Cobra's Beginning: A Raren Thyme Story

Something Always Goes Wrong

Raren Thyme checked her reflection for the third time that night. She had gotten a costume from her mom, who was an amazing seamstress. This year, she was Medusa, from one of her favorite books.

Her dress had flowing sleeves that reached to her wrist, and the skirts rustled against her snakeskin boots. It all had an iridescent shimmer, including the crown holding her curls in place. The scales on the dress weren't made of metal, like in the book, but only a part of the fabric design.

Raren sighed, then grabbed the keys. The drive to Taiko's house was short, and in no time at all, Raren was knocking on his door.

She rocked back and forth, waiting, but no one came. Raren frowned, and knocked harder, this time adding the doorbell as an afterthought.

Still no response.

Raren hesitantly placed her hand on the doorknob. Maybe Taiko had already left, forgetting that she was going to go with him. Maybe she had the wrong time, or Taiko wasn't home because of a job only a superhero could take care of.

But, there was something that nagged her, her conscience telling her to check it out.

Raren twisted the knob, exhaling slowly. She pushed slightly, revealing a darkened house.

Closing the door behind her, Raren flipped the light switch on and turned to face the main room. She gasped in horror at the sight.

Chairs were upturned and paintings were thrown to the floor. Taiko's ugly maroon couch was flung across the room, laying on its side. Even Taiko's bookshelves had been stripped, as many books were strewn across the disaster, some even open and face-down.

Raren numbly made her way across the room to an overturned table. Sitting on one of the legs of the table was a small ram, carved out of bamboo from Japan. It was sitting upright in all the chaos, facing Taiko's bedroom door.

Raren didn't believe in coincidences. She picked up the figurine, and strode over to the door. It was open, and everything was in chaos like the main room before. The light from behind Raren spilled into the darkness, lighting up a small panel in the far wall.

Raren turned the light on, and stepped over another skewed chair to get a better look at it. It framed an irregular, but symmetrical, hole in the wall.

Raren had studied multiple archaeological searches, and she almost chuckled to herself as she placed the figurine in the hole, and turned it to the right. She heard the expected click, but jumped back at the following sounds of gears rumbling in the walls. Consequently, she pulled the ram out, but the gears continued.

The surrounding section of the wall extended out, then broke in two, sliding to each side. It revealed a large steel cube covered in cords, glowing a royal blue. It pulsed, similar to a heartbeat. This, was MARE.

Raren swallowed nervously, and stepped closer. She had seen the cube before, when she and Taiko first found it in his mother's basement, and Taiko received his power to grow wings at will. But, Raren had refused to move any closer to it than around ten feet last time. 

[Hello, Raren Thyme...] A voice said in her head. [It is good to see you again.] 

Raren frowned, forcing herself to stand her ground. "MARE..." She hesitated. "Where's Taiko?"

[Taiko Mayes? I don't know, but I believe that piece of paper on the desk might have some helpful information.]

Raren glanced back, and saw the white sheet. "If you say so..." she carefully climbed over the mess on the floor to Taiko's desk, and gingerly picked the paper up. It contained scrawled writing that Raren knew all too well. She read out loud,

"Dear Taiko Mayes,
You may notice that your house has been a little disheveled. Our apologies, but it had to be done for the greater evil.
We have now captured the Heron, presumedly a friend of yours. But do not worry, he isn't gone forever, as it might seem. We only need him for a little bit, to fulfill our great and evil plan. as soon as we have the DNA samples to create our SUPER ARMY, we will let him go.
Normally, we would try to destroy our dear Heron, but he made us promise that we wouldn't. So therefore, we will return him shortly. In the meantime, however, we will continue creating MISCHIEF & MAYHEM! (as always).
Thank you for your time and concern.
Sincerely, The Hyenas."

Below the maddening letter was the address of a nearby abandoned warehouse. Raren recognized it because she had spent more than a few nights there as the Hyenas' hostage.

[Raren, you will need more than what you have to save Taiko.]

Raren looked up at MARE to see the cube glowing brightly. "I know what you're going to offer, MARE, and I don't want it."

[Raren Thyme. If they observe Taiko's DNA, they will find out that his abilities weren't a natural mutation, but rather the creation of radiation. Not only will they eventually find me, or create a version of their own, they will also torture Taiko for secrets, and many others for experiments. You must save Taiko and destroy any samples they may have already gathered, Raren.]

Raren sighed, scanning the room in deep thought. She hated the idea of changing her DNA. She didn't want to gain powers. Sure there was the possibility of getting something really helpful and cool, like Heron's wings. But, on the other hand, there was the chance that MARE gave her a hideous ability, like growing her teeth out. MARE was programmed to follow patterns in nature, which left a wide variety of interesting ideas at hand. The chances of getting something disgusting...

But... Taiko was in trouble. The world was in trouble. She had to, for everything Heron had worked for.

"Fine. I'll do it. For Taiko." She crossed the room, and placed her hand on the cube.

Energy surged into her hand, exploding from her palm to the rest of her body. For what seemed like eternity, every inch of her felt like crackling energy as the charged radiation changed her DNA. Raren could feel it. For several seconds, she could feel it taking over. She thought he was going to explode, with all the power under her skin.

Then, it all disappeared. It still left a tingling sensation, and Raren was sure her hair stood straight up, but the intensity was gone.

Raren was breathless. She raised her hands, palms up, visibly shaking. She was afraid to try and smooth her hair down, because something was... off. Her palms felt... different.

[You can probably feel where your new powers are located. You can shoot venom. I took the liberty of changing the location of the glands from the mouth to your palms, under the code, "Keep it discreet." I feared that it would alter your teeth if I placed the glands in your mouth, like the cobra species I copied.]

Raren's eyes shot up, staring at the steel cube. The glowing pulsed in a pattern similar to laughter, but Raren couldn't be sure.

[Go ahead. Try it on the trash can. Taiko never liked it anyway.]

She turned to the dull gray can. Raising her right hand towards it, she mentally pushed outward, unsure how to exactly shoot poisonous liquid out of her hands. She was rewarded with a hissing sound and an amber jet of venom. It missed the trash can and hit the paper plate just a few feet away, consuming the plate until it was a pile of dust.

[I composed the venom so that only disintegrates the first substance hit. I would, however, wear gloves as much as possible, as you don't have full control of the glands yet. It will get easier with time.]

[Other than that, you have night vision, but that is self-explanatory.]

"...Yeah." Raren said hesitantly. "I need to hurry."

[Please do. The world is depending on you.] 

Raren Thyme swallowed the lump in her throat, and headed for the door.