continued from "chasing cars"

a little over two years ago

"The cell acts aggressively as soon as it enters the body and enhances nearly every part of it. The muscles, the lungs, the heart..."

The man goes on as he points up to a chart hanging in front of a room full of suits. Seated going away from him are men and women alike, all dressed in their good clothes, all taking notes from the old man on the opposite end of the table. He speaks out to the presenter.

"So, you're saying, they become super-human?"

"In layman's terms, sure, sir."

"Has this been tested already?"

"Yes."

He stands in silence for a minute before the old man speaks up again.

"Well, did it work?"

"No, it did not. The cells are not compatible with any other species but human, we found out the hard way."

"What were you testing on?"

"Rats, pigs, monkeys."

"None of them worked?"

"Negative, sir. The body rejects it immediately and the speciman goes into cardiac arrest."

The people around the table do not react, but all stare down at the old man at the end, a blank stare across his face.

"How can you be sure that it would work with a person?"

"We've spliced it with some of our own blood samples and the reaction was as good as it could get."

"So you're not sure?"

He shakes his head at the old men.

"Cadaver?"

"Uh, negative, sir."

The old man shakes his head and looks at the man questionably.

"You're talking a living human-speciman then?"

"Well, the more the merrier would be great."

---

present day

::whisper::
There's only a couple days left, shouldn't we be heading to London?
::whisper::

Abigail lets out a sigh and continues walking down the busy street.

::whisper::
They did give you a load of cash in that bag.
::whisper::

She holds it even tighter around her arm.

"Shh!"

Abigail puts her head down and continues walking through the crowded sidewalk in the city.

::whisper::
Why didn't we check into the hotel that Lane dropped us off at?
::whisper::

In the distance, she sees an entrance to a subway. She picks up the pace and quickly races down the steps to the very bottom where the train had just closed it's doors and was leaving.

::whisper::
Damn. Five seconds too late. Where are we going?
::whisper::

She watches the train leave her behind and stomps her foot. She stares down the tunnel until the sound of it's echo quiets to nothing. She looks around and realizes that everyone around must have got on that train because she is alone. Except for a couple of trouble makers standing along side the wall behind her.

The two of them step away from the wall and stand in front of the stairway Abigail just descended from.

::whisper::
Oh look, these guys look like they've been standing there awhile. Maybe they can tell you when the next train is coming.
::whisper::

"Hi there."

The one says as he approaches her. The other one, a bigger guy, follows him.

"I'll be taking that bag if you don't mind."

Abigail takes the bag off her shoulder.

::whisper::
I mind.
::whisper::

The guy pulls a knife out from his pocket it and holds it out in front of him while the bigger guy tries to grab Abigail. She tosses the bag up in the air and kicks the legs out from under him. The big guy falls square on his back on the hard concrete. She looks to the man holding the knife now and he is ready to take a lunge at her. She dodges it, Matrix-style, catches her bag, and knees the man in the stomach so hard that he questioned whether he threw-up his entire stomach while he lied curled up catching his breath. The big man is back to his feet and takes a swing at her, but she's far to quick for him. He swings again, the again, but misses each time as she's guiding him towards the wall from which they had came. He goes for one last big swing and misses again. She goes for the legs one more time which sends his big head into the wall.

She walks over to the man who is still holding his gut like he was shot. She reaches down, grabs, him, and easily lifts him up in the air. He moans and groans the entire way.

"When does the next train arrive?"

She asked in an unintentionally overly-sweet voice. The man moans and groans more, looks over to his buddy who is knocked out against the wall, then back to the girl holding him above her head with one hand. She starts to squeeze, but not for very long as she throws him against a pillar. He bounces off and shrieks in pain as he falls to the ground with no attempt at bracing his fall.

::whisper::
Ask him again!
::whisper::

"When is the next train--"

She lifts her boot up in the air in a kicking motion as the man screams out after checking his watch.

::whisper::
Yeah! Crush his head!
::whisper::

"Five minutes! Don't hurt me!"

She looks down at him, smiles, and lowers her foot back to the ground.

::whisper::
Awwwwe...
::whisper::

"Thank-you."

She wraps her dufflebag back around her shoulder and sits down on the bench just a few steps behind her. The man looks at her like, 'What the fuck?!', and crawls away towards his buddy behind her.

---

a few days ago

The scientist and his colleague, who is apparently the old man's son, walk together down a dark corridor and enter a room off to the side. Inside is a table, two chairs, and a strange looking wall to the one side.

"It looks more like an interrogation room."

"Isn't that basically what it is?"

"I didn't like to think so. You have to treat these girls more like patients, not criminals. They may be dangerous, but we're responsible for that."

"No wonder my father doesn't have time for you. He senses your warm heart."

"It's being professional with my work. Treating an enhanced-being, designed to destroy human life, with female genes... just doesn't sound like a good idea."

He laughs, but the scientist does not.

"I wasn't saying that as a joke."

"I got you. Where do we begin?"

The scientist places a clipboard down on the table.

"I think it would be best if we kept the guards outside of the room, let me talk to each one individually and see if they're capable of the outside. It's been a few years and some of them took to the treatments well, while others did not."

"You've narrowed it down to three though, correct?"

"Based from the simulations testing intelligence, athleticism, and social interaction, yes, the top three were pretty clear."

"And the others?"

"A number of things. Some didn't take to the serum. Others took to it a little too much. Some had reactions days or even weeks later."

"How many are you up to now?"

"Three hundred twenty-one."

"My God. How many do you still have?"

"Eight."

"Shame. And that number started AFTER you discovered the cells weren't compatible with a man's DNA either?"

"Right."

"Talk about trial and error."

The scientist settles into a chair on the opposite side facing the door.

"You'll take your place in the room over. You can observe yourself and after the questioning we'll decide who is most suitable for the job."

He gives the scientist a thumbs-up and heads for the door.

"Hey, Mikhail."

He turns around as he reaches for the door.

"How did you convince your father to approve of this?"

"I did not. He's leaving for a trip home in a few days. I figure our preparations would look like normal procedures and once he was away we could proceed with our plan. If it is a success, he will have no reason to be angry. If it is not, it's just another failed experiment, right?"

The scientist gulps.

"Fear not, Yuri. He will be none the wiser. I've had the veil over his eyes for years, this will be nothing."

---

Times ticking down, Missy. Times ticking down real fast. It seems like you've maybe got caught in a web of Chris Chaos as of late. A little caught up in his moment, maybe? You should have taken the hint when the two of you lost in the Tag Team Tournament and went wayward like he did. What did you do instead? Drown your sorrows? Drown IN your sorrows? As much of a bite as your present most of the time, it seems like you have a lot more bark. Tears on TV, for one thing, do not show strenght. They show weakness. They show a sad little girl who's lost and scared.

I would bet money that you have never been alone in your entire life. The way you described how you would act in high school, I wouldn't doubt it for a second. You were probably the type that would cling to the "not as pretty as me" so that you would have a posse to follow you around to make you feel better about yourself. It all makes sense, an entire lifetime of being plagued with that sort of fake kindness would lead to how conceded you are today. That princess thing. That self-entitlement thing. That spoiled brat insisting that an entire division belongs to her. I'll tell you what, Missy, you can claim it for what it is right now, but after I defeat you and Ezariahah at King of the Ring and become the first XWF Bombshell Champion, the landscape is going to change. This division that belongs to you, will belong to me, and it will mean something then. I will not be the "self-proclaimed" greatest female in the XWF, I will have the title to prove it. No matter who I've beaten or who I haven't, it won't matter when you open your eyes Sunday morning, alone in bed, with another loss tallied up on your already sorry looking record.

---

a couple days ago
shortly after questioning #201, #217, and #290

"They're so different from each other."

Mikhail and Yuri sit across from each other in a small room under a single light going through dozens of papers that are scattered and mixed about.

"The serum was made to enhance the body, not necessarily change who they are."

"That's what the brainwashing was for."

Yuri cringes at Mikhails wording once again, but agrees.

"Right, but most of these specimen were long-gone mental patients."

"#201 did seem off a bit. I just figured it was the blonde sticking with her."

"Perhaps, her history is a little shaky, but she may be a perfect candidate for our experiment. In the simulations she's proven to be the strongest of the three."

"#217 seemed to have a bit of an attitude. I liked that about her. I like personality."

"#217 is definitely the most unique of the three. She's well-rounded with strength and athleticism and extremely smart. It's hard to believe she's had the oddest history out of all of them. I'm surprised she's not more fucked up than she is."

Mikhail grabs the paper with her information and reads through it.

"She started at a young age, huh?"

"Yes, she did."

Mikhail reads.

"Found at 8 years old at Saint Tobias Orphanage. Spent one year there, not even a year at another, and eventually moved to a children's hospital. Seeing people. Hearing voices. Yeah, she's a winner alright. She show any signs of being cucko-cucko now?"

Yuri taps a pencil off the table and looks down at all of the paperwork.

"Not so much. She either hides it well, or was just misunderstood as a child. That happens a lot when you are around more helpless people."

The two sit in silence and think to themselves before Yuri reaches for the next set of papers.

"#290."

Mikhail speaks up right away.

"I did not really like her, to be honest."

"Because?"

"She seemed a bit too programmed for what we have planned for her."

"A bit too 'brainwashed', you mean?"

"Exactly. So bland, so tasteless, no personality at all."

"So, you like #217."

"Don't you?"

---

Some amazing things are definitely going to transpire at King of the Ring. What makes it sweeter, is that I couldn't care less about it. All that matters at this moment, is that Jenny Myst is left in the history books as the one who lost in the first ever XWF Bombshell Championship match. Don't mistake me explaining the result of me becoming champion as a desire to become champion, Missy. The change in landscape, the challengers that will come to face me, the division growing into something more than a little girl with a complex pushing around talentless wish-they-could-be's. The XWF will be known for it's talent in this division because it is I that will make it a challenge, it is I who will make it worth while, and it is I who will make it world renknowned. The thing I look forward to most, Missy, is looking down at you and watching you leave the ring empty-handed. Will you cry? I'm certain of it. Then you can go back and face your failure boyfriend Chris Chaos and compare failures because the two of you are racking up quite a collection. He has a chance to get in the race for the top title again facing Robbie Bourbon. You'd better just hope he's not so shallow to leave you behind after all of this IF he wins. Winners usually associate with winners, Missy, and you do not classify as such.

King of the Ring will see many changes and the Savages and Warfares that follow will tremble at the shockwaves that come from it. My name is Abigail and I will be your next, your very first XWF Bombshell Champion.

Raise your guard princess, I'm coming for the throat.