ic Glass and Gold

[Cubismo]

Replica olfactory sensors immediately caught the whiff of something off about her bottle of rum. A more in-depth scan of the drink showed that it had been laced with some kind of incapacitating agent, most likely rohypnol or ketamine. Date rape drugs...

 

For a fraction of a second Replica's face grimaced and a series of strange subroutines rushed through her digital consciousness making it difficult for her to process the stream of new information entering her mind. She was angry she suddenly realized and noticed she was holding the rum bottle with more force than necessary. The android quickly tried to compose herself again and what her next move was.

 

Mr. Gold was criminal. It was more than obvious now and while she couldn't pin the theft of the glass on him, she was now certain he had something to do with it. Trying to probe him for more information was becoming a more undesirable strategy by the minute and the android had begun to formulate a more direct method of solving the case.

 

But first she had to suffer Treestock, if only for a bit longer. "Well, I did come here officially for work, but I also heard some nice things about your disco club. I'm not much a dancer myself but the fact you've managed to keep your disco alive is beyond impressive and I'd love to learn more about it," she said, playing the amazed fan girl.

[Supercape]

GM

 

Aaron Treestock gave snort. "No, honey, I don't think so. Lets cut the $£"%" he said, more menacingly now. "You ain't here for the music. You ain't no dancer either. You came here to snoop" he said, bluntly. 

 

"Any other day, I would have put you down as an undercover cop or something" he explained. "But you had some real specific questions. ASTRO labs. The Glass. You got me pegged down for something, haven't you?"

 

"Well you are welcome to your drink, and feel free to dance the night away, honey. But you ain't getting anything else" he said. 

 

He clinked his glass with hers, waiting for her to drink up. 

[Cubismo]

And with that outburst from Treestock, Replica was done.

 

She wordlessly got up from the bar without even looking to Treestock and took her drink along with her. She got out of the disco club as quickly as possible. When was far enough outside that she couldn't hear the tunes of some song from the 70s see poured the drink a down a sewer drain. The weird anomaly in her consciousness flared again and she unintentionally she broke the bottle, scattering glass across the drain. 

 

Yes, Replica was more than done. Her attempt at subterfuge was a pointless failure that had simply cost her time. Plan B had to be initiated. 

 

Going to her secret laboratory under the North End, the android got her costume ready and waited late into evening for Treestock's disco to finally closed. She made her way back to the disco, this time arriving by jumping from the rooftops until she landed on the disco's. 

 

Replica was going to find that glass even if that might doing a little breaking and entering. But first she used her technpathic connection to see through the disco's security cameras. She wanted to know if those security guards were still around and just how many of them. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

There was of course a cursory - even rather reasonable - firewall around the club, but they parted like butter under Replica's electronic barrage. 

 

The security camera's of course showed the music and dancing, and a somewhat angry Gold Note, who was not dancing but consulting with some security guards with a mean look on his face. 

 

But what was more interesting...

 

Was the cellar, or basement, of the building, behind a reinforced steel door. There, amidst shards of half-eaten glass, was a woman in motionless repose. 

 

A woman she was in form, but not in flesh. Rather, she was made of glass!

[Cubismo]

A sensation made through Replica that she did know was capable of.

 

Vindication.

 

She was right. Treestock was hiding something and certainly know had something to do with the glass. All pieces of the puzzle were yet to be found but at least she knew she was on the right track. And it was a very strange track at that. 

 

A woman made of glass! It should be impossible, Replica knew, and she did a double take when she saw glass woman through the camera feed but her sensors weren't lying this was real. Was she some kind of metahuman? A T-baby all grown up? Perhaps she was a science experiment gone wrong? How did she factor in when it came to the messing glass?

 

The questions all flared up in the android's mind all at once like always. She shook her head. She had to stay focused. The only way she was going to get answers was by seeing the glass woman for herself. 

 

With that, Replica looked for an entry point on the disco roof. After finding one she stealthily tried to make her way through the building to the basement without alerting any of the security guards to her presence. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The rooftop had a door with a reasonable lock on it. A reasonable lock that took Replica nearly ten seconds to pick. After that, it was a mixture of luck and skill, as she sneaked through the corridors and stairs of the building to get to the basement. She nearly ran into the cook, but he was almost asleep as he stumbled to the toilet. Perhaps he was drunk, too. 

 

At the basement, there was another locked door but this took some picking. Fortunately, nobody went down here. It was strictly forbidden. At least, thats what the sign on the door said. After a few minutes of fumbling around, it to sprang open. 

 

Inside, it was low level lighting. Very dim. Hard to see, although Replica did of course have a handy radar to navigate. There was not much technology, other than lights and a few computers of mid level quality and without much interesting going on. What was more interesting was the glass woman lying in repose, motionless, in the centre of the room on what appeared to be a bed of some kind. 

[Cubismo]

Replica had managed to successful infiltrate the disco without getting caught thus far but she was still in 'stealth mode' regardless. There was no point in taking the risk after all, especially when she was in the room with a woman made out of glass. 

'

Replica took everything in. The glass woman seemed to be sleep, but Replica wasn't quite ready to get close to her let alone awake her yet. The situation was a murky one. Given the woman was seemingly imprisoned in this basement, Replica surmised it was more than fair to assume that she was here against her will. That said, she knew there was always the possibility that the mysterious individual was working with Treestock and that awaking her could be a very bad idea. 

 

As always, Replica believed the best remedy to uncertainty was more data, and so the android moved to the computers in the room and went to work hoping to find some  information that would help her decide what her best move was. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Again, there were firewalls and anti-intrusion software, cryption and passwords. They melted like butter for Replica. 

 

There was the usual junk, including the video game of Gunbusters 8, which was just as bad as the film but somehow was reasonably popular. Treestock must like shooting things. 

 

More interesting, however was video capture of the woman stored under "Glass" folder. A melting, bubbling figure staggering into the club in the early morning, and finding Treestock. THe figure slowly, over the day or two, become more solid - in that she was more firmly formed. She claimed, in broken English, to have bonded somehow with Treestock when he sang to her. The memories were fragmented and disjointed, and she knew little more than that. 

 

For his part, Treestock had figured out that "feeding" her glass would repair her, regenerate her, recuperate her. 

 

Behind her, Replica sensed (via her magnificent radar sense, which fortunately covered her back) that very same glass figure beginning to stir...

[Cubismo]

Replica processed the new information. It seemed that this glass woman found Treestock by accident and he somehow helped her stay solid through his mysterious abilities and a hardy helping of glass. 

 

There were still questions that needed to be asked though. Like where the Hell she came from and where the mimetic glass was. Replica hoped that it wasn't eaten. That would make retrieving it impossible or morally unethical and messy. 

 

Suddenly the android's radar sense picked up movement! Replica quickly turned away from the computers and saw that the glass woman was waking up. 

 

It seemed that her choice had been made up for her. Communication it is than. 

 

Replica slowly moved towards the waking woman trying her best not to look dangerous. There was still a probability that she had been dumped by Treestock and needed help and Replica didn't want to create a necessary violent encounter.

 

"Hello," the android said calmly. "My name is Replica. I'm a superhero and I'm here to help you if I can. Can you tell me who you are?"

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

The Glass woman stood slowly, her body fluid. Initially, at least, she seemed unsteady but then seemed to get a grip of her body, and became balanced. Her voice was thin and mild, and had an unpleasant raspy sound. 

 

"I cannot say who I am, other than I am me. I do not know what me is" she said, slowly, uncertain, anxious. 

 

"I awoke to the sound of singing. I found my love. I shaped this form" she explained. "What help do I need? What help do you offer? I have no desire for help. I desire only my love...."

[Cubismo]

Well this had taken an unexpected return. Was she seriously in love with Treestock? Treestock! An unanticipated memory file flashed through her digital consciousness. Treestock. The drink. And the overwhelming feeling of anger.

 

No. No one in their right mind could love someone like Treestock. She had to be suffering from some kind of mental manipulation. Possibly psychic in nature. Maybe Treestock's voice could do more than just repair glass and he used it to brainwash this poor woman. 

 

Replica told herself that her deduction was entirely logic but possibility that the night's unsavory events had corrupted her ability to reason concerned her more than she cared to admit to herself. Plus she felt as if she was missing something obvious but couldn't quite figure out what. 

 

Despite those concerns she stuck to her suspicions and tried to get the glass woman to see that Treestock was bad news. 

 

"People that love you don't keep in you in a basement," the android said matter-of-factly, but not without compassion. 

 

"I can help you find a way to maintain your form without your love's singing and perhaps help you find out who you are and where you came from. 

 

"You're a wonder and you deserve so much more than being trapped in a cage by some criminal."

[Supercape]

GM

 

The glass woman tensed - and from her skin, ripples of shard-like glass swam, each razor sharp and frightening. 

 

"I love the singing. It is me" she said, voice shrill and spear-like. "Before, there was only cold memories, without feeling. Then, there was joy. I want nothing else" she said, firmly. "I care not for nothing else. There is nothing else". 

 

Once again, Replica's radar pinged. Someone - or perhaps something (clearly, one could never tell!) - was coming downt he stairs to the basement. 

 

"Boss, boss, you down here?" came a mans voice....a security guard!

[Cubismo]

Replica had to think fast! The glass woman obviously wasn't willing to listen and seemed more than ready to attack her. And to make matters worse one of Treestock's guards was fast approaching if her sensors could be believed.

 

All in all, the situation had definitely deteriorated. Replica readied herself for the possibility of having to fight her way out, priming her tactical matrix and slowly backing up to the edges of the basement where the light was at its dimmest.

 

The android wanted to have as much distance from the increasingly hostile glass woman as possible but also wanted to have a good spot to ambush the security guard in case they ultimately decided to investigate the noise. The far corner left of the door sufficient for that task. 

 

Hunkering down in the corner Replica went silent and hoped that the guard would quit his search once he stopped hearing anything. Of course, with an angry woman made of glass in the room, who might not see the android's backing away as a reason to settle down again, chances were things were going to get hectic soon. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Boss, boss, is that you?" said the poor guard, his gun up and eyes squinting. It was dark, and he was uncertain. The basement was forbidden, but on the other hand, the door was open...

 

He caught sight of the glass woman, although the completely bizzarre nature of her susbtance was not getting through to his brain. 

 

"Miss, who are you?" he asked, suspiciously - but perhaps with a touch of concern. 

 

"I am glass" said the glass woman, slowly. 

 

"Glass? What kind of name is that?" answered the gaurd, quite confused. 

 

"It is my name"

 

This confused the guard even more. 

 

"Are...are you alright? You look...unwell..." he blubbered, the light glinting of glass was more than merely odd. 

 

"I am awake. I feel well. I was talking" said the Glass woman. 

 

"Talking...to who?" asked the guard....

 

"A woman" came the bland reply. 

 

The guard pulled up his gun, nervous now. "Down here? But nobody is allowed down here...I...I better go tell the boss...." he said with a gulp. 

 

"My love! Yes! Bring him to me!" said the glass woman, achingly. 

 

"Yeah...sure...." gulped the guard, slowly edging his way out of the room and back up the stairs....

Edited July 27, 2018 by Supercape

[Cubismo]

As the guard walked up the stairs Replica formulated a new plan. The guard wasn't able to see her from her position and she calculated (and hoped) that the same would be true for Treestock. 

 

Moving only as much as necessary, Replica pulled out a recording device of her own making out of her utility belt and activated in it using her technopathic uplink. She then used her uplink to download the contents of the files she had found on the basement's computers. The android knew that the information there would be necessary to getting Treestock on his crimes.

 

Speaking of which, Replica patiently waited for the man himself to show up. She knew that even in "stealth mode" it was possible that he'd be able to detect her and prevent her from fully recording any sensitive information he might mention while visiting the glass woman. The man was oddly perspective she had to admit. But even if that was the case, Replica was more than ready to confront him.  

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

As the guard went upstairs, the Glass woman turned to Replica. 

 

"You are hidden" she said. "But I can hear you. I can feel you" she explained. "Through the floor, in the air". Darkness, it seemed, was not an issue. 

 

She flowed her limbs, shards of shifting glass running down what, for lack of a better word, was her skin. 

 

And then, the body flowed once more, becoming an almost perfect replica of...well...Replica!

 

Replica would know the difference, of course. One tended to be familiar with every nook and cranny of ones own body. But it would take an eagle eye for anyone else to notice. 

 

"I wonder if my love would prefer this form. It is...pleasing to his eye, I think" said the Glass. "I may use it. To find out about you..."

[Cubismo]

After witnessing such a sudden transform Replica's digital mind went into analyse mode overdrive. 

 

How could it not? She had figured that the glass woman had some shapeshifting ability given her power to sharp her form. But what she was seeing now was far beyond that!

 

The sight was so astounding that it almost made Replica lag in her response time to the obvious threat that the glass woman was posing. 

 

Replica stepped out the shadows and moved towards the glass woman cautiously. Her plan to spy on Treestock wasn't going to happen if the glass woman could immediately detect her. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have her equipment still recording still just in case.

 

Taking a fighting stance, and optimistically estimating that the glass woman's mimicry only went as far as appearance, Replica prepared for the worse but not before trying for diplomacy one last time.

 

"We don't have to fight. If you wish to learn more about me, and I you, we can do it away from this basement and Treestock."

[Supercape]

GM

 

"No...we do not have to fight" echoed the Glass woman. 

 

"I..do wish to learn more about you. But I cannot leave my love" she said firmly. "He sang to me, and I love him. I cannot do otherwise. I cannot be apart from him" she said, just as firmly. 

 

"My love! My love! Where are you?" she called out loudly. "Does this form please you? Is it beautiful?" she called out, just as loudly. She seemed intent now, even frantic, to be once again with Treestock. 

 

And, given the guards dissapearance back to the upper levels of the club in search of Treestock, she would presumably not have to wait long!!!

 

 

[Cubismo]

She didn't physically have to do it but Replica signed. It was just one of those human gestures she had started to pick up and it seemed appropriate for the situation. 

 

Treestock and his men were coming, and while she was confront that she could take down a couple bouncers and security guards easily she wasn't so sure about the glass woman or Treestock himself who seemed to some unknown metahuman abilities.

 

She eventually concluded that the situation had gotten to the point that police intervention was warranted and used her onboard wireless uplink to notify them about the glass woman and Treestock's unsavory actions. 

 

The android that got primed for Treestock's arrival, hopefully she could distract him and his men long enough for the police to arrive. 

 

Before her mind went to attack mode she scanned the glass woman one last time. There was an unfortunate possibility that she could be destroyed in the fight and Replica wanted to at least save something of the unique being. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

This is emergency dispatch! What is the state of your emergency?

 

Fortunately, Replica was smart and fast enough to hold two conversations at once. A useful talent, for...

 

"What the hell are you doing down here?" said Treestock, angry now. He was sweating, out of breath from dancing all night and ruminating on irritating conversations, and he was, one could see, thoroughly perfused with irritation. 

 

And his irritation was directed quite clearly at Replica and the Glass woman. 

 

The guard by his side froze, out of fear and indescicion. 

 

"And who is who?" added Treestock, his eyes turning from the Glass woman to Replica and back again. 

 

"It is I, my love, it is I!" whispered the Glass Woman, full of joy. 

[Cubismo]

In a day that had already had several strange events occur in rapid succession, this was likely the strangest.

 

It seemed that the Glass Woman's mimicry was so great that even Treestock couldn't tell the difference. This gave Replica an idea. It was absurd and almost cartoonish but it could be the distraction that she needed while the police arrived. 

 

"No, she is lying, my love. She is the impostor!" Replica pointed to the Glass Woman accusingly, mimicking her scream of joy. 

 

While she engaged that in bit of farce. We communicated with the police officer electronically. 

 

My name is Replica and I'm a superhero. I found evidence of an Aaron Treestock being connected to the theft of scientific material from ASTRO Labs. I need officers at the Golden Note disco in the North End here immediately. Things are escalating and violence may break out soon. 

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

ASTRO Labs? We'll send a patrol car as soon as possible!

 

How long might that be?

 

"What?" said the Glass Woman. "No! No! I am your love! And you are mine!" said a quite distraight woman made of glass, the distress of the situation, the befuddlement of such a novel situation causing her to quite forget (for now) that she could solve this situation most easily by changing back to her glass form. 

 

Treestock eyed them both but clearly the replica was virtually flawless. 

 

He drew out his gun. It was golden, and had musical notes inscribed over it. 

 

"Well one of you is lying, unless I am in for a hell of a threesome" he said, his eyes glinting at the comedic prospect. He pulled the gun from Replica to Glass and back again. "Which one of you is lying! Own up! I won't shoot!"

 

The Glass woman remained silent and frozen, evidently believing that silence was the best option. But was it?

[Cubismo]

If Replica was the religious sort she would have whispered a prayer. The Glass Woman seemed either unable or to stupid to simply change back into her true form. 

 

She was also playing it cool, but Replica wondered whether that would work on an obviously scared Treestock. 

 

The android knew she needed to keep him distracted, to confused to focus on the possibility that cops may be coming.

 

So she continued with the charade. If she was being honest she'd admit that she actually starting to enjoy, especially since it put Treestock in distress. 

 

"She how the pretender cowers, my love. She does not speak because she knows she is false. Put away your weapon it is unnecessary. Simply capture her."

 

 

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Gah!" groaned Treestock, his gun sweeping from each woman almost too rapidly too follow. "If only I could shoot you! See if you bleed blood or glass!" he complained, quite unaware that blood would flow from neither form. 

 

"Boss, boss, the Cops are here!" said the Guard from upstairs, panic in his voice. 

 

"So what? Tell em to get lost!" grumbled Treestock, doubt slowly infusing into his ego. 

 

"They ain't taking no for an answer boss! Said they got a call!"

 

"What? Who called em? We got a traitor!"

 

"Not me boss! Not me!" yelped the guard. 

 

"Now this does put a bad beat on the day" muttered Treestock, swinging his gun around in annoyance. 

 

"Time, then, for a getaway! I don't know which of you is which, but its time for you both to come with me! Time to see the city!"

 

With that, he pressed a concealed button, and a secret getaway opened! A hidden door, thick, leading into...welll....a poorly illuminated tunnel. 

 

"My love, at last! We shall be together, free as birds!" sighed the Glass woman contentedly. 

[Cubismo]

The time for deception was over. The police had finally made it and Treestock and his goons were in full panic mode. 

 

Replica went into attack mode causing a head-up display to appear on her optic screen. It showed all the calculated trajectories, maneuvers and reactions that would likely occur in the fight and what would be the most optimal tactics to use.

 

She had no doubt that the Glass Woman and goons would be on her if she attacked Treestock, but Replica saw it as a calculated risk. 

 

If she could successfully immobilize Treestock then it was possible that his minions would hesitant just long enough for the police to arrive and put an end to the whole situation, thus preventing all of them from escaping.

 

It was also possible that they'd try to shot, or in the Glass Woman's case, stab her in an attempt to free their boss. 

 

As Replica pounced upon Treestock as he was trying to make for his hidden door she had the presence of mind to ponder just how sharp the Glass Woman and whether her chassis could endure it.