Bionica: The War

The Laboratory

Icharus Steele was running out of test subjects. The citizens were scared out of their wits with him in power, and they shied away at the thought of becoming a powerhouse at his hands. Monetary compensation didn't help either. Nothing seemed to be able to bring in subjects.

And soon he would go out of business.

Diana, now fourteen, knew what was going on and how it had affected her father. She wanted to help and had tried many times, but when she tried to get his attention, he always shut her out. There seemed to be nothing she could do.

She lay in her bed as Mrs. Lowe shut the door, grumbling about how she had never met a child who couldn't close her own bedroom door at night. Diana ignored her; there were more pressing matters on her mind. How could she get her father to feel better about all this? She could try and get his mind off of the business, but that would take some real convincing, and she knew she wasn't that persuasive yet. She could talk to Mr. Tronyx and see if he could do something, but what good would that do? Her father was a stubborn man; not even a trained politician like Cassius could talk him out of his mindset. So if Diana couldn't do any of those things, what could she do? It crossed her mind that she was only fourteen, just a kid. She couldn't do much for a grown man with real-world troubles.

But even kids can help loved ones, she thought.

Diana lifted the royal blue, satin-covered comforter up and slid her feet out from under them. Her bare feet hardly made a sound on the wood floor as she grabbed a silk robe and tied the rope around her waist. As she left her comfortable four-poster behind and padded her way through the halls of the massive penthouse, she scanned the many doors for the one she needed: her father's office. Janitorial closet, parlor, staff's quarters... none of these rooms seemed to be the one she wanted. Finally, she came across a door with an official-looking room number on it. In the slot under the number, a crisp piece of paper reading Icharus Steele reflected the dim light from under a glass slide. Diana knocked.

"What is it, Perry?" asked her father, his voice weary and frustrated. Diana turned the handle and pushed the door open.

"It's me, Papa," she said. "I came to talk to you."

Icharus Steele swiveled around in his chair and faced his daughter. "Diana?" She just stood there. "I'm trying to work. What is it you want?"

She almost didn't go in. She almost didn't offer what she did. She almost didn't tell him to do what he did. And if she hadn't, things would've been very different later on. But she walked inside timidly, and began to talk.

"I... I know your work's been hard lately." At this, her father scoffed as if to agree. "And I understand why; people don't want to help you anymore. They don't want to test your creations. But I want to help any way that I can... so if you need me, you can use me."

Icharus was dumbfounded. There was a tense silence in the room. Then he got up and hugged Diana. He held her by the shoulders and looked right into her dark brown eyes. "I wouldn't dream of turning you into one of those defective machines," he said. "But you're very kind to offer, and brave, too. If I need you, I'll take you up on it."

Diana nodded and hugged him. "I love you, Papa."

Silence for a moment.

"There is... one thing."

_______

Weeks later, Diana lay on the operating table in a stiff gown as nurses strapped her wrists and ankles down. Her father came in wearing a white lab coat. In his hands he held a jar of blue liquid. "How do you feel, Diana?"

"Fine," Diana replied. She stared straight ahead, her body rigid with nervousness. Her father noticed and put his cold hand on her shoulder.

"You know," he started, "we don't have to do this. I can find someone else."

Diana shook her head. "I can't back out now; all your people are here."

Her father smiled. "All right, then." He held up the jar of blue, almost-glowing liquid. "This is called informium. I created it along with Cassius Tronyx. Liquid data, right in the palm of your hand. All we did was take the process of turning matter into data and reverse it. It's essentially the cure to anything and everything. What I'd like to do is inject this into you, then insert a chip that will track how your body reacts to the informium. Are you all right with that?"

Had she not nodded, things would have been very different. Perhaps Steele, Inc. would have gone out of business after all, and the man who came to power would not have been, and groups of people who were worlds apart would never have met. But Diana shaped the future.

All with a nod of her head.