“You’ve caused us a great deal of trouble.”
The man speaking is Doctor Otto Kessel, a grey haired man who looks sixty or so. His expression is sad and unthreatening. The ugly little Mini Glock in his hand looks far less so, considering that it’s pointed at your chest from about six feet away.
You’re ${Your first name?} ${Your last name?}, a private investigator. Your partner is a lovely young lady named Priscilla Chalmers, but most people call her Pinky, because she keeps her hair short, spiky, and dyed neon pink. Because of an old cartoon show, that leads a lot of the same people to call you The Brain. But you’re not feeling too smart, right now.
You and Pinky were investigating the Theragen Corporation, on behalf of a client. You suspected they were playing fast and loose with environmental and safety regulations. So, you did what any P.I. would do, and infiltrated their big R&D facility just outside the city. What you found was much, much worse.
A stolen keycard and borrowed uniforms got you both into the building. Inside, you found offices, laboratories, big chemical storage tanks. Nothing unusual, until you reached a kind of containment zone in the center of the facility. Access to that required a different keycard, which Pinky acquired by knocking out a labcoated scientist and stuffing him into a storage closet.
Within the inner sanctum, you found a big chemical fabricator, churning out hundreds of gallons of a thick, pinkish goop. And you also found dozens of prison cells, each containing a young man or woman. Some looked sick, some showed grotesque mutations. Some wouldn’t stop screaming. Others appeared completely catatonic. You looked for a way to release the prisoners, but the cells appeared to be electronically locked. Pinky looked for a way into the computer system, while you set about taking photographic evidence with your phone’s camera.
Then, your luck ran out. Either Pinky tripped an alarm trying to log into the Theragen network, or someone discovered the lab worker in the closet. Sirens sounded, and armed guards swarmed into the lab, led by Doctor Kessel.
So now, you and Pinky have guns pointed at you, and Doctor Kessel is deciding your fates.
“Of course, we can’t let you leave.” He says. “We do have contingency plans, for a situation like this. A small explosion, and this place will be destroyed in a regrettable but completely ordinary industrial accident. But first…”
He grins unpleasantly. “I think we might make time for two more human trials of Compound Sigma.”
Pinky spits. “I’m going to kill all of you.” She says, glaring at Kessel.
You sigh. She always has to escalate.
Doctor Kessel laughs. “I think not. Perhaps we’ll test the substance on you, first.”
He gives an order. Two guards seize Pinky, and drag her the edge of a tank full of the sloshing pink goo.
“The effects of Compound Sigma are quite unpredictable.” Kessel says. “But rest assured, your sacrifice will serve science.”
He turns to the guards. “Put her in.”
Pinky struggles, but the guards wrestle her over the edge of the tank. She falls in with a splash, and sinks beneath the surface.
For a moment, nothing happens.
Then, a monstrous figure bursts out of the tank. It’s Pinky, but…she’s changed. Her limbs bulge with rippling muscle, and her skin seems to be covered in thick pink scales.
“It’s Pinkin’ Time!” She roars.
The guards fire their guns, but Pinky doesn’t seem to care.
“She’s Pinking out!” One of them yells.