The Crossover (closed for such_a_bad_man)

Vixen listened as Jack talked about their home city so passionately. She had spent so much time thinking of him as a narcissistic show pony that she didn't look past the surface of what he was doing. The large grants, the donations, the charity work; she'd known it was good for the city in one way, but she had always just assumed it was a way for him to gather more attention. It was in that moment that she thought that he was, perhaps, doing more for the city than even she was. Even though she had spent years dedicating herself to her teaching, to assisting the students in the roughest parts of town, she had nothing like the scope that Jack did.

When Jack wheeled over to her and caught her gaze she was tempted to look away. Hearing him speak, listening to the conviction in his voice; it was uncomfortable. It challenged everything she had thought about him, and a hell of a lot that she thought about herself as well.

And Jack was right.

With both Vixen and Infinium working together they could get an edge over the thugs in the city. With his technology and resources as well as her natural abilities and experience in the field they could make a formidable team. In the short time that they had already been working together she had realised that he could do things that she had only dreamed of thanks to his wealth and ingenuity. Instead of struggling every night to try and keep up with the ills of their city they could get a jump on it. Possibly even get it under control.

"You're right," Vixen said, leaning back in her seat and crossing her arms under her breasts. The action plumped her impressive orbs right up as she gave him a serious look. "If we want to teach this city to unite, then we need to be able to do it ourselves."

Vixen broke eye contact, looking around the strange padded room again. She wondered if the terribly accoustics was one of the reasons she had gone soft on Jack.

"You know, you should run for Mayor. If the people hear you talk like that you'll have them eating right out of your hand," She said, letting out a huff of breath and giving him an amused smile.

Jack frowned at her joke as he rolled back to the console. "I thought about it. I really did, but the whole process is so corrupt. I'd be fighting corruption all day long and I'd burn myself out. I'm more nimble if I do philanthropic work. Government moves to slowly and there are too many voices drowning each other out while the people suffer. No, I'm doing it the best way I know how. With your help, I think that I can double or even triple my efforts. I could be more precise with my work, really target the right communities."

Jack said, sounding like he was already coming up with future plans for their partnership. In truth, Jack was rambling as his brain couldn't get the image of Vixen's lifted and pressed together tits out of his head. They are framed and shown off almost completely by her outfit and it's hard to think about anything else when she was showing them off by simply crossing her arms under them. Jack tried to see if the scanning software was done, but it still had a few more minutes. No help there to distract himself, he feared.

Looking back at Vixen, he sighed. "Did you realize how big this life was when you started doing it? How deep the rabbit hole goes?" Jack asked, carrying on from where he left off. "There is so much dark money flowing in this town that I feel I'm doing all of this to just stay stable in the water. I'm worried that if I do go down that road, the economies of the underworld will get turned to full power until I drown." Jack sighed and sat back. "What's worse. I can't move on anything that I know... too many people connected to all the right people with all the right leverage..." Jack lamented. "If I had just one broken link in the chain, I feel like I could unravel it all. Like, it's right there..."

The computer chimed beside him. Turning to it, Jack finished his sentence. "...and now we got these 3 assholes to deal with now." He say up and scooted the chair closer. "Okay, I think it found some relevant clips. I may need your help to pick out the stuff I can't hear, okay?" Jack said, glancing over his shoulder at Vixen.

"I started this game a long while ago," Vixen sighed, pacing the length of the room while waiting for Jack to sort out the recording. "The city is like an iceberg, we only see the pretty tip of it, but there is a huge ever-changing depth beneath it. Some nights I feel as though all I ever do is chase my own tail. I deal with one gang only to have another rise in its place. These three arseholes are merely another link in the endless chain."

Vixen walked over to Jack, each stride of her shapely legs sure and confident. Instead of sitting beside him she leans over the back of the chair beside his, her rump sticking out nicely as the neck line of her costume starts to reveal a dangerous amount of skin.

"Ready when you are Captain," she says in a playful tone with a nod to the console.

'Don't look over... don't look over...' Jack repeated to himself as He could feel Vixen leaning over the back of his chair, holding herself up with a hand on the edge of the console. He could feel her so close, but she still felt miles away. Drawing in a breath to clear his head, he hit the button to play the clip in succession.

Clip 1
====

[ambient driving noise, car braking, car doors opening and closing]

Voice 1 (masculine, nasal): "You're late Goliath..."

Voice 2 (Masculine, deep, gutteral): "You hear any complainin' from the bosses inside?"

Voice 1: "No, but I know they hate people bein' late."

Voice 2: "Why don't you let them worry about it and get off my ass? I know that's what you like, but come on..."

Voice 1: (under its breath) "Asshole..."

[End of clip]

Peter whispers to Vixen. "The second guy has to be Goliath. Do you recognize the other guy's voice?"

He doesn't get his answer as the next clip starts.

Clip 2
=====

[muffled sounds of the city, sound of an exterior door to a building opening, footsteps: one heavy, one wearing heels]

Voice 1 (feminine, elegant): "... us that the last location was secure, but it wasn't... WAS. IT?"

Voice 2 (same deep masculine voice from clip 1): "No ma'am... it turned out it wasn't..."

Voice 1 (regaining a civil tone): "Because you underestimated the savior and the vigilante's cunning. We all did. But it doesn't matter. Do as you promised and all is forgiven, Clarence."

Voice 2: "Ma'am, please. I told ya..."

Voice 1 (interrupting): "I know Clarence, but your other name is so... brutish that I can't bear to use it. Now, be a dear and get to work."

Voice 2: "Yes, Ma'am. I'll bring the new men over this week."

Voice 1: "Good boy. Ta ta."

[End of clip]

Jack listens, his face screwed up in thought. "Could that be our telepath or one of the other 3? I wish we had more..."

He looks like he wants to say more, but the next clip starts.

Clip 3
=====

Voice 1 (masculine, deep, probably Goliath again): "...ould be wimpin' out on me now, are ya?"

Voice 2 (Masculine, shaky): "Naw... Naw, Goliath, but way out here? Why'd we gotta come way out here?"

Voice 1: "Cuz this is where the guys are gettin' together for this new job." [pause] "Come on, you said it yourself that you were tired of how the Grazzioci family is treating you. These people will pay you double what you get now, plus, you can wind up lookin' like me." [pause] "What's that look supposed to mean?"

Voice 2: "What? Nothing, Big guy... I was just... I ain't like you. I wasn't born like you so how do you figure that."

Voice 3: (feminine, elegant) "Perhaps I can answer that, gentlemen."

[sound of heels on asphalt]

Voice 2: "Who are you?"

Voice 3: "Your potential new employer. Tell me, do you ever look at the amazing things that Capt. Infinium or Vixen or any of the other documented super-beings can do and ask 'Why not me? What makes them so special that they lucked out and get those gifts?' What if I said that you could be given gifts like theirs and more?"

Voice 2: (slightly awe-struck) "How?"

Voice 3: "Come inside and I will show you."

[sound of 3 people walking, silence]

[End of clip]

Jack looked up and stopped the audio. "We need to know where the car was when this was captured." He said, finally looking at Vixen. He was so focused on what they just heard that he didn't even glance at the amount of skin he was seeing along the side of Vixen suit.

The room was so unusually quiet that being so close to Jack, hearing his breath and the way he shifted in his seat, was comforting. It allowed Vixen to relax enough to settle into the moment and to take in every aspect of the recording that she could.

The first clip bugged Vixen. She felt like she had heard that voice before, but she just couldn't place it. It tickled at her memory, but without any names coming to the forefront of her mind she merely shook her head at Jack's question.

The second clip was somewhat alarming. One of the reasons that Goliath was good at his job was because he was unshakeable. There was an unsure warble in his tone when the upper class lady addressed him, perhaps even fear. In the background there was the sounds of sirens and cars beeping, it sounded like they were in the heart of the city, but with the barrier of glass and height to protect them. Interesting.

"I would say she is high up in whatever mess this is," Vixen said, voice soft in the static between clips. "He isn't one to quake in his boots, and she clearly has him worried. But I'm wondering... I'm the saviour right? Because I hate the concept of vigilantes; so cloak and dagger." The last comment was said in a playful tone.

The next clip rolled on and Vixen let out a short sigh. This was the Goliath she knew; he had his confidence back, and he was using it once again to strong arm someone who was easily to pick on. Someone who was, most certainly, not his own size. Then the woman from the previous clip returned and it seemed she had the same effect on the new male as she did on Goliath.

"I agree, I would love to get a canvas on where Goliath is going. If you have any location trackers I will get onto it," Vixen began, "But I did recognise a voice in that last clip. They call him Weasel, but his real name is Wesley Williams. He is one of those drug dealers that the cops know is out there, but they can never bring him in. I don't know how he does it. My guess is that he has been supplying a dirty cop who has been helping him get off. I am not surprised that he is being dragged into this. Goliath likes him for some unknown reason, and knows his networks are good.... and he has a weakness for pretty ladies too. Something they both share."

Vixen stood up straight, stretching her arms up to the roof and swivelling her hips to ease her muscles. She then let her arms fall to her sides with an audible clap.

"I think I should try and bug Weasel as well. He may be a little harder to track down as he tends to flutter all over the city, but I'll find him," Vixen said, looking down at Jack. "Then if we have information on both of their locations we should be able to get a good idea of where this is all going down. You know, it is so odd that Goliath saw that female twice in a day. Things like this usually take a bit of time, but these guys... Well, I feel like they are moving fast. We're going to have to work hard to keep up with this lot."

Jack was about to offer Vixen the tracking devices that she was after, but when he turned to her, he caught her in mid-stretch. He swallowed hard as he looked up her long lithe body as it stretched her uniform so tight across her lovely curves. He drew in a slow breath as her hips danced around, audibly popping her lower spine and hip joints from the awkward position she was in. Even the clap of her hands dropping to her sides set up a slight quiver in her beautiful round ass. It was as if Vixen was showing herself off to him, but he knew that couldn't be what she was up to. She couldn't be if they were going to keep a working relationship going.

Once she finished loosening back up, Jack stood up, probably closer than either of them planned. As he did, the sound muffling panels slid back down, letting the natural light and noise back into the room. He gestured to the door and let her lead them back out before he began.

"Yeah, I do have tracking devices. I can get you the sort that will broadcast a signal to tell you where they are. I also have the sort that will keep track of its GPS signal so you can access it later to learn where it's been. Which would you prefer for the two you're going to be hunting?" He asked as he lingered just outside the door of his audio lab.

Vixen turned on her heel and led the way out of the room, glad to be out of that unnervingly silent place. The sounds of the world beyond Argent Towers filtered back to her as Jack was explaining the different types of bugs he could provide her with.

"Perhaps ones that record their location for now. I won't be monitoring them during what seems to be their peak time, so I feel that would be the safest option. Besides, we're only in the reconnaissance stage at the moment." She walked over to one of the railings around an open workspace and leaned back against it, crossing her arms over her chest. "Hell, if I'd known working with you would be this advantageous I would have broken into your towers months ago," she said with a wink and a grin.

Jack listened carefully. Clearly, Vixen had a plan, and he was going to defer to her expertise in these matters. He wasn't much for this sort of work; Jack operated much in the way a fireman would. A threat would show up. Capt. Infinium would defuse the matter. End of story.

This case required a lot more leg work; the sort the Jack never had time for. This was where Vixen was shining. Much as she was enjoying his toys, he was enjoying how she put them to use. Now, he was presented with a new problem. Luckily, he had something already in mind for her problem. As he started heading for another lab, he caught her remark and it made him smile. Talking over his shoulder as he walked the catwalk of this floor, he quipped. "It's not the first time women have used me for my mind. How do you think I got dates in college?" He grinned as he walked down the tight spiral stairs to the bottom floor and into a room that Vixen has seen before.

Opening another cabinet, Jack started looking through stacks of similar containers to the ones that the first set of bugs she took last time. Each one had a label printed on the cover as he checked each one in turn. "Ah! Found it..." Jack said triumphantly.

Turning back to her, he opened the box and showed a series of bugs that didn't look too different until you picked on up. These were thicker than her stick-on mics from the last batch. These were thick like a nickle with more circuitry on them. "Okay, these record the GPS data and you can wirelessly access them if they are in an area with WiFi. If not, you can download the buffer when it comes back and use the device that comes with it to overlay the data is recorded over a map of the area." He says, lifting up the glorified smart phone that the devices all connect to. "Hopefully, we can figure out where the big guy goes."

Vixen laughed appreciatively at Jack's comment and stopped herself just short of saying that she was sure he got dates for other reasons as well. She also stopped herself short of listing those reasons.

Vixen's scarlet red lips cracked into a broad smile as Jack handed her over the new bugs. They were everything she needed.

"And who said diamonds were a girl's best friend?" She said by way of thanks. She looked at the box and the controller. "I know I can fit the controller down here, but that box just won't work. I should probably start bringing my own bag along to our meetings," Vixen joked as she patted her breasts, pointing just where she thought to store the controller.

Jack couldn't help but watch Vixen's breasts jiggle as she patted them, reaffirming that they were 100% real. He swallowed a pang of lust down as he looked at her, but cleared his throat as he spoke. "You know, I could fashion you a belt for all these doodads that I make. It might keep them on hand a little easier and you could do without the box." He suggested as he looked around for another bag for her to use.

"I have a few extra that I keep around just in case. I could redesign it to match your look a bit more and you could wear it under your sashes..." He continued, finding a drawstring bag that she could sling around her torso over one shoulder.

"No tha-" Vixen started, her natural instinct to deny any offer of help automatically kicking in. She stopped though, looking at Jack and truly thinking over his offer. Juggling the many devices he was letting her use would soon become difficult, and it wasn't the first time she'd considered the use of a belt for some reason or another. Not that her breasts weren't convenient for storing small things, just that it might be handy to have other options.

"You know, that actually sounds like a great idea," she said, smiling at Jack, her red, plump lips looking pretty as ever. "I would really appreciate that. Thank you."

Vixen reached out and took the draw-string bag from Jack, slipping it over her shoulder and shaking her long, platinum hair out as the string settles on her shoulder.

Jack smiled as Vixen finally gave in to one of his ideas. It showed that the two of them had reached a level of mutual trust and he hoped that they were turning the corner in our relationship. It did bring something else to mind though. He was a little unsure if she would go along with it though.

"I suppose I do need to take your measurements to make sure it sits correctly." He said, biting his lips as he waited for the inevitable shut down. "You're a bit more acrobatic than I am so I have to make sure that the belt won't move while you're doing your flips and twists," he went on to explain, hoping it was enough to allay her fears about him being a creep.

"Look, we can do it without me touching you..." He explained, walking to a lab a few doors down and stepping inside. Inside, there was a small elevated pad to stand on that had a mechanical arm that came down from the ceiling above. It had a number of laser emitters along it's length, but none of them were on. Moving to a panel on the wall, Jack brought the room to life.

Turning back to Vixen, he gestured to the pad. "This is my object scanner. It's also big enough to scan a human body. It's how I make sure my suits are tailored to the correct dimensions and how I can build copies of prototypes faster. If you'll step up, I can scan you and I'll have the data I need to alter one of my belts for you." He said, hoping this method isn't too intrusive.

Vixen ignored the feeling of satisfaction that Jack's smile gave her. Despite her earlier reservations, it looked as though this partnership may just be a good thing. Maybe even a great thing. Her hands settled on her sash to remove it so Jack could get a measurement of her hips, but then she stopped, looking at him with a single eyebrow raised. Torn between being amused and alarmed at his sudden coyness she followed him down to a different lab with an elevated pad and a mechanical arm. Vixen walked over to the laser measurement device and looked at it with interest.

"You know... A tape measure would've been fine," she said, stepping up on the raised pad. "I mean, I'm not going to clobber you for taking my measurements by hand. Sometimes, I find, the best way to do a job is the simplest method." Vixen looked over at the handsome tech genius and wondered if he truly had a device for everything.

Jack smiled and pushed a few more buttons on the screen. "Yeah, it could have, but this is more accurate and, if I'm honest, I'm still not sure how okay you are with me touching you." He says with a bashful smile. "Okay, arms up over your head like you're doing a jumping jack, feet shoulder width apart please." He says, making sure she is in proper position. "Okay, now close your eyes. Can't have the scanners damaging your retinas."

Just like that, the laser apertures on the arm spring to life and the arm makes a slow circle around her body. In one pass, Jack sees that the system has modeled Vixen's body perfectly. "Great, done. You can open your eyes and lower your arms then." he said, walking over to the computer in the room. On the screen, he saw the 3D model of Vixen's body. "See? All done." He says triumphantly as he steps back from the screen.

Vixen stood on the dais and did as Jack asked. She felt ridiculous, especially when she closed her eyes, but when the scan was finished she hopped off the dais.

"I won't wallop you if you touch me," Vixen said as she walked over to the console Jack was at. "Well, not in that situation anyway ," she adds with a laugh. Then she looks at the console. "Wow... That is crazy," she said as she leaned over and started to manipulate the 3D rendition on the console. Jack now had a perfect rendition of her body. "You know, this somehow feels more intimate than if you'd just used a tape measure." Vixen stands back, looking at the screen as she realised that Jack now possessed a perfect rendition of her... And her killer curves.

Jack stood back and thought about it. "Oh god, no... I'm not gonna do anything creepy with it. It's just more accurate and I need to be accurate when every inch matters in our line of work." Jack explained, trying to put her mind at ease. "Now, I may add some things to secure it in place. It may turn out looking more like my anti-grav harness than just a belt, but I will make sure that the belt never binds or slips out of place."

He walks a slow circle around her as if he is picturing it now. It doesn't help that he gets a good look at her perfect toned tight ass as he does though, in his mind. "Man, you're gonna think I'm a creep either way at this rate..." he laments as he comes back to the screen.

Jack made his flustered assurances, but soon enough went back into genius-inventor mode. Vixen stood still, amused, as he walked around her in a circle as if sizing her up and visualizing how he wanted the belt to work. When he stepped back he seemed to realise just how much attention he had been paying to her body.

"The more you say you're a creep the more you plant the idea in my mind," Vixen tutted playfully as she walked back to the console and leaned against the side of it, crossing her arms under her breasts. "But you're not, not really. I mean I know you are looking for business purposes. Not that I haven't seen other looks, but..." Vixen trails off and just gives a shrug, not elaborating on what she thought of some of the other looks she had caught from the tech whiz.

Jack winces a little at her last comment. "Damn, I thought I was being careful. I should have known better than to try and fake out your enhanced senses. But I hope you don't blame me for looking. Your look can be rather... distracting." He says with a slightly embarrassed smile.

Turning back to the screen, Jack starts to add things to the model. First, he copies in a version of his own belt then adds some leg straps like a climbing harness. Those quickly go away as she would need to strap those around bare skin and could lead to some tough abrasions. Next, shoulder straps wrap up and over her torso, but when he spins the model in the physics environment, the straps slide off the shoulders. Zooming in, Jack grabs the anchor points for the straps in the back and slides them to the opposite point so they form an X in the back. Sending the model tumbling again, Jack smiles as everything seems to stay in place. "There. I think that's got it... now you'll also have shoulder straps to add more storage space too." He says as he turns to face Vixen for her input.

Vixen smiles to herself at Jack's comment when he looks away. She had only caught the tail end of any suspicious looks, but now he had just confirmed them for her. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it all, but there was a part of her that warmed at the knowledge. Interesting.

Jack then turned back to his work, fiddling around with the 3D representation of Vixen's body and trying to figure our how to keep the belt in place. He so easily got lost in his work that it made Vixen wonder whether that was a thing for him. To retreat into his tech when other parts of his life got busy or awkward.

"Well, your eyes are yours to control, I wont suggest where you do and do not look," she said as she leaned over to look at the final product on the console. She wondered if he would take the chance to look now, with her back stretched out before him and leading right down to her fabric hugged arse.

"Can we do without the straps at all?" She asks, pointing to the cross over. "I get why they're there but... It's just one more thing for the crooks to grab. I tie my sash so it will release quickly if grabbed, but that belt is designed so it doesn't come off easily..." She straightens as she trails off, turning to him. "Maybe line the belt with something? A slightly sticky or clingy material so it won't shift so much. I use something like that here," Vixen sticks a thumb under the seam on her shoulder and peels her costume down just a touch. Sewn into the seam is a clear plasticy looking elastic that is slightly tacky to the touch. She holds it out and gestures for Jack to feel it. "Granted this is just from a fabric store, but there is bound to be some more industrial type stuff somewhere."

Jack was so into his work, he hadn't noticed Vixen leaning in beside him until her body brushed his shoulder. Once again, he found himself looking at the long lithe curve of her body, arching back as she leaned down to look at the screen. Snapping his eyes back to the screen, he bit his lip, trying to tamp down his desire for such an impossibly proportioned woman like Vixen. It just wasn't fair that she look this good and also be gifted with powers as she had.

His bit lip curled into a frown as Vixen made it clear that she didn't want any extra straps. Given her acrobatic style, he felt it might have been necessary. He thought differently as Vixen flipped over a bit of the fabric to show the texture underneath. He ran his finger along in, furrowing his brow in thought about what gave it that texture. Only after bumping her skin did he realize what she had done to show it to him. While she wasn't naked, he was seeing under her suit more than anyone else had, if he had to guess. Swallowing down a ball of lust, he tried to focus.

"That does give me another idea... If I were to back the belt in a micro-fiber fabric, I could get it to stay in place like Velcro. That might just work as it will move with the fabric as you bend and flex. THe other option is to sew it into your suits and have the clasp in the front be a false clasp and have it hook in the back when you zip your suit up..." Jack's voice trailed off as he pictured what that might look like. Shaking his head, he got back to work. "I could have my people make me a few bolts of a fabric I design... I'll have a lot of unused cloth laying around after, but this could work if I design the fibers right." Looking over, he was curious to hear what Vixen had to say about this plan.

Vixen smiled and listened carefully to the suggestions Jack was making. She now had no doubt about how he became a tech genius and millionaire from such a young age. If this was what his mind was like in his down time she couldn’t even imagine his true potential. She bit the inside of her lip when she felt his finger brushing her skin, surprised at the instinctive desire the slight contact stirred in her. When he was done and back to his tech speak she settled the neckline of her costume where it was supposed to be.

"That sounds good. I am happy to leave it in your capable hands- if you think you have time to manage it," Vixen said with a firm nod. "I have a few of these lying around. I can bring you one over to experiment with if need be?" She suggested, gesturing to her leotard.

Jack nodded. "The next time you swing by, feel free to leave some of your extras here and I'll use them to mock up some ideas before we settle on a final design." He said with a friendly smile. "I hope you won't have need of your spares until then."

Closing up his modeling suite, Jack stood and looked around. "Now then, was there anything else you think you might need to track Goliath back to the 3 supers from the video feed from Magnanimous Capital?" Jack asked, wanting to make sure she had a chance to voice her ideas before they wrapped for the night.

Vixen rolled her shoulders and stood a bit straighter. Her luscious lips curled into a smile as she looked at Jack.

"That should be it for now," she said with a nod. "I should head off. I am sure we both need at least some sleep to maintain our night-time activities." She retrieved the bag with the extra items that Jack had loaned to her and she slipped it onto her arm. She went to make her way towards the elevator but she stopped. Turning, Vixen said: "And thank you. I really appreciate all of the technological aids that you loan to me. I have a feeling that this job will be much easier with you on side." She pressed the button, and the elevator was there a moment later. She gave Jack one last winning smile before heading into the lift.

~*~

The next day Scarlett noticed that Jack Abraham wasn’t at school. The first moment that she had spare, she went to the principal's office. She expressed her concerns for Jack, and the principal agreed to call his home to check on his whereabouts. Sure enough, Jack answered. He said he wasn't feeling well. Something about headaches, aching muscles- probably a flu, he thought. But Scarlett felt differently. She would bet anything that it was a side effect of the drugs he had taken. It took all of her restraint to not contact Jack immediately and request a speed-up of the results.

Instead she went about her day as normal. During her down time she considered how best to follow up the leads with Magnanimous Capital. By the end of the day Scarlett had decided that tonight would need to be all about setting up her bugs. She hoped that she would be able to find Weasel and Goliath easily enough. Bugging Goliath's car seemed to work for the other device, so she figured a location tracker would be fine with him. Weasel would be a different story though, as he often used a number of different cars for his deals, so putting the device on one of them would not help. She had a feeling that her only real option was either following him on one of his drug deals or setting up a false one. She didn't really want to do either, as she didn't want anyone knowing she was involved in the situation just yet. Weasel did have some drop spots that he used more often than others, so she would just have to go with that.

Throughout her work day, Scarlett wasn't able to forget about Jack Abraham. She wanted to check on him, to make sure it wasn't worse than he had stated, but she knew that she had professional boundaries to uphold, and she didn't want to alert or worry his mother. That would be the worst thing for Jack right now.

When Scarlett got home she had a quick dinner and got suited up early. There wasn't too much point heading out before ten, but she was so impatient to get a move on things. This felt like it was more rapidly moving than any of her other case, and the stakes were huge. If they were able to create more people like her using the drugs that had been given to Jack, things would get ugly fast.

Just after dinner, Vixen put her comms device in. She opened up a line to Jack and gave him a quick update on the "person's" condition. She explained that the person from whom the sample had been taken was now experiencing severe headaches and muscle fatigue. In a way she wanted to impress her own sense of urgency about the situation as well as share information. She knew Jack understood how important it was, but she was worried about her student and anything that could be done to speed up the diagnostic process would be better for him.

After finishing up their discussion, Vixen went out on the prowl. On her first night she managed to locate Goliath's vehicle again, bugging it with the location tracker without incident.

Vixen spent the entire following night searching for Weasel. Her attempts to be covert meant that it was a slow process. Weasel was, as his name implied, a sneaky bastard. She first roamed his usual drop spot. She didn't find him but she followed one of his dealers. Thankfully the dealer didn't seem to be pedalling any of the new drug. She tailed the dealer until the wee hours of the morning when he finally met up with Weasel to exchange money. Weasel, being the dealer he was, was naturally quite alert about his surroundings. Vixen ran into a couple of thugs when she dropped down into a back alley. She took them out easily enough, but the scuffle alerted Weasel to trouble, and she had to jump back up to the roof tops and visually track where he took his car. It was almost dawn by the time she finally managed to get the bug and the tracker on his vehicle, and she went straight home to get ready for work.

~*~

After a shower, Scarlett put her earpiece in. Like she had before, she put a call through to Jack. She knew it was early, but she had a meeting with the subject coordinators at school before classes began, so she had no other choice.

"Hello? Infinium, are you around?" She called out as she dropped her towel and went over to her wardrobe to get her outfit ready for the day.

Jack followed Vixen to the elevator, smiling bashfully as she thanked him. "Well, you're welcome. It's good to be of service to you as we work together on this case." Then, she was in the elevator and gone. Still, part of him wondered as she left... did she put on lipstick to visit him tonight? He remembered her lips not being so red before, but maybe he was imagining things.

========

The next day involved a visit to the college. It was time to see if Marlene was able to find out anything more useful from the sample he had dropped off a few days ago. While she was a bright woman (top of her class in high school, dean's list as an Undergrad, already published before finishing her PhD), this seemed to be on the leading edge of genetic technology. The more eyeballs they got on this, the better. Jack would get his wish sooner rather than later.

Walking into the Biological Sciences building, he noticed the place was a bit more alive with activity than before. Jack chalked it up to being in the building when classes were letting out. The pointing fingers and gasping looks were old hat to him, but these seemed to be different today somehow. Suddenly, the Dean of the Life Sciences department stopped him in the hallway.

"Mr. Dunbar, we're so glad to have you back again."

Confused, Jack put on his best smile. "Well, anything I can do to help the University, you know that."

"Oh, but you have, more than you know, Mr. Dunbar. The research lab has been a buzz with what Marlene's working on. Everyone wants to take a look at it."

"Do they? Well, this is news to me. Perhaps we'll talk with Marlene and see what I've brought you that is so interesting."

"Oh, has she not been in contact with you?"

That did strike Jack as strange. He'd given Marlene his direct number for a reason. He'd need to get to the bottom of this if she was truly not sharing her findings with him.

He excused himself from the Dean and made his way to the research wing of the building. As he neared the lab, he saw Marlene leaning up against the wall. When she hears Jack approaching, she stands up and goes to him. "Mr. Dunbar, I'm so sorry. I meant to call you, but I didn't know what to say. I thought you'd be disappointed and it's not my fault and..."

"Marlene... easy. Slow down and tell me what's happened."

Marlene took a long slow breath. "Professor Darlington has taken over the research you asked me to do..."

Jack looks through the small window in the door to the lab at that news, seeing some other grad students in there with the good professor. "Did he?" Looking back at Marlene, he said firmly "Come with me."

Opening the door, Jack walked with purpose up to the professor who was shouting instructions and pointing. Seeing the Captain there in civilian guise, he smiled wide at him. "Ah, Mr. Dunbar. I never properly thanked you for bring this research to my attention. It has fascinating properties..."

"Yes, which makes me wonder what you are doing here since I brought this to you first but was informed you were just a theoretician, not a lab man."

"Well when something this interesting comes across your desk..."

"But it didn't come across your desk. It came across Marlene's. It's her project." Jack said, cutting him off.

The professor looked a bit flustered. "Yes, but she is my grad student. Any work she does is also partly my responsibility..."

"This is not a discussion. You are to stop any and all work on this, Professor, effective immediately, or you can explain to the Dean why all of this equipment in your lab suddenly went away." Turning into the room, Jack faced the other stunned grad students. "As for the rest of you, you will work for Marlene, assisting her research into this new tailored virus, funded by a grant from The Dunbar Young Minds, Mature Talent Grant. You will receive the paperwork by the end of the day." Turning back to the professor, Jack looked into the older man's eyes. "And if I see you barring this woman from her lab or taking over her research again, I will have you removed for Academic Impropriety. I will make it my mission in life to ruin you. Am I understood?"

Without a word, the Professor bowed his head and left the lab. Turning around, Jack looked at Marlene who was as stunned as the other students. Jack grinned at her expression before saying "So... where do we pick up again?"

Marlene was a natural leader. She prioritized and distributed the workload. All the extra hands made what should have been a multi-day project jsut to separate the DNA strains and analyze them into results at the end of the day. Jack smiled at them all as he looked at their analysis. Once again, he wished he'd studied more life sciences. "Uh, maybe you should explain this for me, Marlene."

The now harried and slightly frazzled looking Marlene hung the print outs on the white board in the room. "Yeah, I figured... so, here we have the DNA of the virus shell. Looks like they used a cold or flu virus for their shell as it is something that self replicates fairly quickly and is good at attacking a wide variety of tissues. There are some differences. Rather than attacking mucous membranes, they changed the DNA so that the virus attacks bone marrow, blood cells and cardio vascular tissues."

Jack nodded; those would be the places to attack in order to affect physical properties of host. He was worried that it didn't mention growth plates or bone tissue so maybe the Professor was right to say that the reason people would be in pain was the overload to their bodies that they haven't adapted to handle.

"As for the code being implanted..." She laid out the next few printouts. "These are segments of human DNA but parts we have long thought were dormant. Since super beings have started showing up, we now know these segments are how and why they have those powers."

"Are there more than one sample there?" Jack asked, hoping for one answer as the implication of the other was troubling.

"We think so, yes."

Jack hung his head at the news. Vixen wasn't the only source sample. They pulled from multiple supers, but this still didn't explain how they did it. Still, they had done great work in a short amount of time. Jack stood up and walked to Marlene.

"This is amazing work that you... all of you..." he said, including the other students in his praise, "should be proud of."

Marlene held up one more file. "There is more. Professor Darlington was right; the human body can't handle the strain that this tailored mutations can do to the body. The longer the person is altered, the more and more likely the body will give out: heart attacks, bone fractures, migraines... all worsening until the person is dead or the treatment ends. Even if a person does stop, it won't be a pain-free recovery. It will be like going through growing pains in reverse." She explains.

Jack nods. "Is there any thing that can be done to mitigate that?"

"Medical supervision... maybe being put into an induced coma if the symptoms get too great. There's not much that can be done until natural cells replace the altered ones."

Jack frowns. He was afraid of that answer. "Either way, thank you. You've been more help than you know."

Jack took his copies of the files and headed out for home. He had a lot to process before talking with Vixen in the morning.

=========

As usual, the chime from his comm unit snapped him awake. He'd spent a good chunk of the night in his workshop; building things was a great way to clear his head. After the news at the University yesterday, he needed that clarity again.

"Must you check in so early..." he said in lieu of greeting this time, his voice gravelly from sleep still.

Scarlett chuckled at Jack's grumbled comment. She had to push away that pang of arousal that she felt at the sound of his gravelling morning voice. The reason she called him in the morning is because it was the best time for her, it certainly wasn't to hear him all sleep rumpled. Or, at least, that is what she told herself.

"Yes, I am afraid I must," she replied in a bright, wakeful tone. "Not all of us are our own bosses you know."

Scarlett's hands ran over the various clothing options for the day and after a moment of thought she pulled out a black pencil skirt and an emerald green silk blouse.

"So, I have updates. Want to hear them? Or do you need to get back to your beauty rest?" Scarlett teased, moving to her drawers and retrieving a bra and panties.