The Events Transpiring Thus Far in Selene's Known Dimension and Timeline
-- 30 Years Ago
Regardless of what the government and media tell us, human genetic tinkering has been going on for a long time-- the genome code was already broken open, and select scientists have begun to tinker with it.
Enter SENGRAID: a government funded research program. The acronym stands for "Society for Extra-Natural Genetic Research and Artificial Intelligence Development." As you can see, it's a double-pronged program, containing both the most advanced genetic research in the world with cutting edge computer and electronics development.
Well, during this time 30 years before our story really starts, SENGRAID was focused mainly on genetic research. (They switch emphasis--and funding--depending on which area of research is showing more progress.) The star genetic researchers at SENGRAID were a pair of married couples: John and Vivian Rudridge and Walter and Isis Cunningham. They were credited with discovering how to force genetic mutations in a strand of otherwise normal DNA. Combine this with the science of cloning-- yes, that was around too-- and the Rudridges and Cunninghams held the key to creating artificial mutants--enhanced humans. Genetic engineering.
Two projects were launched: the first two engineered humans ever attempted. The Rudridges, utilizing a strand of DNA from Vivian, decided to attempt a clone with heightened senses. As a last-minute whim, Vivian gave the clone green eyes, too. (Vivian, whose eyes were blue, had always wanted green eyes.)
The Cunninghams, using a strand of DNA from Isis, altered the genes to produce a mental power-- more complex than heightened senses. The Cunninghams were shooting for increased IQ or telepathy, but weren't really sure what they'd get.
The two women carried the clones themselves, and the entire project was hidden from the public knowledge. Only the government knew about it. So it was assumed, at least. In the women's third month of pregnancy, threats were received from an anonymous party --end the experiments. There's too much tinkering going on...the government shouldn't play 'God'.
The two couples--and their superiors--refused. The government didn't want to lose the money expended on the project, and the two couples didn't want to abort their unborn children.
The threats continued and the government stepped up security at SENGRAID. The Rudridges and Cunninghams were given bodyguards, and the babies-- named Selene and Indira-- were delivered by attending physicians in the presence of armed guards. With all the extra attention and precautions being taken, the threats subsided.
Since the first project seemed to have been a success, another project was undertaken: an identical experiment, this time utilizing the DNA of John and Walter. The altered clones again were carried by the wives. The same precautions were initially adopted, but as no threats were posed, the precautions were later relaxed. The babies came to term, Vivian giving birth first.
Would it be too clich� to start by saying 'One fateful night'? I'll say it anyway.
One fateful night, when John was bringing Vivian and the new baby boy -- his clone/son-- home from the hospital, they found someone waiting for them. Someone with a gun.
The shooter only managed to hit Vivian, who was not in the condition to flee. John escaped with the baby. He took the boy to his sister's house -- his sister was also watching Selene -- explaining only that he had to flee, and that he would be back for them soon.
He made a beeline to the Cunninghams' house, only to discover that he was too late. The shooter had already been there. Walter and Isis (who was still heavily pregnant) were both dead.
John was picked up that same night by government officials, who rushed him into a hiding in a low-profile paper-pushing job on the West Coast. He never returned for the children, and never told his superiors where they had gone, as he did not want his son and daughter to grow up as specimens under government scrutiny.
After a month, his sister decided John wasn't coming back and placed the children up for adoption. She didn't have time to raise kids who weren't hers, and she didn't know that the kids were anything special. The girl -- Selene -- ended up going to Angelique and David St. Vincent. The boy went to another home.
And the Cunningham's daughter, Indira? She was being babysat when the Cunninghams were killed-- Isis had actually been in labor and was preparing to make the trip to the hospital, unhindered by her daughter, when the attack occurred. Custody of Indira fell to Isis's brother Raashid (?) Rezon-Oreb and his family.
The children grew up fairly normally, except for being keenly aware of being different...
While their respective gifts, unlike the powers of natural mutants in the X-Men universe, were active at birth, neither Selene nor Indira were aware of them at first. Selene, having grown up with heightened senses and rapid healing (a side effect of the genetic tampering), was unaware of her uniqueness until she was old enough to realize that she could see and hear what others could not. She also began to heal of a scratch or bruise immediately upon getting it. She was probably in her teens before she was fully and completely aware of her different-ness.
Indira took even longer. While she did exhibit the obviously heightened IQ she was programmed with at an early age (which gave her problems with an inflated ego), her main ability lay unnoticed and untapped until Indira began to teach in college. (Being of an exceptional intelligence, she did well as a young professor and taught ancient culture and mythology, psychology, and biochemistry.)
She discovered her power accidentally and by degrees, thanks to a problem student in her psychology class. More than anything, she loves to be in control, and she wants to control her class, especially this one fellow. She utilized much psychology on him to get him to behave, but it was the 'vibes' (for lack of a better word, at present) that she put out that caused him to fear and obey her.
She marked that success up to the power of psychology, but she began to realize slowly that it worked on other students as well -- even without the application of behavioral psychology. She began to suspect something unusual about her when she reduced a tough jock to tears once in her biochemistry class, simply by raising irrational fear in his mind. She'd never even made eye contact with him. Her mental powers were undeniable.
She suddenly knew she had a very powerful tool right inside her head, and she developed the burning desire to use it to control more than just pesky college students with it...
* * *
NOW... Enter the beginning of our story.
Selene St. Vincent is a thief. Grand theft. Museums, banks, wealthy private individuals. She's already financially well off herself, from -- believe it or not-- legitimately winning the lottery.
Her best friend and frequent partner in crime is a man named Griffin. (I'm still not sure if that's his first name, last name, or just a nickname, but I do know that he has one tattooed on his right bicep.)
Griffin is the only one she's ever told about her enhanced senses and healing abilities. He doesn't care about her different-ness. They're close friends and her advantages do make her a valuable asset to their thievery.
Griffin isn't too bad-looking; he's tall, muscular, and has flaming red hair. However, his nose is pretty distinctive in that it's a Roman nose... which may have been broken once before. So it's kind of funny looking. Despite that, he still acts like a Casanova around women. (He knows better than to try it with Selene.) He's more often than not turned down, but it doesn't affect his Casanova attitude too much.
Word that Selene and Griffin are some of the best thieves in the criminal underworld--certainly the best in New York-- eventually trickles down to Indira. Since discovering her mental powers (she calls it emotional persuasion), she has left teaching and started a private company. Probably something to do with artifacts from ancient civilizations, as that is her passion. She has assembled a small staff of men (yes, all men) and has been working constantly to totally subvert them to her will. They seem to be complying nicely. She calls them her 'servants', and they really would do just about anything for her.
Indira, now being a nearly full-fledged villain, has designs to see how many people she can control. She begins calling herself by an alias: Babylon, after the powerful, decadent, greatly feared ancient empire.
She starts by reasoning that if she's going to begin taking control of people, she is going to need some powerful allies that she can control. She's already working on the mayor of New York. But she'll need connections in the underworld, too. One of those connections that she decides to try and get the best of is Selene.
Babylon could take or leave Griffin...he'd be a nice asset, but she really wants Selene. Babylon has heard rumors about Selene's supposed powers. She sends one of her 'servants' to follow her and see if the rumors are true. He reports back telling her that from what he can tell, they are. He saw her cut her hand, and the same day, the cut was healed and gone. He has explanations for the heightened senses, too, and Babylon really begins to covet Selene as an ally. To think...another criminal with powers that defy conventional explanation...
She watches Selene some more, noting that Selene sometimes works for hire. Babylon tries this approach. She finds Selene one evening and makes a proposal. Work with me-- we would make a marvelous team. After all, we both have skills that make us stand out...
Some of the pieces of Babylon's proposal are disagreeable to Selene-- especially Babylon's insinuation that Selene act as an assassin as well as a thief, plus Babylon's hinting at Selene's enhancements is making her uncomfortable. Selene refuses. Babylon is irritated, but doesn't show it. She leaves. She resigns herself to getting Selene some other way.
Months pass. Selene, having forgotten all about Babylon, goes out for a night on the town -- no thievery involved-- and doesn't come back. She was abducted by a group of thugs (all under Babylon's control) and brought to a medical office. The entire medical staff there is also under Babylon's influence, and at her instruction, they implant Selene's hands with razor sharp, retractable titanium alloy claws, bonding all the bones in her hands and wrists with the same metal to give the claws something to anchor to. Babylon knew that Selene's rapid healing would be able to handle such an involved and painful procedure, and the wounds were stitched up.
While Selene was still out from the anesthesia, Babylon began making preparations to transport Selene from the medical office to a secret hideaway (which we will see later.) Before the necessary transport arrived, however, Selene's rapid healing allowed her to rouse from the anesthesia and realize that she needed to escape. Still kind of numb, she stumbled past the doctors and nurses, and escaped out a window, disappearing into the dark city. This frustrated Babylon, especially since Selene had now escaped with the claws, which left her well-equipped to fight her way out of the next abduction. But there would always be a next time.
Selene, meanwhile, escaped and took shelter with Griffin, who, miraculously, lived nearby. After finding her passed out on his doorstep, he brought her in, nursed her back to full consciousness, and pointed out the stitches in her hands. In the middle of a heated argument about what they were from, the claws popped out, making their first appearance. Neither Selene nor Griffin knew what had happened or where the claws had come from, but Selene wanted to get rid of them. Of course, neither knew of a way to do such a thing. Who could they tell, anyway?
Selene continues on with her life, heals from the stitches and begins using her claws for everyday tasks. Cutting glass, opening cans, letters, etc... she gets very adept at sheathing and unsheathing them. And of course, they come in handy for her thievery.
She is using them one night to break into a safe containing several large uncut diamonds when she is confronted from behind by ...!
Not a security guard, but Babylon. She had persuaded the guards to let her in (showing the relative power of her persuasion), and now was confronting Selene, who was, how to say, caught with her hand in the cookie jar. Babylon makes her offer again. Selene refuses again. Babylon mentions the claws. Selene, stunned, realizes the claws were Babylon's doing. Babylon says, quite calmly that when she had made her initial offer, she hadn't intended to take 'No' for an answer. She begins to overwhelm Selene's mind with paralyzing fear, and some of her trained thugs kidnap her.
Selene wakes up in a dark room lit by candles, and Babylon is, surprise-surprise, present. She explains to Selene that they are in her Labyrinth, her subterranean palace and hideout of sorts. Selene, really freaked out by all of this, threatens Babylon to let her out of there. Babylon laughs at Selene's threats -- Selene isn't a killer (yet, considering Babylon's designs) and even if she did make the mistake of killing Babylon, it would mean Selene would never find her way out of the Labyrinth. Oh, and Babylon has taken the liberty of retracting Selene's claws and 'locking' them in place. Only she knows how to unlock them, and she will do so when she feels Selene has become a suitably cooperative ally.
Days-- maybe weeks-- pass. Selene has learned most of the layout of the Labyrinth, but still hasn't found anything even remotely resembling the exit. She can feel Babylon's continual mental influence -- by now she has definitely figured out Babylon's mental powers -- but she's running out of time. The longer she stays in the Labyrinth, under Babylon's immediate influence, the greater the risk she runs of succumbing to her powers and being a mindless peon. The problems are escalated by the fact that the main staple to drink in the Labyrinth is wine. Alcohol, Babylon has discovered, restricts judgment and leaves one more uninhibited, making it much easier to influence their minds. (There is water, so that no one keels over from dehydration, but it's probably not of a quality that would make you want to drink it very much.)
Selene has a strong will, fortunately, and resists Babylon's influence pretty well. She discovers a secret room, and there finds the medical records from when she was implanted with the claws, and learns how to unlock them. She has use of them now, but keeps them sheathed around Babylon or her servants. She wants to keep the ace up her sleeve until she needs it.
I haven't plotted it all out yet, but she does eventually find a way out, possibly something to do with solving a riddle of Babylon's personality. While she is there, though, she learns about Babylon's fascination with biochemistry. Apparently, Babylon is not content with just controlling the powerful and influential in New York City. She wants to expand her control, possibly to the point where she could sway governments, but it will take more time than she believes she has in her life span to increase her mental power and her societal influence to that level. Her new goal?
Increase her life span. But how? She wants to alter her genes (unaware that, of course, they've already been altered once before) to give herself an exceptionally long life. Since she has some experience in biochemistry, she is narrowing her focus to genetics. And what better place to get information of that nature than a government facility that specializes in that field: SENGRAID. (Ah, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?) She's heard rumors that there was an old, abandoned project regarding altering the human genome, and she wants to get her hands on that information...
After Selene escapes, she takes just enough time to regroup, let Griffin know she's alive, and then she hits SENGRAID as soon as she can. She's done her homework, and she goes and snatches the information that Babylon so desperately wants-- and just in time. Apparently Babylon had anticipated Selene's move and taken steps to counter it, but Selene was victorious, and Babylon's men came back empty-handed.
With the information safe, Selene took the time to review it and see what exactly it was that Babylon had been after. Among the information Selene stole, she found two diaries, each containing the information surrounding the creation, gestation, and early days of the human engineering projects. Only when she nears the end of the first diary -- written by John and Vivian Rudridge -- does Selene realize that SHE was the first successful genetically engineered human experiment! The other diary, that of Walter and Isis Cunningham, was the story of how BABYLON came to be. Selene is shocked and appalled. She knew she was adopted, but she'd never known who her real parents were...
She makes up her mind to find these people, if they're still around, as ask why she was given up for adoption. It simply didn't make any sense. She explains it all to Griffin, and then the duo go to see an ally of Selene's... a Greek hacker/computer nerd/inventor type named Nikodemos Diomedes. Though Selene doesn't tell him the significance of the Rudridges and Cunninghams, she does give him the information he needs to locate them. He discovers, to Selene's chagrin, that Vivian and both of the Cunninghams are dead. John Rudridge, however, is alive, and just recently moved back to New York. It is anticipated that he will start work at SENGRAID again soon, as the organization is starting to switch tracks from artificial intelligence development to genetic research again. Nikodemos gives Selene the address where John lives, and Selene decides to pay him a visit. She doesn't know what she'll say, but she knows all she needs to know-- she's got the facts to prove her story.
One night, she sneaks into John's apartment. He is still awake, and hears someone come in. He goes to confront the burglar with a rolled up newspaper, and discovers... he thinks at first that Selene is his wife, back from the dead and completely unchanged. He nearly passes out. Selene prevents him from doing so and explains who she is. John is absolutely flabbergasted -- he can't believe it! He'd forgotten all about Selene! He certainly hadn't been expecting her to crawl in his window at midnight...
Some arguing happens. (Why'd you put me up for adoption? My daughter, a cat burglar?) But things smooth over and John is told all about Selene's enhancements, and he is informed about what became of Indira as well. The meeting is generally a good one -- Selene realizes she (sort of) has a dad, and John has been reunited with his (sort of) daughter. She tells him of how she found him, about Indira, who is now Babylon, and warns him that he has to be sure to keep all of this information away from her. John later becomes acquainted with Griffin, who admits to absolutely no romantic attachment whatsoever with Selene, despite John's suspicions. John isn't sure what to think about being in the thick with thieves, but he doesn't say anything to the authorities, for various reasons.
Selene's role has become less and less that of a thief and more and more the one who is determined to stand between Babylon and total domination. One day as she is talking to John, she asks him about Babylon's plan -- her plan to extend her life span by using the genetic technology that John and his late coworkers invented. John says no, emphatically. The technology they developed was for use on single strands of DNA, to be used in combination with the cloning process, or with a freshly fertilized egg that was still one cell with one strand of code. It wouldn't work on an adult -- with trillions of strands of DNA in their body-- and might actually have unforeseen, disastrous consequences. If Babylon ever made the mistake of trying it on herself, the results might be fatal.
As nice as having Babylon out of the way might have seemed to Selene, she knew she couldn't let the woman accidentally commit genetic suicide. Figuring it was only a matter of time before she got her hands on the information anyway despite Selene's best efforts to keep it safe, she seeks Babylon out. It's not too hard. After all, Babylon is always looking for Selene.
In a neutral meeting place, Selene tells Babylon that her plan to lengthen her life won't work-- she got the information from a highly reliable source. In the course of the conversation, Selene tells Babylon about her past -- that she's a genetically altered clone of her mother, her mother and father are dead, and that she (Selene) is also an altered clone. Babylon is angered by this -- she doesn't want to believe what Selene is saying. She can't have her long life span? She's just an altered clone instead of a naturally genetically superior human? And the people responsible for her existence are dead? She doesn't like that. As Babylon departs, Selene feels in her gut that her nemesis is already plotting something else. She is right.
Babylon has just been dealt a huge blow to her ego-- no exaggerated life span. No genetic originality. No parents. And, as it appears, she will never have Selene on her side either. It's time to re-think her plans.
One night, she sends a team of thugs after Selene. There's a tussle, and some of the thugs are injured, but they manage to draw blood on Selene, and one of them gets a fistful of her hair. They scurry away, and Selene is left to wonder what prompted such an assault.
Meanwhile, the blood from Selene, and the handful of hair are presented to Babylon. Though Selene saw them as casualties of a fight, Babylon sees them as genetic samples. Bits of Selene that she can put to her own use. If she can't get the real Selene... she'll make a copy, as a slap in the face to her blond nemesis. She clones Selene, and since she is the only female in her company, she carries the embryo herself...
While Babylon is hidden away in some lair of hers, Selene is going about her daily life, wondering why Babylon is being so quiet and not showing her face very much. She spends more time with John Rudridge, who, after getting over the glee of finding his long lost daughter, is enthralled with the chance to study how her genetic enhancements have turned out. Selene doesn't really like being studied, but she lets him anyway. One day while John is testing her heightened senses, he asks her why she doesn't get together with 'that nice Griffin fellow'. Selene says that it's not like that between them. They are partners in crime, not in love. John protests, saying that he thinks Griffin likes her, and that she isn't giving him a chance. Selene refuses again. He asks why.
Finally, to make him shut up, Selene tells him. The healing factor of hers-- which her scientist/parents had not foreseen -- makes her age more slowly than other people. Which is why both she and Babylon are both thirty-one, but only Babylon looks it. Selene looks more like she's in her mid-twenties. Because of this slow aging, she'd probably easily outlive Griffin, still being fairly young when he was an old man. She doesn't want that. It would be too awkward. And the pain of knowing she'd be living maybe decades more, perhaps outliving any children she might have had... she didn't want that life.
So, John asks, you're just not going to fall in love? Ever? Selene doesn't answer. When she leaves John to go home, she is thinking about it. What she doesn't know is that John has been nudging Griffin in the same direction -- he knows Griffin does have a little thing for Selene, but because Selene has never shown any interest (sometimes even stated she wanted nothing like that between them), he's never pursued her. John tells him to try anyway. That if he does it slowly, gently, Selene might be more open to the idea.
Ah, so we see it, eh? John the matchmaker. For a while, Griffin tries the gentle approach, being just a little more affectionate and flirtatious with Selene than usual. After a few weeks of knowing what he's doing (and probably why he's doing it) and ignoring it, Selene sits him down and tells him what she told John -- that she can't get into a long-term relationship with him because she'd outlive him. And they can't have a short fling because it would change how they work together-- their communication and camaraderie would never be the same, and that could make the difference between a successful heist, or an arrest. It's all or nothing between them; it has to be. And until they're both sure they want all, it has to be nothing. Griffin, reluctantly, agrees.
To get her mind off of what she told Griffin (as well as to get away from the looks he and John keep giving her), Selene decides to find out what Babylon is up to. She's been quiet and in hiding for a long time, and Selene is getting suspicious. She knows several of Babylon's hiding places, and finally finds her. She is completely unprepared for what she finds.
Babylon has a baby! Selene's immediate thought -- she either decided to 'get it on' with one of her servants, or she kidnapped the kid. She makes this accusation of Babylon, who laughs. She tells Selene that she's being ridiculous. She simply found another way to get what she wanted. Since Selene refused to work for her, Babylon just went ahead and made another Selene -- and this one was all hers! And it dawns on Selene that the baby is a genetic copy -- a clone -- of herself!
After Babylon applauds Selene for figuring it out, she summons her servants, who are armed. Since Babylon now has what she wants, she doesn't need Selene anymore. She orders the servants to kill Selene.
Selene's a fighter, but she can't take on over a hundred men-- fortunately they are all armed with bladed objects rather than guns. (Babylon doesn't want them shooting up her lair.) They pursue Selene, but she doubles back and loses them just long enough to return to Babylon, 'rescue' the child from its mother, and escape, leaving behind one VERY upset Babylon and a throng of unsuccessful assassins.
Selene is sitting atop a building just after rescuing the baby... looking down at it now that it has quieted down from its ordeal, and wondering what to do with it. She isn't in a million years going to let Babylon have it -- the kid would grow up into a monster with no mind of its own. But she can't raise it herself, especially not after her discussion with Griffin. And she won't put it up for adoption. She's been down that road. She won't do that to...herself... again. She decides to see if her father, John Rudridge wants the job. He'd, after all, never gotten the chance to raise Selene... maybe this kid will satisfy him.
She takes the baby to John, with an explanation, and he agrees to raise her. He insists that Selene name her, though, as she was responsible for rescuing the child. Selene, who had never given the matter any thought, and who admits she isn't very good with names, blurts out 'Angelique'. The name of her adoptive mother. John thinks it's a good name, and goes about the business of taking care of the infant. He works part time now at SENGRAID, so he does rely on Selene and Griffin to help take care of her part of the time. Selene feels awkward around children (especially this one, since it is a copy of herself), but Griffin seems to do all right. He apparently doesn't think much about the kid being a clone of Selene. I think he's used to any weirdness that comes attached to Selene in some way. I mean, powers, claws, an evil nemesis with powers, cloning, genetic tampering, more cloning... he's used to it.
One day, while John is playing with Angelique, he mentions that he was going over his case notes again the night before, and he remembered that Selene wasn't the only clone-child of his that survived. Before his wife and co-workers were killed, his son -- the clone of himself-- had been born. He, too, had been adopted, and had disappeared for thirty years. This is news to Selene, who only knew about herself and Babylon. She figures that she can find him, though, if she enlists the help of Nikodemos again... John gives her whatever information he can about the boy, who by now probably looks very much like John did when he was in his thirties.
Past this point, I'm not really sure what happens, but suffice it to say, there's plenty of material to work with. Selene's location of her 'brother', the barely-there relationship between Selene and Griffin, Babylon's revenge on Selene for kidnapping her child, Angelique's growing up and learning the truth... yes, it could really go on from here...
