ic Birth Trauma

[Supercape]

GM

 

A line was thrown. 

 

The Yacht now had two coastguard speedboats by its side, with a few armed police in each one. In fairness, they had thrown the line to Sakurako, and had not drawn their weapons. 

 

"Ho there! Are you a member of this yacht's crew?" shouted out one of the police, leaning over the side of the speedboat. 

 

"We have received information leading us to suspect this vessel is transporting drugs..."

 

Both of Sakurako's parents shook their heads emphatically at their daughter. Whatever else they had done, drug smuggling was not part of the deal. Someone had planted false information. Quietly, efficiently, and electronically. It did not take a genius like Endeavour to guess who. 

 

"Stand fast whilst we search the ship..." he ordered, as the two speedboats pulled in towards the Yacht...

[The Sailor]

Sakurako tried looking up what the exact orders were, but a combination of wireless quality, lack of data, and blocked governmental servers screwed up her plan. "Lovely... if Hannah can't catch us, she's gonna delay us as she gets away." She turned to the Coast Guard officer. "I've got nothing to hide." She said, dumping the remains of the drone on the deck. "Also, I got evidence of a potential attack on my parents. This will take some time to explain, but I have reason to believe that you are being used as a delay for a criminal to get away."

"But... I know you have regulations, so let's get this over with, just be on guard, if she'll attack us once, she wouldn't be unexpected to attack again."

 

She let a little air out of her suit as she sat on the rail of the guard boat. "What sort of contraband was reported on board?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Zoom" replied the officer. He didn't exactly looked like he believed it. But on the other hand, he didn't exactly look like he disbelieved it either. He was just doing his job. 

 

"Just doing our job ma'am, sir, ma'am" explained the captain as he boarded, nodding politely to Endeavour and her parents. Soon there were three officers on board, rummaging through the yacht. 

 

"This is intolerable! I haven't touched a drop of Zoom in my life!" protested her father, although the reality of the situation had drummed home resignation into his skull. 

 

The officers were thorough. As the Yacht bobbed gently in the light waves of the ocean, they started their methodical search. This would take some valuable time...

[The Sailor]

Sakurako just shook her head as she stepped aboard, her suit back to normal. She sat her drone remains on the deck and occupied her time looking them over by hand, after hooking her life preserver back up to her vest first, of course. After all, didn't want to get ticketed for not having enough life preservers on board. She watched the officers as she started checking the parts. Looking to see if there was any power supply still there for the drone... if not she could rig up her wand to provide the electricity needed to power something.

"Mom, Dad, it's best to let them look. She's got us stuck here for a while, no use crying over spilled milk. I just hope you got all the proper safety equipment on board... I can't remember if it was my turn to do the maintenance this time or Dad..." She said, scratching her head, looking over the piece of drone she had in her hand. She was so engrossed, she just seemed to loop in her conversation with random things. "Hmm... Interesting kit they got, should look up my surplus connections to see if I can at least score a different load bearing vest."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Under Endeavours more than capable eye, the pieces of the puzzle slotted together like a Jigsaw. The Drone was a simple robot. It was not an artificial intelligence, just a mindless drone - capable of following simple orders by radio, but not of independent action. It was well built, though. Small, sleek. A powerful microreactor. Gravitic propulsion. Energy weapons, poison darts. 

 

But one could see weak spots if you looked close enoughs. Instability of flight at certain angles, areas were the armour, such as it was, was thinner. Areas that would be vulnerable to attack. 

 

In short, Endeavour could piece together the tactical schematics of the microbot, and use them...

[The Sailor]

Sakurako quirked her eyebrow. "I see... the power supply intake uses a rather common junction port designed in China. Mass produced garbage. That and the alloy is sub-par." She looked at the blaster she recovered, using her EM Wand's ability to electromagnetically move things to manipulate the now defunct blaster's arm. "I see... 45 degrees of freedom at it's attachment point. The needles on the KO drug syringes are pretty fragile too, something to note when it attacks."

 

She looks over her pile, playfully flipping her EM-Wand like a certain time-travelling alien from a favorite TV show twirled a similar gadget. Bored she inflates her life vest, flopping back to the deck using her vest like a pillow and headrest. "Hmm... so when approaching the drones, this would favor a quick-strike tactic, moving in a clock-wise pattern as it seems with the wear on the shoulder joint of that blaster the operator is left-handed. That and hitting at the joint junction between the visual sensor and the body would cause a breach near the power input jack... Well as to be expected with a drone constructed in a sewer..."

She looked up at the darkening sky. "I'll find you, Hannah... somehow I will."

 

She hugged herself, feeling like a part of her was suddenly missing.

[Supercape]

GM

 

An hour later...

 

"Well looks like you are clean, folks. Sorry for the search, juts doing our job. We got a tip, some photographs of this ship with Zoom stashed in it..."

 

"Clearly doctored images" sniffed Endeavours father, who had calmed down to a mere simmering irritation. 

 

As the Coastguard left the ship, Endavours mother turned to her. "What was that about? Something to hold us up? I can't imagine you have been involved in Zoom...although today certainly is a day for surprises..."

 

She looked at her daughter, concerned. 

 

"We are all in danger whilst this...sister...of yours is at large. If she can do that to us in a few minutes, what could she do in a few hours?" she asked, posing a dangerous question. 

 

"The past is more complicated than any of us had thought. Perhaps we were so caught up with you, we did not see what was around us...what other wheels we set in motion...and now the past has caught up with us" she said sadly. 

 

"I am sorry this has come to pass. You did not deserve such vexations..." she said, angry with herself. 

[The Sailor]

Sakurako smiled. "I... I do have a sister."

 

She sat up. "Question... how would someone like Hannah remember you two as much as I?"

 

She got back to her feet twirling her EM Wand as her brain started "cooking", her playful term for chasing a train of thought. "Conjecture: It's obvious from then to now, someone had to have taken care of her, and judging by her age and mine, it had to be at least a few years, perhaps between several parents, but who? Who would tell her you two are her original genetic relatives?"

"Answer? Someone who knows you had the technology."

 

"Either this was an inside job, or the tech from MY most sacred of things isn't made from your effort alone..."

She quirked an eyebrow. "Who? Who's technology is part of your creation?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Both her parents looked abashed, even shameful. 

 

"Technology is but a tool, in the hands of some, a weapon, in the hands of others, a balm. Sometimes it is both, and rarely neither" answered her mother cryptically. 

 

"The tools we used for you..." she paused "...are from Doctor Otaku.

 

Her father came over and put his hand on his wife to comfort her. She was shaking from the memories. Without a word, he opened up his wallet, and took out a data stick, a chrome hi density quantum storage device. 

 

"Everything...its on here...you, your past, our past...I think its best you read for yourself...and do not be hasty to judge..."

[The Sailor]

"I was aware you two were superheroes... and you guys created the womb to create me..." She took the drive and walked over to a bag where she had put her laptop far earlier in the day. She was visiting her folks for a couple weeks around the holidays before returning to the Academy just after Christmas... for some reason the faculty wanted students back on Campus on Christmas Eve. What was odder the students with supers for parents didn't object.

 

Sakurako adjusted herself as she put the drive into her laptop, then placed her hand on it, accessing it with her suit's onboard wifi interface. What she saw was one part amazing, one part shocking. "So... you took technology impounded from Doc Otaku dealing with genetic cloning and adapted it to making an artificial womb..." she sighed. "...I think we have our prime suspect in getting Hannah this far... I honestly have no objections towards what you two did. You took something Otaku was doing for his own selfish gains and did something wonderful!"

She walked over to her parents, hugging them both. "Now I hate him even more, he didn't even give Hannah parents like you... then again she might be better adjusted as well if he did."
 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Both of her parents were studying the data with their daughter. 

 

"Hannah...hannah...yuo have to understand, you are my first and only concern, dear daughter! If Hannah is after you, then Hannah must be..."

 

He clenched his fists, eager to extract a permanent vengeance on her. Nothing came further to his heart than his love of his daughter. Whilst her mother was less emphatic, but still passionate. 

 

"She must be stopped even without considering our family, she is dangerous. She must be a hacker of extraordinary gifts, and now it seems this Dr Sparks had given her the tools to the cities internet...what could she do? Anything! How do we stop her?"

[The Sailor]

Sakurako adjusted herself, taking her mission vest off setting it aside, slipping her EM Wand in a loop at her waist. "Simple... Hannah and I will have to face down over the internet. Still got that supercomputer below deck with the VR sensory deprivation interface tank? I think it's about time to bring it online again. I think it's time for me to go to war."

 

She looked at her parents. "I will stop her with my skill. And set things up to have her captured."

 

She looked at the deck. "I need to know what the full extent of her issues are... I can't just let her settle for this... that implant in her head, while helping her now, is a stop-gap measure." She said, looking back up to her parents. "...but I will make sure she won't be a threat to herself or others."

Edited January 11, 2015 by The Osprey

[Supercape]

GM

 

"That thing? No...it broke down. Its hard to run a super computer. Its resting in MIT right now, no doubt some plucky Post Grad student is piecing it back together or cannabilising it for spart parts. Or playing Freecell on it" said her father, sitting down by the wheel of the Yacht and sailing her to the shores of Freedom City. His rage had sunk, although her had a fierce resignation to him. 

 

"I can't see her stopping though. You are right, that implant was just a sticking plaster. We did note a number of neurological problems when developing the technology. It took considerable effort to stop them developing. A number of mutant prions developed. If your..." he could say the word sister "...friend has developed such a disease, it will only get worse. And it will only be a matter of time before she seeks out a real cure...."

 

He gave Endeavour a long, serious, sad, and angry look 

 

~ Fin ~