The sun rises, the birds chirp, and all is well in Liberty City. But for one lass, today could be better. Why? Well today is the day of Ginny S. Napp's birth. A glorious day indeed for the heiress to the multi-billion dollar Napp Corp. For her doting father, today is a special day as well. His darling daughter's day of birth is the same day he mourns the loss of his beloved wife, taken in childbirth as she struggled to bring life to the pair's only child.
On today, each year, he feels the ache her loss left in his heart grow stronger and stronger as his daughter begins to resemble her more and more. So while Terry R. Napp usually dotes to excess on his teenage daughter, today he retreats to his study for a well deserved glass, or two, of his strongest brandy. But his lavish love for Ginny does not halt for even an instant, so today he arranged for a special treat for her.
A trip to his personal satellite! High above the world below Ginny will have the chance to explore the staggering wealth of her family in zero gravity. Yet the younger Napp is hardly as thrilled, cut off from her friends and fawning hang-abouts she feels slightly miffed at being alone on her sweet sixteen. So as her private space shuttle warms up she flips through the safety instructions with an attitude several degrees south of diligent. Indeed, dear reader, her flippant attitude could only be considered negligent.
So negligent that as she types in the code for her shuttle's launch sequence she misplaces a key -or several. But today of all days, fortune smiles upon Ginny. For her fumbling fingers have accidentally entered the code to the highly secret research satelite! Situated high above earth, masquerading as an ordinary viewing pod used to woo smiling tourists and investors alike, this secret facility is where the Napp Corp conducts it's most sensetive research!
As her shuttle launches, Ginny only turns up the volume on her ipod, missing the flashing label informing her that the shuttle's departure will appear in the computer system as a routine visit to the very same viewing platform Ginny was supposed to head for today! For the scientists on the ground, Ginny's birthday is a startling reminder of the staggering wealth of the man they work for, and his staggering commitment to family. But they to neglect to spot the error, for to maintain security through secrecy the facility remains unknown to all but the most important members of the corporation. Even the ground crew, responsible for launching Ms. Napp into space, remains unaware that her trajectory has suddenly and irrevocably changed.
Upon the conclusion of her journey, Ginny begins her preparatations for a long day spent tumbling about the blue ball below. Having lived in the lap of luxury for such a long time, Ginny hardly takes note of the sparkling visage that captivates poets, dreamers, and astronaunts. If she had, she may have noticed her shuttle maneuvering past the ususal docking points into a different orbit that takes it ever closer to the secret facility. She might have realized the time of this journey differed significantly from her usual trips. Indeed, her negligent attitude is shocking considering the danger space travel places her in, but understandable in light of her dissapointing birthday.
So even as her ship docks with the secret facility, simultaneously scrubbing all logs of it's presence and reporting successful docking with the normal viewing facility, Ginny fails to notice! Slipping from her harness she stretches in zero gravity, doing a twirl in the weightless environment.
"Finally!" Her petulant tone has no one to offend this deep in space but even she looks about furtively as if recognizing her own faux pas. But still, she drifts over to the hatch leading to the entrace of her birthday satelite. Far away, in another corner of space, a forgotten birthday cake and hall full of presents remains neglected. It will be found several weeks hence, coincidentally for another birthday. This one fulfilling the dying wish of a cancer patient whose uplifted spirits will reap the full benefits of the Ginny's abandoned party. Here and now, however, the facility itself stretches out in front of Ginny, and at the center the prize of Napp Corp's engineering division. In a glass cage surrounded by faintly visible lasers sits a suit, not just any suit, but the most advanced prototype of the S.A.P.S. emergency response protocol, federal division.
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Yes, this suit is intended to become the new secret weapon of good fighting evil! With this technological marvel the advantage of those with powers will be negated entirely, equipping the police with a weapon -and armour- capable of going toe to toe with the worst villains! None of this goes through Ginny's mind. After all, for the sixteen year old, this suit is a hardly adequate birthday gift from her absent father.
With the petulant tremor returning to her voice, she intones to the empty facility, "Oh come on dad, did you really think a space suit would be a good sweet sixteen?"
Shaking her head and wandering over to the console she places her hand on the scanner, something she recognizes from her family's garage and security system. A system that the engineers who installed did not bother disconnecting from the rest of the family's security network. After all, the only Napp who would ever come up to this section of space would be the elder father -or so they thought! So Ginny's handprint serves to unlock the laser grid and free the metalic-mesh from it's laser bound cage. Hopping up onto the platform, Ginny reaches out to the as of yet untouched suit. Her fingers brush along the edges of the metallic fabric and in an instant it starts to shift and roil.
Unbeknownst to Ginny, she has just activated the final security protocol of this suit! Aware that not every defender of justice returns alive and not every mission goes as planned the designers embedded a final security measure in the suits. They bond, on first contact, with one individual who is the only person capable of activating the suit from that point onwards! Ginny's outstreched hand has just activated this as-of-yet latent feature and as a result the metal shifts and boils as it conforms to her DNA signature.
Stepping back Ginny recoils from the living metal. It moves, suddenly alive, reaching out for it's new master. But Ginny has other plans, suddenly afraid her birthday gift has malfunctioned she stumbles back and shoves herself into the low gravity environment, careening through the facility. The suit takes a few moments to shift some of the metal into the form of twin jets and then blasts off propelling itself towards Ginny! The cat and mouse chase continues for a few minutes, Ginny grabbing and throwing anything she can at the metalic sheet pursuing her and the sheet simply absorbing or deflecting the metal. The ponderous bulk of the sheet smashes into some of the consoles, having overdone it's thrust, just as Ginny rolls back accross another set.
Lights begin to blink and flash then suddenly silence as the duo's frentic tear through the satelite continues. Finally, Ginny's enhaustion betrays her. Even in the low gravity of the satelite she still suffers the backlash of the her exertions and alone in a corner of the satelite she starts to beg with the metallic monstrosity stalking her.
"Please... Please no I'm... I'm just a kid! I'm just a kid!" Her ragged tone and heaving body do little to inspire pity in the machine. Slowly, inexorably, it slides up her skin as she screams. "No, God, no! No! Please no! I'm only sixteen! Really not even for a few more hours!" But as the metal starts to slide accross her face, Ginny confronts the her own mortality and thinks of her father below on Earth pining for his deceased wife below. "Pl... please dad I... I... I dad! Dad! Da..daahadauauudggg." Her screams turn to muffled moans as the skin of the suit creeps up the side of her mouth and begins to net itself accross her face. Finally done enmeshing her completely, the suit begins calibrating itself to the terrified teenager inside.
A few moments, or are they centuries? pass for Ginny who wrapped in the metal cannot even manage tears. Then a calm voice sounds in her ear "calibration complete. Pilot identified as Ginny S. Napp. Ms. Napp, we will now go through the basics of operations for your new super suit. Please pay attention carefully, although you can call up this information at any time, proper piloting of the suit requires full understanding of your new capabilities."
Ginny's petulant tone is completely gone, but her shaken voice carries a hint of resurgent arrogance. With a flip of her hair, the only exposed bit of her shapely anatomy, Ginny replies to the voice. "Hmph! You could have warned me you weren't some kind of cruel, deadly, machine."
"Apologies Ms. Napp, this model is just a prototype. Some bugs remain. Were you not informed as to how the calibration process would occur?"
Puffing her bottom lip out, Ginny replies with her petulant tone now fully resurgent, "NO, dearest, darlingest, daddy just told me to expect a surprise."
"Ms. Napp, do you mean to indicate you have not read any of the manuals?"
"I suppose I do mean to indicate just that! Well I'd like to know what you are and what you can do. Let's get the rundown!"
Now we take our leave, dear reader, for such an explanation seems destined to continue into long hours. This and besides, a lady trying on her clothing should be alone! Join us next week as we rejoin Ginny high above Earth in... "Orbit... and Reentry!"