Bionic Bash

Chap 3: Not Alone

Maddie nonchalantly opened the door. Standing in front of her was a short woman, not much taller than herself. Maddie was astonished, not by the person she was staring at, but the fact she was standing at all. How is she here, the power outage should've demobilized her. Is she like me? Is she not bionic? Maddie snapped out of her dumbstruck expression. She didn't realize how long she'd been staring, "Uh, please, come in." The stranger willingly obliged.

She sat down at a table with a clear table cloth draped over it. Maddie sat in an elegant chair placed next to hers. She then noticed the battery pack sewed into her right shoulder. How is she able to move if she has bionics?

"I'm Layla" said the women, not noticing the puzzled look on Maddie's face. Layla. She knew she heard that name before, but couldn't figure out where. As if reading her mind, Layla added, "From Layla Bell Industries." Maddie was almost certain her brain made a clicking noise when she heard that. She thought she figured out a piece of the puzzle, but she had to be sure. "Isn't that where they-"

"Make the bionics?" Layla finished, "Yes."

"Then you know who cut the power!" Maddie exclaimed.

"We have some leads, but we can't send out an investigation team because all of our workers are paralysed. "

"But you're not?" Maddie couldn't hold back the befuddled look on her face.

"Well, I am bionic but..." Layla paused to pull a briefcase out from under the table. "I've been working in a new version of bionics that don't require batteries or wires." She slowly opened the case. "It's just a prototype, so it has some bugs. But I had to test it out on someone." She laughed and then struck a straight face immediately. "This version is basically a liquid bionic. " she paused for a moment to look Maddie's stunned face. "It gets injected by a shot in the arm. No wires, no pain. " She held up a bottle of yellow goop. "This," she said, "is the reason I was unaffected by the power outage"

Maddie choked back a gasp. This had been her dream. All the ability of bionics without wires or batteries. Maddie's eyes shifted to the battery pack in Layla's shoulder. "If you now have the serum, then why do you still have that? she said, pointing to the battery.

"Oh this is useless now." Layla answered.

"Then why do you still have it?" Maddie questioned.

"It's too dangerous to remove." Layla replied.

"Oh." Maddie said.

Layla was quick to change the subject. "So is there anything else you would like to know about the serum?"

Maddie's eyes sparkled with joy. "Yes." Her age seemed to lower about five years. "Can I have it? Can I have it? Can I have it?"

Layla held back a startled face and replied. "It still has some bugs, so I wouldn't want a minor having it." She could see the disappointment in Maddie's eyes, so she sighed and said, "Let's go ask your parents."

Maddie's face lit up like a flashlight in a pitch-black alley. She skipped to the living room where her mother was lying limp on a fluorescent green couch. They explained the situation to her mother, and after much persuasion, she reluctantly agreed.