//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Spider-Girl: The Movie // by Lucasnike123 //------------------------------// Even in the middle of the night, the tall smokestacks of the CinchCorp industrial complex expelled black smoke. All the scientists, technicians, and other employees of CinchCorp's underground research and development laboratory had already gone home. All but Cinch and Dr. Mendel Stromm. Cinch was in a glass-enclosed isolation chamber in the center of the laboratory. The camera pulsed and glowed with vibrant green lucas as Cinch readied herself for an experiment. "Mrs. Cinch, please don't do it" Stromm begged "I'm asking you one last time". "Don't be a coward, Stromm!" Cinch snapped "Risks are part of the scientific study. They always have been". "Let me reorganize this with proper medical personnel and a volunteer" suggested Stromm "If you give me two weeks..." "Stromm, in two weeks this project, and this company, will be dead!" Cinch yelled. "You heard the general. If we can't prove that our Human Abilities Booster works, our funds will go to Crystal Aerospace, and that will be the end of CinchCorp. I'm going to prove it works... with me! Who better than me to become the first being to take advantage of all the physical and intellectual potential of the human being? My strength and intellect will grow to superhuman proportions. So they will see that I was right". Stromm sighed and shook his head. She knew better not to argue with her boss once she had made up her mind. Abacus Cinch was going to continue the experiment at any cost. "Get started" Cinch said. Stromm flipped several switches and adjusted the levels on the control panel before her. Inside the glass chamber there was a high-pitched hum, growing louder. Cinch squeezed her eyes shut as some kind of black gas filled the cubicle. Holding her breath, Cinch felt dense gases penetrate her nostrils. Trying to calm herself, she exhaled and then inhaled deeply as the smelly gas filled her lungs. As Cinch continued to gently breathe in and out, the burning tightness that spread across her chest gave way to a sense of well-being that flooded her mind and body. That moment the spasms began. Cinch's entire body began to shake and twist, her teeth began to chatter, her arms and legs trembled violently. On the monitor, which Stromm watched closely, all of Cinch's vital signs - heart rate, respiration, blood pressure - dropped dangerously low. Stromm panicked. He knew what those signs meant. In a few seconds, his boss would be dead. Stromm hit a red button with the flat of his hand. Instantly, an emergency suction system sucked the black gas from Cinch's chamber. Stromm opened the cubicle door, rushed inside, and ripped Cinch's shirt off. Placing his ear on his boss's chest, Stromm heard nothing. Was he too late? He was about to perform an electroshock to resuscitate him when the alarms on the monitors of his control panel went off. Cinch's vital signs had returned, to continue to grow to alarming levels. Stromm was still staring at the control panel when Cinch's eyelids snapped open. His eyes swept the room from side to side in a split second, and she began to roar like a wild beast. "Mrs. Cinch, please" Stromm began, turning to look at his boss. She couldn't finish. Cinch slammed her arm across Stromm's chest and pinned her against one of the chamber walls. The glass shattered. Stromm flew through the lab, hit a supporting pillar, and collapsed to the ground, dead. Abacus Cinch emerged from the shattered glass chamber. He was no longer the same person who had entered her, but something completely different, something new and strange, not quite human... she staggered through the lab and looked at Stromm's lifeless body, lying in a pool of blood. Something caught his attention. He awkwardly approached the high-tech glider and the suit he controlled, which were in the center of the room. Abacus Cinch threw back his head and let out an inhuman, unnatural howl of pain and confusion. Of transformation. Abacus Cinch's apartment was a reflection of power and style. Although the furniture was modern, the luxurious home was decorated with ancient objects from different cultures, collected throughout a lifetime of travels around the world. This collection was dominated by tribal masks, all based on the same theme: war. Abacus Cinch took his business, like everything else in his life, very seriously. The morning after the experiment, Cinch sat on the couch in her cabinet, dressed in the same clothes she wore the night before. She stared at the wall, stunned, her mind confused, her body aching. Sunset Shimmer hurried to the front door on the way to the institute, her backpack on her shoulder. She looked into the cabinet and stopped. "Mom, are you okay?" she asked, approaching her mother "You look sick. What happened?" "I really don't know" Cinch replied. "Where were you last night?" Cinch asked, kneeling next to her mother to look into her eyes. "I didn't hear you coming". "I was... I was last night..." Cinch stuttered "I really don't remember". Voices were heard in the corridor. "I have to see her" someone said firmly. Sunset recognized the voice. It was Mr. Simkins, the secretary of her mother. "She can't be disturbed now," said the other voice, which Sunset recognized as her housekeeper. Mr. Simkins entered the cabinet anyway. "Who's there?" Cinch inquired, squinting at the intruder. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Cinch" said Mr. Simkins advancing towards Cinch. Sunset blocked his path. "My mother is not feeling well, Mr. Simkins" she explained. He walked past Susnet and knelt beside Cinch. "Mrs. Cinch..." began "Dr. Stromm is dead". "What!?" Cinch exclaimed, jumping to her feet. "They found her body this morning, in the laboratory" reported Mr. Simkins "It seems that she has been murdered". "What is she talking about?" Cinch managed to articulate, fighting to dispel the mist that still clouded his head. "Besides, ma'am" he continued "The winged glider prototype has disappeared. It has been stolen". Cinch sat up, struggling to clear his mind. "Take me there" she said firmly "Now".