Note: This is the first of the Lady Venom series. I own Lady Venom, Pignatti, the plot…well…I own everything in this first story…. at least I believe I do…if I don’t and It belongs to you then I apologize.

Dr. Andrew Pignatti looked up from his clipboard as his new job walked into the room.

"Ah…Hello little Lady, are you ready to begin?"

The small ten-year-old looked up at him with large brown eyes, trying to gauge this new variable in her life. Pignatti watched her; amazed that such a young child could look so smart and cold.

"Do I look ready, Piggy?" She retorted.

The doctors’ smile froze on his face as he watched as the small girl showed off her long silver nail like claws in an attempt to scare him off. They slid out one by one from her fingernails, and she smiled when they were out, using them the comb through the hair that framed her petite face. But the slight show of pain on her face as they slid out did not go unnoticed.

"Does it hurt when you do that?" He asked, tapping the tip of his pen on the edge of the claws.

"Do what?" She questioned, moving out of reach.

"When they come out, does it hurt?"

She watched him, "Maybe… but it’s none of your business though!"

He smiled behind a hand, "Uh huh. Well, I guess that if you don’t our help…"

She looked back, intrigued. "Help?……what kind of help?"

"Well…" He lifted up a few pages on the clip board, trying to look like something important was in it; "We made something just for you, to make that pain stop."

She stepped closer, "Really? You can make it stop?"

He held out his hand, "You bet I can, all you have to do is come with me."

Hesitantly, she put her hand in his; "Can you make me human too?" She looked up at him, her age showing through her defenses.

"Maybe, if you behave. And if you’re really good, we could get rid of all hat metal too."

Nodding she followed him out the door, her hand held tightly in the scientists large one.

~*~ Two years later ~*~

"Little Lady, what do you think you are doing with that?! Give that back, that is not for little girls."

Lady held the vial of poison closer to her chest, refusing to give up what she felt she needed.

"You promised to make me human! You lied! I’m still a freak!"

Pignatti stepped closer to the preteen, hands held out in front of him in a soothing gesture.

"Come now Lady, you don’t really want to hurt anyone do you?"

She watched him closely for a sudden movement.

"Watch it Piggy, or else you’re gonna get slimed!" She waved the large vial around threateningly causing both the scientist and his bodyguard to back up.

"Come now, give it to me! Lady, I said give me the poison now!"

When it was obvious that she wasn’t going to comply Pignatti backed up behind the security guard, giving the indication to proceed. Moving forward male raised his gun, aiming it for the lithe child in front of him.

She watched the happenings in shock. "What are you doing? You’re not going to kill me are you Piggy? Wouldn’t that be against the rules or something?"

"You know the rules just as well as I do, and you have seen people killed for less my dear. When an experiment becomes unstable, we must start fresh."

With a growing fear, Lady uncapped the bottle, quickly moving away from the barrel of the gun and toward the guard. Stopping only for a moment, she allowed the contents of the snake poison and acid mixture to fall down on his head. Moving away, she watched as the acid began to eat through his skin and cause third degree type burns.

She felt hands grab her roughly from behind and force her into chains. She watched as medics began to swarm around him, and she could still hear his screams as she was led away.

~*~

"Are you ready to behave now?"

Pignatti looked through the eye slot in the large reinforced door, into a small room that Lady had been placed into for solitary for the past month. She looked through greasy hair from where she sat in the corner. A pungent aroma of human feces and body odor permeated from the room to his noise, causing him to gag.

"Is that man going to live?" She whispered; her voice hoarse from its lack of use

"No, he died the day after, but I guess some one like you wouldn’t care, would you?"

"I’m sorry, I didn’t want… I didn’t want to hurt anyone…." She looked away, "I just wanted to be human…"

"Yes well, a fish may want to fly, but it will always be confined to the waters that bore it." Pignatti told her cryptically.

Unlocking the door he beckoned her to follow. Without a word, she stood and began to stumble after him.

"I have decided not to terminate you after all." He told her.

"Thank you for your kindness."

A smirk tugged at his mouth. "What? No sarcastic remark, no witty comeback, hmm…maybe I would have put you in isolation much sooner had I known it was the key to breaking your spirit."

Lady kept her head down and shoulders slump as they continued.

"Where are we going?"

"I’m taking you to a more secure place, where you will be getting a fresh start. All new scientist, all new training. The only one you will know will be myself and one or two of your personal guards."

They continued on in silence, finally reaching the new level of the large building that was Lady’s home. Showing her the new dormitory, Pignatti paused at the door.

"Oh, and I think that to go with this fresh start, you should adapt a new name." He told her, hoping that new name might quell any rumors left over from her previous term in the other lab.

"But I like Lady, must I change it?" The twelve-year-old asked, looking over to him, not wanting to change the name she’s always known.

"You’re name should be originally nothing more than a representative of what you are." Pausing, Pignatti thought for a moment. "Personally, I believe that 4452 was what we should have called you, more scientific than an actual name." The scientist muttered aloud, ignoring her for the moment. "After all, when you name something, you are bound to become attached to it…"

Lady watched him; curious as to whom he was referring too. Wondering why having a name was so taboo, Pignatti noticed her look and frowned.

"I think that since you seem to love poisonous creatures, Lady Venom would suit you."

"Lady…Venom? It’s such a harsh name…" She replied unsure.

"Exactly why it would suit a being such as yourself. A name is meant to reflect the person that wields it, and you are not human, so why would you expect a human name?" He moved outside, leaving the newly named Lady Venom inside her new home.

"It would do you well to remember that you are here for science, not for yourself."

~fin~