Bladder of Steel - Chapter 2
A plush tip of a cotton swab pressed into a small drop of golden liquid, turning the cotton tip a pale yellow before being placed into a tube, and sealed up tightly with a twist of the lid. The scientist who had found this was thrilled a chance perhaps? Quickly they showed it to a man in a white suit, with black pinstripes.
An equally intimidating man, in a dark suit with white pinstripes, growled at anyone that came within distance of the lashing whips of his anger, he was nursing a bloody nose with a handkerchief a henchman had given him. He was clearly in a quite sour mood, angry that what had taken months of careful planning to capture had injured him, then dared to escape?
The hitman was just hired help to a boss behind wanting the DNA, but it was almost personal now, that woman had hit him, it was unforgivable. Different scientists were in the room all looked for evidence of where their captive woman had gone, the one man in a white suit standing amongst them all, dark pinstripes making him the reflection of the man nursing a blood-covered face stood up and showed the man the tube. Chuckling almost darkly he showed the smallest bit of hope for their master plan. As he held his prize, they had gotten what they wanted, not the full amount, the woman had quite displeasingly dumped out the contents of her bladder to the flowers below. Something that both suited men found a great deal of annoyance in, though White Suit held his emotions in much better than Black Suit. The two men knew each other, working with each other on hundreds of contracts this one seemed to be proving the hardest by far, purely because of the type of woman.
"Calm yourself, we got what we needed, whats a broken nose for what this can buy us?" Black Suit moved his hand away from the two rivers of blood that ran down his face, his nose sitting at an odd angle. It felt broken, the person that gave him that had not been overjoyed to be in the same room with him. Letting off a growl of displeasure, Black Suit swore under his breath, his annoyance quite blatant, knowing full well this whole ordeal was his fault, he had been too cocky, something of a failure of his.
"That's all we got? After hours of waiting for the bitch to piss herself one tiny cotton swab of DNA?!" White Suit sighed softly, looking into the tube. He tucked it into an envelope and gave it to a henchman, sending them down to the basement floors where a laboratory lay, behind many keypad doors, and retina scans an average person couldn't find their way down there without being gunned down, a super person might even have a few difficulties. White didn't waste any time hitting Black where it hurt. He had failed in his duty. He was the one that caused all of this.
"Yes that's all we got, you didn't watch her as instructed. We would have had that bucket filled with her accident if you had simply stayed here rather than leaving to sleep." White suit reprimanded his companion, displaying clearly who was the brains and who was the extra muscle behind the leadership role. Black suit paused, and let out an angry huff, looking away, he knew he fucked up. His companion had found him in the chair thank god he didn't have to go through all of what that Kryptonian woman did. Though her 'Sacrifice' was for the greater good of humanity, or specifically the American armies who paid quite handsomely for a super strength pill, they barely had enough for one from what was on the tip of the cotton swab. The pretty penny they would have gotten for the crates of pills they could have created, this one wasn't even guaranteed to be permanent. The traces of DNA a single drop gave them nowhere near enough to alter human DNA.
"Although there is a way we could remedy your mistake, Black." White Suit spoke, his green eyes were analytical, scathing, as they fell on the other man. It would be a risk, and it would not be left up to a man with childish temperament. Black looked at him as a medic finally arrived, and began to fix his nose, setting it. Black barely even flinched, he may be one enraged man, but he was a trained killer, taking what he wanted for personal gain whenever or however he could. It was his way of life, and he didn't care who he had to step on, who he had to force to his will to get a whatever he wanted in life. There was some truth to the survival of the fittest.
White tapped his cheek with two fingers, his arms crossed over his chest as he murmured.
"Test subjects 2, 7, and 41." Black's interest was piqued, as the medic put a bandage over his nose that held it in its healing position he stood, moving to the door with White following close behind, both men seemed to have the same thought in mind with the minute amount of DNA they got from the famous SuperGirl. It was possible to have a second chance if they played their cards right, a chance to recapture this girl, but they had to hurry. Time was of the essence.
The two men came to what appeared to be a very out of place elevator, made of what looked to be stainless steel. To the left of the sliding doors was a retinal scanner, a palm scanner, and last but not least a four-digit input code. Both men scanned themselves and inputted their ID numbers. If the elevator sensed more than the people scanned in the elevator it locked down, and an alarm sounded, alerting the scientists and security guards throughout the Mansion. The doors to the elevator opened, and the descent was almost unnaturally fast, leaving the two men on the deepest floor underground.
The dimly lit floor held large multicolored tubes, hundreds of rows lined along the walls of the almost massive colosseum-like space. White and Black moved down a row of tables, the tables covered in files, in boxes, sorted by the last name, the streets they were found on, taken from, and forced to sign things just in case someone cared about a homeless person disappearing, human lab rats, preserved for the perfect moment that they were needed.
The two men walked up to a desk, with a single computer, White leaning down to type in all three of the numbers he spoke earlier. Their most promising test subjects, the ones that had been Ex-Army, Ex-Marine, abandoned by society, they signed those papers all on their own, sleeping in the tubs of colored liquid, large metal hooks attached to a conveyor took up the three men in question and brought them down on pedestals. Black stepped up to look at the three men, and walked past them all, tapping the front of their glass cases their stats popped up on the glass showing their vitals, their strengths, their weaknesses, all of them look hardened, tired, like they had been through hell and back and didn't care who got in their way, being stepped on before by so many men before them.
White came up and looked at all the people, reading each board about the person's body with a watchful eye looking for anything that might reject the bare scrap of DNA they managed to scrounge up due to Black's incompetence. They couldn't afford to waste this opportunity, and they only had one shot at getting Supergirl back and making millions more off of the DNA they would get from her.
Black placed the cotton swab into a specialized machine, pressing a few buttons that let out loud beeps, echoing around the 'hotel' as some security guards called it, at least the trusted ones that had been here for almost over a decade. The machine whirred as the two men stood in silence, White pressing parts of the glass and sent the purple tube, and the green tube away.
White turned to a woman with red hair floating around her in loose curls surrounded by a soft baby blue color. She wore a white strip of cloth around her hips and chest, overlayed with a dress of mesh, that floated around her like the frills of a jellyfish. Her name was Emily according to her spreadsheet. White pressed a button, and the liquid began to drain, slowly. Emily not even waking up as the liquid swirled out beneath her, leaving her sitting against the wall of the tube with her curls plastered to her face, and shoulders. She was Ex-Marine, abandoned on the streets when she couldn't find a job, after forming mental illnesses that deemed her unfit for action.
Of course, mental illness had no bearings on this mission. The tube popped open with a flush of white steam, the woman inside perking her head up, her eyes half-lidded, barely recognizing the man in front of her. Seeing instead a tall white blob, a black blob soon joined it both of the blobs offered her a hand and Emily took it, stepping out onto the lab floor, she dripped blue liquid over the cold stone, immediately shivering she felt something press into her hand Black's sultry voice telling her to take the pill. She looked at the small white tablet in her hand and blinked blearily at it.
Taking a sniff at the pill, she put it past her lips and dry swallowed, looking at both men in almost a curious fashion, as her eyes finally cleared, her brain started to wake up. The moment it was past her lips it burned all the way down to her stomach, where it felt like it bubbled and broiled the acid within her. Her skin felt like it was crawling, making Emily give a soft cry of pain, goosebumps appearing on every inch of her soft flesh. She felt her knees buckle, and the urge to purge whatever was in her stomach rushed to the surface and tore at her insides, but she put a hand over her mouth, not letting her body make the mistake the two men were afraid of, wasting what precious little DNA they had. Emily felt her insides boil then turn cold, the world around her swirling into darkness, her eyes shutting her body fell to the floor, only being conscious for a few minutes before backing into the night.
Black picked up the lithe woman, and walked with her upstairs, to put her in comfier quarters for observation, they needed to see just how strong she was before they attacked and got Supergirl. Black took her upstairs, to a suite with an oddly large plush bed and a window that looked out into the moonlit night. Laying the woman down, Black tucked her in, not wanting to fail in his duty this time. He sat in an armchair by the head of her bed and watched her to see if her body would reject the small augmentation to her DNA. She had the best chance to accept it, being a woman herself, along with blood type and other genetics White had checked. She was their best shot at this prize, and Black would not fuck up again. Black had a vendetta. White had other plans for the woman she wouldn't get away with what she did so easily no. They could have made millions off of the single pill, even if the DNA provided only proved to be temporary. They had nowhere near enough to make it permanent. When that woman woke up, they would show her the target. They would test her strength, and Supergirl would provide them with more DNA, it was only a matter of time. There was no escaping them once they had a target in their sites, she would bend to their will it was just a matter of time.
The morning was tinting the street in a wash of oranges and yellows, lighting up Supergirls hair with the brilliant colors, casting a halo around her face that she quite enjoyed. It had been almost a few days since that horrible incident she had found herself in, and she hated to admit it, but parts of her downstairs felt sore like they weren't healing properly, and to be honest, that worried her. She was sure even if something were wrong, her body would fix herself, she was Kryptonian after all, she was strong.
She just wondered about what those men were after. Her DNA obviously, probably for some weapon, but they seemed to know their stuff. Who would want to hire people like that against her, would they try again? Should she tell Alex? She bit her lip again, feeling butterflies ram against her stomach. She was stressed out worrying about it. She usually would tell Alex everything. If she got kidnapped, she was sure the DEO would jump so hard on those villains asses they would be crushed but didn't want it getting out she was forced to pee herself. She didn't even want her sister to know about it because it embarrassed her. She was supposed to be strong, the protector of the city, yet she had been brought so low in the matter of a single night? It brought a pink tinge to her cheeks as she thought about it, embarrassment coursing through her. She just needed to go into work, fight some bad guys, and she would feel better once things proved they would go back to normal.
Kara stepped up to the DEO's front door, a coffee in hand, her blonde hair was pulled back into a semi-tight ponytail, her glasses on. She felt like she blended in this way, though now she had no way of knowing if those men had found out about her identity alone or through other means. She didn't wear a mask. If people cared enough to find her and had the resources, there was no doubt in her mind that they could. It was just a matter of time, and she just hadn't caught wind of them planning anything. She just hoped whatever was going on, they wouldn't try again, or she would have a chance to fight them off. It almost frightened her the lengths those people had gone too just to have her pee herself.
Almost as if the thought had summoned it, her bladder ached, and she shivered softly, recalling the almost pain she was in before, but she shook herself, showing her DEO badge to the security guard Kara stepped into the elevator and took it down to the lower floors. She tried to push the thoughts from her head. She didn't need any of this type of thing throwing her off today. It was just going to be a typical workday, she would talk to her sister, and it would be fine. Why wouldn't it be? Those villains knew she wasn't about to be weakened anymore anytime soon, and for the past few nights she had flown home under cover of night, so she wouldn't have to risk another attack. She didn't think her bladder could handle that right now. She needed to give it time to heal up a little bit.
As Kara stepped out from the elevator and saw her sister surrounded by the people that reported to her, the ground underneath Kara's feet, shook. She went pale as she heard an alarm sound in the distance, and felt goosebumps crawl over every inch of her skin. She felt it in her gut that she had waited too long to find whoever that man had been, or who h. He was here, and it scared the living crap out of her. Kara heard the elevator shut down behind her, and as she whipped around to see. The elevator cords were cut sending the elevator and the two desk jockeys inside plummeting to the deepest floors of the DEO. Their shrill screams almost cartoonishly fading down the elevator shaft. Kara grabbed the sliding metal doors with her hands that had closed automatically, denting the metal, though it took just a hint longer than it usually did to push the doors apart. She free fell into the elevator, before speeding herself up with the power of her flight.
The moment she landed on the elevator, she felt it go faster from the force of her fall crunching the metal beneath her boots, the screams of the women inside filling her ears with their terror as she pried off the trap door on top that allowed people to escape in emergencies. This situation felt like it fit under that category. She reached inside and gathered both women into her arms so quickly she that a whirlwind of papers was left behind as she ascended through the large hole she had made, big enough for three people at once if they didn't mind minor cuts and bruises to being flattened in an overly large tin can. Kara flew up with them as fast as she could without hurting the poor women who were most likely going to be scared for life. Landing ion the floor she had initially stepped out on, the two women fell to their knees, shaking beside Kara's mostly empty coffee cup and her work memos. Kara didn't waste any time, sprinting to the end of the hallway to meet up with Alex, who had her gun drawn, pointing it at the stairs, the lights on the sides of the firearm illuminating her face as dust and debris slowly cascaded from the ceiling. Kara crouched behind her whispering in a soft voice as not to startle her, updating her on the situation, she was going to have to tell Alex about those men she didn't have a choice. She just wished she had done so sooner. She might have been able to avoid this. The screams of people above her flooding her chest with guilt, almost standing up to save them but it was important Alex know the truth.
"The elevator cords were cut, no one hurt save for a large scratch on Susanna's arm. Alex, I know who's doing this..." Her voice shook as she let that slip fear clawing at the inside of her heart, almost wishing she could take it out of the air with a snatch of her fingers, but Alex had to know. Her sister threw her a questioning look. If Kara knew about these intruders how didn't she? Kara whispered once again, fear of her sister losing all respect for her making her words barely audible over the rumbling coming from somewhere above them. The whole building shook with that, debris and dust no bigger than a quarter freeing itself from the ceiling and falling to the floor.
"A few days ago when I told you I had lost my phone and called you from a burner I was held against my will by people who knew my identity I-" Alex's face immediately grew concerned, and then more confusion with a hint of anger. She had been suspicious of that stupid burner phone, and Kara had dodged the question before she had just given up, she knew she should have pressed harder.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?! Kara, you could have been hurt! We should have been tailing them, finding out who was working for them, do they even have any ties to the Army we've been fighting against?" Kara held up her hands in a soft symbol of apology. She didn't have time to be fighting like this. She had to get the information out as quickly as possible so that she could save anyone being held captive at the moment. There was no telling what those bombs could be doing on the upper floors, wrecking everything or simply blocking paths. She was the only one that could help.
"They wanted my DNA. They strapped me to a chair until I h... I peed myself... I'm... it was embarrassing I didn't want you to know... I thought I had more time. I was going to try and find a way to omit that detail... but it's fine, you know now... we need to deal with this more than I need to save my wounded pride." Alex looked like she wanted to say something, most likely, comforting words of an older sibling to a younger one, but Kara was right. She had to save the people that worked upstairs. Alex wasted no time, pulling out a walkie talkie she had for emergencies, tucked inside a drawer of her desk, as Kara ran towards the elevator shaft, flying upwards in a blur of color to deal with the menace above them that threatened the poor people that worked here.
Kara rocketed upwards like a bullet slamming into the elevator doors on the top floor almost a minute later, having traveled sixteen stories in a simple matter of moments. The metal doors flew off, hitting two of the guards that were watching over six or so hostages, she was still feeling the effects of the drug, weakening her, she didn't want to risk taking a bullet. When the muzzle of their guns pointed to her, she grabbed one of the metal doors and hid behind it, angling it upwards so any ricochets would embed themselves in the roof of the room instead of the flesh of the victims. When she heard the click of a gun that needs reloading she spun only once on her heal slamming the hunk of hallowed steel into their cheeks in one blow, both men crumpling to the floor, their cheeks cut and bleeding. She quickly checked around the more for any that had hid, but thankfully there seemed to be none, even checking under the desks, Supergirl ripped apart the ropes that held them, and took a cursory glance down the fire escape, before she pointed to the window, her voice commanding despite the fatigue she was feeling.
"Single file out this window! You guys need to make it to the sidewalk, call the police, call the ambulance fleet, then go home, understood?" She had to be firm with them, people like this she had come to learn never really were safe now until she forced them to leave the dangerous situation. Kara didn't have time to help them. Instead, she was going to keep going down until she cleared every last floor until there was nothing left of these damned guards. She took a moment, crouching to the floor she tried to listen to the floor below her, needing to know where the guards were before she jumped into a dangerous situation. It was hard to hear through the thick floor, but she managed to hear some faint crying, sharp words, then silence... bubbling anger filling her chest at the implications, they were even hitting these people that had no way to defend themselves?! She took a breath, and strained her eyes, trying to see through the wall just enough to see four guards this time, two by the elevator shaft, guns trained on the metal doors. Damn, they knew she was here, and she was pissed. She would have to go through the floor. The other two guards stood by the window, though one was obstructed by a lead pipe her X-ray vision had trouble with. So they were trying to catch her off guard if she was trying for a side assault huh? She smirked, slinking over to the window, she waited for them all to shift like waiting was strenuous on their minds. She thanked any gods that the hostages were placed in the center of the room almost like bait.
Kara jumped into the air and then slammed her legs onto the floor sending a cascade of debris falling onto one man, pinning him beneath the rubble, but not quite killing him. Though it sure as hell seemed to hurt judging by the way he screamed. Before the other man could fire more than one shot, which missed widely and shattering the lightbulb on a desk, causing one of the office workers to scream in fear. Kara crouched, and launched herself at him so fast, that just the shove from that amount of force launched him through the wall, falling two stories to the ground below, landing on a car, she didn't waste any time worrying about the sudden slowness in her muscles. She was so tired, dammit! She needed to save these people but taking out these many guards on her own was wearing at her weakened body. She must have absorbed more of the kryptonite then she had thought. She didn't care though, these people needed her, she cut the ropes this time, with a shard of debris, and pointed to a window closed, but connected to a fire escape.
"Smash the window if you have to, just make sure you get to the ground, open up the hatch doors so the agents can escape from the lower levels, then go home, okay?" They all nodded, a few concerned by the scratches she seemed to have acquired going through the floor even though they didn't seem that serious. Her voice panting slightly, as if she had ran just a little too long. Kara shook herself, convincing herself she was fine, she wasn't weak, just tired! She could rest all she wanted after this crisis was averted. She stood and went to the stairs, hearing some gunshots below her she hurried down, not hearing any more hostages, but seeing paths and hallways covered in debris, and marked them in her minds map to inform the police and paramedics once the time came to save the trapped people. Kara made her way to the first floor the agents occupied, looking around she saw the bodies of some men in body armor. Then the bodies of some agents that didn't win their fights. Dammit. The sight brought sadness to her as she hoped their families would be okay.
Kara paused in the middle of a long hallway, overturned desks and papers littered around her like a tornado of destruction had gone through them. Across the hall from her, a woman waited in front of a closing elevator, the man in a black suit and the man in the white suit riding to the ground floor. It was them behind this; she knew it. Her eyes met the woman's, and she waited for a response before she called out.
"I take it we aren't on the friendliest of terms?" The redhead didn't respond with words. Instead, she picked up a sizeable boulder with one hand and threw it at her. Kara stiffened, not having much time to react. She reeled back and punched the rock, steel beams embedded in the concrete clattering to the floor, as the sudden stop shattered the rock and covered the floor in bits and pieces of cement. Kara tried her best to hide her panting, her jeans ripped, her shirt ruffled. The Redheaded woman advanced, Kara's mind flicking back to the flash and his metahumans, having encountered a few before. Maybe this was one those two had hired, or brainwashed into helping them? Kara couldn't take the chance though of this woman running rampant in the building, taking a running start, she took a move straight out of her sisters book and spun once aiming a kick straight at the weakest rib. She felt a sudden resistance, and paused, fear sending a twinge up her spine. The woman had grabbed her ankle like it was nothing. Was she really so weak, or was this Metahuman that strong?
She felt her foot twist painfully, and she cried out, being dragged off her one stable foot to fall on her rear, her ankle squeezed painfully once more, she kicked violently with her other leg and got the red-headed woman in the chest, sending her only stumbling back a few feet. Kara was stunned. She had used that same amount of force on the man she sent through a wall. She stood back up, favoring the leg that hadn't been almost broken by the force of that squeeze. The two women stared at one another, Kara apprehensive about even trying to fight this woman, but she launched herself anyway as the woman did. Kara tried to punch her but didn't get far before her throat was grabbed by the woman, though she wasn't choked as she was almost lifted off the ground, though the woman was a bit shorter than her.
"My name is Emily." She murmured, her voice robotic and calm like she wasn't even breaking a sweat, and she wasn't. How was she this strong? Even the most robust Metahuman she had met would never be able to beat her even if she was half as strong as she was.
"What...are you?" Supergirl choked out, bruises forming on her skin from the ever-tightening grip of Emily. Supergirl struggled, before she cried out in defeat, knowing she wouldn't be able to take this alone, no agents were near her that she saw. Kara kept struggling even as her vision blurred, then slowly faded to black. Emily throwing the blonde woman over her shoulder and moved to the elevator following the men who had given her this strength. Emily met up with the men in the oppositely colored suits behind the building, all the cop sirens and ambulance wails separated by the DEO building itself. It was hard not to laugh for Black as Supergirl was tucked into the seat next to Emily, who buckled them both in. White got into the driver's side, and their car disappeared down the road, their plan had worked. They had gotten her back, and now she would bend to their will, and White had just the plan...