“Subject Frost has unfortunately passed away, sir,” Andromeda said, cursing her lack of ability for winning rock paper scissors.

  Even with three of her, she wasn’t able to beat Vertiga at it, which meant Andromeda was incredibly predictable or Vertiga also cheated.

  “Of our successes, Frost died and Subject Forty-Three has escaped, am I correct?” Alchemist asked, swiping at the air, working on something else.

  Andromeda winced at that. After all, she was the one in charge of Subject Forty-Three. How was she supposed to know he'd developed teleporting or phasing? Or the ability to shrink super small and imperceptible, or portals, or turning into air or the millions of options of powers.

  In hindsight, burying someone alive had too many potential options for powers that would allow them to escape.

  “You’re correct. And we’ve been checking with our contacts. Nobody has come forward with a story about kidnapping, though a few have reported seeing mysterious cars accosting people, so we’ve been slowing down,” Vertiga replied, trying to get into the boss’s good graces.

  “You two have done well.” Alchemist said with a nod. “Make sure to ship to my main lab the bodies of the successes that did not make it along with anyone who is a genetic match.”

  “You’re returning to the main branch?” One of Andromeda’s clones asked, unable to keep the hope out of her voice.

  “Yes, I think this lab is set up well, so I don’t need to stay here, and I would like to return to my proper work instead of setting up another location to get beginners. More than that, it’ll be bad if too many pop up. Paying off the law and heroes is costly.”

  “I have clones working as often as I can to see if any would be heroes or vigilantes have set up in Silver City as their home, but so far it’s been relatively quiet.” Andromeda confirmed with a nod.

  “Projections show we can probably begin rolling out Enhancement in a few weeks, though it seems to only be really compatible with our subjects and those we used for inspiration. Most get a minor increase in physical abilities, but for us, it can be an explosive increase in physicality and power.” Vertiga said, tapping away at one computer to show the current trends of the drug.

  “I’ve been looking at new routes, sir, for harder to spot patterns while hitting the areas we believe homeless and forgotten folk will congregate towards.” Kurt said, using his telekinesis to mark down a map with various squiggles.

  “Have you decided on a fourth?” Vertiga asked before Andromeda could stop her colleague.

  “You will get another defender when you are ready. If you hadn’t already ruined so many due to negligence, you would already have had multiple other guardians!” The alchemist stated, leaving no room for questioning his decision.

  Andromeda decided that the best thing she could do to not get yelled at was to begin preparing Frost’s body bag and taking one last look at her scans before getting her ready to ship.

  After all, if she was being productive, she wasn't going to get choked out, right?

  She had to be careful after all; if her main body were to go unconscious, it would render her entire power useless.

  Kurt continued the combing of his map, though behind him he sculpted a replica of the city so that he could visualize it in a three-dimensional setting to see if there was anything that stood out more that way.

  “Are we sure that there're no heroes camped out anywhere?” He asked, staring at the map critically before glancing at the screen that had the most recent location of all known heroes in a three hundred-mile radius.

  And while there were many would-be do-gooders, none of them seemed to take refuge in Silver City.

  Yet.

  “We’re sure Kurt. Just because you’re hankering to throw down with supers doesn’t mean the rest of us are. Go bully one of the chipped if you want to fight,” Vertiga snapped furiously. Getting snapped at by her boss left her with the right of all middle managers. To take it out on an underling.

  Kurt raised an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something. However, a quick glance at Alchemist reminded him of his priorities and stymied any defense.

  “If anyone of significant worth starts a war against us, remember protocol.” Alchemist said.

  A guard burst into the room. “Alchemist lab three has created someone with a spatial anomaly ability. We’ve managed to keep them contained via blindfolds at the moment, but the team isn’t sure if that’s a permanent solution.”

  Alchemist glanced at it, a mechanical whirring filling the room as a flash of crimson light pulsed with irregularity.

  “Concerning. What experiment did they use to create a spatial anomaly?” He asked finally handing the paper back as he pondered. “Tell them that on my way back to the main lab, I’ll stop to pick up the spatial user.” He tacked on before the guard had a chance to speak.

  “Constant bombardment of projectiles, sir.” The guard said before scampering off before they could be addressed again.

  The lucky bastard.

  As Alchemist continued thinking, Andromeda made a startling discovery, which proved all the more confusing when she cross-referenced it with her clone at the computer that held the files of all their subjects before they'd gone through any mutations.

  “Subject Frost’s DNA no longer matches what we have at all. It looks like an entirely different person instead of someone who has mutated like the others,” Andromeda muttered across multiple clones in perfect sync, the sound almost deafening, even if no individual spoke all that loud.

  “Interesting.” Alchemist replied after a moment of consideration. “Are there any people that you think would now be close matches?”

  “We aren’t sure, but we can keep an eye out.”

  “Good. I want to test other ways to make supers. Even if the match might not have the super gene, it would be interesting to see what would happen to them. When you find a match, if they’re in this city, make sure to send them to me.”

  Andromeda and Vertiga took a moment to figure out what their boss could have meant by that, but either they both seemed to have figured out what the plan was or elected that they want to ask.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Andromeda conjured a few more clones so that they could properly pack the remains of Subject Frost into the cold case. It was a lot easier to pack the remains if they aren’t required to remain wholly together.

  Unfortunately, little could be done for the parts that had already melted, leaving only a scattering of pieces left.

  A couple of the limbs were mostly intact though, and wouldn’t that be wonderful to have a chance to study them in depth?

  Andromeda couldn’t help but feel a bit of resentment towards her boss, but as he created her and gave her the chance to work on these projects, almost all the annoyance could be forgiven.

  The annoyance of being forced to work with Vertiga couldn’t be forgiven.

  Nobody wanted to work with that bitch, and if Andromeda wasn’t the perfect picture of control and sanity, she was certain that she would have tried to kill Vertiga already.

  Vertiga didn’t even like cats! What sort of monstrous humanoid didn’t even like a cute kitten?

  It pained Andromeda to watch some of the equipment be carried out of their lab. After all, she wasn't done working with all of it!

  She hadn’t gotten the chance to learn what all of it did, and now it was being taken away from her!

  First her room, where she got her powers.

  Then her favorite toy!

  And now all the new toys that she’d never be able to learn what all of it did.

  As her brain spiraled out of her control, she split twice more, forming more clones to spread her consciousness through.

  With there now being six Andromedas, she felt much better, so much more in control.

  Upon finishing the packaging of Subject Frost, Andromeda returned to her computer and began downloading files to a thumb drive so that Alchemist could upload them directly when the time came.

  “Andromeda, do you think you can spare another set of hands? Subject Kaiju is very heavy even when completely sedated.” Vertiga asked, feeling glum, not happy to ask Andromeda for help but forced to do so anyway.

  “Nuh uh uh,” Andromeda said, wagging her finger at Vertiga. “That’s not how you’re supposed to ask me for help. Come on, you can do better!”

  Vertiga glared at Andromeda and for a moment a flash of green light filled her eyes, though it died just as fast.

  With all of her bodies Vertiga’s power was nearly useless on her.

  After all, the point of their pairing was that they could use their powers in conjunction with each other without risk of friendly fire.

  Vertiga sighed in defeat, shaking her head. “Please Andromeda, I really need your help, for I am not capable enough, so wouldn’t you help this damsel in distress carry the wicked monster?” She asked, putting as much sarcastic enthusiasm into her voice as possible.

  Andromeda in a terrible knight cosplay appeared from around the corner. “Forsooth and other words, I shall help you!”

  Vertiga cursed to herself and led the clone and a few others to where Kaiju was kept and began the arduous process of transferring a creature that can be measured in tons.

  Not many tons, mind you, but still tons.

  Thankfully, with all the hands and powers they had available, it didn’t take long to have the Alchemist fully ready to go.

  With all the faculty assembled near the cars, they waited tense for whatever final words of wisdom their boss would have for them.

  “I will be taking my leave. Now make sure that you keep me up to date with any developments, and remember that you are to make sending successful supers to me a priority over any other research that might be going on.” The Alchemist reminded the lab before finally stepping into his car.

  There was an audible sigh of relief as the weight in the room lessened dramatically in that moment, yet all stood at attention for the last stretch.

  The guards took a moment longer before also filing into their prospective vehicles and driving away.

  And with no more ceremony, Alchemist and his guards were gone, finally leaving Andromeda and Vertiga in charge of the facility.

  “Andromeda, have any of the subjects developed abilities while we were preparing the transfer?” Vertiga asked getting straight to business.

  “No, all of them have remained the same.” Andromeda confirmed. “Kurt, begin preparing the transfer station so that those we have no use for can keep our treasures alive so we can push them harder.” She commanded, refusing to let Vertiga be the only one in charge.

  Kurt stalked off, energy flaring around him as he grabbed various things with his powers before going into the transfer room.

  “I’m going to go to my personal lab and continue working on Enhancement send in Striker, as it’s his turn in rotation for the experiments.” Vertiga said coldly before stomping off to her lab to blow off steam.

  “Just because she’s the scarier one doesn’t mean she’s in charge.” One clone said.

  “It’s not like we want to work on Enhancement, anyway. It makes it hard to concentrate. Just being near the stuff can set us off, pushing our powers in unhelpful ways,” another Andromeda pointed out.

  At that moment Striker walked into the room, making his way towards Vertiga’s lab, a cheerful look on his face.

  Andromeda felt a little bit bad for what was to come for him, but he would survive, so she couldn't feel that bad.

  The pure physical types from the alpha version of the power serum loved Enhancement — it pushed them from slightly above mortal to true superhuman, and the effects could stay for hours or days depending on various details.

  But was it going to be a purely pleasant experience of becoming stronger today?

  The sound of muffled gunshots echoed through the lab before the soundproofing kicked in, fully blocking out all the sounds.

  Endurance testing it was.

  That was always fun. For Andromeda at least.

  “Alright everyone, remember to keep your eyes open. We had one subject escape and most likely they have a power meaning we can’t capture them. But more than that, if they try to stop us, don’t kill him. Our bribes can get us a lot of wiggle room. Kidnapping the unmentionables of the world is one thing, but if we murder someone, that’s going to raise a lot of eyes, remember?” Andromeda said, giving the speech in multiple rooms, making sure the entire lab is listening.

  The response was about what could be expected. Nobody was happy with this turn of events, but there was nothing any of them could do about it.

  “We will make a better effort to make sure that we only kidnap the unmentionables instead of people alone at night.” Kurt said, taking over. “We’re also going to slow the pace so keep your energy contained as we won’t be going out every night.”

  The capture crew chatted some more, but Andromeda tuned them out, heading over to room seven to take one more look at the tomb.

  Andromeda tapped a few buttons on the wall, making sure to mute the room before letting out another sigh.

  With a thought, she climbed into the casket looking up at the ceiling, trying to get into the head of the escaped subject.

  What could have been going through his head in those final moments?

  After all, she helped give him super powers. Why didn’t he come back? He could have at least thanked her?

  They could have worked together to bring powers to everyone!

  “Forty-Three if you’re here and come out, I’ll help you escape.” Andromeda said aloud. “I wanted you to come back normally, but Alchemist is going to be so mad now.” She explained with a mad giggle.

  “You’re going to have to hide, but with your ability, you can do that, right? You just have to come and play with me. You’re supposed to play with me.” She said, getting out of the casket and grabbing one of the stone spears from the walls before slamming it through the casket.

  Right where the heart of Jason would have been if he were still chained to the box.

  “My first success gone! You were supposed to be mine!” She shrieked.

  “You’ll be back.” She cackles. “They always do, after all. That’s how the story goes, right? You get powers and then you’re going to fight me to stop me?”

  “You can’t stop me. You’re going to come back to fight me and I'll win. And I’ll make sure you become mine. So I can keep you safe forever,” she laughed as she continued to tear apart the casket, throwing splinters everywhere.

  “Always mine.”