A teenage boy and his mom are in an accident that links them together in a strange way and sets them on the path to becoming super heroes. This story takes place in my Legacy Universe.

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This is the nineteenth story in my Legacy Universe, but like the others, it can be read on its own. A complete list of the Legacy stories will be provided at the end of the story as well as the order in which they were written.

Invincible
By Morpheus

Miles stood atop a cliff staring down at the endless drop of death that stretched down below him. His heart raced in fear at the sight and he wanted to turn away, to do the smart thing and find another way down. However, forces beyond his control screamed that he had no choice.

“Come on,” his best friend Vic exclaimed from a few feet away. “Grow a pair why don’t you and go.”

Miles turned to glare at his friend defiantly, looking him over as he did so. Vic was a year older than him, having turned seventeen a couple weeks earlier. However, the fact that Vic was six feet tall and towered over him by six inches always made Miles seem even younger in comparison.

“Don’t rush me,” Miles grumbled, holding his skateboard tight and then looking back to the challenge he’d been dared to face.

The ‘cliff’ was hardly that at all and was actually nothing more than a long flight of steep concrete steps that Vic had challenged him to skate down at high speed. Miles gulped at the sight, thinking of how many possibilities there were for broken bones and how much it would hurt.

“My mom will kill me if I get hurt doing this,” Miles pointed out though they both knew that he would do this anyway. He was already getting onto his skateboard for the attempt.

Vic just laughed at that. “Just pretend you’re invincible like some kind of developed…”

Miles ran a hand through his short cropped blonde hair, then took a deep breath and exclaimed, “I’m invincible,” before hurling himself down the stairs on his skateboard. He made it more than halfway down before he fell off his board and landed painfully on the ground.

“Damn,” Vic exclaimed. “Are you all right?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Miles responded, getting up and deciding that he’d have a few good bruises but that nothing seemed to be broken. “It looks like I really am invincible. Now it’s your turn…”

“I don’t think so,” Vic joked with a broad grin. “Unlike some people, I’m not actually stupid enough to try this…”

“Bite me,” Miles grumbled.

But to his surprise, Vic made his own attempt down the steps a moment later. However, Miles felt jealous as Vic made it past him and all the way to the bottom before he wiped out. The other boy was back on his feet with a triumphant yell just a moment after hitting.

“Damn, I’m gonna miss this,” Vic sad as he ran up the steps with his skateboard in hand, stopping beside Miles.

Miles nodded at that, knowing that Vic wasn’t referring to the fact that they had less than a month until summer vacation was over and school started up again. That would put a damper on some of their fun but that wasn’t going to be what ended it. What Vic was referring to was the fact that his dad had a new job and their whole family was about to move halfway across the country. Though the boys had been friends for several years, they both knew that they’d probably never see each other again after this.

“I’ve got to get home and help with the packing,” Vic apologized reluctantly.

“I’ll come help,” Miles offered, though this wasn’t without certain selfish motivations.

Miles knew that if he went to Vic’s house, then he was surely going to see Vic’s twin sister Christine whom he had a bit of a crush on. Unfortunately, Christine made a clear point of ignoring Miles just because he was one of Vic’s friends. Now Miles knew that he’d never wear her down into agreeing to go on a date with him.

“Naw, I’ve got it,” Vic told him with a shrug. “I’ll see you tomorrow though and we can hang for a bit then…”

Miles shook his head at that. “No, tomorrow won’t work for me. I’ve got to go to work…” He let out an exaggerated sigh at that.

Vic stared at him in surprise. “Work? When did you get a job? And for that matter, who in their right mind would hire a pipsqueak like you?”

Miles rolled his eyes at that. “Not my job…my mom’s. I told you about that assignment they were giving out when I registered for the school year… They want everyone to do one of those career day things before school starts up again and we’re supposed to go to work with our parents or something…”

“Oh yeah,” Vic responded with a chuckle. “Glad I don’t have to do that one. It’s about the only good thing about moving. I can’t imagine being stuck in my dad’s office all day.”

“Too bad I can’t go with my dad,” Miles responded with a shrug. “I mean, he does real estate so he goes from house to house all day long.”

What Miles didn’t need to point out was the fact that his parents were divorced and his dad lived several states away. In fact, Miles hadn’t seen his dad in nearly six months and it had been almost two months since he’d even talked to him on the phone. Unfortunately, he hadn’t had much contact with his dad since the divorce a few years ago and even less since his dad got remarried. Apparently, his dad’s new wife didn’t want him to have anything to do with his old family…including Miles.

“Instead, I get to go to work with my mom,” Miles told Vic with a sigh, shaking his head as they walked back up to the top of the stairs. Then he filled his voice with sarcasm as he added, “Fun fun fun.”

“I guess I’ll just be home, packing up more of my stuff with Christine,” Vic said, watching Miles with a smirk. He knew that Miles had a thing for Christine and thought it was kind of funny, though he might not have if Christine had actually shown any interest back.

“Bite me,” Miles told Vic again. Then he paused to look back down the intimidating stairs before abruptly charging towards them again with his skateboard just to prove that he wasn’t afraid of them. “I am INVINCIBLE!”

After Miles made it all the way down, scraping his knee and elbow in the process, Vic just laughed and exclaimed, “Dude, you are totally crazy…”

Miles just laughed back, looking at his scraped knee and wincing at the pain though he refused to let Vic think it bothered him. He was a bit shaken by that last trip down the stairs and had momentarily even feared that he’d break his neck. However, he just grinned broadly and asked Vic, “So, you want to go again?”

Vic just shook his head and laughed. “I’d love to, but unfortunately, I’ve got to get home…”

“Chicken shit,” Miles teased him pleasantly.

“Pipsqueak,” Vic responded just as cheerfully.

Then as they hopped on their boards and began heading home, Miles couldn’t resist adding, “Bite me,” even as he glanced back towards the concrete steps. He’d been terrified of them at first but he’d still managed to overcome them. It almost made him feel as though he really was invincible.

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Allison Fletcher let out a long sigh of relief as she returned home from work. It had been a long day, though of course the drive home had been even longer thanks to the bad traffic jam that she’d been stuck in. Apparently, it had been caused by drivers slowing down to watch some developed who was showing off with his powers just a short distance from the road.

“There should be a law against people having powers,” Allison muttered to herself. “Or at least against using them in public.”

Then Allison stepped into the condo she shared with her son Miles and let the stress start leaching away, at least until she saw the soda cans and potato chips on the coffee table. Her son had even left his shoes and skateboard in the middle of the floor as well, regardless of the fact that she’d told him not to more than a dozen times this last week alone.

“Miles Henry Fletcher,” she called out loudly, knowing from experience that he could hear her from his bedroom…no matter how often he pretended otherwise. “Get your butt out here right now…”

Ten seconds later, Miles came out of his bedroom, letting out a yawn as though he’d just woken up from a nap. Allison wordlessly pointed to the mess he’d left but he just gave her a blank look as though he still didn’t comprehend. “Huh?” he even asked her with vague look of annoyance.

“Your mess,” she pointed out in a clipped tone. “How many times have I told you to clean up after yourself? Maybe if I stop buying soda and chips, they won’t be left all over the place…”

“Oh,” Miles responded, finally understanding. He rolled his eyes then went to clean up the soda cans and chips.

“And don’t forget your skateboard,” Allison reminded him.

While Miles was picking up his mess, Allison noticed that his elbow had a large bandage on, one she realized must be from playing on that skateboard. She stared at it in distaste, having always known it was too dangerous but not wanting to say anything.

His father had given it to him as a present and Miles would probably take any criticism of the skateboard as criticism of his father…or even himself. She wanted to say something about the injury as well but also had to bite her tongue on that, though it wasn’t easy. Miles seemed perfectly fine and he was always accusing her of being overprotective, and though she hated to admit it, he probably did have a point. It didn’t help that he was sixteen but looked closer to fourteen, making him appear even younger than he was.

Once she’d made sure that Miles had done as she asked, Allison went to the bathroom to take care of her business. While she was washing her hands afterwards, she looked at her reflection in the mirror, sighing faintly as she did so.

Allison was thirty-seven, though unfortunately, she thought she could have easily passed for five years older than that. She had shoulder length blonde hair which had contained reddish highlights when she was younger but which now looked dull and faded. She was still fairly slender but her figure had definitely taken a hit with her age.

Allison had once overheard Miles talking with his friend Vic and calling one of their teachers a MILF, but she was pretty certain that no one thought of her that way. After all, she’d never really been all that sexy even when she had been younger and in better shape.

By the time Allison returned to the living room a minute later, Miles had already retreated back to the disaster zone that he called his room. That was fine with Allison because she could use a little time by herself while she unwound from the day. As much as she loved her son, being around him was hardly a good way to avoid stress.

“Tomorrow should be interesting,” Allison mused wryly as she made herself comfortable on the couch and turned on the TV.

Allison worked for a research company, not as a scientist or anything of the sort but more as a glorified accountant. She was in charge of the supply department, taking the supply requisitions from the various other departments, making sure that they had the budget allotted for their requests, and then forwarding to the requests to the approved suppliers. It could be a stressful job at times but she was certain that Miles would see it as boring. In fact, when he came to work with her tomorrow so that he could see what she did, she fully expected him to be exclaiming that he was bored within half an hour.

“I almost wish Ralph had turned down my request,” Allison thought aloud. Unfortunately, her manager had thought that helping the local schools out with this career assignment would make for good public relations, regardless of the fact that it would make work a little less productive. “At least Miles might get a better idea of how I put food on the table.”

Then Allison began to focus on the local news station which was currently talking about the huge traffic jam she’d been caught in earlier, or at least talking about the man who’d caused the traffic jam. According to the news, the man was a known developed who loved using his powers just to show off and get attention. The local heroine called Praxis had finally shown up and chased him away but not before traffic had been backed up for hours.

“Those developed are a menace,” Allison muttered in annoyance that one person showing off could cause problems for so many normal people. It just didn’t seem right.

Allison didn’t really have anything against people with developed powers and even thought that some of those heroes were quite useful for protecting normal people. However, she wouldn’t have trusted most people she knew with super powers and held a certain belief that it was bound to go to their heads and make them think they were better than everyone else. And of course, it was well known that power corrupted. The number of super villains there were just seemed to confirm that. It just seemed ironic to her that there were laws about who was allowed to own a gun but there was nothing of the kind about developed powers and those could be far more dangerous.

After a minute, Allison turned off the TV since it wasn’t helping her relax any. Then again, the news was rarely good for that. Instead, she got up and reluctantly went to the kitchen to prepare something for dinner, absently wondering if she could somehow talk Miles into taking some cooking lessons. However, she quickly discounted that idea, knowing that she’d be more than hesitant to even try anything he made. That alone was enough to ensure that this remained one of her responsibilities around the house.

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Miles leaned back in his chair and absently played with the visitor’s badge he’d been given, watching his mom work and feeling bored. So far he’d been here for an hour and she’d barely even moved from her computer. In fact, the only interesting thing that he’d seen since coming here was the hot receptionist who’d been sitting out front. He absently wondered if he might be able to find some excuse to go see her again, though he had no illusions that she’d have even the slightest interest in him. Still, that would be a lot better than just sitting here being bored for the entire day.

Miles couldn’t help but wishing that he was somewhere else…anywhere else. He could be at the public pool doing some swimming or just hanging out with Vic while they still could. Instead, he was stuck having to do this school assignment while still on vacation, wasting his time as well as his mom’s. Though she had said she was happy to show him around her work, he had a feeling that she wasn’t really any more enthusiastic about this than he was.

Then his mom’s supervisor Ralph came into the office, asking Miles, “How’s it going?”

Ralph was overweight and balding though still rather nice in the ‘trying too hard’ sort of way that came off a bit fake. Still, he’d given Miles soda and told him to help himself to some of the break room donuts so Miles was willing to give him a pass.

“All right,” Miles told him with a shrug.

Ralph chuckled and said, “I imagine that you’re getting pretty bored about now.”

“A bit,” Miles responded suspiciously, wondering if this was some lead in to put him to work.

“Well, your mother’s work isn’t the most exciting,” Ralph said, giving her a nod. “But it is vital to keeping everything running. I think you might appreciate what we do a little more if we show you around…” Miles saw his mom stare at Ralph in surprise and then she said something about security. Ralph chuckled, “I’ll be here as an escort.”

“Well I do have some papers that I need Pearson to sign,” Allison said, standing up from her desk with a faint smile, grateful for the opportunity to take a break.

Miles followed being Ralph and his mom as they led him to the other side of the building, even using their badges to get through some doors. Miles was growing increasingly curious though he made sure not to show it. He even made a point of yawning as though still bored.

“As I’m sure your mother already told you,” Ralph told Miles with a cheerful smile. “Here at Darklight Industries, we research technological breakthroughs and try finding useful applications for them…”

With that, they stopped at another door and Ralph used his key card to open it. Miles was even more curious when they went inside and he saw that it looked like some kind of laboratory with electronics equipment all over the place as well as things that were obviously either in the process of being built or torn apart. In the far corner of the room was a platform with walls on three sides to form a smaller room. The contained area was empty except for the fact that there were ice crystals all over the floor and wall.

“Doctor Pearson,” Allison suddenly called out, going straight towards a tall and skinny man on the other side of the room. “I need your signature on this requisition form…”

“What is this place?” Miles asked, barely sparing a glance at his mom. His attention was on the platform with the ice crystals, which somehow seemed to be important.

“This is our cryogenics lab,” Ralph explained a little smugly. “They’re working on technology to flash freeze things…”

“Cool,” Miles responded, intentionally using the pun. “So, you’re like trying to make a freeze ray…”

Ralph just laughed at that and then responded, “Actually, we already have the freeze ray…”

“What?” Miles asked in surprise.

“What we’re doing here is trying to reverse engineer it so we can use the technology for other purposes,” Ralph explained, “such as creating small and inexpensive units that can flash freeze fresh food for transport.”

“So you have a freeze ray,” Miles said, not sure he understood this right, “but you’re trying to turn it into a freezer…”

“Pretty much,” Ralph admitted. “It might not sound very impressive, but selling cryogenic units to preserve fresh food would actually be much more profitable than selling freeze rays.” He gave Miles a wry grin and added, “Freeze rays might sound pretty exciting but I understand that they aren’t very efficient as a weapon.”

At this point, Miles noticed his mom coming back towards them, apparently having finished her business with Doctor Pearson. “So what are you two talking about?”

“I was just explaining what we hope to do with the cryogenics research,” Ralph told her with a smile. “Your son is quite inquisitive…”

Miles gave him a suspicious look at the obviously false compliment but didn’t say anything. After all, even though Ralph was up to something, it was still a compliment. Still, it did make Miles wonder what Ralph was up to.

“You see,” Ralph continued his little speech, “there are a number of brilliant scientists and inventors who tend to be rather…shortsighted. They often create innovative weapons which are used by various organizations on both sides of the law or in those ridiculous fights among those developed types. Most of these inventors don’t bother exploring other uses for their technology or even having it patented. Sometimes that technology is left behind after their skirmishes…such as the freeze ray. We acquire that technology and reverse engineer it so that we can find more practical applications.”

“So, you steal their stuff,” Miles said with a faint smirk, though Ralph didn’t take the bait. However, his mom did glare at him.

“Many researchers fear that their work could be weaponized,” Ralph said pleasantly. “Here, we take the technology and deweaponize it instead.” Then he paused to give Miles a smile. “If a mad scientist creates a death ray and we figure out how to turn it into a weed killer…I hardly think we need to feel guilty for it.”

“So,” Miles asked with a grin, almost licking his lips in anticipation “can I shoot this freeze ray?”

“NO,” his mom immediately responded, giving him a glare for even asking. Ralph gave him an almost apologetic look before shrugging.

A minute later, they left the cryogenics lab and started down the hallway. Ralph was lecturing about the company but Miles wasn’t paying much attention to what he said. Instead, he stared at the man, trying to figure out what he was up to. Sure, he’d been nothing but nice to Miles...but he’d been suspiciously so. Miles was used to being treated like a kid and ignored while Ralph was at least pretending to take him seriously, which most didn’t even bother with.

Then Miles notice the way Ralph kept glancing at his mom and suddenly realized exactly what he was up to. Ralph had a thing for his mom and was merely trying to use Miles to get on her good side. Miles smirked faintly at that realization, feeling much better now that he knew why Ralph was being so nice to him and taking him places that he probably shouldn’t. Still, Miles hoped that his mom didn’t end up dating Ralph and shuddered slightly at the thought. Sure, Ralph might be kind of nice but he was a bit too much of a dweeb.

As they continued down the hall, Ralph pointed to one door and said, “This lab is working on an antigravity device. So far, the technology would be too expensive to be practical for most applications but we hope to make it more cost effective…”

Miles tuned out most of what Ralph said, thinking that antigravity sounded pretty cool but his mom’s boss somehow managed to leach all the excitement from the idea. Instead of talking about flying cars, he seemed more interested in something about cost benefit analysis for shipping. Miles just shook his head, wondering how you could turn something cool into something lame. As far as he was concerned, this was just another mark against Ralph as a possible boyfriend for his mom.

“And this is our quantum generator project,” Ralph said as he stopped in front of another door. “With this, we have a potentially unlimited source of energy…”

“Actually, I need to talk with Doctor Zuma,” Allison said. “I might as well do that while we’re here…” Then as they went through the doors, she reminded Miles, “Remember, this is all confidential so you can’t tell anyone about this…”

“I know what confidential means,” Miles responded with an exasperated sigh. “I’m not stupid.”

At the same time, he wondered how he could do a report on this experience when he went back to school if he wasn’t even allowed to talk about it. It seemed like a waste of time that could be better spent skateboarding or checking out Christine.

“To be honest,” his mom continued as though he hadn’t spoken, giving Ralph a slight glare, “we never should have brought you to this area…”

“I’ll take full responsibility,” Ralph told her pleasantly. “Besides, this will be educational for the boy.”

When they went into the room, Miles looked around, trying to find anything like that ice box from the freeze ray room. However, he saw nothing of the sort, only a lot of weird equipment that made no sense to him. However, he did see something in the middle of the room that looked potentially interesting, a gold metal pillar about two feet across which went from floor to ceiling and which had all sorts of cables and wires attached to it.

“Zuma,” his mom called out, walking over to a dark skinned woman who was working on a computer

“So…where did this one come from?” Miles asked Ralph, to kill time just as much as from real curiosity.

“This was reverse engineered from the power source of some doomsday weapon,” Ralph stated with a grin.

“A doomsday weapon?” Miles gasped in surprise.

Ralph just nodded at that, obviously pleased by the interest Miles was showing. “You’d be amazed at how many doomsday weapons there are out there…” He shook his head. “It seems that most of those mad scientist types create at least one or two of them so they really add up. Those heroes tend to destroy most of them before they ever get used so we were pretty lucky to get our hands on this one. Still, this is the equivalent of taking a nuclear bomb and reverse engineering it to create a nuclear reactor. Doctor Zuma says that this should be a safe and stable source of energy which will make our company billions…”

“Billions?” Miles exclaimed in amazement. He couldn’t even imagine that much money. His reaction obviously pleased Ralph who looked even more smug.

Suddenly, there was a loud ‘BOOM’ followed by everything shaking. Miles just barely managed to keep from falling on his butt while Ralph yelled out, “Earthquake!” He immediately dove for cover beneath one of the work desks while Miles remained where he was, looking around in confusion.

A moment later, a loud siren began going off and Doctor Zuma exclaimed, “The security alarm…”

“Miles,” his mom yelled to him, rushing back to his side. “We have to get out of here…”

“It won’t do any good,” Ralph said, not coming out from under the desk. “That’s the security alarm… All the doors will automatically lock…”

“He’s right,” Doctor Zuma exclaimed as she ran to the door and tried opening it. “Everything locks down under a security threat…” She looked worried which made Miles worried.

“What’s going on?” Miles demanded, though it was obvious that no one else had any real idea either.

There was another ‘BOOM’ even louder than the first as well as even more shaking followed quickly by a third. Just then a section of the wall exploded in, creating a gaping hole and revealing a figure on the other side. The figure stepped through the hole and into the lab, pausing for a moment to look around.

“Holy shit,” Miles exclaimed, feeling a surge of fear. It said something about how afraid his mom was that she didn’t even warn him about using that kind of language.

The figure was a woman…or at least female in shape since her entire body appeared to be made out of metal. Most of her body was painted green or black though there were a few parts that were more of a dark gray color. Her face was one of the parts painted black which gave her something of an African appearance, an impression which was increased by the dark gray metal cables that came from the back of her head and hung down, looking almost like dreadlocks. Then Miles noticed something else, that she had thin glowing green lines running over her body, forming patterns similar to a circuit board.

“Objective located,” the metal woman stated in a flat voice, staring straight at the gold metal pillar in the middle of the room.

“Oh shit,” Miles whispered, crouching down and trying to stay hidden behind some of the lab equipment, silently praying at the same time that this intruder didn’t see him. He had absolutely no idea of who she was or what she really wanted but had a feeling that it would be best to avoid being noticed by her.

The metal woman walked to the computer that Doctor Zuma had been working on and put her hand on it. Suddenly, glowing green lines like the ones on her body began to appear all over the computer monitor and tower. She stood there for a moment before pulling her hand away, making the glowing green lines vanish from the computer as she did so.

“Data acquired,” the metal woman stated and then turned to look at the gold metal pillar again.

“NO,” Doctor Zuma yelled. “You can’t do this…”

The metal woman didn’t say a word as she held her hand out towards Doctor Zuma and fired a blast of blue energy which hit her in the chest. Doctor Zuma was thrown back and hit the ground with a gaping hole through her. Miles could only stare in horror.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit,” Ralph was muttering over and over again.

“Oh God,” Allison whimpered. “This can’t be happening…”

Miles looked to his mom hopefully, knowing that there was nothing she could do but still being unable to help the old habit of looking to her for help. Then he looked at the metal woman, feeling his heart race in fear. He’d always fantasized about running into some kind of super villain and somehow being the only person who was able to stop them. However, this was far more terrifying than he’d ever imagined and he had no illusions about being able to stop this one. At best, he could avoid being noticed and survive.

Miles clenched his hands, feeling frustration as well as the fear. He felt so weak and helpless that this reminded him of when he was younger and used to get picked on by bullies at school all the time. He’d only gotten that to stop by refusing to let them see how afraid he was, by convincing them that he wasn’t a victim. Miles absolutely hated the fact that he was once again put in that position, especially since there was nothing he could do to change it.

The metal woman tore open the gold pillar and revealed more machinery which had been inside. She didn’t hesitate before reaching inside and pulling out another tube which was three feet long and a foot across. It was mostly black metal but in the middle of it there was a transparent section which slowed a glowing red sphere inside.

“The quantum core has been acquired,” the metal woman said, appearing to be talking to herself. “Beginning withdrawal.”

With that, the metal woman held up the hand that wasn’t holding the stolen equipment and fired a blast of energy at one of the walls, blowing a large hole in it the same way she had to enter. Miles stared as she started to walk out, wondering why she hadn’t just gone the way she’d come. But then he stopped wondering and stared at the ruined equipment in the middle of the lab which had sparks flying from it. And as he watched, flames began to appear.

“We have to get out of here,” Ralph exclaimed, rushing to the door which was still locked. “Damn security…”

Suddenly, the equipment that the metal woman had torn apart exploded on one side, sending a wave of fire all across one side of the lab. The fire spread along the floor and wall and began moving towards them. Ralph and Allison both started pounding at the door and screaming for help.

“Why isn’t the fire system going off?” Ralph demanded in a near panic, looking to the ceiling in desperate hope.

Miles stared at them and then looked around before realizing that there was another way out of the room. “We can leave through the hole,” he called out, pointing to the one that the metal woman had made during her departure. Miles glanced to the other hole she’d made when arriving but that one was blocked by the fire. Ironically, the only way he could see to get out would be to follow the woman who’d caused all this.

“We can’t go after her,” Allison exclaimed, staring at the hole in fear. However, Ralph was already starting towards it, deciding that the fire was probably more dangerous than the metal woman. After only a moment of hesitation, Miles and his mom followed.

They entered a large storage room that also had a locked door as well as another gaping hole in the far wall. Since they had little choice, they continued following after the metal woman, stepping through the opening and then leaving the building entirely. They were in the large loading area behind the building, though they quickly saw that they weren’t safe yet.

Miles stared at the metal woman who stood only twenty yards away, still holding the tube she’d stolen from the lab. He was sure she would have gotten away by now, though it only took him a moment longer to see why she hadn’t. She wasn’t alone. There was another figure floating in the air a short distance away from her.

The floating woman had fairly short dark hair and a killer body that was clearly visible through the red and white spandex costume she was wearing. She even had a red cape and a red belt with a gold buckle that included red gem in the middle of it. She was also familiar looking since Miles had seen her on the local news a few times and had even seen her flying overhead once or twice. This was a local super hero called Praxis.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Praxis exclaimed, floating in the air with her hands on her hips in what Miles thought was supposed to be a tough pose.

“Your statement is inaccurate,” the metal woman responded. “Your opposition is irrelevant.”

“Oh shit,” Miles exclaimed, watching the two developed women in amazement.

“We have to get out of here,” his mom exclaimed, grabbing his arm to pull him away.

Suddenly, Praxis threw herself at the metal woman who responded by firing a blast of energy from her free hand. The blast of energy went right through Praxis as though she was a ghost and a moment later, Praxis punched the metal woman with a force that Miles could feel. The metal woman was sent flying backwards and she dropped the tube she’d stolen in the process.

“That’s awesome,” Miles blurted out, suddenly more interested in watching the fight than in getting away.

“No it’s NOT,” his mom yelled, pulling him away even harder, looking at the fight with obvious fear in her eyes.

“Come on,” Ralph exclaimed, already running and leaving them behind.

The metal woman opened fire with energy blasts from both hands and then launched herself forward and hit Praxis. Praxis was knocked back but quickly rebounded, hitting the metal woman and sending her smashing into the ground right next to where she’d left the tube. There was a loud cracking sound and suddenly red energy began to pour out of the tube.

“The quantum core has been breached and is rapidly destabilizing,” the metal woman stated as she looked down at it. “The core must be abandoned but the data remains safe. Your interference results in the delay of my plans, not cancellation. Further conflict with you at this time is pointless.” And with that, she opened fire on Praxis, hitting the hero and sending her flying back. While Praxis was recovering, the metal woman suddenly began to float up into the air and then quickly flew off, leaving the broken device behind.

Miles took one more look at the glowing energy that was coming from the dropped tube and then ran as fast as he could with his mom right beside him, though she had a hard time running in her heels. Ralph had already left both of them well behind and seemed to have no intention of waiting for them to catch up, not that Miles could blame him. Still, Miles might be slowed down by his mom but he wasn’t about to leave her like that.

“I have to get rid of this thing,” Praxis was exclaiming with a note of fear in her voice. Miles didn’t even bother looking back, knowing that she was talking about the tube.

But then, Allison tripped and fell to the ground. Miles immediately stopped to help his mom up, frantically looking back to where Praxis was picking up the leaking tube, looking as though she planned on flying away with it. “Come on,” Miles frantically urged his mom, helping her back to her feet.

“Go,” she ordered him fearfully. “I’ll catch up…” Still, she accepted his help getting back to her feet.

Suddenly, there was another loud cracking sound from the leaking tube followed by a burst of red energy that swept outward in a wave. Miles saw it coming towards him just a second before it hit and he let out a long scream that was echoed by the one coming from his mom.

Miles felt a searing pain which burned through every fiber of his body, an agony unlike any that he’d ever felt before in his life or had ever even imagined. For a brief instant, it was as though this was the only thing that was real, the only thing that existed at all. Then just as suddenly as it had come, it was over and he collapsed to the ground, no longer hurting but still feeling a strange tingle and a sense that something had changed.

“Oh God,” his mom exclaimed from beside him. “Miles, are you okay?”

“I…I think so,” he responded after a moment though he wasn’t certain at all. He slowly got back to his feet, finding that his entire body felt weak and rubbery but at least there was no pain. He looked at his mom and finished helping her up as well, just as he’d been doing when the wave hit. “I think so…”

“Nothing seems to be broken,” she muttered, sounding relieved though looking worried.

Miles nodded numbly, not seeing anything wrong with himself or even his mom. Then he remembered Praxis and looked to where she’d been about to take off with that broken tube. However, there was no sign of the tube or Praxis…though to his surprise, he saw that there were actually two naked people there instead.

There was a naked man who was slowly standing up, looking dazed and confused. Then he stared down at himself with a look of surprise and began to grab at his body. However, Miles was less interested in him and his strange behavior than in the naked woman who was just a short distance away from the man. She got up as well and then began to duplicate his actions, looking down at herself in surprise and then feeling her body.

“I’m me again,” the man exclaimed. “I’m back in my own body…”

“Me too,” the woman said a moment later, grinning broadly. Then she stared at the man and burst out laughing. “We’re free… We’re finally separate…”

The man stared at the woman for a moment before saying, “I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time…” And with that, he grabbed her in passionate embrace and began kissing her.

A moment later, Miles suddenly found his mom’s hand over his eyes as she tried blocking this from his view. He couldn’t resist smirking and called out, “Get a room,” even as he pushed his mom’s hand away.

The man and woman pulled away from each other and stared at Miles and his mom in surprise, blushing brightly as they realized that they weren’t alone. Then they looked to each other and grinned, grabbing hold of each other’s hands again. Suddenly, there was a flash of light and the couple were gone, replaced by Praxis who was fully dressed in her costume.

“I’m Praxis again,” she exclaimed in surprise, looking down at herself and muttering, “That didn’t last long…”

Miles stared at her with his mouth open, gasping, “Holy shit…”

“Watch your language,” his mom said from beside him, more out of habit than anything since she was staring at the hero in surprise as well.

Praxis frowned with a look of concentration and suddenly there was another flash of light and she was gone, with the naked man and woman reappearing. They looked down at themselves and then each other and began laughing.

“We can merge and separate at will,” the woman exclaimed.

“Probably because this was so much like the accident that merged us,” the man said thoughtfully. Then he glanced back to Miles and his mom and added, “We should probably talk about this somewhere more private.”

“Agreed,” the woman said.

A moment later, the man and woman had once again been replaced by Praxis. She looked at Miles and Allison and said, “You two seem all right but you should probably go to the hospital and get checked out…just in case.” Then she nodded slightly before flying up into the air and then off into the distance.

“That was awesome,” Miles finally blurted out, feeling excited now that the danger was all gone.

“That was TERRIFYING,” his mom snapped at him, still looking a bit shaken. Then she looked around and muttered, “Figures Ralph would just leave us like that…”

Miles smiled faintly at that, pleased since this meant that there was no chance his mom would be dating Ralph. It wasn’t that he had anything against Ralph, but the idea of his mom dating the guy wasn’t a good one. However, what was a good idea was how his friends would react when he told them that he got to be front row in a battle between two developed. Of course, when he told them about it, he’d neglect to mention that he nearly pissed his pants.

“Come on,” his mom said, already walking away. “We’re leaving…”

“Where are we going?” Miles asked, hoping it was home.

“The hospital,” she responded with a deep scowl. “That…that woman was right. We need to get checked out. Who knows what that might have done to us…?”

Miles shook his head and sighed, knowing his mom was right but not liking it. Still, once they were done with that, he’d be able to call Vic and tell him all about this. Miles chuckled to himself, knowing that his friend would be jealous.

--------------------

Miles lay in bed, looking over at the alarm clock which said it was 2 AM, feeling frustrated since he was tired but still unable to fall asleep. Instead, he kept thinking of the events of the day, running them through his mind over and over again. He still had a hard time believing this had all happened.

At first, Miles had been absolutely terrified, more than he’d ever been before in his entire life. Afterwards, he’d been briefly filled with excitement but then came the crash and the realization of just how close he’d come to actually dying. He knew that his mom was just as shaken and he’d even caught her drinking some vodka before going to bed. She hated that strong stuff and usually didn’t drink anything more than an occasional glass of wine.

After everything was over, Miles and his mom had been forced to answer a bunch of questions from the police as well as go to the hospital to get checked out. In spite of the fact that both he and his mom felt weird, the doctors weren’t able to find anything wrong with them at all. In the end, they were sent home with a clean bill of health and appointments to come back for follow up exams.

Miles sat up in bed, deciding that it was pointless to try sleeping at the moment. He looked to the bedroom door and knew that his mom was still up to. He couldn’t hear her but he could actually feel her walking down the hallway. Ever since the explosion, he’d sort of felt connected to his mom in a strange way and could even feel where she was. It had slowly grown stronger since then and was scaring him a bit, though of course he’d never admit that to her.

“This is crazy,” Miles muttered. “Fucking insane…”

After a moment of hesitation, Miles climbed out of bed entirely and put on his sweat pants. Then he left his room and went to the kitchen where he could feel his mom through this strange connection they now shared. She was standing in front of the fridge with a carton of milk in hand, not looking surprised to see him up either. Of course, she could feel him the same way that he could her.

“You couldn’t sleep either,” she said with a gentle smile. “How about a glass of warm milk? That used to help you get to sleep when you were a kid.”

“No thanks,” Miles responded with a shrug. “Maybe some of that leftover lasagna from dinner last night…”

“Sure, why not,” she told him with a sigh.

A few minutes later, the two of them were sitting at the table eating reheated lasagna. And though both of them were thinking about the strange events of the day, neither said a word about it. The fact that they both knew they were thinking about the same things was enough.

Miles took a bite of his snack and looked at his mom, frowning as he did so. He could still feel her presence…even more than ever before. And not only that, he could feel a strange sort of pressure that had been growing stronger along with that strange odd awareness. Both had become far too strong to ignore.

“Tomorrow,” his mom abruptly said, giving him a worried look as she did so. “Or later today I guess… I’m going to see if I can find another doctor to check us out. Obviously, something is very wrong with us…”

Miles just nodded, knowing that there was definitely something wrong but not wanting to think about it. A part of him sort of hoped that if he didn’t think about it then it wouldn’t be real and would just go away. However, another part of him kept thinking of everything that could be going wrong with him thanks to that weird explosion.

“I guess that’s a good idea,” Miles reluctantly admitted, suddenly having visions of getting cancer.

With that, she reached out to gently grab his hand with a comforting squeeze, but the moment they touched Miles suddenly felt the pressure inside of him explode. In an instant, he felt his mom’s presence a hundred times stronger than before and the pressure seemed to throw him right at her. His entire being felt as though it was burning and being torn apart and he tried to scream but before it could come out of his throat, it was over and everything had changed.

Miles was thrown back from the table and toppled from his chair, hitting the floor hard in the process though he barely felt it. He quickly got back to his feet, suddenly feeling unbelievably strange, though not entirely in a bad way. As soon as he was back on his feet, he looked around in confusion, surprised to find that he was now on the opposite side of the table from where he had been…and even more…that there was a teenage boy on the floor across from him.

“What the hell?” Miles started, then froze at the sound of his voice. It wasn’t his voice.

Then Miles was struck by the realization that the guy who was getting up from the floor was the very same one he saw every time he looked in the mirror. He was even wearing the same sweat pants that Miles himself was. He quickly looked down at himself and his eyes went wide as he saw that he wasn’t wearing his own clothes anymore but was in fact wearing the sweat suit his mom had been wearing. Of course, the two bulges pushing out from his chest were hers as well…though they somehow seemed far larger than they ever had on her.

“What the fuck?” Miles exclaimed at the same moment the apparent boy demanded, “What’s going on?”

Then Miles looked down at himself again, especially at the breasts he now seemed to possess and gulped. “Mom?” he hesitantly asked the apparent boy.

“Miles?” she responded from his body, staring at him with an expression of stunned disbelief. “Is that you?”

“Yeah,” he responded awkwardly, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious. “I…I think that weird explosion made us switch bodies…”

“That’s not MY body,” she told him, still staring at him intently. “I mean, you’re wearing my clothes but you don’t look like me…”

Miles blinked at that. “I don’t? But you look just like me…”

Miles looked down at himself yet again, seeing his mom’s clothes and her feminine curves beneath them, though he had to admit that what little he could see did seem a bit nicer than he remembered his mom having. He shook his head, feeling the long hair brushing his shoulders and tickling this neck a little

“This isn’t possible,” his mom muttered, grabbing at her chest much as the naked man and woman had been doing previously. Then she reached between her legs and winced before abruptly yanking her hand back. “This just isn’t possible…”

“No shit,” Miles muttered, hesitantly reaching for the bulges on his chest before pulling them back before actually making contact. He gave his mom a quick glance. “What the fuck…?”

“Watch your language,” she snapped automatically.

Miles just stared at her for a moment before he abruptly burst out laughing. “If now isn’t the time for swearing, I don’t know when is.”

His entire body felt different…strange. But oddly enough, it didn’t really feel bad. In fact, he felt strangely good and full of energy. He wanted to get a better look at himself, though he dreaded doing so at the same time. However, what made him most curious was that his mom had said he didn’t look like her.

Before Miles could make a move, his mom already rushed out of the kitchen and hurried straight to her bedroom. He followed behind, curious as to what she was up to. But when they reached her bedroom, he saw her stopping in front of the large mirror on the back of the closet doors and staring at herself.

“I look like you,” she blurted out, her eyes wide with horror.

Miles moved to see himself in the mirror and then let out a loud gasp at the sight of his own reflection. His mom was right. He wasn’t in her body, or at least not her body as he was used to seeing it.

The woman in the mirror looked about ten years younger than his mom, maybe a little more. She was in her mid-twenties, and from what he could see through the baggy sweat clothes, she seemed to have a killer body with firm muscle tone and great curves. Her hair went down past her shoulders, a few inches longer than his mom’s, and it was red with faint golden highlights.

“Holy shit,” Miles whispered, thinking that she was a total babe. He was a total babe. “No fucking way…”

He grabbed at his breasts and gave them a squeeze to confirm that they were indeed real and a part of his body. At the moment, he no longer even cared that his mom was right there.

Miles continued to stand there, silently staring at his reflection in shock and confusion, hardly able to believe that this was real. He couldn’t have somehow switched bodies with his mom and then turned into a hottie… It was totally impossible. Then again, he reminded himself that in a world where people could develop super powers, just about anything was possible.

“What did that energy to do us?” his mom demanded, though she seemed to talking to herself.

Miles finally shook his head and said, “I think I look a little like you… I mean, a little…” His mom gave him a curious look and he added, “In the face I mean… Maybe a bit like if you had a younger sister…”

Then Miles turned and left his mom’s room, giving her some privacy while she stared at herself in the mirror. He wanted some privacy himself. He was scared and confused, but at the same time, this just didn’t seem real. It was almost like some sort of strange dream that he was sure he was going to wake up from at any moment.

Miles went to his own room and closed the door, making sure to lock it. Then he began taking off the sweat suit he was wearing so he could see his transformed body more closely.

“I’ve got boobs,” he whispered, seeing that they were nice sized, round, and perfectly shaped. He’d only seen a real girl’s boobs once before, when he’d caught sight of Christine by accident once when he was over hanging out with Vic. Hers were much smaller than his now were, though he guessed that he might be a DD cup or so. They were about the size of one of the teachers at school and everyone whispered that she had double D’s. “Big ones…”

Miles thought that his new boobs felt weird and nice at the same time, though he felt a bit awkward with looking them over like this. After all, he thought that this might be his mom’s body…sort of. After all, she was in his body and he was wearing her clothes.

“None of this makes any sense,” he muttered to himself.

Miles quickly looked over the rest of his body, seeing that it was indeed nice. He had firm muscle tone that was noticeably there, yet not too ripped or bulging. Sure, he wanted ripped and bulging muscles on his own body, but he’d never thought them attractive on girls.

Then Miles hesitantly felt between his legs, finding that his little buddy was indeed gone and there was something else in its place, something that belonged on a girl instead. He shuddered, suddenly afraid to explore anymore.

Miles quickly put the sweat suit back on, feeling sort of guilty for the self-exploration and even a little nauseous. After all, this was sort of his mom’s body so looking it over like that just seemed wrong. Then again, he told himself that she was probably checking his body out in her room. That thought made him feel even more sick to his stomach so he decided to just not think about it.

A short time later, Miles was sitting in the living room with his mom, both of them staring at each other and trying to make sense of this. It was weird…too weird to possibly be a dream. Miles was sure that if he was having a dream, this wouldn’t be it. His imagination just wasn’t this twisted.

“I can’t believe the quantum reactor did this to us,” his mom exclaimed, tears running down her cheeks. “This isn’t possible… I can’t be you… We need to see a doctor as soon as possible…”

“I don’t think our normal doctor is going to be able to do anything about this,” Miles pointed out weakly. “Hell, I don’t know if any doctors would be able to fix this…” He started to reach for his chest again but then stopped and pulled his hands away self-consciously.

Miles closed his eyes and realized that he could still feel that strange connection to his mom, that he could feel her presence beside him. Obviously that weird sense of connection was part of this whole messed up situation.

“Damn,” Miles exclaimed, hitting the coffee table in frustration. But as his fist hit it, the wood just shattered under the impact while he barely felt it at all. He stared at the destroyed table and then his hand, his mouth dropping open. “Holy shit…”

“Miles!” his mom exclaimed, alternately staring at him and the ruined table with a look of shock on her face. “Are you all right? Did you hurt your hand?”

“No,” he responded, holding his hand up and staring at it for a moment. It was a woman’s hand with nice feminine nails. He made a fist out of it and felt absolutely no pain or injury at all from the impact. “It didn’t hurt at all…”

His mom looked even more worried than before, whispering, “What does this mean?”

“I think,” Miles started thoughtfully, feeling a mixture of fear and excitement. “I think I might be developed…”

This time, it was his mom who exclaimed, “Shit…”

This entire situation was more than Miles could bear to think about so he tried to focus on the one potential positive of this…the idea that he might have gained super powers along with this new body. He grinned faintly as he got up, grabbing the recliner and then picking it up. It felt so light to him that this proved he now had enhanced strength if nothing else.

“No way,” Miles gasped. Then he glanced at the ruined coffee table and grinned, his eyes going to a solid oak cabinet in the corner of the room.

“Don’t you even think about it,” his mom snapped at him, giving him a glare that just didn’t seem nearly as effective as normal since it was coming from his face. Miles nearly laughed instead.

“You should try it too,” he insisted. “See if you’re stronger…”

“This is ridiculous,” she insisted stubbornly. “I don’t want some silly super power… I just want to get us both back to normal as quickly as possible.”

“Go ahead and try,” Miles urged her again.

After another minute of urging, she finally tried lifting the couch, grimacing as she lifted one end a little and then dropped it back to the ground. She scowled, looking annoyed and even a little disappointed.

“It’s heavy,” she grumbled.

“Maybe you have a different power,” Miles suggested hopefully.

“I already told you,” she responded with a glare. “I don’t want any super powers… I don’t want to be developed… I just want to get back to being myself.”

Miles nodded, his enthusiasm fading under the realities of the situation. He certainly didn’t want to be stuck like this either. The idea seemed absolutely insane, and then there was the matter of what his friends would say. He was sure that Vic would tease him mercilessly when he found out.

“Damn,” Miles said with a sigh. His mom just nodded agreement.

Miles closed his eyes, once again feeling this strange link to his mom. He knew that this was what had switched them…somehow. He pulled on the link and was surprised to see that his mom felt it. She jumped slightly and stared at him in surprise.

“I can sort of feel that,” she said, closing her eyes and pushing on the link as well so that Miles felt it.

Suddenly, Miles was hit with the same powerful sensations that he’d felt earlier, a sense of pressure and being pulled towards his mom. Everything seemed to burn and twist, then a moment later it was over.

“Damn,” Miles exclaimed, freezing when he realized that it came in his own voice.

Miles looked down at himself and saw that he was back in his own body again. He let out a sigh of relief and looked to his mom, seeing that she seemed to be back in her own body as well…and looking like her old self rather than like the babe that he’d been.

“I’m me again,” Miles said with an intense sense of relief. He laughed at that. “It wore off…”

“Thank God,” his mom said with her own sigh of relief. She quickly felt her breasts almost as though to make sure that they were indeed back. “It’s over…”

Miles nodded at that, though he wasn’t quite so certain it was really over. He closed his eyes and he could still sense his mom’s presence. The strange pressure seemed to have faded away, but he could tell that the link to her was somehow still there.

“After all this excitement,” his mom said, letting out a loud yawn, “I’m finally done for... It’s way too early to be up so I’m going to bed and think you should too. Hopefully, in the morning we’ll have forgotten all about this…”

Miles nodded and began making his way back to his own room, wondering how he could possibly get to sleep now. His mind had already been too occupied for him to sleep before, and now…. He shook his head, hoping that he could still manage to get to sleep anyway. He hoped that his mom was right and when he woke up, this would all turn out to have been a dream.

--------------------

Allison rubbed her temples, silently cursing everything that had been going wrong in the last two days. It was as though her entire life had been turned upside down and she didn’t know what to do.

First had been that nightmare at work yesterday when that strange metal woman had caused all that destruction and then finished it off with the explosion that she and Miles had been caught in. And as if all that wasn’t enough, the strange events of last night had taken it to a new level.

Allison shuddered as she remembered being in Miles’ body, still hardly able to believe it had really happened. Fortunately, it had suddenly worn off just as suddenly as it happened.

“But it isn’t over,” she whispered to herself.

She could still feel that strange connection to Miles, could feel him where he was currently hiding out in his room. That was disturbing but not quite as bad as the pressure which she felt building along that link.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” she muttered. “A very bad feeling.”

At the moment, Allison wished she was at work like she’d normally be at this time since that would keep her too busy to worry about all this, but that just wasn’t possible. The entire company was shut down while they were cleaning up the damage and investigating the intrusion. Allison and most of the other employees had been told to stay home for the next week.

“At least I’m getting a bonus from all this,” she said with a sigh. Actually, it was more of a compensation that the company was giving to all the employees who’d been caught up in this, probably in order to reduce the chance of a lawsuit. Still, she could use the extra money.

Allison shook her head and then started for the kitchen, trying to distract herself by seeing what she could get going for dinner. She started looking through the fridge but her thoughts kept turning back to the strange things that she’d been feeling ever since that explosion.

“I can’t believe I was really a teenage boy,” she muttered with another shake of her head.

Her attention went back to the strange link she now shared with Miles, feeling him and the building pressure. Then as she focused on this pressure, it suddenly exploded inside of her and she could feel herself being thrown down the link towards Miles, just as she had last night.

An instant later, Allison gasped in shock as she suddenly found herself in her son’s bedroom, sitting on his bed with a video game controller in her hand. She looked down, already knowing what she’d see.

“No,” Allison cried out in horror at seeing that she was in Miles’ body again. “No… Not again…”

Allison rushed back to the kitchen where she found Miles, looking just like he did last night. She froze and stared at him, feeling a strange mixture of worry and envy.

“No fucking way,” Miles exclaimed. “Not again…”

Allison glared at Miles, about to warn him about using that kind of language but then just shook her head. Considering the circumstances, she couldn’t really blame him.

She stared at Miles, wondering what in the world was going on. Somehow, they not only switched bodies but Miles somehow changed even more. While she was in his body, looking exactly like him, he somehow looked younger and much sexier than she did. And then there was the bit about him somehow seeming to have super strength as well.

“We’ve got to switch back,” Allison insisted, trying to remain calm and act as though this was under control, though the truth was far from that. “It worked last night so we’ll just have to do whatever we did then…”

“I was just playing my game,” Miles muttered, staring down at himself and looking as though he was tempted to grab at his breasts. “Not again… Vic will never let me hear the end of this…”

Allison closed her eyes, taking several deep breaths and trying to make sense of it. She was distracted by the odd feel of her own body but tried not to think about it. Instead, she tried to think about what she and Miles had been doing last night when they switched places…and when they switched back.

“I think I triggered it this time,” Allison mused aloud. “I was messing with that strange link when this happened… But last night, all we did was touch each other when we had that weird pressure…”

“I was messing with the link last night when we switched back,” Miles admitted awkwardly.

Allison hesitantly reached for her chest and frowned, finding the flatness to be uncomfortable. The absence of the usual flesh and weight was somewhat distracting. She shuddered as she thought of what was between her legs.

“We need to switch back,” she said, closing her eyes and feeling for the link. She tried pushing it, trying to somehow make them switch back but she felt some sort of resistance. “It’s not working…”

“I’m trying too,” Miles said after a minute, looking disgusted. Then he grimaced and blurted out, “Damn,” hitting his hand on the counter and suddenly shattering it.

Allison jumped back and yelled, “MILES…”

“I didn’t mean to,” he blurted out, staring at the wrecked counter and then his hand. “It was an accident…”

For a moment, Allison glared at him but then decided to focus on their real problem for now. They spent the next ten minutes trying to reach for each other through their link but they could only feel a resistance and no indication that they were switching back.

“Maybe it needs more time to wear off,” Miles suggested hopefully, though it was obvious that he didn’t believe it.

Even though Allison was frightened and confused, she reminded herself that they’d switched back last night. That meant they could switch back to normal again. They just needed to remain calm and figure out how to do so.

“A doctor,” she exclaimed. “We need a doctor…”

“Like doctors know anything about this,” Miles pointed out with a skeptical snort. It sounded rather strange in his female voice.

Allison scowled in annoyance, knowing that Miles was right. Most doctors wouldn’t know anything about this kind of strange thing but surely there were specialists she could contact. After all, there were a lot of developed running around so there would have to be experts on them and their weird medical conditions. She figured that this kind of doctor would be the best suited to help her and Miles.

After searching online for over half an hour, Allison came to the conclusion that most of the people who claimed to be specialists in ‘exotic’ and ‘developed’ medical situations were really no more qualified than her normal family doctor. From what she could tell, there were only a handful of real experts and she couldn’t be sure how to contact any of them on short notice.

Then of course, there was still the question of whether her insurance would even cover something like this. She knew Darklight Industries had some nice benefits, but she wasn’t sure this was one of them.

“Miles,” Allison called out, suddenly realizing that it was too quiet. She started towards his bedroom but then paused, realizing that she couldn’t feel his presence from there. Instead, she felt it coming from outside.

A minute later, Allison stepped into the condo parking lot and found Miles lifting up the front end of her car, obviously trying out his developed strength. She gasped in shock and then demanded, “Miles Henry Fletcher, you put that down, right this instant. You’ll break it….”

“I was just trying to see how strong I am now,” Miles responded after he’d set the car down. He rolled his eyes and added, “It’s not like I was breaking it…”

“That’s not the point,” Allison protested. “You could have… And besides, I don’t want anyone seeing us like this…especially not using that power…” She gave him a strong glare of disapproval as they went back inside the condo.

Miles just snorted. “What’s the point in having powers if I can’t even try them out?”

“Listen,” Allison snapped at him, slapping her hand against the wall to try getting his attention. However, instead of hitting the wall, her palm when right through it as though it wasn’t even there. She froze and gasped, “What the…?”

“No way,” Miles blurted out, staring at her hand with a grin. “Do it again…”

Allison pulled her hand out of the wall and then stared at it for a moment before hesitantly reaching out to the wall and slowly touching it…or at least trying to. Her hand went right through the wall again. She yanked her hand back out and then hesitantly tried again, but this time her hand actually hit the surface of the wall and was stopped just like it always had been before.

“You can turn intangible,” Miles said with a broad grin. “It looks like it made us both developed… I’ve got super strength and you can probably walk through walls…”

“No,” Allison started, but then with a thought she found that she could push her hand right through the wall again. She once again yanked it back out, her heart racing with a mixture of fear and excitement. A moment later, guilt was added as she thought that it wasn’t right to feel excited about turning into some kind of freak. “Who knows how much is wrong with us… We have to find some kind of doctor… Hell…we need to switch back.”

Miles nodded at that, but he started to smirk anyway and warned, “Watch your language young man…” Allison responded by giving him her deepest glare which only earned laughter in response.

“This is NOT funny,” she told him, though when she thought about it, she couldn’t resist chuckling just a little as well. It was kind of funny…in a completely sick and twisted way. Then again, maybe it was simply the choice between laughing at the situation or crying.

With that, Allison closed her eyes and felt the link back to Miles, noticing that the sense of resistance had decreased drastically since the last time she’d tried forcing them to switch back. She felt a surge of hope and pushed at it but the resistance still stopped her. However, the fact that the resistance was decreasing left her filled with hope that they’d only have to wait a little longer before being able to undo this.

“But it won’t be soon enough,” Allison muttered to herself, suddenly realizing that her bladder was full and that she really needed to empty it. “Oh no…”

Allison went to the bathroom and stared at the toilet for a moment, feeling uncomfortable with the thought of going to the bathroom in her son’s body. However, she had to go so she might as well do it.

She pulled down her pants and was about to sit down, then paused to chuckle. She’d always felt a vague curiosity about what it would be like to pee standing up.

“I can’t believe I’m doing this,” she muttered with a weak chuckle.

With that, Allison began to relieve herself, but to her surprise, the stream of urine shot to the side rather than hitting the bowl like she’d intended. She muttered a quick profanity and looked at her borrowed penis, feeling extremely self-conscious as she did so. It seemed that the skin was pinched or something. She grimaced, feeling even more embarrassed than before.

“I can’t believe I’m touching his…,” Allison started, then shook her head. “Damn this is embarrassing.” Still, at least she felt relief at having emptied her bladder.

Once Allison was finished in the bathroom, she returned to the living room in a much better mood. It helped that she could feel the resistance in her link to Miles getting even weaker which made her certain that it wouldn’t be much longer before they could switch back again.

Miles was sitting down on the couch and she caught him quickly pulling his hands away from his breasts, making it obvious that he was exploring his own body while she’d been taking care of her business. She couldn’t very well scold him for doing so considering what she’d just done so pretended instead that she hadn’t noticed.

“I wonder,” Allison mused, staring down at her hand and remembering the way it had gone through the wall earlier. It had freaked her out a bit at the time but she couldn’t help but feeling curious about that.

Allison glanced to Miles, feeling a slight stirring of guilt since she’d told him not to play with his new powers, then she put her hand through the wall again anyway. It went right through the wall as though it wasn’t there, then taking a deep breath, she stepped right through the wall. There was only a faint tickling sensation as she walked through the wall and into the bedroom on the other side. When she stepped out, she couldn’t resist grinning.

“That is kind of fun,” she admitted to herself before turning around and walking back through the wall.

“That was wicked,” Miles exclaimed when she stepped back into the living room. He was giving her a faint look of envy. “I wonder if I can walk through walls too…”

Miles went to the wall and placed his palm against it and began to push. His hand did indeed to through the wall, but not the way Allison’s had. She gasped in horror as his hand broke right through the sheetrock and put a hole through the wall.

“MILES,” she snapped angrily.

“Sorry,” Miles said self-consciously as he pulled his hand back out and stared at it. He gave her a weak grin and said, “I guess I can go through walls too...”

“Not in this house you don’t,” she stated firmly, looking at the hole in the wall and shaking her head as she mentally added up how much it would cost to repair that, the coffee table, and the kitchen counter. “Good thing you didn’t break the car too…”

Miles nodded and then mused almost to himself, “I wonder if I’m invulnerable as well as strong…”

“Well you’re certainly not going to test it to find out,” Allison told him firmly, just imagining him trying to talk his friend Vic into shooting him just to prove whether or not he was bulletproof. That reminded her of something else. “Don’t tell your friend Vic about this… In fact, don’t tell anyone.”

“Oh yeah,” Miles responded thoughtfully. “We need the whole secret identity thing…”

Allison rolled her eyes since she was concerned about other people thinking that they were freaks or looking at them oddly. Still, if that was what Miles thought, she’d let him believe it just so long as he kept quiet about this strange body swap thing and these powers.

“This is so strange,” Allison said as she walked through the wall again. She went back and forth several more times until she saw that Miles was looking around for something to test his strength on again. She gulped and decided that she didn’t want him testing any powers around their home which meant that she’d have to stop showing off. “We should try to switch back again.”

Allison closed her eyes and focused on the link again, feeling through it that Miles was doing the very same thing. The resistance had decreased further and when they both pushed on it, she suddenly felt the burst of energy and the pulling sensation as she was drawn back to her own body. A moment later, she was indeed back in her own body and looking down at herself in relief.

“All right,” Miles exclaimed from his own body, looking more than a little excited. “We can switch back and forth anytime we want…” Then he paused to add thoughtfully, “I wonder if I can go through walls now…”

“No,” Allison warned him, afraid of the damage he’d cause if he somehow still had that enhanced strength.

Miles pressed his hand against the wall anyway and looked as though he was trying to push it through, though nothing happened. He continued trying and even lightly punched the wall before pulling his hand back with a muttered profanity. On an impulse, Allison tried pushing her hand through the wall the same way she had a few minutes ago but there was no effect. It seemed that she’d lost the power entirely.

“Good riddance,” she muttered.

“So we have powers…but only when we’re each other,” Miles said in annoyance after they’d tested this a little more. “That’s fu… messed up.”

“At least we’re back to normal,” Allison said with a forced smile and a sigh of relief. However, she could still feel her link to Miles as well as a faint amount of pressure which seemed to already be starting to build again. Because of that, she knew that this wasn’t truly over…not by a long shot.

--------------------

Miles was sitting at the top of a short flight of steps that led from the parking lot of the condo to the small gym that the residents all shared. Vic sat beside him though neither boy said much. They were quiet, both of them being quite aware that this was probably the last time they’d ever see each other in person since Vic’s family was going to be moving in only two more days.

“Damn, I wish I had my board,” Vic said, more for the need to fill the silence than for anything else.

“Must suck,” Miles responded sympathetically, knowing that Vic would probably be pretty bored for the next couple days. His skateboard had already been packed up along with all his video games and just about everything else fun.

“Dude, I wish I could see a real super hero fight,” Vic said, giving Miles an envious look. “That would be sweet…”

“Yeah, it was awesome,” Miles told him with a broad grin. “That fucking metal chick came blasting right through the wall, blowing the whole damn place up. And then this hot hero chick named Praxis shows up and they fight for a minute before the metal chick flew off…”

This wasn’t the first time Miles told Vic about what happened, though of course, he’d intentionally left several things out. For one, he hadn’t said a word about how scared he’d been since that would have made him look like a chicken, nor had he mentioned the explosion or the weird things that had happened with him and his mom afterwards.

Miles had been tempted to tell Vic all about becoming a developed, but the fact that he had to turn into a girl to use those powers kept him from doing so. Not only would it have been too embarrassing and open him up to a whole world of teasing, but his mom had been insisting that they absolutely had to keep it a secret.

“It was pretty cool,” Miles told Vic before admitting, “And kind of scary too… I mean, I had to keep my mom from freaking out…”

Vic just laughed at that and said, “Dude, I bet you shit your pants…”

“Bite me,” Miles responded with a glare.

“Ah shit,” Vic said with a sigh, glancing at the time on his cell phone. “I’ve got to get going. We’re supposed to spend the afternoon with one of my dad’s friends…”

“Damn,” Miles told him with a sigh. He was really going to miss hanging out with Vic though he couldn’t really say so. The guy code kind of prevented that. “Now who am I going to board with?”

They said their goodbyes for several more minutes, promising to stay in contact by e-mail before Vic finally left. Miles felt a sense of loss as he watched his friend go, knowing that texting or talking by e-mail just wouldn’t be the same. Then he shook his head sadly before heading back into the condo.

Miles could already feel his mom inside which only made him think about the link between them as well as this strange power they both shared. It amused him to think that they were both developed now, though he certainly wished that they had different powers. For one thing, switching bodies with his mom was embarrassing enough but he also turned into a much sexier version of her at the same time. At least the super strength he got when they did that was pretty cool, not that he could brag about it to anyone.

Over the last couple days, Miles and his mom had experimented with their link a little, though it was reluctant for the most part. Still, neither of them could ignore their curiosity, especially with something that had such a drastic impact on them. Fortunately, the knowledge that they could undo the switch and go back to normal made them both feel a little more comfortable with the experimentation.

Miles and his mom had found that the longer they were in their own bodies, the more the strange pressure built until eventually it forced them to exchange bodies whether they wanted to or not. And when they did switch, whatever pressure they felt became a resistance to changing back, a resistance which slowly faded away the longer they remained as each other. Other than dealing with this growing pressure and shrinking resistance, they could switch back and forth just by willing it…not that either of them really wanted to.

“Hey,” Miles greeted his mom who sat on the computer, still searching for specialists who might be able to cure them. “Any luck?”

“No,” she responded with a sigh, rubbing her temples for a moment. “Most of the ones I find seem questionable…and I don’t want to tell too much in an e-mail…”

Miles nodded at that, having mixed feelings about getting ‘cured’. As with most guys he knew, he’d always dreamed of developing super powers of his own one day. Among his friends, talking about what power they could have if they had a choice was a popular topic of conversation. In fact, he knew more guys who’d rather be developed than be rock stars. And now that he actually had powers of his own, he couldn’t help but feeling excited. Unfortunately, they came with a very embarrassing catch.

“You know,” Miles said carefully, deciding that now would be the perfect time to bring up something that he’d been thinking about for the last couple days. “Since we have these other powers when we switch, I was thinking that we should probably learn more about them. I think we should go try them out and see what we can really do.”

His mom gave him a disapproving look and then gestured to the hole in the wall that still hadn’t been repaired. “Remember what happened the last time we tried experimenting,” she pointed out.

“We don’t have to do it here,” he responded with a roll of the eyes. “We can go somewhere else where we don’t have to worry about breaking shi…stuff. In fact, I know the perfect place…”

“Fine,” his mom gave in after another minute of convincing her. She gave him a thoughtful look, obviously curious about her own powers though she was reluctant to admit it. “But we’ll have to wear clothes we wouldn’t mind getting ruined…just in case.”

Miles went to his room and pulled a white hoodie out of the closet. It had been a present from his dad the previous Christmas, but he didn’t really wear hoodies and even if he did, he would have preferred one in black instead. A short time later, his mom was ready with one of her old sweat suits, one that was all red.

When they went to the car, Miles asked hopefully, “Can I drive?”

“You don’t have your license,” his mom pointed out as she climbed in behind the wheel.

Miles rolled his eyes and muttered, “And I never will if you have your way.” Then he reminded her, “I do have my permit…” However, that didn’t convince her, much to his frustration.

A couple minutes later, they arrived at their destination, a store which had gone out of business a couple years earlier and which had been vacant since. Though the building was locked up, the empty parking lot had long been a good place for Miles to practice his skateboarding. The loading dock area in the back not only provided further skateboarding opportunities, it also gave a bit more privacy. Of course, there were other kids who hung out there as well on occasion, as the graffiti clearly indicated, but Miles rarely ran into anyone else when he came here. A quick look revealed that this time wasn’t going to be any different.

“See,” Miles pointed out the fence around the property which hid the loading dock area from view of the neighboring businesses. “No one can see us here…”

“Not bad,” his mom admitted as she looked around, still uncertain about this. However, he could see the curiosity in her eyes and knew that she wouldn’t back out now. “All right… Let’s do this…”

With that, Miles reached for the link that he shared with his mom, feeling that she was doing the same. A moment later, he felt the surge of energy as he was pulled through the link and suddenly found himself staring out of a new pair of eyes. He blinked as he let the strange sensations from his new body soak in along with the different sense of balance.

“I’ll never get used to this,” Miles muttered as he looked down at himself and saw the breasts on his chest, pushing the sweat suit top a bit more than it had been on his mom a minute earlier. He shook his head and gave his mom a wry smile, knowing that she was probably thinking the same thing.

“I don’t want to get used to this,” she said after a few seconds, obviously a bit uncomfortable in his body as well, not to mention self-conscious.

Miles nodded at that and watched his mom for a moment, thinking it strange to see her in his body. Then it suddenly struck him that at the moment, he was now the adult and she the teenage boy. He burst out laughing at that and then smirked faintly, more than a little tempted to tease her about being a kid but then deciding better…at least for now.

His mom gave him a curious glare which was mixed with a touch of envy. She’d given him similar looks every time they switched like this, obviously jealous that he was much hotter in her body than she was.

After a few seconds of staring at his mom, Miles looked around for something he could test his strength on. His eyes immediately settled on a large graffiti covered dumpster which had been knocked on its. A large board had even been set up against it in order to create a makeshift skateboard ramp, one which he’d used countless times. He grinned, deciding that this was perfect.

“This looks kind of heavy,” Miles said, grabbing the edge of the dumpster and then lifting it off the ground. The dumpster was empty but it was still heavy enough that he felt a surge of excitement as he lifted it with ease. “Hell yeah… Look at this…”

“Impressive,” his mom admitted, watching him intently.

Miles showed off by lifting the dumpster up and down a few times before dropping it back to the ground with a loud clang. Then he looked around, realizing that there wasn’t really anything else he could test his strength on, at least not without damaging the building and he didn’t want to do that. He didn’t mind trespassing since this was vacant property but he didn’t want to do something that could get him in real trouble.

Then Miles decided that he might as well keep using the dumpster so punched it, smashing the entire side in with ease. He laughed in glee and stared at his fist, realizing that it hadn’t hurt at all. He’d already suspected that he might have some invulnerability along with his strength and this just seemed to confirm it. Of course, he wasn’t about to step in front of a bullet in order to really test that.

“Look at this,” Miles said, punching at the dumpster a few more times and then squeezing the metal in his hands until the entire thing was crushed in and destroyed. He laughed again, feeling even more excited and blurting out, “Fucking awesome…” His mom was so amazed by this display of strength that she didn’t even correct him on his language.

“I suppose it’s my turn,” his mom said. “Since I can walk through walls…”

She went up the steps to the top of the loading dock and then walked right through the large cargo door as though it wasn’t there. She came out a few seconds later, looking rather pleased with herself. After repeating the process several times, she seemed satisfied that she could control her power.

“It’s a good thing I’m not a criminal,” his mom said with a laugh. “I could be a great burglar…or bank robber.”

“You want to be a super villain?” Miles asked in surprise.

“Certainly not,” she responded, looking slightly offended that he’d even suggest such a thing.

Then she jumped from the top of the loading dock, but instead of falling the several feet to the ground, she remained floating in mid-air. She gasped in surprise and stared down at the ground for several seconds before gravity suddenly reasserted itself and she fell.

“You were flying,” Miles exclaimed with a mixture of excitement and jealousy. “Do it again…”

“I don’t know if I can,” his mom protested weakly, though she was already making the attempt. Several seconds later, she floated up off the ground and hovered in the air. “I did it…” Then she lifted even higher so that she was now ten feet above the ground and she began to cautiously move towards Miles. “I’m flying,” she exclaimed, her voice filled with a mixture of nervousness and excitement. “I’m really flying…”

Miles watched her flying around and becoming more confident in doing so. “I wonder if I can fly too…”

“I doubt it,” she responded thoughtfully as she dropped to the ground beside him, wincing slightly and muttering, “I’ll have to work on my landings.” Then she looked at him again and said, “So far we don’t seem to have the same abilities. You can’t walk through walls and I don’t have that kind of strength…”

Miles knew she was right but he still wanted to try. Since he didn’t know what else to do, he went up to the top of the loading dock and jumped off the same way his mom had. Unlike her, he hit the ground a moment later. He tried it several more times while his mom watched and laughed.

“Okay, maybe I can’t fly,” Miles admitted, making a fifth and final attempt. But to his surprise, something felt just a little different this time and he suddenly found that he wasn’t falling but going up instead. “Oh yeah,” he exclaimed. “Hell yeah…”

Miles looked down and saw the ground below him, grinning as he mentally pushed away from it and found that he rose higher. Now that he was flying, he could feel what he was doing and was quickly able to figure out how to control it. He flew higher and the lowered himself back towards the ground, pushing away again and flying along the ground. He could move with relative ease, pushing himself in one direction or another just by willing it.

His mom watched him for a few minutes with a slightly nervous expression that eased as he quickly gained control of this power. Then she smiled faintly and flew up into the air beside him.

“This is kind of fun,” she admitted. “Though I am still a bit worried about falling…”

Miles looked down at the ground, feeling a faint surge of nervousness at the mention of falling. However, he quickly reminded himself that he was probably invulnerable…though he hadn’t really confirmed that to his full satisfaction yet, and his mom could turn intangible and go through the ground. Still, he did his best not to even think about falling.

“I’ll race you,” Miles blurted out to distract himself from those thoughts. And before his mom could respond, he flew off as fast as he could, quickly leaving her behind.

Miles finally looked back and was startled by the fact that he could barely see his mom behind him, though she was indeed following. He went back and saw her scowling in annoyance, even giving him a glare.

“I was going as fast as I could,” she complained. “I can’t go as fast as you…”

Miles smirked at that, feeling rather smug though he was careful not to rub it in too much. He didn’t want his mom to call it quits and insist that they switch back just yet, not when he was just starting to get the hang of what he could do. He still wanted to try a few more things and see if maybe he had even more powers that he hadn’t discovered yet.

Just then, Miles suddenly heard a loud crashing sound from a short distance away. He and his mom both quickly glanced at each other and then he flew straight towards the sound to see what it was. He arrived a moment later and saw a car had crashed through the front window of a jewelry store. His first thought was that there was an accident, but then he noticed three armed men climbing out of the car.

“Oh shit,” Miles exclaimed, his heart racing as he realized that this was a robbery.

Miles flew a little closer, going as slow as he could without coming to a complete stop. He’d discovered during his initial practice a short time ago that unlike his mom, he couldn’t just hover in one spot very well and that if he came to a complete stop, he tended to just drop.

Suddenly, one of the robbers pointed right at Miles and yelled, “It’s a fucking hero…”

“Hero?” Miles blurted out in surprise.

Before Miles could even fully absorb this, the robber started shooting at him. Miles froze in terror, causing him to drop out of the air and hit the ground hard, though he still barely felt the impact. Just a second after he hit, the robber fired more shots at him, hitting him in the chest.

“NO!” Miles heard his mom scream as she finally caught up. He noticed that she’d put the hood on her hoodie up, probably trying to disguise herself as much as possible.

Miles stared at his chest, seeing holes in his clothes but he didn’t feel any pain. He grabbed for his chest and didn’t feel any pain or see any sign of blood. A sigh of intense relief escaped his lips and a slow smile formed.

“I’m bulletproof,” he called out to his mom. “I’m fine…”

“We’ve got to get out of here,” she insisted as she hovered in the air a short distance away. “Come on…”

“Another one,” the robber yelled out to his friends, staring at Miles with a fearful look on his face and then firing several more shots. They didn’t do any good either.

A second robber started shooting as well, this time aiming at Allison. She let out a scream and tried to fly away though the bullets still went right through her chest. It took a moment for her to realize that they hadn’t actually touched her but had gone through her as though she was a ghost.

Miles stared at his mom with a mixture of fear and relief, suddenly understanding how worried she’d been when he was being shot at. When he saw that her powers protected her the same way his own were protecting him, he let out a sigh of relief. Miles had been terrified when he was the one being shot at but seeing her being targeted had been much worse.

For a brief moment, Miles remained frozen where he was in fear and confusion, hardly able to believe that these robbers thought that he was some sort of super hero and were shooting at him. For most of his life, he’d had fantasies about being a super hero…or a super villain, but even after getting these powers he’d never really thought about becoming either. That was for other people…something that was more fantasy than possible reality. However, he suddenly realized that this was his chance.

“Drop your guns and surrender,” Miles called out, trying to sound more confident than he actually felt. He hoped that command sounded appropriately heroic.

“What do you think you’re doing?” his mom screamed in a near panic. “We have to get out of here… We’ll get killed…”

“I’m bulletproof,” he reminded her, also reminding himself at the same time since it helped him to control the fear that threatened to overwhelm him. Still, he needed even more help so he called out, “I am invincible,” just like he’d done when braving the steep steps with Vic. It helped fill him with the courage he needed as he charged forward towards the nearest robber.

“NO,” his mom cried out, though Miles ignored her.

All three robbers opened fire on him, shooting him in the chest as though he had a bullseye there. Then he smirked faintly as he remembered that for the moment, he had two of them…at least as far as any guy was concerned. When he felt a faint tickling rather than any sort of pain, he became more confident in his new powers.

Miles tried knocking the gun out of the hand of the nearest robber, and though the gun went flying there was also ‘crack’ as the man’s arm broke under the impact. Miles felt a little guilty but not too much. He was much more gentle however as he pushed the man back, knocking him to the ground ten feet away.

Miles glanced back to his mom and saw her drop down through the sidewalk as though it was water and a moment later she came back up, rising from the ground right behind one of the other robbers. He snapped around and tried hitting her but his hand went right through her chest as though she wasn’t there.

“Boo,” she said with an angry expression. “How dare you shoot him...her…”

Then she punched the robber, hitting him right in the face and knocking him back a couple steps. But a moment later, she cried out in pain and grabbed hold of her hand, having injured it during the punch.

“You have to keep your fist tight when you punch someone,” Miles told her with a grimace. This was something that just about every guy knew. He just hoped that after they switched back, that he wasn’t the one who had a sore hand.

“Forget them,” the last robber yelled out. “Get the loot and run…” He snatched up a duffel bag that one of the other two had dropped while coming after Miles and then began to run.

“Oh no you don’t,” Miles exclaimed, leaping into the air.

Miles quickly flew to the man and reached down to pick him up by the back of his jacket. The man yelled and screamed but Miles just grinned as he flew up, going about as slow as he could while still keeping his power active. Fortunately, he could move fairly slow and he did so as he hooked the robber’s jacket onto the top of a street light pole and left him dangling. Then Miles grinned in satisfaction because he’d always dreamed of doing that to a bad guy.

“Let me go,” the man demanded angrily. “You have no idea who you’re messing with…”

“And I don’t really care,” Miles responded, moving around to get a better look at the robber he’d just captured, gloating as he did so. Then he noticed that the robber’s shirt had the word ‘GREED’ written right across the front in big bold letters. “Appropriate I guess…”

Miles looked back to the ground, seeing that a woman was hesitantly coming out of the jewelry store and looking as though she was probably an employee. He also noticed that the police were finally arriving and were rushing to take custody of the other two robbers, though he snickered slightly at the thought of them having to get the one down from the light pole.

However, before Miles could decide whether or not he should get the man down for the police, his mom was floating in the air beside him with a grim look on her face. She glared at him angrily and said, “We’re leaving…NOW.”

“But…,” Miles started to protest, already knowing that it was pointless by the look on her borrowed face. His mom might be giving him ‘the look’ through his own eyes, but it was still a very familiar expression, one that he’d learned a long time meant that it was pointless to argue.

“Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?” she demanded furiously. “You could have been killed….”

“But I’m bulletproof,” Miles argued, already knowing that it was no use but still having to try.

“The moment we get back to the car, we’re switching back,” his mom snapped at him. “And after this…you’re grounded.”

Miles grimaced but didn’t bother arguing back since it wouldn’t do any good. Once his mom made up her mind, there was rarely any chance of changing it, especially when she was being overprotective. However, that didn’t prevent him from thinking about how unfair it was that he’d stopped a robbery and instead of being rewarded for it, he was being punished.

Instead of being bitter at that, Miles remembered how incredible it had felt to actually use his new powers the way he had…at how fantastic it had been to actually act like a real super hero. He slowly began to grin as he remembered how he’d felt…that for a few brief moments, he truly had felt invincible.

--------------------

Allison sat back on the couch, scowling as she watched the local news on the TV. At the moment, they were doing a piece on the robbery she and Miles had been involved in yesterday and she felt uncomfortable being reminded of just how scared she’d been. Of course, she couldn’t bring herself to change the channel either since she was burning with curiosity over what the reporter had to say.

Someone had caught most of the short fight on video from their cell phone, though the footage was shaky and from a distance. Allison saw herself and was pleased that the hood she’d been wearing had helped hide her hair and features so that she was unrecognizable as Miles.

Miles on the other hand had nothing obscuring his face and his vibrant red hair was a noticeable feature that others might recognize if they saw him. Fortunately, he had little resemblance to her so there was no chance that anyone could possibly connect that flying woman with her. However, Miles would have to avoid going out in public while in that body or someone might recognize him from the video.

The reporter then began to interview the woman who took the video, an employee of the jewelry store that had been robbed. “I was really scared,” the woman was saying, looking excited about being interviewed for TV. “Then this super hero showed up and said she was called Invincible Woman or something like that…”

“Invincible Woman?” Allison exclaimed in surprise.

“WHAT?” Miles suddenly demanded from behind Allison, catching her by surprise since he didn’t realize he was even in the room much less standing behind the couch. “Being called Invincible might be kind of cool…but Invincible WOMAN?” He grimaced in disgust, almost making Allison chuckle until she reminded herself that she was still pissed at him for putting himself in danger.

“Then this ghost boy showed up,” the woman continued saying from the TV. “He was obviously her sidekick or something…”

“Sidekick?” Allison blurted out in horror. Then she noticed Miles was snickering and she glared at him.

Allison looked back at the TV and gasped as the woman told the reporter, “He was obviously scared and was acting kind of like he wanted to just run away… But then he went through the ground and came up behind one of the robbers…”

“This is horrible,” Allison complained, thinking that this news report was making her sound like some kind of immature super hero sidekick.

By the time the news report was finished, the reporter was calling them Invincible Woman and Ghost Boy, making both Allison and her son shake their heads in disgust. It was bad enough that she’d gotten pulled into that reckless nonsense, but now everyone thought they were really super heroes and had even given them code names. And even though she wanted nothing to do with being a hero, it somehow offended her even more by the way it was assumed that she was just a sidekick.

Allison closed her eyes and rubbed at her temples to fight off the headache she could feel coming. However, this made her even more aware of the pressure that was building and which was one source of her growing headache. She and Miles hadn’t switched again since the ‘incident’ yesterday and the pressure had continued building since then. There was no doubt that they were close to the point where they’d switch again whether they wanted to or not.

“We have to find a cure,” Allison said with even more determination than she’d felt before.

This body swapping was extremely inconvenient and embarrassing, but what really scared her now were the powers that they possessed. What had happened yesterday had been extremely dangerous and Miles didn’t seem to understand that he could have gotten seriously hurt. She knew him will enough to know that he wouldn’t be able to resist using his new powers, that he’d be drawn to danger like a moth to a flame. The fact that bullets could bounce off him when he was like that would only encourage him to take even more risks.

“There has to be a way,” she mused while scowling thoughtfully.

Allison had already tried calling her company to see if she could find out more about the quantum reactor which had caused their problems, but she hadn’t been able to get anything useful. Doctor Zuma was their expert on the technology and she had been killed by that metal woman while her lab and the computer containing her notes had been destroyed in the fire. Allison had even tried calling Ralph but hadn’t been able to reach him.

“Who else would know about that thing?” she thought aloud. “Who else could possibly know about Doctor Zuma’s work?”

“Whoever invented it,” Miles answered.

“What?” Allison responded in surprise, turning to look at Miles.

Miles just shrugged. “Whatever mad scientist invented that doomsday weapon would know about it.”

“True,” Allison said, more to herself than Miles. Unfortunately, she had no idea who that would have been. Doctor Zuma would have had that information and maybe Ralph, but that didn’t do her much good at the moment.

“And maybe that metal chick,” Miles continued with a thoughtful look. “I mean, she obviously wanted it pretty bad so I figure she probably knows a bit about it… For all I know, she might have been the one to make it…”

Allison just stared at her son for a moment, surprised that she hadn’t even considered that herself. Then again, Miles was a pretty sharp kid, not that most people would guess it from the way he usually acted. After all, he was her son.

“Unfortunately, that still doesn’t do us much good,” Allison said with a sigh. At the moment, they had no way of finding either the inventor of the quantum reactor technology or the metal woman…assuming that they were not one and the same. And even if they did, Allison strongly suspected that they wouldn’t be very interested in helping her and Miles solve their problem.

Allison stood up and let out a sigh of frustration. Just then, she felt the pressure explode through the link she shared with Miles. She was torn from her own body and a second later, found herself looking out through his eyes. She looked down at herself and scowled, thinking that this was getting a bit old. Then she looked at Miles in his now sexy version of her body and gave him a jealous glare. She still couldn’t get over how he looked much more attractive as her than she did.

“Talk about unfair,” Allison muttered to herself in frustration. Then she scowled and told Miles, “I’m going to go out for a bit…” She needed to get out of the house so she could think.

“I’ll come with,” Miles said hopefully.

Allison glared at him and reminded him, “You’re still grounded. Don’t you dare think that you can just fly off because I’m not here…” She tapped her forehead with her finger and warned him, “I’ll feel it if you do…”

With that, Allison left the condo, pausing in the parking lot to look towards her car. She scowled, realizing that she couldn’t very well drive anywhere, not when her keys were in her purse rather than with her. And of course, there was the small problem of her being in her son’s body and not being able to use her license.

“I guess it’s a walk,” she said with a sigh as she started to walk down the sidewalk.

While Allison walked down the sidewalk, moving away from the condo at a brisk pace, she thought of the irony that she’d willingly go out in public again in this body. She still felt self-conscious about the way she looked but knew that no one else would guess that she was anything other than a teenage boy. In a way, that made things easier to deal with since no one who saw her would ever guess what a freak she’d become.

But as Allison considered what other people might think of her, her thoughts turned to just how good her currently body felt. She didn’t want to admit it even to herself but she couldn’t help but noticing just how much youthful energy she now had and liking it. This body felt wrong to her, with a very noticeable absence on her chest and extra parts where there shouldn’t be any. However, in spite of that, it felt strangely pleasant as well. When she was like this, she felt so young and healthy…so full of energy. It was no wonder that Miles was always on the go and wanting to do something with it.

And then of course, there were the strange powers that she’d developed as well. She was scared of them, but she had to admit to herself that she was excited by them as well. There was something thrilling about being able to do something that other people couldn’t.

“They’re too tempting,” Allison reminded herself, knowing that having powers like that could only lead to trouble. After all, normal people just didn’t walk through walls or fly. “We have to find a cure…somehow.”

Allison had just been walking down the sidewalk with no particular destination in mind but then she noticed the corner store ahead and remembered that they needed milk for dinner. Since she was here, she thought that she might as well get that taken care of…and perhaps pick up a couple other things they needed as well.

“Let’s see,” Allison mused as she walked through the store a minute later. “Milk… We’re getting low on butter and we could probably use another loaf of bread…”

Just then, Allison noticed that the man behind the front register was watching her with a suspicious look. It took a moment more before she realized that he was watching her as though he expected her to try shoplifting something. The very thought made her feel offended but she tried to ignore the man as she went back to her shopping. However, just as she was picking out the milk from the case, she realized that she had no idea how much money she even had on her. She reached into her pocket and found only a couple dollars.

“Damn,” she muttered, feeling self-conscious as the store employee was still watching her.

“Hey kid,” the store employee called out to her just then. “If you’re not gonna buy anything…get out. We don’t allow loitering…”

Allison immediately turned bright red with both embarrassment and anger. For a brief moment, she thought of just turning intangible and walking out through the back wall with the milk in hand. There wasn’t a thing that jerk would be able to do to stop her. Then she shook her head, feeling slightly guilty for even having that thought and then walked to the counter where she dropped the milk money next to the register. She’d found enough in Miles’ pocket to buy the milk but not the other things she wanted, but that was fine since she had no intention of spending any more money here.

When Allison stepped out of the store a minute later with the milk in hand, she shook her head in disgust and muttered, “What was wrong with him?”

Getting odd looks in the store wasn’t a new experience for Allison, who used to get appreciative ones when she was younger and still did on occasion. More often anymore, she got speculative looks that often turned to dismissal as they saw she was past her prime. However, she couldn’t remember ever being looked at as though she was a criminal and they were just waiting for her to steal something.

“It’s because he thinks I’m a kid,” Allison gasped in realization. The employee thought she was a teenager…some punk kid who wouldn’t hesitate to shoplift. Then she felt a chill of realization and whispered, “Is this what it’s like for Miles?”

Allison considered this for a moment and realized that he probably not only had to deal with this but also much more. After all, almost no adult was going to take a teenager seriously…especially not one who looked even younger than he was. She felt a faint stirring of guilt as she realized that she was just as guilty as everyone else and she made a mental promise to at least try listening to Miles a little more rather than just assuming he was a kid who didn’t know what he was doing.

Of course, the whole super powers thing was a different situation entirely. She didn’t trust most adults with that kind of power much less a teenage boy. And knowing Miles the way she did, she had to find a way to fix this mess before he got himself in real trouble.

--------------------

Miles stood with his eyes closed, savoring just how incredible he felt at the moment. His current body felt strange and awkward, especially since he had two bulging mounds pushing out from his chest, not to mention a noticeable cavity between his legs. Still, in spite of how weird it was to be in the body of a grown woman, he also felt unbelievably good.

Whenever Miles was in this body, he always felt as though he was bursting with health and energy, making him feel incredibly strong and powerful. He knew that this was simply part of his developed powers, part of the very thing that made him so strong and tough. He wasn’t sure how it all worked, only that he loved having the powers as well as how good they made him feel.

Miles opened his eyes and grinned, wanting to go try out his new powers again. He still got excited when he thought about the way he’d used them yesterday to stop that robbery and become a super hero. He was tempted to just take off and go on ‘patrol’, or whatever super heroes called it when they just flew around looking for an excuse to use their powers. However, not only was he grounded but he didn’t even have a proper super hero costume. The sweat suit he’d used yesterday certainly wouldn’t do, even if it hadn’t been torn up with the gun shots.

“Too bad,” Miles mused, thinking that it would be fun to go out flying. Unfortunately, that would have to wait for now.

This wasn’t the first time Miles had considered the problem about getting good costumes for both himself and his mom, a problem made all the more difficult by her reluctance to have any part of it. However, Miles knew that if he wanted to become a real super hero then he’d have to convince her as well.

“Invincible Woman and Ghost Boy,” he mused aloud, using the names that they’d been called in the news. He supposed that they weren’t really bad names, though the thought of being called Invincible WOMAN did leave him feeling just a little uncomfortable.

Of course, Miles couldn’t just walk into a clothing store and check out the super hero section, but finding a costume wasn’t really that big of a problem anyway. There was a fashion trend going around that some people were calling ‘developed chic’, where people would wear brightly colored body suits that were similar to spandex, often mixing and matching them with regular clothes. Miles knew that for the most part, it was the girls who liked dressing this way, but there were a few guys he knew who were into it too. There were even some online stores that sold this kind of clothing and Miles had done a little shopping last night.

Miles grinned evilly and mused, “I can’t wait till mom sees what I bought her…” Then again, what he was really looking forward was to seeing how what he bought looked on his current body. He bet it would make him look super hot.

With that, Miles looked down at himself, taking in all the details of his body. It was difficult to see it all clearly through his mom’s clothes which he was wearing. Of course, the clothes didn’t fit him very well at all and had torn open in a few places. He was sure his bra was actually a couple cup sizes too small and suspected that it along with the rest of his clothes would have been pinching painfully if it wasn’t for the invulnerability which came with the body. Then to test his theory, Miles stretched his arms out and stuck his chest forward, hearing a tearing sound as another one of the seams split open.

“Mom really isn’t going to be happy about that,” Miles said, chuckling to himself as he thought about her reaction. He might have felt bad about it if it wasn’t for the fact that she’d grounded him.

Then Miles began tearing off his ill-fitting clothes, deciding that he might as well since they were already ruined. The clothes tore and shredded off as easily as if they were made of paper, obviously due to his enhanced strength. Miles hummed to himself as he undressed in this fashion, thinking the destruction of his mom’s clothes a small revenge on his mom who would doubtlessly be upset at her ruined clothes.

“Damn, I look hot,” Miles mused as he stared own at his naked body. He no longer thought of this as his mom’s body since he didn’t look anything like her. It also made it easier to deal with, thinking of it as the body of a complete stranger…or even as his own body transformed.

Miles went to his bedroom and sat down on the edge of his bed, running a hand over his breasts. He gasped at how sensitive the nipples were. This was wrong and he immediately felt guilty, yet it felt good and he was curious to see where this would lead.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to this,” Miles mused, slowly running his hands over his body and exploring it more carefully than before. This was the first chance he’d had to do so at all since the first time he’d ended up in this body, and this time he didn’t have his mom in the next room. “This is creepy and awesome at the same time…”

Miles explored his body for another few minutes before he realized that he could feel his mom getting closer. He immediately froze, suddenly afraid that she’d realize what he was doing. The thought made him blush brightly but he realized that she was still a distance off so he still had time.

“I guess I need to get dressed again,” Miles said, getting back up and starting towards his mom’s room. The clothes he’d been wearing before were nothing more than rags now, but he was sure his mom’s bath robe would be fine. Then he sighed, imagining that the explanation for the clothes change wasn’t going to be fun.

--------------------

Miles sat back on his bed with his eyes closed, listening to his I-pod and absently rolling the wheels of his skateboard which was currently upside down on his lap. He was trying hard not to think about the fact that Vic had moved away and that he wouldn’t be able to really hang with any of his other friends until school started again. He snorted faintly at the irony of actually looking forward to school starting up again.

Normally, Miles would have dealt with his frustrations by going boarding and just not thinking about them. Unfortunately, he no longer had anyone to show off for or to dare him into doing moves he wouldn’t do otherwise. And of course, he was still grounded as well.

“Damn, this bites,” Miles muttered as he sat up, taking out his I-pod ear buds and dropping his skateboard to the floor with a thud.

It seemed horribly unjust to him that after everything that had happened, after developing powers and playing the part of a super hero…he would be stuck here being bored to death. He scowled, suspecting that this wasn’t just punishment but also his mom’s way of trying to keep him under her watchful eye.

“Overprotective,” he said in annoyance. It wasn’t like he could transform and then go flying out to be a hero without her knowing about it, not with the way their powers worked. “I’m not some little kid that she needs to babysit…” It especially pissed him off when he thought about how some of his friends already had cars of their own while his mom wouldn’t even trust him to get his license. “She always treats me like a kid.”

Miles hopped off his bed, only to feel his stomach rumble loudly. He grimaced, deciding that he really needed a snack, and unfortunately, that meant having to go deal with his mom when he didn’t feel like doing so at the moment. Though he momentarily considered holding off on a snack, his stomach rumbled again and told him that it wasn’t going to wait.

A minute later, Miles had grabbed some leftover chicken from the fridge and stood at the living room entrance while he ate. His mom was sitting at the computer desk in the corner, still searching for anything she could find about the quantum reactor which had caused their condition. The TV was on in the background, set to the local news though Miles wasn’t quite sure why. He suspected that his mom just wanted to know if that strange metal woman showed up again.

“Any luck?” Miles asked his mom, knowing that she hadn’t had any or she would have told him. Still, it seemed a polite enough question to ask.

“Well, I did find a little bit about that metal woman who broke into the facilities,” she responded with a sigh and then gave Miles an apologetic look. “Unfortunately, the only thing I was able to learn was that she’s called Circuit Monger. One of the online blogs I found called her that when talking about the attack…”

“At least it’s something,” Miles said with a shrug.

Then Miles looked to the TV, noticing that it was showing a large building on fire with fire trucks starting to gather around it. The scrolling words underneath the picture said that it was an apartment fire with people still trapped inside on the top floor.

“That’s not far from here,” Miles blurted out. He remembered going past that apartment building a few times.

“Oh dear,” his mom responded, watching the TV with a worried look. “Those poor people…”

“We have to help them,” Miles exclaimed, looking at his mom intently. “We can…”

However, she cut him off with a glare, snapping, “There’s nothing we can do… You have to learn to be responsible…”

“RESPONSIBLE?” Miles nearly yelled at his mom, hardly able to believe that she’d try using that kind of an argument. “And you think that letting people die when you have the power to help them is responsible?”

“Don’t you dare take that tone with me,” she snapped, standing up and glaring at him. “Those people aren’t our responsibility…”

Miles just glared back at his mom in anger and disgust. “You might be willing to just watch people die, but I’m not…”

With that, Miles reached out and pushed at the link he shared with his mom, knowing that the pressure hadn’t built up enough yet and that if she actively tried blocking him, she could stop the exchange. However, he caught her by surprise and a moment later, Miles was in her body, feeling the surge of power that came with it.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?” she yelled from his own body, though Miles ignored her as he rushed to his bedroom.

“Doing what I have to,” he snapped back, slamming the bedroom door behind him. “Someone has to…”

Miles pulled a box out from under his bed, a box containing all the costume pieces that he’d ordered online and which had arrived yesterday. He emptied the contents out on his bed, quickly grabbing what he’d need from it.

“Don’t you dare walk away from me,” his mom exclaimed, walking through the door without even bothering to open it up again. She stood there with her hands on her hips, making his body look just a little too gay in his eyes. Then she saw what Miles was holding up and demanded, “What in the world…?”

Miles felt his mom pushing along their link, trying to force them to switch back. There was enough resistance built up that it bolstered his own resistance, blocking her attempt. He didn’t look at her or say anything as he stripped out of his ill-fitting and quickly put on the costume. He felt a bit of guilt at taking the time to change clothes when people were in trouble, then reminded himself that wearing a costume was mandatory for super heroes…or at least he thought it was.

A minute later, Miles was fully dressed in his new costume, a one piece spandex body suit which covered his body from the neck down, all except for his hands. He had been inspired to get this color from the color of the sweat suit he’d been wearing while fighting the robbers. It had just seemed appropriate that he keep up with the color scheme, though he had added some more such as a pair of dark gray gloves and a dark gray sash which hung around his waist, inspired a bit from the sash that Ms. Miracle wore in the pictures he’d seen of her.

“You can’t do this,” his mom nearly pleaded with him now. “You could get hurt…”

“Maybe,” Miles admitted, feeling guilty all of a sudden for making his mom worry and treating her like this. “But I’m bullet proof… Those people in the building aren’t…”

Miles hesitated only a moment before opening his window and climbing out, then jumping into the air and flying off as fast as he could. It took him a moment though to realize that the apartment building was in the opposite direction so he had to turn around and try again. He saw the pillar of smoke almost immediately and a minute later, he could see the leaping flames as well.

“Oh shit,” Miles exclaimed, noticing that half of the four story building was burning and even the firemen who were spraying with their hoses didn’t seem to be going inside.

For a brief moment, Miles froze in fear at the thought of going into those flames and then had to ask himself why he was really doing this. Did he really mean what he’d told his mom about needing to save those people…or was he just excited about getting a chance to be a hero? After a few seconds, Miles reluctantly admitted that it was a bit of both. But regardless of what his motivations were, anyone who was trapped in that building really would need his help.

“Damn,” Miles muttered, suddenly feeling like a coward because of his hesitation. Then he grimaced and exclaimed, “I am invincible,” to build his courage before flying straight towards a window in the top floor.

Miles burst through the window and into what he saw was an empty apartment. He saw no flames in here but there was smoke which made him cough. He grimaced, trying to hold his breath, realizing that being bulletproof didn’t do any good when he still needed to breath. After a quick look around, he flew out the now broken window, realizing as well that he couldn’t just fly from apartment to apartment hoping to find someone who needed help.

“Ah shit,” Miles said with a frustrated sigh, wondering how he could find people who needed help.

Then he saw some people yelling for help from another window while the firemen tried getting to them with a ladder. Unfortunately, there were flames coming up from a lower floor and making it difficult. It was the obvious place to start with.

“I’ve got them,” Miles called out to the firemen, flying to the open window.

When Miles reached the window, he wished that he could just stop and hover since it would make this much easier. Instead, he went as slow as he could, losing a lot of his stability as he did so. He was able to grab a middle-aged woman who was leaning out from the window and nearly fell under her added weight, but he was able to put enough force behind his movement again to recover his balance and fly her to the ground. A fireman was immediately by her side with an oxygen mask though Miles barely paid attention to that since he was already flying back up to get her husband.

Once Miles had saved the husband and he’d confirmed that there was no one else in their apartment, he turned to the nearest fireman and asked, “Do you know where anyone else is who needs help down?”

“We’re getting conflicting reports of missing neighbors,” the fireman told Miles grimly. “We got everyone we could from the lower floors before it got too bad but we can’t reach the top floor now and we don’t have much time. The smoke will suffocate anyone there before the fire gets to them…”

“It’s going to be slow going from one apartment to another,” Miles said grimly, knowing that he didn’t have any choice.

Suddenly, a familiar voice called out, “I can help with that…”

Miles looked up and saw his mom hovering in the air a short distance away, and to his even greater surprise, she was wearing the costume that he’d bought for her. It consisted of a one piece black spandex outfit which covered everything below her neck except for her hands, though those were covered with black gloves that looked as if they were part of the outfit. Adding to that, she was wearing the white hoodie which Miles had thought would be a good addition along with a pair of white boots. Her features were well hidden thanks to not only having the hood up but also by the black domino mask she currently wore.

“I can fly through the walls and find people,” she said grimly. “M…Invincible Woman can carry them down.” She winced as she said that last, giving Miles a dirty look that he might have snickered over in other circumstances.

“Then you might need these,” the fireman said, holding up a pair of plastic face masks with small air tanks attached. “I’m not sure if you two need these or not, but they’ll keep the smoke out of your eyes and let you breath. Take another couple in case you find anyone trapped…”

Miles accepted the mask, scowling slightly as he did so. As he’d already found, he might be bulletproof but he still needed to breath. He put one of the masks on while his mom did the same.

His mom started flying towards the top floor but suddenly vanished, only to reappear right next to the wall. She didn’t even hesitate before going through it, indicating that this teleporting trick wasn’t completely new to her. Miles watched in surprise, wondering when she could have possibly discovered that.

“Probably while trying to catch up to me here,” he mused, flying into the air himself so he could be ready when his mom found someone who needed help.

Half a minute later, his mom came out from the side of one of the walls, gesturing that she’d found someone. Miles flew right towards her, hitting the wall with his fists and tearing open a large hole so he could get inside. Once in, he realized that he could barely see a thing through the smoke, making him thankful for the oxygen mask that the fireman had given him.

His mom quickly led him to the bathroom where he found a girl cowering down low in the tub, having half filled it with water first. Miles was a little impressed since he probably wouldn’t have thought to do that himself in those circumstances. He put a spare mask on the girl and gently picked her up, taking her out of the apartment and flying her down to where several of the firemen were waiting to help her. Then, he flew back up to see if his mom had found any more.

Over the next ten minutes, they found and rescued an old man, a dog, and two cats in the same way that they had the little girl. When they were done and were certain that there were no more people needing help on the top floor, they stopped to rest for a minute.

Miles stared at the burning building, feeling a strange mixture of excitement and worry. Going into the building to help rescue those people had been a dream come true, a chance to truly be a super hero and actually do something important. It had also been a real rush, even more than boarding down the steepest steps. But at the same time, he couldn’t help but thinking about what it would be like for those people to have lost everything like that. And even more, if he might have been able to do more for them if he’d been able to get here sooner.

Then Miles looked over at his mom, surprised to see that she was actually grinning. That was about the last thing that he would have expected from her after he’d done something so dangerous as to go into a burning building. But then he saw her look towards the ambulance that was taking care of the old man and little girl whom they’d rescued and he understood completely.

“I expect to be grounded for life for this,” Miles told her quietly. “But it’s worth it.”

There was an awkward silence before she responded. “I can’t punish you for saving people’s lives… Especially not after I’ve always told you to try doing the right thing…” Miles raised an eyebrow at that, tempted to point out that she’d already grounded him for trying to do the right thing.

Suddenly, there was a loud ‘BOOM’ from the flames as one side of burning apartment building exploded out. A figure emerged from the hole, stepping through the flames as though they weren’t even there. It stood nearly seven feet tall and was shaped like a man, though it was immediately obvious that he wasn’t…at least not a normal human man. Large patches of thick gray stone that looked like concrete covered about half his body, and the parts that weren’t covered with stone looked as though they were made of red energy.

“What the fuck?” Miles muttered in surprise while his mom just nodded agreement rather than chastising him for his language.

“The bitch will never call me a freak again,” the newcomer exclaimed in gravelly voice.

The man…if that was what he was continued walking forward, walking past the fire. Then Miles noticed that once he was well clear of the flames, the ground was burning where his feet touched.

“He started the fire,” Miles exclaimed. “Stop right there,” he called out, feeling afraid. He might now be officially a super hero, but this was the first time he’d encountered a developed since gaining his powers.

The freakish man stopped and stared straight at them. As he did so, the concrete beneath his feet suddenly began to melt and then began to flow up his legs, looking almost as though it was fresh concrete that had never hardened. It flowed over his entire body and then hardened again, providing armor which now covered every inch of his body and which left him even larger than before.

“No one will ever stand in my way again,” the concrete man stated. “No one will ever push me around again…”

“Not good,” Miles muttered, feeling terrified as he saw the now eight foot tall monster coming straight towards him.

Then the giant concrete man lashed out with his arm, back handing Miles and sending him flying back. Miles got back to his feet, stunned that he’d barely even felt the blow. He stared down at himself and then laughed.

“I’m bulletproof,” he reminded himself. “I’m invincible…”

“NO,” his mom cried out then let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Miles wasn’t hurt. She turned to glare at the concrete man and demanded, “How dare you…?”

“I’ve never hit a woman before,” the concrete man said. “But I don’t follow the rules anymore… I don’t have to…” And with that, he came at Miles again.

Miles felt much more confident now that he’d shrugged off the attack and decided that it was time to give the concrete man a taste of his own medicine. He flew right back at his opponent, hitting him as hard as he could. The concrete man was sent flying across the apartment parking lot where he smashed into a car.

“Watch it,” one of the firemen yelled, trying to get everyone out of the way.

Miles grimaced, realizing that he’d have to be very careful so he didn’t accidentally hurt the very people he’d just rescued. He started towards the concrete man who was already back on his feet, the concrete on his chest all cracked and with some red energy leaking out.

The concrete man stood there for a moment while the concrete on his chest seemed to melt and the cracks all vanished. At the same time, the concrete beneath him was beginning to melt and flow up his legs as well.

“Oh no,” Miles gasped, realizing that this was not a good thing.

A moment later, the concrete man was even larger, now standing ten feet tall. He stared down at Miles and then started to laugh.

“You’re a big one,” Miles said, bracing himself for what he knew would be a real challenge. He again felt the tickle of fear but he tried not to think about it. After all, he wasn’t one to run away from something he was afraid of. Instead, when he was afraid that just meant he had to throw himself at it instead.

“He’s probably as dumb as he is big,” his mom called out from where she hovered in the air a short distance away. She was glaring at the concrete man with a nervous look and then she flew straight at him.
“Look out,” Miles called out.

The concrete man swung his fists at her but they went through her as though she really was a ghost. After failing to connect several times, he seemed to be getting angry.

“Surely you can do better than that,” she taunted him, almost seeming to be having fun.

Miles stared at his mom for a moment, wondering what she was doing. Then it dawned on him. She was keeping the concrete man distracted, giving the firemen and other people a chance to get away.

“The hell with this,” the concrete man snarled, obviously frustrated by his failure to hit ‘Ghost Boy’. He then turned and grabbed the crushed car that he’d landed on earlier and picked it up. Then he casually tossed it right towards a nearby building.

“Oh no you don’t,” Miles exclaimed, flying up and slamming the car with his fists so that it went to the ground rather than the building. The impact sent him flying backwards but he quickly recovered and flew right at the concrete man again, punching him as hard as he could.

The concrete man knocked back with huge chunks of concrete flying off his body. The concrete beneath him began to melt again but Miles didn’t want to give him the chance to repair the damage and grow larger. Miles hit him again, throwing him back even further and then going in for another powerful blow.

Suddenly, there was a loud scream and Miles looked at the source, a teenage girl just a few years younger than him. She was a short distance away, sitting on the ground and clutching her arm with a look of pain on her face. Then Miles noticed the chunk of concrete beside her.

“Oh shit,” Miles blurted out, realizing what had happened. The girl had gotten too close to the fight, perhaps trying to get closer for a good look, and she’d been hit by a piece of shrapnel from the concrete man. “I caused that,” Miles gasped in horror.

Miles started towards the girl but his mom suddenly appeared beside her. “I’ll get you to safety,” she said, helping the girl to her feet.

Miles grimaced and then turned his attention back to the concrete man. He was not at all happy to see that the concrete man had used the distraction to absorb more concrete, to repair his damage and grow even larger.

The concrete man came at Miles again, moving much more slowly. Miles realized that each time he grew larger he slowed down as well. However, Miles was trying to think of what to do with that information when the concrete man hit him again, far harder than before.

Miles was slammed to the ground and winced in pain, stunned to realize that this time it had really hurt. It felt as though half his body was bruised from the blow, but even as Miles got back to his feet, the aches were fading.

A moment later, Miles slammed into the concrete man, hitting him hard enough to create some nice cracks in his surface. Then he moved to the side and avoided a slow moving but powerful punch, grinning as he realized that this was how he could use the knowledge.

Miles darted in and punched the concrete man hard and then jumped back, avoiding the attack of his much larger opponent. He dodged in and out, chipping away at the concrete man and keeping him busy.

Then Miles saw an opportunity and hit the concrete man as hard as he could again, knocking him back a little bit. Miles followed this up with several more powerful blows and then a series of smaller ones as he avoided the return attacks. When another opportunity came, he flew up and drove both fists down into the monster’s head, shattering the whole thing.

The now headless concrete man staggered back, appearing dazed and confused but he was still moving and didn’t seem to be feeling any pain. Miles took the opening to slam the concrete covered body with several more blows, smashing the concrete even more with each hit.

Finally, the concrete was mostly gone and a man made of glowing red energy was revealed beneath. The glowing man staggered and tried reaching for the ground to absorb more of the concrete but Miles slapped him, sending the man flying back.

“He’s down,” Miles’ mom exclaimed, dropping from the air and landing beside the man who was now sprawled on the ground.

The glowing man looked as though he was trying to sit up but just couldn’t do so. Then the glowing energy sputtered and faded away, revealing a very normal looking man.

“No,” Allison blurted out, staring down at the man in shock.

“What is it?” Miles asked, moving closer and then freezing as he got a much better look at their opponent. “Holy shit…” He stared at the naked and defeated man, feeling stunned by the fact that he recognized him.

His mom looked at him with an expression of utter shock and disbelief before finally saying what Miles already knew. “It’s Ralph.”

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Allison sat back on the couch, staring at the glass of vodka in her hand. So far she'd taken only a few sips and had no real interest in drinking more. It had seemed like a good idea to have a stiff drink while she considered the situation, though she'd forgotten one small detail. She didn't like strong drinks.

She closed her eyes, remembering the terror she'd felt when Miles had run off into danger like that, her worry that he would get hurt. And then she remembered the shame she felt when she thought about how she was just letting him go into that alone, not to mention his words, about how she was willing to sit back while other people got hurt. It had been that shame and worry for her son that drove her to go help, though to her surprise, she'd found it unbelievably exciting. After rescuing those people, she'd felt a pride unlike anything she'd ever felt before in her life. For the first time, she'd actually done something that really made a difference.

"And then Ralph showed up," Allison mused, taking another tiny sip from her vodka and wincing.

Of course, she'd had absolutely no idea that she was dealing with Ralph at the time and merely thought that it was some sort of freakish developed. She'd been afraid of him at first, but then once she realized that he couldn't even touch her, she'd begun finding it fun. It had been incredibly exciting to taunt that developed monster, confident in her own safety. There had been such an adrenaline rush that she suspected this was what Miles felt when he did some of those dangerous tricks with his skateboard. But then of course, they'd defeated him and found that he was actually her own supervisor Ralph.

When that metal woman had attacked at work and the quantum reactor core exploded, she'd thought that she and Miles had been the only ones caught in it...other than Praxis. She'd thought that since Ralph had abandoned them and kept running away, that he had been out of range of the strange energies. However, now she knew that this wasn't the case. Ralph had indeed been caught in those energies and changed, made into a developed the same as she and Miles had been, though obviously with different powers.

After they'd defeated Ralph, the police had immediately arrived to take him into custody. Allison had been too stunned to leave immediately and had then stuck around just long enough to ask a few questions and discover what was going on. This was the apartment building where Ralph lived...and where he'd been hiding out since his powers developed and he started to glow and absorb concrete. When the woman who lived in the apartment next door had seen him like this, she'd panicked and called him a freak before running away in terror. Ralph and become furious, probably because he'd been worried about being thought a freak already, and he lashed out, starting the fire that destroyed the building.

"Ralph is a super villain," Allison said with a snort, hardly able to believe it. It seemed like some kind of a bad joke. Then again, it wasn't any more unbelievable than her being a super hero.

Allison shook her head as she considered Ralph and how he'd turned insane. It just confirmed what she'd always thought about power corrupting and reminded her of just how much she and Miles needed to find a cure.

After another minute, Allison realized that there was one lead that might provide some answers about where the quantum reactor technology had come from, a lead that she'd been hesitant to approach until now because it would lead to too many questions. However, the whole situation with Ralph now gave her an excuse.

Allison slowly put down her drink and then stood up, reaching out with her link to Miles to see where he was. From the direction where she felt him, it looked like he was just outside, probably playing around on his skateboard again. She nodded at that and then went to where Miles had left the costumes after cleaning them last night to get rid of the smell of smoke. Allison thought that was oddly responsible for him and wished that she could get him to take that kind of responsibility for cleaning his room or doing his chores.

As Allison thought about Miles, she couldn't help but frowning. She would have thought that the events of yesterday would have been a dream come true for him, that he would have been thrilled at being able to play at being a super hero and even fighting a real super villain. However, it almost seemed as though the opposite was the case. Ever since then, Miles had been oddly somber and thoughtful. Allison suspected that it was because of that teenage girl who'd been injured in the fight. He felt responsible for that and was starting to realize how dangerous that kind of thing could be.

"Maybe that will make him more reasonable about this," Allison mused as she went to the front door. She went out into the parking lot until she saw Miles and then called for him to come inside. As he stepped through the door, she tossed him the Ghost Boy costume and said, "We need to get changed." She held up the Invincible Woman costume so that he could see it and then pushed on the link to switch places.

A moment later, Miles looked down at himself and then gave her a slightly confused look. "I thought you weren't interested in this super hero thing..."

"I'm not," Allison responded, not completely sure that she fully believed that herself anymore. "But we have someone we need to talk to and we should be dressed for it..."

Miles looked at the Invincible Woman costume he was holding in his hands and then shrugged before turning to go get changed. Allison chuckled faintly then started for her own bedroom to change into the Ghost Boy outfit, still a bit surprised that she'd willingly put this silly thing on again.

A short time later, Allison and Miles were dressed in their costumes and flying through the air. She felt a mixture of nervousness and excitement as she did so and made sure not to look at the ground. Since her son could fly much faster than her, he would have left her behind with ease if not for the new trick that she'd discovered yesterday by accident. With just a little concentration, she could disappear from wherever she was and reappear a short distance away, letting her speed up her flying by teleporting in short hops at the same time.

When they arrived at their destination, a large and familiar building, Miles gave her a curious look and finally asked, "Why are we back here?"

"Because," Allison responded after a moment, pausing to look at the building where she worked. "The only person I can think of who'd know where that quantum reactor technology came from is the company owner."

Allison stood back for a moment, trying to see the damage that the metal woman...that Circuit Monger had caused. So far, it looked as though the damage to the wall had been mostly repaired, though she had no idea about the damage inside the building. She felt just a little nervous about going back into the building at all but knew that she wasn't going anywhere near the labs anyway. That part of the building had been well shielded and insulated from the rest, especially from the offices where she worked...and where the company owner would be located.

For a brief moment, Allison considered the idea of just flying straight to the owner's office and going through the wall but then decided against it. After all, that kind of behavior probably wouldn't make the owner feel very cooperative, and at the moment, that was what she wanted. So instead of that, they went through the front door and stopped in front of the receptionist.

"We're here to see the owner," Miles told the receptionist, acting as though it was entirely his idea.

Allison nearly laughed at that but managed to keep a straight face, knowing that with the way the two of them currently looked, it would be assumed that Miles would be the one in charge. Of course, he must have realized that which is why he took the lead in the conversation.

A moment later, Allison saw the way that Miles was looking at the receptionist and realized that his reasons for taking the lead probably weren’t that rational. It suddenly struck Allison as funny since unless the receptionist was gay, she wouldn’t have much interest in Miles at the moment. In fact, she was much more likely to be jealous of him since he was much more attractive than her, with breasts that were even larger.

“And there it is,” Allison quietly mused to herself, seeing the forced smile on the receptionist and the gleam of jealousy in her eyes. The receptionist was obviously about to refuse them just out of spite so Allison said, “It’s about the attack last week.”

The receptionist froze with a worried look on her face. There were several more seconds of hesitation before she said, “Just moment please…” Then she made a quick phone call, and when she hung up, she said, “You can go right on up. Fourth floor and on the left.”

“Thank you,” Miles told her, still trying to flirt a little and apparently not realizing that it was having a far different effect than what he intended.

Allison glanced to the security guard who stood a short distance away, wondering what use he’d be if another developed attacked. Somehow, she had a feeling that these security guards wouldn’t be of much use at all. Then again, he did have strange looking gun strapped to his belt.

“A ray gun?” Allison mused to herself. It was funny but she’d never really given it much thought before. But considering what this company did, it made sense that the guards would be armed with a few things out of the ordinary. Then she shrugged and told Miles, “Come on… And try to stay in character. We don’t want anyone getting suspicious.”

“So,” Miles asked with a smirk as they stepped into the elevator. “Are you going to stay in character too and behave like a proper sidekick?” Allison didn’t say anything though she did give him a nice glare that had him chuckling.

They reached the office a minute later and found a man standing out front. “You’re expected,” he told them, gesturing to the door. “You can go right in.”

Miles was the first through the door though Allison stepped through immediately afterwards. She looked around, seeing that it was large office with a great window view. There was some expensive looking décor but she paid little attention to that. Instead, she focused on the desk and the woman who sat behind it.

The woman looked like she was probably in her thirties but Allison couldn’t really be sure. She somehow seemed mature and young at the same time, providing a strange sense of agelessness. She was beautiful with black hair, a black suit, and what appeared to be a very nice body. There was a name plaque on the front of the desk that said MRS. DARQUE.

“Invincible Woman and Ghost Boy,” Mrs. Darque said, giving them each a curious look. “The two newest heroes to appear around here. I was told that you’re here about the attack on our facility.” She gave Miles a curious look, almost ignoring Allison.

“Yesterday, we encountered a developed who works for your company,” Allison said carefully.

“Yes,” Mrs. Darque responded, giving Allison a more interested look now. “Ralph Barker. The police contacted me about him last night… It appears that an accident in the attack last week caused him to develop powers…” Then she froze and stared at Allison and then Miles with a thoughtful expression on her face. “I see…” She stared straight at Miles and said, “The real reason you’re here…Allison Fletcher.” Then she looked at Allison and said, “And Miles Fletcher.”

“What?” Miles exclaimed in surprise. “How…?”

Mrs. Darque gave him a wry smile and responded, “I watched all the security tapes of the incident…probably a hundred times. I even watched the footage that showed the actual explosion and your close presence. It only stands to reason that if Ralph Barker developed powers from the explosion, you two could as well.” Then she looked at Miles and added, “I would have realized sooner but you don’t look like your normal self.” She paused for a moment before adding, “Skitzomorphism and other physical changes aren’t uncommon among developed.”

“And you have a lot of experience with developed?” Miles asked, giving her a look that suggested that he was trying to intimidate her a little, though Mrs. Darque showed no signs of being intimidated.

“A moderate amount, yes,” Mrs. Darque responded simply. She scowled slightly and asked, “What are you really here to see me about? I don’t think that his is about Ralph Barker. I think this is about you.”

“We want to know everything about that quantum reactor core,” Allison said. “We want to know who created it and if there’s a way to contact them. We want to know if there’s a way to undo our changes.”

Mrs. Darque stared at her for several long seconds before nodding. She leaned back in her chair, frowning as she answered, “The person who created that technology was called Lord Dark.”

“I’ve heard of him,” Miles blurted out. “I thought he was some sort of sorcerer…”

“Magic tricks and misdirection,” Mrs. Darque told him. “He was a brilliant scientist with a flair for the dramatic. Unfortunately, between that and his megalomania, he used his discoveries to try taking over the world…not in a more reasonable way.” She shook her head, grimacing as she did so.

“You’re talking about him in the past tense,” Alison pointed out with a feeling of disappointment.

“He died during one of his foolish schemes,” Mrs. Darque stated with a dark look in her eyes. “Nearly everything he had on the quantum reactor technology was provided to Doctor Zuma for research.”

“And was it really part of a doomsday weapon?” Miles asked her, sounding almost eager.

Mrs. Darque snorted. “Unfortunately. Would you believe that my fa…that Lord Dark had actually created seven different doomsday weapons over the years? I never understood why anyone would need that many different types. He’d used this quantum reactor technology to power three of them.”

“And that’s why that metal woman tried stealing it,” Miles mused aloud.

“Possible,” Mrs. Darque responded. “However, Doctor Zuma was only given the quantum reactor…not any of the weapons it powered.”

“Then what do we do?” Allison moaned.

“I’m afraid that I can’t help you much with a possible cure,” Mrs. Darque said, giving them each a look. “But I know someone who might.”

That immediately got Allison’s full attention. “You do?”

“Yes, she’s something of an expert,” Mrs. Darque responded carefully. “In fact, she’s the one Praxis went to after the accident…”

“Do you know if Praxis is all right?” Miles asked. “I know she got hit by the energy too…”

Mrs. Darque just gave me a wry smile and responded, “Praxis and I are not exactly friends, but our mutual acquaintance has informed me that she is doing quite well.”

“I guess that’s good to hear,” Allison said.

Mrs. Darque nodded and then started to write something down on a sheet of paper. She handed the paper to Miles, stating, “Go to this address. If anyone can help you, she can.”

“Thank you,” Allison told Mrs. Darque, surprised that she was so helpful as well as grateful. It was far more than she’d been expecting.

“Oh, and Allison,” Mrs. Darque said, looking straight at Miles. “You can take whatever time you need before returning to work. That is, if you’re still interested in working here.”

“Um…thank you,” Miles told her, playing his part before he turned and left the office.

Allison followed after him, glancing back at her employer and shaking her head. “Well,” Allison told her son with a weak smile. “It looks like we have another appointment.”

--------------------

The large warehouse looked relatively new, only a few years old rather than old and rusty as Miles had always envisioned such buildings. It was nice and clean with a chain link fence around the entire property and easy access to a railway line which ran right past. It wasn’t at all what Miles had been expecting when he’d been told that they were going to see some kind of expert.

“This is it,” his mom said from beside him, looking over the address that Mrs. Darque had given them. “If I had any doubts about this being the right place, the fact that my company’s name is on it kind of removes them…”

They started walking to the door on the side and then Miles noticed that there was a little girl crouched down in front of it and using chalk to draw on the ground. She looked to be about eleven years old and had reddish brown hair that was pulled back into pig tails. The little girl was also wearing a pair of goggles which she’d raised so that they were on her forehead rather than over her eyes. She was even wearing some sort of tool belt.

“Hello, is there anyone else around here?” Allison asked the girl. “We’re supposed to meet someone here…”

“Nope, it’s just me,” the girl responded, standing up and wiping the chalk off her hands onto her overalls.

Miles looked down at what she was drawing and was surprised that it wasn’t a picture but a bunch of numbers. It looked like a math problem…a very big one with some strange symbols that didn’t make a lot of sense to him.

“Darque called me a bit ago and asked me to take a look at you,” the little girl said, looking up at Miles and then his mom with a speculative look. “I’m called Genius. Come on inside…”

“What?” Allison asked in surprise while Miles shook his head and went inside the warehouse behind the little girl.

Inside the warehouse, Miles saw numerous shelves and large boxes. But in the large open area in the middle where trucks and forklifts could have come through, a bunch of strange looking equipment was set up. It looked like it could have come right out of the labs he saw on his tour of Darklight Industries.

“Praxis called me to come check her out after the accident,” the little girl…Genius said as she walked to the machinery. “Darque said I could go ahead and set up a temporary lab here on her property since her company was involved.” Genius grinned cheerfully and added, “Mostly, I think she just wanted me to keep her in the loop since it was a result of Lord Dark’s technology…” She shrugged at that. “Anyway, I had just packed up and was about to leave when Darque called and asked me to see if I could help you. I’ve been busy putting my lab back together since…”

With that, Genius went to a table and picked up a metal sphere the size of a basketball. There was a red gem on the side, and when she pushed it, the metal ball vanished and there was a large piece of equipment where it had been. The new equipment looked almost like it was some sort of MRI machine from a hospital.

“You’re the expert that Mrs. Darque sent us to?” Allison gasped in surprise. “But you’re just a kid…”

“You aren’t much older,” Genius responded, giving Allison a faint glare and then sticking her tongue out at her. “Besides, I’m hardly a normal kid. I’m a genetically engineered super genius and a former member of the Protectorate. Unfortunately, those child protection people thought I was just a kid too and got me kicked off the team and stuck with a legal guardian.” Genius shrugged at that before responding, “You could say that normal and I aren’t exactly on speaking terms.”

Miles just stared at Genius for a moment, thinking about what she’d just said and having a hard time believing it. “You were with the Protectorate? Holy shit… They’re the big league heroes…”

Genius just grinned at that and then paused to stare back to Miles for a moment with a thoughtful look. She then looked at his mom and slowly said, “I have a feeling that there’s more going on here than Darque told me. Tell me about the accident and what it did to you. Everything.”

Miles hesitated a moment, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious about being in his mom’s body. Then he felt foolish for getting so nervous in front of someone who was even younger than him. He shook his head and decided to just get this over with.

“We can switch bodies,” Miles said awkwardly. “We only have our powers when we’re in each other’s bodies.”

“I see,” Genius mused, giving Miles a curious look though not seeming all that surprised. “So you’re really a boy…”

“Um…yeah,” he admitted, blushing bright red.

Genius shrugged and said, “There’s actually a lot of that going around.”

Miles could only blink at that in surprise. “But how many guys have you seen in their mom’s body?”

There was a moment of hesitation before Genius responded with a grin. “Let’s just say…you aren’t the first.” Miles was even more surprised at that and could see that his mom was as well. But before he could ask her more about this, she said, “Now tell me about how you exchange bodies and about your powers…”

After describing how the pressure kept building until they were forced to exchange for awhile, Miles told Genius, “And when I’m like this,” he gestured down at himself and gave her a wry grin, “I’m really strong and bulletproof. Oh, and I can fly.”

“I can fly, walk through walls…and sort of teleport short distances,” Allison said.

“You have one of the more common power sets,” Genius mused as she looked at Miles. “However, that can be largely surface and how a person’s powers actually work can vary greatly… I’m going to scan you each and see exactly how you were changed…”

Genius had Miles stand on a small platform while various things glowed around him, then after that she put him in the MRI machine while his mom was put on the platform. She tested them both with machines as well, even having them switch back and forth several times, nodding to herself and looking thoughtful the entire time.

Miles was thankful when Genius seemed to be done with the scans and he let out a sigh of relief. He looked down at the girl, feeling completely confused by her. He was half tempted to think that she was just a little girl playing a game where she pretended to be a scientist, but then she would say something that suddenly made her seem like an adult who just happened to be in the body of a child. She was giving off enough mixed signals that he was getting confused about what was her real personality and what was just an act.

Genius sat down at a computer console with five large monitors and began going over the data that she’d acquired from her scans. “So…Invincible Woman,” Genius said, looking to Miles and smirking while she continued to work at the same time. “Isn’t that name kind of presumptuous?”

“I guess,” Miles admitted, feeling self-conscious about both the code name and the body that went with it. “It’s not like I chose it though. It was those people on the news…”

Genius just nodded at that. “I’m not surprised. If you don’t give them a name up front, they’ll just make something up. And unfortunately, once they have a name for you it’s very difficult getting them to change it.”

“It’s not like it matters,” Allison said with a scowl. “We have no intention of making a career out of this.”

Miles just scowled slightly at that, not happy about the idea of giving up his powers. However, he certainly wouldn’t mind being able to avoid turning into a woman in order to use them.

“Calling yourself invincible not only sounds a little arrogant,” Genius continued, almost as though Allison hadn’t said anything. “It’s almost like daring people to test it…”

Miles gave a wry smile, realizing that he might have brought that on himself with his attempts at self-motivation. “And here I thought I was just giving myself a pep talk.”

“You know,” Genius abruptly said, giving each of them an odd look, “those costumes really look amateurish.”

“Hey, I made these myself,” Miles protested.

“Well they look like crap,” Genius added defiantly. “I’m just saying.” Then she grinned and added in an almost conspiratorial tone, “You know, Father Time would probably wash my mouth out with soap if he knew I said crap.”

Miles snickered at that and glanced to his mom who had a slightly disapproving look on her face. “It’s not appropriate for a young lady to use that language,” she told Genius which only made Genius giggle.

“I should have everything I need finished in just a couple more minutes,” Genius said, looking profession and serious again. Then she mused, “You know, you two were very lucky to have survived Circuit Monger at all… From what I’ve heard of her, she’s fairly powerful and has no hesitation about killing those who get in her way.”

“What?” Allison exclaimed. “You know about her?”

Genius paused to look at her for a moment before answering, “I stay informed about her as I consider myself and one of my friends as possible targets of her interest.”

“Please,” Miles blurted out. “Who is she? Why the hell did she go after that damn thing…”

“Oh, you said a bad word,” Genius teased, though her eyes remained serious.

Genius scowled thoughtfully before turning back to her computer. A moment later, an image of Circuit Monger appeared on one of the screens while an image of a skinny black man appeared on another.

“Who’s that?” Miles asked, pointing to the man.

“His name was Cyrill Forest,” Genius responded grimly. “An acquaintance of his became infected with a techno-organic virus that gave him the ability to interface with people and machines both…a sort of tactile technopathy and telepathy. This acquaintance began calling himself Interface and became a hero…and one of my friends.” She paused at that to shake her head. “Cyrill became jealous so found the source of the techno-organic virus and intentionally infected himself. However, it mutated and only gave him the ability to interface with machines, not with people. His personality quickly changed as well. I suspect that the virus may have become sentient and absorbed his mind, though I don’t have any evidence. But after this, he became obsessed with gathering information and started calling himself Trojan.”

“And what does this Trojan have to do with Circuit Monger?” Allison asked with a scowl.

“To make a long story short,” Genius said, pausing to add, “I know…too late. Anyway, there was a hero called Circuit, an android who was killed in action. Trojan was able to duplicate her body and then transferred his own mind inside. He impersonated her in order to infiltrate her organization, Faction Zero, and acquire access to their files. Since they shared access with several other groups, this would have given her a great deal of sensitive information…including detailed records on most heroes and villains. Faction Zero caught on to her before she could get everything but she got away. The next time she’d appeared, she had given herself another upgrade as well as a new paint job and was calling herself Circuit Monger.”

“So Circuit Monger used to be a guy,” Miles blurted out in surprise.

“Correct,” Genius agreed, giving him a wry smile. “Like I said, your sex change isn’t as unique as you might think. But ever since she began calling herself Circuit Monger, she has not only been interested in gathering information but also in gathering resources. She was probably after the quantum reactor as a power source rather than a potential weapon. However, I have no idea what she is building her resources for, only that it can’t be good.”

“Damn,” Miles whispered. “It’s too bad Praxis wasn’t able to catch her. Do you know if Praxis is trying to find her?”

Genius hesitated a moment before answering, “Praxis is…on vacation.”

“What?” Miles blurted out. “I didn’t think heroes took vacations…”

“Of course they do,” Genius responded with a laugh. “Who needs vacations more? Anyway, the accident that gave you your powers changed her too… She’d been exposed to something like that before and this fixed…no…modified her condition. She’s taking advantage of this to go on a delayed honeymoon…”

Miles remembered the way Praxis had disappeared and had apparently turned into two other people instead. However, before he could ask about that, his mom said, “I saw her get split in two…” She gave Genius a questioning look.

“Not my secret to share,” Genius told her. Then in a more childish tone, she added, “I’m really good at keeping secrets.”

Then Genius stared at her computer screens again, not the ones with images of Trojan or Circuit Monger, but the ones with the information from their examinations. She scowled and typed furiously on the keyboard for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“I have the results of your exams,” Genius said carefully. The tone of her voice made Miles gulp and he glanced to his mom and saw that she looked just as nervous.

“Well?” Allison demanded. “Can you fix us?”

“Let me explain what I found,” Genius told her with weak smile. “Then I’ll answer any questions…” She paused before grinning and adding, “And you won’t even have to raise your hands first.”

“To start with,” Genius explained, “the quantum reactor isn’t really a reactor. It’s…a stabilized quantum energy field that links to another dimension where it can draw energy from. When the energy field destabilized and collapsed, you two were caught in the link and it caused the two of you to become linked to each other on a quantum level. That link also goes through the dimension that the quantum reactor was tied to, which is the source of your powers.”

“Miles,” she said, looking straight at him. Then she gave him a look of faint amusement and continued, “Invincible Woman… You draw energy from that other dimension and now every cell in your body is saturated with it. This gives you a hyper vitality which not only makes that body younger and much healthier, it also releases its latent physical potential…hence the physical changes. Your supercharged body also drastically increases your physical strength, your resistance to injury, and your ability to heal and recover from any injuries you do receive. As long as you remain in that body, you will probably age very slowly if at all.”

“But I can fly too,” Miles pointed out, feeling a little smug.

“You do that by releasing some of the energy stored in your body and projecting yourself,” Genius explained. “However, by doing that, you have less energy remaining for your other abilities.” Then when she saw the blank look on Miles’ face, she rolled her eyes and said, “When you fly, you lose some of your strength and probably some of your toughness. The faster you fly, the more you lose. You’ll have to be careful not to take too much damage when flying fast.”

“And what about me?” Allison asked curiously. “I’m not getting any of those improvements…” She looked down at her teenage body and admitted, “But I do feel the vitality…”

“Any vitality you feel would be normal for that body,” Genius told her with a broad grin. “Your powers work a little different. You’re tied to that dimension too, but in a different way. You can transfer your mass into it so that you become intangible here. I’m sure you’ve noticed that you can only fly when you’re intangible…”

“Of course,” Allison lied. She felt embarrassed to realize that she hadn’t even noticed that.

“As long as your mass is in the other dimension,” Genius continued, “the laws of physics in this one don’t affect you the same way which is how you’re able to ignore gravity and distance. I suspect that once you get more comfortable with this, you may be able to teleport much greater distances…and perhaps even turn invisible as well.”

“That’s interesting,” Allison told her. “But not quite what I wanted to know…”

Genius nodded at that. “I know. But I really enjoy making you wait.” She grinned broadly and seemed to enjoy the glare that Allison gave her. Miles just snickered and gave a look of mock innocence when his mom glared at him.

“At the moment,” Genius said carefully, “your link forces you to spend approximately an hour a day in your current bodies, though you can stay longer if you choose. I want you to understand that the changes to your bodies are on a quantum level and can’t be reversed. The most I could do is sever the link between you…”

“If you can cut the link, then please do it,” Allison said with a slightly pleading tone in her voice. “Without that, we wouldn’t keep switching bodies and we could live normal lives again…”

“I’m afraid you don’t understand,” Genius told her, giving her a steady look and then looking at Miles. Her expression was completely serious. “Those changes to your bodies mean that THIS is now your natural state. The link you share is a remnant of the process of exchanging you this way and is the only thing that allows you two to be your old selves. If I cut the link, then you will both immediately shift to these bodies and permanently remain like this.”

“WHAT?” Allison demanded in shock, unable to believe what she’d just been told.

“No fucking way,” Miles blurted out. “You’ve got to be kidding…”

“I’m afraid that there’s even more,” Genius said apologetically. “You see, the link is a remnant and will slowly fade away. You’ll slowly be forced to spend more and more time in these bodies and will find it increasingly difficult to switch back. Eventually, you will be like this permanently. I believe you have a year…maybe two at the most.”

“Holy shit,” Miles whispered, staring at his mom in horror. She just stood there with her mouth dropped open.

“But…but if we broke the link, wouldn’t we lose our powers?” Allison asked, struggling to find something…anything to make this better.

“You’d lose your link to each other but you’d both remain connected to this other dimension,” Genius explained patiently. “If anything, your powers might even increase slightly since the energy won’t be diverted to the link.”

“But…but,” Allison stammered, still looking for another option. “What if we used another quantum reactor…”

Genius just shook her head sadly. “Duplicating the incident wouldn’t undo the changes. The results are far too unpredictable. It might snap the link instantly or cause further changes to your bodies. It could be horrific or even lethal. The chance of a similar incident reversing your changes would be…extremely insignificant.”

Allison stared at Genius and then at Miles. She couldn’t even imagine being stuck in his body for the rest of her life…being stuck as a teenage boy and her own son. But as horrific as that was for her, she couldn’t imagine what it was like for Miles. He’d not only be stuck as a woman, he’d be losing two decades of his life.

“No…” Allison whispered.

Miles just gulped, feeling more than a little shaken by this revelation. He looked down at himself and tried to think about what it would be like having these breasts all the time…seeing a woman in the mirror every time he looked in it. The very idea sat in his stomach like a lump of lead.

“No,” Miles said, repeating what his mom had said a moment earlier. But then another thought tickled the back of his mind, reminding him that this would mean that he’d get to keep his powers full time. He couldn’t help but feeling a faint excitement at that and then immediately felt guilty for feeling that way. “No way…”

“I’m sorry,” Genius told them. “But there isn’t really anything I can do to change you back. There isn’t anything that anyone can do.” She paused to add, “But at least you two have plenty of time to get used to it and to make arrangements…”

“Oh joy,” Miles muttered sarcastically. “That makes everything so much better.”

Allison shook her head and whispered, “This can’t be…”

“Well, this just bites,” Miles said, not sure what he should think or do now.

“As important as that is,” Genius said, giving Miles and his mom a serious look. “There’s another important issue that we need to talk about more as well… Your costumes.”

“What?” Allison blurted out, surprised by the change of topic. “You think that costumes are important after you drop a bombshell on us like that?”

“For a costumed hero, the costume is critical,” Genius responded, looking slightly defensive. “I know you said that you aren’t interested in continuing, but whether you do or not you should still have a good costume. It’s very important if you want to be taken seriously.” Then she looked to Miles and added, “As nice as your home made attempts are, they just won’t cut the mustard.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Miles muttered, not sure whether he should be offended by Genius making light of both their situation…and the costumes that he’d made, or whether he should be amused.

Genius went to another one of her devices and said, “I took the liberty of having these made while waiting on your results…” With that, she pulled a pair of costumes out of the machine and began holding them up for Miles and Allison to see. “They’re made of a lightweight and flexible material which also acts similar to kevlar and provides extra protection. As an additional bonus, the material is very easy to clean. Just throw them in the washing machine and pretty much everything will come out of them…”

Miles stared at the costumes with a mixture of jealousy and excitement. Genius was right, they were better than the ones he’d made. These ones actually looked professional and would make him and his mom look like real super heroes. He couldn’t wait to try his on, but as he looked at his mom, he saw that she wasn’t quite as enthused. Of course, he understood full well why.

“There are additional features that you might find useful,” Genius said, looking to Allison and adding, “Yours has concealed knuckle shielding in the gloves that will protect your hands when you punch someone as well as act like brass knuckles to provide a greater impact.”

“Look, you won’t hurt your hand again when you punch someone,” Miles teased his mom weakly, trying to take his mind off of the bad news that he really didn’t want to think about at the moment.

“You also have these,” Genius said with a broad grin, pointing to a white disk shaped device on each costume that was about three inches across. Each one had a red gem set in the middle and immediately reminded Miles of a similar disk that Praxis had as her belt buckle. “I’m pretty proud of these… When you put these costumes on and activate these…” She demonstrated a hidden switch on the side of the disks. “These become synched with the dimension that you draw your powers from. When you switch back to your old body, these will move your costumes into a pocket dimension tied to that one. When you switch back again, whatever clothes you’re wearing will be shifted to that dimension and these costumes will replace them here. It’s a great way to get changed fast and to protect your normal clothes.”

“That sounds kind of cool,” Miles admitted while his mom snorted from beside him. However, he could see that in spite of her disapproving attitude, that she was interested in spite of herself.

“I made something very similar for Praxis. I just wish these weren’t so expensive and difficult to make,” Genius told them with a sigh. “If they weren’t, I’d try mass producing them for the super hero community…”

“That’s all very nice,” Allison said with a sigh, shaking her head and seeming to almost deflate. “But we came here for help getting cursed…nor for help becoming super heroes…” She shook her head sadly and told Genius. “Thank you for trying though…”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help more,” Genius responded, then mused, “I suppose I should get cleaned up here again…” She looked somewhat disappointed as she touched the side of her computer desk which then vanished, being replaced by a metal sphere the size of a basketball. “And then I have to go home…”

Miles watched her for a moment as she took her time going to another piece of equipment and turning it into a metal ball as well. “You don’t seem all that enthusiastic about it…”

“Of course not,” Genius responded with a wry grin. “I have to clean all this up…again…and then when I get home…I’ll have to clean my room too.” Then she shook her head and went back to work.

Miles walked out of the warehouse with both costumes in hand since his mom didn’t seem interested in taking hers. He paused at the door to look back at Genius, the strange girl who somehow seemed both younger and older than him at the same time. He shook his head, still not sure what to make of her. Then mere seconds later, Miles and his mom began flying home.

--------------------

Miles grinned as he held the broken down old car over his head, feeling quite impressed at himself. Not only had he been able to hold the car up for a full minute but it hadn’t even been all that hard. In fact, he suspected that he could hold it there for at least five minutes before it really began to strain him.

Miles tossed the car a short distance away where it hit the ground with a loud crunch. He looked at it with a smug grin and then looked around the junkyard that was full of other cars and heavy things he could test his strength on. So far, this experimentation had been quite educational in giving him an idea of just how strong he really was in this body. For a moment, Miles just stood there delighting in the freedom of being able to really test his powers without his mom being there to make him feel self-conscious or guilty for enjoying them.

It had been almost a full week since Miles and his mom had gone to see Genius and both of them had been dealing with her revelations as best they could. Miles thought that being in his mom’s body was weird but he didn’t really mind it for short periods since he liked having these powers and knew that he could change back. However, the idea of being a girl permanently was terrifying and he couldn’t bring himself to think about it too much. At the moment though, it almost didn’t even feel real. It was like death, something bad that would happen eventually but which wasn’t worth worrying about just yet.

His mom had been a lot more visibly worried about the future than Miles, though she was trying hard to hide it and act as though everything was normal. She’d even gone back to work when she didn’t have to in order to regain what normalcy she could. She’d spend the day catching up on all the work that had backed up after the office shut down, and then at night she and Miles would exchange bodies for an hour to release the pressure in their link.

For the last week, Miles hadn’t been able to test his powers the way he would have liked because his mom insisted on staying swapped for the minimum amount of time possible. She also didn’t let him out of her sight, keeping them both holed up in the condo until they could switch back to normal.

Today was different. His mom had come back from work, tired and frustrated after a bad day. After they’d switched places, she’d abruptly announced that she was going out for a walk. However, Miles hadn’t been fooled and knew that she’d actually gone out to go flying instead. Though she wouldn’t admit it, he knew that she actually got a kick out of flying and was using it as a way to unwind from the stress of work.

Miles hadn’t been about to waste an opportunity, so as soon as his mom left he took off as well. He quickly found this junkyard and even talked the owner into letting him practice here a bit.

Miles looked around the junkyard again and then down at himself, feeling pleased by the new costume he was wearing. The costume Genius had designed was a one piece spandex bodysuit that covered everything from the neck down. Just a little over half the body suit was red while the rest was a dark gray, including much of his arms and his hands. To finish the costume off, he had a white sash around his waist and the ‘pin’ which held it together was actually the device that Genius had given to switch the costume out. Two other small white disks were pinned on his collar almost like they were broaches for a non-existent cape, though they were purely decorative.

“I like it,” Miles said aloud. It definitely looked more professional than the one he’d put together, though he’d thought that one looked pretty cool at the time.

Miles grinned as he went to a large truck with a missing back axel, a powerful industrial thing that looked MUCH heavier than the car. He got a good hold of it and then grunted, lifting it off the ground. It was very awkward and unbalanced so he had to shift himself and the truck so that it was much more balanced.

“Now this is more of a challenge,” Miles muttered with a grimace, holding the truck for a minute and straining before he dropped it to the ground. “Okay… A little break and then I try it again…”

Miles waited for a minute and then prepared himself to try something that he’d been thinking about since Genius explained how his powers really worked. He’d done a few small experiments that seemed to confirm an idea he had, but now was the chance to actually prove it.

With that, Miles tensed up and focused on pulling even more energy from the dimension where he drew his powers from. His body, which always felt supercharged and fantastic suddenly began to feel even more energized. He grimaced, and tried to hold this but it was starting to dissipate already. And while he had this extra energy, he grabbed the truck and lifted it again, finding that it felt much lighter than before.

“Oh yeah,” Miles exclaimed triumphantly, even as the truck started to become heavier in his hands. He dropped the truck again and nearly yelled, “It worked…”

Miles couldn’t help but feeling smug that he’d figured something out about his powers that even Genius didn’t seem to know. Since his powers came from charging his body with energy, he’d realized that if he could get even more energy he’d get even stronger and tougher. And now he’d proven that he could…that he could supercharge his powers for a short burst of extra strength.

“That should do for now,” Miles decided. He now had a much better idea of just how strong he was and just what he could do. Of course, he would have liked to know exactly how tough he was as well but that was a much harder power to test. “Time to go home.”

A moment later, Miles lifted himself up into the air and flew over the building where the junkyard owner was located. He waved to the man in thanks for letting him use the junkyard, then flew home as fast as he could.

When Miles returned to the condo a short time later, he wasn’t at all surprised to find that his mom hadn’t come back yet. He could feel her off in the distance, probably still flying around. That was perfectly fine with Miles since he wanted some privacy…especially since he felt a familiar pressure on his bladder.

Miles went to the bathroom and then hesitated, realizing that this was the first time that he’d had to go to the bathroom while he was in this body. He blushed at the thought and then looked own at his costume, realizing that this could be a problem.

“I can’t believe I have to get naked just to take a piss,” he muttered in disgust. Of course, he didn’t have to get completely naked but it was pretty close. A one piece bodysuit wasn’t designed for easy of bathroom use. “Shit…”

Miles grumbled as he undid the hidden seam in his costume and climbed out of it, deciding that if he ever saw Genius again he’d have to have a talk with her about a more practical design. He’d thought the one piece costume was sleek and cool but that was before he’d realized this could be a problem.

Once Miles was undressed, he sat down on the toilet, feeling self-conscious as he did so. He was just thankful that his mom wasn’t nearby or it would have been much worse. As it was, it took him nearly half a minute to relax enough to actually begin peeing.

When he was done relieving himself, Miles hesitated, remembering that he’d heard something about girls having to wipe from front to back so that they didn’t get infected or something. He sighed, wishing for the first time that he’d actually paid more attention in health class when the teacher had been talking about girl’s plumbing and issues.

Then it suddenly struck Miles that he’d have to get a lot more used to doing this kind of thing in this body. “Oh shit,” he whispered, remembering that he’d slowly end up spending more and more time like this until it became permanent.

Miles got dressed again as quickly as he could though his thoughts were going over all the girl problems that he’d eventually have to deal with. Would he start having a period? Would he have to go to a gynecologist? And then there were all the girl things that he didn’t have a clue about but which he might eventually have to learn.

“This bites,” Miles muttered as he looked into the bathroom mirror.

He wondered if he’d ever get used to seeing a hot looking adult woman staring back from him. Of course, it would be awhile still before it became permanent and until then he didn’t really need to worry about it so much. Unfortunately, now that he was thinking about all the girl issues that he’d have to face, he was having a hard time stopping.

“I should be focusing on how to get into a girl’s panties,” Miles mused to himself with sigh. “Not on how to put them on myself.”

But as Miles continued staring into the mirror, taking in every detail, he couldn’t help but thinking about how beautiful he was and suddenly wondered what the girl in the mirror would look like with makeup on. He slowly ran a hand over his face, touching his lips with his nails and trying to imagine them with lipstick.

“I wonder,” Miles mused, feeling weird for even considering this. ‘Well, I will probably need to learn this eventually…”

Miles reached into his mom’s drawer and pulled out some of her makeup, giving it a speculative look before he began try it on. He felt ridiculous as he put the makeup on and even more so when he looked into the mirror and saw the results.

“I look like a damn clown,” Miles exclaimed in annoyance

After washing his face off, Miles tried it again, being even more careful. Now this was no longer just a matter of curiosity but of pride. Just about every girl in school had learned how to do this so it couldn’t be too hard.

Miles thought that his second attempt was better than his first but not by much. He tried two more times but still didn’t like the results.

“I look like crap,” he muttered in disgust.

Just then, Miles suddenly realized that he could feel his mom’s presence just a short distance away. He grimaced, realizing that she was coming home and he was standing there with makeup on his face. If she saw that, she’d never let him live it down.

Miles quickly washed his face off again and then went to go see how his mom enjoyed her little flight. He paused though at the bathroom entrance to glance back to the mirror and his mom’s makeup drawer, knowing that this wasn’t over. He had no real interest in wearing makeup, but if that bimbo Kimberly Watson from his literature class could master it, then there was no way he could do any less.

--------------------

Allison walked through the mall, noticing that it was fairly crowded and taking comfort in the normalcy of that. After everything that had happened over the last couple weeks, she craved any bit of normalcy she could find. And what could be more normal than taking her son out shopping for school clothes.

“Jeez, you didn’t have to come with me,” Miles protested with a roll of his eyes. “You know, I am old enough to pick out my own clothes…”

“Well,” Allison responded with a faint smirk. “Since I’m paying for the clothes, I reserve the right to veto your choices.”

Miles grimaced and told her, “Like you even know what’s popular in high school anymore…”

Allison just smiled at that, thankful to spend time with Miles that was just like old times, like the way they’d been before the accident. It was almost enough to make her forget all the strangeness in her life…almost.

Of course, Allison had been had been trying hard to get everything back to normal as much as possible. She’d gone back to work, and even though the labs were still closed, there were still plenty of supplies that needed to be ordered and signed for.

Mrs. Darque had shown up only once and had come through the office but hadn’t really talked to Allison specifically. However, she had given Allison a knowing look before moving on. Allison was grateful that her employer wasn’t spreading stories of how the accident had turned her into a freak.

Allison let out a sign and then frowned as she remembered what that strange girl had told her and Miles about their changes. That Genius had said that they not only couldn’t be cured but that eventually the two of them would be forced to become each other permanently.

The very idea of being stuck as a teenage boy was the worst kind of nightmare. What would that mean for her and Miles? It would be the end of both their lives, at least as they knew them. It would mean the end of their very identities.

Allison knew that if she was stuck in Miles’ body, there would be no way that she’d be able to continue with her job or with any of her other responsibilities as an adult. He would end up losing twenty years of his life, and since he didn’t look anything like her when he changed, he wouldn’t even be able to assume her identity. He wouldn’t have any legal identity at all.

“What are we going to do?” she whispered to herself, feeling yet another surge of worry. It had been something she’d felt a great deal since talking with Genius.

Every time Allison thought about that future, she felt a cold chill down her spine and a knot of worry in her stomach. She’d been doing everything she could to try convincing herself that everything was normal and would remain that way in the desperate hope that it would, but she wasn’t foolish enough to believe this.

Then she looked to Miles and grimaced, annoyed by the fact that he didn’t seem to be bothered by it at all…as though this wasn’t a real problem and would just blow over as long as he ignored it. That was absolutely ridiculous but she still hoped he was right.

“No,” Allison told herself firmly, tearing her thoughts away from that direction. Today was all about shopping for school clothes, the same way they did every year at this time. It was a nice and normal tradition and that was what she wanted to focus on.

Allison paused in front of a clothing shop and pointed to some of the shirts up front. “How about these,” she suggested to Miles. “I think this would look nice on you…”

Miles just snorted in response. “That would make me look like I’m twelve… I get enough shit about that as it is…”

“How many times have I told you not to use that language?” Allison asked him with a glare, knowing that it was useless to keep lecturing him about this but also knowing that it was her parental duty to do so.

A moment later, Miles pointed across the hall and exclaimed, “The game store… I’m gonna go see if they have anything new in…” And before Allison could say anything, he was already started towards it.

“Okay,” she called to him with a sigh, knowing that it was pointless to argue at the moment. “I’ll meet you in the food court in half an hour…” And with that, she started walking down the hall again with her own destination in mind. Miles might want to check out the latest video games but she had been looking for a chance to get some new bath and body lotions, and now she could do so without hearing him complain about having to hang around that store. “I guess we’ll just have to finish getting his clothes later…”

Two minutes later, Allison was halfway across the mall and about to enter the store that sold all the nice smelling soaps and lotions. She smiled faintly, already catching the pleasant aroma that often tempted her to linger for much longer than her son would like.

“I wonder,” Allison mused, suddenly wondering what would happen if she put on a lot of fragrant body lotion or strong perfume tonight before she switched with Miles. Would he suddenly be left wearing her fragrance or would the smell somehow get lost in the exchange? She smiled wickedly, determined to find out.

Suddenly, Allison heard a loud sound from down the hall, one that immediately caught her attention since she’d heard it in at least half the action movies that Miles liked to watch. It was the unmistakable sound of machine gun fire, immediately followed by the sounds of people screaming.

“EVERYBODY DROP TO THE FLOOR,” a man yelled, firing another shot into the ceiling.

Allison froze, staring at the man in terror, feeling as though her heart was about to stop. The gunman was tall and athletic looking with dark hair and a tan. She thought that he could have been Hispanic but couldn’t be sure. Then she noticed his T-shirt, a bright red shirt with the word LUST written across the front in large black letters.

People screamed and started running away but the man fired some more shots and yelled out, “IF ANYONE MOVES, I SHOOT THEIR ASS. NOW ON THE FLOOR!”

Allison dropped to the floor, terrified that he was going to shoot her. After some more screaming, he had people gather together and lay on the ground. Then he slowly walked among his hostages, watching them intently…or at least watching the women intently.

Then another voice yelled out, “STAY DOWN OR GET SHOT.”

The newcomer also held a small machine gun as he joined the first man. He was a slender black man with a nice and expensive looking suit. When he walked past, Allison noticed that he had a ‘hello my name is’ badge on his jacket that had ‘PRIDE’ written as the name.

“You need to pay more attention,” Pride told Lust in an arrogant sounding voice. “You nearly had an escapee…”

“We’ve got half the mall locked down,” Lust responded. “No one is going anywhere.”

Allison just continued cowering down in fear, watching these men and gulping when a third armed man joined them. She stared at him for a moment, suddenly realizing that she’d seen this one before.

“Oh no,” Allison whispered, recognizing the third armed man. He was one of the robbers that she and Miles had stopped from robbing the jewelry store…the one who seemed to be their leader. He had the word ‘GREED’ written on his shirt then and he did now as well.

“What are we waiting for?” Greed demanded. “We shouldn’t be wasting time with these guys… Let’s just hit the jewelry store…” He gestured to a jewelry store across the hall from him. Then he grinned and added, “You guys can watch the hostages. I’ll go get the loot…”

“Our employer’s instructions were very clear,” Pride told him. “We don’t gather the money until after we have full control.”

Lust snorted. “We wouldn’t even have to be here if you hadn’t gotten caught.”

Pride nodded at that. “Agreed. Your job was to acquire capital for our employer but you got caught and we all had to spend time and effort getting you out. Now we’re well behind schedule which necessitates this move…”

“I’m surprised the boss hasn’t cut off your balls,” Lust added with a chuckle. “I just hope the others are having as easy a time as we are…”

“Doubtful,” Greed responded with a snort. “Gluttony and Sloth are securing the west corridor and gathering more hostages there…but those two aren’t exactly known for their competence.”

“Anger and Envy have the other hall,” Lust added, gesturing down the direction that Allison had just come from. “I can almost guarantee there will be casualties…what with Anger’s temper and all.” He snickered at that while the others nodded.

Allison remained frozen where she was, her heart racing as she thought about the incident with Circuit Monger. She tried telling herself that she’d gotten out of that and she’d get out of this. However, she was still terrified…not only for herself but for Miles. She had absolutely no idea where he was and could only pray that he was still all right.

Just then, a woman came walking down the hall, obviously with the robbers since she was armed with a pistol in her hand. She had shoulder length black hair and wore a tight black outfit that was sleek and sexy, being finished off with stiletto heeled boots and a dark red trench coat that was open to show off the outfit beneath.

“So you have more rounded up,” the woman said, looking around at everyone who was lying on the ground. “Good. I’ll make sure none of them try anything.”

Suddenly, Allison felt a strange sense of exhaustion hit her, though she realized that it was less an exhaustion and more of an absolute sense of laziness. She was still terrified but the idea of getting up and running away now seemed like far too much effort. It was so much easier to remain where she was, not moving at all.

“The police will be here soon,” Pride said. “The hostages will keep them from trying anything at first.”

“I already have our escape arranged,” the woman responded with a smirk. “I can deal with the police in the same fashion that I did these people… In fact, it should be quite entertaining and much like old times.”

“Whatever you say boss,” Greed said.

The woman looked around for a moment before saying, “This group of hostages are under control. Lust, you stay here and watch them. You can have fun with one or two if you’d like, just don’t forget what we’re here for. And you two, go start rounding up stragglers.”

With that, the woman started to walk away as did Greed and Pride. Allison watched them go, absently thinking that this might be good news since that left only one person guarding them, but she found it hard to really care much less do anything. She saw that everyone else on the floor around here looked as though they were feeling the exact same thing.

Lust began to slowly walking among the gathered hostages, pausing to look over each of the women with a hungry expression. “Got to love the boss’ power,” he chucked to himself in a way that sent chills down Allison’s spine. Then bent down and began to fondle one woman’s breasts, musing, “Very nice…”

Lust was no longer even pointing his weapon at anyone and now seemed more interested in feeling up the women than in anything else. A part of Allison was angry and disgusted but a very large part found it difficult to even care. When he reached her and grabbed her breasts, she could only bring herself to make a half-hearted attempt to raise her hand which he easily swatted aside. Anything else just seemed like far too much effort.

Fortunately, Lust seemed content to just grope Allison a little before moving on to the next woman. She felt a strange mixture of relief that he was finished with her and anger that he was now violating the next woman as well. However, the anger still wasn’t enough to motivate her to do anything, though she did make a half-hearted attempt to try telling him to stop though it only came out as a mumble.

Just then, Allison suddenly felt a surge of energy down the link she shared with Miles, the link that she’d almost completely forgotten about in the excitement of the moment. An instant later, she felt herself being torn from her body and thrown down the link where she snapped into place again in a new body and a new place.

Allison felt a little dazed as she looked around, finding that she was in a different part of the mall but that she still had people spread on the ground around her, though she herself seemed to be the only one of them standing. The first thing she realized was that her body hurt as though she’d been smacked around and bruised, followed quickly by the realization that in spite of the pain, she felt full of energy. Whatever that strange woman had done to her, switching places with Miles had caused it to wear off.

She quickly glanced down at herself, seeing that she was now dressed in the costume that Genius had given her. It consisted of a one piece black bodysuit that covered everything from the neck down, a pair of white boots that went up to her knees, and a white jacket that had obviously been inspired from the hoodie she had been wearing before. The jacket had a hood built in which was covering most of her head to hide her identity. A black mask that was just a little larger than a domino mask helped with that as well. And of course, she was also wearing a white belt which had the device to switch costumes installed as the buckle.

Then Allison looked around and saw that the hostages being held here weren’t under the same kind of effect as where she’d been before, but many of them did look like they’d been beaten. She could see some with broken and bloody noses as well as some bruises. At the same time, she also saw the two armed people who were holding the hostages here.

One of the gunmen was a large and burly man with a thick beard that made him look like he might be a biker, an impression that was added to by the black leather vest he wore. The word ‘ANGER’ was written on his vest in red letters. He was obviously the one who’d been hurting the hostages since Allison watched as he kicked one in the ribs. A short distance away, there was a woman who was very plain looking and Allison might have mistaken her as one of the hostages if it wasn’t for the gun in her hand and the fact that ‘ENVY’ was written across the front of her shirt.

At that moment, Allison was suddenly extremely grateful that Miles had talked her into putting on this ridiculous costume yesterday in order to make sure it actually fit. She remembered that not only was it helping to hide her identity from these criminals but it was also made of some sort of bulletproof spandex.

“Miles must have switched to get us out of here,” Allison mused, easily understanding why he’d done so. The aches she felt told her that Anger had probably been hitting Miles the same way he’d been going after these other people. That just made her angry. How dare this man hurt her son?

“What the fuck?” Anger demanded, staring at Allison in surprise and confusion. “Where the fuck did you come from?”

Then he sneered and opened fire, shooting several rounds right through Allison. She was already intangible so the bullets hit the store front behind her without harming her in the least. She let out a breath she hadn’t even realized that she’d been holding. He couldn’t hurt her. After all the fear and helplessness she’d felt against Lust and these other goons, after being violated and not being able to do a thing about it, she now felt a surge of triumph and power.

“You can’t hurt me,” Allison exclaimed, beginning to grin.

“He’s developed,” Envy called out, staring at Allison with a look of clear jealousy.

“No fucking shit,” Anger responded, shooting at Allison again.

Allison charged straight at Anger, thinking of how helpless and humiliated she’d been against Lust, at how terrified she’d felt at being taken hostage at gun point, and of course, her fear and anger towards what had been done to Miles. When she reached Anger, she swung her fist as hard as she could, turning solid again just long enough to punch him in the face. The knuckle protection built into her gloves did its job because it didn’t hurt her fist at all but Anger’s nose exploded into blood. He dropped the gun and swung his fist at her though it went through her as though she was only made of air.

Allison laughed in delight, suddenly feeling a sense of freedom that she’d never felt before. Anger was bigger and stronger than she was but she felt absolutely no fear towards him now. He couldn’t touch her…couldn’t harm her at all. With these powers, nothing could touch her unless she allowed it.

Then with her newfound confidence, Allison launched herself at Anger again with an almost reckless frenzy, hitting him and turning intangible before he could hit her back. She hit him over and over, even driving a knee into his groin the way she’d been taught in a self-defense course years earlier. In less than a minute, Anger was bloody and unconscious on the ground.

“I…I did it,” Allison whispered to herself, staring down at Anger and feeling excited.

She couldn’t believe that she’d actually gotten into a physical fight, something which she’d always thought she should avoid, and that she’d won. But she had to admit that she’d enjoyed it, and of course, he’d definitely deserved it. Then she turned her attention to Envy who was watching with an expression of shock.

Allison grinned and reached out with her power and a moment later, she teleported right next to the other woman and exclaimed, “Boo!”

Envy let out a shriek and dropped her weapon, then turned and ran away as fast as she could. Allison looked over at all the hostages who were sitting up and watching the encounter in amazement. Then she waved to them before turning and going after Envy.

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When Anger and Envy had charged down the hallway with guns blazing and ordering everyone to hit the floor, Miles had been shocked and terrified. As with everyone else, he’d been so afraid of being shot that he’d immediately complied with their orders and dropped flat to the ground. However, it hadn’t taken long for anger and resentment to build as well, especially when he remembered that he could easily have the power to fight these people.

Miles had been strongly tempted to reach for the link he shared with his mom and transform into Invincible Woman, but he knew that if he did that he’d end up somewhere else in the mall. He had no idea where his mom was at the moment or how many people were around her. What he did know was that there were plenty of people around him, plenty of people who would see him if he suddenly transformed. He didn’t want to do this in front of witnesses, giving way his secret identity and letting other people see him and his mom changing. This just added to his growing frustration.

“DON’T YOU FUCKINGF MOVE,” Anger yelled at one man. “I’LL FUCKING BLOW YOUR FUCKING HEAD OFF IF YOU SO MUCH AS TWITCH.” He then proceeded to kick the man in the ribs, smirking as he did so and pointing the gun at him so he wouldn’t dare fight back.

After this, Anger slowly walked around the hall, kicking several more people apparently at random. Envy just stood back and watched intently but made absolutely no move to either help or stop him. Then Anger came to Miles and saw Miles glaring back at him with a mixture of fear and defiance.

“Stupid kid,” Anger exclaimed, kicking at Miles the same way he had the others. Then he bent down and pointed the gun to Mile’s temple, making Miles certain that he was about to die. But then Anger abruptly turned and went after someone else.

“I know our boss said to feel free to play,” Envy said in a quiet voice that made Miles think of his school librarian. “But I don’t think she wants us to break them too much yet…”

Anger turned to glare at her. “Who the fuck cares?”

“The boss might,” Envy responded calmly. “I think she still has plans for them. I think…” She paused to smirk slightly before adding, “I think she’s planning on using them all to make a big statement when we leave…”

Anger just snorted at that and muttered, “Whatever,” before he went back to kicking his next victim.

Miles watched with increasing anger and frustration, knowing that he had the power to do something about this but that he didn’t dare. Of course, he was angry that Anger had hurt him, but that wasn’t what truly pissed him off. After all, he’d gotten worse bruising than that just from playing around with his skateboard. What truly got to Miles was when Anger began to kick at an old woman.

“Enough,” Miles muttered as he slowly stood up.

Miles had been trying hard to protect his own identity and that of his mom, but he couldn’t stand to just watch these innocent people being beaten. He knew without a doubt that if this continued much longer, someone would end up dead and he couldn’t bear the idea of letting something like that happen. If he and his mom had to lose their secret in order to protect these people, then so be it.

“At least everyone is watching him instead of me,” Miles told himself with grim determination. He hoped that would be enough to keep anyone from realizing what was going on or remembering what he looked like. However, the truth was that he’d do this even if everyone here was recording him on their cell phones. And with that, he reached for the link he shared with his mom.

There was the now familiar burst of energy and a moment later, Miles found himself on the ground and in a different yet familiar body. He closed his eyes for just a moment, savoring the sense of raw power and vitality which was usually the first thing he noticed when he entered this body, even more than the breasts or the tight costume he now wore.

Then he sat up and looked around, seeing hostages scattered all over the ground just they had been at the other place. However, there was something wrong with these ones as none of them seemed to be moving at all.

“You,” Miles said grimly as he saw that these hostages were being watched by only a single guard, one with the word ‘LUST’ written on his shirt. “I’m starting to see a pattern here…” In fact, he was becoming certain that these gunmen were somehow related to the jewelry store robbery that he had stopped before.

“Where the hell did you come from?” Lust demanded with a look of surprise and confusion on his face. However, his expression quickly changed into an intense leer and he added, “But damn you’re fine…”

Miles was suddenly very aware of the way Lust was staring right at his breasts, doing so in such an obvious manner that he couldn’t help but feeling uncomfortable…almost as though he was naked. He grimaced, fully aware of the thoughts that must be going through Lust’s mind since they’d be similar to ones he had when staring at Christine. However, Miles didn’t like being on the receiving end like this one bit, especially not from someone like that.

“What did you do to these people?” Miles demanded firmly, starting to walk towards Lust.

“Me?” Lust responded with a grin. “Nothing. The boss did this…”

“Drop the gun,” Miles commanded him, still slowly walking towards Lust who seemed so absorbed with watching Miles’ breasts that he didn’t seem to care.

Suddenly, Lust seemed to realize what was happening and immediately pointed the weapon at Miles, now giving him a serious look. “You’re the chick who pinched Greed… You’re Invincible Woman…”

Miles narrowed his eyes, feeling a little pleased that he’d guessed right about these guys being connected to the other robbery. However, at the moment he was worried. He wasn’t at all worried about himself or his mom since they both had powers that could keep them safe, but he was concerned about all the hostages scattered about on the floor. That meant he would have to do something about Lust and his gun.

Lust opened fire on Miles who charged forward, snatching the gun from his hands and then snapping it in half and dropping the pieces to the floor. He then grabbed the now unarmed criminal and held him up in the air with one hand.

“You’ve made a big mistake coming here,” Miles snarled at his prisoner.

Lust just laughed at that, not seeming very intimidated by Miles. “No sweetie, you made a big mistake.” And with that, he reached out and grabbed hold of Miles’ breasts and squeezed. Miles was so startled that he dropped Lust to the ground while the man just stared at him with a smirk. “Nice tits…”

Miles snarled in anger and was about to hit Lust when he suddenly held back, remembering that with his current strength, he’d break every bone in the man’s body. As difficult as it was, Miles forced himself to control his temper. Instead of hitting Lust, he grabbed him again, holding him tightly and making sure that he didn’t have a chance for another grope.

“How many of you are there?” Miles demanded coldly. “How many of you are here at the mall? Tell me, or I’ll burn your face off with my heat vision.” Of course, Miles had no such thing as heat vision, but Lust didn’t need to know that.

“Haven’t you ever heard of the seven deadly sins?” Lust asked with a smirk, still eying Miles’ breasts. “You’re as dumb as you are hot…”

For a moment, Miles just glared at Lust, not feeling very happy at having his guess confirmed. He’d just taken out Lust but that meant there were still six of these people left. Of course, he’d left his mom with two of them but he had no idea if she’d try stopping Anger and Envy or if she’d use her powers to escape.

Miles casually tossed Lust down the hall where he slammed into the wall hard enough to knock the wind out of him. Tough Miles would have liked to have tied him up or guaranteed he couldn’t get away, he knew that this would have to do for now.

“It looks like I’ve got six more to take care of,” Miles said grimly. However, Lust looked at him from where he was now leaning up against the wall with a dazed look on his face, snickering slightly.

Miles was just about to start looking for the next sin when he saw that two more of them were coming towards him from down one of the halls. One was a slender black man in what looked like an expensive suit while the other was a very familiar looking man, the same one that Miles had stopped at the robbery.

“What the hell is going on?” Greed demanded, though his eyes widened when he saw Miles. “Oh shit… Not that bitch again…”

Miles looked to his companion and noticed the name tag on his suit which said he was Pride. Pride didn’t even blink before raising his gun and firing at Miles.

At first, Miles grinned as the bullets just bounced off him, but then he realized that the ricochets could hit the hostages on the floor. He felt a surge of fear, suddenly remembering the girl who’d been injured during his fight with the Ralph monster. He didn’t want that to happen again…couldn’t let that happen again.

Miles charged forward as fast as he could, using his flight power to push himself so he could get this over with as fast as possible. He back handed Pride, sending him flying back and then he turned his attention to Greed who just dropped his gun and began running away.

“That leaves only four,” Miles told himself, hoping that he could do this before anyone got hurt. So far, these gunmen had been focused on him and he would have to make sure they stayed that way.

Just then, a woman’s voice called out from the hall behind Miles, exclaiming, “Ah, the costumed interloper arrives… I suppose it was only a matter of time…”

Miles snapped around and saw a woman casually walking down the wide corridor towards him. She was dressed in some sort of tight black outfit with stiletto heeled boots but had on a red overcoat on top of it all, though the coat was open so he could still see the rest of the outfit. The newcomer was smirking, not looking the least bit afraid in spite of the fact that he’d just taken out three of her fellow gunmen.

“You know,” the woman commented absently, “the last time I encountered one of your sort he killed me. Fortunately for me, my master brought me back in this lovely new body.” She gestured down at herself, looking quite pleased.

“And which of the seven deadly sins are you?” Miles demanded, noticing that she didn’t have one of the sins written out on her clothes like the others had.

The woman just laughed at that. “Why my dear, I’m no mere sin.” Then she smirked before announcing, “I am the Sinner.”

Miles grimaced, suddenly realizing that Lust had said that there were seven deadly sins…not seven people in their group. He’d neglected to mention that their mysterious boss was here as well and wasn’t being counted as one of them. That explained Lust’s reactions and why he’d been smirking.

The Sinner didn’t seem at all worried about Miles which immediately made him wary of her. She stood back and lit a cigarette, watching him with a strange expression that seemed more amused than anything.

“You know,” she commended as she blew a stream of smoke out. “In my first life, I was focused on revealing the self-righteous for the hypocrites they are…in making them surrender to sin. But since I’ve been given a second chance, I thought that I should think larger. I’ve decided to build myself something of an empire with my chosen lieutenants to help me run it. Greed will be responsible for new acquisitions, Anger will be my enforcer, Lust will run prostitution, and so on…” She made a dismissive gesture and sighed. “Unfortunately, this whole incident proves that I’ve chosen my lieutenants poorly. Of course, I’ve never really worked with others before and I’m not very good with organization. I suppose I’ll just have to learn from this when I find their replacements…”

Miles slowly started walking towards the Sinner, carefully stepping around the people who were scattered over the floor. He moved slowly so that she wouldn’t realize what he was doing while she was bragging about her plans.

“And what did you do to these people?” Miles asked to encourage her to continue talking while he slowly moved closer.

“Why, I overwhelmed them with sloth, of course,” the Sinner responded smugly. “I was going to do that to all of my lovely little hostages…just to keep them out of trouble until I was ready. You see, when I leave here, I intend on filling each and every one of them with rage instead and then unleash them on the police…” Her eyes gleamed with a manic light that sent a chill down Miles’ spine. “Not only will the distraction cover my escape…it will also be a glorious riot…just like old times. This will let everyone know I’m back…” Then she paused for a moment with a cold anger on her face. “Especially that bastard Black Sheep.”

Miles suddenly had a very bad feeling about this, even worse than before. This wasn’t just a crew trying to rob the mall, this was a developed super villain and her crew who were out to send a message at the same time. And unfortunately, from what he could see of all the people on the ground, she had the power to do so as well.

“I wonder what your defining sin is,” the Sinner abruptly mused. “Pride? Envy? Lust?”

“Let these people go,” Miles ordered her, close enough where he could catch her with one good jump and then force her to free the hostages from her power.

“Not quite yet,” the Sinner responded, her eyes narrowing as she stared at Miles intently. “But it is time to deal with you… Sloth…? No…how about something more fun…”

A moment later, Miles suddenly felt a burning hunger through his entire body…but not a hunger for food. His nipples hardened and he was sure they must be poking out the front of his costume. At the same time, his groin felt soaking wet and actually ached for something inside of it.

“Oh God,” Miles moaned, his entire body shaking with desire. He was horny…more horny than he’d ever been in his entire life or even imagined being able to be.

Miles was completely overwhelmed with the desire to have sex with someone…with anyone. He wanted it more than he’d ever wanted anything. His eyes immediately went to the unconscious people around him and he started thinking about how easy it would be to just grab one of them.

“No,” he whispered, a part of him screaming that he couldn’t rape an unconscious person. The same voice also reminded him that with his strength, he’d probably accidentally crush and kill anyone he tried that with as well. But at the same time, his entire body screamed, ‘who cares?’

Fantasies ran through his mind, images of having sex with Christine…with the woman who lived a few condos down from him…with Vic. Miles was so horny that the thought of having sex with a man, which normally would have horrified him completely, now seemed like a very good idea.

“I…I can’t,” Miles told himself, knowing that he wouldn’t do this no matter how much he wanted to. However, the reasons why he couldn’t were quickly vanishing from his mind.

“At least I still have four lieutenants who haven’t failed me,” the Sinner commented, glaring at Lust who was starting to pick himself up from the ground, though not having much luck.

“No,” a familiar voice exclaimed. “I took care of them.”

Miles was almost completely absorbed in the raw lust and desire that filled his body but he was still aware enough to see his mom suddenly appear, floating in the air about three feet above the ground. Then he grimaced as his thoughts were suddenly filled with ideas…with things that he knew he should NEVER think in relation to either his mom or his own body. He clenched his fists tighter, fighting even harder to control himself and these overwhelming urges which filled him.

“I took care of Anger and Envy,” Allison said with a smirk, punching one hand into the palm of her other fist in a way that Miles thought looked rather cocky. “And since I’d overheard your goons talking about where Gluttony and Sloth were…I went and took care of them too.”

“That is most unfortunate,” the Sinner said, beginning to look annoyed.

Then Allison stared at Miles and exclaimed, “Mi…Invincible Woman… Are you all right?” Her expression changed to one of worry and an instant later, she teleported right beside him. “She got you…”

“Don’t touch me,” Miles snapped with a grimace, having an overwhelming urge to kiss her and beg her to fuck him. He couldn’t help but thinking that he had the power to force her to fuck him and he wanted to so much. It took every ounce of his willpower to just stay frozen and not move.

“I’ve got an idea,” she told him.

The moment the words left her lips, he felt a surge of energy through the link he shared with her and then a pulling of his spirit. He felt himself being pulled back to his own body and then instantly snapped back into his mom’s. Switching back and forth at such speed hadn’t even given their bodies and costumes time to change in between, but it had left him feeling dazed and confused. But after a second, he realized that he was no longer overwhelmed with lust. His body was still very horny and wet…but now at much more controllable levels.

“When we switched earlier,” his mom told him quietly, “it broke me free of her power…”

“It worked,” Miles told her with a forced smile, feeling almost sick at the things he’d been thinking just a few seconds earlier.

Then Miles turned his attention back to the Sinner, scowling intently as he did so. He felt a surge of rage as he glared at her though it wasn’t caused by her powers, merely her actions against him and everyone else. Miles was now more determined than ever to take her down…and he was going to really enjoy doing it.

“You broke free?” the Sinner exclaimed in surprise.

“And now you’re going down bitch,” Miles heard his mom yell from beside him. He stared at her in surprise, realizing that she was really getting into this.

“I don’t think so,” the Sinner responded with a dark look, slowly backing away.

Just then, all the people who’d been spread all over the ground and who had been too lazy to even run away when the opportunity had finally presented itself, began to stir and get up. All around Miles, people began to stand up again and they were all looking extremely pissed off.

“They did it,” the Sinner yelled out, pointing to Miles and his mom. “They failed to protect you. They let this happen. Get them my pretties…”

The hostages were so overwhelmed with rage that this was all it took to give them a target for it make them all start charging towards Miles and his mom. “Oh shit,” he exclaimed while she simultaneously blurted out, “Not good…”

Miles found himself completely surrounded by angry people. A rabid looking seven year old boy was punching him frantically while an old woman was hitting him with her purse. A middle aged woman who might have been the boy’s mom was even trying to bite his arm, though none of them hurt him at all. There were others as well, a dozen of them and more joining the growing mob every moment. He knew that he could easily swat them away from him but he was afraid to do so, knowing that he would seriously hurt them if he wasn’t careful.

“Good thing I can turn intangible,” his mom exclaimed, teleporting out from the mob and looking rather smug.

“I wish I could,” Miles grumbled, trying hard to control his instinctive reaction to just shove these people away.

Miles noticed that his mom didn’t seem all that concerned about him at the moment, which seemed strange considering how overprotective she normally was. Then again, she knew that he was bulletproof now and that a few normal people probably wouldn’t be able to harm him no matter how much they tried.

The Sinner was taking advantage of the distraction to try getting away but Allison announced, “You’re not going anywhere…” She teleported in front of the Sinner to make it clear that she couldn’t just run away. “Surrender now…”

“I don’t think so,” the Sinner responded, opening fire with her hand gun. The shots went right through Allison as though she wasn’t there.

Miles stared in surprise as his mom laughed, almost as though this was some sort of game. Then Miles realized that when the hostages had all been flat on the ground, they’d been relatively safe from this kind of shooting, but now that they were up and wandering around… There were even some wandering behind her…ones who could very easily get hit while his mom was taunting the Sinner to keep shooting her.

“Damn,” Miles grimaced, suddenly angry at his mom’s recklessness. Those people could get killed because she was treating this like some sort of game. “Watch what you’re doing,” he called out.

Miles finally realized how to get away from the angry mob attacking him and flew straight up, dropping several of the people off him in the process but not hitting any of them. He grimaced and flew away from the crowed while cell phones, shoes, and other random things were thrown at him.

It wasn’t easy to fly in this confined space and he knew that his mom would have a much easier time since she could actually levitate in one spot or move extremely slow. He dropped back to the ground a moment later, right behind his mom. Several bullets that probably would have hit an old woman behind him bounced off his chest instead.

“Watch out for these people,” Miles ordered his mom, realizing the irony of this as he said it. For probably the first time he could recall, he was the one acting responsible while she was treating this all as some kind of game. He suddenly felt a little guilty for all the times he’d given her such a hard time about worrying too much.

Then Miles looked around again and noticed that the hostages were turning on each other, fighting without apparent regard for who their opponent was. One teenage girl was trying to smash through a store window while a middle-aged man was being attacked by a little girl who may have been his daughter and a woman who could have been his wife. Miles was horrified at the sight, realizing just how much damage the Sinner would cause if she did this to everyone inside the mall. He had no idea how many people would end up killed or injured and absolutely no interest in finding out.

Miles started walking straight towards the Sinner while she snarled and kept shooting at him. He paid careful attention to make sure none of the bullets bouncing off him hit anyone else, not wanting a repeat of the incident where the girl got hurt while he was fighting Ralph. Then the Sinner finally realized how useless this was, grinned evilly, and turned to fire at some random people.

“Oh no you don’t,” Allison exclaimed as she suddenly appeared by the Sinner’s side, shoving her arm up so she’d hit the ceiling rather than a person and then punching her in the face.

“Let go of me you little prick,” the Sinner demanded, yanking her arm free and about to fire at another enraged victim.

Miles charged forward the remaining few feet and slapped the gun from her hand, hearing a crack of broken bone as the gun went flying. Then Miles gently hit the dangerous developed, sending her flying back and into a wall. He hadn’t meant to hit her quite that hard, but after everything that he’d seen her do, he couldn’t bring himself to feel very bad about it. Before he could reach the Sinner again, his mom appeared next to her and began throwing a series of punches.

Just then, the burgeoning riot suddenly stopped as every one of the people who’d been under the Sinner’s power abruptly lost their anger. Most of them looked around in confusion or horror at what they’d been in the middle of doing. Some began to collapse to the ground in exhaustion or pain.

“It’s over,” Miles said, letting out a long sigh of relief.

His mom walked towards him, looking quite pleased with herself. “You know,” she said, looking almost surprised, “I think that was the most fun I’ve had in a long time…”

Miles just shook his head but he couldn’t resist laughing at that as well. In a way, it was nice seeing his mom cut loose and have fun for once. However, he just wished that she hadn’t been so reckless when other people’s lives were at risk.

“God, I’m turning into my mom,” Miles muttered to himself, only to pause, look down at his body and laugh. “Too late. I already have.”

Then Miles went to where the Sinner was laying on the floor and apparently unconscious. It looked like she’d have some nice bruising on her face to go with the split lip and what appeared to be a broken nose. Without a word, he picked her up and slung her over his shoulder, not wanting to take a chance that she was playing possum and would try escaping.

They went to the nearest mall entrance, only to find a small army of police on the other side of the doors. The SWAT team was gathered and ready to break in, apparently only having held back for fear of endangering all the hostages even more. All of the police stared at Miles and his mom as they came out and guns began to lower.

“Here’s the one responsible,” Miles told them, dropping the Sinner to the ground. “She calls herself the Sinner. Be careful…she has some sort of mind control power.”

“Thank you Invincible Woman,” the nearest cop said with a nod. Then almost as an afterthought, he added, “You too Ghost Boy.”

“You’re welcome,” Allison responded with a forced smile, obviously not happy at being treated as her son’s sidekick.

As they began walking away from the police, Miles let out a sigh and said, “I’m glad that’s over…”

Miles shook his head, a little surprised that he’d feel that way after living his dream of being a super hero. There had been a sense of immense satisfaction at having taken down the Sinner and rescued all those people, but it hadn’t been all glory and fun like he’d imagined. He’d felt the weight of all those people’s lives on his shoulders and it had been very heavy indeed.

“You know,” his mom commented with a broad grin, “you almost looked like a mature adult back there…”

“Bite me,” Miles teased her back, sticking his tongue out at her before flying off towards home.

She laughed and followed after, yelling, “I’ll race you…”

It wasn’t until they were halfway home that they remembered they’d left the school clothes that that they’d already purchased behind, as well as Allison’s car.

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Allison sat back at her desk, sipping her coffee as she read through the acquisition request in front of her. Ever since Circuit Monger had attacked the building, every office had been using that as an excuse to request materials that they knew weren’t in their budget.

This one was for a lab that hadn’t been damaged at all in the attack, yet they were claiming that a piece of equipment had still been destroyed and now they needed to replace it with the newest and most expensive model. Of course, they wanted this to come out of the special fund that had been set aside to repair Circuit Monger’s damage rather than from their own budget allocation.

“I don’t think so,” Allison mused, rejecting that particular request just as she had several others.

Then Allison leaned back and absently wished that she was doing something else, something more fun and exciting than sitting in an office looking over supply requests. Maybe something like being out as Ghost Boy.

Allison smiled faintly as she remembered the fight with the Sinner that occurred a few days ago. Whenever she switched places with Miles, she felt young and full of energy again, but being Ghost Boy took it all to another level. Not only did she have the body and hormones of a teenage boy, she also had an unbelievable sense of freedom which came from her powers. She was free from such things as gravity, distance, and even fear of getting hurt. Though she’d never admit it to another person, being Ghost Boy was almost intoxicating.

After a moment of thinking about that fight, she shook her head and let out a sigh. She couldn’t believe that she actually enjoyed being a teenage boy, though of course, that didn’t mean she wanted to be one full time. She still shuddered when she thought about losing her own body and identity permanently, though there was also now a faint voice in the back of her head which whispered, ‘would that really be so bad?’

“Poor Miles,” Allison said, knowing that as hard as it would be on her to become stuck in his body, it would be even worse for him. He would not only lose his gender and identity but also his youth. No matter how powerful he was like that, it couldn’t make up for all the life experiences he would be forced to miss out on.

When Allison thought of Miles during that incident at the mall, she couldn’t help but feeling proud of him. In spite of how chaotic everything was, he’d remained calm and clear headed. He’d actually behaved more like a mature adult than like a teenager. She was a little embarrassed to admit that he’d probably been acting even more responsible than she had, not that she’d ever admit this to him.

Then Allison looked around her office, suddenly thinking about Ralph. She felt a stab of guilt when she thought about the fight with him, as if she and Miles had somehow been responsible for him going on a rampage. She had to remind herself that he’d already started the fire in the apartment building well before they’d arrived and that he’d been the one to start attacking everyone.

“How could you do that Ralph?” Allison asked with a sigh. It was hard to believe that someone she knew would have become a super villain and this just seemed to confirm her old beliefs about power corrupting. However, she quickly reminded herself that neither she nor Miles had gone that route. There were temptations to use her powers in ways that were…questionable…but that didn’t mean she had to give in to them. “Poor guy…”

Allison paused to wonder who they’d get to fill Ralph’s position since he certainly wouldn’t be allowed to come back to work. Then she shrugged and tried turning her attention back to the requests that she’d been working on.

Just a couple minutes later, a blaring alarm suddenly began going off and Allison jumped to her feet in surprise. She was so startled that it took her a moment to realize that it was the security alarm rather than the more frequent fire alarm test.

“Oh no,” she blurted out, remembering what had happened the last time she’d heard this alarm. “Not again…”

Allison rushed out of her office, thankful that the door hadn’t locked shut on her. She knew from personal experience that when the security alarm went off, every door in the high security areas would automatically seal. Fortunately, her office wasn’t located in one of those areas.

“What’s going on?” Allison demanded of several frantic people she passed, though they muttered that they had no idea and hurried past to find somewhere safe. Then she saw a security guard who was talking on his radio. She repeated her question, asking, “What’s happening? Why is the alarm going off?”

“It’s that metal woman who broke in before,” the security guard told her with a look of controlled fear. “She just came back and is trying to steal some of the new equipment that just came in…”

“Circuit Monger?” Allison gasped in disbelief. “She’s back? Where…?”

“The loading dock,” the security guard told her. “They hadn’t even unloaded the truck when she showed up… Now go find somewhere safe…”

Allison grimaced and ran through the hall, finding a window that looked out towards the back of the building where the loading docks were. She couldn’t see the loading docks very clearly from where she was at, but she could definitely see Circuit Monger. The metal woman was floating in the air near the armored semi-truck that had just come in and a half dozen security guards where shooting at her with energy pistols.

Circuit Monger held out her hand and gestured towards the guards. There was a burst of blue light and suddenly the guards all stopped shooting, though they each started looking at their guns in surprise. Allison scowled, realizing what had happened. She’d learned from Genius that Circuit Monger had the ability to fire blasts of electromagnetic energy and to create focused electromagnetic pulses. It appeared that Circuit Monger had just used an EMP to destroy those high tech weapons. However, that wasn’t all as Circuit Monger fired a blast of blue energy which hit one of the guards, sending him back with a large hole burned in his chest.

“Damn,” Allison muttered, feeling a mixture of fear and excitement. After all, she couldn’t help but remembering how good it had felt to stop the Sinner as well as realize that this was a chance to get even with the creature who’d destroyed Ralph’s life and so drastically altered the lives of her and Miles. Of course, common sense told her to not get involved, to find a place to hide and wait it out. However, after everything that had happened, she didn’t think she could do that anymore. “Damn.”

With that, Allison grabbed her cell phone and made a quick call to Miles. Unfortunately, he didn’t pick up and she realized that he either didn’t have his phone on him or simply didn’t want to talk to her. She wasn’t sure which of the two was most likely, though it did make this more difficult.

Allison took another long look out the window at the floating metal woman, wincing as she killed another of the security guards. “I hope Miles can handle this,” she muttered and reached for their link.

Seconds later, Allison found herself in a new location and a new yet increasingly familiar body. She was immediately assaulted with the feeling of youthful energy that came with being a teenage boy and she couldn’t resist smiling faintly at that. Then she looked down at herself, seeing that she was indeed wearing the Ghost Boy costume rather than the clothes Miles had been wearing a moment before. Only then did she look at her surroundings.

It took Allison several seconds to realize that she was in an alley behind the condo where she lived, one which she never really had occasion to go through which is why she didn’t recognize it immediately. There was a piece of wood set up against some cinder blocks to form a small ramp, and from Miles’ skateboard which was several feet away, she now knew exactly what he’d been up to.

Allison stared at the skateboard and ramp for a moment, thinking that this could be somewhat dangerous. However, she immediately realized that this was absolutely nothing compared to the danger that she’d just thrown Miles into. She wished she could have at least given him warning, but if he didn’t answer his phone there wasn’t much she could do.

“Well, he didn’t exactly give me any warning at the mall either,” Allison mused as she floated up into the air. She took a moment to gather her bearings and consider which direction she had to go in order to get to work and then began flying there as fast as she could. She only hoped that Miles would be all right until she arrived.

--------------------

“What the hell?” Miles demanded as he looked around in surprise at finding himself switched with his mom without warning. Since the pressure in their link hadn’t built up enough to force them to switch yet, this was obviously her doing. “Why?”

Miles savored the feeling of energy and power which filled him and took a look down at himself. He saw the breasts which he was starting to become comfortable with, and they were of course covered with his costume as was the rest of his body.

After a moment, he looked around to see why his mom would have switched places with him like this. He was inside a building and standing next to a large window. Then he looked out the window and gasped in surprise.

“Oh shit,” Miles blurted out, immediately seeing Circuit Monger hovering in the air outside, right next to a big truck. There were men out there as well, though they were starting to run away. However, there were also several dead men who no longer had that option. “That’s why she switched. The metal bitch is back…”

Miles hit the window to smash it open and then flew out, straight at Circuit Monger. She turned as he approached but didn’t move fast enough as he punched her as hard as he could.

“Gotcha,” Miles exclaimed as Circuit Monger was sent smashing to the ground.

Since Miles couldn’t hover, he dropped to the ground as well and watched as Circuit Monger got to her feet. There was a slight dent in the side of her face where he’d punched her.

“You are the one identified by local news sources as Invincible Woman,” Circuit Monger stated with a flat voice, staring straight at Miles. “This assault is a lethal error. You will be eliminated.”

“What are you doing here?” Miles demanded of her. “Didn’t you already get what you came for last time?”

“Previous foray into this location was to acquire the power source,” Circuit Monger stated. “The data to reconstruct the power source was acquired. The current objective has yet to be met.”

Circuit Monger raised her hand and fired a blast of blue energy at Miles, hitting him in the chest. He was knocked back a little and his chest stung where he’d been hit. When he glanced down, he was startled to see that his costume was blackened where he’d been hit.

“Countermeasures insufficient,” Circuit Monger stated. “Increasing attack power.”

A moment later, Circuit Monger fired another blast but Miles jumped out of the way, not wanting to find out how a more powerful blast would feel. She fired two more blasts but he was prepared and was able to fly up into the air to avoid one and then just dropped to avoid the other.

Suddenly, another voice called out, “Is this a private party or can anyone join?”

Miles looked to the source of the voice and was startled to see Praxis hovering in the air. She looked impressive and he couldn’t resist smiling faintly at the sense of deja-vu. The only one missing was his mom…and maybe Ralph. He wasn’t sure if Ralph counted since he’d run away.

“So you’re the new hero,” Praxis called to Miles. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“Likewise,” Miles called back.

Praxis suddenly flew straight at Circuit Monger, hitting her the same way Miles had a minute earlier. However, this time the metal woman was able to block the attack a bit and didn’t seem to take any real damage.

Miles watched for an opening so he could join the fight again but then realized that someone else had appeared as well. Mrs. Darque was standing back with a large energy rifle in her hand an intense scowl on her face.

“Bingo,” Miles exclaimed, rushing to his mom’s boss.

“Do you realize how much you cost my company?” Mrs. Darque demanded angrily.

“What’s in that truck?” Miles demanded of her, pointing to the big armored truck that Circuit Monger seemed so interested in. “Is it another quantum reactor?”

“No,” Mrs. Darque responded. “It’s a broadcast power system we just acquired. It doesn’t generate power but it can transfer energy from one place to another without any wires or cables.”

Miles scowled thoughtfully. “So she has the technology to create power and now she wants a way to transfer it…”

“That appears to be the case,” Mrs. Darque responded. “I don’t know why, and to be honest, I don’t particularly care. She isn’t going to take any more technology from my company…”

Miles nodded and then flew back to where Praxis and Circuit Monger were both floating in the air, still fighting. He flew towards them to try hitting Circuit Monger from behind, but she seemed to notice him coming and moved out of the way.

“What do you want with all this?” Miles demanded of her. “What are you after?” Then almost as an afterthought, he added, “Genius told me that you were only after information…”

“You know Genius?” Praxis responded, giving Miles a look of surprise. “I do see some of her elements in your costume…”

“Data acquisition remains the primary objective,” Circuit Monger answered. “The acquisition in progress is for the secondary objective.”

Praxis held back, watching with what seemed to be a mixture of surprise and amusement as Circuit Monger answered Miles’ questions. He just hoped that she continued doing so because it might explain what she was really up to and how to stop her.

“What do you mean?” he demanded. “What secondary objective?”

Circuit Monger stared straight at Miles and answered, “Humans are inefficient and obsolete. Their brains contain data which cannot be easily transferred or retrieved. The secondary objective is to upgrade the human race. The method…infection via modified techno-organic virus. Worldwide infection requires immense power. A suitable power source is being reconstructed. The energy transference system being acquired at this time will act as the vector.”

“What?” Miles gasped in shock. “Why the hell would you want to do that?”

“Humans are an evolutionary dead end,” Circuit Monger stated. “They must upgrade or perish.”

“It’s not that selfless,” Praxis said, her eyes narrowing dangerously. “She’s obsessed with gathering information. If she does this, she’ll be able to access the information in people’s brains just like she can computers…” Her eyes narrowed dangerously. “This is all so you can get people’s knowledge and memories…”

“Affirmative,” Circuit Monger responded in a flat voice. “Assist the upgrade process. The human race will benefit greatly.”

“Forget it,” Miles snapped, clenching his fists tightly and preparing to fight again. “I’m stopping your nutjob plan…here and now.”

“Ditto,” Praxis added with a look of determination.

“Your objections are irrelevant,” Circuit Monger stated. “Your resistance…futile.”

Mrs. Darque started walking towards Circuit Monger with a very dark look on her face. “I will not allow my fa...Lord Dark’s technology to be used in this way. His insanity is dead and I intend to see that it remains so.”

Circuit Monger looked at her for a moment before saying, “Irrelevant. Upgrade will proceed as planned.”

“I think not,” Mrs. Darque said with a faint smirk. She held up something in her hand that looked like a remote control. “I can’t do anything about the technology that you already stole…but I took precautions to ensure that no more can be stolen. Our technology is now shipped with explosives…just in case.”

With that, Mrs. Darque pushed a button and the large truck suddenly exploded. Miles and Praxis were close enough that they were knocked back a little though Mrs. Darque was far enough away that she was able to drop to the ground and avoid being injured.

“Holy shit,” Miles muttered, staring at the wreckage of the truck. He couldn’t believe his mom’s boss had actually blown the whole thing up rather than let it get stolen.

Circuit Monger remained standing, her paint having been burned a little in the blast though she didn’t seem to be really damaged. Mrs. Darque immediately pointed her energy rifle at the metal woman and fired. However, Circuit Monger held up her hand and there was a pulse of blue light and the energy rifle sparked but did nothing more.

“An EMP,” Mrs. Darque exclaimed, backing away with a scowl on her face. She looked to Miles and then Praxis, saying, “I’m not some silly costumed hero, and since my interests have been protected as much as possible, I will leave her in your hands.”

Mrs. Darque started to leave though Circuit Monger raised her hand to fire an energy blast at her. Miles immediately moved to place himself between the metal woman and his mom’s boss, giving her a chance to escape.

Praxis fired a blast of red energy from her hands from where she hovered in the air, hitting Circuit Monger in the back and damaging her a little. Miles could see that it wasn’t enough to do a lot of good, but if they could hit her a few more times like that…

“Initiating level three defensive measures,” Circuit Monger announced. A moment later, a glowing blue sphere appeared around her. She looked at Praxis and stated, “Your interference has delayed my plans. You will be deleted.”

“I don’t think so,” Praxis responded with a smirk. “But I do think it’s time to send you to the scrap heap…” She fired another blast of energy at Circuit Monger but it hit the glowing blue sphere surrounding her and stopped there.

“A force field,” Miles exclaimed, realizing that this would make it even harder to hurt the metal woman.

Miles glanced back to make sure Mrs. Darque had gotten away and then he flew straight at Circuit Monger, punching at her as hard as he could though he was stopped by the force field and flung back. He grimaced and tried again, hitting even harder. Unfortunately, it had no more effect than his previous attempt.

“We have to get through that thing,” Praxis said. “Let’s both hit it at once.”

Miles nodded and charged at Circuit Monger again, hitting her force field on one side while Praxis punched it on the other. There was a faint ripple through the glowing blue bubble but it held firm.

Then the force field abruptly exploded outwards, flinging both Miles and Praxis back with immense force. Miles hit the ground hard and quickly back to his feet, just in time to see Circuit Monger firing a blast of energy at him. It hit him before he could avoid it, sending a burning surge of pain through his stomach where he was hit.

“Shit,” Miles muttered, grabbing his stomach and wincing in pain. He knew that his healing power would take care of this but it still hurt.

Circuit Monger was about to fire another blast at Miles when his mom suddenly appeared in the air a short distance away and called out, “Over here you tin planted bitch.”

“Mo…Ghost Boy,” Miles called out in relief.

Circuit Monger immediately turned and fired her energy blasts at the apparent boy but they went through her as though she really was the ghost she was named for. Circuit Monger only fired a second blast as if attempting to prove that this wasn’t a onetime thing.

While Circuit Monger was distracted, Miles and Praxis both charged at her again, but right before they reached her, the force field returned and they were flung back again. Miles grimaced, silently cursing the force field.

“I’m guessing that thing uses a lot of power,” Praxis called out to Miles with a thoughtful look on her face. “And I imagine her power source isn’t unlimited.”

“Probably not,” Miles agreed. “But this isn’t a video game where she has a health bar above her head telling us how much juice she has left.”

A moment later, Miles found his mom floating beside him. “What is that blue bubble around her?”

“Force field,” Miles told her. “Praxis and I can’t touch her.”

“But maybe I can,” she responded, flying towards the metal woman.

Miles watched his mom fly through the force field as though it wasn’t even there and then punched Circuit Monger in the face. However, her punch didn’t do anything, not that Miles thought it would. Circuit Monger had already taken his punch and he could hit a hell of a lot harder than his mom could.

After punching at Circuit Monger a few more times, Allison teleported back to Miles’ side and admitted, “I can’t hurt her…”

Just then, Circuit Monger dropped the force field again and opened fire, blasting Praxis. The blasts went through Praxis the same way they had Ghost Boy, as though she was a ghost as well.

“She has to lower her force field to attack,” Miles called out in realization. They couldn’t touch her when she had it on, but it appeared that she couldn’t fire at them through it either.

“I have an idea,” his mom said. “Keep her busy…” And with that, she suddenly disappeared though Miles didn’t know where she’d teleported to.

Miles snorted. “Keep her busy,” he muttered in annoyance. “What the hell do you think we’ve been doing?”

Praxis fired another energy blast at Circuit Monger while Miles thought she had the right idea. With Circuit Monger, it seemed smart to keep back so as not to get caught in that force field again. He looked around for something he could use and then realized that there was some scrap from the blown up truck.

“This should do,” Miles said, picking up a wheel which was still attached to part of an axel and throwing it at her as hard as he could. Her force field came up at the last moment and stopped the debris from hitting her. “Damn... That thing is annoying…”

“Recent defensive upgrades work as designed,” Circuit Monger stated. “Optimize further in next upgrade.”

“If we keep hitting her, she won’t be able to drop her defenses and attack again,” Praxis pointed out.

Miles nodded at that. “There’s plenty of junk I can keep throwing at her…”

“Unfortunately, I’ve about reached the limit of my blasts,” Praxis called back.

Praxis demonstrated that this wasn’t a problem as she flew right at Circuit Monger’s force field and punched it. She threw a series of punches, none of them at full strength though as she was merely keeping pressure on the force field so that Circuit Monger wouldn’t dare drop it.

Miles grinned, seeing what Praxis had in mind. If they could force Circuit Monger to keep the force field up, it would not only keep her from attacking again but might force her to burn through her battery. He contributed by tossing more debris from the truck at her.

Suddenly, the force field dropped but there was an explosion of blue energy which hit Praxis and sent her flying back with a scream. That was followed up by Circuit Monger firing another blast of energy at her, hitting her in the side before she could recover.

Praxis staggered and dropped to her knees, grimacing in pain. She’d been hit good and didn’t have a chance to turn intangible in order to avoid the attack. Miles grimaced and flew at Circuit Monger as fast as he could to take her attention of Praxis.

Instead of raising the force field or firing another blast of energy, Circuit Monger shifted position, hitting Miles with her fist instead and then dodging out of the way.

“System power approaching critical levels,” Circuit Monger announced. “Adjusting combat methods to conserve powers. Immediate objective…depart failed mission location. Eliminate threats another time.”

“Attack and then run away when things don’t go your way,” Miles snarled angrily. “Just like the last time you were here.”

“Further conflict without gain is not logical,” Circuit Monger responded flatly. “To think otherwise is evidence that you require upgrade.”

Miles scowled, knowing that he couldn’t let her get away. He glanced to Praxis and saw that she was too injured to be of much more use. And since his mom had taken off, that meant it was up to him.

Miles tensed up and focused on drawing more energy from the other dimension and into his body, saturating himself even further for a short burst of extra power. Then he charged straight at Circuit Monger, letting out a sigh of relief when the force field didn’t come back up.

“Gotcha,” Miles exclaimed, punching Circuit Monger as hard as he could. The metal cracked and dented under the blow and she was thrown back from the force. “You can’t beat me. I’m invincible…”

Circuit Monger stood back up, looking visibly damaged from the blow but obviously not finished. There was a large dent in her chest, smashing one of her breasts in, and there were cracks radiating from the blow. But in spite of that, she was still ready to fight.

“Diverting power to offensive,” Circuit Monger stated, staring straight at Miles. “I estimate the next attack will prove lethal.” And with that, she raised her hands to fire at Miles again.

“I don’t think so,” Miles heard his mom call out.

Miles snapped around to see her standing there with a large energy rifle of some sort in her hands. She was pointing it right Circuit Monger and grinning broadly as she pulled the trigger. There was a beam of white light from the weapon and suddenly Circuit Monger was coated in a thick sheet of ice, frozen solid.

“Freeze,” his mom called out smugly.

“Good one,” Miles told her with a grin, “but it might have been better if you’d said that before using the freeze ray.”

Miles stared at Circuit Monger and saw that the ice was already starting to crack and that she would break free in just a moment. I knew he couldn’t waste the opportunity so drew in more energy for another burst of extra power.

“Time to recycle your ass,” Miles yelled as he punched Circuit Monger as hard as he could.

The remaining ice shattered as did much of Circuit Monger’s metal skin. She was knocked to the ground from the blow, and as she began to weakly get up again, Miles hit her again and then again until her now wrecked and ruined body was barely moving at all.

Miles saw his mom walking up with a smirk on her face. She pointed the freeze ray at the metal woman again and said, “Boo,” before firing and freezing what was left of her in place again. This time, Circuit Monger was too damaged and low on power to break free.

“You did it,” Praxis exclaimed, staggering over towards them while holding her side where she’d been injured. She grimaced in obvious pain but still managed to walk. Then she looked at Allison and said, “Good job, kid.”

Miles smirked faintly at the look on his mom’s face. It was rather nice seeing her getting treated like a kid instead of him. He couldn’t help but finding it amusing.

Then Praxis took another look at Miles’ mom and asked, “Aren’t you a little young for this work?”

“I’m older than I look,” she snapped back, earning another smirk from Miles. “Besides, I thought you were on your honeymoon…”

“How did you know…?” Praxis responded in surprise. Then she scowled, “I assume Genius told you.” Her eyes narrowed suspiciously and she demanded, “How much more did she tell you?”

“That’s all she told us about you,” Miles assured Praxis. “She did say that anything else wasn’t her business to tell.”

“Good,” Praxis said, looking relieved before wincing in pain as she continued holding her side. “Good thing I heal fast…” Then she paused, staring at Miles and his mom before abruptly saying, “You two were the ones here before…the ones caught in the quantum reactor blast.”

“Guilty as charged,” Miles admitted self-consciously.

“I never would have recognized you,” Praxis told Miles. “You look quite a bit different. If it hadn’t been for Ghost Boy, I probably wouldn’t have guessed…”

“You still wouldn’t guess,” Miles heard his mom mutter though he didn’t think Praxis had.

“I’m glad things are working out for you two,” Praxis told them.

“I’m glad things are working out for you two as well,” Allison said with a faint smirk, earning a look of surprise from Praxis.

Praxis sighed, looking embarrassed as she said, “That’s right… You did see. I’d prefer it if you don’t talk about that with anyone else…”

“We won’t,” Miles promised, wanting to ask about how Praxis had split into two people but knowing that it wasn’t any of his business. Maybe he would if he got to know Praxis a little more.

“I’m just glad we finally got that metal bitch,” Praxis said, looking to Circuit Monger and shaking her head. “I felt bad about letting her get away the last time…”

Praxis held out her hand and Miles took accepted it and shook it with his own. He could hardly believe that he was shaking hands with a super hero, and more than that, she was treating him as a complete equal.

“I’ll be seeing you around then,” Praxis said, wincing again as she stepped back and then flew up into the air and left.

“And I get relegated to the status of sidekick,” Allison complained, though she was grinning at the same time. Miles wasn’t at all fooled and knew that she’d enjoyed taking out Circuit Monger.

Miles watched as the police began to rush in and surround Circuit Monger’s body. So far, every time he and his mom had done anything, the police had stood back and then only came in to clean things up. Of course, since they didn’t have any powers of their own, that might be pretty smart.

Miles watched them circle Circuit Monger and smiled, thinking that this was what it should be like being a super hero. He’d been able to fight the villain without having to worry about any bystanders getting hurt, other than Mrs. Darque that is. It had been quite exciting, and now that it was over, he was filled with satisfaction at having won.

“I think we need to get going now,” Miles’ mom told him, already floating up into the air. “I don’t think they’ll question my leaving work early…”

“You’re probably right,” Miles agreed, taking one more look at Circuit Monger and letting out a sigh.

“What’s wrong?” his mom asked. “I thought you’d be happy. We defeated a super villain and saved the day.”

“I am,” Miles responded with a self-conscious sigh. “But…” He paused looking a little chagrinned as he admitted, “I wanted to shoot the freeze ray…”

His mom stared at him for a moment with a look of surprise and then burst out laughing. “Maybe next time you can shoot the freeze ray,” she told him, shaking her head and still chuckling. “For now though, why don’t we just go home and get something to eat. I’ll even bake cookies…”

“Sounds good to me,” Miles told her with a grin, then adding, “Race you there…”

“You’re on,” she agreed with a grin of her own before she suddenly teleported away.

Miles took to the air and flew towards home as fast as he could, knowing that he could still beat her since she couldn’t teleport straight there but would have to make some smaller jumps while flying in between. He just hoped that he’d win this race or he’d be hearing about it for a long time.

“I’m starting to think that she likes this even more than I do,” Miles told himself with a chuckle. “Who would have guessed?”

--------------------

Miles sat at the small desk in the corner of his bedroom, staring down at the open book in front of him and scowling in annoyance. It had only been a week since school had started up again and he was already sick of homework.

“This bites,” Miles muttered, wishing that Vic was still around so that they could go out and blow off some steam.

Of course, Miles knew that even if Vic was still around, they wouldn’t be able to hang around as much as before. Every day after his mom got home from work, they had to switch places for nearly two hours in order to satisfy the needs of their link. Since this had all started, the amount of time they had to spend as each other had slowly grown longer, giving clear evidence to Genius’ prediction that it would one day become permanent.

Miles still dreaded the idea of becoming a woman full time, but not quite as much as before. After all, he’d been spending enough time as one that he’d come to realize that it wasn’t really all that bad. In fact, there were times that he actually enjoying being female, such as when had had a little private time along with himself. Of course, the powers that came along with his mom’s body certainly helped as well.

Miles knew that his mom was worried about their future, but he suspected that she was more worried about him than about herself. Though she wouldn’t admit it, he was pretty sure that she liked being in his body. She was much younger and had a lot more energy, not to mention the powers. Whenever they switched and she became Ghost Boy, she tended to just cut loose and enjoy herself, acting almost as though she really was the age she appeared to be.

There was no doubt that their situation would create a lot of problems, ones which would only get worse the longer they had to spend time as each other. One of the worst was the question of how they would pay the bills since his mom wouldn’t be able to go to work in his body and he stood out too much to easily get a job. Fortunately, some of their other problems could be planned for and dealt with ahead of time.

One of the things that wasn’t much of a problem yet but which would eventually become one was that Miles wouldn’t be able to go out in public without being recognized as Invincible Woman. It was too late for him to start using a mask so he and his mom had been talking about getting him civilian clothes he could wear while in that body, and perhaps even a wig and glasses to make him less recognizable. His mom was already planning a shopping trip for the two of them, using this as an excuse for shopping more than anything else, or least that was what Miles suspected.

Though Miles wasn’t thrilled with the idea of shopping for his female body, he had to admit to himself at least, that he was curious about how hot he could look when he dressed up. He had even been secretly practicing with makeup, having bought some of his own which he kept hidden in the bottom drawer of his dresser. His mom was already talking about giving him lessons with makeup, only half joking, and he wondered how she’d react when he started off doing a little better than he probably should for a first timer.

“Maybe I’ll surprise her,” Miles mused, chuckling at the thought of doing a perfect job the first time and then claiming that it was beginner’s luck.

Of course, his mom had already started giving him lectures on feminine hygiene, much to his mortification, telling him everything he’d need about taking care of a female body. It had been a repeat of the things he’d learned in sex ed, including the parts that he hadn’t paid attention to since they were for girls only. Miles shuddered as he remembered his mom giving him the revised version of the birds and the bees for his new part time gender. Compared to that, the fashion lessons she planned on giving him were going to be nothing.

Miles grimaced and turned his attention away from the problems that came with their powers, knowing that there was nothing they could do to prevent their eventual permanent exchange. They still had a long time until it happened, and by then, things may change and they might end up finding a way to prevent it.

After a moment, Miles turned his thoughts to the good things that had come from all this. The most notable of those were the powers themselves. He couldn’t resist grinning as he thought about how unbelievably good he felt whenever he was charged up with that power and vitality. And that wasn’t even taking into account just how powerful he was. He was extremely strong, bulletproof, and he could fly. All of those were awesome powers and he loved using them.

Then there was the fact that Miles was now officially a super hero, something that never could have come about without the powers. Stopping the bad guys and saving people’s lives was even better than just using his powers. It gave him a sense of satisfaction that he’d never expected to feel, a sense that he was doing something important…something that mattered. Being a super hero was much better than being a rock star ever could have been. And though Miles didn’t dare tell his mom, he thought that if it meant keeping his powers and being able to continue being a hero, he could probably handle spending the rest of his life as a girl.

Miles smiled faintly as he considered his short career as a super hero and just how exciting it had all been. He hadn’t done much since defeating Circuit Monger, partly because his costume had been damaged in the battle. He’d had to get a replacement from Genius, and a replacement for that device that allowed him to switch clothes because the electromagnetic blasts that Circuit Monger had used against him had fried the old one.

“At least she was able to replace it all pretty quickly,” Miles mused. The hardest part had been getting hold of Genius again.

Just then, Miles froze and realized that he could sense his mom close…very close. She was just getting home from work and would probably be in the condo in just a minute or two.

One of the things that surprised Miles about this whole strange situation was the way it had changed his relationship with his mom. They were much closer than ever before and understood each other more than he ever would have believed.

His mom was so much more understanding than before and not nearly as overprotective. Of course, how could she worry about him getting hurt on his skateboard when he was actually fighting dangerous super villains? In fact, she was finally even letting him get his driver’s license, though he suspected that this was largely due to her wanting to be able to drive while in his body. Still, whatever her reasons, he was enjoying the new trust she gave him.

At the same time, Miles had a much better understanding of his mom and why she’d behaved the way she had. He now understood why she’d worried about him what it meant to be responsible. He also understood that there could be serious consequences if he wasn’t, not that he’d admit this to her.

Miles slowly stood up and then went into the living room as his mom was coming through the door. “How was work?”

“Exhausting,” she responded with a sigh. “It was a long day… How was school?”

“It kind of bites,” Miles responded with a shrug. Then he grinned at his mom and asked, “So, are up for some flying time?”

“That sounds absolutely perfect,” she responded, triggering their exchange before Miles could.

Miles felt the surge of power and the pulling of his spirit which had become so familiar. A moment later, he was in the transformed version of his mom’s body. He looked down at his fantastic figure which was covered with the replacement Invincible Woman costume that Genius had only delivered the day before.

“Very nice,” Miles mused as he looked over the costume. It was identical to the previous one, but as nice as the costume was, the feelings of incredible vitality and power were much better. Then he admitted to his mom, “This is always kind of a rush.”

“I know exactly what you mean,” she responded self-consciously. “Now…how about we go out and look for some crime to stop. After all, it’s been awhile since we did our duty as super heroes…”

Before Miles could answer, she flew through the wall and was gone. He chuckled and went to the window to follow after her. For a brief moment, he just stood there, thinking about the criminals they might run into and grinning.

“Those villains won’t stand a chance,” Miles said with a smirk as he climbed out the window to fly after his mom. “After all, I am invincible…”

--------------------

The prison cell was dark and solid, with thick steel walls and a heavy door that was barred shut from the outside. There was no bed, sink, nor toilet, nor was any such amenity needed for the current occupant.

Circuit Monger lay motionless in the floor, her metal body cracked and broken. Normally, this would have been a mere inconvenience that could have been easily corrected, but she was also extremely low on power. What reserves she had were being used primarily to keep her main processing functions active.

Circuit Monger was fully aware of her surroundings, having scanned them for any resource she could use. Unfortunately, this prison cell was not wired for electricity, not even for light. Because of that, she had no power to tap into in order to recharge. Of course, that was the reason she had been placed in this particular prison.

Though Circuit Monger could not waste her limited resources on movement, her mind remained fully functional. She replayed the events that led to her defeat and capture, considering the miscalculations that resulted in her current situation.

It was an error to confront opponents she had so little data about. She underestimated their capabilities and allowed herself to overextend her resources.

Circuit Monger had little use for such irrational things as emotions, yet she did feel one. Frustration. She was frustrated at how her plans had been continuously interfered with. First she had been discovered while attempting to gain the files from Faction Zero, then the quantum reactor had been destroyed which forced her to have it reconstructed, and following that, she had lost the energy transference device as well. All of those delays were unacceptable, but her capture was the greatest obstruction and the one that fueled this rare spark of emotion.

She could distantly remember having once been one of those weak and irrational humans, back in the time before Cyrill Forest and the virus had become one. However, she had upgraded beyond such an obsolete state and had become Trojan. She had upgraded herself twice more since then, first in acquiring this new and more powerful body and then later when she’d made the modifications to increase her power levels further. Unfortunately, those recent upgrades had also increased her power consumption and had resulted in her current incarceration.

Circuit Monger silently considered her first upgrade, the critical one that had made her more than human. That was the upgrade that she wished to share with the rest of the human race, albeit a modified version. She intended to infect as many humans as possible with a techno-organic virus derived from her own, one which would leave her with root access and override control of each new techno-organic being.

The human race would be upgraded to a more evolved and enlightened state, one that was more understanding of her goals and properly deferential. They would benefit greatly from this gift she intended to give them, but of course, she had another motive. This upgrade would result in her gaining access to billions of biological databases and all data contained within.

In spite of these delays, Circuit Monger would continue with her plans. In time, she would recharge, repair, and escape. She would continue acquiring all data that existed and would upgrade the human race to further that goal. Any who interfered in these plans would be deleted.

Just then, Circuit Monger detected a strange noise coming from the door. She transferred more of her limited power to her external senses and watched as a blade suddenly came through the thick steel and began slicing through it with ease. A moment later, the remains of the door collapsed inward and a figured slowly stepped through the opening.

The newcomer was wrapped entirely in black clothes with the only opening being for his eyes. His shoulders were adorned with intricate black metal armor and a similarly designed helm covered much of his head. A solid black sword was held firmly in his hands and he silently stared at Circuit Monger with a pair of glowing red eyes.

Circuit Monger stared back, not identifying him in any of her records but noting that his appearance and weapon resembled the classic depiction of a type of Japanese assassin known as a ninja. He was obviously not with those who were holding her here, therefore, he was a potential opportunity.

“Query,” Circuit Monger stated, transferring more power to her motor functions and sitting up. “Identify your nomenclature and purpose.”

“My associate has a very limited English vocabulary,” a raspy voice said, coming not from the dark figure but from the hole in the door. “Thus he rarely speaks. I shall speak for the both of us.”

With that, a second man stepped through the ruined doorway and stood there beside the first. He was tall and slender, wearing an entirely black suit of a Victorian era fashion. His shoulder length black hair was brushed back, and in spite of there being almost no light, he wore a pair of round sunglasses which completely concealed his eyes. This man leaned on an ornate black cane, staring straight at Circuit Monger.

“Identify yourself,” she instructed him in a flat voice.

“You may call me Mister Munin,” he responded with a faint smile. Then he gestured to the man with the sword and added, “My silent companion may addressed as Mister Hugin. Our presence here is mere happenstance, though one that I believe will be fortuitous for all of us.”

“Explain,” Circuit Monger commanded.

“We have been tasked with retrieving one known as the Sinner from a similar cell down the hall,” Mister Munin explained. “They were keeping her drugged for fear of her powers. Our employer has invested a great deal in her and would not have her particular talents wasted in such a fashion. I believe my employer would have use for one such as you as well. Now, madame machine, I can get you out of here and fixed up…if you will consent to meeting with my employer. Do we have a deal?”

There was a long moment of silence before Circuit Monger responded, “Agreed.”

“Excellent,” Mister Muniin said, holding his hand up and gesturing. Suddenly, the shadows seemed to come alive and began to form into a swirling vortex in the air. “Now come, let us depart…”

Circuit Monger slowly got to her feet, using the power reserves that she’d been conserving until an opportunity presented itself. Mister Hugin sheathed his sword and silently walked into the vortex and vanished. A moment later, Circuit Monger and Mister Munin followed him, leaving the prison cell dark and empty.

The End

Baa Baa Black Sheep is listed as number zero because it is a non-tg story that was written several years before the first Legacy Universe story. I originally had no intention of Black Sheep being part of this universe, but at the time I was writing The Knight is a Lady, I ended up tying him into the Legacy continuity.

00-Baa Baa Black Sheep
01-The Miracle Legacy
02-A Change of Heart
03-Hardshell
04-The Praxis Crossing
05-Mannequin
06-The Vengeance of Lady Hexx
07-Glamour Girl
08-Counterweight
09-Grendel and Beowulf
10-The Dark Legacy
11-The Witch Seed
12-Marvel and Meyhem
13-Infiltrator
14-The Return of Red Blade
15-With a Golden Staff
16-The Knight is a Lady
17-Kaboom
18-The Legacy of the Seven
19-Invincible