Mercy Graves

Mercy Graves, Lex Luthor's personal assistant and bodyguard, stalked into the room followed by her own protective detail, "Status report Dr. Wells." The beleaguered looking doctor gave her an almost manic smile, "We have made great strides Ms. Graves, I think Mr. Luthor will be quite pleased." He handed her a clipboard, doing his best to keep his stare professional rather than lecherous: he hadn't seen a woman in weeks, let alone one as attractive as Mercy Graves.

Mercy paid him no mind, scanning the clipboard disinterestedly, she was used to working with scum. If he got too unprofessional she'd use the shock implants dark-site employees had installed for this very purpose. That is, to ensure they did what Luthor wanted, which usually meant keeping Mercy unmolested. Usually.

Suddenly an explosion rocked the facility. A blaring alarm sounded, flashing red lights filled the room, and Lexcorp scientists ran for cover. That particular alarm was reserved for one occasion: The Justice League was here and all evidence had to be destroyed. Dr. Wells stared open mouthed at the lights, "W-wait... we have years of data here! Almost a decade of work! We can't destroy it!" Mercy pursed her lips, already turning for the exit, "That is a shame but we have backups of all the data off site, it's more important the League finds nothing to implicate Mr. Luthor."

"There're irreplaceable samples here! We can't-" Looking around desperately, Well's eyes fell upon the stasis chamber and a plan began to form...

Mercy Graves walked speedily to the limousine waiting in the subterranean garage, her detail moving ahead and behind her with weapons drawn. The building shook once more, though the slow rumble was more indicative of a superhuman blowing through multiple walls than an outright explosion. She rolled her eyes, shielding them from a wave of dust shaken from the ceiling. She was completely loyal to Luthor but the fact that she could distinguish between an explosion and a superhuman by the vibrations they caused was somewhat telling. Maybe she'd request to stop doing these checks in person. Not that Lex would ever agree, she was the only person he trusted. It was the first thought all day to bring a smile to her face.Sliding into the back seat she waited patiently for the car to race free of the impending destruction behind her. She counted the seconds to herself: self destruct in... 3. 2. 1. BOOOOOOOOOOM. The car windows rattled but didn't crack, unlike the headlights. The car was suddenly plunged into darkness and the driver swore as he began to slow, "Keep going, It's a straight shot to the exit. I don't care if you bounce off the walls just get us out of here before the tunnel collapses." The sudden darkness shook her more than her calm voice let on: they had about 2 minutes to get out before the tunnel self destructed.

She was dissapointed in her driver, despite the straightaway he bounced off the walls like a pinball till a tiny prick of light became visible ahead of them. They screeched out of an abandoned tunnel outside the city limits, pulling off the old road into a scrubby bit of grass, "Why are you sto-" The driver spun, pulling a gun and firing off two shots before her security could react.

Mercy raised her hands slowly, grinding her teeth in irritation. Dr. Wells grinned back at her from the drivers seat, "Wheew, can't tell you how glad I am that worked. I'm an awful shot. Thought you were out scott free didn't you Ms. Graves?! Not yet! Noooot yet!" Mercy narrowed her eyes at the obviously deranged man, "What exactly are you trying to accomplish Dr. Wells? The exfil helicopter will be here any moment, potentially with a metahuman detail to ensure my safety. Do yourself a favor and drop the gun." Dr. Wells wasn't listening, he seemed to be struggling to hold something in one hand while keeping his eyes and the gun trained on her.

"You see Ms. Graves, when I said there were irreplaceable samples in the lab, I meant there was an irreplaceable sample in the lab. So I need a safe way to transport said sample and, thanks to you, I have a perfect container right in front of me." He heaved a metal cylinder up to the window, dropping the gun to flick a metal switch on the side. Mercy took the opportunity and drew the gun from the dead bodyguard beside her. In the split second she took to raise the gun to line up a shot, she saw the cylinder had opened and something slimy and blue writhed inside it. BANG. "AGH!" The shot hadn't been perfect, the angle was too awkward, but a splatter of red covered the window and Dr. Wells fell back into the drivers cabin clutching his shoulder.

The driver window rolled up laughably slowly and Mercy scoffed at the madman's ineptitude. Once the extraction team arrived it would- Something slimy touched her leg. She kicked instinctively and the thing, whatever it was, only grabbed hold. In the dimly lit backseat she could see a slimy, bluish, starfish wrapped around her stocking-clad leg. Its red eye blinked at her. The Starro Specimen. She let out an embarrassingly effeminate shriek as she flailed her leg, trying to dislodge the alien thing, before getting a hold of herself and lining up a shot with her gun. BANG.

She frowned. She had... missed? BANG. She missed again. Overcoming any primal fear she still had of the alien, she leaned forward, pressing the gun directly to the squirming blob. Her arm twitched, BANG, shooting the bullet harmlessly into the carpet. The Starro seemed to blink almost smugly at her, continuing to wrap its tendrils around her calf. It had torn the fabric of her stocking, its slimy skin allowing it to writhe under the fabric. Every neuron in her brain screamed for Mercy to shoot, pulverize, or at least pry the damn thing off but the longer she tried to do all those things the harder it got: she tried to shoot again and her fingers went limp and the gun slipped out of her hands, she clawed at the blue mass slithering into her stocking but her hands were too weak to even tear the material.

Suddenly she lost all control of everything below her waist and keeled over, her face landing on her deceased bodyguards lap, "No... NO! HELP! HEELP!" She screamed as loud as she could, met only with silence from the soundproofed cabin. The slithering thing was now crawling up her thigh, its trailing mucus cold on her leg. "He... lp..." Her voice died and suddenly she couldn't move at all. She blinked but she didn't mean to. Her arm shakily rose to the seat even though she didn't tell it to. Her face twitched, a faint smile gracing its features even though she wanted to scream and scream and scream.

The car door suddenly opened, a large man in tactical gear reached in to grab her arm, "are you alright ma'am? Your driver said your bodyguards attacked you?" Mercy blinked again, the faint smile fading after a long pause. She saw Dr Wells kneeling on the ground outside, held down by two other men. He was smiling.