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lilfluffTitle: Supers School
Fandom/'verse: A school for people with super powers
Summary: Exploring a potential setting by writing a bit to it
Prompter: See above
Triggers/Warnings: Mention of deaths but no real details
Note: Only lightly edited. Exploring a setting and characters
Words: 2342 words
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
"The next item for discussion," Franklin set aside the previous folder and grimaced as he opened the next. "Eagle from the Bay City Guardians is calling in a marker. He's seeking an enrollment for Vickie Valente and before you ask, yes, that is as in the late an unlamented Doc Despair Vincent Valente."
Professor Cranston looked up from her notes. "I wasn't aware he had any family left. Was that not his explanation for turning the also unlamented Crimson Order's headquarters base into a crater?"
"As Vickie referred to him as Uncle Vincent it would appear he had a niece left. The Guardians found her in a medical suspension unit when they took down Despair's laboratory base."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"This semester I have a special request for you Margarete. You are not required to say yes but I believe you could be especially helpful with one of our new students."
"You know I'm all about the helpingness Miss Cranston. So what's up with the newbie? She's from one of those tiny countries that none of us have heard about? She's on one of those scholarships for utterly broke genius students and someone needs to keeps the snooty bit-- brats, snooty brats off her back?"
Professor Cranston gave Margarete a stern look, but didn't say anything as the girl stopped before actually cursing this time. "I've selected you because we believe you have an optimum mix of academic and personal strengths. Recruiting you may also defuse a potential problem before it becomes a crisis. You are however only the optimal candidate not the only one so please be serious." She allowed the hint of a smile before adding, "However amusing your patter can often be."
"You know I'm always with the serious attitudes..." Margarete flashed a smile which slowly slid away when her advisor didn't show any amusement. "Seriously serious, right. I'm listening."
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
Franklin turned to the academy's head of medical services, "Kelly, what can you tell us?"
Doctor Forrest activated the overhead display. "As you said Vickie called Doc her uncle and I agree with the Guardian's analysis of her DNA. Neither of us have samples from his parents but the degree of similarity with Vincent Valente implies a close relationship. It is quite plausible that one of his immediate relatives was her parent."
"One tiny little problem with the lost relative theory." Cut in Professor Rogers. "Doc's feud with the Crimson Order was what, forty years ago? Unless he's had her on ice all this time she's far to young to be his niece."
"That was my first thought as well," continued Dr. Forrest. "The Guardian's gave her a complete exam upon bringing her back to their base. There were a few chemical markers that suggest Vickie spent some time under Everette Type cryogenic suspension. The Guardian's Verdant and I believe that Vickie was not yet born when the Crimson Order made their attack on his family. If whichever relative was pregnant had only just discovered she was pregnant that could explain the lack of public knowledge. I've reviewed the files on the attack and only a few fully intact bodies were recovered."
Forrest put up a new slide revealing the utter devastation left by the Crimson Order's attack on the Valente family home. "Most were identified using medical records. There was sufficient time before anyone else came on scene that Doc could have transferred the embryo to a suspension unit. Even a small unit intended to use with research animals would have sufficed. Some of the handful of Doc's surviving files suggest the disturbing possibility that this was in fact largely how he saw her."
Another series of slides came up showing genetic markers and images from medical scans. "What I can say with certainty is that Vincent subjected Vickie to a number of experimental genetic therapies. The ultimate goal I can only guess at. But that is not the disturbing element. This is," another slide came up listing a number of chemical markers and references to surviving files. "It is uncertain whether our prospective student is the original Vickie. There are chemical traces suggesting her body's early growth was accelerated and file fragments that heavily imply..."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"Before we continue I must emphasize that what I am about to tell you is to be considered private and privileged medical and educational information. It is not to be discussed other than in this office, with staff specifically identified to you as approved and only then in private, or in private with the student. If you agree to this and I find you have violated our trust there will be consequences. Serious consequences."
"Of course, have I ever blabbed about anything important?" She met Cranston's stare with one of her own. "Seriously, have you ever known me to blab about something like this? I grew up being taught to keep important confidences. My classes have touched on privacy and medical ethics more than once. Which you should know since you gave one of those lectures before discussing human experimentation. I promise, I will consider what you say now to be sacrosanct. No discussing it, not so much as hinting that I've got a secret to anyone else. So pass me the non-disclosure forms already."
Professor Cranston didn't continue until after she had Margarete's signature as well as her spoken promise. "Very well. There are two reasons you were selected. The first would have to do with cousins of yours, the so called Quantum Twins and how your family has received them." Her voice left little doubt of her opinion on the popular use of the term.
"James and Jimmy?" Margarete's eyes closed for a moment, "I still remember when mom thought they were going to die. Everyone thought it was a death ray. Hell I'm pretty sure Crab Face thought it was a death ray. James was in agony and nothing seemed to be helping and then morning comes and there's two of him sleeping peacefully in the same bed."
"Unlike too many of the few similar cases your family has treated both of them as fully human and their own persons. Not as an original and a counterfeit or a real relative and fake intruder. This is not quite the same thing that happened with our new student but there are some similarities. As for the second connection, you are aware that Vincent Valente, better known as Doc Despair, died shortly after the start of summer break?"
Any trace of Margarete's humor disappeared in a heartbeat. "Good riddance. Even if he didn't pull the trigger himself it was one of his devices that left Uncle Francis paralyzed. He had to know what would be done with it. He's also responsible for two of my friends having to attend funerals that came far too early."
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
"No longer viable?" Coach Trevor broke the silence that had filled the office and looked like he wanted to find something more tangible to break. "Are you saying that there were others. That this, this monster experimented on his own family and tossed away each clone when they died on their own or were simply no longer useful?"
"That's a direct quote from Vincent's files. I believe in the end the reason Vickie is much younger than she ought to be given the time that has passed since their family was killed is quite simple. It appears that Vincent planned for his records to die with him, only scraps of files have been recovered so it is hard to say with certainty exactly what was done. But I believe that the girl we're talking about was simply the latest in a series of clones of the original.
Most likely Vincent was working to refine a number of physical, chemical, and genetic therapies to provide an improved body. Whether he saw this as a gift for whichever clone he deemed worthy of surviving, for use with children of his own, or whether he saw this as nothing but another of his experiments I cannot say."
Professor Rogers sighed, "I always thought we were underestimating him."
The coach snorted at that but Dr. Forest nodded. "He wasn't exactly known for biological research. I think more than keeping that quiet I think after the attack on his family he was tried to disappear from the public eye."
"Right, because people who want to pass unnoticed are so well known for building orbital railguns. They're the new must-have for hermits."
Cranston shook her head. "There's only a high suspicion that he designed the railguns and possibly the launch system. It was the E.L.E. that launched them and probably took care of the assembly."
"We're getting off topic. Suffice it to say that while he was quite public early on he was rarely seen since the '80s. Moving on," Dr. Forrest advanced to the next slide. "This image of the suspension tube was taken by Eagle shortly before they pulled Vickie out. At least visually it appears to be a standard unit, capable of anything from artificial hibernation, aiding in major tissue regeneration, or serving as an artificial womb. The unusual feature is where it is. I'm going to agree with Eagle that if that girder hadn't come down on him Doc probably intended to use her as a hostage."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"That bastard was experimenting on his own family? Fu--" Margarete barely cut off the word at Professor Cranston's glare. "I didn't think I could despise him any more than I already did. That's just... I mean there are lines you don't expect even his kind to cross."
"If you will agree we would like you to take Vickie under your wing. As far as we can tell she never stepped foot outside the lab she was grown in until the Bay City Guardian's rescued her. It would appear that her uncle saw to her becoming well read in the sciences. Perhaps he thought to use her as a lab assistant. But beyond that... The Guardian's Stardust was rather scathing, 'Barely capable of dressing herself,' was perhaps the most polite thing she had to say."
"Please, I've met Stardust, I'll take that with a whole shaker of salt. Frankly I'd be worried if she liked her. Misanthrope is probably the most polite word I've ever heard used to describe Stardust." Margarete looked at the file Cranston gave her. Shaking her head after a while. "You're right, someone will need to keep her out of trouble. She'll be like a baby mouse in a room full of cats. I'll do it. Heck, my folks will probably insist I bring her home on breaks so she can get some genuine family time."
"The Guardian's have already made arrangements for her over the breaks."
Margarete waved that to the side. "I'll leave that up to them and my folks. But really, after everything else she's been through making her spend holidays with Stardust would be unforgivable."
Guardian's Private Jet, en route to Briarwood Academy
Vickie watched the clouds drift by out the jet's window. A month already. It didn't feel like it had been a month since she woke to find the lab in flames. A month since The Plan went up in those same flames. She still wasn't sure what to think about that.
"We'll be landing soon."
She glanced over at Mr. Shrike's words. With that name he ought to have an avian themed uniform. A glance at the holographic map display showed only forty kilometers left to their destination.
He looked over and it came to mind that he would expect an answer. She gave him a smile. "So soon? Thank you." That seemed to satisfy him.
"I'm sure it feels like everything has been changing out from under you, but school will be a good opportunity for you. It will be home for a few years. Long enough to make friends and figure out who you want to be and what you want to do."
That was something to consider. If The Plan had continued she wouldn't be making any plans. She wouldn't be doing anything. She almost had to laugh. She did smile much more at that thought. It had been so annoying having Eagle and the rest of the Guardian's making so many ignorant decisions. But annoying as it had been she had to admit it was working better than if she'd been left on her own.
"Is, is it a big place?"
The man gave her a warm smile of his own. Dear old uncle Vincent would have been driven mad if The Plan had carried through and he'd been in her head now. He'd probably have snapped and revealed himself and been locked up or worse by now.
"Not too crowded. There are only a few hundred students."
"A few hundred?" She hid the smile she wanted to make at his reaction. It was like playing the softies among the lab's staff. They weren't supposed to have had anything to do with her, but a few quiet mumbled words and she'd have them eating out of her hand. A frown came a little later. There'd never been more than a few dozen in the labs at any time and no more than that in the Guardian's tower. A few hundred?
Mr. Shrike looked over again and spoke softly. "You don't have to deal with them all at the same time. You'll be meeting your roommate at the airport. Just start with making friends with her and take one day at a time. You'll do just fine."
While Mr. Shrike spoke again with the airport she closed her eyes and tried to keep calm. After all this time waiting for The Plan to come and everyone else was dead but she'd escaped. She had escaped.
Fandom/'verse: A school for people with super powers
Summary: Exploring a potential setting by writing a bit to it
Prompter: See above
Triggers/Warnings: Mention of deaths but no real details
Note: Only lightly edited. Exploring a setting and characters
Words: 2342 words
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
"The next item for discussion," Franklin set aside the previous folder and grimaced as he opened the next. "Eagle from the Bay City Guardians is calling in a marker. He's seeking an enrollment for Vickie Valente and before you ask, yes, that is as in the late an unlamented Doc Despair Vincent Valente."
Professor Cranston looked up from her notes. "I wasn't aware he had any family left. Was that not his explanation for turning the also unlamented Crimson Order's headquarters base into a crater?"
"As Vickie referred to him as Uncle Vincent it would appear he had a niece left. The Guardians found her in a medical suspension unit when they took down Despair's laboratory base."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"This semester I have a special request for you Margarete. You are not required to say yes but I believe you could be especially helpful with one of our new students."
"You know I'm all about the helpingness Miss Cranston. So what's up with the newbie? She's from one of those tiny countries that none of us have heard about? She's on one of those scholarships for utterly broke genius students and someone needs to keeps the snooty bit-- brats, snooty brats off her back?"
Professor Cranston gave Margarete a stern look, but didn't say anything as the girl stopped before actually cursing this time. "I've selected you because we believe you have an optimum mix of academic and personal strengths. Recruiting you may also defuse a potential problem before it becomes a crisis. You are however only the optimal candidate not the only one so please be serious." She allowed the hint of a smile before adding, "However amusing your patter can often be."
"You know I'm always with the serious attitudes..." Margarete flashed a smile which slowly slid away when her advisor didn't show any amusement. "Seriously serious, right. I'm listening."
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
Franklin turned to the academy's head of medical services, "Kelly, what can you tell us?"
Doctor Forrest activated the overhead display. "As you said Vickie called Doc her uncle and I agree with the Guardian's analysis of her DNA. Neither of us have samples from his parents but the degree of similarity with Vincent Valente implies a close relationship. It is quite plausible that one of his immediate relatives was her parent."
"One tiny little problem with the lost relative theory." Cut in Professor Rogers. "Doc's feud with the Crimson Order was what, forty years ago? Unless he's had her on ice all this time she's far to young to be his niece."
"That was my first thought as well," continued Dr. Forrest. "The Guardian's gave her a complete exam upon bringing her back to their base. There were a few chemical markers that suggest Vickie spent some time under Everette Type cryogenic suspension. The Guardian's Verdant and I believe that Vickie was not yet born when the Crimson Order made their attack on his family. If whichever relative was pregnant had only just discovered she was pregnant that could explain the lack of public knowledge. I've reviewed the files on the attack and only a few fully intact bodies were recovered."
Forrest put up a new slide revealing the utter devastation left by the Crimson Order's attack on the Valente family home. "Most were identified using medical records. There was sufficient time before anyone else came on scene that Doc could have transferred the embryo to a suspension unit. Even a small unit intended to use with research animals would have sufficed. Some of the handful of Doc's surviving files suggest the disturbing possibility that this was in fact largely how he saw her."
Another series of slides came up showing genetic markers and images from medical scans. "What I can say with certainty is that Vincent subjected Vickie to a number of experimental genetic therapies. The ultimate goal I can only guess at. But that is not the disturbing element. This is," another slide came up listing a number of chemical markers and references to surviving files. "It is uncertain whether our prospective student is the original Vickie. There are chemical traces suggesting her body's early growth was accelerated and file fragments that heavily imply..."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"Before we continue I must emphasize that what I am about to tell you is to be considered private and privileged medical and educational information. It is not to be discussed other than in this office, with staff specifically identified to you as approved and only then in private, or in private with the student. If you agree to this and I find you have violated our trust there will be consequences. Serious consequences."
"Of course, have I ever blabbed about anything important?" She met Cranston's stare with one of her own. "Seriously, have you ever known me to blab about something like this? I grew up being taught to keep important confidences. My classes have touched on privacy and medical ethics more than once. Which you should know since you gave one of those lectures before discussing human experimentation. I promise, I will consider what you say now to be sacrosanct. No discussing it, not so much as hinting that I've got a secret to anyone else. So pass me the non-disclosure forms already."
Professor Cranston didn't continue until after she had Margarete's signature as well as her spoken promise. "Very well. There are two reasons you were selected. The first would have to do with cousins of yours, the so called Quantum Twins and how your family has received them." Her voice left little doubt of her opinion on the popular use of the term.
"James and Jimmy?" Margarete's eyes closed for a moment, "I still remember when mom thought they were going to die. Everyone thought it was a death ray. Hell I'm pretty sure Crab Face thought it was a death ray. James was in agony and nothing seemed to be helping and then morning comes and there's two of him sleeping peacefully in the same bed."
"Unlike too many of the few similar cases your family has treated both of them as fully human and their own persons. Not as an original and a counterfeit or a real relative and fake intruder. This is not quite the same thing that happened with our new student but there are some similarities. As for the second connection, you are aware that Vincent Valente, better known as Doc Despair, died shortly after the start of summer break?"
Any trace of Margarete's humor disappeared in a heartbeat. "Good riddance. Even if he didn't pull the trigger himself it was one of his devices that left Uncle Francis paralyzed. He had to know what would be done with it. He's also responsible for two of my friends having to attend funerals that came far too early."
Staff Meeting: One Month Prior to Classes
"No longer viable?" Coach Trevor broke the silence that had filled the office and looked like he wanted to find something more tangible to break. "Are you saying that there were others. That this, this monster experimented on his own family and tossed away each clone when they died on their own or were simply no longer useful?"
"That's a direct quote from Vincent's files. I believe in the end the reason Vickie is much younger than she ought to be given the time that has passed since their family was killed is quite simple. It appears that Vincent planned for his records to die with him, only scraps of files have been recovered so it is hard to say with certainty exactly what was done. But I believe that the girl we're talking about was simply the latest in a series of clones of the original.
Most likely Vincent was working to refine a number of physical, chemical, and genetic therapies to provide an improved body. Whether he saw this as a gift for whichever clone he deemed worthy of surviving, for use with children of his own, or whether he saw this as nothing but another of his experiments I cannot say."
Professor Rogers sighed, "I always thought we were underestimating him."
The coach snorted at that but Dr. Forest nodded. "He wasn't exactly known for biological research. I think more than keeping that quiet I think after the attack on his family he was tried to disappear from the public eye."
"Right, because people who want to pass unnoticed are so well known for building orbital railguns. They're the new must-have for hermits."
Cranston shook her head. "There's only a high suspicion that he designed the railguns and possibly the launch system. It was the E.L.E. that launched them and probably took care of the assembly."
"We're getting off topic. Suffice it to say that while he was quite public early on he was rarely seen since the '80s. Moving on," Dr. Forrest advanced to the next slide. "This image of the suspension tube was taken by Eagle shortly before they pulled Vickie out. At least visually it appears to be a standard unit, capable of anything from artificial hibernation, aiding in major tissue regeneration, or serving as an artificial womb. The unusual feature is where it is. I'm going to agree with Eagle that if that girder hadn't come down on him Doc probably intended to use her as a hostage."
Agatha Cranston's Office: One Week Prior to Classes
"That bastard was experimenting on his own family? Fu--" Margarete barely cut off the word at Professor Cranston's glare. "I didn't think I could despise him any more than I already did. That's just... I mean there are lines you don't expect even his kind to cross."
"If you will agree we would like you to take Vickie under your wing. As far as we can tell she never stepped foot outside the lab she was grown in until the Bay City Guardian's rescued her. It would appear that her uncle saw to her becoming well read in the sciences. Perhaps he thought to use her as a lab assistant. But beyond that... The Guardian's Stardust was rather scathing, 'Barely capable of dressing herself,' was perhaps the most polite thing she had to say."
"Please, I've met Stardust, I'll take that with a whole shaker of salt. Frankly I'd be worried if she liked her. Misanthrope is probably the most polite word I've ever heard used to describe Stardust." Margarete looked at the file Cranston gave her. Shaking her head after a while. "You're right, someone will need to keep her out of trouble. She'll be like a baby mouse in a room full of cats. I'll do it. Heck, my folks will probably insist I bring her home on breaks so she can get some genuine family time."
"The Guardian's have already made arrangements for her over the breaks."
Margarete waved that to the side. "I'll leave that up to them and my folks. But really, after everything else she's been through making her spend holidays with Stardust would be unforgivable."
Guardian's Private Jet, en route to Briarwood Academy
Vickie watched the clouds drift by out the jet's window. A month already. It didn't feel like it had been a month since she woke to find the lab in flames. A month since The Plan went up in those same flames. She still wasn't sure what to think about that.
"We'll be landing soon."
She glanced over at Mr. Shrike's words. With that name he ought to have an avian themed uniform. A glance at the holographic map display showed only forty kilometers left to their destination.
He looked over and it came to mind that he would expect an answer. She gave him a smile. "So soon? Thank you." That seemed to satisfy him.
"I'm sure it feels like everything has been changing out from under you, but school will be a good opportunity for you. It will be home for a few years. Long enough to make friends and figure out who you want to be and what you want to do."
That was something to consider. If The Plan had continued she wouldn't be making any plans. She wouldn't be doing anything. She almost had to laugh. She did smile much more at that thought. It had been so annoying having Eagle and the rest of the Guardian's making so many ignorant decisions. But annoying as it had been she had to admit it was working better than if she'd been left on her own.
"Is, is it a big place?"
The man gave her a warm smile of his own. Dear old uncle Vincent would have been driven mad if The Plan had carried through and he'd been in her head now. He'd probably have snapped and revealed himself and been locked up or worse by now.
"Not too crowded. There are only a few hundred students."
"A few hundred?" She hid the smile she wanted to make at his reaction. It was like playing the softies among the lab's staff. They weren't supposed to have had anything to do with her, but a few quiet mumbled words and she'd have them eating out of her hand. A frown came a little later. There'd never been more than a few dozen in the labs at any time and no more than that in the Guardian's tower. A few hundred?
Mr. Shrike looked over again and spoke softly. "You don't have to deal with them all at the same time. You'll be meeting your roommate at the airport. Just start with making friends with her and take one day at a time. You'll do just fine."
While Mr. Shrike spoke again with the airport she closed her eyes and tried to keep calm. After all this time waiting for The Plan to come and everyone else was dead but she'd escaped. She had escaped.
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Date: 2015-03-02 06:35 pm (UTC)