Chapter 2 - Awakening potential

Floating through darkness, few sensations reached the unconscious woman. There was an acrid smell in her nose and a bone-deep ache pushing down on her from every direction. Struggling to lift her leaden eyelids, Tanya took in more of her thoroughly unpleasant surroundings and instantly regretted it.

Blinding radiation blasted directly into her retina, making her instinctively turn away from the hateful light source. This was also a bad idea as what was supposed to be a small, weak turn, decoupled her from the floor and threw her completely around, forcing her to make intimate contact with the nearest wall.

Dust trickled down the aged tapestry only to land on her panicked eyes which strangely enough triggered no desire to blink. The small clumps of dust and plaster that swam through her vision were sliding off as if her eyes were coated in Teflon.

"What the hell..."

The words left her raspy throat and echoed in the empty apartment. Although now that she listened to it, the atmosphere was far from silent. Tanya heard the cars on the street below – 12 driving by right this second and one just starting its motor – she perceived the sound of her neighbours whispering to each other if they should call the police, she could even register the skittering of something small under the floorboards – was that a damn rat!?

"What is going on?"

Everything was so... overwhelming. The noises of the city swelled up and blasted into her ears, the rancid taste in her mouth was smothering her tongue, the reflected light of the sun that bounced around the room was as bright as if someone had installed a floodlight in her windows and her skin was tingling like she was wrapped in sandpaper.

Managing the colossal task of sitting up, she shielded her eyes from the unbearably bright light and crawled at a snail's pace towards the kitchen. From her position on the floor the sink towered grimly over, but with a deft grasp she heaved herself over the counter and indulged in the greatest luxury she ever tasted: cold water.

Only when she had adequately cleaned herself did Tanya notice how her fingers were literally sunken into the steel sink. Gingerly she lifted her hand to reveal an imprint of her earlier desperate clawing.

"H-how..."

She tried to remember what had led her to this point before the memories flooded back to her.

"The- the serum? It worked?"

A delirious giggle twisted her lips upwards. Her gamble had paid off! She would pull through! She would survive !

'Suck it, Wayne! You can never take this from me!'

Sadly, that thought brought an unfortunate realization with it: What did she even have now?

According to the label, the concoction should have only increased her reflexes and reaction speed. Where was that super-strength coming from all of a sudden? This warranted an immediate investigation.

Gingerly shifting her somehow altered centre of gravity, Tanya carefully approached the bathroom door. Inside the light was turned off, yet she could see her face clear as day in the mirror… And it was different .

There had been a tiny pimple on her cheek which despite years of skin care never went away. Also her cheek bones had not been as pronounced before, right? Was she imagining it or were her cyan eyes subtly glowing?

Shrugging off her uncomfortably itchy clothes she beheld her warped body in its entirety.

While she had worked out a bit before in order to stay healthy, now her limbs and stomach held visible musculature. Experimentally she flexed her arm to find a distinctly bulging biceps. Wow . Maybe Wayne Enterprises were secretly developing super-steroids if those were the results.

The next thing she noticed was the same as with her face. Her skin was absolutely flawless now, neither scar nor hair nor mole to be found. And she was also very pale. How could she tell? Because her chest had the same colour as the porcelain tiles of the bathroom wall.

"I guess I'm albino now..." Tanya sardonically whispered to herself as she traced a finger over her snow white abs.

They were cold to the touch and hard as marble. That couldn't be healthy...

So lost was she in introspection that only the thunderous honking of a car several blocks managed to rip Tanya out of her reverie. A look at the clock revealed that it was nearly four o' clock. Had she slept through the whole night and into the next afternoon?

Something here was wrong...

Over the course of the last few minutes her sharpened eyes had acclimated to the ambient illumination in so far as she could now properly look out the window and gaze upon the sun. No, that harsh white light from outside was not the sun – it was the moon!

Why was that damn thing so stupidly bright!?

From her window she could see Gotham intensely lit. Yesterday those towers on the other side of the street had been nothing more than titanic shadows punctured from time to time by dim and grimy windows. Now she could make out the individual moss plants growing in-between the ancient brickwork.

There were only two possible explanations: Either the lunar cycle was undergoing some drastic and insofar unheard of change or she had suddenly gained perfect night vision.

Ugh, she really needed a cup of coffee before dealing with this. And preferably the whole frozen chicken that she had acquired for Christmas Eve. She was starving...

-W-

Carmine Falcone glanced down at the report his underling had just dropped off. Normally matters like these would have been handled by one of his subordinates, but this case was close to his heart and so he made an effort to stay personally informed.

It seemed the daughter of that woman had at long last run out of good luck and been fired from Wayne Enterprises. What a shame. On one hand she was now at her lowest and easiest to recruit which would give him the satisfaction of seeing her final legacy kneel before him and on the other he had just lost a source of meagre but reliable pocket change.

Swirling his wine glass absentmindedly the crime boss gave the matter some thought before ultimately deciding that the situation wasn't right yet. The young woman would need to be pressured some more until she broke.

Not addressing anyone in his quiet bureau, but knowing without doubt that he was nonetheless being heard, Falcone commanded: "Offer Little Tanya to pay this month's dues up front so the poor thing isn't burdened with financial sorrows over the holidays. Next week is Christmas after all."

Next to the door Henrico silently nodded and went to obey his commands. His men had not a lick of hesitation when it came to following his orders which made him proud of their training. Maybe he should step up this year's celebrations to reward his men? A bit of free booze always had a way of deepening their gratitude.

Oh, was that a single snowflake on the windowsill? What a lovely little harbinger of winter...

-W-

So, it turned out that perfect night vision came with a downside as well. The normally welcoming rays of dawn which cut through the mist and smog of the city were cutting through her brain as well. Or at least it felt like that once the sunlight seared itself unpityingly into her visual cortex. It got so bad that only a dozen seconds of exposure triggered an intense headache.

Strangely when she had re-tested this reaction with a flashlight nothing of the sort had happened. While uncomfortable, artificial light just seemed to be largely ineffective against her condition. Tanya speculated that it might have something to do with UV radiation; however she wouldn't bet on it.

In fact, all her newfound abilities had severe drawbacks of some kind. For example, her strength not only cost her two good coffee cups (one was crushed and the other smashed too hard against the table), but was also generally hard to control. It seemingly came and went at random.

Even her perfect skin would not only be a pain to conceal in public, but was unreasonably sensitive on top. At first she had still been mostly numb from the pain of her transformation, but over time she learned that she felt everything that touched her. Normal human brains were made to tune out unimportant stimuli to not overwhelm one's concentration. Tanya had lost that privilege.

When she cut her palm at the broken remains of her first cup, the ensuing pain was razor sharp and did not dull. At least her blood clotted almost immediately and closed the wound shut. Still though, she was intimately aware of its location, depth and exactly how painful it was since her nerves wouldn't shut up about it.

Furthermore, coarse clothing of any kind was severely itchy and just plain distracting to wear. Wool, cotton and polyester were a chore to carry on her person. Only her silk shawl caused Tanya no irritation. As if she didn't have enough money problems already, now she would need to replace her wardrobe with silk if she didn't want to go outside naked. (Nevermind that from what she could see, while the chilly temperature would not affect her, her dignity would never allow it.)

Regardless, she needed to bear it for the time being before she could go out and make a proper disguise. She had only the weekend to prepare. Thus Tanya gritted her teeth and crammed herself into the chafing sarcophagus that were her pants and pullover, topped off with some thick winter gloves (her only pair) and the blessedly comfortable shawl. Her darkest pair of sunglasses was fastened with a rubber band behind her ears to sit as tight as possible and not allow any radiation in. For safety's sake she also took an umbrella to further shield her from the sun.

Taking a deep breath, Tanya stood behind the door of her apartment and readied herself to step outside. She knew objectively that the chances that someone noticed anything strange about her and reported her to the authorities were close to absolute zero in Gotham. The chances of the overworked and corrupt officials doing anything about it were even smaller. Yet she couldn't help but worry...

Like ripping a bandaid off, she resolved to just get on with it and tore the door open. What she failed to take into consideration in this moment of absentmindedness was that she was no ordinary woman anymore. With a resounding crash the old wood splintered and slammed against the wall, giving way to her super-human strength.

"Oh shit..."

-W-

Henrico passively watched the janitor carry a whole door up the stairs to the fifth floor. It seemed the elevator was acting up again, so he hadn't bothered pressing the button and had taken the stairs like always. He hated stairs ever since that one bastard broke his femur. It ached.

He sat down on the stairs and leisurely watched the house's elderly caretaker mount the door in the entrance of Little Tanya's home. Had some asshole broken in? Stealing from one of their 'clients' was a big no-no. If he had to break someone's legs again he hoped they lived somewhere with functioning elevators.

The man finished his work after some time and Little Tanya paid him for it, probably with a hefty bonus for his work on a Saturday morning. It was wise to keep the guy with access to all the apartment keys happy or one risked mysteriously losing their family jewellery. Not that Little Tanya had any more of those in any case.

Stretching his limbs after sitting for so long on the cold stone, Henrico strolled up to the wrapped up form of his target and silently looked down at the smaller woman.

"What is it? Let me guess you want the money early this month?"

He liked that about her. Little Tanya was smart enough to not waste time with unnecessary words.

Henrico nodded.

"Well, give me a minute."

She wisely didn't close the door in his face and went back into her apartment. How she could see anything in that darkness with sunglasses on escaped him.

Did they cut her power? What a miserable way to live in December. If she would just join the family already then she wouldn't have to save money that way. Then she could just pay off her mother's debt with service to the boss. Oh, well. She would fold eventually. The boss always got what he wanted.

Holding out a fat, white envelope to him, Henrico uncaringly stuffed it into his coat's pocket and dipped his head.

"Merry Christmas."

Little Tanya stared at him for a moment before barking out a quick chuckle. It didn't escape him how sharp her teeth looked, but maybe that was just the lighting.

"I guess a premature 'Merry Christmas' to you as well, you big lump."

He smiled widely.