Chapter 6: When you design clothes for a living

When you design clothes for a living, a lot of time is spent discussing every aspect of an outfit. Paul visits his friend Soman while Kris and Q go to the Institute.

Paul walked into a small two-story shop on the port side of downtown. The large window displayed a flowing lily-themed dress and matching suit. The inside of the shop was nowhere near as beautiful as the two displays. It was full of materials on shelves and drawings pinned to the walls and patterns pinned on tables.

Paul knew that two sewing machines were hidden in the backroom, and the one in the main room was for show, or better yet, to put on a show. Customers would come in, demand custom made clothing, then want to watch Soman or Bree work, at least for a little while. Paul was sometimes one of those customers, but mainly he was their friend. He knew Soman from his college days.

Paul didn’t feel nervous as he searched the room for his friends. If anything, he was thrilled, excited enough that his hands trembled, and his heart raced. He was eager to talk to them and share everything. “Soman?” Paul called, waiting by the main designing desk.

The desk had large paper pad for quick sketches and more detailed drawings. Soman appeared out of the backroom with Bree following slowly behind him. Soman greeted Paul warmly, “Paul, what the hell were you talking about?”

Soman hugged Paul. Paul returned the hug while answering excitedly, “My world has changed so suddenly, and because of it, I have a favor to ask you.”

“What? What happened?” Bree asked when it was her turn to hug Paul.

Her protruding pregnant belly made it hard to wrap her tiny arms around Paul, but she managed. Paul looked around. “You guys might want to sit down. It’s a long story,” Paul started.

Bree sat behind the designing desk, while Soman sat beside the sewing machine. “Alright, so it all started on Orange Day, after the earthquake had happened…”

He went on to describe his powers, going so far to summon one of his vines. Soman and Bree took it well, Paul thought. Paul continued, mentioning Kris and Q and Alicia; he ended his story on the Saturday practice. “That practice went well, so I thought,” Paul concluded. “We could take it to the next level.”

“And that is costumes?” Soman asked, sounding slightly confused.

“If we are a team of superheroes, wouldn’t we need costumes to hide our identities and create alter egos?”

“Sure,” Soman said, shrugging.

Bree leaned forward in her chair, clutching baby bump. “And you want us to make them?”

“I don’t know who else I would ask,” Paul answered. “You two are my best friends. If I can’t ask you to do this, then who could I?”

Paul waited tensely, only somewhat confident that they’ll assist him. Soman eventually nodded. Bree met his gaze, a smile forming on her face. “We’re in,” Soman said.

“Yes! Thank you,” Paul said, hugging Soman again.

            “Yeah, yeah,” Soman responded, smiling. “I’ll think of this as a challenge, one I can’t wait to overcome.”

            Bree grabbed a pencil. “Let’s start with designs,” Bree said, pulling the sketch pad closer. “Now, there are five of you, so we should have a certain continuity between the costumes.”

Soman moved to Bree’s shoulder, looking down at the blank piece of paper. “Yeah, we can do that with materials,” Soman commented. “Which should by durable, able to withstand their powers and others’ powers.”

“A polymer?”

“I was thinking steel, but that would be too dense.”

“Especially if it covers the whole body.”

“Well, this material would only need to cover the vital organs,” Soman said with a gesture to his entire torso. “And maybe the joints, knees and elbows.”

“Kevlar?” Bree offered.

“Something better,” Soman said, thinking hard. “I remember playing with a spectacular chemical in college.”

“I remember that you wanted to be a chemist,” Paul mentioned.

“Yeah, look how that turned out,” Soman replied. “Anyway, it was a fluorocarbon. When it was a liquid, it was super flexible, easy to mold. But as a solid, it was practically unbreakable. It can withstand high heats, radiation, acids…”

“That sounds perfect,” Paul said. “What is it called?”

Soman shrugged. “I’ll check with my old professor. I can also see where he got it from.”

Bree nodded. “What color was it?”

“Transparent.”

“Great, then we can use it as a lining,” Bree said. “What color schemes would you like, and other materials?”

“I think it should be tailored to the people’s powers,” Paul answered, putting his hands together. “For example, Kris has venom in her nails, so…”

“She should have fingerless gloves,” Soman finished.

“Yes, and her color scheme can be like a coral snake. Red, white, black in stripes.”

Bree nodded, sketching a jumpsuit-esque costume with a trapezoid on the upper chest. Reaching into her desk, Bree pulled out a large packet filled with colored pencils. She colored in accent points and denoted armored areas. Soman nodded appreciatively, while Paul thought about how Kris would look like dressed as a snake. Her face would stick out against the black as he realized something else.

“We might need masks, so people don’t recognize us,” Paul said. “I’d hate for somebody to look at Kris while she saves them and say, ‘Hey, you’re the chick I got my coffee from this morning.’”

Bree put an oval where the person’s face should be above the body shape. “We can talk about masks in a minute,” Bree said, as she tore the design off the notepad and set it aside. “Let’s move to the next person.”

Paul began to describe his ideas for his own outfit, making it clear that he wanted his tattoos exposed. Bree drew a sleeveless costume accordingly. Getting her attention with a hand, he mentioned, “I also have big plans for my back, so I want you to include something in the costume.”

He told them his plan to which they reacted well; he thought maybe they were being generous.

“Okay,” Bree said before adding a note on the side of the design.

Paul added that he would like green integrated into his outfit and Bree nodded in acknowledgement. Watching her finish the design and put in on top of Kris’s, he promptly began describing another person’s costume. Theo’s should include blue like his power. Soman and Paul briefly argued about what shade of blue Paul thought it was before deciding that a quintessential blue would suffice.

The second to last costume was Alicia’s. Paul had already had some ideas in mind about costume-specific things related to her power, but he wanted to hear the others’ opinions as well. Bree thought carefully before speaking, “How about a utility belt, filled with little objects she can use?”

Her husband swiftly bobbed his head as he came up with things to put in the utility belt. “A cable, or a net, to capture people, a rubber ball as a weapon- not something lethal; I don’t know; we can brainstorm with her, once we finish the basics.”

Paul smiled and expressed his agreement, while Bree drew a costume design with a chunky belt bedecked in pouches. She added hints of orange before tearing out the page. “And the last one is?” Bree trailed off.

“Q, who is going to be the problem,” Paul said, shoulders slumping. “Q has the ability to transform, but when she transforms her clothing changes as well. Not only that, but her power isn’t combative. If we were to fight a criminal, she would be useless in a fight. She’d even be put in danger.”

“Maybe she should take a self-defense course,” Soman replied. “You all should probably take a self-defense course, now that I’m thinking about it…”

“Right, well, I’m putting aside her design, until we talk to her then,” Bree said.

Paul nodded, satisfied with what they had accomplished thus far. However, he knew that the process was far from over, and the next step after designing was measuring. “When do you want me to bring them in for measurements?”

Bree looked at Soman, who eyes were staring up at the ceiling, calculating something. “Um, give us a week, and we might have the basis of the outfits done.”

“Okay,” Paul said. “Do you need anything else from me?”

“Money would be nice,” Soman joked. “Five outfits made of fancy plastics won’t be cheap on us.”

“No, it’s cool, I’ll pay for whatever you need.”

Soman nodded. “Thanks, we’ll get on this; you guys would need this as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, I have a feeling we’re going to need it real soon.”

Paul looked out the window of the boutique ominously. Bree glanced between the two men, questioning their logic. “I haven’t heard of any supernatural crimes.” Bree mentioned.

“If a guy teleported in front of you and stole your purse and then teleported away, would you report that to the police?”

Bree smirked bemused. “You have a point.”

“I think that most supernatural crimes are not getting reported, so,” Paul resumed his dramatic pose. “It will be up to us to stop them.”

+++++

            “You gonna tell me what you did Saturday?”

            Tomas’s needling smile convinced Theo to answer him as they sat together at the front desk. “I was participating in an experiment for the Kattegat Institute.”

            Tomas sat back in his rolling chair. “Oh, that’s interesting,” Tomas said, not entirely disappointed. “What was it about?”

             Theo spun his chair, so he was facing Tomas. His eyebrow’s furrowed as he clasped his hands together and thought of what he was going to say. “It was a social experiment, testing… self-control,” Theo said.

            “Really, how did it work? How did you do?”

            “I think I did well,” Theo replied with a nod. “I didn’t get upset… See what they would do is… provoke you, either by saying things or just being obnoxious to make you upset. I’m pretty sure they timed it or something.”

            “Huh, that’s cool,” Tomas said. “But you skipped out on hanging with me.”

            Theo patted Tomas on the shoulder. “Hey, we can hang out tonight after work, if you want,” Theo offered. “You can invite the ladies from radiology that you were mentioned the other day.”

            “Coda and Jensen,” Tomas supplied. “Yeah no, that’d be great man, only if you’re okay with it.”

            “Yeah, I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?”

            Tomas shrugged. “I don’t know. Sometimes, you don’t want to spend time with others.”

            Theo nodded. “Yeah, I like being alone,” Theo said. “Sometimes.”

            “I get that,” Tomas replied. “Some nights, I just want to go home and unwind with some mindless TV show and a beer.”

            Dr. Wilson walked into the nurse center. “Lightner, I need your assistance with a patient,” Wilson commented. “We need to get a blood sample from a large adolescent. His father suggested that we have somebody hold him down.”

            Theo stood up. “Sure, Dr. Wilson,” Theo said, following Wilson. “I’ll see later, Tomas.”

            “Yeah heh, you’re spending a night on the town with me, buddy,” Tomas called to him with a laugh.

            Theo smiled, lightly shaking his head as Dr. Wilson gave him a bemused look.

+++++

            “Hello, welcome to the Kattegat Institute,” Alicia said, trying to sound professional while sitting behind the front desk. “I will sign you two in, and then I can take you to see Dr. Pagel.”

            Kris and Q smiled, Kris nodding at Alicia. “Sure, go ahead,” Kris responded. “Do what you need to.”

            Alicia typed commands on the keyboard and the printer beside the computer responded, printing out two labels. “Kristen and Hazel,” Alicia said. “Here are your passes that will allow you temporary access to the radiology lab.”

Alicia grabbed the two thin plastic cards and handed them to the women. Alicia walked out from behind the front desk. “Now, if you’ll follow me.”

“What about the front desk?” Hazel asked, pocketing her card.

Alicia waved her hand. “We usually don’t have someone there anyway,” Alicia said casually. “To be honest, if I didn’t sit up there, we wouldn’t have any sort of customer service at all. It just isn’t one of the Institute’s priorities.”

            Alicia led them to Pagel’s lab. Pagel was sitting on a stool beside a counter, hunching over a microscope. “Alicia?” Pagel asked, not looking to see who was walking in. “Looking at a drop of your blood under the microscope, nothing seems out of place.”

            “That’s great, sir,” Alicia replied, approaching him. “But we can discuss that at a later time.”

            Pagel spun in his chair to see the three women. “Pagel, I would like to introduce you to Kris,” Alicia said, gesturing to Kris, “And Q, who is going to go by Hazel.”

“Why Hazel?” Pagel asked immediately.

Q stepped up, holding out her hand for him to shake. “I’m a shape shifter,” She explained. “This isn’t my original form, in fact, I don’t even remember what my original form looks like…” Hazel was quiet for a second before continuing, “So, I go by someone else, who happens to be a famous celebrity, but Hazel is what I call her.”

Pagel’s eyebrows rose as he shook her hand. “Ah,” Pagel intoned before glancing at Kris. “So, what’s your sob story?”

Kris nodded with her lips pursed. “Well, I can fly,” Kris started. “But I also have a deadly venom in my nails that can kill a person if I sink my nails in ‘em. Kind of… makes me hesitant to touch people.”

Pagel’s hand curled up and recoiled to his chest in apprehension. “Oh, okay,” Pagel responded. “I’ll decline on shaking your hand then.”

Kris smiled tightly. “Yeah, that’d be smart.”

Alicia crossed her arms, leaning against the counter beside Pagel. “So, is that what you wanted to tell us?” She asked.

“Yeah, basically. Paul suggested that I turn to you and the Institute for scientific help.”

Pagel looked confused. “What do you expect us to help you with?”

Kris shrugged, running a hand through her hair. “I want to know the constraints of this venom I have,” Kris said. “Someone said that it was coral venom, so I want to know if that’s true.”

“Who told you that it was coral venom?” Pagel asked, visibly confused.

“The news,” Kris answered shortly. “I sunk my nails into some guy and the next day, he’s dead, coroner says its coral snake venom.”

The room was silent; it took a minute for the pair of scientists to process what Kris had said. “Can I say, ‘Holy s**t’?” Alicia commented wide-eyed.

Pagel nodded and muttered, “Holy s**t.”

            Pagel had a hand over his mouth, like he was thinking about it, before pointing to Kris. “So, you’ve killed a guy?”

            Kris looked at the ground and nodded. “Yes, which is why I need to learn how this works.” She said solemnly.

Pagel crossed his arms. “Alright, we’ll help you.”

 “Chem analysis?” Alicia suggested.

Pagel nodded as Alicia approached the counter he was working at. She opened a drawer and pulled out a plastic baggie. “What?” Kris said, watching the two work.

“We are going to take a sample,” Pagel explained. “Maybe a nail and see what the venom is made of. We can compare it to coral snake venom, see if that assessment was true.”

“Sure, take a nail. They grow like crazy,” Kris responded, moving to the counter.

Alicia took out a pair of scissors, while Kris pulled off a glove. Alicia carefully gripped Kris’s hand and snipped off a nail, placing it in the bag. “Now, we can put that in at the lab, but that will take some time,” Pagel commented. “Maybe a week.”

Kris nodded, looking a little defeated. Her downcast eyes meant nothing to Pagel as he reassuringly continued, “But we can do something now.”

Pagel and Alicia eyes met briefly. “We can do a CT scan, right now,” Alicia agreed. “It would allow us to see internal organs and their density.”

“You think something could be off with my internal organs?”

“Or added,” Pagel replied.

Pagel stood up. “I already requested the room with the CT machine in it.”

“Great, let’s go,” Kris responded eagerly. “Let’s do this.”

“What about me?” Hazel spoke up.

“You have a card, right?” Pagel asked unconcerned.

Hazel nodded, unsure what he was going to say next. “Then, go explore,” Pagel said dismissively. “You can go wherever you want with that card.”

Hazel looked at Kris, who had a smile forming on her face. Their silent conversation ended with Kris saying, “Dear, I’ll be okay without you. Go have fun. I’m not going anywhere.”

Hazel smiled and rushed over to hug Kris. “Good luck,” Hazel murmured.

Kris hugged her back briefly before Hazel let go, said good bye to the scientists, and left. Alicia watched the scene with a smirk on her face. “That’s cute,” Alicia commented.

Kris turned to the door, glancing at Pagel who seemed unbothered by the scene. “Shut up,” Kris said, red in the face. “Let’s go do some freakin’ science.”

+++++

            “It has been enough time,” Pagel declared, checking his watch. “The dye should have spread everywhere-ish by now.”

            “Ish?” Kris commented, pacing in the small room beside the large CT machine.

            Pagel was in a separate room; the two were connected by a window and an intercom. “Yes, ish,” Pagel replied. “This is not my job; I haven’t done this before, but hey, the guy in charge of the room didn’t ask questions, so neither did I.”

            “Don’t worry,” Alicia said, placing a hand on Kris’s arm. “I know what I’m doing, sort of.”

            Kris stared at Alicia with wide, exasperated eyes. “Sort of?” She echoed nervously.

            Alicia patted her arm. “Do you have any metal on?” Alicia said before frowning. “Wait, that’s not this machine… So, lie down on the table and be still.”

            Kris played with the hem of her shirt. “My clothing won’t affect it, or anything?”

            Alicia shrugged. “The machine uses x-rays.”

            “Won’t I need one of those lead... aprons?”

Alicia laughed, feeling bad afterwards, though Kris’s fears were misplaced. “Will you just relax? This will only take a few seconds,” Alicia responded, a smirk forming. “Do you want me to go get Q, so she can hold your hand?”

“No, I’m good,” Kris said, her face hardening as she sat down on the cold surface. “I’m not entirely dependent on a person I met less than a week ago… yet.”

She laid down without another word, glaring at the ceiling intensely. Alicia nodded as if this was a good indicator of preparedness. “Sir, turn it on,” Alicia said before leaving the room.

Kris flinched as the machine whirred to life, the donut-shaped tunnel moving closer. Kris closed her eyes and held still. When it passed by, she let out a breath, but the table quickly moved back in the reverse direction, passing through the donut again. It repeated the motion several times before it stopped.

Kris opened her eyes, looking left and right without moving her head. Deciding it was over, she sat up and looked at the window. She saw the back of several computers, but she couldn’t see Pagel. Alicia, on the other hand, was standing, with her arms crossed, at the back of the tiny room. “Well?” Kris called.

“It appears that you have two cavities filled with a low-density fluid anterior to your pectoralis major.” Pagel answered.

Kris’s eyebrows furrowed as she tried to figure out what he was saying. “So, my breasts?” Kris asked for clarification. “I have cavities under my breasts?”

Kris huffed; it seemed crazy. “Well, I hope that brings me up to a B cup,” Kris commented dryly.

Alicia laughed. “Let’s be serious,” Pagel said, managing to keep a serious tone. “We need to see what’s in the cavities.”

“What do you think they are?” Kris asked, sliding off the table.

Alicia left the small room and appeared at the door of the CT room. Pagel answered over the intercom, “My best guess is they are venom glands, a place that produces and stores the venom your body is creating.”

Pagel stood up. “But I think we need to go… under the knife,” Pagel added.

“What? Why?” Kris asked quickly.

“We need a sample from the cavity,” Pagel answered. “To confirm that they are venom glands… We could also see if it matches what comes out of your nails.”

“If so, we could create an antivenin,” Alicia explained.

            Kris nodded, eventually. “Sure. How is this going to work?”

Pagel walked into the room, Alicia moving aside for him. In his hand was a several of papers. “I think we could use a syringe to extract some liquid,” Pagel replied. “Like giving blood, but more painful.”

“Way to be reassuring,” Kris commented, crossing her arms and leaning on the table.

“Alicia, find me a syringe, antiseptic, and latex gloves,” Pagel instructed before facing Kris. “You, Miss…”

“James.”

“Miss James will need to lie back down on the table,” Pagel finished.

Kris laid back down on the table as Alicia left the room to find the requested objects. Pagel examined the images before showing them to Kris. The first was a full body, but the next two were isolated on her chest, one from the top and one from the side.

“Your glands should be… about… here,” Pagel said, pointing to his chest an inch or two above his left n****e.

Kris raised her eyebrows and nodded. “Great,” She responded sarcastically. “That means I have to take off my shirt and bra?”

Pagel grimaced as if aware of what she was thinking. “Yes, if you are uncomfortable with that,” Pagel said. “We can have Alicia do the procedure.”

Kris shook her head immediately. “No, I would rather it be you,” Kris said quickly. “It doesn’t feel as awkward to be topless in front of a guy, because, who cares? It’s a guy. Men don’t mean anything to me. No offense.”

“None taken,” Pagel said. “Men don’t get a reaction from you because you don’t care what they think.”

“Yeah,” Kris said, surprised that Pagel so readily understood what she meant.

Pagel smiled slightly. “Do you want to wait for Alicia?”

“Yes,” Kris answered. “I also want to wait for her leave.”

“What, does she make you nervous?”

Kris shrugged, but her brow was furrowed worriedly. Pagel laughed. “You know she’s bi, right?” He mentioned lightly.

Kris groaned. She covered her face with her arms. “That makes it worse,” She complained.

Pagel asked, “Why?”

“Because it makes thinking she’s attractive so much more awkward.” Kris explained.

Alicia walked in as Kris finished her sentence. “Who, Q?” She asked.

Kris chuckled. “Yes, Q,” Kris said, playing along. “The most gorgeous person in the world… And if not, she can transform into them.”

Alicia smiled, while walking over and setting the supplies beside her on the table. “You know, your coworker, Oliver, was suggesting that you slept with her, when he heard her on the phone this morning,” Alicia commented.

Kris gave a strained smile. “That isn’t a lie, technically,” Kris responded. “We did sleep together in a literal sense.”

Alicia was surprised, smiling at the thought. “Like shared a bed for the express purpose of sleeping?” She asked for clarification.

“That’s what my queen size is for,” Kris replied.

Alicia chuckled, “Okay?”

“If we could focus here,” Pagel intruded. “We have something unpleasant to do.”

Kris sighed and grumbled, sitting up. Kris pulled off her shirt and set it aside. She unclasped her bra but held the cups in place. Pagel reexamined the images, before pulling out a pen. “Do you mind?” He asked.

He helped her lay back down. Bra still in place, Pagel check the image and carefully outlined where the gland would be on her right breast, a small semicircle. The space between her bra and the line was enough for a syringe. “No, you’re good,” Pagel said.

Kris sighed in relief and sat up. Alicia leaned in to help, clasping her bra for her. Kris stiffened to the touch, but the incident was quickly brushed aside by Pagel, who already had gloves on. “Lie back.”

Kris laid down and watched as Pagel disinfected the area outlined. Pagel picked up the syringe, commenting, “We would usually use a local anesthetic, but we don’t have access to those.”

Kris blanched at the thickness of the needle. “To be honest, I’m surprised Alicia found a syringe,” Pagel continued.

 “It was in a medical cabinet around the corner, sir,” Alicia said. “I’m surprised it wasn’t locked. We really need to improve our safety measures here.”

Pagel nodded passively while lining up the syringe’s tip to the center of the outline. “You might want to hold Alicia’s hand for this,” Pagel suggested.

Kris wrapped her hand around Alicia’s, muttering, “Damn, where’s Q when you need her.”

Alicia adjusted her grip on the gloved hand, feeling somewhat bad that Q wasn’t here for her friend. Pagel did a countdown for her. “Three, two, one, stabby stab,” Pagel said before sticking the syringe in her skin.

“Ow, d****t!” Kris shouted, squeezing Alicia’s hand tighter.

Kris looked away from her chest, nauseated by the sight of the needle in her skin. “Now, the gland was only an inch and a half approximately from the surface of the skin,” Pagel said. “Looks like I don’t have to go any further; just need to extract…”

“Hey,” Kris interjected, her voice strained. “Don’t take too much. I would hate to have uneven breasts. Ugh, almost as much as I hate this f*****g pain.”

Alicia laughed tersely as if she was trying to make Kris feel better. Pagel skillfully pulled the syringe’s pump up, drawing out a pale-yellow fluid. He stopped after ten milliliters. “Gauze,” Pagel ordered, holding out a hand.

Alicia handed him some while commenting, “It wasn’t on your list, but I knew better…”

“Yes, complain about my mental capabilities later,” Pagel said, pulling out the syringe and replacing it with gauze.

Applying pressure, which Kris groaned painfully at, Pagel handed Alicia the syringe. “That will need to go to the chem lab as well.”

Kris let go of Alicia’s hand, her palm sweating. Alicia transferred the syringe’s contents into a small bottle before placing it in a sample bag. “Great,” Kris growled. “What’s next?”

After a minute, Pagel moved the gauze to see a mixture of yellow fluid and blood. “Hopefully that’s plasma and not venom,” Pagel responded, putting the gauze back. “We don’t know if you’re immune to the venom you produce. Oh, after this, I guess were done for the day.”

“Why wouldn’t she be immune to the venom?” Alicia commented, Kris nodding alongside her like it made sense. “It would make biological sense.”

“Sure, so does venom glands forming in a human,” Pagel replied.

Pagel checked the gauze again after a minute; the bleeding had slowed down. “Okay, I think we could get away with a band aid now.”

Alicia picked one out among the supplies she brought and gave it to Pagel. Pagel applied it carefully to the puncture wound. “You should change this band aid when you get home, and every few hours afterward. Call Alicia if it keeps bleeding.”

Kris nodded, sitting up and grabbing her shirt. She slipped it on and said, “Well, if we’re done for the day, I have a gorgeous person to go find.”

Pagel and Alicia gave her space, so she could get off the table. Kris walked out of the room with a conclusive, “Good bye.”