Destined: 2 Be Continued

7. Vespira, the Mad Scientist

Penny woke up, strapped to a surgery table--a gurney, wasn't it called? Whatever one was supposed to call it, it was not Penny's bed, so Penny, of course, didn't like it at all. She struggled quite a bit, but the leather cuffs held her fast. She continued to struggle, determined to escape wherever she was, when a voice came from behind her. 

"Penny, stop struggling. You'll make it worse if you don't." Penny knew that voice. That was Vespira, the lady who had impaled her, but not killed her. The lady, wearing a lab coat over her dress, stepped into Penny's view. Penny tried to yell at her, but Vespira stuffed a cloth in her mouth before she could.

"MMM! Mmph!" Penny grunted. Vespira simply chuckled, then reached into a drawer that was by the bed. Penny looked around, since she couldn't yell. The place was decorated like an evil scientists' laboratory. There were drawers on each side of the gurney, and a table a few yards from Penny's feet that was full of chemistry instruments. Penny continued to struggle and pull at the leather cuffs until Vespira pulled a large chainsaw from the drawer. 

"That's what I was looking for," Vespira muttered, then put on a pair of safety goggles that must have been nearby. She started the chainsaw with one pull(which would have impressed Penny had she not been tied to a table and about to be sliced in half with a chainsaw) and raised it high above her head, standing right next to the table. She was aiming for Penny.

Penny made her best attempt at screaming as Vespira quickly swung the chainsaw down on her.

Slice.

Penny cringed, then slowly opened her eyes. The leather cuff on her left hand was now sliced free. Vespira sliced the left foot, then walked around to the other side, chuckling as if she had made a really great joke. "Did I scare you?" she asked, getting rid of the right hand cuff. Penny just looked at her, lost for words. She chuckled again.

"Anyway, welcome to my lab. Of course, you're not actually at my lab. That would take a lot of impressive work, like taking down an entire army, or defeating TG, for example. Until then(as if she had no doubts that Penny and the others would defeat TG), you will practice the art of poisons and various chemicals in my lab. Come over to these complicated instruments, please." Penny followed her over to the table with those complicated instruments.

"Are we going to be working with these?" Penny asked.

"What? Oh, no. These are just for show," Vespira answered, sweeping them all off the table. They landed on the floor with a crash. Penny cringed at the sound.

"Anyway, you know how to create and mix chemicals without all that jazzy technology, don't you?" Penny nodded. "Then I can obviously do that, too, and we'll work with that. Tell me, Penelope Thornsworth, what compounds have you created so far?"

"How do you know my last name?"

"That's not a compound."

Penny sighed. "Just today, I used a freezing compound to stop Port-Whoever in his tracks."

"His name is Portcullis," Vespira corrected, "and that's reasonably impressive."

"Yeah. Portcullis. Whatever. Thanks."

"Anything else?"

"I once made a strength compound from the red and yellow elements, and a hypnosis one from the purple and pink."

"Hmm." Clearly, Vespira was interested.

"I can't remember anything else," Penny finished. Vespira thought for a moment. "Have you ever made a reverse compound?" she finally asked.

"No."

"Well, all you need to do is mix red with green, blue with orange, and yellow with purple. Mix the compounds you receive from that, and voila, reverse compound. Give it a try."

Penny, uncertain, called forth the elements she needed, floating liquid spheres the size of her fist. she mixed red and green, blue and orange, and yellow and purple. "Are these called by any other name?" she asked when she began mixing the compounds she had just created. She blinked with mild tiredness--controlling the elements had taken it out of her. "They were, but I can't remember them," Vespira answered. Penny snorted at that, then mixed her compounds. The thing she made was a black compound, a liquid orb the size of her face.

"Now, make a strength compound," Vespira commanded. Penny obeyed, combining red and yellow. 

"Mix the reverse and strength." Penny obeyed again. She looked at the compound she had made. "What is this?" she asked.

"It's a weakness compound, the reverse of strength. You're a smart girl, Penny, you should have figured that out," Vespira chided. She then continued on.

"If we mix every type of reverse compound together, we can make a compound called ANTILIFE. Do you know what ANTILIFE is, Penny?" Penny thought for a second. The answer was obvious. "Well, Anti- means against, so...Against Life?" Vespira nodded. "You've redeemed yourself. Wonderful, dear, wonderful." 

"Do you wish to start on ANTILIFE?" Vespira asked.

"But won't the compounds and elements fade if I leave them there?" Penny questioned.

"No, there's a storage for compounds and elements. Once ANTILIFE is completed, you can take it into the real world. Do you wish to start on it?"

"Of course!" 

"Good. Leave that weakness there. Now, make another reverse compound." Vespira walked elsewhere and came back with a large fridge as Penny made another reverse compound. "What do I add to this one?" Penny asked.

"Oh, nothing. We need a pure reverse compound along with the others." Vespira opened the fridge, revealing plenty of space for the face-sized compounds. Penny levitated them into different sockets. She made another reverse compound, beginning to lose strength. "What...do I do...with this one?" she asked, wiping sweat from her brow. 

"Hypnosis, dear," Vespira answered. Penny obeyed, then levitated the reverse hypnosis compound--the reversis compound, or snap-out-of-it compound--over to another socket in the fridge. She collapsed onto the ground, panting profusely. 

"My, my, dear, you're beginning to lose power," Vespira declared, placing a caring hand on Penny's shoulder. "It must be time for you to wake up, then."

"What?" Penny asked.

"Why, wake up, dear." Vespira repeated, putting more force into the command.

Penny woke up.