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Double Pink (IC)


Tiffany Korta

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The motes of light slammed together and Starlight was floating there, looking around herself with eyes of molten gold. They fixed on the bloodied CEO and she stepped forward, bright white light gathering around her hands. She kneeled and touched the woman's shoulder, the light flowing from the heroine and enveloping her body; in a moment the bleeding stopped and she started breathing easier. "He shall survive," Starlight said, just as the elevator doors opened. She looked around and glared at the conveyance, standing slowly. "She needs no further immediate attention, but I shall escort her to the hospital."

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Starlight felt there was a strange feeling of resistance, but the wound did seem to close and heal. But again there was that strange smell of sulphur in the air. The woman’s eye flickered open and she gave a little smile.

The lead paramedic, on hearing and seeing Starlight’s action had just dropped his bag and looked on in wide mouthed wonder, and perhaps not a little admiration. His partner didn’t seem to be quite so impressed with the hero’s actions. In fact he didn’t seem to react at all…

Behind then all unseen the doors to the second elevator seemed to open all by themselves.

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Synth rushed up, her arms folding in to normal size and reabsorbing. Pulling herself up had been a bit of amusing exercise, she noted to herself.

A few strides and she was by Starlight, the paramedics, and the (previously) injured woman.

"You got here in time!" she said, congratulating Starlight with a pat on the back with one of her arms. It was a human gesture she had seen plenty of times and she quite liked copying it.

"Well done! Perhaps we can get some answers now. It isn't safe yet! the assassin may be anywhere...or anyone!"

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Starlight carefully studied the pair of paramedics. Was one of them really another shapechanging assassin? If so, which one? Or was it both? She opened her mouth to speak and was interrupted by Synth's arrival. She hadn't been planning on letting anyone know about the shapeshifter -- it could only impede their efforts at this point -- but the time to talk to the other hero about it wasn't now.

"Yes," she said slowly. "Mrs. Thorn is under attack by quite formidable forces. Therefore, she is under my personal protection -- starting now." Starlight watched the EMTs carefully, trying to judge their reaction to having a superhero force themselves into the situation.

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The paramedic in front had a mix of shock and surprise on his face. For a minute he didn’t quite know what to say, the he recovered his composure.

“Wow we got beaten by a honest to god superhero.†He put his hand outs to show he wasn’t a treat to any of them “But I’d been happier if we could just quickly check her out. Not that I don’t trust you to do the job right, just so we can say to control that she is all fine.†He gave an embarrassed little smile “Guy’s gotta get pay if you can understand that.â€

Behind him the second paramedic remained quiet, in actual fact he seemed not to be reacting an anyway to the situation at hand…

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Synth knelt down on her haunches to look (and smell) Ms. Hawthorne. She did look better. A lot better. Starlight had clearly woven some impressive power on her.

"Ms. Hawthorne, is it? how are you? can you remember what happened? who attacked you?" she said, in a slow, quiet, but somewhat insistent voice.

"You are safe now, stay calm. We just want to find out what happened, and try to stop whoever did this from doing it again..." she added, as kindly as she could.

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Starlight's attention drifted from the endangered CEO and the active EMT, to his partner. The one who hadn't said anything, hadn't even reacted when Starlight had forced her own solution to the situation. Among the Grue such easy acceptance was the way of life, but the people here weren't laboring under a tyrannical telepathic regime, so...

The heroine stepped around one EMT and stopped close to the other, intentionally too close in fact. Starlight's black face was just a few inches from the other medic's nose, well within the man's personal space. She didn't say anything, merely stared him in the eye and waited.

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Ms Hawthorne gave a weak little smile “I’m feeling much better, your friend did a wonderful job.†her voice carried a hint of an exotic accent.

She pulled Synth close and whispered into her ear. “I think your friend is talking to one of those things that attacked me.â€

The quiet paramedic met Starlight stare with the strange dead eye she had seen in the other shapechaneger down in the square. But then suddenly like a switch the eyes lit up and it spoke in a slightly disembodied voice, like it was coming from some where else.

“You can’t protect her all the time, Superhero.â€

And with that the shifter turned as if to leave.

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“You can’t protect her all the time, Superhero.â€

Synth took a long look at the 'paramedic', the shot woman, and Starlight.

"True" she acknowledged.

But there might be other ways...

She addressed Starlight directly in a lower tone "they could be anywhere, we need to stop this at the source...find out what's really on...if it wants to go, let it..."

In a whisper, she leant to Starlights ear.

"...and follow it?"

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Starlight's eyes narrowed as the shapeshifter dropped the pretense, taunting the heroes and moving to leave. Her first impulse was to grab it and finish things here and now, but Synth stopped her and forced her to reconsider the issue. After a moment she nodded and half-turned to address the other hero. "Watch the CEO," she said. "Make sure they don't try to get at her while she's at the hospital. I'll... make contact."

Starlight disappeared and teleported herself to the ground floor, inside a janitor's closet. She felt around for the doorknob and let herself out, immediately changing her form to mimic the many young, suited professionals common in the business district. She formed a pocket of skin into a reasonable facsimile of a cellphone and held it to one ear, holding a one-sided conversation as she wandered to the vicinity of the elevators. The hidden heroine chatted with herself as she waited for the elevator the EMTs had used to open and disgorge the shapeshifter.

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Synth lifted the CEO into a chair, taking care whilst she did so. Starlight's healing power had worked a wonder, but it was as best to be sure.

"So, looks like I'm your best protection right now, Mrs. Hawthorne" she said. Synth did not like big businesses, viewing them as a machine that split the poor and the rich. But some industry was valuable, and surely not all coorperate structures were malign. In any case, nobody deserved death, no matter how greedy and corrupt and organisation was.

"Here is one way to protect you" she added, studying the CEO's features. As she did, her facial features morphed, along with her height and build, as her cells rapidly divided and expired.

"A second target" she concluded. She stood by the CEO with the same face and body as her. True, on close inspection she retained that slightly waxy unreal flesh...

"But I will need some better clothes..." she noted. A CEO wouldn't walk around in a protestors scruffy and ripped clothes.

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CEO's Office

The CEO didn’t seem overly surprised by Synths transformation; instead she unsteadily got on her feet to check on her slightly shocked PA. After convincing the poor woman she’d be okay and to make sure Rosemary got sorted. Only then did she turn her attention back to Synth.

“Please call me Nikki.†She looked Synth up and down “I think you good in anything, especially with that face.†Synth wasn’t quite sure, but she didn’t seem completely serious. “But this blouse is ruined. Please follow me.â€

She led Synth to a walk in closet filled with beautiful expensive clothes; beyond which was a bathroom, both of which were probably bigger than some of the dives Synth had stayed in.

“My poor husband had these fitted. I’ve not quite decide a better use for these room yet, but at least today they have a use. Take what you want… I know you hero types don’t normally take rewards, but I was going to donate most of them to charity soon anyhow.†She took a small card and wrote something in letter that Synth didn’t recognize “If you need anything tailoring take it to this address and give them the card, they can do magic with almost any fabric. And if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a shower.â€

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Branson's Plaza

The shapechanger wasn’t even bothering to hide his form, walking out if the lobby of the building still in his paramedic form.

By now the security had been down and the square was beginning to quieten down, but crowds were still mingling around in case anymore drama was about to start. The shifter didn’t seem to worry about any of this instead he took a straight-line path through the plaza sending several people flying. Ignoring the cry and yells of the people he had sent reeling he instead made his way down to the curb.

At the curb he hailed a cab as if nothing had happened.

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CEO's Office

“My poor husband had these fitted. I’ve not quite decide a better use for these room yet, but at least today they have a use. Take what you want… I know you hero types don’t normally take rewards, but I was going to donate most of them to charity soon anyhow. If you need anything tailoring take it to this address and give them the card, they can do magic with almost any fabric. And if you'll excuse me I'm going to take a shower.â€

Synth raised her eyebrows at the luxury and the card. Something inside her felt quite nauseated at the wealth on display here, a flagrant display of wealth whilst there were homeless and poverty stricken people within throwing difference.

She bit her lip with some effort.

Maybe later...she said to herself, trying to placate her emotions.

She couldn't bring herself to speak, so she quickly changed into some of "Nikki's" clothes and looked at herself in the mirror, tugging a few creases out. They were not clothes she would normally wear, and they hung somewhat akwardly on her.

"Well, I'll be the target now..." she said, as much to her reflection as to the CEO of the company.

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Starlight kept up his/her false conversation while watching the counterfeit EMT walk right out of the building and towards the street. This was going to be even easier than the hero could have hoped for! Starlight ducked back into the self-same janitor's closet as before and disappeared, reappearing in a flash of light on a nearby building. She crouched near the edge of the roof as her body reformed into her superheroic persona. With her teleportation abilities, she'd have no problem following the cab all the way around the world. And people so rarely looked up, mostly limiting their perception to whatever was on any side of them. Even if the shapechanger was more likely to check its topside, the cabs in the city all had hard tops. It wouldn't be able to look up and see her, even if it wanted to.

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CEO’s Office

Nikki came out of the shower wrapped in a towel.

“Actual I have an idea. This place is fitted with a Panic Room; I’ve only got a couple of meeting to finish up. If you want I could hide in the Panic Room whilst you finish up my business.†She gave a little smile “I’m sure you couldn’t bankrupt me in a single afternoon, but I would have to listen into the conversation.â€

Rooftops of the City

This was too easy; the cab was taking the back streets and the quiet roads. It was almost as if the shifter wanted Starlight to follow. The Cab made quick progress, despite it strange course, and was soon heading out of Downtown towards West Freedom.

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Synth was quite shocked.

CEO of a business?

"I...don't think I am the best person to run this business..." she said, slowly and thoughtfully "You have to understand...Nicky..." she said, uncomfortable somehow with the word "...I am not in favour of capitalism."

She had learned a few of the basic political words from her trips to Freedom City Library, but she was still struggling.

"I don't understand the unequal distribution of wealth" she said, simply, shrugging her shoulders. If she was put in charge of a company for even one meeting, she would be putting herself in a very difficult situation.

"...I want to protect you" she added "but this will be...awkard"...if she was human, she might even be blushing at this point.

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CEO’s Office

Nikki gave a little laugh as she pulled on a battered looking Freedom U swearshirt.

“Sound like me old Political Science lecture’s. I’d understand if you didn’t want to do this, but let me tell you about the two meeting I’ve got first.â€

She pulled on a pair of battered jeans and looked for all the world like a University Student, rather than a CEO of a powerful corporation.

“The first is to finalize a donation to a Battered Woman’s shelter, the second is a buyout of a Biotech company. I strongly suspect they’re doing bio-weapons research. And I plan to strip out the bad influences and set it to more peaceful means.â€

She pulled on a pair of pink converse and went to look out of one of large windows offering a view of the city.

“This city has a tradition of Ethical Corporations and I want to make Roseus one of them. For the sake of my husband, among others…â€

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Greenbank

The taxi continued it journey out into the warehouses of Greensbank, before finally pulling up outside one of the larger warehouses. The only detail that made it stand out from the other was the name Auto N painted in large letters on the side of the building.

The “Paramedic†left the cab, ignoring the creative calls of the driver and walked through a side door in the warehouse. After a few second, where the cab driver must have been deciding if it was worth it, he followed the Paramedic into the Warehouse.

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Starlight frowned down at the false EMT as it exited the cab and headed into the warehouse. She waited for the cab itself to pull away -- but then the cabbie got out and started towards the warehouse himself! The heroine disappeared in a blaze of light and reappeared just in front of the driver. She stared at him with her blank gold eyes for a long moment, then a slit of a mouth opened in her face. "It is not worth it," she told him. "Turn around and leave. There is danger in this place." With the advice given, she turned on her heel and stalked into the warehouse herself.

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“This city has a tradition of Ethical Corporations and I want to make Roseus one of them. For the sake of my husband, among others…â€

Synth had to give 'Nikki' the benefit of the doubt. The truth would be in the board meeting.

"Good. Reassuring" she replied, still unsure but smiling a the woman politely "just point me to the board, I will handle the rest. This is just to protect your safety, you understand. "

She stretched herself, and checked herself in the mirror. She was used to taking on different forms, but something about passing herself off as a CEO felt odd to her, as if she was not quite comfortable in this skin. She gave herself a long hard look in the mirror.

"Lets go then..." she concluded, heading for the door.

Something the woman had said lingered in her head.

"I am sorry to hear about your husband" she said, not meeting her gaze but being polite as she could "how did he influence this company, and you?"

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Auto N Warehouse

The Cab driver looked shocked and began a weak progress, but seeing Starlight demeanour though better of it. The cab had begun to pull away as Starlight entered the warehouse.

The warehouse space a massive structure was filled with machinery. Large tanks of the Pink Goo the previous Shapeshifter had been composed of. In banks around these tanks were row upon row of human shaped moulds, enough for an army. Starlight felt a strange tingling feeling and it took a few seconds to realize that it actually some kind of scan. Just as realization dawned a large booming voice filled the building, a voice speaking in her own tongue.

<â€I was not aware you currently had plans for this planet. May we offer assistance in your invasion?â€>

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CEO's Office

Nikki went over to her desk and began rummaging in its drawers.

“I think I have some of those ear buds in here somewhere. Oh no there’s no board, I’m the sole owner I bought them all out.â€

She met Synth eyes and look of something, pain or sadness, flashed across them.

“The board, like my husband, didn’t agree with my methods. Their business practices were of the old fashion, of the old fashion Genghis Khan style of methods. If my husband hadn’t fallen into a coma…†she stopped a wiped away a tear “but enough of that let’s get you prepared for these meetings.â€

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Starlight froze as her mind worked through what the sourceless voice was saying. It -- they -- whoever somehow knew that she was Grue. That changed things. These creatures, whatever they were, could not simply be delivered into AEGIS custody anymore. She moved over to the nearest mold, examining it as her brain worked feverishly. "" she said finally. ""

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“The board, like my husband, didn’t agree with my methods. Their business practices were of the old fashion, of the old fashion Genghis Khan style of methods. If my husband hadn’t fallen into a coma…†she stopped a wiped away a tear “but enough of that let’s get you prepared for these meetings.â€

Synth nodded, full of sympathy.

"I understand. I'm sorry for bringing up what must be...difficult...memories" she said, softly. She wondered whether to touch the woman, but she suspected being touched by someone who looked almost exactly like you would be disconcerting, to say the least.

"Let's get ready for the board meeting then" she said, still softly but with more brightness to her voice "I'll try and keep up the illusion. Brief me what you can, and lets go".

She paused briefly.

"On reflection, this whole affair is highly mysterious. Why would anybody want to kill you. Whats the motive for it? could it be tied up with..."

She decided not to bring up the woman's dead husband again. But she would be paying close attention to the board...

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