Author's Notes: Another one based off a reader's suggestion, this time for a "villain duo." As promised, this time I get to the sexy part faster.
On a further note, I now have an endgame (apologies) in mind for this series, which will evolve over three episodes. If I receive any really good suggestions I want to explore I will have to write them before publishing those three, as the series takes place over a short period of time and won't allow for a different adventure taking place between episodes. So if you do have a suggestion now is your last chance.
EPISODE FIVE: Two Is Company, Three Is... Okay, Sometimes So Is Three.
He dashes in from behind, but you hear him coming and he's underestimated how fast you react. You twirl and side-kick, and this time you land a solid hit to his chest before he can reach you. The blow knocks him back and you hear his brother (who's now to your rear) grunt out, "Oof!"
Despite being thumped hard enough to send him reeling away from you, by sharing the pain he recovers from the hit fast and scrambles away before you can follow up with a knock-out punch. You snarl silently in frustration, then have to whirl back as the other one feints a run towards you.
"Damn it, I have to figure out how to keep these two from wearing me down," you growl to yourself.
[]
One hour ago. You're responding to an urgent alert from the Benjamin Rush Health Research Laboratory, which happens to be located not far from your home. A pleasant-looking four-story building set in the middle of a fairly large green strip, according to their publicity releases the BRHRL belongs to a private organization doing "important research on community health threats such as influenza and hepatitis." The photos on their website feature their Level 2 Biosafety lab, more than adequate to handle the pathogens they reportedly work with.
It's only when you get there that you find out about the secret Level 4 lab down in the sub-basement, the one that the public records never mention.
"You know, it's usually considered kind of
important
to let superheroes and other first responders know about shit like this in advance, so we can be prepared if something happens," you sharply inform the administrator who's just told you this.
"We have a private arrangement in place with the Judgement League, but none of them are available right now. That's why we called you," he says, literally wringing his hands. He's so nervous that you feel a little bad for him. On the other hand, the bastard never let you know that a lab full of lethal pathogens was only a few miles from the house where you raised your baby. So on second thought, fuck giving him a break.
"How nice of you. Just FYI, I will definitely be bringing this up with the proper authorities after I'm done here. Now, what's the problem?"
He licks his lips. "Someone set off the manual fire alarms in the sub-basement. All of them, within a space of less than a minute. That triggered a full evacuation of the lab, but when we did the head count two people were missing, a lab assistant and one of the security guards. Except right about that time the 'missing' guard was found stripped to his underwear and tied up in a closet on the entry level. We sent the police to the lab assistant's place but haven't heard back yet."
"Okay, so why isn't your security force down there arresting the intruders? I'm pretty sure you must have more than the one guard."
"We sent in six armed men and they came back five minutes later without their guns. They said someone moving so fast it looked like two people ran in, shot pepper spray in their faces, and disarmed them before they could react. One of them has broken fingers from having his handgun pried out of his grip in a split-second."
Must be a speedster, you think. Can't be The Snap, he's still in prison. Lightning Bruiser is active, but this doesn't seem like his sort of caper. Also he'd probably have broken a lot more bones than just the one guy's fingers. "Did the intruders make any demands? Or do you have any idea what they're after?"
The administrator looks sick. "We started work on a vaccine for Transnecrofy-II just this past month. So we have active samples of the virus on hand."
The original Transnecrofy was a virus designed by Illuminato so he could create a zombie army. It had the limitation that it wasn't transmissible; you couldn't get it from a zombie bite like in the movies, Illuminato had to have his minions use syringes or modified tranquilizer-dart guns to inject it into live victims. But right before Illuminato was taken down (for the present, anyway) by a combination of the Revengers and the Extraordinary Eight he had developed an "improved" version, Transnecrofy-II, that
could
be transmitted by bite. The only reason he hadn't released it was because he didn't yet have a way to prevent his chosen lackeys from getting infected, and he's not quite insane enough to want a zombie apocalypse he can't control.
It would be no use destroying the samples and hoping no one else would duplicate Illuminato's research, past experience with other evil geniuses shows that never works. So it made sense to try to come up with a defense against something so insanely harmful. But doing it in secret, at a lab in a major city? The people who run this place are either totally without scruples or complete idiots!
You must look pretty angry, because Mr. Admin cringes. "They can't get to it!" he bleats. "It's sealed up inside Lab Three, that happened automatically when we evacuated."
"This was planned," you growl. "They'll have some way of breaking through the seals."
"Then you'll have to go in and stop them."
You give him a look that makes him cower even more, but he's right. You're the one on scene, you're going to have to interfere with these guys plans at least until help arrives.
So you go in.
[]
They raise the elevator back up after you descend to the secret sublevel. You're certain that part of the bad guys' plan is a way to get out when they've done whatever it is they came to do, but no reason to make it easier than it needs to be.
The secret lab looks pretty much like any lab. White walls and bare easily-mopped floors, glass partitions, office spaces with desks and computers, corridors leading off to the actual working labs. The main difference is the number of big steel airlock-type doors in the place. The only one that's open has a big "3" painted over it.
You head across the reception area toward the door then stop, sniffing. There's a fresh glue smell coming from the doorway. You look closer and there's a small wireless camera glued there which very obviously isn't part of the original installation. You move out of the direct path to the door and into an area with furniture, because you suspect you're about to get company.
Sure enough, two somethings come whizzing through the open door. For a second you're confused, because it does look like a person moving so fast that he's in two places at once. But when they have to weave around the desks and chairs you've put between you and their entrance it slows them down enough that it's obvious there really are two of them, even if they do look the same.
The pair splits up and they come at you from opposite directions. You kick an office chair towards one and jump over the other, flipping in midair and trying to get in a knife-hand strike as he runs under you. He's a little too fast and you only hit air.
The one who had to dodge the chair charges in as you land. He does a couple straight high-speed punches but you're able to deflect them, then he overextends and your counter lets you give him a blow to the upper arm.
There's an "Oww!" but it's not from the guy you just hit, it's from the other one. The one engaging you though retreats. You go into a defensive stance and wait to see what's next.
"Damn it, I told you that decoying the Judgement League away wouldn't be enough," the one now to your right says. "They went and called in another do-gooder instead."
"Who is this bitch, anyway?" the one on your left asks. Now that they're still you can see it's not just that they're the same size and wearing the same outfit (a black vinyl getup with silver accents), their uncovered faces look exactly alike.
"I think she's some old heroine called Cougaress."
Left-hand snorts with laughter. "No way! She actually wants to be publically known as a cougar?"
"Guess so, maybe that's why she's here. Hey, old lady, looking for a good time with a couple of young bucks? Afraid you're going to have to take us both on at once, we always share," right-hand answers.
You know who they are now, they've been in the "up-and-coming villains" report recently. Rack and Ruin, the Dreadful Duo. Came of age and came on the scene just last year, they're supposedly the twin sons of Baron-Professor-Doctor Hektor von-und-zu Crockenstein (with speculation they're in fact some sort of clones he made, Crockenstein being a mad scientist after all and nobody having any idea who their mother is or if she even exists).