The basement of their home had always been a place where Rachel felt like she was a trespasser. Aside from a small section used for storage of things like Hanukkah decorations and old family keepsakes, most of the area below their home was cordoned off into a steel bunker with an armored, passcode-locked door, serving as the home base for her mother's heroic endeavors. Only once or twice had she been allowed inside, and never more than a minute or two before she was ushered back out. Thus it felt breathtaking to be welcomed in after her mother unlocked the door, able to casually saunter into Veronica's private sanctum to marvel at various trophies of her adventures, special equipment she used as part of keeping the city safe, and at the center of everything, a thick, heavy vault containing her greatest secret.
"Your grandmother wasn't just any run of the mill government researcher," Veronica explained as she stepped up to the vault and carefully started dialing in the combination. "Back in the 1980s, she was part of a program that was trying to make normal soldiers into something greater. They pursued all sorts of things - alien symbiotes, magic, latex nanosuits, cybernetics, you name it - but your grandma's division was trying to come up with a chemical solution. A serum to crate super-soldiers, more or less." Her shoulders slumped as she muttered something Rachel couldn't quite catch. "Before she... passed... she told me that all the research was gone, everyone else had been killed... but she had kept tinkering after the program was shut down. And right before she died... she finally finished it."
With a click, the vault opened wide to reveal a cryogenic container. Within were several medicine bottles filled with an odd reddish liquid that seemed to glint in the artificial lights of the bunker, shining almost with a trembling sensation of power as Veronica slipped on a pair of latex gloves and carefully removed the bottle. "She made me promise to use it for good. I think she wanted me to further her work, but..." The dark-haired woman let out a slight laugh as she removed a syringe from a drawer and began drawing some of the liquid into it. "I was always more of an engineer than a biologist. Ended up testing the stuff out on myself, to see if it really worked... and the next thing you know, I'm wearing a cape, fighting supervillains, and rescuing kittens from trees. Kept the rest of the serum on hand in case I was ever depowered... or if..." She trailed off, looking right into Rachel's eyes as her daughter put the rest of it together.
"...or if your daughter needed her own powers." Her eyes were aglow with wonder. "But how come you never told me any of this? I could've been your sidekick years ago! We would have been an amazing team, mom and daughter, crime-fighters!"
"Because for a long time, I figured I could keep you out of mortal danger." Veronica sighed as she motioned for Rachel to hop up and take a seat at the edge of a nearby hospital bed. "Maybe I could have, if I hadn't revealed my identity... but it's too late for that now. We're here, you are in danger, and you need to be able to defend yourself when I'm not there. So... you're going to be getting a dose of the serum, same as I got."
As frustrated as she felt finding out her mother had been lying to her 'for her own good' for so many years, the 18-year-old remained excited as she held out her arm. At least her mother was being honest with her at last - and soon she'd become the fantastical hero she'd always dreamed about being. "It's gonna make me like you, right? Super-strong, indestructible, flying, able to sling around lightning, all that stuff?"
Veronica shrugged as she prepared the injection site. "That's... a possibility. But according to my mother's notes, the powers gained are different for each individual. It could make you just like me... or if could give you completely unrelated powers. No way to tell. But..." She smiled warmly as she brought the syringe to Rachel's arm, having not a moment of hesitation before sticking it into a vein and injecting the serum. "Whatever powers you gain... I'm sure you'll make your mother proud with them." Rachel could only nod back as she felt a burning sensation near the injection, quickly spreading throughout her body. It was a fast-acting thing; she could already feel a strange tingling coming over her whole biology as the serum got to work. The only question was - what kind of powers was she about to unlock?