A group of high school students are exposed to a strange chemical and awaken to find themselves under quarantine by a mysterious group and undergoing startling changes. Their trouble is only just beginning. This story takes place in my Legacy Universe.

This is the twentieth 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.

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Images of a thick green fog filled my mind, as did other strange visions which seemed to come and go. However, it was the green fog which kept coming back, which chased after me and then surrounded me. I remembered the fog enveloping me…choking me so that I couldn’t breathe. And then, I suddenly realized that I was only dreaming.

I woke up and immediately sat straight up in bed, gasping for breath and trying to shake off the eerie dream that still left me feeling a bit afraid. However, as I took several deep breaths, I realized that something was very wrong. I felt dizzy, confused, and just…wrong. Then I realized something else. I wasn’t in my own bed.

“What the…?” I started, but my tongue felt thick in my mouth, just as the rest of my body felt sick as well.

I looked around, seeing that I definitely wasn’t in my own bedroom. I was in a long room that reminded me a cross between army barracks and a hospital. There were two rows of beds, one against each of the opposing walls. It was also immediately obvious that I wasn’t the only one here or the only one who was confused.

“Where…?” I started again. “How…?”

There were no answers to those questions or any of the others that filled my mind. I had absolutely no idea of where I was or how I got here, much less another important question. Why? With that, I closed my eyes and tried to make sense of this. I tried to remember how I’d come to be here.

School. The last thing I remembered was being at school where I was a senior. I’d just started at that school two months ago after my family moved. Because of that, I was still something of the new kid, though I wasn’t quite alone in that. My sister was going to the same school as well and we even had four classes together.

My name is Victor Wells, or just Vic to my friends. I was six feet tall, had dark shoulder length hair that was getting a bit too shaggy, and I was lean in an athletic sort of way. And though I’d never had much problem getting dates in my old school, I hadn’t had a lot of luck here yet due to the stigma of being the new kid. Or at least that was what I told myself.

It was lunch period and I’d gone back to the outdoor eating area that was just behind the school swimming pool. There were at least a dozen other kids here, though I hardly considered myself a ‘kid’ since I was seventeen. And at the moment, I was even sitting with a new friend that I’d recently made, a guy name Paul.

Paul was the kind of guy that I never would have imagined myself being friends with before. He was a pretty cool guy and very knowledgeable about motorcycles of just about every type. In fact, it wasn’t until we’d begun talking about bikes and had become friends that I even found out he was gay. I’d been a little wary of him at first because of that, but we’d already been friends and he assured me that I wasn’t his type, so after a few days I’d just shrugged it off and continued being his friend.

“I found a guy who has an old Indian for sale,” Paul told me cheerfully. “It’s not in great shape but I think I could fix it up and make it awesome… I just need to figure out how to talk my dad into loaning me the money…”

“Loaning you the money?” I asked him with a raised eyebrow. “You mean, the money you’ll pay back with that burger slinging job of yours…after paying for gas and fixing the bike up too? Yeah, good luck with that.”

“You’re just lucky your dad bought you a car,” Paul responded.

“He bought me half a car,” I pointed out the distinction with a sigh.

After we’d moved here a couple months ago for my dad’s job, he felt a little guilty for making me and Christine move away from our friends. Because of that, he’d bought us an old car and said that we had to share it. That might not have been so bad if I got to use it half the time, but unfortunately, Christine shared the car about as well as she shared the bathroom in the morning. She was a firm believer in ‘first come first serve,’ and she always made sure to get to both before I had a chance.

“I might as well not even have a car,” I muttered. Then I paused to say, “Speak of the devil…”

I caught sight of my twin sister Christine sitting just a few tables away with a couple of her own friends. It didn’t look like she’d noticed me and I didn’t feel like getting her attention. Most other sets of twins that I knew were either really close or they couldn’t stand each other. Christine and I fell somewhere in the middle. We got along pretty well but weren’t especially close anymore, at least not since we’d been kids.

Just then, I suddenly heard a loud crashing noise and jumped to my feet, as did everyone else. A moment later, I saw the cause of the noise, a car had smashed right through the chain link fence that surrounded the school and had then crashed right into a tree just a short distance away.

“What the hell?” I blurted out in surprise.

“Oh my God,” Christine cried out, running right towards the car. “Are you all right in there?”

Christine’s friend Becky, whom she’d been sitting with, ran right after her, barely a footstep behind. Becky had shoulder length blonde hair and a dozen rings through one ear, giving her an appearance that seemed half cheerleader and half goth. She grabbed Christine’s arm and pulled her to a stop before they could reach the car.

“What the fuck?” Becky demanded, pointing at the side of the car which had a dozen holes punched through the metal. “Those are fucking bullet holes…”

Almost as the words left Becky’s lips, the car door opened and the driver staggered out. He was a middle aged man who looked more than a little shaken from the crash. But since there were bullet holes all over his car, I was pretty sure it was more than just the crash that had shaken him. Without a word, he grabbed something from the seat, something that looked like a very large coffee thermos and then he began hurrying away from the wreck, limping as he did so.

“Where do you think you’re going?” another of my classmates demanded of the man. Jack was a fairly big guy and one of the football team so he looked more than a little intimidating as he stood in front of the man. “You can’t leave an accident… Have a seat and we’ll call an ambulance to come check you out…”

“I can’t stop,” the man protested, clutching the thermos to his chest. “I can’t let them get this… I can’t…”

And with that, the man started running to the side, towards our school building. Jack could have stopped him but held back, looking worried. Perhaps he was worried that he’d accidentally hurt the guy or end up getting sued. Or maybe he just didn’t want to get any more involved.

“Dude,” I told Paul. “What the hell is up with that?”

The man went straight for the nearest door, the one into the school pool. I was curious and began following, even though a voice in the back of my head said that it probably wasn’t a good idea. After all, he had bullet holes in his car and was freaking out. The smart thing would be to just call the cops, but I wasn’t the only one who chose this unwise course.

“I think he needs medical attention,” Christine said. “He looks like he’s in shock…”

“Fuck him,” Becky responded. “It isn’t our business…”

I stopped at the doorway, noticing some drips of green slime on the floor. I looked and saw the man running alongside the pool with more drips of the green slime following him. Whatever was in that thermos he was clutching, it was leaking.

“Hey you,” Jack called out as he went inside.

The man quickly looked back and then slipped and fell face first onto the concrete floor. The thermos he’d been clutching hit hard and cracked, spraying some of the green slime before it bounced into the water.

“NO,” the man cried out in horror.

“Are you all right?” Christine asked him, going to his side to help him up.

“No,” he yelled again, shoving her to the side and staring into the water where the container had gone.

I stared at the swimming pool water as well, noticing that it was starting to turn green and bubble where the canister had gone in. A thick green fog was starting to form over the pool and was spreading out. I began to back up but bumped into Paul who was right behind me. A moment later, the fog had filled the entire pool area and had flooded over us.

My lungs immediately began burning and I collapsed to my knees, struggling for breath. Suddenly, I felt unbelievably dizzy and nauseous while my muscles all felt as though they’d been turned to jello. I was filled with fear, confusion, and desperation before everything went dark.

Now, here I was, sitting on this bed in the middle of these strange barracks, keeping my eyes closed as I tried absorbing every detail I could from my still sketchy memory. I remembered going in and out of consciousness and catching glimpses of things going on around me. I remembered being surrounded by people in hazardous material suits like what I’d seen in the movies and I even remembered small bits and pieces of conversation which occurred around me. The word ‘quarantine’ had been said a few times though I don’t remember much more than that.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, opening my eyes again and taking another look around.

The bed closest to mine was occupied by a lean guy black guy who looked really familiar. It took me a moment to recognize him as Anton Alexander, a guy I shared a class or two with. He wasn’t in my very limited circle of friends so I had to think for a few seconds to remember that he was actually our class president. At the moment, he was still asleep and wearing just a hospital gown, the same thing that everyone else was wearing, myself included.

As I looked around the room, I saw that there were fifteen of us here, both male and female. All the beds on my side of the walk path were filled with boys while there were girls on the other side, all wearing the same flimsy hospital gowns that I was. I even saw Christine on the far end of the room but made an effort not to look at her. I really didn’t want to see my sister in this state of undress.

After a minute, I looked around the large room again, seeing more faces that were filled with the same confusion and fear that I felt. It was obvious that no one else in here had any better idea of what was going on now than I did. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to compare notes so I climbed out of my hospital bed and went to find someone to talk to. But even as I did so, I couldn’t help but feeling a knot of dread in my stomach.

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“Read em and weep,” I exclaimed, slapping my cards down on the table and looking around at the other players.

“Hey jackass,” Becky said with a glare. “This is go fish…not Texas hold em.”

Christine just grinned and said, “That’s okay. Vic can barely even tell his left from his right. You can’t expect him to tell the difference between Uno and Monopoly.”

“Bite me,” I responded with a grin while Paul snickered from beside me.

The truth was, I knew exactly what game everyone had been playing but just didn’t care. I was bored out of my mind…as was everyone else here. The only thing that any of us had to do was play cards since our captors had finally relented and given us some cards and a table we could play on.

It had been two days since we’d all woken up here and none of us had been allowed to leave since. Fortunately, there was a large bathroom with multiple stalls so we could do our business with a little privacy. In fact, that was about the only privacy we had, other than the curtains that they’d finally brought in to separate the girl’s beds from the boys. And thankfully, we were no longer stuck wearing the flimsy hospital gowns. Our captors had given us all dull gray jumpsuits to wear instead. They didn’t fit well but at least they were much better than what we’d had.

About an hour after I first woke up here, one of the doctors had come in and explained what was going on, though it was an explanation that none of us were happy with. He said that we’d been exposed to a dangerous chemical which was making us sick and that we’d been put in quarantine because of it. Unfortunately, none of us were allowed to leave or even have visitors. But what frustrated all of us even more was the fact that we weren’t even given access to phones or the internet so hadn’t been able to contact our friends or family at all.

I grimaced in frustration, wishing that at the very least I had something to do. I’d kill for my skateboard, or better yet, my video game system. Of course, I’d have to fight everyone else off for the latter since I wasn’t the only one going stir crazy.

“What the hell are you staring at?” Jack abruptly demanded, glaring at Paul. “See something you like, you queer?”

“Actually, yes,” Paul responded with a look of mock innocence. “I do so admire your big muscles.”

Jack looked surprised at that, obviously having expected Paul to deny it. Christine just laughed and told Jack, “Hey, you were looking at me the same way so deal with it.”

“Yeah, fuckwad,” Becky added with a cheerful grin. “Just man up and take it as the compliment it is.”

“Just…go back to Mexico,” Jack told Paul, leaning back and crossing his arms with a scowl of annoyance.

“I’m not from Mexico,” Paul told him with a cheerful grin. “My mom is from Puerto Rico and my dad is from Pittsburgh.” Then he shrugged and added, “And I’m from Cleveland.”

I just watched this all with a grin, then waved over to Anton who was over with his girlfriend Tasha and her best friend Michelle. I’d found out that the three of them had just been swimming laps in the pool a short time before the accident that landed us all here and that they’d been in the changing rooms getting dressed when it happened. In fact, all of us here had been close to the pool when the green gas hit.

“You guys want to join us?” I called over to them, thinking that the more people we had playing cards the less actual playing we’d do and the more talking. Cards had never been my thing. “We’re playing hearts.”

“No we aren’t,” Christine said, giving me a glare.

“Can’t you see we’re busy?” Michelle responded, answering for all three of them, much to Anton’s obvious annoyance.

“Maybe in a bit,” Anton told me with a nod.

As I was turning back to the card game, I was suddenly struck with an agonizing surge of pain in my guts. I let out a loud gasp and doubled over, grimacing at what felt like ferrets gnawing on my insides.

“Vic,” Christine exclaimed, jumping out of her seat and rushing to my side where she held me.

After a minute, the pain faded away and I was left sweaty and with every muscle in my body aching. This wasn’t the first time I’d been hit with an attack like this or even the tenth. Each time, it was just as bad as the time before if not even worse.

The people who held us here claimed to be with the government and said a few other things that we were all starting to get suspicious of, but the one thing that none of us doubted was that exposure to the green fog had made us sick. All of us had been feeling sick since arriving, though some of us got it worse than others. Paul, Becky, and Anton were among those who seemed to have gotten off with nothing more than what appeared to be the flu, while others were like me in that we kept suffering these attacks of agonizing pain.

“I’m fine,” I told my sister and new friends, forcing a grin as I sat back up in my chair. Christine gave me a worried look before returning to her seat.

“Are you sure?” Paul asked carefully.

“Of course not,” Becky snapped. “We don’t know what the fuck that shit did to us…”

“No kidding,” Jack added angrily, looking as though he wanted to hit someone to relieve some stress.

I just nodded and absently scratched at my chest which had been itching pretty badly for most of the day. As I did so, my chest felt all swollen and puffy beneath my jumpsuit. It appeared that along with being sick, I was starting to swell up as if I was having some sort of allergic reaction.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only reaction I was having. I’d noticed while going to the bathroom that my dick seemed smaller than usual and that my balls had pulled up inside. And just a little less freaky, my hair had actually grown three inches longer over the last two days.

Then I slowly looked around the table, noticing that I wasn’t the only one who’d been showing odd symptoms from the sickness. Christine looked a little odd in a sort of unexplainable way and some of her hair was even starting to turn while. I know she’d been freaking out about that, not that we had any mirrors available for her to check herself out in.

Becky’s hair was changing color too, coming in blue at the roots which was pretty odd. Jack had just been having a weird rash that he kept scratching at. Of course, it wasn’t the players in our card game who were showing odd symptoms. Almost everyone was, especially those of us who seemed to have gotten the most sick.

I scowled, trying to hide just how worried…just how terrified I actually felt. In spite of our captors saying that they were the government, I had no idea who they were or what they intended to do to us. I hadn’t been able to talk to any of my family, other than Christine, and didn’t know if they were even aware of where we were or what was going on. I was sick and had no idea of just how bad. The doctor who kept taking blood samples didn’t bother giving any clear answers. For all I knew, I was dying. I wanted to just scream in frustration and maybe even cry a little, but I didn’t dare do that in front of everyone else. I didn’t want to look like some kind of loser.

Jack suddenly yelled in pain and doubled over, much the same way I had a minute earlier. He fell off his chair and Christine immediately went to his side, hesitating as to whether she should touch him or not while his body spasmed and shook. He clenched his teeth and I could see tears coming from his eyes while all I could do was watch in silent sympathy.

“What the fuck is wrong with us?” Becky demanded, looking just as scared as I felt.

“I wish I knew,” Paul responded quietly. “My mom must be freaking out about now… I mean, I haven’t talked to her at all since before this all went down…”

“Dude,” I told him with a grimace. “None of us have.”

When Jack was finished with his bout of pain, he got back to his feet unsteadily and muttered, “I HATE this shit.” Then he paused, staring down at his right hand which was currently closed into a fist. There was a strange look on his face before he exclaimed, “I can’t open my hand…” He pounded his hand against the table, looking as though he was about to panic. “I can’t open it…”

For the next two minutes, Jack struggled to open his hand, growing more and more frantic when he couldn’t. He slammed his fist against the table and looked like he was about to start taking his frustration on us so everyone began backing away from him.

It was then that we heard the beeping sound which indicated that the door to our barracks was opening. Just about everyone froze at that, including Jack, and turned to see the newcomer. He was tall and thin, dressed in a lab coat, and with very little hair left on his head. Doctor McNeal came in several times a day, taking blood samples and treating us almost as if we were guinea pigs rather than patients. None of us liked him, and though I’d had a few ideas about overpowering him and forcing him to let us go, the woman who came in along with him convinced me not to try.

The woman with Dr. McNeal was obviously not a doctor, though she didn’t dress like a security guard either. She had shoulder length dark hair that and wore a pair of black leather pants and a red halter top shirt that looked rather sexy. However, she also had a pair of pistols strapped to her thighs as well as a couple of nasty looking knives in her belt. She walked with a definite confidence and looked around as though she was a predator who was looking for lunch. I had absolutely no idea what her name was and wasn’t about to get close enough to ask.

“Line up,” Dr. McNeal ordered us, holding up a device that looked like some sort of ray gun, but which we’d learned was actually some sort of device to take blood samples from us. “Time for another sample.”

“How many more times do we have to go through this?” one of the boys in our group demanded angrily. He was a large guy named Ed, and apparently one of the football players at school. He and Jack seemed to be friends but I didn’t really know him. “When can we get out of here?”

“You will be free to leave when you are longer a threat to yourselves or others,” Dr. McNeal responded, giving Ed a look of annoyance. There was something in his voice that made me doubt what he was saying. In fact, if Dr. McNeal told me that the sky was blue, I’d have to double check for myself before believing him.

Ed seemed to be of the same opinion as me because he came towards Dr. McNeal and snarled, “I want out of this shithole now…”

Without warning, the woman beside Dr. McNeal lashed out with her arm, smashing Ed’s nose so that it exploded in blood. And before I could fully take that in, she hit him two more times before slamming him down on the floor…hard. She stood above him with a cold sneer on her face and a look that said she was just an inch away from killing him.

“I hope there are no other interruptions,” Dr. McNeal stated coldly while his bodyguard took a step back.

After this, we all lined up and didn’t resist as he came by and used the strange device to take a blood sample from each of us. Fortunately, it was pretty quick and painless so ten minutes later, he had left the room along with his bodyguard.

“What a bitch,” Becky exclaimed with a little awe in her voice.

“Well, she sure had a nice ass,” one of the other boys said while Jack and I both nodded agreement.

“This is all wrong,” Anton pointed out grimly.

“You think?” Michelle responded sarcastically, scratching at her skin just like she’d been doing for most of the morning. I looked and noticed that her dark brown skin seemed a little off, though I couldn’t quite place how. “This whole thing is totally fucked up…”

All of us nodded agreement at that. “There ain’t a single thing about this whole damn situation that isn’t,” I added.

“You’ve got a point,” Anton responded with a scowl. “But I mean with all the details… I mean, we were supposedly exposed to some sort of chemical…not a virus. That means we wouldn’t be contagious and they wouldn’t need to quarantine us. In fact, McNeal and that woman who keeps coming in with him aren’t wearing any masks or taking any precautions which kind of proves that they know we aren’t contagious.”

“And they aren’t letting us talk to our families,” Paul said with a worried look. “My mom must be worried sick…”

“And they don’t act like real doctors either,” Christine pointed out. “I mean, they’re treating us like guinea pigs…not patients.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, thinking about it for a moment. “Wouldn’t real doctors actually try making us better? McNeal is just taking blood samples but isn’t actually doing anything to help us…”

Anton nodded at that before saying, “I’m not even sure they’re really with the government… I mean, I ain’t seen any badges or proof… And that woman with McNeal sure doesn’t dress like she’s with the government.”

With that, I looked up at the ceiling and at one of the cameras that had been watching our every move. I’d been trying not to think of them so that I could at least pretend I had a little privacy, but now I felt a cold chill go down my spine. The others made quick glances to the cameras as well, obviously just as worried as I was.

“So, who are they really?” I asked the question that everyone was thinking. “And what did that stuff really do to us?”

Then I looked to Jack who was furiously scratching at his right arm, at a spot on his wrist just above the hand which was still closed into a fist and wouldn’t open. When he moved his hand away, I saw the spot that he’d been scratching at and let out a gasp of surprise. It was covered with black reptilian looking scales, each one about the size of a quarter.

“My arm,” Jack whispered, his face pale as though all the blood had drained from it. His eyes were filled with absolute dread.

“What the fucking hell?” Becky exclaimed, her eyes going wide as she stared at his arm.

I was frozen for a moment, thinking about all the strange symptoms that I’d seen in the barracks so far. I thought about Becky’s hair coming in blue, about Christine’s hair turning white, about Donny who had a pair of bumps on his forehead, almost as if he was growing horns. And of course, I thought of my own strange symptoms as well. A knot of cold dread sat in my gut like a lump of lead.

“What the hell is that stuff doing to us?” I demanded, though no one answered. I knew that we wouldn’t get any answers from Dr. McNeal or any of the other people holding us here. “And how much worse is this going to get?”

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I was in the bathroom stall, scowling as I considered my situation. I’d actually finished my business nearly twenty minutes ago but this was the only place that I had any privacy at all. This was the only place where I could be along with my thoughts and fears.

It had been four days since I’d awoken in this prison that pretended to be something more benevolent, and in that time, I had changed in ways that I never would have thought possible. I shuddered as I thought about what had happened with my body and what seemed still be happening.

The most obvious but least frightening change was that my hair had grown over six inches since I’d come here. It had always been dark but it had become raven black as well. Still, that was absolutely nothing compared to the more drastic changes.

My chest had started off as just a bit swollen but it had only gotten worse…much worse. Before I realized it, the tissue had swollen so bad on each side that it looked like I had small breasts like girl…maybe A cups, and they had continued growing until I now appeared to have B cup breasts. Even my nipples had grown larger and much more sensitive. And then there was my equipment. My balls had vanished entirely while my dick was little more than a small stub. I couldn’t even stand to piss anymore.

As shocking as those changes were, the most surprising was that I’d actually shrunk. I hadn’t really noticed it at first, other than with my jump suit getting even looser than it had been. I might not have caught it even then except for a few hours ago I noticed that Paul and I were now the same height. I’d always been taller than him. A quick comparison with several others confirmed it. I’d lost about three inches of height.

There were other changes as well, smaller and more subtle ones such as all of my body hair falling out. Some of them I might have missed entirely since I didn’t have a mirror available. I could only take Christine and Paul’s word for it, but according to them I was starting to look a bit feminine.

Each of my changes was a startling side effect to that strange green fog, but taken all together they provided a clear picture as to what was happening to me. As shocking as it was to even consider, it appeared that I was actually turning into a girl. I might have denied the very idea of this, but I wasn’t the only one being changed, nor was I even the most extreme.

“Why me?” I muttered, fighting back the urge to cry. In spite of looking almost like a girl, I was still a guy and had to act like it. Then I thought of my best friend from back where I used to live and just how much shit we used to give each other. “Miles would laugh his ass off if he saw me looking like this.”

After I had braced myself and was once again ready to face the world with a sneer and a smart-ass comment, I left the bathroom stall. I nearly bumped into Michelle who was going into the stall next to mine, perhaps for the same privacy that I had. It still amazed me that boys and girls all shared the same bathroom, separated only by individual stalls.

“Damn boy…girl,” Michelle said, staring at me with a smirk. “You really are looking like a bitch…”

“Bite me,” I responded, glaring at her and the fact that her skin had all turned a dark green over the last couple days. “And you’re looking like a frog.”

“You want to say that to my face, bitch?” Michelle demanded with a flash of anger.

“I just did,” I told her, already walking away. “Go choke on a fly…”

“Fuck you,” Michelle snarled, looking as though she was about to come at me swinging.

At that moment, Jack came into the bathroom and we both froze. He glared at us both as he walked past without a word, going into the stall and slamming the door behind him. Michelle and I both glanced at each other and then to his stall before we turned and left. As bad as things seemed for us, they were even worse for Jack.

Jack had already been a couple inches taller than me, but where I’d lost a few inches, he’d grown a couple. He also filled out a little more, becoming a little more bulky and muscular. Of course, the most noticeable thing about him now was the fact that most of his body was now covered with round black scales. Even his hair was falling out as the scales grew on his head. And just as freaky as that was his right fist, which had fused shut and been completely covered with thick bony scales so it was now more like a mace than a hand.

“At least he still has the other hand,” I mused with a shake of my hand. “Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to wipe his own ass.”

I stepped back into the main barracks area and looked around with a scowl. Our captors had given up any pretense of allowing us privacy and had removed the curtains which had been set up to separate the sleeping areas. We all guessed that they were blocking some of the video cameras and preventing them from seeing everything.

As I looked around, I looked at everyone else who’d gone through visible changes. It seemed that those of us who’d gotten the sickest were the ones who were changing the most, while those who’d had the mildest symptoms didn’t show any signs of changes at all. About half of us showed visible symptoms while the other half merely looked tired and afraid. Fortunately, a lot of the actual flu symptoms had stopped…especially among those who hadn’t been altered.

I saw Donny sitting on the foot of one bed, now sporting a pair of horns from his forehead. He was busy talking with Anton who appeared completely unchanged by events, and with Ed who now had webbed fingers and toes as well as some strange slits on the side of his neck which looked like they might be gills.

Christine was gathered together with group of other girls, all of them looking worried. I stared at my sister for a moment, feeling very uncomfortable as I watched her. Her hair had all turned pure white, but that was nothing compared to the other changes. Where I’d become shorter, she’d grown taller and was now about an inch taller than me. She’d bulked up, growing some muscles, but at the same time, her breasts were nearly gone. While I appeared to be turning into a girl, it seemed that she was going through the opposite change and becoming a boy.

Becky was next to Christine, her hair having turned entirely blue. And beside her was Tasha who didn’t appear to have gone through any changes, though I’d heard her complaining about an odd sensation in all of her muscles. The last girl in their little group was Rikki, a petite and somewhat mousy girl whose eyes had turned a strange crystal blue color. In fact, when her eyes had changed like this, she no longer needed her glasses to see.

“Hey Vic,” Christine greeted me with a forced smile, gesturing for me to come over. I noticed that her voice had changed since the last time I’d talked to her this morning. It was a little deeper, a little more…masculine. I gulped as I thought of what that meant for my own voice.

“How are you holding up?” I asked her, listening to my own voice. I was pretty sure that it sounded more feminine, but it was hard to really tell.

“About as well as you are,” she responded with a sigh.

“No offense,” Rikki said quietly, “but it looks like it won’t be long before you join our club.”

“She’s right,” Tasha said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d probably just assume you were a girl.” She paused to give me a thoughtful look before asking, “Are you? I mean, how far…?”

“Not yet,” I admitted, blushing brightly as I did so. “But I don’t think it will be long if I keep changing…”

Christine nodded sympathetically, looking down at herself and saying, “And it looks like it won’t be long before I join the other side.”

“That’s totally fucked up,” Becky said, rubbing at her eyes which I’d noticed her doing a lot. She looked at me and I could see some tears coming down her cheeks.

“Are you okay?” Paul asked Becky from behind me, surprising me since I hadn’t even realized that he’d come up. “I noticed you crying…”

“I’m not crying,” Becky snapped angrily, wiping the tears away. “My eyes are just really irritated or something… Shit…” She paused to glare at him defiantly, and then at the rest of us. “I’m not crying. I’m just…leaking.”

“Okay,” I told her with a wry smile. “If you say so.”

“Fuck you, Vicki,” she spat at me, using the feminine version of my name just because she knew how sensitive I was about my apparent sex change.

I bristled at that and was about to say something back but Paul put a hand on my shoulder and told everyone, “I know we’re all pretty stressed, but we shouldn’t be fighting among ourselves.”

“No,” I agreed, glancing up to one of the cameras and reminding myself who we should be fighting.

“I think…I think I might have an idea why they’re keeping us here,” Tasha said after a moment, looking self-conscious.

We all had our theories as to why we were really locked up, ranging from psychological experiments by the government to being specimens in an alien zoo. In fact, that was probably the most common topic of conversation.

“And why the hell do YOU think we’re here?” Becky asked, obviously thinking that this was going to be just another theory.

Tasha shifted her body a little and put her hands down low. I wondered what she was doing but then it dawned on me. She was positioning her body as if to hide something from the cameras that were watching. She was even holding her hands low as if she was going to show us something she didn’t want any of the cameras to see.

“I found out I could do this about an hour ago,” Tasha said, looking embarrassed.

And with that, I noticed that Tasha’s fingers were actually growing longer, two and then three times their normal length. I gasped in shock as I watched her pull her fingers back to their normal length and then bend them backwards as though they were made of rubber.

“What the fuck is that?” Becky demanded.

“Shhh,” Christine quieted her, staring at Tasha’s hands in disbelief.

Tasha stretched her entire arm out so that it lengthened by about six inches before going back to normal. “I was kind of afraid to tell anyone,” Tasha said quietly.

“How much can you stretch?” I asked curiously.

Tasha shrugged. “I don’t know. I feel like I can go more but I’ve been afraid to try…” She looked towards one of the cameras and added, “I didn’t want them to see…”

“Holy shit,” I whispered, staring at Tasha just as everyone else in our small group was. Tasha was one of those who didn’t look changed at all, yet she obviously was. What did that mean for everyone else who had seemed to be spared? Then something else suddenly dawned on me. “McNeal… He didn’t seem surprised when we started changing… I bet that bastard knew this was going to happen… That’s why they’re keeping us here…”

Suddenly, Rikki let out a loud gasp so I looked at her and saw that her eerie blue eyes were now glowing. A moment later, a glowing blue circle appeared in the air in front of her. The inside of the circle was blurry for a moment and then it became clear and I could see an image of Dr. McNeal inside it, almost as though I was looking at a TV screen.

“What the hell?” I gasped in surprise along with everyone else.

“I was just wishing I knew what Doctor McNeal was up to and this just happened,” Rikki blurted out, staring at the floating screen.

By this point, everyone in the barracks had started looking towards us to see what all the noise about and they saw the glowing disk. Within seconds, every one of them came rushing over to surround us.

Rikki’s eyes were still glowing, but after a quick look at them, I turned my attention back to the disk. The image of Dr. McNeal was moving and it looks just like we were watching him through some sort of window. At the moment, the image of him was in an office with a very strange looking woman. She was completely clear and transparent…including her clothes, what looked like a pantsuit. She looked like a statue made of glass, and I might have thought that this was exactly what she was if it wasn’t for the fact that she was moving.

“What are we going to do with the subjects?” Dr. McNeal’s voice came through the window in the air. “The quarantine story we told their school and families won’t last much longer and we certainly can’t let them go…”

“Certainly not,” the glass woman responded in a cold voice. “We’ll merely tell their families that they all died from the illness. That should settle things.”

Dr. McNeal nodded at that. “As you will Doctor Sheridon…”

“I’ve told you before,” she snapped at him. “It’s Doctor Glass now.”

“Of course,” Dr. McNeal responded, looking just a little afraid. “As you well know…Doctor Glass, PF78 is a powerful mutagenic compound that can cause the development of powers in those exposed. We believe that exposure to it may even have created Lady Hexx, who is potentially one of the most powerful developed in the country. But as you also know, it is highly unstable with a sixty-three percent fatality rate in first hour. Yet out of the nineteen people who were recently exposed, there have been only four deaths. The first was the lab technician who stole the canister of PF78 from us and two were school faculty members. The only adolescent who died was a boy who had a massive asthma attack. That was what killed him, not the PF78. By this time, I had expected over half our subjects to have died…yet none have.”

“Do you have any theories as to why?” Dr. Glass asked him. The tone of her voice was the same as when a teacher asked you a question in class. It was the tone of voice they used when they knew the answer but wanted to see if you did.

“The PF78 had an unexpected reaction with the chlorine in the swimming pool water,” Dr. McNeil responded in the same kind of tone that a student would when they were sure they had the right answer. “The most obvious effect of this is that it changed into a gaseous state before becoming completely inert and useless just minutes later. Another effect is that the mutagen appears to have lost potency. The accompanying illness and mutation don’t appear to be as severe which may be putting less stress on their bodies and allowing them to survive.”

Dr. Glass watched him with an expression that seemed cold and difficult to read. “You may also note that they are all adolescents,” she pointed out calmly. “The three who did die of the exposure were adults. It is very likely that their adolescent bodies, which are already in the process of changing, were more adaptive of the modified mutagen.” She leaned back for a moment with a thoughtful expression before asking, “Have any of our subjects developed powers yet?”

“None of them have showed signs of it yet,” Dr. McNeal answered carefully.

“If this altered PF78 follows the same pattern as the gel version,” Dr. Glass said thoughtfully, “then they should start developing abilities very soon. That could be very risky for us.” She gave him a cold glare and stated, “It would be very risky to keep such a concentration of developed individuals in one location.”

“We’re gonna be developed?” Becky exclaimed from beside me. “No fucking way…”

“Some of us already are,” Anton pointed out, giving Rikki a steady look.

“Shhh,” I tried to shush everyone. “I’m trying to listen…”

“This was the only facility we had to house them securely,” Dr. McNeal explained, looking just a little nervous. “New individual cells are nearly finished, but…” He paused for a moment before admitting, “We were expecting more than half of the subjects to have died by now and don’t have individual cells for all of them.”

“Then kill a few of them if you have to,” Dr. Glass told him casually. “We can start the dissections early. Just make sure you pick the ones who show the least promise of useful powers. We may want to keep a few for other uses.”

All of us stared at each other in horror while Dr. McNeal nodded and responded, “Of course.”

“Our lab tech cost me a great deal of money when he stole the canister and rendered it useless,” Dr. Glass said with a grim look on her glass face. “There are quite a few who would have paid millions for it in auction, just so they could have the power to turn their own soldiers into developed. However, there may be some good from this. If we can discover exactly how and why the altered mutagen allowed all these adolescents to survive, that makes it much more appealing to buyers. More than twice their number of soldiers would survive and become developed…and the buyers would find the idea of using this on themselves much more appealing. The value would increase drastically for our two remaining canisters, allowing us to not only recoup the cost of the missing canister but perhaps even double the amount we would have made otherwise.”

A moment later, a man came through the door of the office, looking like he was in a hurry. “Doctor Glass,” he blurted out in a rush. “We were told to inform you if any of the subjects showed signs of having developed powers… Well, one of them is right now…”

“Oh shit,” I exclaimed, looking up at one of the cameras and wincing.

“Then go deal with them now,” Doctor Glass ordered. “Separate the subjects and kill a few if you must.”

Rikki let out a loud gasp and the blue glow faded from her eyes while the glowing image in the air just vanished. “They’re gonna kill us,” she cried out, staring at the door in panic.

All at once, the entire room exploded into chaos as everyone began to freak out at once. Cries of “They’re gonna kill us,” and similar things filled the air.

“We have to stay calm,” Anton tried calling out but no one was listening.

Suddenly, Donny burst into flame without any warning. He yelled out and Tasha, who’d been standing close to him, screamed and pushed away from him. Her arms suddenly stretched out eight feet, shoving him away hard while she simultaneously tried to back away. Her legs stretched and grew as well until she collapsed to the ground, looking as though her entire body was made of rubber with no bones holding it together. Anton and Michelle were immediately by her side while her arms and legs all pulled back in to normal.

“It’s not hurting me,” Donny called out in realization. “Look at this… I’m developed…”

“Everyone, please,” Christine called out, trying to get everyone’s attention. “They’re gonna be here soon so if we’re gonna do anything, we need to work together…”

“Good luck trying to get everyone here working together,” I muttered. “That’s like trying to herd cats…”

“And what the fucking good is that going to do?” Becky demanded, looking just as frantic as everyone else.

“I don’t feel so good,” Anton abruptly said, standing back from Tasha who now looked like she normally did. He looked as though he was going to vomit, but when he turned to the side and heaved, a blast of green energy shot out of his mouth and hit a bed on the other side of the room. The bed collapsed, looking as though it had melted and dissolved.

“Holy shit,” I blurted out, staring at Anton and getting an idea. I pointed to the door and demanded, “Do you think you can do that again…? At the door…?”

Anton stared back at me with a blank expression for a moment and then his eyes widened in realization. “Good idea,” he told me with a faint grin. “I’ll certainly try…”

But before Anton could make the attempt, the door opened and four men with automatic weapons came into the room, pointing them at us and yelling, “Stand still with your hands in the air…”

About half of us immediately obeyed, myself included. I could only stare at the armed men, feeling terrified that they were going to shoot me. I had always imagined that if I was one of the hostages in one of those action movies, I wouldn’t have just stood there…that I would have fought back. I felt ashamed to realize that I wasn’t that brave.

“Those fuckers are gonna kill us,” Becky screamed, glaring at them with frantic anger and fear.

Just then, water suddenly began to shoot out of Becky’s eyes, almost like a pair of fire hoses. The water hit the armed men and sent all of them flying back from the pressure. She screamed in confusion and turned her head, only to have the waster blasts move with her and hit several of us prisoners, sending them flying back as well. Then the water stopped but half the room was now soaked.

I stared at Becky for a moment and then the men she’d knocked down with that display of water power. They’d nearly all dropped their weapons, and I realized that this was our opportunity. I was disgusted at myself for the way I’d frozen in terror just a minute ago so I rushed to grab one of their weapons, trying to prove to myself if no one else that I wasn’t a complete coward.

Before I was halfway there, Paul suddenly tackled me and knocked me to the ground. A mere second later, one of the guards opened fire with his weapon and would have hit me. As it was, Donny was hit several times in the chest and went down without a sound, the flame that had appeared earlier now vanishing.

“YOU BASTARD,” Jack yelled, charging straight towards them.

The guard shot at Jack, but Jack’s scales seemed to act as armor and protected him from being hurt, at least until one round hit his shoulder in a spot that wasn’t yet covered in scales. This caused Jack stop and gasp for pain, though surprisingly, he didn’t even drop to his knees.

The other guards had recovered as well and began to shoot. I saw one of them firing right at Christine and screamed in horror as my sister was hit. But to my surprise, she didn’t go down.

Christine cowered at first, then paused to stare down at herself and exclaim, “I didn’t even feel that…” She stood up straight, revealing that she hadn’t been injured at all and that the bullets were scattered on the ground around her. “I’m not hurt…”

“Christine,” I called out with a mixture of worry and relief.

“I’m…fine,” she said, looking down at herself and then grinning broadly. “In fact, I feel better than I ever have before in my life…”

With that, Christine ran straight towards the armed guards, getting shot several more times though the bullets kept dropping to the ground around her without causing her any harm. She grabbed one of the guards and suddenly lifted him off the ground with apparent ease and threw him all the way across the barracks where he smacked into a wall. She then grabbed a second guard and threw him as well, but for less than half the distance.

“It’s…gone,” she exclaimed in surprise. One of the other guards opened fire on her at point blank range to no more effect than before. Then she grinned and said, “It’s back again…”

At this point, Jack snarled and charged forward, slamming one of the guards with his thick mace of a fist, sending him smashing into the wall with what was obviously immense force. Before either Jack or Christine could get the last guard, Tasha reached out and snatched the rifle out of his hands…from at least twenty feet away. Her arm pulled back to its normal length and she then held the gun pointed at him instead.

“Now YOU put your hands in the air,” Tasha ordered him. He did exactly that, looking terrified.

“That’s right,” Michelle told the guard smugly. “We’re in charge now…”

“They killed Donny,” Jack snarled. “And they were gonna get the rest of us too…”

“We have to get going,” Anton pointed out grimly. “Before more of them show up…”

Jack hit the guard in the chest had enough to send him flying back, probably with broken ribs. “We should kil em… We should kill all these bastards…”

“Yeah,” Becky agreed with others nodded along. “It’s time for payback…”

“No,” Christine argued, giving everyone a steady look. After the display she’d just put on, she was suddenly a LOT more intimidating. “We need to get out of here while we can…”

There was no more arguing after this and we all began to rush out the door, fighting a bit for position. Jack charged out first while Christine was right behind him. Since she had proven that she was now bulletproof, she thought that she could as shield to protect the rest of us. I shuffled in behind her, wanting to stay close to my sister since it was my duty as her brother to protect her…even though it was no longer necessary. I couldn’t help but feeling a little resentful of that as well as jealous of her new powers.

The large group of us, fourteen in all, started down the hallway together though it wasn’t very organized. We were all on the verge of panic though those who had developed powers so suddenly were trying to cover for those who hadn’t. Fortunately, there were also several rifles to pass around as well, though I would have felt better if I’d been one of the people holding one.

“How the hell do we get out of here?” Michelle demanded. “This place is like a fucking maze…”

“No shit,” Becky responded. “We’re already fucking lost…”

“We should have questioned one of those guards,” Paul said thoughtfully. “We probably could have at least learned where we are…”

“It’s too late now,” Anton pointed out grimly. “But maybe we can find another guide…” He glanced back at Rikki and asked, “Can you do that weird TV monitor thing again and tell us anything?”

Rikki hesitated before admitting, “I don’t know…”

“Well,” I said wryly, looking down one of the side corridors we were passing and saying, “There’s a stairway over there and a sign saying third floor… What say we all go down?”

We all rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping over each other as we did so. At the bottom of the stairs, there were two guards who saw us coming and began opening fire. Christine and Jack charged towards them while the rest of us dropped to the ground, though Paul and Tasha tried firing a couple shots. They couldn’t actually hit the guards though since Jack and my sister were in the way.

I was sprawled on the floor, my heart racing in terror. I was also uncomfortably aware of my breasts pressing up against the floor, giving me a reminder of my own changes that I didn’t want. I just wished that I had a place to hide, somewhere to get out of the open or at least get some cover while the guns were being fired.

Suddenly, I felt a strange tingle rush through my body an instant before my vision changed. Everything around me abruptly changed color, becoming shades of black, white, and silver, though there were also odd shimmers of color in the air and around all the people.

“I can’t see,” Christine exclaimed in surprise, stopping where she was and looking around frantically.

“They cut the lights,” Anton called out. “We’re blind…”

Others were making similar exclamations about how it was dark, about how they couldn’t see a thing. I just looked around, feeling a little confused by all this.

“But I can see just fine,” I protested, then looked up at the lights above which I could see were still turned on, being the source of much of the strange colors in the air.

Then it suddenly hit me. Everyone else had been developing strange power, and now it seemed to be my turn. I wasn’t just seeing in the dark…I was somehow causing it.

I stood up, watching several people staggering around as though completely blind while some of the others remained flat on the ground where they had been. Even the guards were acting as though they were completely blind, swinging their weapons from one direction to another.

“That can’t be safe,” I muttered, crouching back down again in case they started firing randomly.

Somehow, I was doing this…I was making everyone else blind. I realized that I could feel something else…something flowing into me. I could only guess that it was the light. I was making it dark by absorbing all the light.

I was terrified and confused by this realization, but I couldn’t help but feeling an odd sense of excitement as well. However, with the understanding that I was causing this came the certainty that I could control it. With just a thought, as though flipping a mental switch, everything went back to normal.

“I can’t see again,” Paul said in obvious relief.

“The guards,” I called out to remind the others of their presence.

Jack recovered before either of the guards and charged right at them, slamming one of them with his thick mace hand. Before Christine could recover, Tasha opened fire with her rifle, shooting in the other guard’s direction and hitting him in the thigh. He cropped to the ground with a scream, dropping his weapon in the process.

“I…I shot him,” Tasha exclaimed with a look of shock and even horror. She dropped the gun as though it had suddenly turned red hot.

“Run,” Michelle yelled. “I’m getting my ass out of here…”

We all got back up and scrambled out the building entrance, trying to get away before even more of those guards showed up. I felt a surge of relief as we went through the doors and continued running as fast as we could.

It was obvious that we were in the middle of the city, having come out of a building that looked like any other office building. However, none of us concerned ourselves with where we’d come from so much as where we were going…which was away from it.

After running several blocks, we paused to hide in an alley in order to catch our breaths. We all looked back and forth at each other, grinning at that fact that we’d done it. We’d escaped.

“We left those assholes behind,” Becky exclaimed with a smirk, rubbing at her eyes which were still leaking tears. “We’re free…”

“But not all of us,” Paul said a moment later.

“What do you mean?” Christine asked.

“Learn to count,” I told my sister bitterly, looking around at those of us who were gathered here and counting only ten.

“Four of us are missing,” Anton pointed out grimly. “They must have gotten separated…”

I grimaced, not knowing when we’d lost those four or where. Maybe they’d never made it down the stairs. Maybe they’d taken a different direction and were getting out through the back door. However, I couldn’t help but wondering if maybe they’d gotten separated because of my own weird power…because I’d made everyone unable to see.

“At least we got away,” Jack said, though his enthusiasm sounded just a little forced.

“Maybe,” Anton agreed, looking around at each of us who’d managed to make it this far. “But I have a feeling that it’s not over yet.”

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

The alley was dark and cramped with a stench that threatened to knock me over like a physical blow. There was a garbage can sitting at the end of the alley that looked like it probably hadn’t been picked up or emptied in weeks. And the already limited space was made all the tighter due to ten of us all hiding together here.

It had been almost two hours since we’d escaped the building and we’d been running from alley to alley since, trying hard to avoid being seen as much as possible. It wasn’t easy to avoid notice though since all of us were wearing identical gray jump suits and Jack would now stand out absolutely anywhere. Fortunately, the sun had now set making it easier for us to hide in these alleys without being seen, though there were still plenty of street lights and such providing light to see by.

I stared at Jack, scowling as I did so. Over the last couple hours, he’d changed even more than before…enough so that I thought his transformation may even be finished. Black scales now covered his entire body, giving him an appearance that was anything but human. The scales all looked like they might be obsidian, making him look part human, part iguana, and part statue. His right hand was a thick mace, and the nails on his other hand had grown long and sharp like claws. He now looked quite frightening. The only good part of that was that the wound he’d been given earlier had healed up in the process and now his shoulder showed no sign of ever having been shot.

Then I looked at Christine who had also changed further and now appeared to be completely male. She looked and sounded like a very athletic teenage boy, and if I didn’t know better, I’d never know she used to be a girl. It was shocking enough to think that this was my sister, but I couldn’t help but feeling jealous because she was now about the same height I used to be…if not a little taller, not to mention more muscular. And add her new developed powers into the mix…

I shook my head, silently reminding myself that I now appeared to have developed powers too, not that I’d dare use them. Christine and Jack had both changed quickly after our escape and I was certain that it was because they were using their powers so much. I didn’t have much of my male self left, and I certainly wasn’t going to do anything to change any faster.

“What the fuck are we gonna do?” Becky demanded, no longer bothering to wipe away the tears on her cheeks. Her voice shook with the same fear that we all felt.

“I think we lost them,” Anton said. “I think we should go to the police…tell them what happened.”

“Oh yeah,” Ed said with a grimace. “We can tell them all about how these people turned us into developed and freaks.” He snorted in disgust and added, “Not that all of us got powers…”

“I think I’m the only one who hasn’t discovered his power yet,” Paul said quietly.

I nodded again and looked around our group, thinking about the theory we’d come up with about why we’d all started developing powers at once. We’d decided that it had to be the stress and excitement that was triggering them. That certainly made the most sense.

Jack’s changes were the most noticeable, turning him strong, tough, and with a built in weapon. Christine’s powers seemed fairly obvious at first, but we’d learned during our escape that she wasn’t as invulnerable as we thought. She’d accidentally cut her hand when she tripped and fell on some glass, proving that she could still be hurt. It just seemed that it was only impacts that she was protected from…such as bullets or being punched. She’d tried a brief experiment with that a short time ago and decided that she somehow absorbed those impacts in order to fuel her strength. She absorbed kinetic energy to become super strong.

Anton could sort of belch or vomit out those blasts of energy, Tasha could turn her body to rubber and stretch, Becky could shoot blasts of water from her eyes, and Rikki could make those windows in the air. The rest of us were a little less certain as to what we could do just yet. Ed had gills so we just assumed he could breathe under water. While we were running away, Michelle had discovered that she could jump…really high and really far. That might be impressive for the Olympics, but not exactly as a super power.

And of course, I’d somehow made everyone else go blind, though I hadn’t tried to intentionally use that power since. I have been thinking about it though and suspect that I was absorbing the light, the same way that Christine seemed to absorb kinetic energy. I was fairly sure that this was what I felt flowing into me.

“Poor Donny,” Ed said sadly. “And those other guys…”

We all scowled at that, thinking of the four people who’d gotten separated from us and left behind. I hoped that they’d been able to get out another exit but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I just hoped that none of them had ended up like Donny, dead on the floor.

“Since we’re all developed now,” Tasha said with a forced smile, “does that mean we have to get developed names?”

“I can be Impact,” Christine offered first.

“Mine can be Window,” Rikki said awkwardly. “Or maybe Scrye. That sounds a lot better…”

“Becky can be Crybaby,” I suggested with a weak smirk.

“Fuck you,” Becky snapped at me with a glare. “I’m not crying… I’m just leaking…”

“And Michelle can be called Frog,” I continued, earning a glare from her. “What? I mean, you’ve got green skin and you jump…”

“How about I make you jump?” Michelle told me with a glare.

Paul jumped in at that, perhaps to help distract Michelle and Becky from glaring at me. “Jack can be called Ugly…”

“You want me to pound your face in?” Jack demanded of him.

“Making pounding jokes with the gay guy,” I teased Jack weakly. “Kind of makes you wonder…”

“Fuck you,” Jack snarled. “If I’m gonna have one of those developed names, it’s gonna be something cool…like Berzerk… Yeah, I like that… Call me Berzerk.”

“What about you?” Tasha asked Anton.

“You could call yourself Foulmouth,” Ed suggested. “Or maybe the Vomiter…”

Anton shuddered and shook his head. “No way. Just because I’ve suddenly got this weird power, that doesn’t mean I’m going to start dressing up in spandex and playing hero. Forget it.”

“We do have more important things to worry about,” Christine added hesitantly. “We need to decide what to do next…”

“I already told you,” Anton responded, raising his voice. “We should go to the police…” Then he paused and took a deep breath. “Maybe we should find out more first…” He looked at Rikki.

“I…I’ll see if I can do it again,” Rikki said. Then she had a look of concentration for a moment before her eyes started glowing blue again and the glowing blue disk once again appeared in the air in front of her.

An image of Dr. Glass snapped into clarity in the middle of Rikki’s glowing disk, though this time the glass woman wasn’t in her office. She was standing in another room along with several other people, including Dr. McNeal and that scary woman who’d been his bodyguard when he came to take blood samples from us. At the moment, none of them looked happy at all.

“…Inexcusable security failure,” Dr. Glass was saying, glaring at Dr. McNeal. “All of our subjects escaped…”

“Four of them were recaptured alive,” Dr. McNeal responded nervously.

“But ten of them are still on the loose,” Dr. Glass snapped, glaring at him as she did so. “If the wrong people discover what we are up to…” She paused and shook her head slightly before saying, “It would be very problematic.”

The scary woman who’d been with Dr. McNeal scowled and said, “Now I’ll have to go retrieve those brats. I HATE dealing with kids.” Then she looked at Dr. Glass and asked, “What are we going to do to keep this quiet while I retrieve them?”

“I’ve already started damage control,” Dr. Glass told her grimly. “I’ve already notified law enforcement and their families that the chemical they were exposed to will kill them without treatment and that it’s causing paranoid delusions and violent mood swings. In fact, they even killed their poor doctor while escaping…”

Suddenly, the scary woman pulled out one of her knives, and with a single motion she pulled it up and through Dr. McNeal’s throat. He dropped to the ground with a gurgle while Dr. Glass took a step back, watching him with a look of distaste. However, whether she was bothered by the violence or by the possibility of getting his blood on her, I had no idea.

“Anyone they contact will happily turn them in…for their own good,” Dr. Glass mused with a faint smile. Then she looked at the scary woman again and said, “But we do still need to recover the subjects as quickly as possible. Try to take some of them alive. I may still have other uses for them.”

“Oh no,” Rikki gasped, the disk vanishing as she did so. However, we’d seen enough to know that we were all in deep trouble.

“We’re dead,” Becky blurted out. “We are all so fucking dead…”

“I’m sure I can convince my mom that they’re lying,” Paul said, though he looked skeptical.

“Do you think she’d take the chance?” Anton asked him grimly. “They just made sure our own friends and family are on their side…”

I clenched my fists, feeling scared and confused by trying hard not to show it. I had to keep my tough guy image…now even more than before. “I know a guy,” I said carefully. “I have a buddy back where I used to live who might be able to help…”

“Do you mean Miles?” Christine asked in surprise. “I wouldn’t count on it. They might not be watching him, but there isn’t anything he can do.”

I shrugged at that, knowing she was right. I’d just been grasping at straws, trying to think of someone they wouldn’t be watching. They probably wouldn’t even know about Miles, but there wasn’t anything he’d be able to do to help. Not a single thing.

“Damn,” I muttered in frustration, feeling completely helpless. It was kind of ironic since I was now technically a developed.

“We need to get out of here,” Anton said, looking almost frantic. “We need to get as far away as we can…”

“I saw an RV down the street,” Ed pointed out. “Let’s take that and haul ass.”

“That would be big enough,” Anton agreed hesitantly.

“Paul can hotwire it for us,” Jack said. “Mexicans are good at stealing cars.”

Paul froze and gave Jack a cold glare. “First off,” Paul snapped at him, “I’m half Puerto Rican…not Mexican. Secondly, I’m a motorcycle guy…not a car guy. Show me a bike and I can give you the make, model, and year…but I don’t know shit about cars much less how to hotwire one. And third…you’re a dumbass.”

Tasha reached out and smacked Jack in the back of the head from about ten feet away. “You know Jack, you’ve really got problems…”

“No shit,” Jack grumbled bitterly. “I look like a damn monster…”

“You know Tash,” Michelle told her best friend. “It’s a good thing you didn’t get this green skin to go along with your stretchy ass or everyone would be calling you Gumby.”

“Okay Kermit,” Tasha responded with a forced grin. Then she frowned slightly and asked, “But what’s a gumby?”

We still hadn’t come up with a plan, other than to keep moving and get as far away as we could. But just as we were about to leave the alley, we heard voices. I peeked around the corner and saw a group of three armed men walking down the street, wearing body armor similar to what a SWAT team might wear, but they definitely weren’t cops. Instead, they looked a lot more like guards from the building.

“Don’t make a sound,” I whispered to the others, crouching back so they wouldn’t see me.

I couldn’t see the men either like this, but I could still hear them talking among themselves as they walked back. “Did you see that Doctor Glass?” one of the men was asking. “Totally freaky…”

“Don’t let her hear you talking about her like that,” a second man said.

“I heard she used to be a research scientist for the feds,” the third man told the others. “The rumor is that she was investigating that mutagen stuff for them and accidentally got exposed…”

“No way,” the second corrected him. “I heard she intentionally exposed herself so she could become a developed…”

Once the three men were past, Jack snarled, “I wanna go crush those bastards…”

“Not all of us are bulletproof,” Paul reminded him and Christine. “If they start shooting, some of us might get hit…”

“Let’s avoid fighting if we can,” Anton agreed, not looking all that happy about it either. He glared in the direction those men had gone, obviously tempted to go after them but holding himself back.

We took the opportunity to move again, being very careful to stay in the darkened parts of the sidewalk when possible and within easy access of places to hide. At any other time, I probably would have felt ridiculous for doing something like this, but now, I was too scared not too.”

After we had gone about one more block, a woman’s voice suddenly called out, “There they are, you idiots.”

I snapped around and saw the scary woman who’d been both Dr. McNeal’s bodyguard…and his murderer. She was standing there with a pistol in each hand, pointed right at us. The three guards we’d snuck past a short time ago were to her side while two more armed guards were on the other side.

“Fuck,” Becky exclaimed.

“There’s ten of us and only six of them,” Jack announced smugly.

“Yeah,” Paul reminded him grimly. “But all of them are armed and not all of us are bulletproof.”

“That’s the bitch who hit me,” Ed said, stepping forward with a sneer. “I wanna get even…”

Without a word, the woman fired a single shot…right through Ed’s forehead. The back of his head blew out and he collapsed to the ground like a puppet whose strings had been cut. “Aquatic adaptations if I’m not mistaken,” the woman commented with a cold voice. “Useless…”

“ED,” Jack yelled out furiously as he charged straight at the woman, swinging his thick fist.

The woman easily dodged his attack and jumped out of his range, moving with a speed and agility that wasn’t quite human. She opened fire on Jack but none of her shots got through his armored skin.

Jack abruptly turned and hit one of the armed men with his thick fist while using the claws on his other hand to swipe at a second man. He snarled and charged at them all with a brutal rage that lived up to his chosen name of Berzerk.

Christine ran forward as well, giving me a surge of fear and worry for her, especially as one of the men started shooting her. Fortunately, it did no good and she was able to grab the man and throw him a good distance away.

“I’m getting the fuck out of here,” Michelle exclaimed, jumping and launching herself thirty feet into the air and landing on a ledge of a building across the street.

“Michelle,” Tasha called out, diving for cover behind a car.

Michelle began to jump again, looking as though she was going to try making it to the roof of the next building. As soon as she was in the air, one of the armed men opened fire on her. She fell from the air and landed in the middle of the street, either dead already or too close to matter.

“MICHELLE,” Tasha cried out, tears running down her cheeks.

“Oh shit oh shit oh shit,” I muttered, watching in horror as two of our group had just been killed.

Becky screamed out a series of profanities and shot blasts of water from her eyes, hitting one of the men and sending him flying back. However, two more armed men had arrived and joined the fight. Becky had to dive down behind the same car as Tasha and Rikki, cowering down to avoid being hit from the gunfire.

Anton screamed in rage, jumping out from behind the car he’d been using as cover and belching out a blast of green energy which missed any of the soldiers but melted a large hole in the middle of the street. He snarled and belched out a second blast, hitting a car across the street and melting it as well.

“Damn it,” Paul exclaimed from beside me, dropping the gun he’d taken during our escape. It was the last one of the guns we’d had and was apparently out of ammo.

One of the guards came towards us and Paul gasped in terror, the very same fear I felt. Suddenly, Paul’s hands glowed green…as did the soldier’s gun. An instant later, the gun vanished in a brief flash of green light. The soldier stared down at his empty hands in confusion while Paul had a similar look on his own face.

“My powers,” Paul blurted out, suddenly looking excited. “I can make things disappear…”

“Fuck that,” I growled, feeling much more confident now that the man facing us was no longer armed. “Why didn’t you make him disappear?”

I ran to the now unarmed man, noticing that he was still wearing SWAT type armor. I punched him but he blocked it and punched me back, hitting me a lot harder than I’d been able to hit him. I gasped in pain and he hit me again.

“Stay down kid and you’ll live,” he told me grimly.

Paul stood back, glaring down at his hands and yelling, “Work damn it… How do I make this work?” Then he abruptly changed his mind and just charged at the man I was facing, hitting him.

Right then, I heard Christine scream. I snapped around and saw that the scary woman had dropped her pistols and was now holding a pair of knives. She was standing in front of my sister, smirking and looking quite pleased. It was obvious why since Christine was holding her arm and backing away with a look of pain on her face.

“So you’re not invulnerable after all,” the woman said with a cruel grin. “I guess I’ll just have to cut you to pieces…”

I felt a cold chill of horror run down my spine, and suddenly, I was much more afraid for Christine than myself. The man I was facing hit me again while I was distracted but Paul was immediately on him, keeping him distracted.

“No,” I whispered, having already seen four of my friends murdered and refusing to allow the same thing to happen to my sister. I grimaced, clenching my fists tight and reminding myself that the soldiers couldn’t hit what they couldn’t see. Of course, Christine and Jack had changed even more after they cut loose with their powers and I’d been trying not to do that myself. But after one more look at Christine, I braced myself and muttered, “So be it.”

I flipped the mental switch and everything changed. My vision once again turned to shades of black, white, and silver, with the swirls of color through the air. I looked around, seeing the color coming from the street lights, from the car headlights, and even from the people. And of course, everyone else near me began crying out that they couldn’t see.

For a moment, I stood where I was as everyone stumbled around in the dark. Now that I knew what to look for, I could feel myself absorbing the colors in the air…absorbing the light…and something more. I was certain that I was absorbing more than just the light but I didn’t know what.

“I can’t see,” the soldier exclaimed, reaching for his radio and calling out, “We’ve lost visibility…” Then he froze and tried several more times, nearly screaming, “Can anyone hear me…? Damn… My radio isn’t working.” I saw another soldier going through the same thing.

“So that’s it,” I mused, getting an idea of what I was absorbing besides light.

“What the fuck is going on?” Becky screamed. “I can’t see…”

“It’s Vic,” Paul cried out. “Remember, he told us he caused the blackout while we were breaking out…”

“Yeah, but I didn’t believe him,” Becky responded in obvious annoyance.

“They can’t see us this way,” I called out to everyone, pausing to punch the soldier I’d been fighting in the neck. It was much easier fighting him now that I could see and he couldn’t. He bent over grabbing his throat while I was able to focus on the business at hand. “I’ll show you guys out…”

I grabbed Paul’s hand and led him towards Becky, Tasha, and Rikki, instructing them to hold hands and stay together. I looked around at the others and realized that I could feel the boundary of where my light absorption ended and that Christine and Jack were outside of it.

One of the now blind soldiers looked around with a frantic desperation and then began firing at random. “Get down,” I yelled to everyone, pulling those with me to the ground. “Anton, get down…”

Anton didn’t seem to hear me and suddenly screamed as a shot hit his side. Then his scream changed and a blast of green energy shot out, a blast which was fired in the dark and blind, perhaps even without conscious control. The blast grazed the scary woman, and as Anton collapsed to the ground, so did she. One of her arms was gone almost entirely as was half of one leg.

“Anton,” I cried out in horror and anger, glaring at the blind and armed soldier who was still firing random shots. I grabbed Becky, pointed her towards him and told her, “Shoot his ass.”

“Did I get that fucker?” Becky demanded after she’d sent the soldier flying back.

“Yeah,” I told her, pointing her to another one, “Now again…”

At this point, I flipped the mental switch again and the darkness vanished from around me, letting my friends see again. The first thing that they all saw was Anton, lying on the ground in a pool of blood.

“NO,” Tasha exclaimed, rushing to the side of her boyfriend.

Christine and Jack came towards us with my sister holding her arm and wincing in pain. They both stared down at Anton with haunted looks on their faces. I did the same, then I looked to Ed and Michelle, feeling more sick and angry with each one of them.

“Run,” Anton whispered weakly. “Get…away. Get...safe…”

“Anton,” Tasha cried, holding him tightly as he closed his eyes and went still.

“We have to get out of here,” I said grimly, shaking a little as I did so. “We have to get away while we still can…” Then I looked around at the soldiers who were still present, all disarmed for the moment but that probably wouldn’t last long. “You all run… I’ll make it so they can’t see where…”

“Fucking bastards,” Becky screamed, glaring at the nearest soldier and blasting him with water again. He was already on the ground, injured and helpless but he was still blown back from the force of her fire hose eyes.

“I wanna kill em,” Jack said, glaring angrily at another of the soldiers. “What they did to Ed and Anton and Michelle…”

I agreed with Jack in that I wanted to see them all die for what they’d done. So far, these monsters had kidnapped us, murdered four of us, and still held four others captive…if they were even still alive.

“Don’t,” Christine said hesitantly. “We’re better than that…”

I could see the anger clear in her eyes as well, especially with the way she held her cut arm while glaring at what was left of the scary woman. Somehow, I didn’t think that she’d be very scary now that she’d had an arm and leg melted off. It was no more than she deserved.

“Fuck that,” Tasha yelled.

Rikki grabbed her arm and pleaded, “Come on, let’s just go…”

While we were still trying to decide, one of the soldiers called out on his radio, “They’re getting away…”

“They’ll probably send more of these guys soon,” Paul said nervously.

I nodded at that and then called forth my own power again, summoning the darkness which blinded everyone in range as well as immediately cutting off their radios. I made sure to stand back between my friends and the guards, making sure that the guards couldn’t see a thing until my friends were far enough away, then I slipped down a side alley in order to go catch up with the others.

The seven of us who remained ran as hard as we could again, trying to avoid being seen by any more of those soldiers. However, several times we saw them driving past on motorcycles, circling the area while searching for us. If this kept up, hiding in alleys when they drove past wouldn’t keep working. Sooner or later they’d think to start checking here as well.

My fears seemed to be realized when six of the soldiers showed up and began searching the area near us. A couple of them had also been at the last fight so were responsible for killing Anton, Michelle and Ed. All of us wanted to get even with them and Jack was the most eager. However, we all held back, not wanting another fight like that. Even if we won, it was almost guaranteed that more of us would die.

“They’re around here somewhere,” one of the soldiers told the others. “We got several reports of a group of teenagers being seen around here and someone just said they saw a big monster going down an alley. Spread out and find them.”

“If we come back empty handed again,” another of the soldiers said, “Doctor Glass will have our balls.”

Two of the guards started coming directly towards the alley we were now hiding in so we backed up more and braced ourselves for another fight. If they saw us, I’d blind them all while Jack and Christine charged forward swinging. However, we all hoped that it didn’t come to that. I shuddered, remembering Anton laying on the ground and not wanting that for myself or anyone else.

Suddenly, a girl’s voice called out, “Hey, are you guys with the police? Thank God… I just saw a monster…”

I peeked around the corner and saw that the speaker was wearing a gray hoodie with the hood up so I couldn’t get a look at her face. All six of the soldiers had immediately surrounded her, though none of them pointed their weapons at her. Still, from their body language, I could tell that they wouldn’t hesitate to do that if she turned out to be one of us.

“He ran that way,” she exclaimed, pointing further down the street, well away from where we were. “And he had a group of kids with him… You’d better go catch the monster before he hurts someone…”

“You hear that,” Jack whispered to Paul. “She’s calling you a monster…”

“Shut the fuck up,” Becky quietly snapped at him. “I’m trying to hear…”

Just a few seconds later, all six of the soldiers turned and hurried away in the direction that they’d been pointed. Once they were out of sight, the newcomer turned and looked directly at us and called out, “You guys can come out now. They’re gone.”

Christine stepped out of the alley first and then the rest of us slowly came out. Jack came last, obviously afraid of scaring the girl with his threatening new appearance. However, she made no moves and didn’t seem the least bit threatened or by surprised by him. Still, it was hard to read her expression since she was lit only by the street lights and her hood kept her face partly shadowed.

“Um…thank you,” Paul said.

“It was my pleasure,” the girl responded, staring straight at Christine with a strange expression. After several seconds, she stared straight at me.

“Hey,” I greeted her, suddenly feeling extremely self-conscious of my appearance. While we’d been running around, it had been easy to forget that I looked more like a girl now than a boy…or that I would probably look even more so in a short time. “I’m Vic…”

“Something tells me that you and I have a lot in common,” she responded, pulling back her hood and revealing that she was about my age. However, her hair was all pink and her eyes, which remained locked on me with a curious expression, were a strange violet color. Then she held out her hand and said, “Hi…I’m Joselyn.”

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

I let out a sigh of relief, thankful that I was finally safe. Safe might not be completely accurate but this was probably the safest I’d been since the moment I saw that green fog.

It had only been half an hour since we’d met Joselyn, and in that time, the odd pink haired girl had improved our situation quite a bit. First, she’d diverted the soldiers away from us and then she pointed out that we needed to get off the street and find a place to hide. I would have had a nice sarcastic comment about pointing out the obvious, but she’d immediately followed it up by saying that she knew of the perfect place.

A minute later, we’d gone around the corner and were standing in front of a clothing store that was closed for the night and locked up. There was a ‘GOING OUT OF BUSINESS’ sign above the door. A smaller note gave the final date where the store would be closing its doors for good…a date that was two days ago.

“I noticed this place while walking past,” Joselyn told us with a faint smile. “I had a feeling it might be useful…”

With that, she went to the lock on the side of the door, one of those 10 digit key pads. She stared at it for a few seconds and then began punching numbers as though she knew exactly what the combo was. To my surprise, there was a clicking sound and the door opened. None of us wasted any time before going in.

“How the fuck did you know the combo?” Becky demanded of Joselyn once we were inside the store. Becky glared at her suspiciously.

“Feminine intuition,” Joselyn responded with a faint smile, reaching to the side and turning on some lights. Since the store windows had heavy curtains covering them from the inside, probably placed there when the store was closed, no one would be able to see the light from outside. “Maybe you guys will find something you can use…”

I gave Joselyn a suspicious look…and a somewhat appreciative one since she was pretty nice looking, then I looked around the store. It was mostly empty racks but there were still some clothes that had been left behind. These were probably the things that no one had wanted to buy, even on sale.

“There’s a bathroom in back,” Rikki blurted out, pointing to the restroom sign with a look of relief. She rushed off to take care of her business while most of the others began following.

“Breaking and entering,” Paul said with a sigh. “And now stealing clothes. I know we don’t have much choice, but I still don’t like it.”

“Yeah, my dad won’t be happy about this either,” Joselyn admitted. “But I have an uncle who once told me sometimes you have to break the rules if you want to solve a problem. You just have to make sure to minimize the damage.” Then she grinned and added, “I have some emergency funds on me. Just have everyone leave the tags of whatever they take on the counter and I can leave a couple hundred behind. In fact, these are all the leftover clothes they couldn’t sell so they’ll come out way ahead…”

I nodded faintly before turning and walking deeper into the store. I didn’t really care about breaking into this place or even stealing these leftover clothes. Maybe that meant I really was the hooligan that my old neighbor Mr. Wilson once accused me of being. The truth was, that didn’t even rate on my top ten list of things to be worried about.

One of the things I was concerned with at the moment was the odd way my body felt. The flu symptoms had mostly cleared, but ever since I’d cut loose with my powers again, I’d felt a faint tingling. It was almost as though I could actually feel my body changing more, but perhaps some of that was my imagination giving me what I expected.

I’d been fully aware of how odd my body felt since yesterday but that feeling had only grown stronger as I continued to change. For the last couple hours, everything had been so chaotic that I hadn’t even had a chance to think about it much. However, I couldn’t feel thankful for that distraction, not after what it cost.

With that, I looked to Tasha who was curled up in a corner, sobbing to herself. She’d lost her boyfriend and best friend in only a matter of minutes. Seeing Anton and Michelle die like that was hard enough on me so I couldn’t imagine how much worse it was for her. I shuddered, wishing I could do something to help her…to help all of us. Sadly, I was well aware that this was well beyond my power.

Then I looked at the others, or at least those I could see. Becky was digging through the clothes with tears running down her cheeks, the same tears that she’d had since her powers had developed. However, I had a feeling that these tears weren’t just a side effect of her new power and were actually real.

I heard a loud crashing from the back, right before Jack stomped out of the employees only door, obviously pissed. He snarled and yelled, “I look like a god monster.” Then he punched a wall, putting a nice hole through it with his fist. Somehow, I didn’t think that Joselyn’s emergency funds would cover the damages he could cause. After a minute, Rikki went over to calm him down.

“Dude,” I muttered with a shake of my head. “This really sucks.”

For a moment, I stared at all the clothes, wondering if I should get some new ones while I was here. It would certainly be nice to get out of this dirty jumpsuit…not to mention get something that fit. However, I had a hard time feeling motivated about that at the moment.

I glanced back to Joselyn, noticing that she was sitting on top of the front counter and that she was looking right at me. She quickly looked away, acting as though I hadn’t caught her staring. I scowled in annoyance, knowing that she must think that I was some kind of freak. At the same time, I couldn’t help wondering why she was choosing to stare at me rather than Jack. His changes were a LOT more noticeable.

With another shake of my head as well as a thought of how odd it felt having my hair tickle my shoulder, I started for the bathroom to do my own business. Christine came out and nearly ran into me. We both stopped and stared at each other with me marveling at the strangeness of her now being six inches taller than me…and looking very little like her old self. If anything, she looked more like me than I did now.

“It’s official,” Christine told me quietly, looking down in shame. “I might as well call myself Chris now.”

“I…I’m sorry,” I whispered back, not knowing what else I could possibly say, especially since I was in the same situation. Christine telling me that she was now completely male only made me even more afraid than I already was but I tried not to show it. Instead, I gave her a weak smile and gestured to the bathroom. “Wish me luck.”

Christine gave me her own forced smile back. “Good luck,” she told me.

I stepped into the bathroom and froze, my heart racing with fear. It was a small bathroom, the kind that was gender neutral and not very large. There was also a hole in the wall, just the right size for Jack’s fist. I was just thankful that he’d taken his anger out on the wall rather than on the toilet and sink.

Then I turned my attention to the sink, or more accurately, to the mirror above the sink. It was a dingy mirror with a crack through the bottom left hand corner. It was also the first mirror that I’d seen since the gray fog…and of course, the first that I’d seen since my changes.

I stared at my reflection in silence, feeling a lump in my throat as I did so. The others had all told me that I was looking more and more like a girl, but a part of me hadn’t really believed them. In the back of my mind, I’d thought that they were probably exaggerating. Now, I could no longer think that. There was no longer any doubt that I did indeed look like a girl. In fact, I looked like Christine which should be no surprise since we were twins. However, my hair was now longer than hers and was pure black. Another difference that I noticed was that her eyes had been the same brown that mine were…but mine had now changed color. My eyes were now black, something that no one had mentioned to me.

“Holy shit,” I whispered in disbelief.

A thought suddenly occurred to me and I wondered what my old friend Miles would think if he saw me like this. He’d had a bit of a crush on Christine before we moved away but he’d never had the balls to make a move on her. I wondered if he’d try hitting on me. Then again, if Miles saw me like this, I’d be completely and totally humiliated and would never be able to live it down. Especially not after the way I used to tease him about being short.

“Miles would be laughing his ass off,” I muttered with a sigh.

Once I double checked that the door was locked, I removed my jumpsuit so I could get a better look at myself. My body had definitely changed a bit more since the last time I’d looked it over, before our escape from the barracks. It had already been pretty girly then but had definitely become even more so.

My new breasts had been about a B cup before, but now I seemed to have grown to a large C or even a D. I wasn’t expert enough on girl cup sizes to be certain and this was only a guess. What I did know was that I was definitely larger than Christine had been, and they jiggled uncomfortably when I moved around too fast.

“I’ve got my own rack,” I said with a shake of my head. “Not cool.”

However, when I felt them up and pinched my now larger nipples, I felt a strange stirring of pleasure that immediately caught my attention. Still, this was way too weird.

Then I turned my attention to what was between my legs, or more specifically, to what no longer was. Previously, my balls had pulled up inside me and vanished entirely and my dick had turned into nothing more than a very tiny stub. Now, even that was gone.

My junk had definitely changed into something else entirely, something that was a bit of a slit with folds. However, the slit wasn’t fully open yet. It was clear that I was extremely close to finishing my changes but I wasn’t quite there yet. I knew that I didn’t have much longer at all before they would be finished.

“Not much longer before it becomes official,” I told myself quietly, feeling a little nauseous at the idea. “Not much longer before I finish turning into a girl.”

I already knew that I was so close that it didn’t really make much difference, but that tiny bit still mattered to me for some reason. Until my genitals finished changing, I wasn’t officially a girl. That meant I could at least pretend that I was still a guy.

When I came out of the bathroom a short time later, I looked around the store and saw that Joselyn was no longer up front, though I didn’t see her anywhere else either. Becky, Paul, and Rikki had all changed clothes while Tasha, Jack, and Christine seemed to be making no moves to do so. However, Rikki was holding up an oversized pair of sweat pants for Jack. They were probably about the only thing left in this store that would actually fit him.

I went to where Christine was sitting by herself up against a wall and silently sat down beside her. Without a word, I reached out and held her hand, much the way we used to do so when we were both kids. It had been a long time since we’d comforted each other like this but it also seemed appropriate since we both needed it.

“I don’t think I’m official yet,” I finally said after a couple minutes. I gulped at that and quietly added, “But it won’t be long.”

“I can’t believe this is really happening,” Christine told me, wiping tears from her cheek. “It’s like a nightmare…”

“I know,” I agreed, looking at her male body and then down at my female one. “Or a bad joke.”

With that, the two of us held each other, each crying a bit though I tried without much success to hold my own tears back. It was strange to be holding a guy like this, but I knew that inside it was still the same old Christine and that made it all right.

After half an hour, Joselyn returned with her arms full of fast food bags and called out, “I got everyone something to eat. I figured you all must be hungry.” It wasn’t until then that I realized I was.

“Thanks,” Paul called out, eagerly grabbing at the food. “There isn’t anything to eat in the break room back there except for a box of stale crackers…”

I stared at Joselyn, once again wondering who she was and why she kept helping us. It seemed just a little too convenient that she just happened to show up when we needed her, that she just happened to have the code for the door on this place, and that she just happened to have enough emergency money on hand to take care of our needs. And then there was the odd way she kept looking at both Christine and me.

“We appreciate everything you’re doing for us,” Paul told Joselyn, saying exactly what I and probably all the others were thinking. “But why are you helping us?”

“Because you need it,” Joselyn responded with a wry smile. “My dad always says that if you have the power to help someone, then you also have the responsibility of doing so. In fact, you could say it’s sort of a family motto.” Then she paused for a moment before adding, “Besides…I’m curious.”

While we all ate, I watched Rikki as she summoned one of her weird windows in the air and began spying on her own family. After several minutes, she shut it off and began crying, broken up when she saw how worried they were about her.

“Look at this,” Paul said, gesturing to his empty food wrappers and they all glowed green and vanished. “I can disintegrate things…”

“I don’t think so,” Joselyn mused, watching him curiously. “I think it’s something else…”

“Why would you think that?” Paul asked her with a skeptical look.

“Intuition,” Joselyn responded after a moment. “My intuition is almost never wrong.”

Paul scowled and turned and gestured to an empty clothes rack. His hands glowed green and then the rack did as well before vanishing. “See,” he said smugly. “One second it’s there, the next it isn’t. I disintegrated it.”

“Well, you made it vanish,” Joselyn pointed out. “But we don’t know where to. Why don’t you humor me for a moment and concentrate on sending something over there…” She pointed to the far side of the store.

Paul shrugged and gestured to another clothing rack. It vanished, but an instant later, there was a flash of green light on the far side of the store and the rack was suddenly there instead of where it had been. Paul gasped in surprise.

“Teleportation,” Joselyn announced with a smug look.

“I’ll be damned,” Paul muttered, trying his power out on some more items, making them disappear and then reappear elsewhere in the store. “I wonder where I sent the other stuff I made vanish…”

“You don’t seem very surprised that we’re developed,” I told Joselyn.

“Who isn’t?” Joselyn responded with a shrug, holding out her hand which then had several pink glowing bubbles appear above the palm. We all gasped in surprise, especially when the bubbles sort of merged together and formed into the shape of a cube. Then it vanished and she lowered her hand.

“You’re developed,” Jack blurted out.

“Way to go Captain Obvious,” I told him with a grin.

“Who are you?” Christine demanded of the pink haired girl. “And how do you know about us?”

Joselyn suddenly looked nervous and uncomfortable under Christine’s gaze. Of course, Christine was a lot more intimidating now than she used to be, especially with her powers.

“One of my powers is a sort of sixth sense,” Joselyn answered hesitantly. “Personally, I suspect that it’s a subconscious telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychometry, but the effect is that I instinctively know things that I shouldn’t.” She paused for a moment and shrugged self-consciously. “I sort of knew you guys were in trouble and needed my help.”

“We do appreciate it,” I told Joselyn with a weak smile. “You saved our asses. But you have to admit, we have a good reason to be careful.”

“Yeah,” Christine added. “We still don’t know anything about you.”

Joselyn stared at her for a moment before letting out a sigh. “All right,” she said reluctantly. “I’ll tell you what I can. I’m a third generation developed on my dad’s side…second generation on my mom’s.”

“Wow,” Rikki said, staring at Joselyn with even more interest.

“My entire family is developed,” Joselyn said with a faint smile. “And so are most of our friends. I guess, I know more people who are developed than I do who aren’t.”

“That explains why you weren’t surprised about our powers,” I said, glancing to Jack. “Or all that impressed.”

“I’d ask my dad to help you guys,” Joselyn said with a sigh, “but unfortunately, most of my family are off on…business. The only ones left at home are my mom and little sister…and I don’t want to get them involved. I have an uncle who might be able to help…but I have a feeling that things would get too messy.”

“Those soldiers they have already made things messy,” I said bitterly. “At least we don’t have to worry about that scary chick who was giving them orders…”

“She’s called the Bitch,” Joselyn offered with a scowl. “She’s a mercenary and her name is accurate in every way possible.”

“So,” I responded with a weak smile, “You’re saying she’s a female dog.”

“Actually…yes,” Joselyn responded with a forced smile. She looked at me and said, “She’s a werewolf…and she gets a LOT scarier when she changes.” She shuddered slightly. “I know she got hurt pretty bad…but she’ll probably be good as new in just a couple days. Then you’ll really have to worry about her.”

“And your powers tell you all that about her?” Christine asked in surprise.

Joselyn shook her head. “No. I’ve…met her before.” She shuddered again and had a look that suggested she didn’t want to talk about it any further.

Since that conversation seemed to be over, I looked to Christine and said, “I guess we should probably look for new clothes.” I tugged at my oversized jumpsuit and sighed. “I need something that fits better if nothing else.”

“I never thought I’d see the day when you would suggest clothes shopping,” Christine teased me with a weak smile. “I guess you’re already acting more like a girl.”

“Oh, bite me,” I responded as I turned and walked towards the clothes that were all sitting out. Christine just laughed, though it was a bit of a bitter laugh, and followed close behind. Then I froze, suddenly realizing that I could no longer feel the faint tingle through my body that I’d taken as an indication that I was changing. I gulped, feeling a cold weight in my gut as I realized what that meant. “It’s official.”

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

I sat on the ground with my eyes closed, slowly breathing in and out. I could feel my breasts rising and falling a bit with each breath and it freaked me out a bit. Whether I liked it or not, I was now a girl with all the parts required. I had the breasts and the fully formed vagina between my legs. I just didn’t know how I’d ever get used to this.

It had been a difficult night with all of us in this clothing store and without any beds. We’d all slept on the floor though a couple of us had made do by using some of the clothes as padding. I hadn’t slept all that well, but neither had anyone else.

Not only did we have the uncomfortable sleeping accommodations, but then there was everything else. Some of us had been drastically changed and that was enough to keep us from falling asleep easily, and then there was also the fact that Dr. Glass and her people were still out there looking for us.

I opened my eyes and got to my feet, stretching as I did so. That made the changes in my body all the more noticeable. Then I looked around to see what everyone else was up to.

All of us were now dressed in the new clothes. I was wearing a black pair of pants and a black shirt. These were about the only clothes available that would fit me comfortably and that weren’t pink. Of course, Christine said that I’d need a bra too, and though I reluctantly agreed that she was right, that wasn’t among the clothes left behind when the store closed.

Jack was wearing just a pair of large sweat pants which were the only things that would fit him. The jump suit that he’d been wearing previously had torn apart at the seams when he grew, and then there were the bullet holes.

At the moment, Rikki was using her powers to check in on her family again while Tasha practiced with her own powers. She’d been trying to distract herself from the loss of Michelle and Anton by focusing on this instead. I understood completely since I’d been doing the same thing.

For most of the morning, I’d been practicing with my own powers, trying to get a better idea of what it was that I could now do. I could stretch the area where I absorbed light out far enough to fill most of the store, or I could pull it in much closer.

With that, I turned my powers on but pulled the aura as close to my body as I could so that I was absorbing just the light that came close to my skin. I had my powers on but wasn’t actually blinding anyone else. I didn’t see how this could be of any use, but it was kind of neat to be able to do it.

“Wow, you look kind of scary,” Paul said, watching me with a strange look.

“What do you mean?” I asked him curiously.

“Your entire body is pitch black,” Paul exclaimed. “I mean, you look like a living shadow or something...or maybe just like you’re wearing a suit of black velvet that covers your entire body.”

“He’s right,” Christine told me. “It is a neat effect.”

I turned off my power and dropped the effect. “Don’t see it doing much good though,” I admitted.

“Seems like you’re getting a pretty good idea of what you can do,” Paul said with a weak smile. “And it’s kind of cool that you can make it so you’re the only one who can see… I mean, it’s the whole thing about how in the kingdom of the blind, the one eyed man is king.”

“I guess,” I admitted, though I was still jealous of Christine for her powers. After all, she was bulletproof and super strong. My powers seemed kind of wimpy compared to that. “Your powers are kind of cool too…”

Paul looked a little skeptical about that. He’d been practicing with his own powers this morning, teleporting small objects around the store. However, he’d found one limit on his powers that annoyed him.

“I just wish I could teleport myself,” Paul said with a sigh. “I mean, what good is teleporting if I can’t even use it to travel around…”

“That might be for the best,” Joselyn said as she came up and joined our conversation. “Teleporting yourself can be really dangerous…”

“How can teleporting be dangerous?” I asked in surprise.

Joselyn shrugged. “What happens when you teleport into a place where something else is already there…like into a wall? My uncle lost his legs that way.” She shuddered slightly and added, “It can get pretty messy.”

“Shit,” Paul gasped in surprise.

“It seems to me that you’re a projective teleporter,” Joselyn mused. “You’re able to teleport other things but not yourself. That means you can do things that most other teleporters can’t. Imagine, teleporting a rock to where someone else is already standing…”

“I guess that’s kind of cool,” Paul mused. “Gross…but cool.”

A few seconds later, Paul wandered off to experiment with his powers a little more. Christine looked down at me for a moment, which was a strange experience for me since I’d always been taller than her before, then she went to go talk to Becky.

“I know,” Joselyn said carefully once we were standing by ourselves. She looked embarrassed as she continued, “I know it isn’t easy…”

I knew that she was referring to my gender change and that she was trying to be comforting, but I wasn’t exactly in a mood to be comforted…especially by someone I barely even knew. I snorted and asked, “What would you know about it?”

Joselyn looked away from me and stared across the store for a moment before quietly answering. “I know what it’s like going to take a piss and reaching down to find your junk missing and having to take a moment before you remember why.” I was a little startled by that answer but she kept going, still not looking at me. “I know what it’s like, feeling your breasts jiggle around when you move, reminding you that they’re there when they shouldn’t be.”

“What?” I asked Joselyn, staring at her in surprise.

Joselyn finally looked at me again, smiling faintly as she did so. “You haven’t even been a girl long enough to have your period, which I can assure you is pretty gross and shocking. And you haven’t really seen that people will treat you differently now…even those who know who you really are inside. They’ll slowly start thinking of you as girl since it’s easier for them and a lot more simple. You’ll start to relate more to the girl on TV and to those around you and eventually, you’ll find that you’re even thinking of yourself as female more often than as male.”

I could only stare at Joselyn confusion as I asked, “How…?”

“Until fairly recently,” she responded self-consciously, now looking away from me again. “My name was Joshua.” I gasped at that and she continued, “When my powers developed, they came with an overnight sex change.” Then she gave me a wry grin and added, “I told you that we had a lot in common…”

“You were a guy too?” I blurted out, even more shocked than before.

Joselyn nodded and told me, “Yeah…but can you please not yell it out. I mean, it is kind of embarrassing. It’s a lot easier dealing with people who just think of me as a girl rather than dealing with all the odd looks I get when they find out I used to be a guy.”

There was a long minute where neither Joselyn or I spoke. We just stood there in silence while I absorbed what she’d told me. I couldn’t help but feeling strangely relieved, comforted by the knowledge that I wasn’t the only one who’d gone through this. Of course, Christine was going through the whole sex change too, but it wasn’t quite the same. Joselyn had actually turned from a guy to a girl…just like me. She knew EXACTLY what I was going through.

“What…what can I expect?” I asked her cautiously.

Joselyn and I found a spot in the corner where we could sit down and have a little privacy, or at least as much as was possible in the circumstances. She told me a little of what she’d gone through and what I could expect. I listened intently, feeling a mixture of curiosity and worry.

“The hardest part isn’t really that your body changed,” Joselyn told me after a bit. “I mean, you can get used to that fairly quick. The worst part is that your self-identity gets destroyed and you have to figure out who you are all over again. And of course, you have to get your friends and family to accept it.”

“What do you mean?” I asked. “I’m still the same Vic inside…”

“Maybe for now,” Joselyn responded with a shrug. “But remember, you have different hormones and brain chemistry now. People are going to be treating you differently now and you’re going to be having different experiences. That kind of stuff can really change you and how you see yourself. One of the things that hit me the most was when I realized that I suddenly liked guys instead of girl…”

“You mean I’m gonna start liking guys?” I gasped in horror.

Joselyn just shrugged. “I have no idea. Just because I did, that doesn’t mean you will too.”

“I hope not,” I told her with a shudder. I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to be interested in guys.

“People who knew you before won’t really know how to act around you,” Joselyn told me with a sigh. “You’ll make them uncomfortable. My family is used to weird shit and even a few of them have a hard time. Imagine, a guy who was a great buddy starts hitting on you…”

“At least I don’t have to worry about that with Paul,” I joked. “He’s even less likely to hit on me.”

However, I could see the point that Joselyn was trying to make. I’d seen guys who were a lot of fun to hang around but who were always patronizing to girls or hit on them outrageously. I shuddered, not wanting someone who was a friend to start treating me like that.

“Girls can be even worse,” Joselyn continue. “A girl who used to be nice and have a crush on you might suddenly become a total bitch, getting jealous and seeing you as some kind of rival even when you didn’t do anything. And a girl who used to ignore you might suddenly act like you’re her best friend.” Joselyn shook her head and grinned. “I might be a girl now, but they still don’t always make sense to me. I still think that half of them are just plain crazy.” I just laughed at that.

“I have a suggestion,” Joselyn said, giving me a serious look. “You won’t like it, but it might make things a little easier.” At my curious look, she said, “Start calling yourself Vickie…use a girl name.”

I immediately got defensive at that. It was like Joselyn was telling me to just give up on who I was and accept what was happening to me without a fight. That went against every instinct.

“I know you want to hold onto your name and your old identity as tightly as you can,” she explained with a sigh. “But whether you like it or not, you will be changing inside too. This will just help make things easier.” She paused to give me a wry smile. “When you look like a girl but have a boy name, it sends mixed messages and confuses people. They don’t like being confused and can get hostile. It makes it easier when dealing with other people and it can help you accept that you really are a girl now and that’s how other people see you.”

“I don’t think so,” I responded defiantly. “This might still wear off or maybe they’ll find a cure…”

Joselyn just gave me a sad look before quietly saying, “I’m pretty certain that this is permanent…”

“Just because it is for you, that doesn’t mean it is for me too,” I snapped at her, getting a little angry.

Joselyn held up a hand and gave me a weak smile. “Maybe… But if you do go back, you could always start calling yourself Vic again. Besides, this was just a suggestion to make things easier. Take it or not. It’s your choice.”

I nodded, suddenly feeling guilty for getting angry at Joselyn like that. It wasn’t her fault that I was stuck like this and she was only trying to help. Still, I didn’t like the idea of being like this permanently and she had seemed pretty sure that I’d never go back. Considering what she’d told us about her psychic powers, that actually scared me a little.

With that, Joselyn apparently decided that our conversation was over because she got up, gave me a nod and an encouraging smile before leaving. I just shook my head, realizing that she’d given me a lot to think about and not all of it was good. Until our conversation, I hadn’t really given much thought to this being permanent or what it would mean for the rest of my life.

A couple minutes later, Joselyn loudly called out, “Everyone, we should probably get going soon…”

“Why the fuck would we do that?” Beck demanded, whipping tears from her cheeks. “We’re safe here…”

“But not for much longer,” Joselyn pointed out grimly. “I told you all about the Bitch… Well, once she heals up, she’ll be able to track you all straight to this place. She has a nose like a bloodhound and will be able to smell you. We want to get out of here well before then…preferably by car so she won’t be able to track us.”

It only took Joselyn a couple minutes to convince everyone of the need to move to a safer place. After that, everyone quickly grabbed up anything they could find that might be useful, though admittedly, there was very little of that beyond the clothes we’d already taken.

When I stepped out the door of the clothing store, I immediately felt open and exposed again. I had a sudden fear that some of Dr. Glass’ soldiers would be standing right outside waiting for us, or that they might be behind any corner. And unfortunately, I knew that this could very well be the case, especially with the way we drew attention…or at least with the way Jack drew attention.

“We need a way to get out of here,” Christine pointed out grimly. “Trying to get anywhere on foot just leaves us right back where we started from.”

“I hate this fucking shit,” Becky mumbled. “If God meant us to walk, he wouldn’t have invented cars…”

“I know,” Joselyn said, looking around with a strange look of concentration on her face. “I’m trying to find something that can help…”

Jack stomped up next to her and tried giving her an intimidating look. “I don’t remember voting you in as our leader…”

“I’m not leading anybody,” she responded. “But I am good at finding what I need. Like that…” She stopped and pointed down the street. “This way…”

A minute later, we were standing in front of a small moving truck, the kind that looks like it had once belonged to U-Haul but was now painted over in a nondescript yellow. Joselyn had led us right to the truck and announced that this was our transportation.

“We can’t just steal a truck,” Christine protested while Paul nodded agreement.

“Would you rather wait for them to find us again?” I asked Christine with a snort.

“The owners are a couple of burglars who are ripping off an apartment upstairs,” Joselyn said, pointing to the building next to us. “They can’t very well get away with all the stuff if they don’t have a truck, can they?” She grinned evilly and added, “By taking this truck, we’re actually helping to stop a crime.”

“You can’t argue with that logic,” I responded wryly.

Christine stared at Joselyn in surprise then demanded, “If you know that there’s a robbery going on, we should go stop it…” Joselyn suddenly looked a little nervous under her glare.

“And let the cops know where we are?” I pointed out, seeing exactly what Joselyn had been thinking. “They’d tell Doctor Glass and those goons would be on us all over again…”

“I don’t like it either,” Joselyn admitted. “But…” She paused and looked at Christine’s disapproving expression. “All right. I’ll go stop the burglary and keep you guys from being seen. I’ll go get the keys while I’m at it.”

“I’ll go with you,” I said in an impulse.

“Me too,” Christine added.

However, Joselyn just shook her head. “I can take Vicki, but the rest of you might be too much.”

I tensed as she used the feminine version of my name but didn’t correct her. At least I didn’t correct her this time since we had more important things to focus on, but I was definitely going to remind her that I still wanted to be called Vic. After all, just because I’d grown a pair of tits, that didn’t mean I was someone else.

Joselyn went inside the building while I followed her, amazed that she seemed to know exactly where she was going, the same way she knew exactly where to find the truck. A minute later, we were outside an apartment where the door had been busted in. I could hear some men moving around and talking inside.

“This jerk has all the great toys,” one of the men was saying with a chuckle. “He’s gonna be in for a big surprise when he gets home…”

“I bet this thing is worth a hundred at least,” the second man said.

I took a deep breath and then turned on my power and stepped inside the apartment. There were two men in there, both of them shocked to suddenly be blind. One of them dropped a laptop he was holding while the other one looked around in confusion. I just grinned at the thought that I could see them but they couldn’t see me. It suddenly gave me a huge rush at having that kind of advantage.

“What the hell?” one of the men exclaimed. “I can’t see a damn thing…”

“Naughty naughty,” I said, moving to the side.

“Who’s there?” the second man demanded, “Turn the lights back on so I can see ya.”

“I don’t think so,” I responded, suddenly punching one man and then jumping back. I then went and pushed the second one, knocking him to the floor. Then I laughed in delight. “This is kind of fun.”

“Maybe so,” Joselyn told me, grinning as she said it and not appearing at all bothered back the lack of light. “But I can end this a little easier if you just turn off your power.”

I scowled but pulled my power back. I didn’t want these guys to see my face, especially after the way I’d jumped them, so I pulled my power back to my skin so that I was the only one caught in it, giving me that living shadow appearance again. I suddenly understood why so many of those super heroes wore masks and kept their real identities secret.

“Very impressive looking,” Joselyn told me with an amused look. “That whole black velvet thing is a good look for you. You might want to keep it if you ever go into the business…”

“She’s just a kid,” one of the burglars exclaimed, staring at Joselyn in surprise. Then they both looked at me a little more nervously. I guess this darkened aura thing is kind of spooky.

One of the burglars looked like he was about to jump Joselyn, but she calmly ordered, “Don’t move. Now give me the keys to your truck…” I was surprised when the man handed over his keys without any argument.

“I don’t know who you think you are,” the other burglar snarled, though he made no moves at all towards either Joselyn or me.

“You will both forget that you ever saw either of us,” Joselyn instructed them. “And you will sit on the floor and wait until the person who lives here comes home. When they do, you will ask them to call the police on you…”

With that, both men sat down on the floor without argument while I stared in surprise. Joselyn then turned and walked back out the door while I followed close behind.

“What the hell was that?” I demanded as we walked away.

“The Jedi mind trick,” Joselyn responded smugly. “That’s how I got those goons to go the other direction so easily last night… It only works on guys though.” Then she paused for a moment and mused, “I wonder how it would work on you or Christine…”

When we reached the truck, the others were there waiting for us, though they were arguing over who would drive and who got shotgun. With the limited room, everyone else would be riding in the back where we’d have no view and very uncomfortable seating.

“This will get us away from here for now,” Joselyn told the others as she held up the key. “Unfortunately, most of the people I know who can help are out of contact. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find someone.”

“I’ll drive,” Becky exclaimed, snatching the keys out of Joselyn’s hands.

“Shotgun,” Christine added a moment later. Then Christine paused and looked around, suddenly looking very self-conscious. “Um…I would appreciate it if everyone just called me Chris now…” She gestured down at herself in obvious embarrassment and added, “I don’t look much like a Christine anymore.”

I stared Christine for a moment and let out a sigh, knowing that this would create more pressure for me to start calling myself Vicki. I frowned slightly, wondering if she and Joselyn had been talking.

A minute later, I climbed into the back of the truck with everyone else and made myself as comfortable as possible on the metal floor. Fortunately, there was actually a small light on the ceiling so we weren’t left sitting in the dark.

“I just hope the cops don’t pull us over,” Tasha said nervously while I nodded agreement. If they did and happened to look in the back of the truck, then we were all in deep to trouble.

“No problem,” Joselyn responded with a grin. “If they do, I’ll just say…” She paused to wave her hand through the air in an almost mystical gesture. “These are not the teens you are looking for.”

I remembered the way she’d handled the muggers with her Jedi mind trick and burst out laughing. The others merely thought she was joking and were giving me an odd look which only made this even funnier.

“I almost wish some cops would pull us over just so I can see that,” I told Joselyn. For a moment, the two of us just sat there, grinning at each other and I couldn’t help but thinking that she would be fun to hang out with.

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

Riding in the back of a moving truck made for a very long, cold, and uncomfortable ride. We stopped numerous times to stretch our legs and change drivers, but we had to be careful so that no one saw Jack. The rest of us might have drawn attention, being a group of unsupervised teenagers, but Jack was the one who stood out the most and we wanted to avoid that kind of attention.

Joselyn had a pink backpack that she was using something like a purse and had pulled out a bunch of power bars for us to have as snacks while we traveled. A minute ago, she pulled out a cell phone which she was currently using to call home while we had stopped for a break.

“Mom, I’m fine,” Joselyn protested. “I know I didn’t tell you where I was going and I have a good reason. No, I’m not with uncle Edward...I’m with some friends who are in serious trouble… No, I’m not telling you where I am and I don’t need you to come get me. I have a feeling that I shouldn’t get you or most other adults involved… Yes, one of THOSE feelings… In case you forgot, I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself…” Then Joselyn rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated sigh.

“Sounds familiar,” I commented with a chuckle. Joselyn’s reactions while talking to her mom were ones that I think were shared by just about every teenager.

Joselyn gave me a look that was almost pleading for help before she said into the phone, “You remember that dream I told you about a couple weeks ago? Yeah, THAT dream… This is kind of related to that.” She scowled and talked for another minute but the tone of the conversation seemed to have changed. “I called because I didn’t want you to worry and because there is something you can do to help. I need someone trustworthy who can examine my friends and prove that they’re safe and sane. No…not Doctor Power. I was thinking of Genius. My friends would probably trust her a little more and she’s less likely to overreact. I don’t know her well enough to find her, so if you could get me her contact information… Thanks mom…I appreciate it. Yes, I’ll be safe. I love you too…”

I stared at Joselyn in amazement as she hung up, a little surprised by what she’d just said. I had absolutely no idea who this Genius person was, but I had heard of Dr. Power. Just about everyone had heard of Dr. Power since he was one of the most famous super heroes on the planet.

“You know Doctor Power?” Tasha asked in near awe.

“No,” Joselyn admitted with a weak smile. “But my parents do.” Then before we could ask any more questions, she suggested, “Let’s stop here for the night.”

“Sounds good to me,” Jack said. “I’m sick and tired of staying in that damn truck when the rest of you get to go out…”

“I’m sorry about that,” Christine told him sympathetically. “But you know how much attention you draw now…”

“You don’t need to remind me,” Jack responded bitterly. “I can’t ever forget.”

“There’s a motel across the street,” Joselyn said. “I’ll go see if they have room…”

Joselyn took off and came back a couple minutes later, telling us that she found a room we could use for the night. I had a feeling that they wouldn’t be likely to rent a room to some pink haired girl and that she’d used a little of her power to get it for us. However, I certainly wasn’t going to complain about having a place outside the truck.

A short time later, we were settled into the room, what would normally have been considered a large room with two beds. However, as there were eight of us, it was small and very cramped. Even if we shared the beds, half of us would still be sleeping on the floor. But as I reminded myself, at least it gave us a place to get showered.

“This was the only room they had available,” Joselyn apologized.

“I don’t need a bed,” Jack said, dropping down on the floor and spreading out. “Since I can’t exactly go for a walk, just wake me when it’s time to go.”

Rikki sat down on the edge of one of the beds and brought up one of her glowing disks and began checking in on her family again. I kind of wished I could do the same thing, but when Christine and I had asked her to do so for us, she hadn’t been able to. It seemed that Rikki could only see places where she’d been or people that she knew. Apparently, seeing Dr. Glass in one of the disks had been enough to let her look at her again, not that we’d gotten anything else useful while doing so.

“I’ve got dibs on the shower,” Paul exclaimed, head towards the bathroom while Tasha rushed to beat him to it.

“I’m gonna go for a walk,” Christine said. “I need to clear my head.”

“I’ll go with you…Chris,” Becky told her.

It was a little strange hearing Christine being addressed as Chris, but certainly no stranger than seeing her as a boy. Everyone had taken to calling her by that name like she’d asked, but unfortunately, they all seemed to assume that I was going by Vicki now as well. I’d corrected them the first couple times before finally giving up and realizing that it was hopeless. Whether I liked it or not, I did look a lot more like a Vicki than a Vic now.

Then I suddenly noticed that while Christine and Becky were leaving, Joselyn was watching them with a strange look on her face. Maybe she was annoyed at not being asked to go along, but with Joselyn, it was hard to tell.

“You want to go get something to eat?” Joselyn abruptly asked me. “We can bring some food back for the others.”

“Sure,” I agreed, happy to get out of this small hotel room. It was bigger than the back of the truck but not by enough.

A short time later, Joselyn and I were sitting in fast food burger joint, eating dinner and talking a little. It was strange that we’d only met yesterday but I was already starting to think of her as a friend. I couldn’t help but feeling as though we shared something important.

Joselyn had a thoughtful look on her face and abruptly asked, “What was Chris like before?”

“What?” I responded in surprise.

“I was just curious about Chris is all,” she responded, blushing slightly. “I mean, what was he like before his change?”

I stared at Joselyn, remembering my old friend Miles showing similar interest in Christine. “You like her,” I blurted out in realization.

“He is kind of cute,” Joselyn responded self-consciously.

“He is a she,” I reminded her. “That’s my sister you’re talking about…”

Joselyn gave me a wry look and told me, “I don’t think either of us is in a position to get picky about what gender someone used to be. Besides, he’s all boy now…and a cute one too.”

I shook my head at that and let out a sigh. “Maybe…but it’s just really weird thinking of my sister as a guy.” I didn’t have to add that it was just as weird thinking of myself as a girl.

“You make a really good looking girl too,” Joselyn told me with a faint smile. “If I was still a guy, I’d be all over you.” She shrugged and added, “It’s almost too bad girls don’t do it for me anymore.”

“How…how long did it take before you realized it?” I asked her nervously, still shuddering at the thought of liking guys instead of girls.

“I didn’t realize it at first,” Joselyn admitted. “And I kind of freaked out a little when I did. But, if you change that way, there isn’t anything you can do but get used to it and maybe learn to enjoy it.”

I nodded at that and then decided to change the subject a little. “I heard you saying something on the phone about someone called Genius…”

“Yeah,” she told me with a grin. “She really lives up to her name. I figure, she’ll be able to give you guys a thorough exam and prove that you’re not contagious, dying, or going crazy because of that crap that changed you. Once Genius gives you a clean bill of health, she’ll be able to get the law off your backs and have them focus on the real bad guys.”

“That sounds good to me,” I admitted. If we were able to prove that all their claims were nothing but crap, then we wouldn’t have to hide from the police and could go home. “That would make a lot our problems just disappear.”

“That is the idea,” Joselyn agreed. “Now, I have another idea…” She gave me an almost evil grin that suddenly made me nervous.

“I’m thinking of taking you out to get your first bra,” she told me. “With those babies, you’re going to need one. Trust me, you’ll thank me if you have to run…”

I hesitated for a moment and winced at the idea, though I had to admit that she probably knew what she was talking about. “But no makeover or makeup,” I insisted.

Joselyn just grinned at me and told me, “Trust me, there will be plenty of time for that kind of thing. For now, let’s just focus on getting you dressed properly.”

“Okay,” I agreed, getting up to leave.

“And while we do that,” Joselyn told me with a look of mock innocence, “you can tell me more about your brother…”

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

Staying overnight in the motel room had been a lot more crowded than the clothing store and not really much more comfortable. Rikki and Tasha shared one bed while Becky and Joselyn shared the other. The rest of us had made due by sleeping on the floor and using blankets for padding.

The one good thing about these accommodations was that after I woke up, I’d been able to take a nice hot shower. It had felt fantastic, especially with the way the hot water ran over my breasts, letting me discover just how sensitive my nipples were. Unfortunately, I hadn’t had time to explore than further and afterwards I had to climb back into my dirty clothes.

At the moment, I sat on the edge of a bed, tugging at the bra straps that dug into my shoulders uncomfortably. Christine was watching me with a smirk, apparently delighting in our change of fortunes and the chance at a little payback for how I used to tease her about wearing a bra. Now I was starting to regret that teasing.

Joselyn had recently gotten off the phone again and told us that Genius would meet us here later today, adding “Once she confirms that you aren’t dangerous or dying, she can make sure that the cops are off your backs and that you can go home.”

“I’ve never heard of this Genius person,” Christine said, giving Joselyn a curious look. “But wouldn’t the police listen to Dr. Power more?”

“Doctor Power does have better connections,” Joselyn admitted with a sigh. “And a lot more credibility. But he’d also probably want to make sure you were all secure in quarantine before he even started…just in case. Genius is more flexible…not to mention less intimidating. She does have connections though so if we can convince her…”

After this, she settled down but gave Christine a subtle but admiring look that I might not have caught if it hadn’t been for our conversation last night. That just made me wonder what it would be like if I did suddenly start liking guys. I shuddered at the thought, having a hard time imagining it. In a way, it would be like suddenly turning gay.

With that, I looked at Paul for a moment before saying, “Hey Paul, I was wondering…” When I had his attention, I asked, “Since you like guys, do you kind of wish that you were the one who changed like this?” I gestured down at myself.

“What?” Paul responded with a look of surprise before giving an emphatic, “Hell no… I might prefer guys, but I have absolutely no interest in being a girl.”

“I was just curious,” I told him, hoping that I didn’t offend him with the question. “I was just wondering if being gay would have made this easier for you than it is for me.”

“I don’t know,” Paul admitted with a shake of his head. “No offense…but I’m just glad it’s not me.”

“I guess this makes me gay too,” I told him with a weak smile. “I’m a lesbian now.”

Of course, I wasn’t completely sure if that was true, though I hoped it was. I don’t think that I’d really felt attracted to anyone since my change, male or female. Jack looked like a monster, Paul was gay, and Christine was my sister, so all the boys…or apparent boys were out even if I was into guys now.

Rikki was kind of cute in a nerdy sort of way but definitely not sexy. Becky wasn’t bad looking at all but her attitude was enough to keep me away from her. Tasha was a maybe, though I’d never really been into black chicks. And of course, there was Joselyn, the most attractive of the entire bunch.

Before this all happened, I would have happily asked Joselyn out, and since I’d still been a boy, she might even have said yes. But ever since I’d met her, I hadn’t really thought of her in a sexual way. Maybe it was because I was distracted by everything that was going on. Maybe it was because I knew that she used to be a guy too. And maybe…just maybe it was because something inside of me had changed.

“Damn,” I muttered, wishing Joselyn had never even brought up the subject of sexuality. Now I couldn’t stop thinking about it and that might even be worse than knowing I was into boys for sure.

Just then, Jack distracted me from my thoughts by demanding, “When the hell is your friend gonna get here? I’m sick and tired of having to hide.”

He looked extremely frustrated and for a moment, I thought he might get up and start smashing furniture and walls. However, he refrained from doing so. I was surprised by just how much self-control Jack had been showing and suspect that if I had been in his situation, I probably would have lashed out angrily. Thankfully, he wasn’t living up to his chosen code name of Berzerk.

Whenever I looked at Jack, I was reminded of how much worse my situation could be. I could still go out in public without being stared at or thought a monster. I still looked like a normal human, albeit a female one. It put my own changes in perspective.

Suddenly, Rikki yelled out, “Holy shit!” This caught me completely by surprise as she was normally quiet and this was about the only time I’d ever heard her swear. I quickly looked at Rikki where she’d been sitting back with one of her glowing windows in the air. She was staring into it with a look of shock and disbelief. “It’s Anton…”

“What about Anton?” Tasha demanded, anger and pain still clear in her eyes.

Rikki just pointed at the disk for a moment before blurting out, “He’s still alive…”

Everyone was shocked by that statement, especially as we’d seen Anton get shot and killed. However, we all quickly clustered around Rikki so we could look into her window. I gasped as I did so, seeing an image of Anton lying in a hospital bed. He had an IV in his arm and what looked like some sort of metal gag over his mouth.

“He’s alive,” Tasha exclaimed in amazed relief.

“No fucking way,” Becky added.

“I…I was just trying to check on those other guys we left behind,” Rikki explained nervously. “And I sort of found Anton…”

“So, miss psychic,” Becky said, giving Joselyn a dirty look. “How come you didn’t tell us Anton was still alive?”

“Because I had no idea,” Joselyn responded grimly. “The better I know someone, the more sensitive I am to them. I’ve never met Anton.”

Becky snorted at that and turned her attention back to watching Anton in Rikki’s window, not that there was much to watch since he wasn’t moving. However, that didn’t seem to really bother Tasha who actually smiled for the first time since Anton and Michelle had been shot.

“What are we going to do about Anton?” Christine asked, not taking her own eyes from the image until Rikki made it vanish. “We can’t just leave him there…”

“What can we do?” I responded with a scowl. I hated the idea of leaving him with those people but I didn’t see anything that we could do about it. “Those assholes have Anton and the others…” I shook my head, having visions of going after them for a rescue attempt but remembering what happened to Donny, Ed, Michelle, and Anton was enough to convince me that this would be suicide.

“I say we go back and teach those bastards a lesson,” Jack exclaimed. “They won’t expect us to go back so we’ll catch them by surprise.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Paul protested. “We’ll all get killed…”

Jack glared down at him and spat out, “Punk ass fag… You’d just let our friends get killed for nothing…”

“And if we get killed too, it will have been for nothing,” Paul snapped back.

“We’ll have to wait…for now,” Joselyn said, not looking happy about it.

Tasha glared at her and snapped, “Anton’s my boyfriend. I don’t know who you are…”

“I know what it’s like,” Joselyn responded grimly. “Being on the run and hiding from people who are hunting you while your loved ones are being held prisoner. Trust me…I know. You want to just go in with guns blazing.”

“Damn right,” Jack said.

“For now, you just need to keep your heads down until Genius is able to clear your names,” Joselyn explained. “Then…” She paused with an evil grin, “I can personally make sure that there are super heroes there to kick their asses and rescue your friends.”

“Somehow, I doubt you can make that kind of guarantee,” Paul said, giving Joselyn a skeptical look.

Joselyn just stood there with a determined expression on her face as she responded, “Actually…I can.”

There was a long moment with everyone staring at her, some like Jack and Becky being obviously skeptical. However, I had a feeling that she could do exactly what she said. After all, she’d already said that her family knew Dr. Power, and unless she had been lying to us since the start…

“I can’t believe it,” Tasha said, sitting down on the bed with a look of stunned relief. “Anton’s still alive…”

“So now we just wait,” Christine said, clenching her fists in obvious frustration, the same frustration that everyone else felt.

“I…I’m going to the vending machine,” Rikki said, referring to the machine just outside the motel main office. “I think I need some Mountain Dew…”

“Bring me back something too,” Becky told her. “Something diet.”

After Rikki left, Joselyn sat down next to me and let out a sigh. “I just hope Genius is able to get here soon.”

I nodded at that and watched Joselyn for a moment before asking, “Have you really been through this before?”

“Yeah,” she answered with a weak smile. “I even had the Bitch chasing after me too.”

I gave a faint chuckle at that. “This must really be like deja-vu for you then.”

“You have no idea,” Joselyn told me. “The last time, I was just looking for my uncle to help me but I don’t dare call him this time. I’m afraid he might believe the story those guys spread and overreact before listening to your side.”

Suddenly, Joselyn bolted straight upright with a cry of, “Damn…” An instant later, she’d jumped off the bed and yelled out, “They’ve found us…”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Becky demanded.

“They’re here,” Joselyn exclaimed, grabbing her pink backpack and slinging it over her shoulder. “And they have Rikki…”

“Oh shit,” I gasped.

In mere seconds, all of us rushed out the motel room door, wanting to get away before the trap closed on us. However, once we took a few steps into the motel parking lot, it was obvious that we were too late. There were soldiers wearing that SWAT team style body armor scattered about the edges of the parking lot, looking like we’d caught them by surprise while they were still getting positioned.

Standing a short distance away was the scary woman who’d killed Ed in cold blood, the woman that Joselyn called the Bitch. The last time I’d seen her, she’d been missing an arm and a leg thanks to Anton’s powers. Now, her missing limbs appeared to have regrown and if I hadn’t seen her lose them myself, I never would have guessed they were ever gone.

There were three armored people standing behind the Bitch, but none of them looked anything like the soldiers in SWAT gear. The first was a man in black chitenous armor and he wore a helmet that looked a sort of sleek motorcycle helmet with a face plate that hid his face. All the cracks between the black chitenous plates glowed red as did his face mask. There was a woman who was dressed identically, except that her armor glowed blue instead of red. And the last man was also dressed this way, with his armor glowing green. The last one was also holding what looked to be some sort of energy rifle and appeared to be the only one of these three who was actually armed.

“YOU,” the Bitch spat out, glaring at Joselyn with a look of hatred. “I wasn’t expecting to find you with our escapees…”

“And I wasn’t expecting you to be healed so soon,” Joselyn responded, shifting into a fighting crouch and having glowing pink knives appear in each of her hands. “It’s deja-vu all over again.”

I felt a surge of fear and quickly looked around, trying to find Rikki but I saw no sign of her. I had no doubt, however, that Joselyn was right about them having caught her. I only hoped that Rikki would be all right.

“My employer would like the rest of you taken alive if possible,” the Bitch called out to us. “Come with us peacefully and you get to live. Resist and…” She paused, grinning evilly. “You won’t.”

“Fuck you,” Becky screamed out, firing powerful blasts of water from her eyes.

The Bitch jumped aside and avoided being hit but the three armored people behind her were all caught by it and thrown back from the force. Almost immediately, Joselyn threw her glowing pink knives at the Bitch, missing both times but immediately forming new glowing knives in her hand.

“I’m gonna get you bastards,” Jack yelled, charging forward and swinging his macelike hand, smashing it into the side of a car and crushing it in. Then he focused on the nearest soldier who opened fire for a moment, until he saw that it was completely useless against Jack, then he turned and ran.

Christine looked like she was going to charge at them as well, but when other guards opened fire, she remained where she was, acting as a human shield to protect the rest of us. Bullets dropped to the ground harmlessly around her feet when they might have otherwise hit us. I could only imagine how much energy she was building up for her strength.

I backed away from the others so that I wouldn’t leave them blind and unable to fight and then activated my own powers, being careful to keep the darkness in a contained area. I caught one soldier in my darkness and grinned as his radio went dead. He had on some sort of night vision goggles, apparently in preparation for my powers, but they didn’t seem to be doing him good either. I was able to go right up beside him, grab the gun from his hands, and then keep hitting him until he turned and ran right into a car.

“Fighting like this is certainly a lot easier,” I mused with a smug grin.

While I was doing this, Tasha and Joselyn were dealing with the Bitch. Tasha had stretched out more than I’d thought she could, stretching her legs and torso as though they were all made of rubber and keeping well away from the dangerous woman while then stretching her arms to punch at her from a safe distance. At the same time, Joselyn was hitting the mercenary as well, slashing at her with those glowing pink knives.

The three people in glowing armor had gotten back to their feet in spite of Becky trying to spray them again. The one in the glowing blue armor held out her hands and fired a burst of bluish white energy and suddenly the water on the ground turned to ice. She fired another blast towards Becky and Becky’s feet were suddenly encased in ice.

The one in the green armor fired his odd looking weapon, firing a blast of white energy right at Tasha, though Tasha stretched out of the way and the beam hit a car instead, melting the side of it. It wasn’t nearly as bad as what Anton’s powers could have done, but I certainly wouldn’t want to get hit with that.

A moment later, the man in the red armor fired a blast of fire from his hands, right at Joselyn’s back. However, she snapped around as though sensing it was coming and blocked it with a glowing pink disk that formed in front of her like a shield. She blocked his next fire attack the same way before suddenly jumping to the side and throwing a glowing dagger right at his face. It his face mask and cracked it a little, and while he was distracted by that, she ran right straight at him.

“Surrender now,” Joselyn commanded the man in the red armor, obviously using her mind control power. However, instead of surrendering he swung his fist at her and then sent another blast of fire that she had to jump away from. “Shit,” she exclaimed. “His armor must be protecting him from my power… I guess I’ll just have to do this the hard way.” And with that, she formed a baseball bat in her hand and swung it right at his head.

I couldn’t continue watching Joselyn as the man in the green armor turned his attention on me. He fired a blast of energy at me, or at least into the shadows I was hiding within since he couldn’t see through the velvet blanket of darkness. His aim was off and he wouldn’t have hit me but I dropped flat to the ground anyway. However, I was caught completely by surprise when his blast immediately dispersed the instant it hit my power and the energy all flowed right into me, the same way the light did.

“Holy shit,” I blurted out in surprise. “I absorbed it…”

The man in green fired another blast at me and I absorbed that one as well, gasping as I did so. I already knew that I could absorb light and some other stuff but I hadn’t really thought of where it all went. Now, with so much energy flowing into me at once, I became aware of a sort of storage tank within myself. It was now about half full.

Then, guided by some instinct I didn’t understand, I flipped another mental switch similar to the one I used when turning my powers on and off. Suddenly, energy flowed out of this storage tank and into the rest of my body. I let out another gasp as I was suddenly full of energy and vitality, almost as though I’d just downed a six pack of energy drinks.

I got up and charged straight at my opponent, quickly enveloping him in the darkness and leaving him blind. He looked like he was about to fire again but I snatched the gun right out of his hand. Then he turned and started swinging his fists wildly as though he might connect with pure luck. Strangely though, he seemed to be moving very slowly and I was able to easy avoid each of his punches and hit him back in return. Then as he threw one punch, I grabbed his arm and bent over to pull him over my shoulder and slam him into the ground.

For a moment, I just stood there feeling unbelievably triumphant. It had been so easy…so effortless. The man had been so slow and clumsy. Then I realized the truth, that he hadn’t been slow…I’d been fast. Christine could use the kinetic energy she absorbed to fuel her strength and it seemed that I could use the energy I absorbed to become faster and more agile. I almost felt invincible and suspected that this was what Christine felt like when she was throwing grown men around like rag dolls.

I pulled my power back so that it was just along my skin and clothes again, leaving me looking like a human shaped shadow. I was still filled with energy but could feel the level available to me slowly draining from my tank. If I wasn’t careful, I’d be able to burn through it pretty quickly. However, I had more than enough for the rest of this fight, especially as I could absorb more light at the same time.

When I looked back at the others, I saw that Tasha had one hand and one foot frozen to the ground, though that didn’t seem to stop her from lashing out with her other foot and hand, kicking and punching at people from a distance. Joselyn was once again fighting the Bitch with both of them using a pair of knives. Joselyn was slowly being driven back and appeared to be losing. The man in the red armor was going after Christine, who kept backing away since she was helpless against fire, though Becky, who was still frozen the ground, was putting out the man’s fire attacks before they could reach my sister.

Paul gestured to one soldier who suddenly had a large chunk of the ground vanish from beneath him, dropping him into a hole. At the same time, that very same chunk of ground appeared above the head of the blue armored woman. It fell right on top of her, knocking her to the ground. She had been focusing on Jack who was now free to rejoin the rest of the group.

Jack snarled and charged right at the Bitch, though she easily jumped out of the way. She took the opportunity to back away from our group a little, glaring at the three people in strange armor that she’d brought with her.

“You idiots,” the Bitch said with a sneer. “When we hired you to provide extra muscle, I thought you were professionals…not clowns.”

A chunk of rock suddenly appeared above the Bitch’s head, courtesy of Paul, and it fell right on top of her before she could get out of the way. However, it wasn’t enough to take her down and she shook it off, looking absolutely furious. She snarled and I could see that she didn’t look quite right anymore. Her face was starting to push out slightly and her teeth were becoming very sharp looking. I felt a cold chill go down my spine when I remembered that Joselyn had said she was a werewolf.

“Oh shit,” I muttered.

But instead of transforming into a the wolf monster that Joselyn had described to me, the Bitch stopped changing and slid back to looking completely human. She stood there with a smirk on her face as she gestured around us. I wondered what she was up to until I took another look.

“Fuck,” Becky blurted out.

While we’d been fighting, more soldiers had appeared and had taken up positions around the parking lot. While we’d been distracted by the Bitch, three armored people, and the soldiers closest to us, a dozen more had arrived and surrounded us. A dozen more, all of whom were pointing their weapons straight at us. I suddenly wondered if the Bitch had intentionally distracted us while her people moved into place.

“I told you already that my employer would like you all alive if possible,” the Bitch exclaimed. “But I have no problem delivering body bags instead. This is your last chance.”

I quickly looked at my friends, seeing that Tasha and Becky were still frozen to the ground. The others were still free to move about, not that we had anywhere we could go. We were outnumbered, outgunned, and completely surrounded. I realized that they’d been holding back a bit before, not opening fire when they could have. They’d been trying to take us alive. Now, if we resisted, we were guaranteed to die. Jack and Chris were the only ones who could survive if the soldiers started shooting at us for real.

“They…they’ve got us,” Christine whispered in horror, slowly raising her hands.

Joselyn grimaced and raised her hands as well, looking pissed but not about to fight back any more, not when there was absolutely no chance of us winning. We all looked at each other in horror, realizing that this was it. We’d lost.

“No,” Paul exclaimed, staring at us all with a look of grim determination. “That’s not gonna happen…”

With that, Paul raised his hands which were both glowing green. An instant later, everything around me flashed green and I was suddenly no longer standing in the middle of the motel parking lot. Instead, I was somewhere else, as was everyone else.

“Where…?” I started, looking around frantically but already realizing the answer. I couldn’t help but recognizing the main hallway from the school I’d been going to for the last couple months.

I had just barely absorbed this when Christine exclaimed, “Where’s Paul?”

“Paul,” I called out, looking and seeing that everyone else was here…everyone but Rikki and Paul.

“Paul can teleport other people,” Joselyn reminded us quietly, wincing as she did so. “But not himself.”

I gasped in dread as the cold knot of understanding settled into my gut like a lump of lead. Paul had sacrificed himself so that the rest of us could escape.

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

It had been over an hour since Paul had saved us from capture and we were all gathered together in an empty classroom at school. Since it was Sunday, there weren’t any students at school, only an occasional teacher or janitor. Two of them had seen us so far, but after Joselyn had a little ‘talk’ with them, they left us alone and conveniently forgot that they saw us in the first place. I just hoped we didn’t run into any of the female teachers since the trick wouldn’t work on them.

I grimaced as I considered our situation and just how many people we’d lost. Out of the eighteen people who’d been exposed to that weird green fog, only fifteen of us had survived. Only ten of us had been able to escape the building where we’d been held, and as of now, we’d lost another five. Only five of us remained, not counting Joselyn since she’d joined up with us later and was never exposed.

Joselyn had been talking on her cell phone and hung up, having just told Genius not to bother meeting us at the motel like we’d planned. However, she hadn’t given Genius a new place to meet, not yet.

“How the hell did they find us?” Becky demanded in frustration, not even bothering to wipe the tears from her cheeks.

“I think I know how,” Joselyn answered, holding up her phone and scowling. “The call log shows that someone used my phone last night. I’m pretty sure it was Rikki…calling home.”

“Shit,” I spat out, closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths to calm down. “She and Paul got taken because of that…”

“I don’t know if she told her family where she was and they turned her in for her own good,” Joselyn said with a sigh. “Or if our enemies bugged the line or traced the call. But I’m pretty sure that call was what gave us away.”

“And how do we know it wasn’t your friend Genius?” Jack demanded, smashing his fist onto a desk and destroying it. “You told her where we were.”

“If Genius set us up,” Joselyn answered grimly, “she would have sent a bunch of robots or super heroes to catch us. She wouldn’t have just told those guys where to find us.”

“Are you sure?” Christine asked her skeptically.

“Yes,” Joselyn answered without hesitation. “I’m certain it was Rikki’s homesickness that gave us away.”

We were all silent for a minute before Christine mused, “The question is…what are we doing to do now?”

“Paul sent us right back home,” I responded, thinking that it would be a fairly short walk back to our house. “And Doctor Glass is bound to have her people watching in case we come back…”

“It will be very dangerous if we get seen,” Christine agreed. “They’ll be looking for us.” Then she paused and let out a sigh. “Still, it just seems wrong to automatically assume our own families can’t be trusted…”

“They can be trusted to do what they think is best for us,” I told my sister, knowing that this was true of our parents. “If they honestly think that we’re sick and dying, they’ll do anything they can to save us. If they even half believe the bullshit story that Doctor Glass put out, they’ll turn us over in a heartbeat because they won’t want to take a chance.”

“I know my mom would,” Tasha admitted with a sigh while Jack nodded reluctant agreement.

“So we’re back where we started from,” Christine said, looking around the classroom and adding, “In more than one way. We need to clear our names first…”

With that, everyone turned to look at Joselyn. “I’ll call Genius and tell her where to find us again,” she said carefully. “You can trust her to make up her own mind and not just accept their story.”

After that, Joselyn made the phone call and then we all just sat around waiting. There was more than a little temptation to go home and see our families, to let them know that we were all right. However, we all knew that it would be best to wait until after we’d cleared our names.

About two hours later, Joselyn abruptly announced, “She’s here…”

Joselyn ran out behind the school to the football field while the rest of us followed. There was some sort of strange looking aircraft parked on the field, something that looked almost like it could have been an alien spaceship. Then a hatch on the side opened and folded down, forming into stairs. A moment later, a figure stepped out of the hatch and began coming down the steps.

The pilot of this strange aircraft was a girl who couldn’t have been any older than twelve. She had reddish brown hair that was pulled back into a pony tail and she wore a pair of red overalls and had a belt full out pouches around her waist and a pair of goggles sitting on her forehead.

“Genius,” Joselyn greeted her. “I’m glad you were able to come.”

“No problem,” the girl…Genius responded with a broad grin. “It gets me out of having to clean the hangar.” Then she paused to look at us with a thoughtful expression. “So these are the ones who need a check-up…”

“You’re just a kid,” Jack blurted out in surprise.

Genius scowled and glared up at him without any hint of being intimidated. “And you’re just a big scaly man.” Then she snorted and muttered, “Why is that everyone’s first reaction…?”

“She’s called Genius for a reason,” Joselyn pointed out with a weak smile. “And she’s pretty respected in the super hero community…”

“Yeah, right,” Becky snorted with more than a little skepticism.

“Well, she did used to be a member of the Protectorate,” Joselyn said, naming what was perhaps the most known and respected super hero group in the world. That suddenly had everyone staring at Genius in surprise and doubt. “If she gives you the all clear, she can make sure the heroes and cops know it and get off your backs.”

“First, I need to set up my portable lab,” Genius mused, shaking her head and letting out a sigh. “With everyone thinking that I do house calls lately, I’ve been working on making it easier to set up…”

Genius reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out a small metal ball. She walked a short distance away and then set it on the ground before returning to us. Then she reached into her pouch again and pulled out what looked like a TV remote. A second later, a metal sphere about the size of a basketball came out from the aircraft, floating in the air. There was a sort of red lens or gem set right in it so that it almost appeared to be some kind of giant floating metal eye. A second sphere then emerged followed by a third. A dozen of these metal basketball sized spheres floated out from the aircraft and moved to where Genius had placed the much smaller sphere on the ground, forming a circle around it.

“This is my favorite part,” Genius commented cheerfully.

Suddenly, one of the spheres vanished and there was what looked like a work desk with a half dozen computer monitors set up on it. The sphere next to it was replaced moment later with something that looked like an MRI machine. One by one, each of the spheres vanished, only to be replaced with various pieces of high tech equipment.

“The power coupler is connected to the…gene mapper,” Genius sang quietly. “The gene mapper is connected to the…spectrum scanner. The spectrum scanner is connected to the…” A moment later, all of the spheres had been replaced and Genius continued to hum for a few more seconds before abruptly announcing, “Okay, my lab is set up. Let’s get you guys checked out…”

I just stared at this strange girl, wondering how in the world anyone would take her word for us being safe. However, Joselyn trusted her so I took a deep breath and stepped forward, volunteering to go first.

Genius had me stand in one machine that was a raised platform and looked a little like one of those transporters from the old Star Trek series, the one my dad occasionally watched and insisted was from when science fiction was good. She had me go through the MRI machine and then took a blood sample with a device similar to the one Dr. McNeal had used. As I moved from one station to the next, she had others come in and take my place, putting us all through her examination as though it was some kind of assembly line.

It took nearly two hours for Genius to finish with all of us, and in that time I kept worrying that the police or those soldiers would suddenly show up and surround us. After all, her aircraft was pretty noticeable and must have drawn a lot of attention while landing. But thankfully, no one appeared.

Once Genius was finished, she leaned back in the chair in front of the computer monitors, glancing at them and then staring at us. “It’s official,” she stated calmly. “Your mutations are all stable. None of you show any indications of changing further, nor any that you are sick and dying. A brain chemistry check shows no abnormalities or imbalances, so I’m willing to bet that the rest of those exposed to that green cloud are similarly stable. If I had a sample of that mutagen, I might be able to determine a little more about how it changed you and why, but as it is…I can safely say that you aren’t a danger to yourselves or anyone else.” Then she paused to smirk as she added, “Not any more than any other developed teenagers that is.”

“Great,” Christine exclaimed, letting out a visible sigh of relief and then giving both Genius and Joselyn both looks of gratitude.

“I’ll send a copy of my scans to Doctor Power so he can verify them,” Genius said. “And I’ll call some people I know to make sure the cops and your families know that whole story was BS.”

I nodded at that, feeling just as relieved as Christine, but then I looked down at myself and my breasts and winced. “But can you cure us?” I asked Genius. “Can you change us back to normal.”

Genius hesitated a moment before shaking her head. “Once you get mutated like this and become developed, it’s almost impossible to get a complete reversion. Most of the time, the attempts just cause further mutation. At best, your powers would go into remission but your bodies probably wouldn’t change back.” She gave Jack a sympathetic look as she added, “Sorry.”

“Damn,” I muttered, not really feeling surprised. Joselyn had been strangely certain that we wouldn’t be cured, and I’d learned that she was rarely wrong.

“I’m sorry,” Genius told me while Joselyn silently put a hand on my shoulder.

“Shit,” Jack snarled angrily, though I could hear the pain and disappointment in his voice. “I’m gonna be a damn monster forever…”

Christine stared at the ground, looking as though she was shaken too. After a few seconds, she whispered, “At least we can go home now…”

“Can we?” I asked her grimly. “We might be able to convince mom and dad that we’re not in danger anymore…and the cops might not be after us. But…” I paused to slowly look around at all of my friends before reminding them of what they already knew. “Doctor Glass and her goons are all still out there looking for us. If we just go home, they’ll all know exactly where to find us.”

“Vicki’s right,” Tasha said quietly. For a moment, she looked shaken and about to cry but then her expression turned to anger. “Those bastards are still out there…and they still have Anton.”

“And Paul and Rikki,” Jack pointed out just as angrily. “And those other guys…if they’re still alive.”

“We don’t even know if Paul and Rikki are still alive,” Becky blurted out angrily, tears running down her cheeks.

“They are,” Joselyn responded with certainty in her voice. She pointed off in the distance and said, “They’re in that direction.”

“I would ask my friends in the Guard to go rescue your friends,” Genius said sympathetically. “Unfortunately, right now they’re all off fighting some alien invasion in the Australian outback.” She paused for a moment and mused, “I believe Faction Zero, the Protectorate, and Knight Force are with them…”

Joselyn nodded at that, having a strange look on her face that might have been worry. “They are.” She hesitated a moment before adding, “I could probably get Black Sheep to help…”

“You’d need a lot of body bags,” Genius responded with a shudder. “No way… I won’t get involved with a cold blooded murderer…” Then she added, “I’m pretty sure I could get Invincible Woman and Ghost Boy to help. They both owe me…”

“I think we should go in ourselves,” Christine blurted out. When we all turned to look at her, she looked self-conscious for a moment. “They’re our friends. These bad guys have been coming after us. I don’t want to rely on some strangers when this is so personal…”

“I’m all for it,” Jack agreed. “I want to kick their asses and get a little payback…”

“I just want to get Anton back,” Tasha said. But after a moment, she added, “But I wouldn’t mind making them pay for what they did to Melissa too…”

“But what the fuck can we do?” Becky demanded. “I mean, we’re not super heroes…”

“No, but you do have some useful powers,” Genius commented. She stared at Becky for a moment before continuing, “High pressure water blasts. The water appears to be from an extradimensional salt water source. An oddly sterile one at that.”

“Great if I want to put out fires,” Becky muttered, though I’d seen her use those water blasts to pretty good effect.

“Class three enhanced strength,” Genius continued as she looked at Jack. “Plus armored skin that provides a class seven invulnerability.” She looked to Tasha and commented, “Full body elasticity with an arm reach up to approximately twenty yards.”

“I’m made of rubber,” Tasha said with a snort.

“We can call you Rubber Girl,” Jack teased her.

Tasha winced at that and responded, “With a name like that, I might as well call myself Condom Girl. No thanks.”

Genius looked at Christine and said, “The ability to absorb kinetic energy and convert it to enhanced strength. I don’t yet know what your limits are, but there are sources of immense kinetic energy you could tap into. I suspect you might even be able to become as strong as Grendel…not that anyone has seen him around in awhile.”

“And I absorb light,” I added with a roll of my eyes. She didn’t need to state the obvious since we’d all been practicing with our powers and learning about them on our own.

“Actually,” Genius told me with a smug look. “You absorb energy across nearly the entire electromagnetic spectrum. Light…microwaves…x-rays…” She shrugged. “And of course, you use it to fuel enhanced reflexes and agility, along with a small increases in your strength, stamina, and vitality.”

“If we’re going to go after them ourselves,” Joselyn said with a grim look. “I’ll have to get ready.” She looked at Genius and gestured to the aircraft. “Mind if I use it for a moment?”

After Genius gave her the go ahead, Joselyn went up the steps and into the aircraft. I wondered what she was up to, but a minute later, she came back out, having changed her clothes.

Joselyn was now wearing a costume, a pink and back one piece spandex outfit that covered everything from the neck down. It didn’t hide a lot and gave a good show of her curves.

“Holy shit,” Becky blurted out in surprise.

I looked at the others and saw that they were all surprised, all except for Genius. Then I noticed that Christine was staring at Joselyn with a special intensity. It took me a moment more before I noticed the bulge in the front of my sister’s pants.

“I did not need to see that,” I muttered, quickly looking away from Christine and blushing brightly as I did so.

“I did promise you some super hero help,” Joselyn said, looking a little self-conscious. She hesitated a moment before saying, “I’m called the Lady Knight…”

“Is that sort of like the White Knight?” I asked with a grin, thinking of a super hero who was pretty well known on the west coast.

“You could say that,” Joselyn responded with a grin. “He’s my dad.”

I nearly choked at that. Now everyone was staring at her in even greater surprise. “Your dad is the White Knight?” I gasped.

“Didn’t you know?” Genius asked, looking at her watch and not seeming the least surprised by this. “Her entire family are super heroes. Haven’t you heard of the Knight Force?”

Joselyn nodded at that. “I was going to ask my dad and the others to do the rescue, but I don’t think you guys will be willing to wait until they’re finished with their mission.”

“You’ve got that right,” Tasha responded with a look of determination.

“Well, if you’re going to go charging into the lion’s den,” Genius mused, giving us each a steady look. “You’ll need code names and costumes.” She broke into a broad grin and added, “It’s in the rule book.”

“Berzerk,” Jack said, giving the code name he’d already decided on.

“Impact,” Christine said next, looking confident as she said it but then looking embarrassed.

“I think that’s a great code name,” Joselyn told her, blushing as he did so. “It’s perfect for you.”

“Really?” Christine responded, blushing as well.

Becky glared at them and wiped the tears from her cheeks. She scowled in annoyance before saying, “I’ll go with what you guys were calling me before…Crybaby.” Then she glared at Jack and snapped, “But they’re not real tears… I’m just leaking.”

“Got it,” Jack responded with a chuckle. “You’re not really crying…it’s just your powers leaking.”

“I…I think I’ll go with Reach,” Tasha said self-consciously. “I mean, with the way I can stretch my arms…” Then she grinned and said, “You know, if I had some brass knuckles, I bet I could really do some damage…”

Now it was my turn since I was the last one without a code name. The truth was, I hadn’t really given it a whole lot of thought, but one name did just jump out at me.

“Velvet,” I said, thinking of the way my darkness field looked to anyone who was trying to look inside.

Joselyn smiled in approval while Christine nodded, “Good one.”

“Well, I can take care of the costume part,” Genius commented, suddenly grinning like a lunatic. “I’ve got a machine here that can make them for you in no time at all.” She paused to give a smug look as he added, “Super hero fashion is sort of a hobby…”

“All right,” Christine exclaimed in excitement. “Can I get a cape with mine?”

“No capes,” Genius responded firmly. “Capes are like…so old fashioned. Besides, most people can’t even pull them off.”

A moment later, Genius went to work designing our new costumes, only accepting a little input from us. I was still skeptical of the whole idea of costumes and code names, because in spite of what she seemed to think, we weren’t trying to be super heroes. We just wanted to rescue our friends and get a little payback on those people at the same time.

“I’m just glad that you didn’t buy into that story about us being crazed killers,” I told Genius.

“Please,” Genius responded with a roll of her eyes. “I doubt almost everything that adults tell me. I have ever since that whole Easter Bunny fiasco…” She gave an exaggerated shudder that made me think there was an interesting story behind that.

“We all really appreciate this,” Christine told her sincerely.

Genius grinned at that. “No problem. I hate seeing innocent people being falsely accused. I just wish I could do more, but unfortunately, I’m not allowed to get directly involved in this kind of thing until I’m older.” She grimaced and muttered, “Damn social services.”

Joselyn smiled at her and said, “You’ve already done a lot.”

“Well,” Genius said slowly, grinning evilly. “I can’t really get involved, but if you happen to need me to give you a ride and drop you off somewhere while I’m on my way home…”

I grinned at that, thinking of the building that we’d escaped from not that long ago, though it seemed almost like a lifetime. “I know just the place…”

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

The strange aircraft that Genius was piloting was surprisingly comfortable. Besides her pilot seat, it also had eight passenger seats and a small cargo space. She said that this was a spare transport craft for a super hero group called the Guard, a group that she was a sort of unofficial member of.

I sat in my seat, feeling extremely self-conscious at the moment. Genius had done exactly as she’d said and had made us each a super hero style costume that was made of some sort of special material so that it looked a lot like spandex but acted as light weight body armor.

My costume was a skin tight outfit that covered everything from the neck down, leaving very little of my body to the imagination. It showed just about all of my new curves in ways that I just wasn’t comfortable with. But in spite of that, I had to admit that it looked good on me too. It was about two thirds black and one third gray, made of colors that seemed to go well with my chosen name of Velvet. As an added touch, Genius had added some built in knuckle guards to my hands so that they would act like brass knuckles.

Genius had made all of our costumes in the same style, all looking quite a bit the same as if they were team uniforms. The biggest difference, besides the sizes that is, was that we’d each been given our own color scheme.

Christie’s costume was about two thirds white with a third of it being dark blue. Becky’s was blue and gray while Tasha’s was purple and gray. Of course, Jack was the exception, just having a pair of black pants with a bit of red trim. With his altered body, he didn’t think he really needed a shirt.

“We’re almost there,” Genius said from the controls. “I’ll be able to drop you guys off in just a couple minutes.” Then she hesitated before adding, “You know, it isn’t too late for me to turn around and pick up some people to help you out. I’m pretty certain I can get Praxis, Ghost Boy, and Invincible Woman without much trouble…”

“No,” Jack told her grimly. “We’ve got this ourselves.”

“You don’t need to come,” Becky told Joselyn. “This ain’t really your fight…”

“It is now,” Joselyn insisted firmly.

“Glad to have you with us,” I admitted, pleased to have someone with a bit of experienced along.

“Same here,” Christine agreed, giving Joselyn a look that seemed to last just a little too long.

A minute later, Genius announced, “All right…we’re here. I’ll drop you guys off on the roof. They won’t be expecting that so it should give you a bit of a surprise.”

“Good,” Christine muttered. “We’ll need all the advantage we can get.”

“It’s time to go kick their asses,” Becky exclaimed with a snarl.

As we landed, Genius said, “You know, it isn’t very responsible of me to just leave you guys here like this.” Then she gave a weak smile and added, “But then again, I’m just a kid so no one expects me to be responsible.”

“Thanks for all your help,” I told her, my heart racing with a mixture of fear and excitement.

“No problem,” Genius responded. The door of the aircraft opened and everyone began to climb out. Genius watched us for a moment and then told Joselyn, “Say hi to Katie and Evie for me.”

“Will do,” Joselyn agreed before climbing out the hatch.

Once we were all out of the aircraft and on the roof, it rose back up into the air and then took off. Genius was gone so now we had no way of running away if things went bad. That just meant that we had to make sure they didn’t go bad.

In spite of the costumes and code names that we weren’t really using, I had no illusions about us being a group of super heroes. We were just a group of pissed off teenagers on a personal mission to help our friends and get these assholes off our backs.

“They may have noticed that thing landing on the roof,” Joselyn pointed out with a wry smile. “We should get moving.”

Jack went to a locked door and smashed it in with one good hit. We rushed into the stairway that was revealed and began going down with Jack taking the lead.

“Paul and Rikki are in this building,” Joselyn said confidently. “A few floors down. I don’t know about Paul or the other people who were left behind.”

We’d made it down two floors before we left the stairs and encountered the first security guards. These were soldiers like the ones we’d fought when we escaped. They didn’t have any of the SWAT body armor but they did have machine guns which they opened fire with.

Jack and Christine stood in front, taking most of the shots to protect the rest of us. Becky punched around them, sending her fist flying down the hall where she punched one of the soldiers in the face before pulling her arm back. Since she had the same knuckle guards that I did, her punch had done some good damage and the man dropped to the floor to grab at his broken nose.

“Fucking cock sucking losers,” Becky screamed, blasting down the hall with her pressurized water bursts and knocking the guards off their feet.

While the guards where off their feet and distracted, Joselyn ran to them and commanded them, “Remain where you are. Don’t move at all.”

“You’re going to get caught,” one of the guards exclaimed though he looked afraid.

“Perhaps,” Joselyn said, bending down next to him and smiling faintly. “But that isn’t your concern. Now, I have some questions and you are going to answer them completely and honestly…”

For the next two minutes, we stood around waiting for more guards to arrive while Joselyn interrogated the ones we’d already dealt with. Thanks to her mind control power, they told us where Paul and Rikki were being held as well as confirmed that Anton and the others were indeed here as well.

“You’d better pray that Anton is all right,” Tasha said, kicking one of the guards in the ribs. He didn’t resist since Joselyn had given him orders not to move.

“We should probably split up,” Joselyn said. “We can cover more area that way.”

“Why do I suddenly feel like I’m in an episode of Scooby Doo?” I asked with a scowl.

“Or a horror movie,” Christine added with a weak smile. “That never works out well in horror movies.”

“I can’t use my powers with the rest of you close by,” I said thoughtfully. “Not without blinding you all. As long as I’m with you, I’m kind of useless.” Of course, I really didn’t want to go off on my own either but I couldn’t very well let them know that I was scared.

“I’ll go with Vicki,” Joselyn said. “My sixth sense lets me still function when I can’t see.”

Christine shook her head. “I won’t be able to protect you if you go off without me,” she told me.

I felt a little surprised by that statement, both pleased that she cared and a little insulted at the same time. “You just barely get a set of balls and you think that it’s your job to protect me,” I told her, ignoring the hypocrisy of the fact that I’d always felt it was my job to protect her before. Perhaps that was why it bothered me when our situations were reversed. “The truth is, if the two of us are close together, only one of us can use their powers at a time. Either I let you catch bullets for me or I use my powers and you won’t be able to see.”

Joselyn and I hurried off in one direction while everyone else went in the other. My pink haired companion assured me that she could find a way to Paul and Rikki while the others looked for Anton and the four who’d never escaped.

“Paul and Rikki are down another floor,” Joselyn told me, already going back towards the stairs.

We ran down the stairs to the next floor and I saw another armed coming down the hallway. I called up my powers and smothered everyone in darkness. However, the guard opened fire in my general direction, not being able to see but still being able to spray the entire hallway with bullets. Joselyn and I dove through an open doorway and then hit the floor. The guard continued shooting, having no idea that we were no longer in his line of sight.

When the guard stopped firing, Joselyn hesitated a moment before saying, “He’s out of ammo.”

“Do you know that or are you guessing?” I demanded, not wanting to take an unnecessary risk.

“I know it,” she responded with a weak grin.

With that confirmation, I rushed down the hallway, seeing that the guard was now trying to call for backup with his radio…not that it would do any good. My power not only blinded my opponents but also cut off all radio communication. I grinned at that, using a burst of enhanced speed to catch up to him in just a moment and then to hit him as hard and fast as I could…repeatedly.

“Taking them down when they can’t even see me almost feels like cheating,” I told Joselyn, pulling my power close to my skin so that she could see and I looked like a living shadow.

“When it comes to fighting for my life,” Joselyn responded with a chuckle. “I prefer to cheat and win over playing fair and losing.”

It took us less than a minute before we reached the place where Joselyn said Paul and Rikki were being held. Unfortunately, the entire hallway was guarded. There were two of the armed guards standing there along with the armored woman from our fight earlier today.

It was hard to believe that it was only this morning. It felt like it had been much longer since then, just as it felt like it had been more than a couple of days since we’d escaped this place.

“There they are,” one of the guards exclaimed, about to open fire but the woman in the glowing blue armor held up her hand and stopped him.

I watched the woman in the armor nervously, wondering what she was up to and wishing that it was the guy in the glowing green armor instead. I remembered that this one had some sort of ice power while the other guy had shot blasts of some sort of electromagnetic energy…something I could absorb. I knew he wouldn’t have been a problem for me but was uncertain about this woman.

The armored woman didn’t say a word as she raised her hand and fired a blast of bluish white energy towards us. Joselyn and I both jumped to the side while Joselyn created a glowing pink disk in the air in front of her to block some the blast. The energy splashed to the side, causing the wall near us to become coated with ice.

“Damn,” Joselyn muttered bitterly. “Her armor protects her from of what I can do…” She held up dagger made of glowing pink energy. “And my mind control doesn’t work on women.”

“Yeah,” I responded with a grin, “but she does have two guys standing behind her.”

“Good point,” Joselyn responded with a laugh. Then she stared at them with a look of concentration and yelled out, “Attack that armored woman…”

The two armed guards immediately turned to point their weapons at the woman, but she reacted faster and blasted both of them with her energy, leaving them both completely encased in ice. I gasped, having no idea if they were already dead from the cold or if they’d freeze and suffocate in there instead. However, before I could think much about that, she turned her attention back to us.

I immediately spread my darkness out again to make it harder for her to hit us. However, we were in a hallway so she just had to blast down the hallway the same way that the previous guard did. Joselyn and I backed up as quickly as we could while the armored woman opened fire with her blasts, leaving the walls, ceiling, and floor all coated with ice. But it seemed that her range was limited and that we’d managed to get back, right out of that range.

“Using my powers to make other people do my fighting for me always feels like cheating,” Joselyn whispered to me.

“What was it you were saying about cheating or losing?” I asked her with a grin that she wouldn’t be able to see.

Joselyn just responded, “Bite me.”

The armored woman was continuing to fire blasts of freezing energy in all directions at random, making it difficult to charge her in the dark. I tapped into my reserves of energy and felt myself humming with it. She seemed to be moving much slower to my eyes so I watched her for several more seconds before deciding to make my move.

“Wish me luck,” I told Joselyn before charging down the hall as fast as I could.

I jumped down the hall over the ice as far as I could, surprising even myself since I’d never been able to jump that far before. Still, it wasn’t quite enough to bypass all the ice and I landed about three quarters of the way across and continued sliding the rest of the way on my ass, until I hit the armored woman and knocked her off her feet. I immediately began worked at pinning her and keeping her from being able to aim at me. My advantage in speed and being able to see made it so that there was little she could do against me.

“I think her helmet has some sort of latch,” Joselyn called to me, looking in my general direction though it was obvious that she couldn’t see. She was relying almost entirely on her sixth sense at the moment.

I tried examining the armored woman’s helmet while I struggled with her and then found the latch on the back of her neck where the helmet connected with the rest of her armor. I pulled it and there was a popping noise and her helmet split open wide enough so that it could be removed. I managed to get her helmet off her and saw that she was completely bald.

“Normally, I’d feel bad about hitting a girl,” I muttered, punching her several times in the face. “But I guess I’m gonna have to get over that now.”

When the woman in the armor was no longer moving other than to moan, I pulled my power in close to me again so that Joselyn could see. She came over, being very careful of all the ice, and gave the woman a dirty look before turning her attention to one of the locked doors. There was a keypad next to the door and she began pushing buttons until it opened.

“After you,” Joselyn told me with a faint bow.

“Why thank you,” I responded, stepping inside of what looked like a small jail cell with a cot bolted to the wall. Rikki stood in the middle of the room.

“About time you guys got here,” Rikki said, not seeming at all surprised by our presence.

“She’s been watching us with her powers,” Joselyn responded with a shrug. “I thought I felt someone watching me…”

I nodded at that, surprised that I hadn’t even considered the possibility. “Do you know how the others are doing?” I asked Rikki. Truthfully, it was Christine that I was most concerned about.

“They just found the people we left behind,” Rikki answered. “And they were fighting an armored guy who shoots fire…”

I frowned at that, imagining that Christine wouldn’t be doing all that good against the fire. In fact, I wasn’t sure how good she’d be doing against the guy in the glowing green armor as well. Bullets might bounce off her but she was vulnerable to just about everything else. I just hoped she didn’t get cocky and let herself get hurt again. I still winced when I thought of the way the Bitch had cut her arm.

After this, we went down the hall to the next door, being careful not to slip in the ice all over the floor. The moment Joselyn unlocked the door, I went in and found Paul lying on the cot.

“Paul,” I exclaimed, relieved when he opened his eyes though he stared at me with a groggy expression.

“Vicki?” he asked weakly, forcing himself to sit up though it obviously took some effort.

“It’s Velvet now,” I joked weakly. “That’s my new super hero name…”

Paul snorted at that. Then he said, “If you weren’t a girl right now, I could kiss you.”

“Are you all right?” I asked him, worried about the groggy look and lack of energy. “They must have drugged you to keep you from using your powers.”

“Didn’t need to,” he responded with a weak smile. “I totally wiped myself out sending you guys away…” Then he paused to glare at me without much energy. “You were safe…”

“Yeah, but we had to come back for you,” I joked. “Without you around, Jack would have had to mess with me.”

“Do you know where Anton is?” Joselyn asked Rikki, who seemed to have been staying well informed due to her powers. “I don’t know him so can’t use my powers to find him.”

Rikki shook her head. “I can see into his room but I don’t know where it is.”

“Damn,” I muttered, wishing that I had a cell phone or something to call the others. Unfortunately, that kind of communication was something we hadn’t thought about before coming here, much less splitting up. I glanced at Joselyn, thinking that she was the experienced one and wondering why she didn’t think of it. “I guess we’ll just have to go find the others.”

“Two floors down,” Joselyn said with a thoughtful look, the same look she got when she was trying to focus on her using her sixth sense.

We started moving towards the others but I was becoming aware of how the situation had just changed. With my ability to hide in the shadows and Joselyn’s ability to give me a heads up and still function, the two of us had been a pretty effective team. However, neither Rikki or the still exhausted Paul were able to help us much at the moment and my darkness powers would only blind them, making my power more risky to use. I was suddenly fully conscious of the fact that everyone with the really powerful offensive abilities had gone with the other group.

Just as we reached the elevator, Joselyn suddenly froze and exclaimed, “Oh shit…”

The elevator door opened and the Bitch stood there along with the man in the glowing green armor. He had his weapon pointed right at us while the Bitch had a pair of pistils in hand.

“Not good,” Paul muttered.

I quickly looked around for a way to run and saw that three more armed guards were coming towards us down the same hall we’d just come from. “We’re surrounded.”

“You saved me the effort of having to go out looking for you again,” the Bitch said with a sneer. “Thank you.”

I stared at the Bitch and then the armored man with her, feeling a bit afraid but not nearly as much as I would have before. After all, I’d already proven that the man in green armor couldn’t hurt me since I could just absorb the energy he shot. The Bitch was another matter, but I was confident that my enhanced reflexes and ability to blind her would give me the advantage. The real concern was getting hit by random shots from her guns.

The man in green armor pointed his weapon right at me and I braced myself to absorb the blast, smirking as I did so since he obviously didn’t learn. But instead of a burst of energy, something black came at me instead. I didn’t even register the difference before I was suddenly hit in in my chest with an immense force that sent me flying back and screaming in agony. Not only did my breasts hurt as though I’d been kicked in the most sensitive of spots, but my entire body burned and spasmed. I collapsed to the floor, hurting like hell and unable to move.

I was terrified and confused by what was happening but still able to watch. Paul was shot as well and flew back, hitting the ground beside me. This time, I’d been able to see that he was shot with some sort of black sphere the size of a golf ball, which hit him in the gut and then splattered like goo and released sparks. And while he was shaking from the sparks, the black goo spread into tendrils and wrapped around him, tying him up.

I’d heard that cops sometimes shot beanbag rounds at rioters when they wanted to stop them without actually doing any permanent harm. It suddenly occurred to me that this was sort of like one of those beanbag rounds with a taser and handcuffs both built in. Unfortunately, understanding what he’d shot me with didn’t give me a way to escape.

A moment later, Rikki was on the ground along with Paul and myself while Joselyn had been able to use a glowing pink disk to block the attack against her. However, the Bitch didn’t hesitate and immediately charged Joselyn, punching and kicking at her while Joselyn tried frantically to block the high speed attacks…without much look. And while she was doing that, her back was exposed to the man in the green armor who shot her in the back with one of those rounds and neutralized her as well.

“Grab these four,” the Bitch ordered the guards. She gestured to Joselyn and said, “If this one is involved, we may need hostages against her family.”

With that, the guards came forward and began picking us up. I immediately tried calling on my power so that they wouldn’t be able to see us but that only earned me a swift kick in my ribs. I gasped in pain and dropped my powers.

“No more of that or I’ll show you what real pain is,” the Bitch hissed.

The man who picked me up slung me over his shoulder, much to my frustration and utter humiliation. However, it was even worse when he took advantage of the opportunity to grab my breasts. Not only was that humiliating, but painful as well. One of my breasts was completely bruised from where I’d been shot.

We were hauled into the elevator and taken back up again were we were dropped unceremoniously in the middle of what looked like a large conference room. There was a big table with chairs around it, the kind that would have been perfect for a business meeting. I could only imagine the kind of meetings these people would have.

“What is the meaning of this?” Dr. Glass demanded, standing back and staring at us with a look of distaste on her clear features. Then she looked at Joselyn and frowned with a look of confusion. “This isn’t one of our escaped subjects…”

“No,” the Bitch responded with a scowl. “But she is the reason I brought them here. We need to keep these hostages close at hand when her family comes for her…if they aren’t already here.”

“What do you mean?” Dr. Glass demanded coldly.

“This one,” the Bitch said, bending over and grabbing Joselyn’s face in her hand. “This one is part of Knight Force so I doubt they’re far behind. And if they aren’t now, they will be as soon as they learn we have her.”

“So she’s developed but wasn’t exposed to the PF78,” Dr. Glass mused thoughtfully. “It might be educational to see what an exposure to the mutagen would do to one who is already developed…”

“That would guarantee we have a dozen pissed of super heroes hunting us down to the ends of the Earth,” the Bitch said grimly. “Including the Black Sheep.” She shook her head and continued, “I suggest we keep this one as a hostage for now. You can still do whatever you want with the rest.”

“Most of the subjects could still be quite useful,” Dr. Glass commented thoughtfully. “For more than just discovering how they survived the altered PF78.” She stood there for a moment and gestured to Rikki. “This one could allow me to spy on my rivals and enemies, gathering useful intelligence. Or I could sell her to others to use in that manner. I’m certain I can fetch quite a large sum for her.”

“Selling her could backfire on you,” the Bitch told her. “Your enemies might get her and use her against you.”

“True,” Dr. Glass agreed with a sigh. She looked to Paul and said, “Having the ability to transport goods past all customs and inspections can also be quite valuable.”

“Or teleporting a bomb right where you want it,” the Bitch added with a cold grin. “No way to see it coming.”

I just glared up at both of them and blurted out, “You’re both a couple of sick fucks… I can’t believe you’d do all this just for money.”

Dr. Glass glared down at me before saying, “Young and naive. I think I was that way once.” Then she turned to the Bitch and told her, “Put a gag on her.”

The Bitch nodded and then gestured to Joselyn. “We’ll have to be careful with this one. She once took down Force.”

“Force?” Dr. Glass asked blankly. Then her eyes widened. “You don’t mean that so called hero?”

“He certainly wasn’t a hero when I was working for him,” the Bitch responded with a cruel chuckle.

I just stared at Joselyn, hardly able to believe what I’d just heard. Force was once one of the most famous heroes around, a longtime member of the Protectorate as well as one of their most powerful members. Then he supposedly snapped and went crazy, at least that was what my dad said. I liked Joselyn and she’d impressed me quite a bit, but I seriously doubted that she could have ever beat someone like Force.

“I shouldn’t have taken it so easily on you the last time,” Joselyn told the Bitch with a look of cold anger in her eyes. “I still haven’t forgiven you for what you did to my family. Just wait till the rest of them get here…”

“I think you’re bluffing,” the Bitch told Joselyn grimly. “I don’t think they are involved or they would have shown themselves by now. But since we can’t afford to take the chance, we’ll keep you nice and close…just in case.” She pulled out one of her knives and grinned evilly.

Paul chuckled weakly and said, “Wow, you really are a bitch.”

“On second thought,” Dr. Glass said with a look of annoyance. “Forget the gags. I think we’ll remove their tongues. They won’t need those to be of use.”

The Bitch just grinned even more evilly at that and held up her knife. “I’d be more than happy to…”

The Bitch looked like she was trying to decide who to start with when the sound of gunfire suddenly came from outside. A moment later, Christine burst through the doorway with a furious look on her face. Tasha came in right behind her, holding up Anton who was wearing a hospital gown and looked like he could barely stand.

“Look who we found,” Tasha exclaimed. Then she scowled in annoyance and said, “He made me bring him instead of leaving like he should have…”

“Tash told me you all came for me,” Anton said with a look of determination. “I’m not leaving without you…”

And with that, he opened his mouth and fired a blast of green energy right at the Bitch. The Bitch dove to the side so the blast missed her and hit one of the large windows which covered the wall and melting a hole right through it.

Christine immediately grabbed the man in the green armor and threw him against the side wall with incredible ease. “I’m not letting you touch Vic…Vicki.”

“Vic will do fine,” I muttered, sitting up and trying to get loose.

Tasha threw a punch at the Bitch, and while the Bitch was dodging out of the way, she used her other arm to reach out and grab her ankle, causing her to hit the ground. When the Bitch slashed out with her knife, Tasha yanked her hands back and then stretched out of the way when one of the knives was thrown at her.

“I think I’ve got enough to…,” Paul started, having a look of intense concentration on his face. Suddenly, the black goo cables which had been tying me up all vanished, though I had no idea where he’d sent it all. All I knew was that I was free. I quickly scrambled to free Joselyn since she’d be more use at the moment than Paul, and once she was free I was able to focus on Paul and Rikki.

“Where are the others?” I asked, noticing the absence of Jack and Becky in this little rescue.

“We found the guys they were still holding,” Christine answered grimly, pausing to throw a guard off to the side. “Jack and Becky are getting them out of the building.”

“There were only three of them,” Tasha exclaimed angrily. “They killed another one…”

I grimaced in anger and looked to Dr. Glass who was standing back and watching the fight without doing anything herself, though she did keep looking towards the door she couldn’t quite reach. It was a bit eerie to see her in person since she looked like a human sized glass figurine, except that she moved just as though she was still human.

Anton opened his mouth and fired another blast of green energy, only this time the Bitch moved past Christine and punched Anton in the side. His blast of energy hit the ceiling and burned a hole through it but he immediately dropped to his knees in obvious pain. After all, he’d just been hit right where he’d previously been shot. Tasha was by his side, holding onto him and simultaneously reaching out to shove the Bitch back, halfway across the room.

“I wish I had more energy left,” Paul muttered bitterly.

Rikki snorted. “I wish that I had a power that was useful.”

I didn’t dare absorb all the light since I’d be blinding my friends as well as our enemies, but I remembered that I did still have other options. I turned on my power again, keeping the absorption field close to my skin so that I looked like a living shadow again. And while I did that, I drew some of my stored energy to boost my reflexes and agility again.

Dr. Glass picked a gun of the ground, a pistol that had been dropped by the Bitch while she’d been dodging attacks. The glass woman held the gun with a look of distasted and then pointed it at the nearest person…me.

“I detest having to resort to such methods,” Dr. Glass said with a dark look in her eyes.

I felt a moment of terror as she pulled the trigger, but my enhanced reflexes and her bad aim meant that I was able to move in one direction fast enough to avoid being hit. It wasn’t until I’d done so that I remembered that my costume was theoretically bulletproof when it came to small arms fire…not that I had any intention of actually testing that.

Before Dr. Glass could fire a second shot, I was moving towards her, hitting her arm as hard as I could to force her to aim the gun away from me. Her arm hit the edge of the table and to my surprise, it shattered.

“Shit,” I blurted out in shock as Dr. Glass’ entire arm broke off halfway between the elbow and shoulder. There were shards of glass scattered over the table and floor.

Dr. Glass didn’t look in pain at all, though she did look pissed. She glared at me with a cold anger and a sneer on her glass lips. Then to my surprise, all the glass shards of what had been her arm, all began to move and then flew right back to her arm where they reassembled themselves.

“Not good,” I whispered, staring at Dr. Glass’ repaired arm. Before, it had been smooth and seamless but now the entire rebuilt arm was composed of shards of that were jagged and stuck out all over. Just touching that arm would probably get you sliced up pretty good. “That looks nasty.”

“You’re going to pay for touching me,” Dr. Glass exclaimed.

Dr. Glass held her ruined arm out towards me and it suddenly exploded with all the shards of glass flying at me like a shotgun blast. I immediately dove to the side, hitting the ground and avoiding most of the blast. Some of the shards had hit me, though my costume had protected me from most of them. Still, I felt a stinging in my shoulder where at least one of the shards had gotten through.

Even as I was getting back to my feet, all the shards of glass were flying back to Dr. Glass again and reforming back into her ruined arm. I gulped, realizing that if she could do that, then she could continue blasting at me with shards of herself.

But right then, the Bitch snarled and I glanced over to see that she was starting to change. Her whole body was growing larger while hair sprouted from all over. Her clothes tore and shredded under her growing form, while at the same time, she also became far scarier looking. Her hands became claws and her face stretched out into a wolven snout.

“A werewolf,” Rikki exclaimed in terror, her eyes going wide.

Tasha punched at the Bitch while trying to keep her distance and remain close to Anton while Christine was left to deal with her mostly by herself. My sister grabbed the large wolven creature and tried slamming her into the ground. It was obvious though that the Bitch had become far stronger and more powerful.

Christine and the Bitch went at it with the monsterous villain slashing at my sister with her claws. Christine frantically blocked the attacks though the Bitch was faster. However, Christine was able to grab hold of her arm and then slammed her hard down onto the meeting table, smashing right through it.

Dr. Glass took advantage of my distraction and her arm exploded towards me in another blast of glass shrapnel. Fortunately, Joselyn jumped in the way, creating a glowing pink force field disk which blocked all the shards. A moment later, the shards returned to reform the glass woman’s arm again.

Then I noticed the man in the green armor had rejoined the fight and was aiming his weapon right towards Joselyn. She was still holding her energy shield between her and Dr. Glass so wouldn’t be able to block that attack at the same time. I dove at Joselyn, knocking her to the ground a moment before another one of those black golf balls hit where she’d been.

“I’ve got this one,” I told Joselyn, jumping at the man in the green armor, moving faster than he expected and snatching the weapon right out of his hands. “I think I can use this…” Then I aimed and fired it right at Dr. Glass.

Dr. Glass was thrown back but quickly got back to her feet, revealing that her entire chest and torso was now badly cracked and looked as though she was barely still remaining whole rather than shattering completely. However, she showed no indications of being bothered by the shocking effects of the black ball of goo that was starting to wrap around her.

“I no longer have a human nervous system,” Dr. Glass stated contemptuously, using the sharp edges on her shattered hand to cut away at the goo tendrils. She tore the whole thing off and dropped it to the ground, seeming angry but unharmed. “I hate being forced to fight in this manner so you will all pay severely for forcing me to do so.”

“Just shut up already,” Joselyn exclaimed, throwing one of her glowing pink daggers right at Dr. Glass. The moment it hit Dr. Glass in the chest, the glass woman’s torso shattered. As her still mostly intact head and limbs hit the floor, they each shattered as well. “Oh, it looks like she just fell all apart.”

With that, I turned my attention back to the armored man who was trying to punch at me. My boosted reflexes allowed me to move to the side fast enough that his fist brushed my cheek instead of hitting me straight on. Still, it hurt a bit and distracted me enough that he was able to land a solid second punch in my stomach.

“Damn,” I grimaced, absorbing just enough light around myself so that I’d look like a patch of velvet blackness. It wasn’t enough to blind him or anyone else, but it was enough to keep him from seeing my specific movements. When I punched him, he didn’t really see it coming, not that it did much except bounce off his face plate. “I hate this armor…”

Then the Bitch let out a loud howl and I quickly glanced over to where she and Christine were grabbing and trying to throw each other around. She wasn’t punching Christine so much as trying to grab her or claw her so my sister was using up her strength far more than she was absorbing new energy. There was no doubt in my mind that she wouldn’t be able to keep that up for much longer at all. A moment later, the two of them went staggering to the side, accidentally catching Rikki in their momentum and all three toppled out the hole that Anton had created in the wall.

“NO,” I cried out in horror as I watched Rikki and my sister go.

Tasha’s arm immediately stretched out through the open hole and she exclaimed, “I’ve got Rikki…” She was bracing herself on the floor and using her other hand to hold tightly onto the door frame while Anton held her tight to keep her from being pulled out.

“Rikki,” Paul exclaimed, rushing to the hole to help pull Rikki back in.

My armored opponent took advantage of my distraction again to try attacking me but Joselyn came to my rescue, attacking him with glowing pink knives, not that they were able to penetrate his armor. “Keep focused,” Joselyn snapped at me.

“But Christine,” I responded, still shocked and horrified at the way she’d just fallen out the hole.

Joselyn just snorted at that. “Chris will be fine. He’ll just absorb the impact and end up stronger than ever.” Then she paused to grin evilly. “But the Bitch… I don’t think she can survive that kind of fall.”

I nodded, realizing that she was right and letting out a sigh of relief. Since I didn’t have to worry about Christine, I turned my full attention back to the man in armor. I launched myself at him, spreading my darkness just a bit more so that he couldn’t see. And while he was flailing away and trying to hit me, I slipped behind him and popped the latch on his helmet. I yanked his helmet off, revealing that he was just as bald as the woman in the blue armor had been. And without his helmet to protect him, I was able to finally start hitting him in the face and doing some real damage. In almost no time at all, he was on the floor and no longer a threat.

Tasha and Paul had already pulled Rikki back inside where it was safe, though she was on her knees, obviously a bit traumatized from her near fall. Tasha, Paul and Anton were all checking on her to make sure she was all right but Joselyn stood back with a scowl on her face. We’d just taken out every one of the enemies in the room but I could tell from her expression that she wasn’t happen. Then a moment later, I saw why.

All the shards of glass on the ground were starting to move. In seconds, they all pulled back together, taking the form of a woman. Dr. Glass had pulled her entire body back together the same way she had done with her arm before. Now her entire body was made of shards of shattered glass, giving her a dangerous look instead of a fragile one.

“I will not allow you children to ruin my plans,” Dr. Glass stated with a cold angry voice. “You’ve already cost me millions and I won’t allow you to ruin everything I’ve worked for…”

Dr. Glass held out her arms and half her body exploded, sending shards of glass everywhere. I dove to the floor as did everyone else, though we weren’t all fast enough. Our uniforms were tough enough to protect us from most of the shrapnel but I felt a sting in my thigh and my upper arm. The others had all been hit too with Paul and Rikki both getting the brunt of it since they had no costumes for protection. Paul was bleeding from a slash across his cheek and bits of blood on his clothes showed he’d been hit in multiple other places

“My back,” Rikki called out in pain. She’d taken at least a dozen pieces of glass over her back.

“Anton,” Tasha exclaimed, revealing that he’d been hit a few times as well.

“Damn,” Anton muttered with a grimace of pain. I winced as I considered just how much damage he’d been taking.

All the shards of glass flew right back to reform Dr. Glass again. She stood there with a smirk and I could see that she was preparing herself to do this again. If she continued doing this, she’d slowly cut us to pieces bit by bit. I grimaced, realizing that I couldn’t let her do that to the others…especially Paul, Rikki and Anton since they had no protection.

“Everyone get out,” I ordered them. “Go find Jack and Becky… I’ll deal with Doctor Glass.” I just wished that I felt as confident as I sounded.

“I’ll stay with you,” Joselyn said.

I just shook my head at that. “I’ll be shutting the lights off… Besides, they may need you if they run into more guards.”

Joselyn hesitated a moment before nodding reluctant agreement. “All right…but you’d better not get killed. Chris would never forgive me.”

With that, Joselyn and the others rushed out the door and down the hall, leaving just me and Dr. Glass. She’d held back and watched while this happened rather than attacking again. Perhaps she just wanted to get rid of us rather than beat us herself. She certainly seemed like the type who didn’t like getting her hands dirty and preferred letting other people do that. In fact, I suspected that she might even let me turn and leave as well…but would then send an army of those soldiers and thugs after us.

“I guess I’d better deal with this now,” I muttered, my heart racing in fear.

Dr. Glass suddenly ran at me, swinging her hand as though to slap me. With the jagged shards of glass sticking out, she could have cut me good if I hadn’t dodged out of the way. I grinned and then spread my power out, absorbing every bit of light in this room. The world snapped into the strange view that I was becoming used to, shades of black, white, and silver, with the only colors being the energy in the air that I was absorbing. Of course, while I was seeing this, she was completely blind.

Almost as soon as it was too dark for her to see, Dr. Glass exploded again, sending shards of glass flying in every direction. However, I knew this was coming and dove for the wreckage of the meeting table, using a large chunk of the wood as a shield to block any of the glass from hitting me. And while I was getting back up, Dr. Glass was reforming herself again. I scowled as I watched her do so, knowing that she’d be sending shards of glass out again very soon. She was sort of predictable that way.

Once Dr. Glass was fully reformed, she abruptly turned and looked right at me before firing blasts of shrapnel from just her arms and aiming only in my direction. I dove for cover behind the table wreckage again, gasping in surprise. She somehow knew where I was. I grabbed a section of the table and moved but she attacked me again, seemingly having no problems at all with the darkness.

“Oh shit,” I muttered, realizing just how much trouble I was on.

My greatest weapon, the ability to blind my opponents was completely useless against her. I couldn’t really do anything against her directly because even if I hit her and shattered her to pieces again, she’d just pull herself back together again in a few moments, while she could just keep coming after me until she slowly wore me away bit by bit. And to make it even more dangerous for me, my energy level was getting low so I’d only be able to fuel my enhanced reflexes for another minute or two at most.

“How the hell are you seeing?” I demanded in frustration after Dr. Glass fired another burst of glass shrapnel at me.

“I don’t need my eyes to see,” she responded with a smug tone. “I can sense my environment from every shard in my body…”

I dodged out of the way again and realized that the floor was covered with tiny glass shards and dust. In fact, I had some of it on me as well…on my costume and in my hair. If she could sense the environment from every piece of herself, then she could easily sense me moving around. I grimaced at that, brushing off what I could though I suspected it wouldn’t do any good. She’d intentionally left too many tiny pieces of herself all over the room.

Dr. Glass shot the shards from her left arm towards me and I jumped out of the way, grabbing a chair and using that to block some of the other pieces. But while I was doing this, Dr. Glass charged at me, using her left hand like a knife to try slicing me. Again, I was forced to shift position, hitting her with the chair and shattering most of her body while I flung myself back. Unfortunately, that used up the rest of my stored energy and my reflexes and agility abruptly shifted back to normal.

In the moment of confusion when the energy left my body and I suddenly felt slow and clumsy in comparison, I slipped on the floor and fell flat on my face. Dr. Glass immediately sent another barrage and I was unable to escape it this time and the only thing I could do was curl into a ball and try protecting my head. Shards of glass blasted over my body with some of them breaking through my uniform and going painfully into my flesh. I screamed in pain and was unable to continue my absorption. Suddenly, the lights were back on as well.

While I was slowly getting back to my feet, wincing from the pain and feeling the fear creeping in again, Dr. Glass was pulling herself back together. All of the shards when flying to her reforming body, including the tiny ones she’d left on me and scattered about the floor. With my having turned off my light absorption, she no longer needed to spread herself out in order to sense my movements.

“Oh no,” I whispered, my heart racing in increasing terror as I realized that I was done for. There was nothing else I could do against her.

Then Dr. Glass laughed, seeming to realize my thoughts. She could see for herself that I was beaten and all she had to do was fire another few bursts of glass. I couldn’t dodge them anymore and I was hurting too much to even run away very effectively. But instead of attacking again, her shattered body began to change. All the sharp edges and shards that she was now made of began to melt and flow into each other. In mere seconds, she looked exactly as she did when I first saw her, smooth and flawless, like a perfectly made glass figurine. There was no longer any sign of a single crack.

“You and those other children have cost me a great deal of money and resources,” Dr. Glass said coldly. “You’ve proven far more troublesome than you’re worth so I have no choice but to cut my losses and have you all eliminated.”

“We’ve already proved your contamination story was crap,” I said defiantly. “I don’t think the cops are going to appreciate your having lied to them all.”

The glass woman didn’t respond to that though she did bend over, picking up the gun that she’d dropped earlier when I shattered her arm. “This is a much more sanitary way of dealing business,” she mused, pointing the gun at me again.

Dr. Glass pulled the trigger and I felt a burst of pain in my stomach at the same time I heard the sound. I was thrown back and hit the ground hard. Me entire stomach hurt like hell.

For a moment, I was absolutely certain that I was dying and I felt a cold terror and desperation to live. Then I remembered what Genius said about the costume being made of some sort of bulletproof material. It was with an immense effort that I bent over enough to look. There was no blood on my stomach and no hole from the bullet. The costume had stopped the bullet but not all the force.

“Damn,” I whispered, wondering how come this costume could stop bullets but some pieces of glass had been able to pierce it.

I felt a strange mixture of relief and terror as I absorbed the fact that I’d survived being shot but that I would probably get shot again in just a moment. That bullet would likely be through my forehead.

Dr. Glass was turning away from me, apparently not realizing that the bullet never made it through my uniform. I took a deep breath and then forced myself to get back to my feet. It was slow and difficult but I did it, glaring at the glass woman the entire time.

Then she turned around and stared at me with a look of surprise. She raised the gun again for a second shot but I rushed her, slamming into her and pushing her back. Before she could recover, I shoved her right out the gaping hole in the wall and watched as she fell.

“Oh God,” I staggered back, hardly able to believe what I’d done…that I’d shoved someone out a window to their certain death. Then again, she wasn’t a normal person and would probably be able to pull herself together again even from that. “All I did was get her away from me…”

I stood there for a moment, trying to make sense of everything that had just happened. Just a couple weeks ago I’d been a perfectly normal guy, but now I was a girl with super powers. Now here I was, dressed in a super hero costume and fighting super villains. It just didn’t make any sense.

My emotions were a swirling mess inside of me, suddenly choosing now to all erupt at once. Relief at surviving Dr. Glass fought with the fear, anger, confusion, and frustration until they all formed a dense knot in my stomach. Then before I even realized it, I found that I was standing there crying and I didn’t even know why.

“What’s wrong with me?” I whimpered, wiping the tears away and suddenly wondering if this was what it was like for Becky who was crying all the time now.

While I was doing this, someone suddenly burst through the door. I snapped around, bracing myself to summon my darkness so I could fight another guard. To my relief, it was Christine. She stopped at the doorway and looked around for a moment, relaxing when she saw that there was no one left to fight.

“They said you were fighting Dr. Glass alone,” Christine said, giving me a concerned look. “I came to help…”

“I threw her out the window,” I responded with a faint smile, gesturing to the large hole that Christine had fallen out herself.

“Ouch,” Christine responded with a chuckle. “It’s a pretty good fall.” Then she grinned and flexed her muscles, exclaiming, “You wouldn’t believe how strong I feel after absorbing that impact. I think I could probably throw cars around now…”

“Yeah,” I responded wryly. “There’s a lot of call for that.” Then I scowled and asked, “And did the Bitch go splat?”

Christine shook her head and let out a sigh. “No… She was holding onto me when I absorbed the impact so I ended up saving her at the same time as myself. But I guess she realized how strong I am now because she immediately ran off.” Then Christine came closer and gave me a look of worry, putting a finger to my cheek and touching one of my tears. “Are you okay?”

“I...I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “I don’t even know why I’m crying…” I wiped the tears from my eyes again and forced a weak smile. “I mean, I just threw the bad guy out a window… I should be happy…”

“I guess everything that’s been happening just caught up at once,” Christine told my sympathetically, giving me a hug which somehow felt comforting rather than awkward.

“Careful,” I told her, wincing as her touch made me very aware of just how much I hurt. One breast was probably a solid bruise from the black goo ball that I’d been shot with while my stomach hurt from the gunshot. Add the cuts from Dr. Glass and all the other various bruises and I knew that I’d be hurting for awhile.

Christine nodded and relaxed her grip but then teased, “You used to tease me about girls having mood swings so maybe it’s your turn to have one.”

“Bite me,” I responded self-consciously. “I hate karma.”

Christine pulled away from me but left a hand on my shoulder. “At least Joselyn proves that turning into a girl isn’t so bad. She seems pretty happy with it.”

I blinked in surprise. “She told you about that?”

“Yeah,” Christine admitted with a bright blush. “We were talking and…” She paused and blushed even brighter if that was possible. “She’s nice…”

I just chuckled at that and nodded agreement. “But you like her…don’t you?” Christine looked a little surprised but I quickly added, “I’ve seen the way you were looking at her earlier. You’re starting to like girls now…aren’t you?”

Christine hesitated a moment before gulping and quietly responding, “Yeah… I think so.” Then she asked, “What about you?”

“I don’t know,” I told her honestly. “I haven’t really been attracted to anyone since I changed.”

We were both silent for a moment before Christine said, “Come on, let’s get out of here…” Then before I realized it, she picked me up as though I weighed absolutely nothing and jumped out the whole in the wall.

I screamed as we rushed towards the distant ground while Christine grinned excitedly. We landed on the ground softly, with no more impact than as if we’d fallen a couple inches. Only then did Christine put me down.

“You fucking asshole,” I yelled at her, my heart racing after that jump.

“I thought you liked getting an adrenaline rush,” Christine teased me smugly. “You and Miles certainly used to do enough stupid stuff to get one…”

“Bite me,” I responded coldly, turning to look around.

I gasped in surprise as I realized that there were three large helicopters on the ground around the building as well as at least two dozen armed people, all wearing SWAT type armor. However, these ones were dressed a bit different than the soldiers we’d been fighting and each of them had the letters D.A.D. printed in white lettering across their backs.

“What the…?” I started, then saw an ambulance off to the side with my friends gathered around it and getting treated.

“Genius called them in,” Joselyn exclaimed as she came running over to join us. “They’re the Developed Affairs Department...real government agents. My dad has to deal with DAD all the time because they’re the government people who deal with developed.”

“Hence their name,” I responded wryly, still trying to make sense of all this.

A middle aged man with white hair and a black suit came walking towards us, obviously a government guy. A woman with black hair was walking a short distance behind him, somehow seeming a little intense. Joselyn watched her with a curious expression.

“I’m Agent Rice,” the white haired man said, looking at Christine and me. He gestured to the woman with him and added, “This is agent Briggs. I was told you were dealing with this Doctor Glass…”

“Yeah,” I responded with a faint smile. “I shoved her out the window…” I gestured to the tiny glass shards and powdered glass that was spread out over a wide distance on the ground. “You might want to sweep her up while you can…”

“I’ll get someone on that,” Agent Briggs said, looking at the ground and then shaking her head before walking off.

“I want you to tell me about Doctor Glass and this operation,” Agent Rice announced, looking at Christine and me.

“I think Vicki needs medical attention before being debriefed,” Joselyn said, giving me a concerned look.

Agent Rice nodded faintly, looking annoyed but not arguing with her. I just remained where I was, knowing that I needed a doctor to check me out since I might need some stitches, but at the moment my curiosity took precedence.

“Genius told me of what happened to you all, so you don’t need to be concerned that we’re going to quarantine you,” Agent Rice stated. “However, we do need to debrief you all about Doctor Glass and the canisters of PF78.”

“Why don’t you tell us what your real interest here is,” Joselyn told him with an intense look in her eyes.

“Some time ago, we were cleaning out an abandoned facility and discovered the PF78,” Agent Rice explained. “It was near where a powerful developed named Lady Hexx first appeared and we have evidence which suggests she may have been exposed to the mutagen. We contracted a scientist to study it but then she disappeared along with all of our samples.”

Agent Rice suddenly froze and glared at Joselyn. “If you ever try using your powers on me like that again, I will have words with your father.”

Joselyn cringed back at that, suddenly looking worried. “Sorry,” she said quietly.

“Was your scientist named Doctor Sheridon?” I asked, remembering what Dr. McNeal had called her. “Someone said that was Doctor Glass’ real name and that she used to work for the government.”

“Yes,” Agent Rice responded with a scowl. “Doctor Elizabeth Sheridon. We strongly suspected that she was Doctor Glass but this just confirms it.” He shook his head and admitted, “It appears that she was using her old credentials to convince local authorities that she represented DAD and the CDC. That will NOT happen again.” He looked deadly serious as he said that.

“I hope not,” Christine said, looking as angry as I felt about it. “I can’t believe she got away with making up that story and having everyone believe it without any proof.”

Just then, Agent Rice froze and reached to an ear piece he was wearing. “Good job,” he said, obviously to whoever was on the other end of the radio rather than to us. Then he turned his attention back to us and said, “My people just recovered two canisters of the PF78.”

“That’s good,” Christine said with a smile. “She said that she only had the two left, after the one that changed us.”

Agent Rice scowled at that, and when I wondered why, he stated, “Unfortunately, she originally stole five canisters. That means we still have two of them unaccounted for.”

“Oh shit,” I whispered, suddenly having a bad feeling.

It suddenly dawned on me that this building and all these hired soldiers must have cost a great deal of money, money that Dr. Glass might have gotten by selling those canisters. However, that was the DAD’s problem, not mine. With Dr. Glass being taken care of and our names being cleared, this was no longer our concern.

With that, Agent Rice left us to go talk with some of his people about the canisters, leaving our debriefing for a little later. I was grateful for that because I felt like I was going to collapse soon. Christine gave me some support as we walked to the ambulance so I could get checked out, and hopefully, get something for the pain.

“Damn, you look fucked up,” Becky exclaimed when she saw me, though she was smiling and gave me a thumbs up.

“Glad you made it,” Paul told me, looking as though he was about to slap me on the back but then thought twice about it. “You really had me worried when you stayed behind.”

“Me too,” Rikki agreed, wincing as a medic worked on cleaning her injured back.

Jack stood next to Rikki, looking down at her protectively. He gave the medic a jealous look that suddenly made me realize that the big ugly jock may have just developed a thing for Rikki. I wasn’t sure if she shared the feelings or if anything could possibly happen because of his looks, but I did kind of wish him what happiness he could find. After all, it wasn’t going to be easy for him from now on. In fact, he was going to have it MUCH worse than me.

“You may be a chick now,” Jack told me almost reluctantly, “but you’ve still got balls to take that crazy bitch on by yourself.” Then he paused for a moment before bragging, “Of course, I could have kicked her ass without so much trouble…”

I nodded at that and then looked to where Anton was being put on a stretcher by another medic. It looked like he was all right, everything considered, and that the medic was just being safe. Tasha stood beside him, holding his hand.

I looked around briefly for the three that Jack and Becky had escorted out and caught sight of them talking to some of the DAD people. I scowled, desperately hoping that all of these people paid for my classmates they’d murdered. Donny, Ed, Michelle, and a girl named Nita. All of them had been killed for no good reason.

“Excuse me,” a man said from beside me, distracting me from my thoughts. “You look like you need some medical attention.”

I turned to look at the medic, immediately noticing that he was in his early twenties as well as tall and athletic. In fact, his uniform was even a bit tight around his muscular chest and shoulders. For some reason, I found him strangely interesting and couldn’t help but staring for several seconds before I realized that I was doing so.

“Oh shit,” I whispered, suddenly realizing what that these strange feelings and the warm flush through my body meant.

“I’ll need you to remove that uniform if I’m to get at your cuts,” the medic told me professionally. “I can get a woman to attend you for that if you’d prefer, or I might be able to just cut your uniform away around the wounds…”

“I’ll…I’ll wait till I can get to the hospital,” I told him, feeling unbelievably awkward and self-conscious. “I’m mostly just bruised.”

The handsome medic nodded at that and then went to help someone else who needed more attention at the moment. I watched him walk away with a cold lump of lead in my gut.

“What’s wrong?” Joselyn asked me a moment later, giving me a concerned look.

“It’s official,” I responded with a gulp.

Joselyn gave me a blank look and asked, “What is?”

I blushed brightly in embarrassment and whispered, “I’m NOT a lesbian.”

Joselyn just started laughing at that. “At least you know,” she told me, putting a hand around my shoulder but being careful of the cuts. “I know it’s pretty freaky at first, but trust me, it’s not that bad once you get used to the idea.”

I nodded at that and then just stared down at myself, suddenly realizing that with Dr. Glass and her people gone, I now had another huge problem to deal with, one that scared me even more than the prospect of learning to be a girl or liking guys. I felt a cold knot of dread as I realized that now I would have to go home and face my mom and dad.

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

I stood in front of the full sized mirror that stood in the corner of my mom and dad’s bedroom, staring at my reflection in silence. I was trying to see myself with an unbiased eye, to see what other people would see when they looked at me rather than what I saw when I looked at myself.

At the moment, I was wearing black slacks and a dark blue shirt that showed my curves without actually revealing much of my cleavage. I was also wearing a pair of decent shoes rather than sneakers, a pair that my mom had bought for me yesterday. They had a faint heel but not really any more than a pair of cowboy boots would. Christine…Chris said that they were almost like training heels, getting me used to the idea of walking in them so I could eventually move to real high heels.

Of course, the body that those clothes covered certainly wasn’t bad. I had a pretty nice body with D cup breasts, bigger than either what my mom had or what Chris used to have. I was beginning to get used to the way that guy nearly always stared at them in public, though I suspected it would be a good while before I got really comfortable with that.

“Not bad,” I mused, running my fingers through my shoulder length black hair. I’d just had it trimmed and styled a bit yesterday so that it looked feminine and not messy like it had been.

As I looked myself over, I had to admit that I did look very nice, something I’d already figured out with the way guys watched me. I couldn’t help but having mixed feelings about this since I was now obviously a girl and not fully comfortable with other people seeing me like that. But on the other hand, there was also a strange pride. After all, since I was going to be a girl for the rest of my life, it was nice to think that at least I was an attractive one.

It had been two weeks since Christine and I had returned home with our names cleared. Mom and dad told us how they’d never believed the story that they’d been told…never believed that we could have gone crazy due to the green fog. However, the looks of guilt in their eyes told a different story, not that we pressed them on it.

Mom and dad had also been completely freaked out about our changes at first and more than a little skeptical about our gender reversals. It was easier to believe that I was really Christine and that she was really me. It had been briefly tempting to go with that story, but neither of us wanted to live that kind of a lie, so we eventually managed to convince them of the truth. However, they did still occasionally slip up and call me Christine and her Vic.

While I’d been locked up in the barracks and on the run, I hadn’t had much privacy or opportunity to deal with my gender changes. Over the last two weeks, I’d had countless opportunities to explore my new body in private and I was trying to adjust to everyone treating me differently.

I’d learned that Joselyn had been right about people treating me differently, even people who knew who I really was. It was understandable in a way, though it took a bit of getting used to.

“Everything is taking a lot to get used to,” I muttered with a sigh.

I left the bedroom and went to the living room where Christine…Chris was sitting and talking with dad. She…he’d cut his hair too, cutting it into a short boy cut. In fact, he seemed to have embraced his new gender and was trying hard to learn how to be a guy. I just wished that it was as easy for me, though admittedly I’d already adjusted a great deal.

As I watched my sister…brother talking with our dad, I couldn’t help but feeling a little envy. He was more athletic and ripped than I’d been back when I’d still been a boy and he had awesome powers. Of course, I suspected that he was a little jealous that I was a bit more stacked than he’d been before the change.

Then I sighed, thinking about our powers and the fact that I’d played around with mine a bit over the last couple weeks but hadn’t really cut loose since the fight with Dr. Glass. However, I knew that Chris had been secretly practicing with his, trying to get an even better idea of his limits. I knew I should probably do the same.

As I watched dad and Chris talking, I felt a little jealous about that as well. Ever since our gender exchange, Chris and dad had become much closer while dad and I had become more distant. Dad now seemed a bit uncertain how he should treat me now so settled on avoiding me a little. It was as though a part of him considered me some sort of traitor to the male gender.

It would have been nice if I’d gotten closer to my mom at the same time, but that hadn’t really happened either. She was also a bit uncertain about me, and though she was trying to help me adjust to being girl, she seemed frustrated that I couldn’t just shrug off my old male identity and happily accept being female as easily as Chris had accepted his change. In a way, it sort of felt like she was pushing me to be the girl she thought I should be rather than letting me deal with it at my own pace.

The only person who seemed to get me completely was Joselyn, so I was thankful that she came over to visit every couple days. I still had no idea where she lived or how she got here since she was reluctant to talk about that. All she’d say was that she had to keep her home a secret, even from me, in order to protect her family.

“Maybe someday I can bring you over to meet them,” Joselyn had told me the last time we’d talked, two days ago. “You might like my cousin Ryan.”

Then the doorbell began ringing and when I went to check on who it was, I was delighted to see that it was Joselyn. She’d shown up while I was thinking about her, almost as though my thoughts had somehow summoned her to me. Of course, her powers didn’t work like that, but it was still nice to see her again.

“Hey Vicki,” Joselyn greeted me.

“Joselyn,” I exclaimed with a grin. “Come on in.”

“Good to see you too,” she told me, surprising me with a hug. Then she told me, “I wasn’t nearly this touchy feeling when I was a guy.” Then she paused to look over at Chris, admiring him for a minute before calling out, “Hey Chris. How’s it going?”

“Not bad,” he responded, giving her an appreciative look as well before quickly looking away and blushing brightly.

“Chris still needs to work on the whole ogling girls without getting caught thing,” I joked with Joselyn while she laughed in response and Chris turned bright red.

A moment later, Joselyn and went to my bedroom where we could have a little privacy. I was a bit self-conscious about my room because not only was it a mess, but it looked like a cross between a boy’s room and a girl’s. I’d removed the poster of the super model that I used to have on the back of the door but I hadn’t yet had the courage to replace it with something else. I had my skateboard in the corner but I also had a bra hanging from the corner of my dresser.

Joselyn didn’t seem to even notice my room, other than that my bed provided a convenient spot to sit. She hopped on it without invitation and asked, “So, what have you been up to?”

“Not a whole lot,” I admitted. I self-consciously touched my hair. “I got a new haircut yesterday… And mom bought me a makeup kit…not that I have the first clue as to how to use it.”

“No problem,” Joselyn responded with a grin. “I’ll teach you what I’ve learned. The weirdest part is having something on your face and not being able to just wipe it off.”

I just nodded at that, noticing that Joselyn didn’t seem to be wearing any makeup herself. Then again, I’d only noticed her wearing it a couple times before, and most of the time she didn’t even need it.

“Other than that…everything has been sort of weird,” I told her with a sigh. “Sort of surreal in a way. You know how it is. We’re probably the only two people in the world who know what it’s like.”

“Actually,” Joselyn said carefully, “we’re not.” At my blank look, she explained, “Genius told me that she knows a few other people who’ve gone through gender switches like us, but she won’t give any details. She says she doesn’t want to violate their privacy.”

“There’s more?” I gasped.

“My dad knows someone too,” Joselyn added with a scowl. “One of his friends switched bodies with a woman. I don’t know the details…only that it was really nasty and some of my dad’s friends died. My dad has been trying to get me to talk with her about it…to show her that she isn’t alone.” Then Joselyn shrugged and let out a sigh. “Unfortunately, she’s been avoiding my dad so he hasn’t been able to set anything up.”

“That’s too bad,” I said, wondering how hard this would have been if I didn’t have both Chris and Joselyn around. I shuddered at the very idea.

“I have a feeling that there are a lot more like us than I’d ever guessed,” Joselyn admitted with a scowl. “I imagine that most guys who turn into girls are probably too embarrassed about it and don’t want anyone to know.” She shrugged. “I know I am.”

“Me too,” I admitted, not that I could keep my change a secret after everyone made a big deal about the quarantine and all of us becoming developed.

“What about Chris?” she asked, abruptly changing the subject. Her eyes showing a little more interest than that casual tone of her voice suggested.

I hesitated a moment, not sure how much I should tell Joselyn. We hadn’t known each other very long but she was already one of the closest friends I had so I decided to go ahead and tell her.

“He had it pretty rough the first few days back,” I admitted. “Some of the girls he used to hang out with don’t want anything to do with him now and called him a freak. I even caught him crying a couple times at first.” Then I shrugged. “But he decided that he might as well accept his changes and he sort of ran with them. He’s starting to make some new guy friends and seems a lot happier.”

Joselyn nodded at that, seeming relieved. “That’s good to hear.”

“He’s also been talking about becoming a super hero,” I added with a wry smile. “A couple of the others think that we should all get back together and be some kind of super hero team.”

“That’s a pretty big step,” Joselyn told me with a serious expression. “Being a super hero isn’t like a job. It’s more like a lifestyle. And once you’re really into that lifestyle, you can’t ever really leave. Even if you quit being a hero, you still have a different perspective about the world and you still might have enemies you have to look out for.”

I nodded at that, having considered those very points myself. “Chris is really into it and so is Becky. Paul hasn’t said one way or another, but I think he’s leaning towards it. Of course, Jack is too…”

I’d been a little surprised that Becky wanted to become a hero, especially since her code name would be Crybaby, but there had been no real surprise about Jack. He wanted to go fight people and kick ass while being cheered on and called a good guy for it. Besides, it wasn’t like he had a lot of other career choices available. He effectively only had one hand now and his appearance made him stand out way too much to take any kind of normal job. In fact, a lot of people called him a freak and didn’t want him near. Being a hero would give him a chance to at least earn some respect and positive attention.

“Rikki said absolutely no way,” I continued, smiling faintly as I remembered her reaction. “She says it’s way too dangerous…especially since her powers won’t let her defend herself.”

“True,” Joselyn agreed. “But she could still be part of a team…just staying home where it’s safe and helping gather information. In fact, she’d be really useful that way.”

“She might do that,” I admitted thoughtfully. “Especially if it meant she could hang around Jack. I think the two of them are becoming an item.”

Joselyn muttered, “Better her than me.”

“Anton seems to have mixed feelings about it,” I continued. “He said he’d like to become a hero and help people, but he also said that he wants to go to college and he doesn’t think he can do both at the same time. I think Tasha is waiting on him to make up his mind before she does.”

“And what about you?” Joselyn asked me. “Are you going to put on a costume again and become Velvet?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted with a sigh. I stared at the floor for several seconds before saying, “I like using my powers… Being able to fight people in the dark like that and beat them made me feel sort of invincible…except with Doctor Glass…” I shuddered at that. “It was exciting but scary at the same time.”

“Yeah,” Joselyn agreed with a somber look. “It is.”

“I figure, I’ve already got enough issues to deal with at the moment,” I told her with a sigh, gesturing down at myself and giving her a wry smile. “I don’t think I need to add risking my life to them right now.”

“Smart thinking,” she agreed. “You don’t want to make that kind of decision without thinking about it…at least not if you can help it. Once you go down that path, it isn’t easy to turn back.” Then she abruptly grinned and added, “Besides, you can always become a hero later on…once you’re more comfortable with yourself.”

“But what about you?” I asked curiously, though I already knew the answer. I just wanted to see what she’d say.

“I’ve always sort of known that I’d go into the family business,” Joselyn answered with a shrug. “But my dad says that I have to wait until I’m eighteen before I can. He’s kind of mad that I ran off and helped you guys out, but I think he’s pretty proud too.”

I stared at Joselyn for a moment, wondering what it would have been like growing up with parents who were super heroes. It was hard to picture. Then I suddenly remembered something that I’d been meaning to ask her.

“I was wondering,” I started, giving her a curious look. “When you first came and saved us, you said that you sensed we were in trouble and came to help. But later on, you said that you can only sense people that you know. We’d never even met before then…”

Joselyn hesitated a moment, suddenly looking awkward and uncertain. She let out a sigh and admitted, “That is true normally, but…”

“But what?” I encouraged her to continue after she’d paused and didn’t seem to be continuing.

“I have another power that I don’t usually talk about,” Joselyn told me after a few more seconds. “I don’t usually even talk about it with my own family because it kind of makes people nervous.” Then she paused again and gave me a wry smile before saying, “I sometimes have dreams about the future.”

“What?” I asked, more than a little skeptical. “The future?”

“That’s exactly the kind of reaction I get,” Joselyn said with another sigh. “It’s part of my psychic power…a bit of precognativity. I don’t have any control of what I see and I don’t know all the details around it. All I get is a bit of a glimpse. And to be honest, I’m not even certain if I’m seeing THE future or I’m just seeing a glimpse of the mostly likely possible future at that point. But what I do know was that I had a dream about a month or so ago…with you in it.”

I blinked in surprise at that. “You dreamed about me?”

“As you are now,” Joselyn admitted. “As a girl.” She paused again, licking her lips and staring down at the floor. “Actually, it was a dream about my own wedding. I was a bit older, a little more filled out…” She grabbed her chest to show what she meant. “And you were there as my maid of honor.” Then she gave me another odd look as she added, “I couldn’t see a whole lot but I saw that you were my best friend. I guess that was enough to sync my powers to you and tell me when you were in trouble.”

“Holy shit,” I whispered in amazement. “That’s how you knew I wouldn’t change back into a guy.” Joselyn nodded her head slightly.

“I…I’ve never really had any close friends before,” Joselyn told me with a weak smile, suddenly looking even more self-conscious. “At least not outside my family. I always had to be careful not to tell too much about my family and couldn’t let anyone come visit me. So when I saw that you were going to become my best friend, I just had meet you. I didn’t even know you were like me until I actually saw you for the first time…”

“Wow,” I responded, not sure what else I could possibly say to that.

“But there’s one more thing,” Joselyn said quietly, blushing bright red and not even looking at me. Then she took a deep breath and blurted out, “Chris was the groom.”

I nearly choked at that and stared at Joselyn in surprise, sure that I’d heard wrong. “What?”

“Please don’t tell him,” Joselyn begged me in obvious embarrassment. “Please don’t tell anyone.”

“I won’t,” I promised her, shaking my head and knowing that it would make things rather weird. Chris had just started to like girls so I couldn’t imagine how he’d react to the news that he was destined to marry this specific one. Then again, I imagined that it couldn’t have been any easier for Joselyn. Since I didn’t know what else to say, I mused, “So you’re going to be my sister-in-law…”

“One day,” she responded, still blushing. “At least according to my glimpse of the future.”

“It must be weird knowing the future,” I said carefully.

“You have no idea,” Joselyn told me with a sigh. “Most of the time I only get a tiny glimpse though…not enough to pick out anything useful. When I saw you and Chris in my dream, I didn’t even know your names…not until I met you for real.”

The two of us sat there for several minutes in silence, neither of us sure what we could say next. We’d had enough of this serious talk for now so I decided that we needed to find something else. I looked around my room and then had an idea.

“Come on,” I told Joselyn, getting to my feet and grabbing my skateboard. “I haven’t gone boarding since before my change. Why don’t we go out so I can show you some of the tricks I used to do with my buddy Miles.”

“That sounds good to me,” Joselyn happily agreed. “I don’t usually get to do much of the stuff I used to as a guy. I kind of miss some of it.”

With that, the two of us took off to a place down the street which was perfect for skateboard tricks. At the moment, all thoughts about being a girl and what the future would bring were put on hold. I didn’t worry about liking guys, having a period, or about becoming a super hero. That stuff would all work itself out eventually. Right now, I just wanted to relax and have some fun with my new best friend.

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

The prisoner sat cross legged in the middle of the floor of the cold metal cube which served as a cell, not moving at all, merely waiting and thinking. Hard and determined eyes stared at the wall ahead as well as the thick door, a scene which had not changed in far too long. Thoughts of escape were constantly present, though the prisoner knew that this was extremely unlikely.

Not only were the walls of this cell made of one of the strongest known metals in existence, but it was located in Alpha Core of Mount Prometheus, a section dedicated to the most dangerous and powerful super villains on the planet. Security precautions for Mount Prometheus alone were almost unbelievable, preventing people who could turn intangible from walking through walls and blocking anyone from even teleporting inside. The security within Alpha Core was even stronger.

Out of all the security which trapped the prisoner within, the most frustrating was the thick metal collar that was locked around the prisoner’s neck. This was a device which neutralized his considerable powers and left him nearly as helpless as any other man. This collar was the true sign of his imprisonment and infuriated him even more than the cell.

The prisoner’s name was Scott Calhoun, though he had not thought of himself by that name in a long time. Nor did he think of himself as a criminal, in spite of his prison surroundings. Instead, he knew himself to be Force…the greatest super hero who ever lived.

Force had once been a respected hero, recognized for his many achievements. But then his fortunes had all changed and he’d been humiliated time after time. The first betrayal and humiliation had been when his girlfriend and partner had left him for another man…a pretend hero. But Force had moved past that with grace, showing that he was above such petty things…at least until the real humiliation began.

It had begun with the white skinned bitch, followed by some sidekick and then even a teenage girl. Especially the teenage girl. He shuddered as he remembered the ways she’d humiliated him, ways that no villain had even dared. And to make it worse, everyone else turned against him. Even his friends in the protectorate had betrayed him and turned their backs.

At first, Force had thought that that this was the work of some villain…that some mind controller was influencing the minds of his fellow heroes. But over time, he’d come to realize that this wasn’t true. This was just him trying to see the best in them and excuse their horrible betrayals. The truth was much more simple and much more painful. They were jealous of him. They’d realized that he had become the greatest of them all and feared that they would become lost in his shadow. Because of that, those he had once trusted had conspired against him and spread vicious lies to the public. It was because of this conspiracy that he was now locked away while his enemies laughed behind his back.

Force scowled and continued to think about his prison, knowing that there had to be some way out…if he could find it. No matter how many precautious were taken, there was always some flaw in the system…some way to still get through. The villain known as the Key had proven that numerous times, breaking many villains out of this very prison. Of course, Force certainly didn’t expect a rescue from one such as him.

Suddenly, Force realized that he wasn’t alone. He jumped to his feet and turned around, seeing that there were two men standing against the wall which had been to his back a second earlier. They obviously hadn’t come through the door.

Both men were dressed entirely in black, though the first was tall and thin, wearing a suit that may have come from the Victorian era. He had black hair that was brushed back and had a pair of black round sunglasses which hid his eyes as he stood there leaning on a black cane. The other man was dressed in a manner that immediately made Force think ‘ninja’. He had a pair of ornate black metal shoulder pads and a sort of partial helm which revealed only a pair of glowing red eyes.

“Who are you?” Force demanded, more curious than alarmed. He’d seen far stranger things than two people walking into an inescapable prison cell.

“I am called Mister Munin,” the man with the cane said with a faint smile. He gestured to the ninja and added, “My silent companion is called Mister Hugin. He does not speak this language well so I speak for the both of us.”

“And why are you here…Mister Munin?” Force demanded coldly.

“Directly to the point,” Mr. Munin responded. “Very good. We are here because you are a man of rare talent…a talent that is not given due respect.”

Force nodded ever so slightly, pleased that at least someone recognized that. “Continue.”

Mr. Munin smiled faintly. “My employer has a great deal of respect for your talents and requested that I establish a meeting. You see, my employer has great need for a man such as yourself.”

“I was once the greatest hero in the world,” Force stated it as the simple fact it was.

“As an acquaintance of mine might note,” Mr. Munin said pleasantly. “Pride is your defining sin.”

“They were jealous of me,” Force continued with a tightly controlled rage. “They all betrayed me and cast me down.” He gave Mr. Munin a cold glare and said, “If I am not allowed to be the world’s greatest hero…I will be its greatest villain.”

Mr. Munin just smiled more broadly. “Then I believe we are of like mind. Come with us. Our employer will not only grant you the respect your power deserves, but will also provide what you desire most. Revenge.”

Force glared at Mr. Munin for a moment, knowing that this was a line he never would have considered crossing before. Until now, he’d been a hero…even when others refused to see it. But the lines between hero and villain had become crossed. Those who were once heroes had proven themselves to be the true villains and if they insisted on calling him one, then so be it.

“Very well,” Force said, making a decision that he knew could not be reversed. He felt a strange sense of freedom at this. “Take me to your employer.”

Mr. Munin gestured to the back wall and shadows seemed to form and come alive, merging with each other and forming into a vortex of darkness. Without a word, Mr. Hugin stepped through the dark portal and vanished. Force had no idea where it led but didn’t hesitate to do the same.

Force found himself standing in a large room that seemed to be made entirely of black stone. There were other people present, standing against the walls and watching him. Some of them looked familiar.

First was a man in red who was holding a black staff, a man that Force recognized as a villain called Loki. There was a metal woman who bore a remarkable resemblance to the fallen android hero known as Circuit. And there was a woman in a black leather outfit with a crimson coat over the top of it. However, Force’s attention was almost instantly drawn to the throne in the middle of the room…a throne which appeared to be formed from human skulls.

There was a woman sitting upon the throne, an attractive young woman with blonde hair. She wore a costume that was purple and black, marked with some gray metal parts. A gray metal skull adorned her belt while a chain hung loose from her side. A black cloak was wrapped around her shoulders with the hood draped down to obscure her face. Two metal broaches in the shapes of skulls held her cloak close to her.

Force stared at the woman with a cold chill going down his spine. He had never seen this woman before but the costume was far too familiar, to him and most other heroes.

“Who are you?” Force demanded, feeling a rare bout of fear.

Mr. Munin stood on one side of Force while Mr. Hurin stood on the other. Then as one, they both spoke a name that sent chills of dread down his spine. As one, the two men in black cawed, “Nevermore…”

The End

For those who have not yet read it, Joselyn’s story can be read in The Knight is a Lady.

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-The 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
20-A Velvet Touch