Investigation

By VivettaVenray

(WARNING: Contains vore, digestion, cruelty, clean sweat, slime-esque vore, and gore among other things)

(NOTE: This story is loosely inspired by an RP, among other inspirations perhaps.

In addition to size content, this story also features some same-size omni/powers content, so please keep that in mind.

Just as a heads-up, although this story does feature use of powers, the actual super hero is of the vigilante type. That is, she's a more mundane heroine with gadgets as opposed to super speed and things like that. Just wanted to make that clear, as I know super-powered heroes themselves are sort of their own interest for some, and I don't want to seem like I'm misleading!

In this story, I wanted to explore the theme of a super hero versus an omnipotent foe, among other things. I'm not sure I did that properly though. It's hard to explain, but this turned out a bit different/weirder than I expected/planned.

Oh well! I hope it's enjoyed anyways.)

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Chapter 1: Monitors

Laura Yeal reclined back in chair. In front of her were over a dozen monitors, each showing different yet similar scenes of scattered white dots across a black background. Each visual was labeled with a bar at the bottom featuring names such as “New York City”, “Chicago”, and “Seattle”. Each name was next to a date and time, unchanging but different from one another.

A whirring sound rang out in the cave-like chamber. Laura didn’t bother turning around as she knew who it was by the click-clack of short-heeled shoes against the smooth metal flooring she had installed.

“Mistress Laura”, spoke the older woman. “Must you really obsess over this so early in the morning?”

“Margret”, said Laura. “This is important.”

“Not so important you can’t have breakfast while you work.”

Margret lifted the lid off the tray in her hand. The smell of crisp toast and fresh fruit reached Laura’s nose moments after. Laura turned around to take in the older woman’s stoic smile. She couldn’t help but smile back, softly, at the least.

Laura took in the usual sight of her live-in maid. Margret was clad in the typical, traditional uniform of black and white clothes complete with an apron. Her short silver hair was curled. Circular spectacles adorned her face, resting on the nose with lenses a bit too big but ones she oft insisted were ‘perfectly fine, Mistress Laura’.

Margret set the tray on a free portion of the wide metal desk. Laura took a piece of toast in hand.

“You know, you don’t need to wear that outfit you know. It must be a hassle to put on so early in the morning.”

Margret had a curt chuckle.

“As though you are one to talk, Mistress Laura.”

Margret had a point. A cat-eared mask, attached to the neckline like a demi-hood, was draped backwards past Laura’s head. Though her short brown hair was free to breath, and her blue-eyed face was bared, the rest of her body was fully clad in costume.

Browns spots bespeckled the form-fitting costume. It was a sleek getup covering every inch below the neck. Though attention was paid to the obvious theme, that came second to making sure the suit had the needed mobility and gadgetry to function out in the ‘wild’ so to speak. Nonetheless, even with some diversions of black and gray, the brown spotted pattern over mostly yellow material made it clear to any who she was.

Yes, the city of Kramston’s famous protector, the Leopard, was none other than billionaire CEO of Yeal enterprises. There weren’t many citizens in the city who didn’t find hope in the costumed heroine, nor were there many criminals who didn’t feel fear at the sight of the Leopard in the night.

“Margret, you know I like to wear it when I work.”

“Yeal industries has need of you I’m sure.”

Laura swallowed a bite of the toast she held in a black-gloved hand.

“It’s a slow month for business, they’ll be fine. Besides, you know the kind of work I mean.”

“I just worry is all, Laura.”

“Yes but you always have, ever since I began on this path.”

In her youth, Laura’s parents were killed when hit by a speeding car. The vehicle was the getaway van for a group of bank robbers. Laura herself was inches away from being crushed.

Since then, she had dedicated herself to the ideals of justice. Training in martial arts and more as part of a comprehensive education, she dropped out of university after just one year under the guise of running the company she inherited. In reality, she did much more.

Taking on the theme of the famous jungle predator of the night, she became the Leopard. The heroine started off fighting robbers, muggers, and other would-be assailants to help keep the crime-ridden streets of Kramston as safe as possible. The world is far more complex than petty thugs though. It wasn’t long till she was butting heads with plant men, clay women, and, surprisingly, deadly clowns.

But, Laura Yeal always came out on top. Not because ‘good always wins’ as many might believe, but because the Leopard is prepared. She knows the best way to win a fight is to know what to expect. The best way to stop a threat is before its evil plans come to fruition.

That’s why Laura was so confused of late.

“This is different, Mistress Laura. It’s been days of this same routine.”, said the maid.

“Margret, how long have I been doing this? How long have I been the Leopard.”

“Laura...”

“Five years now, coming close to six. I’ve fought crime bosses and mole men. I’ve fought enemies that can change size and shape. Werewolves and mutants I’ve dealt with. A foe that’s extra-terrestrial? Once or twice, but extra-dimensional... That’s something new. I’ve never faced a foe like that.”

Margret tilted her head the slightest amount.

“Extra-dimensional?”

“Yes. What other explanation could there be? I mean, the tachyons indicate--ah”

Laura chuckled, sliding the chair away from the desk a tad.

“Sorry, I guess I never fully briefed you on all this.”

Laura pointed to the monitor which said “New York City” at the bottom of its displayed image. White dots were scattered all about the monitor’s image.

“See that?”, asked Laura.

“Yes.”, replied Margret.

“Those are tachyons. Or, tachyonic particles rather. A tachyon was the originally theoretical particle which traveled faster than light.”

“I’m no physicist Mistress Laura, but I’ve heard such a thing is impossible.”

“Neither am I, but I have a passing interest, and Yeal Enterprises hires some of the best in the field as consultants. You’re right in that until recently it was thought impossible. Such particles were discovered in earlier experiments, but that they are scattered like this is a new observation.”

“And why is that? Are these particles altering time?”

“Not exactly. See, when someone goes faster than light, the implication is that it can mess with time. However, another theory emerged a couple years back, and it led me to the initiative to start monitoring tachyons in the first place. Friction is one of the fundamental laws of most physical phenomenon. When a runner sprints long enough in improper clothing, their clothes rub against their skin, producing heat via friction.”

“Which causes chaffing.”, interjected Margret. “Kind of like your old costume?”

“Oh please,”, began Laura again. “That was the first design kink I worked out. But, yes. However, there was a theory that if the flow of time was ever disturbed, there could be a friction, and the friction could produce tachyons instead of heat. I believe that is what we’re seeing here.”

“So you think some extra-dimensional villain is messing with time?”

“Yes, exactly.”

“But, why?”

“To cover something else up.”

“Something else?”

“Yes.”

Laura pointed to a monitor with the displayed label of “San Jose”, it was one of the ones where the dots were scattered.

“You know I was at that city just 6 days ago, a day after the tachyons appeared on the monitor here. Under the guise of Yeal Enterprise business matters,] I talked to people from all walks of life there: from the homeless, to top tech CEOs, and even government officials. Not a single one of the people I talked to remembered anything happening a day prior. I checked the obituaries for that day and there were no deaths out of the ordinary.”

“So, nothing happened?”, asked Margret.

“No, no one remembered anything happening. That’s why I think time is modified. Whatever this villain is doing, they make it seem like nothing was done up to and including wiping the memories of everyone involved. Not just the people in the city, but across the entire planet most likely, since anything of interest would be captured by smart phones and streamed live. All of that is being erased, alongside the very memories in our minds.”

“Mistress Laura that is... an extraordinary theory.”

“I’m open to other suggestions.”, said the super heroine.

“I admittedly have none, but it seems so outlandish. What could they possibly be covering up?”

“I don’t know. It could be that they are planting bombs across all the world’s major cities: maybe they plan to detonate them all at once. Maybe they are planting beacons so their people can find our world with more ease when the time comes. Perhaps they an eldritch being up to some inscrutable plot. There are a bunch of hypotheses, each one about as ridiculous as the next. But I know one thing for certain: whatever they are doing, it has to be big. Why else go to such efforts to cover it up?”

“But they aren’t covering it up that well are they? They are leaving these tachyons scattered everywhere. If they can wipe memories surely they can clean up all these stray... particles right?”

“Perhaps they can’t. Or, more likely, perhaps they don’t see the need.”, said Laura, still focused on the monitors as she spoke.

“Perhaps they want to be found, Mistress Laura.”

“Perhaps, but, no, I think it’s more likely they underestimate us. Us humans. They don’t think we could detect this. For the most part they are right. Yeal enterprises advanced city security systems are the only thing on the market right now with built in tachyon detection. Of course, I don’t tell the clients that, but since it’s included free of charge I can’t see how they’d mind.”

“So you think they are careless?”

“Yes, careless, overconfident. Point is this is the only lead I got to solve this, and I have to. Notice anything about these monitors?”

“They... all list cities in the US.”

“Exactly. Though I’ve tried to sell my security products oversees, national security interests there spoil any hope of a sale. That means, for all I know, this villain could have already done whatever it is they do to cities from Stockholm to Cape Town, and from Beijing to Bangkok. I have no way of knowing, and the tachyon detection technology is so cutting edge and so niche I doubt they know either. No, I think I’m the only one monitoring this.”

“So, I still don’t get what you intend to gain watching all this.”, said Margret.

“Habit.”, said Laura.

“Habit?”

“One day, I will wake up, turn on the monitor here, and see that the one for Kramston is lit up. That’s when I know that whatever is happening to these cities, has happened here.”

“You’re waiting till Kramston is the prey for the next ‘hunt’ of this villain then?”

“No, this isn’t hunter and prey. Not quite. It’s more like I am setting a trap.”

“How so?”

Laura smiled. She rose from the chair. Her black boots stamped against the metal tiles as she moved towards a terminal. The machine came equipped with a screen, presently off, as well as a keyboard at standing height level.

She pointed to it.

“The tachyon manipulator device. That isn’t it. The actual machine is too big and expensive to be housed anywhere other than the R&D basement of Yeal Enterprises HQ. However, this terminal connects to it and sends it directives. Some tachyons are interactable: not much, but enough to nudge them into one of two distinct states. Call those states “1” and “0” and you have binary. If you have binary, you can have Unicode, and thus a way to make words and sentences with particles that elude time manipulation.”

“So you instead to describe the event as it goes on, so you can read the notes on it later?”, said Margret.

Laura smiled.

“Exactly”.

“And these sentences and words will persist through whatever time manipulation is going on?”, said Margret.

“I think so. Like I said, this enigmatic foe doesn’t seem to care about the tachyons that they make in their wake. I’ve considered that their manipulations may shift the messages I intend to leave, albeit unintentionally, but that’s why the manipulator has redundancy. If I were to type ‘hello’ the message would be reprinted at least one hundred times within the time-space of Kramston’s geographic area. At least one of the copies would be preserved.”, said Laura.

“So, that’s it then. You’re just going to keep waiting in your cave?”, said Margret. One silver eyebrow of hers was cocked.

“Yes.”

“How will you know that it’s happening? The event you are waiting for? What if it’s subtle.”

“Like I said, I doubt it. I’ll know. I think we will all know. The only problem is deducing what it was after the fact.”

“What if it hits, say, San Francisco first before here? That monitor is empty too you know.”

“Then they will just have to make due Margret. The tachyon manipulator is inordinately expensive. Even *I* could only make the one, and it’s here in Kramston. Besides, this is my home city, if I can only be there for one attack, I’d rather it be the one here.”

Laura moved over to the tray of food, intending to take a sip of the orange juice Margret was so kind to bring. It’s there she saw the liquid stir. At the same time, a subtle booming noise rang out, coming from afar. She could feel the vibration beneath her boot soles.

One of the cave’s other monitors flashed something about an Earthquake warning.

“This is it.”, said Laura. She quickly slipped her mask back on.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, when was the last time there was an earthquake in the Northeastern United States, Margret? Something’s going on. I need you to keep that communicator in your ear. You need to work that terminal I just mentioned. Rely everything I say with it. Every utterance I make, even if it’s just a scream. Every sound you hear. This is the only shot I have to gather information on what’s going on.”

The Leopard ran to a spotted sports car and hopped in. The engine roared to life. Margret moved to the terminal, speaking aloud and having her voice reach Laura via the communications device in her ear.

“You’re taking the Leopard mobile?”

“It’s the fastest way out of the cave. I attend to watch this event myself.”

“But, you could die?”

“If I do, it won’t be for long.”

The car sped off through a tunnel, heading outside the cave beneath Yeal manor. All the while, the booms grew louder and louder. The vehicles built in city-status monitors were blaring about seismic anomalies, but Laura paid it no mind. She had to see what was going on for herself.

The car cleared the exit tunnel and stopped on a hidden road. She stepped out of the car, knowing she wouldn’t have a better view of the city than she did now from the midpoint of the hill her manor was set on.

She at once understood the booms. What she saw made even her normally stoic costumed-self drop her jaw.

Far past the edge of the city, stretching farther than she could see, was a loafer-clad foot.