The Crossover (closed for such_a_bad_man)

[such_a_bad_man]

Walking across the grated floor, Jack entered a lab that was walled off in a fine metal mesh on all the walls and floor. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Vixen's eyes following him and spoke to her over his shoulder. "Faraday Cage. Keeps the radio signals contained and keeps other signals out so I can work in a noise free environment." He said before closing the door. Picking up two small devices, he put one in his ear and seemed to test it out by speaking and cupping the other to his other ear. Nodding at his apparent success, he opened the door and stepped out.

Walking over to Vixen, he handed her the other device. It looked very much like an external hearing aid similar to devices worn by hearing impaired students at the school. "This should let us communicate directly anywhere in the city. I found a new way to encode the data on the carrier frequency. It's similar to an FSK system but..." Jack stopped as he saw the bored look on Vixen's face. "But you don't care how it works so long as it does work. Right. Well, try it on, it should fit around your ear and stay in place comfortably."

Jack turned and walked to the other end of the lab, covering his mouth and speaking quietly. The bones of his skull carry the sound to the device so his volume need not be very loud to be picked up. "Check, check... This is The Captain. How am I coming through on your end?" Jack turned around, curious if Vixen was hearing him through the earpiece.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen watched with interested as Jack walked into a room made and lined with metal mesh. She had no intention of following him in there, having no idea what it did. He was back out shortly though, and he offered her something that looked like a hearing aid. She noticed that he had one in his own ear as he explained what it was. She soon lost interest in the tech side of things, but he picked that up and cut the techno babble.

As Vixen fitted the device Jack walked off to the other end of the lab.

"Loud and clear," she replied, adjusting the device in her ear so that it was more comfortable. "And even though I am glad you have this thing encoded, I have to ask what sort of tracking devices you have in it?" She walked towards him, preferring to speak properly when he was there rather than over the comms.

Vixen knew that Jack was a tech whiz, and could probably easily figure out who she was (if he hadn't already), but that didn't mean she wanted to give him access to her every movement. That said he could lie to her, and the only way she would figure it out would be to call on one of her contacts and risk his tech being leaked. Not a good option either, knowing his ability to create things that could have morally ambiguous uses in the wrong hands.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack furrowed his brow at Vixen's question. "Tracking devices? Uh, none. If I wanted to key in on the earpiece's location, it would have to be a bit bigger and then it wouldn't fit as snug." Realization dawned on his face as the subtext became clear. "No, I won't be able to learn where you go and what you do while you have it in your possession. This isn't some ruse to figure out who you are. I hope you would trust me enough to know I wouldn't pull something so shady."

Jack reached back and flipped a small switch. "You can put it in stand-by. It will chime when I am on the line and speaking to let you know that I'm trying to communicate." He turned his head and pointed out where the switch was though it should be easy enough to feel without looking.

"I will try to see about getting feedback on the virus in the next 48 hours. If you come across something before then, you now have a way to reach me."

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen observed the way Jack's expression changed when he realised what she had been trying to discover. She wasn't exactly sure why he believed he had earned that much trust from her, but she believed him enough that she wouldn't turn the piece over to her sources for study. Still, she had to be cautious with it, knowing that the slightest slip on her part could leave so many of the colleagues and students she loved put at risk.

Vixen felt around and flicked the earpiece onto standby mode.

"Just so you know, I only work at nights," Vixen said matter-of-factly. "I will listen out for updates and try to get you some information as well. Now, shall I leave the way I came or should I just take the lift?" Vixen asked with a teasing grin.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack smiled as he got a playful smile out of Vixen for once. "You can take the lift down. I have a dedicated elevator that will take you to the parking garage and you can sneak out that way if you're worried about people seeing you coming or going from the building." Jack said as he led Vixen to the stairs then down a floor. This was another engineering support floor like the floor she found herself in over in the other tower when she broke in. Walking to one of the corners, he placed his hand on the call button and the door opened.

"Good luck, Vixen. I'll be looking forward to hearing whatever you find out." He said just as the doors began to close.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

The bell rang, breaking through the disgruntled chatter of the class as Miss Jones handed out the last of the Macbeth essays she had graded the night before. As usual, her progress through the class had been marked by a cacophony of dismayed whines and celebratory cheers. Overall the marks hadn't been terrible, but there was still a lot of work to be done before the end of semester. She returned to her desk, having decided to use the lunch break to work on a lesson plan she didn't have time for the previous night.

After leaving Argent Towers Vixen had visited the local dump, only a few blocks from her house, and hidden the earpiece that Jack had given her there. She wanted to take his word for it, he had seemed honest enough when he promised he had no intention to track her, but she wouldn't gamble with the safety of her students. From there she barely had enough time to shower and catch an hour of sleep before waking and heading in to work. It was lucky she was strong and had enough fortitude to make it through her day without too much fuss.

"Uh, Miss Jones?"

Scarlett looked up over her black-framed glasses. It was Jack Abraham. He had his paper clutched in his fist. Actually, clutched was the wrong word. It was more like crushed.

"Yes Jack?" Scarlett said, putting taking her glasses off, placing them carefully on her desk, and settling back in her chair. She looked between the nervous teen's face and hand as he stood before her bashfully.

"I was just wondering... It's my marks. They-" He stopped, rubbing his hand across the back of his neck, eyes darting about nervously.

"They aren't the best," Scarlett finished for him, her face giving away no emotions.

"It's just... After what happened on the field with Alexander. Well, I don't know if I have any chance of a scholarship now and I really need to get good enough grades to get into college."

Scarlett sighed. This was the part of teaching she hated. She knew Jack was a good student. A great student actually. She knew that when he specialised in something he would excel. She also knew that the things holding him back the most were exactly the ones he would be able to escape if he got a scholarship. It was a time where she knew she held a great amount of power, but also the great responsibility that came with it.

"And what do you think I can do to help?" Scarlett asked slowly. Jack let out a huff of breath.

"I don't know," He sighed heavily, his cheeks reddening. "I just know I need better marks. Is there any chance you can re-mark it?" He asked.

"I understand what you're trying to do, but asking a teacher to remark something she has just marked is not necessarily going to be helpful to your cause," Scarlett warned with a wry grin, though she followed it up with a smile so Jack would know he wasn't in trouble. "What about some extra credit work?" She proposed.

Jack didn't seem overjoyed at that prospect. Scarlett could understand why. The fact that he was time poor was the reason he was in this mess. It was why he had sought out the drugs in the first place; to excel when he didn't have time to train.

"It's just- I've been getting these headaches lately. It starts out small, but after a few hours my head is pounding so hard I can't concentrate, I can barely walk straight when it happens, let alone study!" Jack said desperately, eyebrows furrowing. "After school and training and work..."

Scarlett bit her lip for a moment, concerned by Jack's words.

"Have you seen a doctor?"

"What?" He stammered, confused.

"About the headaches? They can't be good."

"Oh." He was clearly thinking only about his school work. Then, he blushed. "No, I … My parents can't justify the cost."

Scarlett frowned in earnest then. Luckily she had done some volunteer work with a clinic a few blocks away that offered to return her favours if she needed them.

"You know the clinic on Rio Street?" Scarlett asked. Jack nodded. "Go there. Tell them that Miss Jones sent you. You won't need to pay to see the doctor there. They owe me a favour." Jack looked thrown off by this, but Scarlett was concerned, particularly because of his use of the drugs before. "Though that isn't why you're here. I won't re-mark your paper but I will give you extra credit. You have a camera on your phone, yes?"

Jack looked even more confused but he nodded. Scarlett had to stop herself from sighing. For some reason half of these parents could barely feed their kids, yet mot of them had the latest camera phones on the market. She tried not to think too deeply about it, as it would lead her nowhere good.

"Right, well I want you to do a photo project. It is something you can do while you walk to school, or to work, so it won't eat up much of your time." Finally Jack's eyes lit up. "We are reading Macbeth in this class, so I want you take some photos, create some visual texts, that reflect the themes in it in your day to day life. The cost of ambition, the consequences of sacrificing your morals for your goals, selectively interpreting information..." She trailed off. Jack's eyes clouded over and he nodded. She wasn't sure whether he would see some parallels to his own life just yet, but she hoped he would over time. That would be enough to earn him the credit he desired. It was good to see that his mind was already at work though. Perhaps he would be able to pull this off.

"Thanks Miss Jones... I appreciate it. I really do," He said, a smile creeping onto his lips as he hitched his bag up on his shoulder.

"Go," Scarlett said with a laugh, waving her hand dismissively. "Eat lunch, enjoy your afternoon. Bring me back some wonderful photos by next Monday!"

~*~

That evening Vixen slid through the shadows in the alley behind the downtown office of Magnanimous Capital. This part of town was still alive and thrumming with people seeking fine food and a place to drink away the cares of the day. Even the alleys held their own share of business and thrill seekers. This wasn't where Vixen normally conducted her own work, but she knew the city well enough to get around. She climbed the rungs of the fire escape, her sash swaying across her shapely thighs as she ascended.

The first thing that Vixen noticed was that there were a lot of lights on in the office. Most workers had left their buildings by seven or eight in the evening, and those that remained often did so on the reserve office lighting with a lamp at their desk. Magnanimous Capital was still going full ball. There were half a dozen people still scurrying about in there and Vixen wondered what there was inside that could warrant such dedicated workers.

Either way Vixen settled in, her black suit helping her to blend into the darkening night, and cased out the building. It wasn't until well after one in the morning that the last worker left. She stayed for several more hours, right up until the point that the office was opened again at five in the morning. It wasn't a long break for an office that should be keeping normal office hours, but at least she knew what time she needed to come by the following night. The only real reason for the odd hours would be if they had an international clientele base, but from what Infinium had told her it was unlikely that they did. Interesting. She decided that she would do a more thorough investigation that night.

~*~

That afternoon Scarlett went to bed to catch some sleep straight after school. She woke around eleven and got ready for a night of work. Once more she fell into the comfortable routine of suiting up. First she shimmied into her leotard and then slipped into her thigh high black boots. She swirled her auburn locks above her head and put her platinum wig on. Each glove was tugged on and pulled up with practised efficiency, and at last she pulled out her purple sash, checked it for any flaws, and then knotted it around her waist when she was pleased with what she saw. Her mask was the last thing she affixed to her body as she checked her appearance, tucking some loose strands of her natural hair under her wig. She pulled a flash drive out of her desk on the way to the front door and slipped her hand into her leotard, slipping it under her breast, before she left. The transformation from caring school teacher to passionate antihero was now complete, and there was just one last thing she had left to get.


Vixen stopped at the dump before venturing out for the night. She retrieved Jack's communication device from the little section where she had hidden it. She pulled it out of the little metal safe and the plastic wrapping she had left it in, and fitted it into her ear. She didn't turn it on yet, she only intended to use it if there was something urgent she had to convey to him. She also figured she could call him in for back up if need be. Vixen was used to working alone, and she knew that she could continue to do so without trouble, but this investigation was also Infinium's, so she would be sure to share the responsibility whenever needed.

When Vixen climbed the fire escape for the second time, she arrived to see the office workers packing up for the day. There were more there now than there were the previous night, and they chatted animatedly as they left, not bothering to shield their fingers as they typed the security code into the alarm. She waited for a good half hour before carefully prising the window open. From there she skirted around the walls quickly and disarmed the alarm before it had time to send an alert to whatever base it was connected to. She looked around to see several security cameras shining back at her. She would have to deal with them later.

For now, though, Vixen was intent on searching through this place to see what she could find.

Three hours later Vixen stood in the centre of the main office space and tucked her flash drive back under her cleavage. She frowned as she looked around the darkened space. It was all clean. Much cleaner than she had anticipated. From the dozens and dozens of meticulously written reports there was little she could gather apart from the fact that Magnanimous Capital was doing well. Extremely well. She had saved whatever files she could though, hoping that Captain Infinium would fins something of use in them. Then she turned, jumped onto one of the desks in an easy leap, and pulled the grille off the air conditioning shaft. She pulled herself up, slithering into the narrow metal shaft, and then tugged the grill back into place behind her. It was a tight squeeze, even for her, but she followed it down to the lobby of the building. She noticed that the security cameras in the small room behind the reception desk were still running, and there were five that kept a careful eye on Magnanimous Capital's offices and one for the security room itself.

Now, while Vixen knew she was no computer whiz, she had been sure to learn her way around all of the standard surveillance systems. A quick look at the time revealed that she still had an half an hour to spare before staff would start trickling in again. So she retrieved her flash drive, plugged it into the surveillance system, and downloaded as much as she could while she wiped the night's recordings for the MC office.

~*~

When Vixen slipped back into her humble home she figured there was no point going to sleep. Instead she reluctantly peeled of every part of her uniform in reverse order. She shook her hair out as the wig came off, she flexed her arms and legs as her boots and gloves were discarded. She then pushed the straps of her leotard off and peeled down the thick, sleek fabric. Her breasts stood before her, perky and bouncing, as she made her way to the bathroom and started the shower. She then returned to her computer, plugging the flash drive into it and starting the file download as the water warmed.

After her shower, Scarlett had just enough time to make herself a hearty breakfast, a strong coffee, and sit down by her computer. She had slipped into a black bra edged with cream lace and matching panties, and already pulled on her stockings for the day. She clipped the top of her stockings to a lacy red suspender belt before sitting down at the table. Scarlett decided to watch a fast-forwarded version of the company president's office while she ate. It made for extremely boring viewing, right up until she had to leave. Then, something caught here interest. Several people stepped into the president's office, all keeping to the shadows of the room and with their heads down. The footage shook and then they were gone. The time stamp showed that almost an hour had passed during the footage shake and Scarlett's back straightened.

This, she knew, was exactly what she was looking for.

Scarlett got up quickly, knocking her seat back into the floor with a loud crash as she raced across her apartment. She picked her earpiece up from beneath her Vixen costume and put it in her ear, flicking off the standby switch as she did.

"Vixen to Captain Infinium," She said loudly, feeling stupid talking to an empty apartment. "Come in Infinium."

Scareltt looked at the clock on her wall and swore under her breath. She was still in her underwear, but she only had half an hour to get to work. She hoped Infinium would return her call before she had to leave. She wanted to let him know what she found right away. So, instead of waiting idly by, she went into her bedroom to paw through her closet and figure out what to wear for the day.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack Dunbar walked across the campus of City College with his head ducked down. He didn't want to get stopped today by a zealous fan or a mob of students. He was here on business, not a press conference or a philanthropic event for once. Luckily, he'd arrived as classes were going on and the foot traffice was light on this side of the college. Up ahead was his destination: the newly constructed Biology and Life Sciences building. He was glad that the college was doing so much with his donation; some day he'd have to come back and tour the new Engineering campus as well. Biology was always the sciencce that eluded him. There was something about it that his mind found too nebulous. It should be akin to chemistry, but that was rarely the case.

Jack waved as he saw Professor Darlington holding the door open for him. The white-haired professor smiled and shook his hand and he let him into the more secure wing of the building. The Jack Dunbar Foundation had made it possible for the department to purchase DNA sequencers and high powered scanning microscopes as well as other tools needed to make the college a stand out in the field. As they walked to the lab, Jack began with his questions.

"Professor, has anyone done research in tailoring virus DNA as a means of recoding host DNA cells?"

Jack didn't want to waste the professor's time; if this sort of research was not public, he'd have to go about finding out about it by other means, more clandestine means.

The professor paused, considering the question. "There are a number of clinics that use a similar method for cutting-edge cancer treatments. The virus is injected and it helps recode the cells in the tumor with the host's own strain, correcting the abnormality that caused the cancerous cells."

Jack furrowed his brow. "So that would mean that the injection is meant to stay local, correcting only the cells in the tumor."

"Yes, I would think so."

"What if you wanted to recode an entire host, hypothetically speaking?"

Professor Darlington rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Then you would have to come up with a tailor-made virus for each type of tissue in the body and administer them in concert. Otherwise, you might run into real problems."

"Problems? What sort of problems?"

"Well, say you wanted to tailor someone's genome for higher muscle tissue growth and recovery. You'd want to increase bone density or reactivate the bone growth plates if the patient is sufficiently old. The bigger stronger muscles would need bigger thicker bones or they would snap under the higher forces being exerted through the body."

Jack felt so stupid. The drug wasn't one virus, but a cluster of them. Pulling out the vial, he looked at the learned professor. "I need your help with this. I know you're a busy man, but this... substance is out on the streets of the city and it's being used. Mostly for human enhancement, but I think it's capable of more."

Professor Darlington's eyes widened. "Mr. Dunbar. I appreciate that you want to help the city, but I'm afraid that I can't help you, not this way. Plus, I a theoretician, not a lab man. I haven't worked in the lab in years. I'm sorry..."

With that, Darlington turned and walked away. Jack sighed and turned to the large windowed wall that ran along the hallway they were using.

"I think you barked up the wrong tree," came a voice from behind him.

Turning around, he saw a young woman with red hair, glasses and a City College t-shirt on over some well-worn jeans leaning up against the wall of the lab door. A door which was still closing.

Jack stepped closer. After meeting her, Jack had a hard time not overlaying Vixen on top of them, trying to see if maybe the woman he was talking to was her or not. This one was too short and didn't fill her curves as much. "Sorry, did you overhear our conversation?" he asked. He really did not want news of this superhuman drug getting around much.

"Nah, just the bit were Professor D turned you down." She said, stretching a bit, causing the hem of her shirt to rise a little. "What does the 'illustrious' Jack Dunbar need with crusty old Prof D?" She asked, giving him a look and a smile.

"I needed something analyzed, something I found as I was out and about as Capt. Infinium... maybe you can help me," he added the last bit as an afterthought.

"Yeah, sure, get wrapped up in a plot with Capt. Infinium. That's just what I need in the middle of working on my thesis."

"Please, this could help save a lot of people a lot of hurt." Jack said, holding out the vial. It was such a simple thing, no bigger than a knuckle on his thumb.

The young woman sighed through her nose and looked at the small bottle style vial before looking at Jack's face. She took it from him and opened the lock on the door. "You're lucky I'm on a break while my sample unzips..." she chided him as they stepped into the lab.

Walking into the lab, Jack saw that they had nearly filled the place to the rafters with various equipment. The College wanted to have a virology department that rivaled Johns Hopkins or even the CDC, but it was still being built up as not everything could happen at once. The young woman, who introduced herself as Marlene as she sat down at a bench, began running some initial spectroscopy on the sample, verifying what Jack had already concluded.

"A tailored drug to kick on the body's natural production of growth hormones and latent self-repair processes. Interesting." Marlene said, peeling off her glasses and nibbling on the arm of one end.

"That's as far as I got. I was hoping you could tell me who they got the sample they are using to recode the cells or get me the name of the lab where they did this work," Jack explained.

"I can probably reconstruct the strain they are using as there are more than one virus lines here. Each one probably has it's own chunk. The trick will be that such a thing takes time."

Time. The one thing they were running out of. THose weapons and injectors were in town because they were going to be used, and soon. Still, he didn't have anything else to go on. Jack nodded at the eager Marlene.

"Please get this turned around soon. If you can, I promise that I'll fund your post-doc work myself."

Marlene's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. "I'll get on this right now then, thank you, sir!"

"Don't... call me sir. It sounds wrong. Besides, I'm not really a Captain," Jack said with a playful wink that pulled a tittering laugh from Marlene. Before he left, he pushed his phone to Marlene's, giving her his direct line, as well as unlimited minutes, texts, and data on her phone for the rest of her life. He smiled as he walked out and headed home.

=*=

The next day, he'd not heard from Marlene. It was a bit hopeful to think she'd be ready already. He didn't check for the rest of the day as he sequestered himself in his lab. Like a child with his favorite toy, he set to work reverse engineering the weapons they found in the warehouse. Disassembly was a bit more of a bother than he'd thought as there were more parts to it than he'd built into his gauntlets. The weapons seemed more like his original design for his containment set up when he was trying to prove that Infinium particles existed.

"They are starting from first principles with this set-up..." he grumbled as he set the parts aside. It was all the system blocks he expected to see once he had gotten into the casing. This weapon was not like field stripping an M-16 or other military weapon. Someone had tried very hard to make it elegant, but the scientific constraints made it very unwieldy. It was so unwieldy that Jack was struck by an idea. Turning to one of the other weapons he had taken, he hefted it up into a firing position and found that it was a bit heavy to hold up for any length of time.

"They need them stronger and bigger to wield the weapons and be able to move in the necessary body armor for this level of escalation." He posited as it was all starting to come together in his head.

On and on, he ran tests on the weapons. He did everything he could think of to see how well they would operate as Infinium projectors. He tested the electrical load of the different sections to see how much energy could be spared for containment. He checked how much they would lose in the conversion from particle to energy and back again. Before long, he'd tested everything he could think of so it was time to put up or shut up.

Rigging up a target in his lab and ensuring it could withstand the blast, Jack refilled the weapon from his own store of Infinium and took aim at the target. Pulling the trigger, he was sent flying back over his workbench, landing hard on the floor. The blast from the weapon scored a hit, but Jack obviously saw the problem. "Idiots! They are projecting the particles while they are still in a mass-state, not an energy state... Ow..." he groaned as he looked at the smoking weapon. From what he saw, they couldn't take many shots and without a superhuman behind the weapon, they would keep getting knocked on their ass.

Leaving the lab, Jack saw how late it was. As usual, he'd lost a day to his work without really realizing it. Jeeves informed him of a dinner warming in his smart kitchen still for which Jack was supremely grateful. Flopping down, Jack brought up the news, checking on his city at the end of the day. It wasn't long after he had eaten that he'd passed out on the couch. Only to be woken up early the next morning by a pinging against his occipital bone, sending the ping from his earpiece right into his ear drum.

"Ahhhhhh..." he cried as he sat up, tapping the stand-by button.

"Vixen to Captain Infinium, Come in Infinium."

Jack straightened up at the now familiar voice on the line. He shut off the TV as it was still on before responding. "This is Infinium, go ahead."

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen grinned as Infinium's voice played through her mind. It was odd, hearing something besides her own thoughts right in her head, but she was relieved that he had replied. Another odd feeling, if she was honest with herself.

"Morning Infinium, I hope I didn't wake you from your beauty sleep," Vixen said with a quick glance at the clock and a grin. She ran her fingers over her various shirts, trying to decide which to wear today.

"I am just reporting in because I got into Magnanimous Capital's office last night," she said, fingers running back over the shirts to the bone silk one that had felt so lovely against her skin. She tugged it off the hanger as she continued. "The data on their computers didn't seem like much to me. The only thing suspicious about it is how meticulously everything is written. I got a copy of it all for you anyway. Their staff are also only out of the office between about one and five in the morning. Do they have much international business?"

Vixen slipped her shirt on as she spoke, relishing the way the cool silk whispered against her smooth skin.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack got up and moved into his small kitchenette near his bedroom. Starting to make his morning coffee, he listened as Vixen ran down her verbal report of her investigation of Magnanimous Capital. As he listened, he pulled up his files on them and leafed through the digital pages as she brought up the hours they were open.

"Yes, according to my investigation of their capital stream, they keep their reserves stocked by investment portfolios not only domestically but in markets in China, Malaysia and Japan. Of course, how they built those portfolios is something I'm still working through. I can only do so much from here and banks take client privacy very seriously."

As the coffee brewed, Jack idly scratched his bare chest as he stood there in just very loose fitting pajama pants. He needed a shave and a shower, but after working so hard, so long in his lab last night, he hadn't gotten the best night's sleep and now Vixen was waking him up with her news.

As he waited, he could swear he heard the sound of fabric rustling. Vixen's outfit was very form fitted and leather. Maybe in her daily life, Vixen had a real job. She wouldn't be the first hero to work in secret. Immediately, Jack could see her standing there, slipping things on for the day. He swallowed as he vividly imagined Vixen wearing very little for the first time. He shook his head to clear the thought; he had work to do after all.

"Uh..." he began, his voice cracking a little. "If you want me to take a look at the data, you can swing it by when you like. The earpiece has the right sort of RFID to get you back into the elevator you used to leave last time." He explained as he poured his coffee and sipped it.

"As for the drug, that might take a bit longer to analyze, but I've got good people at the College looking into it." He paused, letting her process that before continuing. "And the weapons..." he groaned rubbing his neck which suddenly ached. "Yeah, there's no way they are meant for random street thugs. They had to be going where the enhancement drugs were going."

He waited, curious if there was more coming from her.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Well, the international investments may explain the odd office hours, but it still didn't sit right. As Infinium continued talking Vixen buttoned up her shirt and then went back over to her closet to retrieve a grey tweed skirt. She bent over, underwear riding up her skin in a sinfully pleasurable way, and shimmied her hips to get the skirt on. She pulled up the zip just as Jack shared his findings about the gun and the drugs.

"Hmm," Vixen sighed, rubbing her hands down her thighs to work out the static between the lining of her skirt and her stockings with an audible crackle. "That is quite concerning," she agreed, lips curling in worry at the possibilities this could present. "Now there is something else. When I went to wipe the security footage of the office I decided to watch it. Three very suspicious looking persons entered the company president's office, and then the footage for the next hour was deleted. I got a copy of that too before leaving." Vixen walked to the lounge room, retrieved her keys and threw them into her bag before slipping it over her shoulder. "So, I think we should set up a time for me to give you this information. I only have a minute or so before I have to go. What time would suit you?" She asked.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack sipped his coffee as he listened to Vixen moving about on the other end. Piecing it together with what he already heard, it sounded more and more like she was getting ready. 'Vixen has a day job; I'm sure of it now,' he thought as he filed it away. He set it down on the saucer as she began talking about the 3 individuals that she said disrupted the video feeds for up to an hour.

"I would very much like to see the footage; I have a database thanks to Jeeves scanning cell and TV footage of every supercrime I can get my hands on," Jack shared. He probably should have kept that to himself, but the show of transparency should help to bridge the gap, at least that was the hope. "If you swing by tonight at about the same time, you can use the elevator you rode down during your last visit. The earpiece has one of my RFID tags on it and the scanner will recognize it and give you access. Maybe a little heads up so you don't give me a heart attack when you sneak in this time."

Jack smiled at his little joke, hoping that Vixen liked it as well.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Scarlett chuckled at Jack's comment as she slid her stockinged feet into her shoes. Hitched her bag up on her shoulder, grabbed a pile of marked reports and put her hand up to the ear piece.

"Okay, thanks Infinium. Vixen over and out," she said before switching the ear piece to standby and taking it out. She frowned, realising she didn't have time to return it to her safe spot in the dump. She shrugged and then slid it into a draw in the hall stand. If he was actually tracking her he probably would have enough information from that conversation to do so.

~*~

That night Vixen approached the Argent Towers apprehensively. She could feel the edges of the USB drive under her breast, a reminder of why she was here. She followed the trees and the shadows right up to the main entrance path, her wash fluttering in the cool night breeze.

Vixen could probably just step onto the path and waltz right on up to the buildings, but it felt wrong. Years of being a hero had made her wary of such things. Even taking the elevator up at a prearranged time was a huge risk. And despite all of her misgivings about Captain Infinium, she could not find it in herself to doubt him right now. Besides, he had access to resources that she needed right now if she was to have any hope of helping her students.

Vixen danced through the warbling shadows right up until she reached the front doors to the tower. When she stepped in front of them they skid open immediately and she walked through the sleek foyer and straight to the lift she has used the last time. Sure enough, when she pressed the right level number the light stayed lit and the elevator started its slanting path around the glass building and took her higher and higher. She tried to clear her mind and prepare for whatever the night would bring. Then, before she knew it, the door to the elevator opened with a ping.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack was working in his lab on the weapons again. His mind just wouldn't let it sit. He wanted to see if he could figure out how far from his original work the manufacturers had come. The power supply was pretty standard technology. It was what he would expect for a batch produced device. The other parts seemed exactly like what he used for his original work that had scaled down. He had to hand it to whoever made the guns, they had done good work miniaturizing his work. The side effect seemed to be that it couldn't throttle the power output correctly. That's why it was so hard to handle the recoil.

As he worked, he heard the ding of the elevator on his floor. He had hoped she would have let him know he was coming, but he put his work down. Walking toward the elevator, he saw the statuesque form of Vixen standing just inside the elevator vestibule. She really was strikingly beautiful. The platinum blonde hair offset the dark color of her costume nicely. He walked over, wiping his hand on a rag. "Thanks for coming over. Here's hoping we can figure out what you've got on video."

He held his hand out, hoping she was still willing to hand over the video clip she had mentioned.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Jack Dunbar walked into view a few moments after Vixen stepped off the elevator. She blinked and then smiled in greeting, a little thrown off by seeing him out of his suit. Sure, she'd seen him all dressed up while accepting some award or whatever on TV but now he just looked so... Normal. And it seemed so natural on him.

Jack wiped some grease off his hands with a rag and Vixen then had to consider him as more than just Captain Infinium. That cavalier smugness that she thought of as his trademark was gone for now, replaced instead by someone who might actually know what it was like to do a bit of hard work. There were spots of grease on his nicely gotten and his pants were casual. He even had a small swipe of it on his cheek. Vixen was almost jealous of how well he pulled of normality. For her, every second of being Scarlett was a carefully considered act.

Then Jack asked for the drive. Straight down to business. Good, Vixen thought, that was why she was here.

Vixen reached into the neckline of her leotard, gloved fingers gliding along the valley between her breasts. She pinched the drive with her finger tips and drew it out. She handed it over to him without a second thought, the metal casing still warm from the heat of her bosom.

"Good, I want to get to work on this so we can shut these bastards down," she said seriously, her mind going to another Jack. A younger one who had gotten himself mixed up in this mess without having any idea of just how deep it ran.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Jack Dunbar walked into view a few moments after Vixen stepped off the elevator. She blinked and then smiled in greeting, a little thrown off by seeing him out of his suit. Sure, she'd seen him all dressed up while accepting some award or whatever on TV but now he just looked so... Normal. And it seemed so natural on him.

Jack wiped some grease off his hands with a rag and Vixen then had to consider him as more than just Captain Infinium. That cavalier smugness that she thought of as his trademark was gone for now, replaced instead by someone who might actually know what it was like to do a bit of hard work. There were spots of grease on his nicely gotten and his pants were casual. He even had a small swipe of it on his cheek. Vixen was almost jealous of how well he pulled of normality. For her, every second of being Scarlett was a carefully considered act.

Then Jack asked for the drive. Straight down to business. Good, Vixen thought, that was why she was here.

Vixen reached into the neckline of her leotard, gloved fingers gliding along the valley between her breasts. She pinched the drive with her finger tips and drew it out. She handed it over to him without a second thought, the metal casing still warm from the heat of her bosom.

"Good, I want to get to work on this so we can shut these bastards down," she said seriously, her mind going to another Jack. Jack Abraham. An unworldly teen who had gotten himself mixed up in this mess without having any idea of just how deep it ran.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack stood slightly stunned as Vixen retrieved the USB drive. He'd seen her do it on her last visit and it seemed so benign before. Not this time for some reason. His mind immediately started picturing her naked breasts under her leotard. It was hard not to stare at them as the costume clinged to them so appealingly. He took the metal drive from her hand and felt it warm in his fingers. Swallowing down a pang of lust that pierced his logical mind, Jack cleared his throat as he turned back to the lab.

"We, uh... we should get started..." he said, walking back into the huge room with all the smaller work rooms around it. His shoes clanged on the grated metal steps that ran between the levels in this room as he led Vixen to one of the rooms off the main floor of his lab in this tower. Holding the door open for her, he closed it behind her and immediately the glass went from clear to translucent to opaque as Jack walked over to a computer terminal in the room. As he sat down, the screen came on and loaded up a series of programs. The whole system did not look like anything that you could get at an electronics or computer store; it looked very much unique.

As Jack settled in and brought up the video program and opened up the video, he looked over his shoulder at Vixen, now illuminated by the light from the screen. "This should only take a minute." The files all loaded in and Jack nodded, standing up from the chair.

"Jeeves?"

"Yes sir."

"Interpolate and collate all the videos on that drive. Wireframe the office in question and make ready for projection."

"Very good sir. I will indicate when the model is ready for projection."

Jack stepped to a small cabinet in the room and pulled out two pairs of glasses. He slipped on one and handed another to Vixen. "Eye protection for the next bit." The lenses appeared polarized and tinted with a particular color.

After a few moments, the computer terminal recessed into the wall, folding up and covering the wall that faced out of the building. "Projection ready," said the disembodied voice of Jeeves.

Smiling over at Vixen, Jack gave one last warning. "For your own safety, don't look into the corners of the room, even with the glasses on." Then, he turned his face to the floor. "Initialize."

In an instant, laser beams began swiping through the room, projected from the 4 corners of the room. The interference pattern of the beams cause points of light in the room much like the scanning beam of old TV projected an image on the curved face of the vacuum tube. In essence, it was like standing inside a hologram. Lifting his chin, Jack saw he was standing in the desk in the "office" and stepped to the side to stand in the open space of the office. Looking around, he saw that his system had done a good job recreating the office from all the camera angles that Vixen had downloaded. In reality, the office what the only part of the video that would fit in the room for now; if needed, he could move the projection around the floor plan of Magnanimous Capital. "It worked..." He said softly to himself.

The images were all static and there were a lot of dead spaces, like under the cameras, but the projection held. The recreation was sitting at the moment just before the 3 entered the office. Looking over at Vixen, Jack asked. "So how long were they in the office before the image cut out?" He was curious how many frames they might have with which to work.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Vixen couldn't help but notice the direction of Jack's gaze and the break in his voice as he accepted the flash drive. As his fingers curled around it the only sign of her amusement was the barest hint of a twitch in the corner of her lips.

This part of the building seemed impressive. Vixen wasn't sure just what she had been expecting to see on his private levels, probably some overly fancy sprawling apartment with expensive art and one of a kind furniture pieces. This workshop though, even if the word didn't capture the scale of it, was impressive. At this level, she thought Jack would have an army of underlings he could assign to do his work, but from the grease stains on his clothes and the fact that this was all in his private space it seemed she was wrong.

Vixen took in as much as she could about the floor plan as they walked to their destination, her own boots clanging against the metal grate steps after Jack's. When they got into their final room she accepted the glasses, looking at them curiously before sliding them on. The room around her was now saturated in different shades, but she didn't have long to appreciate it before Jack activated whatever system he had in here and warned her not to look at the corners of the room. She almost did, if only because of her natural instinct to run towards danger, but she resisted the urge. When she saw the laser pinging around the room she thought maybe she could handle the source of them in the corners, she was much sturdier than the normal human, but she was too entranced by what they formed to even try.

Even Jack breathed a word of wonder at the office that had come to life around them. Vixen tore her gaze away from the rendering around them to watch as Jack took in the office. It was the same look one of her students would get after they had been working on something for a long, long time and then it finally made sense. She couldn't help but grin with him, feeling that vicarious sense of awe.

Vixen stepped aside as the holographic president stood to greet his guests. She watched the three shady figures, squinting as she racked her brain for any similarities to villains she had faced in the past.

"Oh, it wasn't long. Maybe a couple of seconds and then-" the room around them wobbled and wavered, and then it was empty. "They were gone." She looked over at Jack and shrugged. "I figure that whoever wiped it wad in a rush and got a bit sloppy

 

[such_a_bad_man]

As the room faded away, Jack looked noticably perturbed. "Damn, not much to go on and there are a lot of dead zones. The resolution of the cameras isn't great either." He lamented as he walked to the cabinet where he found the glasses. Reaching into the drawer, he slid on a pair of gloves. The pad of the forefinger and thumb on each was covered in a similar material as you would find on high visibility vests and shoes. They seemed to be tinted with different colors, however. Holding his hands up before him, palms open, he spoke again. "Jeeves, record initial position of gesture controllers."

Again, the disembodied voice spoke. "Done, sir."

Keeping one hand in position, he moved the other like he was turning a knob. Around them, the room got very chaotic as the room came back into being and then reversed at great speed. "Okay, maybe we can get them on a camera outside the office..."

Walking over, Jack seemed to pinch the air in a space above and to the right of the group of 3 people walking in. As he did, a point of bright light seemed to come into being. He did another near the floor and another point flashed into existence and a faint line connected the two. He moved around the scene, repeating the process until a box had formed around the 3. After constructing the box, he "grabbed" one of the light beams and moved the box into the center of the room, shifting the office around as well. The room was now divided in half by the holographic wall in the reconstruction. Stepping "outside" the office, Jack repeated the same motion before only being more careful. He watched as the 3 people were actually 4 before the 3 split off to go into the office. Before entering, the 4th person, a man of sizable stature and girth was directed to go back the way they came, walking through Jack and out of the viewable area. Jack let go of his invisible knob as he saw the person who seemed to be giving directions to the 4th member turn and look right at one of the cameras.

It wasn't great as the camera was across the room from the scene so the projection was correspondingly low-res. "Damn, I can't make out much... No facial features to speak of. Can you get anything out of this?" Jack asked, stepping back from the projections of the 3 people to give Vixen a better chance to look at what they had.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

Jack went into problem solving mode as he retrieved an interesting looking pair of gloves and got to work. Vixen watched watched as he moved about, getting lost in the process. Again, it was such a change from the blusteringly confident hero on TV that she was at a loss for witty comments to make. She didn't want to interrupt him.

Jack manipulated the scene until Vixen noticed another man, a tall hulking figure who separated from the others before they entered the room for the meeting. When she saw his figure something in the back of her mind clicked. But he was soon gone, leaving the others to their conversation.

"Jack, could you wind that back please? I wanna see that big guy again."

The scene rewound around them and then stopped on a shot of the man.Vixen stepped forward, taking advantage of the freeze frame to look at what was before her.

"That guy-" Vixen said slowly. There wasn't much detail on his face, but she could see enough and, paired with the man's imposing form, she was certain she had seen him somewhere before. She spared a look for the others he had escorted in, but still had no idea who they were.

"This one, here," She walked around his projection slowly. "I think he is hired security. I am sure I've seen him working for some of the upper level mob bosses I've- uh- come up against." She looked back to the other three figures. "Though maybe he got a promotion."

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack wasn't sure what she saw but the footage rolled back slowly until the large man reentered the scene. Jack didn't much like the look of him; he was quite a bit taller than Jack was and Jack didn't really pride himself on physical altercations. Still, Vixen seemed to know him well enough that he might be a potential lead. "If you know who he is, he's our only link to the people visiting Magnanimous Capital. What we have from the cameras isn't great and we don't have any names for them. It seems all their financial paperwork is written using strictly company names, no individuals. I've been following the paper trail back on a lot of the companies I don't recognize, but it is taking a while, even with Jeeves' help." Jack lamented as he looked around the room.

As he looked, his eyes narrowed. Scanning the rest of the area outside the room, he saw a curious pattern. Everyone working in a cubicle or at a piece of office equipment is looking away from the 3 visitors. "Wait a second..." he muttered as he used the gesture controls to wind the footage back slowly. He watched the office workers and everyone has the focus buried in their desk, computer screen or work. Once the footage winds back far enough that they are out of the shot, everything looks pretty normal. He let the footage play and then, as if by collective will, everyone looks away from the office. "That's.... interesting. Vixen... watch the people."

Jack started flicking back and forth on either side of the time stamp. "Before they arrive..." The people in the office seem normal enough. "After they arrive..." In an instant, the people all act the same way. They aren't robots, but when everyone does the same thing, it's conspicuous. Jack keeps flicking back and forth. "Before... After... Before... After... Someone is using mental compulsion to make them look away." Jack sighed as he knew the implication.

"One of the three is a telepath..." he said, frowning slightly as he let that revelation sink in.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

"I'll do a bit of research," Vixen said, nodding her head as the image of the big thug warbled out of existence.

Vixen starts to notice the trend as Jack does. She watches the people all turning away as one. It is so natural for them, they do it without any qualms, and then Vixen turns to the three men that walk down the parted office. The replays only confirmed it

"A pretty strong telepath too, if they can control this many so easily without any resistance," Vixen said, expression dour as she strode over to where the three figures were about to empty the office. She squinted as she looked at them, as though it would help her to discern their faces better. But it didn't help.

Vixen crossed her hands under her breasts, plumping them up, as she walked back over to Jack.

"I haven't run into a telepath for a while," Vixen admitted, and the last one she had met was some low-level hood, using his abilities to score free drugs and racking up a big debt in other people's names. "If we have one this strong to deal with then we have a bigger challenge ahead than we anticipated. I don't suppose you have some fancy mind-control-resistant gadety-whatsits around here?" Vixen asked with a grin, looking around and winking at Jack.

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack looked at the 3 people as Vixen walked up beside him. He glanced over to speak to her, but even in the darkened projection room, the outline of her chest was hard to ignore. He wasn't sure if she was holding them up like that on purpose or it was just how they looked when she crossed her arms like that. Swallowing down a ball of lust, Jack spoke again, feeling it crack uncharacteristically.

"I,uh... I try to avoid telepaths if I can. That's one phenomenon that I just can't crack. I tried some experiments with regard to RF broadcasts being the culprit, but that didn't give me anything on shielding myself from them. It did open up some ideas into using the human skeletal system as an antenna because..."

Jack turned and saw that Vixen was completely disinterested in where this was going. "And you don't care about that, right..." he said again as he turned to the projections one last time. "I wish we had more to go on because we're going to have to figure out which one it is and what sort of abilities his or her mind gives them and what he or she can do about it." Jack blasted out another sharp sigh through his nose as he looked at the projection. "Alright, I don't think we can get much more from this." Reaching into the air above him, he snapped using the fingers on both hands and the projection evaporated and the lights cam back on.

Jack peeled his glasses off and slid the gloves off as well as he faced Vixen. "So, looks like we have one lead at least. I assume you know where to find the big guy?"

 

[SinisterSpiders]

The projection of the room dissolved around them, and Vixen looked over at Jack as he took his glasses and gloves off. She followed suit, gently rubbing the skin that they had been touching and rolling her shoulders out.

"I don't know where he would be right now, but he has some... habits... that make him easy enough to track," Vixen said, holding her hand out and returning the glasses to Jack with a quick thanks.

"The problem is that the big guy, Goliath he calls himself, he won't talk. He may be predictable but he isn't stupid. We'll have to tail him if we want to get to his bosses. I can try, but I have a feeling that whatever security the telepath will have may notice me slinking about before I am ready to be revealed." Vixen unfolded her arm, her stomach and breasts feeling cooler for the loss of contact, and she put her hands instead on her shapely hips. "Do you have anything that might help in that department?"

 

[such_a_bad_man]

Jack took both glasses and his gloves and slid them back into the cabinet as the computer terminal unfolded from the wall again. The lights came back up slowly so that their eyes could adjust. Before they came to full brightness, Jack was pacing again as he considered Vixen's question. Having a telepath in this mysterious group of 3 did make surveillance more difficult, but not impossible.

"I think I might... come on..." Jack said breezing out of the room and walking around the ring walkway that ran around this floor of the expansive workspace. When he got to the opposite corner, he walked up another flight of grated steps and into a room in the corner Unlike the rooms on the floor below, this one ran along the length of this side of the building. There was a bit more heavier fabrication machinery in here as well. "Welcome to the drone lab. This is where Orbus was born." He said as the small robot rose up from a charging platform on one of the tables in the room. Warbling as it flew through the air, the small spherical robot bounced into its usual position around Jack.

Walking to one of the tables by the window, Jack stood before a slightly disassembled drone that looked like a quadcopter. "I think this will help you follow him. I know it's not really your style, but you'd be amazed by the number of people that don't look up." He said smiling as he started to reconnect wires and components on the device. "I was trying to see if I could squeeze a mini-Infinium reactor in this thing, but I think it should be fine for what you'll need it for."

Once reassembled, he stepped to the controller that was laying beside it. "And the reason it should work is this...." Pushing the throttle up, the fans started to spin up to speed. Once they were fast enough, the drone rose up, completely silently. He grinned at Vixen as he stepped beside her with the controller. "It took some work, but I found bearing for the fans that were low friction and I redesigned the blades so they wouldn't vibrate as they spun." He said, handing over the controls. It was a small device about the size of a smartphone with thumb sticks for flight control. After running her through the paces, he steps back and lets her control it. "Oh, and I put anti-collision sensors in it so it won't accidentally fly into walls." He adds as it inexplicably stops itself from running into the windows.

 

[SinisterSpiders]

"A drone?" Vixen whispers under her breath as Jack unveils what he intends ot give her to aid her in her mission. She shakes her head slightly as he sets about reattaching the wires; boys and their toys.

When it is Vixen's turn to have a fly of the thing she finds it is surprisingly intuitive to use. It is remarkably silent too, and she can't help but think that he has a point. She had been thinking more along the line of a tracking device or something, like from the movies, but perhaps this was better. Instead of just divulging Goliath's position it would give them video and audio information. And she wouldn't be able to camp somewhere safe while she got the information she needed. After all, they had no idea of what to expect from the trio.

Vixen played with the controller for a while longer, getting the hang of the drone in the safety of Jack's workshop. She looked down at the controller and grinned.

"Well, I don't think I'll be able to store this and the drone in the same place I store the flash drive," she joked, winking at Jack. "I normally try to travel light. You wouldn't happen to have a bag I could borrow, would you?"