The Devil is in the Details- Part Two by: Enemyoffun Eddie Bloomberg is trying to deal with life after his change, wondering if he made a mistake when he decided to help Cassie and trying to deal with the ramifications of that decision.

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Author's Note: I'd like to thank everyone who responded so well to my first story about Eddie. It was supposed to be an open ended one shot, with the possibility of more parts later down the road. But I got a lot of response from it, most of you wanting me to continue the story. So after putting my Green Arrow sequel aside---for the moment, I'll get back to it---I decided to give Eddie his own story. I'm not sure how long its going to be but I'll write it until I come to a satisfying conclusion. I'd like to thank djkauf for the devilish good editing and DC Comics for the characters.

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Chapter Two:

“How are you going to help me exactly?”

She smiled and a strange green ring appeared in her hand. It looked just like the one on her finger but not as shiny. I looked from her to the ring and back again. Clearly, she wasn’t trying to give me a cheap piece of costume jewelry. It looked kinda cool on her but she was a chick. On me, that big hulking thing would look pretty damn ridiculous. But I continued to stare at it anyway, wondering if she was going to explain things. For a while, neither of us said anything, probably waiting for the other to speak.

Finally she spoke. “Do you know the story of Terra Cross?”

I nodded. “I saw it on the news.”

Terra was one of the other Metas out there. She was just like Cassie in that she used to be a guy. They did a story on her a few weeks back on Nightline. She told the world all about herself, leaving out none of the secrets. It was kinda fascinating. Of course, back then, I’d been normal and it was cool because it happened to someone else. Was I a bit jealous, well maybe a little? After all, who doesn’t want superpowers? I got mine, of course, just not the way that I wanted. I don’t think I need to elaborate on that again, I think Cassie covered all that pretty well. The point being that Terra seemed pretty happy during the Interview, well adjusted to the circumstances. But then again her powers didn’t turn her into a hulking red freak.

“I gave Terra one of these rings, I’ve given them to others too,” She said, listing off a name here and there.

I remembered her mentioning something about a ring in the interview. It gave her a costume instantly. I groaned. “I don’t need a costume.”

Jade smiled. “This one is different. When my ring detected you and your strange mutation, it did some permutations of its own. After a few days it came up with a solution and created this ring for you.” She held her hand out toward me. “Instead of designing it to create just a costume, it’s been programmed to create an identity for you. Sorta like a camouflage, one that will allow you to walk around and interact with people again.”

I was speechless. I stared at the ring. I wanted to scream “Thank You God” at the top of my lungs. But all I could do was try not to cry. These last few weeks had been pretty hard. It was not easy hiding in the shadows, trying my hardest not to burn everything I touched. But as happy as I might have been, I had some worries too.

“What about my powers?”

She smiled. “The cloak that this ring creates is like a shield too. We’ll call it a Membrane. It covers your body, shielding it and you from harm. It is quite advanced and unique, but if I’m right, it should seal away your powers, making you a normal person.”

This time I did cry, burning hot tears rolling down my cheeks. “Does this mean I can touch people?”

Jade nodded. “If my ring is correct then you should be able to live a normal healthy life as long as the ring is on your finger, that is.”

I nodded then I reached for the ring in her hand. A normal healthy life, huh. I didn’t hesitate in the least as I reached forward and took it from her hand. She smiled. I held it in my own hand for a while. At first, I thought it was going to melt like most of the other stuff I held but it didn’t. I’m not sure what it was made out of but it was the strongest stuff I’d ever held. I tried burning it, squeezing my hand around it to cause some kind of damage. Hey, I was kinda curious. But when I failed, I smiled. Maybe this could work after all.

Excitement overtook me and I slipped the ring on my finger. I closed my eyes and only one person came into my head: Cissie. She and I could finally have the relationship that we always wanted. I dreamt about it a lot actually. What guy didn’t dream about the girl he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. Ok, I’m being a little premature but I think I loved her.

Finally, I opened my eyes and Jade gasped. I blinked raised my hands, half expecting to see the clawed red talons. Instead, though I saw normal human fingers. I felt like doing a back flip. But I stopped myself because there was something wrong about my fingers. They were thinner than before, dainty even. The skin was soft and my nails were longer, rounded off into nice tips. I flexed my fingers, surprised that they looked so girly. Then I looked down and what I saw nearly caused me to faint. There were two bumps on my chest. I realized now why Jade gasped. I stumbled, a lock of reddish hair falling in front of my face. Jade reached out and grabbed my wrist, keeping me from collapsing completely.

I ended up in her arms, going forward instead of back. What the hell was going on here? I couldn’t even think about it, it was just too much. It wasn’t possible, it couldn’t be possible. I looked up at Jade---tears in my eyes---and she frowned.

“What did you do to me?”

Jade raised her hand with the ring, clenched in a tight fist. “Ring, explain?” she demanded angrily.

“Edward Davis Bloomberg is dead, declared officially three days ago and put to rest this morning. I took that into account when I designed the ring for the person standing before us. His appearance was meant to be his own choosing.”

“My own choosing” I asked, my voice sounded weird and girly. “You son of a bitch, you could have warned me.”

My anger flared but for the first time in weeks, I didn’t burn anything. At least the shield of the ring was working. Jade didn’t look too fazed by my anger, if she even noticed. She was frowning though, so clearly something was upsetting her. Something was definitely upsetting me that’s for sure. This ring was supposed to help me, not make me a bigger freak than I already was. It was one thing to be a red demon dude but it was something else to be turned into a chick. I wanted to scream and pull my hair out but for some reason the only emotion I was feeling was anger.

“Ring” said Jade, clearly annoyed. “Is there nothing you can do for him?”

“This camouflage is very peculiar,” said the Ring “it should not have manifested itself in this manner. It was not programmed to behave this way. It is possible that there is something else at work here.”

“Are you saying that I wanted to be a girl?”

“Not consciously.”

I reached down and grabbed the globes on my chest, surprised that I was able to do so. I thought it was supposed to be fake and yet I could grab them. How freaky is that. I gave them a violent shake, glad that I felt none of that. “I did not want these,” I said angrily.

Jade didn’t say anything. At least for a while. Instead, she slowly walked around me, probably trying to figure things out. I was still a little confused myself actually. For starters, I was wearing clothes now. They were gender specific, so a girl’s shirt and jeans. The strange thing was that they didn’t feel like anything. I reached down and poked my leg. But the material underneath didn’t feel like jean. I’m not sure what it felt like but it definitely didn’t feel real. Well that’s because it wasn’t. This whole body was fake---like a mirage---created to shroud the real me from the rest of the world. It freaked the hell out of me that I was a girl now but if it meant going out, maybe I could let it slide once or twice. It’s not like it was my real bod anyway.

Jade came around front of me again, pointing her ring at me. A thin beam of green light shot out of it and harmlessly moved up and down my body. I shivered but not because I could feel it. I felt nothing. It just kinda gave me the willies that’s all. After the “scanning” was done, Jade sighed.

“I’m going to have to go back to my ship and run these findings through the database.”

“Is something wrong?”

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. It’s clear that you’re Meta but there’s something else. My ring didn’t pick it up before but there’s something off about you.”

I nodded. “My friend Cassie turned from a dude into a chick.”

“Is she a new Meta too?”

I nodded. “Don’t you keep tabs on all the newbies or something?”

She smiled. “I’m not privy to every single Meta emergence out there. In fact there’s probably a lot out there that I don’t know about.”

“Does that mean there’s bad ones out there?”

She nodded. “You can’t have the good without the bad.”

I thought back to what happened at the spa. I didn’t know all the details but I knew some really bad shit want down there. There was a lot of stuff that Cassie was keeping from the DEO too. After she got them to release me, the two of us had a little talk about it. All she’d willingly tell me is that there’s someone out there with a lot of power who could do bad things. I think she was trying to protect me but it definitely felt like she was talking down to me a bit. She did say that the bad chick was gone now and that everyone else involved was taken care of. There was brainwashing and drugs involved, I knew that much at least.

“You should talk with Cassie” I said, “She knows how to deal with the bad.”

Jade nodded. The two of us talked for a few more minutes. She wanted to make sure that I was going to be ok with all of this. I told her everything was going to be all right. But truthfully, I was scared to death. It was one thing to turn into a demon but this was something else. I knew I wasn’t really a chick---it was like a suit---but it still freaked me out. The worse part of it was trying to explain things to Mom and Cissie. It was great that I could touch them and things like but how were they going to react. With the ring on, Mom had a new daughter and Cissie had a girlfriend. I groaned at the latter. How in the hell was that going to work? Would she accept all this?

Finally, Jade and I said our goodbyes. She promised to look into the ring thing and get back to me as soon as she found some answers. I thanked her for help, lying to her once again about being able to deal with it. I don’t think she believed me. Hell, I wouldn’t.

I watched and waved as she flew off. Then I yawned, ready to drop off long before I trudged my lazy ass over to the mattress.

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“Eddie, honey, it’s time to get up”

I heard the combination of my mother’s voice and the knocking on the door at the same time. But I wasn’t ready to open my eyes yet. I was having a good dream moments before she woke me. It involved Cissie and I were on a tropical vacation. We were lounging by the pool, basking in the glorious sun. She was in a tiny white two-piece and I was in a blue one. There were cabana boys serving us drinks in their white uniforms and this guy was sitting on the other side of the pool. He kept looking in our direction and smiling. Cissie thought he was cute but I thought he gave me the creeps. Just because I had boobs and a nice bod it didn’t mean….I let the thought stray as my eyes snapped open. Holy shit, I did not just dream that. The realization of the dream came to me quickly. Cissie and I were both girls and I was enjoying it. How in the hell could I even dream something like that. I groaned as I sat up, running my fingers through my new long hair. It freaked me. I looked at my hand and saw the ring. It didn’t look like much but it was the root of my whole problem. I glared at it and reached for it, wanting to pull the damn thing off my finger.

I hesitated though. With it gone, I’d be a guy again but I’d be that thing too. I groaned a second time, angry that my life would come to this.

My mother knocked louder. “Edward Davis Bloomberg, you get up this instant.”

I hated it when she used my full name. But I didn’t want to get up. I figured if I lay in bed long enough, maybe the memory of the dream would fade away. Some dreams do that actually. There are a lot of dreams I have and I remember them so clearly in the morning. But by late afternoon, they’ve faded away in my mind. I know some people keep dream journals but those things are for nerds. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that I was a chick in the dream and I was enjoying myself.

My mother knocked louder. I groaned, deciding that no matter how much I tried to ignore it there was no way that it would go away.

“I’m up” I shouted then gasped, throwing one hand to my throat and the other over my mouth.

No shit, I even sound like a girl.

My bedroom door opened and my mother poked her head inside. “Edward?”

She locked eyes with me and I saw the confusion. Then it was quickly replaced by fear. I can only imagine the thoughts coursing through her head. Here was a strange person in her son’s bedroom, a girl where a boy should be. She opened her mouth to say something but I cut her off quickly. I needed to get this over with fast, like tearing off a band-aid. “Mom” I said, removing the hand from my mouth. “Don’t freak out.”

She found her voice. “Who are you?” she asked angrily. “Why did you call me Mom?”

I sighed. “I’m Edward.”

She laughed. “Last time I checked I had a son instead of a daughter.”

“I am your son,” I said then quickly added. “I can explain.”

“You better” she said angrily. “Its not every morning that a mother walks into her son’s room and finds a half naked girl.”

Half-naked? I looked down and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head. I was no longer wearing the clothes the ring manifested for me last night. Instead, I was wearing some kind of sheer nightgown. It was made of silk and clung to my fake curves nicely. I groaned. Not only did the thing turn me into a girl but also apparently, it changed my clothes to fit the occasion. It must have thought that this is what girls wore to bed. What the hell kind of ring was this?

My mother was still glaring at me. I bit my lip. It was time for another band-aid rip. “I guess the best way to tell you is to show you.”

I reached for my finger and pulled off the ring. As soon as it was free, my façade disappeared. I didn’t feel a thing but my mother’s eyes widened and she gasped loudly. When I looked down, I was kinda happy to see red skin and no boobs. I let out a sigh of relief. My mother did too, but she was still really confused. I took a deep breath and told her about last night. She didn’t say a word; she looked from me to the ring and back to me again. When I was finished, I smiled and slipped the ring back on my finger to show her. The nightgown was gone now, replaced by jeans and a t-shirt. I’m not sure why I put the ring back on, I guess I was just tired of looking at my demonic self.

My mother finally spoke. “And you can’t change into a boy with it on?”

I shook my head. “Jade is trying to figure it out. She took some scans and said she’d get back to me.”
My mother nodded. Then her emotions got the better of her. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. I flinched, half expecting her to scream at the top of her lungs. But she didn’t. Instead, her head sunk to my shoulder and she cried. I gently wrapped my arms around her, letting her cry. I cried a bit, too. It had been weeks since I’d been able to hold anyone and this felt good. Having physical contact again was almost worth looking like a girl. The only sad part was that I couldn’t feel her. I knew she was holding me but it was like wrapping my arms around nothing. I left that part out of my explanation; I didn’t want to upset her anymore than she already was.

After about five minutes, she let me. She brushed a strand of hair from my face, smiling. “This is going to take time getting used to. I had a handsome son and now I have a beautiful daughter.”

I groaned. “It’s not real Mom.”

She smiled. “It is to me. I love you Eddie and it didn’t matter what you looked like. But you have no idea how hard it was for me as a mother not to hold and comfort my son when I could see he was hurting.”

“I know Mom,” I said, tears streaming down my cheeks.

Mom pulled me into another hug again. This one didn’t last as long. When she pulled away, she was still smiling. “Are you hungry, sweetheart?”

I was about to tell her no but my stomach grumbled. She laughed and took me by the hand, dragging me toward the door. I tried to protest, knowing damn well that food didn’t mean much to me anymore. But Mom wasn’t having any of that. She was as giddy as a schoolgirl. It made me kinda happy actually. For so long---the last few weeks more so than ever---she’d been so unhappy. To see her like this though, laughing and dragging me about, it made me happy. When we got into the hall, Mom flicked on the lights. I shielded my eyes, not used to it. Like my room, mom kept most of the lights in the house off. She tried to limit the light so that I wouldn’t see myself in a reflection somewhere and get angry. Do you remember the Beast’s room in the Disney cartoon, how smashed up it was? Well that’s what happened to the living room the first time I caught my reflection in a mirror. It was purely accidental and I apologized a hundred times for it but I was so scared and angry.

From that moment on, Mom turned off the lights and made sure there were no more mirrors in the house.

But as she was dragging me down the hall, I noticed her bedroom door open. As we went by, I caught sight of her dressing mirror. It was on the far wall and when we passed by, I saw a glimpse of my mother and girl. I stopped dead in my tracks, pulling my wrist from Mom’s hand. I think she realized what I saw. She tried to stop me, afraid I’d flip out again. But I brushed past her and went into her room. I walked toward the mirror and what I saw made me gasp. It was a teenage girl, about sixteen or so. She had long hair that reached down her back, a fair complexion and vibrant green eyes. I looked a lot like Mom except she was blonde. The girl in the mirror looked almost Irish, which made since seeing as Mom was Irish on her father’s side. Dad of course was Jewish and before I looked a little like him except blonde.

It kinda pained me a bit that nothing of him seemed to pass over to my girl “mirage”.

I reached up and touched my face. “Is that me?”

Mom came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m sorry sweetheart. I’m sure this Jade person can fix it.”
I nodded numbly. I didn’t want to say what I was thinking. I was kinda cute, almost hot actually. I could see why that dream guy kept looking at me. Thinking about that made me blush and then I groaned. I didn’t just blush because some dream guy found me attractive. I felt my anger rise but I forced it back down. A part of me wanted to tear the ring off my finger but I didn’t. I saw the look on Mom’s face---it was one of fear---I think she thought I was going to get angry too. So I flashed her a smile, trying to show her that everything was all right.

She smiled back weakly. “Come sweetheart, let’s get something to eat.”

I nodded and followed her out of the room, taking one last look at the fox in the mirror. I kinda smiled, even though doing so disturbed the hell out of me. I followed Mom down the hall and the stairs after that. She went to the kitchen, turning on lights as she did so. I heard her sigh every time she flicked a switch; I think she was kinda glad not to live in darkness anymore. Once we got into the kitchen, she pulled open the curtains, allowing the morning light to stream into the room. I flinched and shielded my eyes, not used to so much brightness. When I changed, she purchased dark curtains to make things as comfortable for me as possible. I hated that she did so much to accommodate me but I think it kept her from going completely insane. But I could tell it depressed the hell out of her. It made me happy to see how happy she was now.

She fixed breakfast, something simple like toast. When I grabbed the first piece, she watched me with anticipation. The first thing I was happy about was the fact that it didn’t burn to a blackened crisp in my hand. But my happiness was short-lived. Though it didn’t turn to ash at my lips, it had no taste. Clearly, the ring was only on the surface and as soon as the toast went into my mouth, it burnt up. I groaned inwardly, sad that food would still be as bad as it was before. But I put on a good face for Mom; I didn’t have the heart to disappoint her. I smiled real big and gave her a thumbs up. She sighed in relief then set about cooking me a bigger meal. She made some bacon and scrambled some eggs. It made me happy to see her bounce around the kitchen just like old times.

After breakfast, she talked. We stayed at the kitchen table and she discussed things with me. Now that I could hide my true self behind the ring’s mirage, she wanted me to get my life back on track. I think she was a little sad that the government forced her into “faking” my death but she was happy that it wasn’t real. Now, according to her, we had to come up with something else. She was excited about it in fact. I think she was a bit upset that I’d been cooped up in the house for so long, letting my life pass me by. Now I had a chance to live again. Of course, it was going to require us to make some changes. She talked about what she wanted to do and then she set about making the first phone call, which I’m not so happy to report was to the DEO.

An Agent arrived at noon. He was well groomed with slick backed hair and a sparkling smile. When he walked into the house---dressed in his thousand-dollar suit---I was surprised that this guy actually worked for the government. He looked like some overpriced lawyer. He was even carrying a briefcase and had a blue tooth in his ear.

“Mrs. Bloomberg, my name is Damon Matthews,” he said, flashing those pearly whites of his.

My mother shook his proffered hand. I lingered in the shadows, trying to get a feel for this guy. So far, the only DEO guys I liked were Fite and Maad. This guy seemed to be like the rest. He was smug and arrogant. He waltzed into my house like he owned the place, his lip even curled a bit when he looked about. Hey, it’s not easy when I burn pretty much everything I touch. I had half a mind to slip off the ring and burn this son of bitch’s nuts. What can I say, Cassie is very inspiring.

Damon sat at the table, setting the briefcase down in front of him. He opened it up and took out a file folder. “Am I right to assume that this young lady over here is in fact your son, now?”

My mother nodded. When she called, she gave the DEO a rundown of events. I’m not sure if they believed her or not but I was willing to show them if they had any doubts.

“She is.” Mom said then quickly added. “I explained all this to the agent on the phone.”

Damon nodded. “I’m just being thorough Mrs. Bloomberg.”

And thorough he was. He laid out all the cards, telling us what was going to happen now. It seemed the DEO wasn’t going to let me off the hook even though I could mask my powers. Fite and Maad would still be around to monitor me but now they’d be in the shadows, following at a distance. Damon also seemed kinda wary of the ring. He said the government knew of them and had had dealings with Jade in the past. She explained the use of them to his superiors and how they weren’t harmful. I thought for a second he was going to ask me to take it off but he didn’t. He probably knew what I looked like without it and didn’t want any part of it. Not that I could blame him.

“Now that we’ve gotten some of the pressing details out of the way, I want to get to the legal aspect of all this” he said, taking out another folder. “In here is your daughter’s new identity.”

I spoke up for the first time. “My what?”

He smiled at me. “The new you sweetie.”

I groaned. I hadn’t even thought about that. But I guess it made sense. If I wanted to live a normal life, I couldn’t very well do it as Eddie Bloomberg. But I thought it’d be a few days before they sprung this on me. “So who am I now?”

He opened the folder, allowing me to see. There was no picture of course. But there was a name. I’m not sure if I liked it. Mom sure didn’t when she read it aloud. “Ellie Jackson?”

Damon nodded. “Before you start to complain, Mrs. Bloomberg, let me remind you that we had your son declared legally dead a few days ago. Your husband has no family and your sister isn’t married. We couldn’t create a niece for you so we had to come up with an alternative. So Ellie Jackson will be a foster child that you took in to help fill the emptiness in your heart after losing your son.”

I got angry. “This is bull shit. I can’t be related to my mother anymore?”

“Not legally on paper.”

Mom frowned. “How will I explain her to others?”

Damon nodded, tapping the folder. “It’s all in here. Ellie” he said, stressing my name. “Won’t be able to officially start to live in this house until next month. It gives you time to grieve. Then we’ll enroll her in the same high school and take things from there.”

I groaned. This was definitely bull. “Does that mean I have to leave here?”

He shook his head. “No but it does mean that you’re going to have to remain in the house for the time being.”

My Mom didn’t like that. “I just got my son back and you want him to continue to hide?”

“Just until we get everything sorted.”

I wanted to punch the guy in the face but that wouldn’t have solved anything. So instead, I angrily bit my lip. Mom continued to frown but in the end, she agreed, a little bit reluctantly I might add. Damon smiled, leaving the two folders on the table. He stood up and shook Mom’s hand. When he tried to shake mine, I blew him off. There was no way I was going to let that slime touch me. I don’t think he was too upset. He sorta thumbed his nose at me and left, Mom showed him to the door. I stared at the folders on the table for a while. They were my new life now. I wanted to scream as loud as I could. Things were going too fast. I was still convinced this new look of mine was temporary anyways, Jade was confident she could fix it. I wonder what would happen to Ellie Jackson then.

Mom came back into the kitchen a minute or two later. She was frowning. “They want you to come into the city in the morning. They need to get your picture taken and do some tests.”

I nodded. “If you think it’s for the best Mom.”

She came into the room and hugged me. I cried on her shoulder this time. This whole thing sucked majorly.

We went into the living room after that. I sat on the couch, watching TV. It felt good to be able to hold the remote again. I sat there for a couple of hours, until about two thirty. When the doorbell rang, I didn’t even think about it. I just got up and answered it. Mom was downstairs in the laundry room and seeing, as I was the only one, I had no choice. It was kinda stupid when you think about it; I should have never answered the door. I regretted it as soon as I opened it and saw Cissie standing there. She was holding a stack of books close to her chest. When she saw me, she looked really confused.
Shit. I forgot about Cissie.

“Hi” she said softly, probably a little surprised to see a pretty girl answer her boyfriend’s door. “Is Eddie here?”

I groaned. This was not going to be easy.