the computer and brought up seven more strands. "See? We all have it somewhere." She took in Lucas' confused, and somewhat hurt expression. "I'm guessing your mother and father don't have it?" He nodded and she sighed. "I suppose it could have remained dormant in both bloodlines." She theorized. "Let's not jump to conclusions about your parents and see if you're at least healthy." She read the printout aloud to him. "White male, age 18-24, height 5'8, brown eyes, brown hair, virgin..." She smirked when Lucas went red.
"Your machine cannot possibly tell you that!" He shouted. Wednesday laughed.
"No, but you just did." Lucas wasn't nearly as amused as she was. "I'm sorry, but you don't have to get so defensive." She half-apologized and went back to the paper. "But yes, you are perfectly healthy aside." Lucas nodded.
"But back to the subject of the XK," he started back up. "Is it the only way people can have superpowers?" He asked. Wednesday thought for a moment.
"I believe so. In fact, I think the Greeks and Romans attempted to explain us with religion." She concluded, and Lucas' eyes widened.
"Like, mythology? Like, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades?" He clarified, and she nodded. "Yes!" Lucas yelled with triumph.
"Yes, it's quite amazing." Wednesday agreed with slightly less enthusiasm. "But why did you ask if the XK pair is responsible for powers?" She asked hesitantly. Lucas' face got far more serious.
"How did that guy fly and bend a steel bar, Wednesday?" He inquired. Wednesday ignored the ridiculous sensation she felt when Lucas called her by her name.
"Unless he was already an XK carrier- which isn't too absurd compared to other things BC has done to make money on hack products, that stuff they injected him with must have contained some sort of synthetic XK." She guessed, and her face somehow got whiter than usual.
"Does anybody know about this XK stuff other than you?" Lucas asked, and Wednesday shook her head, but it almost wasn't directed at him.
"Wednesday, what would directly modifying a person's DNA sequence do?" He asked, looking directly into her eyes, and for the first time, he saw what may have been true fear in them.
"Hey, Joey! I'm hungry!" A gravely voice said over an intercom. The young scientist put on babysitting duty groaned and pushed the button on the wall.
"You just ate, Carson. And it's Joel." The scientist said wearily. The genetically-engineered hero was declining in almost every aspect in only a matter of days, and he'd become completely insufferable to his own private babysitter.
"I'm a growing boy, Joel." Carson pleaded, and suddenly turned angry. "And I told you, I am to be referred to as ULTRAMAN." He smacked his fist into the enhanced glass and cracked it, earning himself an electrical charge.
"If you work on your temper, we can let you out." Joel said and pulled a Stephen King paperback from his lab coat. The moment he sat down in a chair, there was a bloodcurdling male scream that echoed through the halls of the Buckman laboratory.
"God, doesn't that guy ever shut UP?" Ultra complained, and Joel sighed.
"Don't you think you would be in a great deal of pain as well if you were growing four extra arms?" He asked the rage monster.
"I can't think with the fucking constant screaming!" Ultra yelled as the mutating man screamed again. "So, does he get a superhero name, too?" He asked when the fit finally stopped.
"If he wants one." Joel rubbed his eyes. Exhausted and one-hundred percent done with everything that happened in the lab, he got up from his chair and walked down the hall. It frightened him that he was so desensitized to the horrific things that happened here. It was exactly why Wednesday hated people.
The once average-looking red-haired young man who used to have a great sense of humor, lay on an examination table unconscious. On either side of his torso, two very deformed arms continued to develop at a rapid pace. Joel saw his coworkers examining and taking notes on him like they would with any lab rat. He put on his white mask and joined them.
"Anything new?" He asked Gary, who was taking a tissue sample from one of the new limbs. The middle-aged man looked up at him.
"Well, I'd say that they are growing at an ever-increasing rate, so they should be fully-developed within a few days. Maybe less." Gary smiled.
"Just think of how far these samples will take us." Joel shuddered. This whole thing, it was just so wrong, and yet Gary looked at it with such optimism.
"How's our superstar?" Becky asked, referring to Ultraman.
"He's shown no improvement." Joel said and examined one of the man's extra arms, seeing if there was a pattern in their odd shape.
"Has he been speaking?" Becky asked, and shooed Joel to the side.
"He never stops." The young man wiped his glasses on his labcoat.
"Have you considered that maybe all Ultraman needs is a friend?" Gary asked. Joel cocked his head.
"You know, in my three days of observing his mental and physical stability decline, that must have slipped my mind." He said with the thick sarcasm his coworkers hated.
"Glicker, you know I don't appreciate the attitude." Gary chastised. "But on the subject, update us on his physical condition."
"The veins are pronounced again, and don't look like they're going to go away, his skin has a slightly yellow tint to it, and he has developed a weakness to copper." Joel named off from memory, but he'd probably written down a few more abnormalities.
"He's allergic to copper?" Becky asked in disbelief. "It's not even an unstable element!"
"I know, but it seems to have a Kryptonite-like effect on him." Joel explained, and immediately regretted his terminology.
"Krypton is a completely separate element, Joel." Gary informed. Joel pinched the bridge of his nose, and decided to drop it.
"If you really think the psycho needs a friend, you can be my guest, Granger." Joel gestured in the direction of Ultraman's cell. Gary nodded his head once.
"Fine." He said smugly, and led the way. Becky decided to stay behind, taking a few more notes on their failed first experiment.
"I recommend talking through the intercom. Carson doesn't like it when you look in his eyes." Joel warned when Gary approached the glass. Ultraman saw the man and gave an animated smile and a wave.
"Glicker, it's nonsense like that that's making you think he's a monster." Gary walked towards the cell's door.
"I really wouldn't." Joel gave one last warning.
"All he needs is a little harmony." Gary grinned cockily and went into the cell, locking the door behind him. "Hi, Carson." He greeted Ultraman. The monster turned his head slowly, and breathed in through his nose.
"Great." He said menacingly. "I told him I was hungry." Before Gary could move an inch, Ultraman had gotten a hold of his right arm, and with one quick jerk, ripped it off, letting out a geyser of blood. Joel was at the door before Gary had time to scream. Ultraman smiled and took a bite out of the arm flesh, which elicited a grimace.
"Ugh. Undercooked." He muttered, and threw Gary into the electrified window. Joel was forced to stop looking for his keys as Gary stopped screaming, and his body went completely still, letting off some smoke. Joel slowly walked to the window and saw Ultraman tearing at one of Gary's legs. Becky chose this moment to join her husband and coworker, and let out a deafening shriek at the sight of Ultraman eating Gary's well-done body.
"Mmm, barbecue." Ultra said with his mouth full, and then continued to chew the flesh.
If you're mortified/grossed out right now; good. You're human. Review!