Part Nine

Vic woke slowly, which was odd. With her level of regeneration, even a powerful narcotic should have worn off quickly once her body began eliminating it. To her alarm, she discovered that she had been stripped and dressed in a paper examination gown. Even her ear bud was gone. She wasn't certain, but from the condition of her hair suspected she'd actually been washed.

"Someone was being thorough," she muttered, her voice hoarse.

Her brain shied away from contemplating what else might have been done to her while she was out. There was no way to tell just now. She snarled, then forced herself to relax, and focus on her immediate situation. First thing, she was laying some sort of thin pad on a hard floor. Looking around she could tell - using a combination of her eyes and sense of perception in the dimly lit chamber - that she was in an altered natural cavern or hewn volume in solid rock. Sensing no motion, she lifted herself up with her arms. Vic was in a small cage, and there were other cages, some of them also occupied. The other people she could see were all still, also laying on floor pads, also dressed in paper gowns. At least they were breathing. She leaned to reach out to the door to her cage, but her sense of perception warned her to pull back. There was something dangerous about it, perhaps simply an electrical charge.

Looking more carefully, she saw that the cages were each four walls of bars attached to frames at top and bottom. The frames were in turn attached with brackets to the rocky ceiling and floor outside the cages. The bars weren't going to move easily, even if they were safe to touch. There was a door with a strong-looking lock in one of the cage walls.

Vic sat up and went into lotus position. She appeared to be meditating, but she was actually reaching out with her senses, especially her hearing. However, after several minutes she learned little more. There was a distant drip of water, and an even more distant hum of equipment. Nothing more.

She would just have to wait.

* * *

Energia found the nightclub with little trouble, and soon after saw Vic's Corolla station wagon. She whistled, and waved when Michelle looked up. She landed, and the two women briefly hugged.

"Listen, we're working on what happened," said Energia, trying to be reassuring. "We'll find her!"

The two knew each other well. Michelle and Vic had even double-dated with Energia (in civvies as Jenny) and Maldren several times. Something she hadn't told Blue Impact or Gadgetive.

"The police said they normally don't deal with missing people for forty-eight hours," said Michelle. She was distressed but controlling it. Though Energia could see signs of wiped-away tears. "However, they said that since people saw Vic being gassed and taken they would put a priority on her case. I have no idea what they meant by that, though."

"I spoke with several people on the flight over here," said Energia. "We reached an agreement that the best course of action would be for me to take you to the headquarters of The FX. They have guest rooms, and will let us both spend the night. If you agree, I'll tell the police to phone any information to there."

"I think that's probably a good idea," said Michelle, the mask of control slipping a bit. "I really don't want to be alone tonight."

"The only downside is that you'll have to drive Monstro, since I can't carry you that far and I don't have a license."

"You still don't have a driver's license," said Michelle, smiling a bit.

"Yeah, yeah, let's not worry about that just now," said Energia, rolling her eyes. "So, you up for driving through a strange city?"

"I'm pretty sure Vic already has the navigation system programmed with the location of their headquarters," said Michelle. "Let's go."

* * *

"We have so far been unable to find any other instances of supers being kidnapped," said Isarda. "There are multiple reports of unusual kidnappings, but Vic is the only super."

"She wasn't an accident, either," said Ma. "Whoever did this used a specific plan to isolate her which depended on her known patterns of behavior and specific activities tonight, and an anesthetic gas which is known to be effective and persistent for regenerators."

"I don't get it," said Salamander, scowling. "If this is about revenge - by Rokuro or someone else she's angered - why not just kill her?"

Energia was helping Michelle get settled into the guest room for the night. The FX members - along with several other super teams, individual supers and law enforcement agencies - were trying to get a handle on the situation.

"That's not how masterminds think," said Ma, glancing around the meeting room table. "They are driven to humiliate their opponent, to prove their mental superiority. That gives us time."

"Let's just hope enough time," said Popcorn Dash.

* * *

Vic actually managed to doze through the night. However, she still came fully awake the moment someone entered the chamber. Someone very stocky and a bit above average height.

The man stood well back from the cage, examining Vic. He was dressed as if for a high-level board meeting, and carrying a set of shackles. The sort used for dangerous prisoners. She thought about using her ki projection to produce a ranged punch, but had a feeling that would just annoy him. She would wait for a better opportunity.

The strange, bearded man smiled. He tossed the shackles through the bars, without touching them. Vic could have caught them but stepped aside and let them clatter to the stone floor.

"Put those on," said the man, in a surprisingly high, reedy voice.

Vic just stared at him. He smiled.

"By now you realize that there are humans in some of the other cages. Put those on or I will start killing them until you do."

Vic snarled silently, but she - gingerly - picked up the shackles. They appeared to be simple belt, steel cuffs and chains. With a sigh, Vic put them on, around waist, wrists and ankles.

"A bit tighter, all around," said the man. "Good. Now, I am confident that I could handle you even without those, but hopefully the restraints will reduce your willingness to engage in posturing."

He clicked a remote at the cage, opened the door and stepped aside.

"I am certain that by now you have deduced that I am Abraham Stone."

"Who?" said Vic, as she warily stepped out.

He actually laughed.

"If you go that way - yes, ahead of me - I will answer your questions. Well, some of them."

As she stepped ahead of him Vic blushed to the knees with the realization of what the open-backed gown gave her captor a clear view of. She was determined not to show any of this, though. They walked along a short tunnel into a larger chamber. There Vic saw the source of the hum. Not only was this room better lit, it was full of equipment. Stone motioned for her to move to an upright tube of glass and wire mesh. Vic crossed her arms and stared at him. He sighed, then smiled tolerantly.

"It was the Godsfather who brought you to my attention," said Stone. "Like me, he is the only one of his kind. Though we can each reproduce with modern humans, our offspring will not be like us. In his case, some have become literal gods. His praise of your potential for producing more of such piqued my interest. Now, I am finally ready to use the resource you represent."

"Remind me to thank him," said Vic, sourly.

Stone smiled in a very predatory way.

"The closer I looked at you, the more I saw," he said, his expression and tone making Vic feel very uncomfortable. "Your genes are, by some definitions, perfect."

"I've heard that before."

"Yes. I'm certain you have. However, I doubt that even those who examined your DNA previously realized just what that means. There have been those before who - through powers or science - have had their DNA optimized. To the best of my knowledge you are superior to all of them."

"You didn't lure me here just to flatter me."

"Of course not. I plan to use you as a template for remaking all of humanity into something more compatible with my own genetics. A truly superior species, through which I will be able to recreate intelligent life on this planet in my own image!"

"That's a lot of permission slips to get," said Vic, dryly.

He actually laughed at that.

"How many humans actually know what is good for them?"

"Not a bad point. Unfortunately, it's nowhere near good enough to justify violating people's rights the way you plan. Oh, and what's the success rate?"

"Better than 90% should make the conversion with few or no side effects. Not counting a change from male to female for most males as a side effect."

"So you have a world of fuckable babes remade to your standards, while killing maybe ten percent of the population. I know the world is a bit overcrowded in spots, but there's still plenty of room overall and I'm pretty sure most people who survive your plan would object to losing kin and friends, as well as to being transformed against their will. I think most men would object to losing their manhood, as well. You can take that as gospel from me."

"They will agree with me after the change."

"There it is," said Vic, nodding, staring him in the eyes. "Something in the change makes them subservient to you. So you can do what you want to them without resistance."

"Free will is vastly overrated," was his calmly smiling reply.

"Except for yours."

"I believe time will prove me right. It always has."

"It hasn't yet," said Vic, angrily. She still had no idea who this guy was, but had managed to figure out he must be very old. As well as a few other things. "How long has it been, and you're still alone? No. I will not cooperate with you."

He was, strangely, not the least upset by her defiance.

"Your cooperation is not required for the process. That assemblage is a decoy." He gestured at a mass of equipment set against a different wall. "While we spoke I had the device scan your entire being. It is already computing the transformation matrix, thanks to those ancient alien circuit assemblies I acquired. Not all the heroes on Earth can stop it now."

Vic leapt... but not at Stone. Instead, she put herself on course for the device. Despite the manacles, she flipped nimbly over to deliver a devastating flying double kick to it. Only, she hit something else, first. Something which gave her an intense jolt. Vic dropped to the floor, unconscious.

* * *

Vic awoke this time to pain, a sort of general, dull ache in her entire lower body. Until she tried to move; then she received jolts of agony which quickly made her change her mind about sitting up.

Looking around, she saw that she was again lying on a pad in a cage of bars. Most likely the same one. Her lower body showed signs of severe injury, her legs twisted in unhealthy ways. She was contemplating manually aligning the broken bones - which would speed the healing process if she could stand the pain for long enough - when she became aware of Stone approaching.

"I felt that leaving your injuries entirely for your regeneration to handle was the best way to keep you out of my hair for a while," he said, sounding amused. "I might need another scan once the data analysis is completed, so you stay alive for now. These bars are far more resilient than your ability to quickly do damage, are protected with fields similar to the one which protected my equipment from your rash attack, and are alarmed to let me know if you try despite all that. You might as well rest and leave me in piece to finish my work."

With that, he nodded and turned away.

Vic forced herself to do her relaxation breathing. She then meditated for a bit, to build her resolve, before beginning the slow, careful - and very painful - process of realigning her healing bones.

* * *

During a pause in that agonizing process something occurred to Vic. Did he expect the change to also affect her? Something told her that was unlikely, and he likely knew that. So, he probably meant to kill her after he made certain the change was successful. Or maybe...

More likely he just wants to have someone to brag to, since everyone else will be mindlessly obedient.

Something all masterminds had in common was the desire to demonstrate their superiority. Most did this by imprisoning enemies and bragging about their plans. Not all, but enough that it was actually warned against in the Villain's Handbook, right there on page eighty-eight.

Vic decided she'd done all she could for her legs. Besides, she was being distracted by hunger. Since there was little hope of getting fed any time soon, she distracted herself from the hunger by making a more detailed examination of her surroundings.

This provided no new information. However, she did realize something she hadn't before. The floor. It was part of the bedrock. Vic - carefully - knelt on the cold, slick stone. From what she had seen, she knew she was in a natural cave which had been modified. Maybe by Stone, but some of the work reminded her of the views Gadgetive had shown of the caverns under the Anomaly.

Several things fell into place. Vic wasn't as experienced or savvy at this super stuff as Blue Impact or even Energia, but she knew how masterminds worked. Stone had used the New Breed to sabotage the Adirondack Anomaly facility, maybe because they were moving a bit too fast for his plan. Once he was ready - Could he have replaced some of the parts the management of the facility had ordered with his own look-alikes built to perform differently? - he had killed all of the staff to keep them from noticing the tower was activating without their control.

That was all speculation, of course. What wasn't speculation was the physical environment around her. Vic also remembered what Gadgetive had said about the cavities under this section of the mountains. She placed her hands flat on the stone, closed her eyes and began pulsing her ki downwards, as hard as she could with as much focus projection as she could. Deep into the rock went the pulses. At the very least she should attract attention.

Vic thought about pulsing SOS, but realized the feedback she was getting revealed a resonating effect. If she could pulse to that...

She could. In return, she could feel the rock responding. As it responded the frequency changed, so she had to be alert and keep changing her pulses to match, but something was definitely working loose.

Just how tough were the tower and its foundations after the repairs? Stone most likely didn't care if the structure survived long term; for his purposes the rig only had to hold together for at most a few more uses. However, it did need to hold together that long. Had he even noticed, yet, that some vital components had been removed and hidden by Gadgetive? No matter; whether the tower was currently ready to go or not, Vic had to do this. It was, realistically, the only thing she could do. She was doing this. Vic could feel rocks falling in underground cavities, feel the tower beginning to sway, and lean a little farther to the southeast with each divergence.

The increments were tiny, and slow in coming. If Stone didn't notice, however, in a few hours she could probably wreck the tower. If he didn't notice.