The Rebels' Suit

[Akkas]

Shaener swung her arms to loosen her shoulders. Half the work of getting in was already done. She managed to land on this rooftop, and now all she had to do was to jump the gap to reach the other building. That building had a rooftop balcony and a glorious door that would lead her right into the facility. Much safer than to try to enter via the front entrance. Most people would beg to differ, but Shaener was certain this was the better option. She was not here for a visit, she was here to steal something. She just hoped that all the intel was correct and this was the right location.
She tried to convince herself that eight meters was not such a big gap to jump. Her instincts were screaming that it was impossible to jump that far, but she trusted on her special boots. They were technologically advanced and should be able to keep her afloat for a little while.
Before she made the jump, she checked whether all her gear was secured. Everything she wore was tightly strapped to her body, as it had to be. If she had to use her magic power, her clothes and equipment had to stay in place.
She walked backwards and stared at the other building. She ran to the edge and jumped, pushing herself forward. Her boots got flicked on and she could feel them giving her the extra push that she needed to reach it. She grabbed hold of the iron fence and pulled herself up until her feet had ground to stand on. She climbed over the fence and kept her head low as she quietly ran over to the door. She had a device in her hair just above her ear that should make her face blurry to any cameras, but the technology advanced so fast that she wasn't sure of anything. She had her blonde hair braided around on her head, so it was impossible to tell the length of it if it were loose. The device was stuck in her braid, so she was certain it would not fall off.
She reached the door and found it was locked. She grabbed a lockpick to open up the door.

[TheLegionary]

From the moment Shaener's jumped from the neighbour building, the powerful CCTV system recorded her amazing feat, which could not be performed even bu a trained man - at least, not in normal conditions. The Big Brother under development, a surveillance system connected to a network of computers of security forces of the Macho Republic of Otto, was starting to operate and caught the blurring image of the curves of that woman.

"It seems to be a woman again", someone muttered in the Big Brother bunker.

"Perhaps it is another mistake. Re-calibrate the cameras", Jeffrey Otaku ordered behind his pair of glasses. "Perhaps it is a side effect of the AI, which learned something wrong from old action movies where females were performing amazing feats", he snickered cynically. "That fiction was popular before the Gender Laws, you know it. We must try to insulate this error and get rid of it".

Within some weeks, thanks to the works of bright scientists like Jeffrey Otaku, a computer geek working for the Science Industries (SI), the Big Brother would be fully operational and the alleged error would be blamed on Jeffrey Otaku. Still under development, the Big Brother was still subject to flaws and could not match the jumping person to the database, specially because she was wearing a device to blurr the images. Truth to be told, it was illegal for females to go out in the evening. Luck was on  Shaener's side: the still experimental Big Brother Central did not ring any alarm, but it would provide her opponents with essential footage of her actions.

This largely explained why Shaener made up to the doors of Science Industries (SI) so easily without finding any opposition in the checkpoints spread around the capital of Otto. In the last days, as part of the test for the Big Brother, the security forces decreased the number of manned patrols. Indeed, there had been some strange incidents involving females - it was hard to believe, but it seemed that there was a bunch of crazy girls (or was it just one girl, it was still unclear), working out and learning how to fight men. None of them had been arrested for interrogation, but it turned on a red light in the security forces. The CCTV also caught her grabbing the fence and running towards the door with grace and beauty.

What were these girls rebelling against was still to be determined. After all, the women were provided with all they needed for survival. Specially after the Gender Laws, women had been given several protective privileges in exchange for being deprived from some civil rights, which were uninteresting for the female intellect according to scientific researches widely recognized. Men were more prone to ruling and women, to obeying. Soon an amendment to the Gender Laws would be passed and more protection would be given to the female gender.

Initiative was not believed to lay on the female gender. This is why no man would suspect that a woman, no matter how gorgeous and confident she might look like, would be an operative of a rebellious female group - it had been easy for Shaener to arrive at the door of Mad Darwin's laboratory. Indeed, the press had been censored and no news about the existence of her group had been disclosed - the security forces were still figuring out what that group could be. There was no need of unnecessary alarmism. Moreover, the disclosure could help the rebellion. Only a limited number of people were aware of the existence of the strange females - Alexander Darwin was one of them, since his projects could crush any rebellion at sight.

Shaener' didn't need much effort to break through the door - her lockpick was more than enough. After all, excluding thought crimes, which were not exactly crimes from the prevailing legal perspective, criminality was reduced to nearly zero in Otto.

What Shaener did not expect was to meet people still working inside the laboratory of Alexander Darwin. To make things worse, the door needed some oil: it squeaked loudly, echoing the sound into his laboratory. Immediately, Alexander Darwin shut down his laptop as he was not expecting any visit. Next to his desktop, there was a couple of workbenches, equipped with all sorts of glasses for experiments. Moreover, a long shelf at the back of the laboratory displayed large amounts of chemical compounds in all colours and quantities necessary for Darwin's genetic researches. A expert eye would be impressed: his laboratory could perform more than 1,000 biological and genetic tests such was the diversity of the machines and equipments. Probably there was no other place in the Macho Republic of Otto with so many resources available.

"What is going on here?", Darwin's male assistant asked the person behind the door as he stepped towards the entrance in the still dark corridor. He was a tall man with long straight hair and blue eyes, who had just left the 2-year mandatory conscription time. Dressed in a laboratory coat, it was evident that he was not purely a lab rat: his large body revealed that he had been working out hard, just as evey man in Otto should. He did not think there could be any person in the corridor without their authorization let alone a female.

"Wait, Arnold!", Mad Darwin warned his assistant. That unannounced visitor was highly suspicious, specially coming from the rooftop, which was the only possible entry.

"Something is wrong here", Mad Darwin continued as his finger pressed the panic button under his table. In no longer than 5 minutes, more security men would be coming. Submissively, his assistant stopped at the door open from his laboratory and waited to see what would come out from the dark corridor.

"Who is there?", Mad Darwin asked from behind .

[Akkas]

As the door creaked open loudly, Shaener knew that anyone who was still inside would be aware of her presence. She put away the lockpick and sneaked inside catiously. She could hear a conversation and figured it wouldn't be long before they called for help, if they hadn't already. She moved through the dark corridor and used that darkness to her advantage, as it hid her from view. The light in the room enabled her to see a silhouette of a man. He looked strong so Shaener knew she had to use speed to be able to beat him. She grabbed a weapon, which was a strong stick; she needed to incapacitate her opponents and prefered to do so without doing permanent harm.
Shaener rushed forward and swung the stick in his stomach. She made the swing with her right and made a full twirl to hit him in the face with her right elbow. She turned further and also punched him with her left fist. She gave him a hard kick in his stomach and finished by hitting the stick to the side of his head, to knock him out.

[TheLegionary]

Arnold did not see what hit him. As Mad Darwin warned him to stop, he turned himself to the room, exactly when Shaener used the stick against his stomach. Such was the impact that he bent over and even before moaning, he stumbled backward into the laboratory - he was originally at the door. The female was apparently highly trained in fighting as she danced as if he were no opponent: with amazing speed, she swung with her right, just to hit him in the face with her elbow, causing him to grow dizzy. Once again, she punched him with her left and caused him to gasp for air. As Arnold was doubled over his stomach, her knee hit his belly again, almost hoisting him off ground. He was already knocked out by then. Even so, the vicious woman used the stick once again to hit his temple. As she released him, he fell to the ground completely unconscious.

The impressive female had incapacitate her male foe in less than 8 seconds.

After witnessing that fight, Mad Darwin did not think twice and hit the panic button - so it was true that there was a female fighter against the Macho Republic of Otto.  Within five minutes, the building would be stormed by commandos and finally that criminal would be arrested. The scientist immediately knew that the girl was probably one of the several experiments he had been developing and he needed to buy some time. He stood up from behind his chair and retreated slowly - the laboratory was very long (possibly 25 metres) with long tables and it had several wardrobes. It was not so obvious where the unique prototype suit was hidden.

"What are you doing, lady? Why are you being so aggressive?", Mad Darwin asked naively, pretending to be just an innocent scientist. "Let us talk. I mean no harm", he added, raising his hands in the air.

[Akkas]

Shaener put the stick back in her utility belt and placed her hands at her sides. Her eyes darted around and a single look told her enough: this place was ginormous. The scientist must have already pressed a panic button, and she would never be able to look around and find the thing she's looking for in just a few minutes. She looked at Mad Darwin and smirked. He had already seen enough of her skills to know that he was no match for her, so she could now relax a little. She walked towards him. "I know you don't," she replied. "I don't want to hurt you either. And I would love to have a talk with you, but I fear that your men are about to interrupt us shortly. How about you ask them to wait for a while?"

[TheLegionary]

Mad Darwin froze at her smirking. He swallowed dry, stepping backwards in order to gain distance from the woman. Her attitude showed that she relaxed - Mad Darwin was not willing to have the same fate of Arnold under her feet. It seemed that she ignored most of his questions and jumped straight to his last statement, acknowledging that he meant no harm to Shaener.

Whoever that woman was, she was well informed about the security measures of the building of Science Industries (SI) - that woman must have obtained some insider information. How could that happen? A spy? A hacker? The scientist did not know. He never believed there would be an attack and always thought those measures to be exaggerated. Mad Darwin's body language clearly evidenced that he was not willing to cooperate as he slowly moved away towards the end of the laboratory.

"I do not know what you are talking about. I have no friend coming. I was just working on a computer programme when you stormed into my laboratory", Mad Darwin replied with his trembling voice. In no time, she could reach him. Arnold still moaned under her feet and could not offer any help. Mad Darwin betrayed himself as he stared over his own shoulder, just to check how far he was from the opposite door. He would try to make a desperate last run to avoid that woman.

"It is you who came in beating my workmate without any previous warning. It is you who should be leaving and returning to your friends", he added trying not to sound sarcastic

[Akkas]

Shaener was watching Mad Darwin's movements and could tell that he was thinking about making a run for it. She was close to reaching him, but if he were to run she might not catch him anymore.
Shaener wore all black. Her shirt and pants were made of very common material - if anything were to leave threads of evidence, it would be harder to lead it back to her. She wore gloves of the same common material to keep her fingerprints to herself. Her special boots were strong and solid, yet smooth enough to walk silently. On top of her shirt she wore a waistcoat made of a para-aramid better known as Kevlar. Around her hips was a belt that had a few small, closed pockets and an item that looked like sunglasses, but they were advanced night goggles. The stick was stuck in the belt too, with an extra strap around her leg so it wouldn't bounce. Last but not least was her second weapon, which was on the back of her belt. That was the weapon she grabbed and pointed at the scientist; it looked just like a gun, but its projectiles would merely stun the target. She was very calm about the weapon and would have no problem with shooting him.
"How about you stop fooling around?" she suggested. She talked faster to give the impression she was running out of patience. Technically she was running out of patience, because she was running out of time. "I know you're working on multiple projects and right now, I'm particularly interested in one of them, and you're going to tell me where it is. It's supposed to be a suit that enhances the wearer's abilities. Where is it?"

[TheLegionary]

"What are you talking about?", Mad Darwin muttered, already aware that she had anticipated his escape plan. He pretended to wear a poker face, but he could not hide his surprise. How did she know about the super suit? Definitively, there must have been a good slicer or a spy from within the Science Industries (SI).

Mad Darwin halted as her voice showed lack of patience. She was holding a stun pistol - fire guns had been banned and were deemed to be outdated technology in terms of precision and reliability. He had never been hit by such a weapon, even though he tested and watched some tests - the pain was unbearable and the targets could not move during hours. It worked on the neural system and it was believed not to have or leave any collateral damage - Mad Darwin knew it was false though.

"Listen, why don't you put down the taser, girl? It is quite dangerous....", he spoke standing exactly where he was.

"Perhaps it was Arnold who knew about this suit project, he was more involved with weaponry and other technological widgets... just like your pair of boots", Mad Darwin said, recognizing that she was wearing an expensive high tech item. Paradoxically, he did not claim to know anything about those projects.

"I am handling only the genetic improvement of soy bean seeds. It is a beautiful project as it will increase productivity in the fields and lead to a smaller environmental impact.", he concluded raising his hands in the air in a sign of submission.

The intelligent scientist had gained one minute. There were still 4 to go before the security would arrive.

[Akkas]

Shaener grinned as Mad Darwin called the taser dangerous. Good. He knew the consequences.
"I'm not asking you whether you know about those projects, I'm just telling you to show me where it is," she said. "You guys are lab partners, so don't play stupid. Even if what you're saying is true, you still know where the suit is or how to find it."

[TheLegionary]

"Arnold arrived yesterday. I know nothing about his projects, girl", Mad Darwin's face showed panick, specially in his eyes - at least, he was trying hard. He was trying to show he was an actor. Would that girl buy his excuses?

"Please trust me, I know nothing! I am just an assistant"

[Akkas]

Shaener did not believe him. She didn't even begin to doubt what she knew about them, especially since most of the things he said were suspicious. He claimed to be just an assistant, yet he also claimed to handle the soy bean seeds project. He also claimed that Arnold was newly arrived, yet he was in charge of the technological projects? Things really didn't add up. 
"I want you to stop lying to me," she said calmly, almost coldly. She took a step towards him. "Now you'd better start to do something useful, or something here is going to get smashed. Whether that be your face, or perhaps your chemical shelf." All those colorful chemicals were almost begging to get mixed together poorly.

[TheLegionary]

The female in the sexy outfit was running short of time. How much was left? 3 minutes and 30 seconds? He grinned mentally as he listened to the sexy blonde putting up together the little pieces of his lies. It would not take before the woman would grow tired of him and would target him. It was high time he should act.

Action could mean just one thing: trying to flee! What if that crazy decides to mix up all those chemicals? No one could know the reaction.

That’s why Mad Darwin turned his back to Shaener and started to run as fast as he could.

[Akkas]

Shaener cursed and shot at him with the taser. She did not have fenomenal aim, but he was so nearby that she couldn't miss. She didn't want to have to shoot him, as he was much less useful paralyzed, but she did.
She kicked a nearby wardrobe in annoyance. "Why did you have to make this harder for both of us?" she asked, more to herself than to him.

[TheLegionary]

Mad Darwin was hit in the mid of his back and screamed in pain. He did not step further and fell to the ground, grabbing the holder of one of the wardrobes. The wardrobe's door opened slightly, exposing the materials inside, including some dark tissue wrapped.

[Akkas]

Shaener saw a glimpse of something dark inside the wardrobe. It caught her attention and she walked over to it. Would that be the suit...? She felt distrustful. It was almost impossible to be the suit, as that would be too much of a coincidence. She could've shot Mad Darwin anywhere and he could've fallen anywhere and grabbed hold of anything.
Still, Shaener stepped over him and opened the door further. She quickly scanned the items to see whether anything resembled the thing she was looking for.

[TheLegionary]

Mad Darwin Turned his head over his shoulder and to his surprise, the suit the female stranger was holding was exactly the one she had been looking for. He momentarily wondered what a trained female could do if she dressed it: she’d create a lot of trouble for sure. There were some secrets though and Mad Darwin didn’t know whether the girl was aware of them - for instance, she’d need to wear it completely naked. He stopped running and opened the door.

“You are lost, bastard! You’ll get arrested and Otto will find out what you are plotting with the other feminist freedom fighters”, he snorted in disdain as the sound of three boots stormed in the corridor leading to the laboratory.

[Akkas]

Shaener grabbed the suit and held it tight. "Oh, I know all of Otto to find out," she said confident. "I want them to. The time of male domination is over." She heard the next opponents coming and ran off. She hurried back to the dark corridor leading to the rooftop, past Arnold. She eyed him to make sure he wouldn't suddenly wake up and catch her off-guard.

[TheLegionary]

Arnold was still moaning in pain and trying to recover himself when the girl ran past him. However, Mad Darwin was unwilling to give it up easily - his eyes were in awe showing that the girl had actually found out what she was asking for. Even worse, she seemed to have a plan about how to use the suit. He could build another prototype but it would take some time.

"Guards, she is running to the rooftop", he shouted at three guards who appeared at the laboratory shortly after Shaener slammed the door. Immediately after, the three raced into the same corridor and could see the shape of her body in the dark corridor. In no time, the fit men were marching upwards to the rooftop and opened the door.

[Akkas]

Shaener had to force herself to keep her eyes in front of her. The guards were closely behind her and any look over her shoulder could slow her down enough to get caught. Obviously, she didn't want that to happen. She ran to the edge of the rooftop and placed her hands on the fence. She pushed and jumped and managed to get a foot on top of it. She made a second jump and leaped to the other building, the one she came from. Her boots again gave her that extra push and it was not enough to land safely. Her feet scraped the edge of the building and she could feel herself fall. She threw her arms forward and the suit slipped from her hands, landing a few meters away. Her arms hit the roof and she tensed to stay hanging. She couldn't find anything to hold on to pull herself up, but neither was she slipping away. She tried to find grip along the wall to climb up and used the strength she had in her arms to get there.