My Super-powered Diary Chapter 8 Shop 'til You Pop By Amethyst When Maddock Ainsley gets involved in a rescue operation with his unit things go horribly wrong and his life is forever changed. Can the newly minted Merida cope with being a girl and a teenage super hero?

There was a large black SUV waiting for us outside with Andy behind the driver’s seat. Blair hadn’t been able to tell him much of anything before we were debriefed, only that her mission was over and successful and that she would need him to come pick her up and where to do so. He had probably been waiting for a while by this point, but when he saw her approaching he practically jumped out of the car to wrap her up in a hug and a passionate kiss. He was tall and skinny with a pasty complexion, light brown hair and blue eyes, was dressed in a nerdy t-shirt and jeans, and looked more than a little confused by the company Blair was keeping.

Since I figured that she hadn’t been able to tell him anything important yet I decided to mess with him a bit. Once I was sure he was looking my way I put on my very best impatient teen girl expression, placed my hands on my hips, rolled my eyes extravagantly, and spoke as casually as possible. “Ach, get a room will ya? C’mon Da’, kin we get goin’? Mom said we ‘ave a busy day an’ the girls an’ I wan’ tae get tae the mall.”

He stared at me for a moment, completely uncomprehending then his gaze snapped back to Blair, then back to me, and then to the four other girls with us. “Wha?” he finally asked.

Blair was shaking her head and took a brief moment to glare at me before finally scuffing her feet awkwardly, hands clasped behind her back. “Andy… honey… you know how we talked about having kids someday? Well… surprise!”

After Blair had made all of the introductions, and Andy had finally managed to convince himself that it really wasn’t some very strange dream, we all climbed into the vehicle and drove off the base and into the city. As we drove Blair explained how the mission had gone, my role in it and who I was, my new fictional past, the girls’ situation, and her decision to adopt them. Andy was staring uncertainly at me through the rearview mirror as she finished. “I… can’t believe that’s Maddock.”

“Aye, bu’ It’s Merida now,” I stressed. “It seems tha’ the radiation from the bomb does’nae jus’ Activate Hypers, it also turns guys intae l’il girls. We dinnae think it’s contagious, bu’ we ‘ave no’ really tested it yet. Dinnae worry, I’m shoor ya will be fine,” I added as I leaned forward in my seat to pat him on the shoulder.

“Yeah, that’s Maddock all right… sorry I mean Merida,” he quickly corrected with a beleaguered sigh. “Welcome to the family girls. Merida, if you ever need to… you know… talk about things just let me know.”

I appreciated the sentiment, I really did. Much as I liked rattling his cage, Andy always took it in stride. He was a bit of a geek and we never had much in common besides my sister, but he had always been a standup guy and I’d have had to have been blind to not see how much that he and Blair cared for one another. He had probably been worried sick the whole time she was on that mission. “Thanks, I ‘preciate it. It’s you tha’ I feel sorry for though. Yuir the only male in a family o’ se’en now, the only one wi’out super powers, an’ yuir five kids are all teenage girls, or soon will be.”

“I’m doomed,” he agreed, but he managed to say it with a smile.

Our first stop was a drive-thru to get some hamburgers for lunch. It wasn’t the best food, but it was quick and filling, and at the moment that was what counted most. After that we stopped at the bank that Blair used for all of her financial matters. We all waited in the SUV and ate our lunches while ‘Mom’ was inside setting up our trust funds. It took her longer than we would have liked, but she was setting up five trust funds so we all tried to be as patient as possible until she returned and we headed off to our next stop, the mall.

The mall we ended up visiting seemed to be pretty average, there weren’t near as many yuppies or rich brats as I was expecting and our first stop was a beauty salon. It was all a bit girly, but I didn’t much care so long as I got rid of a bit of my heavy burden. The other girls weren’t so bad off, none of them really needed even a trim, and we managed to get me in to see a stylist without an appointment. She spent the whole time gushing about how beautiful and long my hair was. I had promised the others that I wouldn’t have it all hacked off, so I went along with the Vanessa’s recommendation of trimming it down to thigh length. It would still be annoyingly long, but the others wouldn’t complain about it as much, it would be a bit more manageable, and at least I wouldn’t be tripping over it.

I think that Blair was enjoying herself far too much at that point. When the beautician asked if I wanted my ears pierced as well I made sure to ask ‘Mom’ if it was okay, while making very sure that my eyes were saying hell no. Sure she could have just missed seeing that look in my eyes, but I doubted it from the way she was smiling as she said, “I think that’s a great idea, the other girls already have theirs pierced, you should too.” I tried to argue, but when we left the salon to move on to clothes shopping I was burdened with two more holes in my body that I didn’t really want and small silver studs adorning my ears. It might have gone differently if Andy had been there, but as soon as we entered the mall the traitor had wisely left us to look at computers and stuff, leaving me wishing that I could have gone with him to escape what was bound to be a tortuous afternoon and evening.

“C’mon Mer, at least try to look like you’re having fun,” Vanessa chided me as she pulled me along to the ladies room before our big shopping excursion was due to commence. She needed to take a short break from shifting and to wet her skin and tail a bit, since she was starting to get itchy again and I was tagging along since I needed to change my tampon and panty-liner anyway.

“I’ll try” I grumbled back as we entered the bathroom. I paused a moment, uncertain as I took my first step into no-man’s land, but Vanessa dragged me in along behind her without any hesitation. It wasn’t really all that different than the men’s room, a little cleaner and there were no urinals, but those seemed to be the only obvious differences at first glance. Once we were certain the coast was clear Vanessa made her way into a stall while I filled the small spray bottle we had bought at one of the dollar stores with water.

By the time I had entered the stall beside Vanessa’s and slipped the bottle to her underneath the partition she had already gotten her panties off and switched her legs back into a tail. “Ah, sweet relief,” she said with a sigh that was accompanied by the spritzing sound of spraying water. I said nothing as I set about my own, slightly more disgusting task. Once I had wrapped and disposed of the offending feminine hygiene products in the receptacle as Vanessa had instructed me, I replaced them with new ones and left the stall to wash my hands.

I had to wait a few minutes more for my new sister as she shifted her tail back into legs, and then took care of another pressing need before finishing up, getting her panties back on and emerging to wash her own hands. “You know, I never thought I’d say this, but being a mermaid can be a real pain in the ass… or tail,” she said with a sigh as she dried her hands.

“Aye, I cannae imagine ‘ow ‘ard tha’ is fer ya,” I agreed as we left the room and made our way back to where the others were waiting in the food court.

“Okay girls, here’s how we’re goin’ to do this,” Blair stated in a whisper, so that only we could hear, when we joined them at the table. She handed me and Vanessa each a small purse and I noticed that Tasha had one as well. “I’ll take the twins shoppin’ while Vanessa and Tasha will take Merida. There’s some cash in there an’ a prepaid debit card for each of ya with a three thousand dollar limit. It should be more than enough to get everythin’ ya need today if you shop smart. The pin number is the day and month of your birth, remember that Merida.” Seeing that she made a point of using my new name I had to assume that it was for Merida’s birth, not Maddock’s.

Once I had nodded to confirm that I understood she continued quietly speaking. “You’ll need both runnin’ shoes and a pair of nice heels, some makeup, somethin’ nice to wear for a funeral, a light jacket or windbreaker, a larger purse, some pajamas or nightgowns, or in Vanessa’s case some bikini tops, a bathin’ suit, an’ at least a week’s worth of everyday clothing an’ underwear, but more would be better.” She paused to give me a long considering look before adding, “An’ make sure Merida doesn’t get any military fatigues. She can have jeans, shorts, and capris, but I want to see at least three skirts and a nice dress for the funeral for her. Oh, and you’ll all need two sets of clothes that ya can run or exercise in.”

Before we split up to do our shopping we stopped at a cellular store, where Blair bought each of us a new cell phone and had them activated so that we could stay in contact in case any of us got separated. Once we had all programmed in each of our numbers, and Mom’s, into our new phones she left with the twins in hand and Tasha, Vanessa, and I were set loose. Okay, we weren’t so much set loose as the two of them half-dragged me to the nearest lingerie shop targeted toward teens.

“Dae we ‘ave tae start ‘ere?” I complained as they pulled me inside.

“Always start on the inside and work your way outward,” Tasha explained.

Tasha already knew her ‘sizes’ but Vanessa insisted that we both needed to get measured. Apparently I was 34-27-34 and the B cup bras they had me trying on were uncomfortably tight, while the C cups were a little loose. Vanessa suggested that I go for the latter since I would likely grow into them at some point. She had gone up a cup size since Activating and her hips were a bit wider too, something she seemed very pleased about for some reason that escaped me. “Oh nae, tha’ was no’ awkward a’ all,” I grumbled as we started looking through bra and panty sets for our sizes.

“Nuh-uh, oh no you don’t Mer. A girl needs some variety and plain white won’t work with some outfits, you also need at least one strapless bra,” the mermaid scolded me as I tried to get away with picking seven identical plain white sets in my sizes. She allowed me to keep only two of them before adding a nude strapless bra and five lacey sets in black, white, pink, crimson, and emerald.

I was still grumbling about the injustice of it when we made our way into one of those large chain department stores. The idea was that we would be able to find a lot of the stuff we needed there for decent prices, leaving us with more money for extra clothes and the harder to get stuff. First we looked at sleepwear, where I got a white bathrobe and a pair of somewhat plain sleepshirts, one in military camo and the other in black with a skull and crossbones on the chest. I would have preferred pajamas but I couldn’t find anything I liked that wasn’t pink or sickeningly cutesy.

For exercising I got a pair of comfortable black and pink running shoes with a pair of spandex running tops and shorts, one set in dark green and the other in black with pink trim. I wasn’t really too keen on the pink, but in both cases they were both comfortable and on sale. For underneath I got a pair of racerback sports bras, one in black and one in grey, and I also snatched up a three pack of plain white cotton panties in my size. I damn well needed something that didn’t either have cartoon characters on it, or belong in Victoria’s Secret. As for the swimsuit, I didn’t get a choice in the matter, since I was still trying to find something that didn’t expose an embarrassing amount of skin by the time Tasha had picked hers and Vanessa had chosen four bikini tops to double as both sleepwear and swimwear, They ended up choosing an aqua-colored two piece bikini for me that they claimed highlighted my eyes.

The hardest part was finding something for the funeral. I was having a hard time deciding on something, after all it was my funeral so I wanted to look my best. In the end I went with a very simple yet classy black knee-length dress that Tasha had recommended and she and Vanessa had decided on something similar. The shoes that we decided on were just as simple, a pair of black one inch heels, that I felt should be easy enough to walk in.

The rest of the stuff we bought as Tasha and Vanessa dragged me from one end of the mall to the other, though since I didn’t know a lot about girls clothes they pretty much decided on everything for me. First there was the black and pink Hello Kitty backpack purse that they insisted would look cute on me and be easy to carry around. Then there was the matching zip-up Hello Kitty hoodie in place of a jacket. They told me it was because it went so well with the purse, but I was beginning to sense a theme once the dozen pairs of cutesy ankle socks were added. I was just too tired and bored by then to do anything but play along. The rest of the clothes were fairly standard I guess.

For tops it was pretty much standard fare, a couple of ‘pretty’ tunic style blouses, a teal ruffled poets blouse, and a bunch of t-shirts of various colors, most of which I chose myself, though a pink crop top with “Princess” written in sparkly letters across the chest had somehow found its way in there as well. Sadly the girls had taken Blair seriously on the three skirts, which they chose in various lengths and styles: A dark green ankle length, one loose fitting tie-dyed with ruffles that went to about halfway down my shins, and a black mid-thigh-length miniskirt with pink lace trim. The last of the clothes they chose for me consisted of four pairs of capris in various colors and four pairs of jeans which I thought looked painted on, but I was told they were a perfect fit.

By this time I was tired and I wanted to have something that I picked out and actually wanted to wear, something that made me feel secure. We were passing a shoe store when I stopped abruptly and said, “I wan’ tae ‘ave somethin’ tha’ I kin feel comfortable in. Mom said nae tae fatigues, but no’ tae some bloody combat boots.”

The pair of them gave one another a long look and I was seriously wondering if they had been talking with one another this whole time, and possibly Blair as well, with Tasha’s mind speech. Some of the things they had been pushing me to buy, trying to see how far I’d go, how much they could push on me to adapt. I knew that they were trying to help me adjust, but all of this stuff we’d been buying was girl stuff, and it was too much too soon. They had both been taking turns watching me for the entire excursion as well, like they were taking constant measure of just how much I’d be able to handle before I fell apart. Right now they were looking at me like I was going to explode and, given that with me that might just be a very real possibility, they seemed unsure of what to do. Finally Tasha nodded, “Sure we’ll have a look and see what they have.”

They didn’t have any regular style combat boots in my size, so I had to settle for trying on a pair of girl’s knee high combat boots. The cut felt a little odd, but they were black leather combat boots with laces instead of ridiculous looking buckles. Once they were securely fastened they were like an island of normalcy out in this stormy sea of girlie-ness, and at that moment having them on made me feel like maybe my life wasn’t spiraling completely out of my control after all. I bought the damn boots, wore them out of the store, and neither Vanessa nor Tasha said a thing about it.

We had one last stop to make before we met Blair, Andy, and the twins at the food court. Makeup was another of those super-girly things, which explained why they had saved it for last. It also explained why they had let me buy the boots beforehand, they wanted me comfortable. They both found what they wanted or needed fairly quickly and then they descended upon me.

As we looked through the racks of various shades of various products they told me what colors would work best for me with my complexion, hair color, and eyes. Then we got some lip gloss, a fairly large starter makeup kit that would work for me, and a nail care kit with several different colors of polish. At my age I didn’t really need more than lip gloss, but there were times that I might need it or want to look my best. The plan was that I would be getting some so they could at the very least teach me how to use it all properly, even if I didn’t wear it often. I didn’t think that I would need, or want, to use the stuff anytime soon, but Vanessa was still sure to promise that she would teach me whenever I was ready.

When we finally left the store, with our new purchases added to the far too many bags we were already carrying, we were all starting to get tired and hungry. Still, we all piled into one of the mall’s special needs washrooms on the way to meet the rest of the family and locked the door behind us. Vanessa was getting itchy again and, while she could have just given her legs and arms a quick spritzing anywhere, she was self-conscious about doing it where just anyone could see. She and Tasha both also wanted to get out of the dresses and underclothes that we had been wearing for the past few days and into something new, clean, and not associated with our captivity.

I didn’t mind since I had to pee anyway, I figured that I should take care of my monthly visitor again before it became a code red, and I had to agree with them about the dresses. As I was wiping, following my first order of business in the stall, I heard Tahsa say “Catch!” and one of my new, plain white bra and panty sets sailed over the stall door. I fumbled, but somehow managed to catch them before they could hit the floor and without making a mess. By the time I had finished shedding my old clothes, changing into the new underthings, changing my tampon, and adding a panty-liner to the new set of panties I was more than ready to get dressed and be done with all of this, especially since I had to take off my boots to change panties, at least if I didn’t want my new pair stretched out of shape or damaged. The bra had been especially difficult, since it was my first time putting on anything but a sports bra without Vanessa helping me, and the task had been made even more awkward in the tight confines of the bathroom stall.

Vanessa and Tasha had some clothes already set out for me as I padded barefoot over to the sink to wash my hands, my arms filled with my boots and old clothes. They tossed the old clothes in one of the bags while I washed my hands and once I was finished and my hands were dried they started issuing my clothes one piece at a time. First there was the pair of black ankle socks, followed quickly by the black mid-thigh-length miniskirt with pink lace trim and the pink “Princess” crop top. While I put those on, followed by my boots for the sake of my own sanity, Vanessa put everything from my smaller purse and my new cell phone in the Hello Kitty backpack purse and that and the matching hoodie were added to complete my outfit.

I had been about to zip up the hoodie to cover my bare midriff when Vanessa shook her head. “No Mer, keep it open, it looks better that way.” Of course she would think that since she was wearing a similar short skirt and crop top combo, though in her case skirts were just more practical. She hadn’t bought any shorts, jeans or slacks at all and she had already complained more than once about how difficult panties would be while shifting. I sighed and left my midriff exposed, feeling damn near naked as Tasha finished teasing my hair back into its proper style. At least the boots made me feel more confident, and both of my new sisters agreed that they looked good with the outfit. We quickly gathered our bags, and after one last sidelong glance at the unfamiliar teenage girl in the mirror I followed them out to brave the hallways of the mall once again.

Our group had received far too many long appreciative looks from teenage boys, and even some grown men, for my liking as we made our way to the food court. Each time it made my skin crawl. I knew damn well what they were doing and thinking, I used to be one of them, and the mere thought of these people undressing me with their eyes made me feel more than a little nauseous. We were nearly to the safety of the food court when a group of three boys stopped in front of us. They were all about Tasha’s age, sixteen or maybe even seventeen, and the middle one was kind of cute. “Oh God, please tell me I didn’t just think that!”

“Hey, I uhh… haven’t seen you girls around here before.” The tall Latino to the right said awkwardly. “I’m Eddie and that’s Todd and Mike,” he quickly added, pointing to the buff blond surfer-type and then the “cute” dark haired one in turn.

“It’s a big city, but yeah we’re not really from around here,” Tasha said with a shrug.

“We could show you the sights if you want,” Todd offered. “Or we could all go to a movie or something.”

Vanessa shook her head. “Thanks for the offer, but our parents are waiting for us, we’re supposed to be meeting them.”

Mike was looking at me in a way that made me feel very uncomfortable as he smiled and asked, “Maybe we can do something some other time then, hit the beach or something? It could be fun.” I said nothing as Tasha and Vanessa excused us so we could go, with that creep being obvious about mentally undressing me the whole time. We had managed to extract ourselves and were back on our way to the food court when my not-so-secret admirer came up from behind and grabbed me by the wrist. “Hey, at least give me your number!”

It took all the self-control I had not to punch him, not that it would have done much good without my force field, since I only possessed average physical capabilities and he was a good foot taller than me and pretty muscular too. “Dude, I’m like thairteen an’ no’ interested!” I snapped as I turned around to level a cold glare at him. I was uncomfortable, he was hurting me, the looks he had been giving me made me feel dirty, I was scared of using my powers to get him to let go, and even more scared of what might happen if I didn’t. That combination made me feel helpless and the whirlwind in my chest warned of an impending anxiety attack.

“What do I do?!” I thought as the anxiety attack hit and I started having trouble breathing. Then my anger overwhelmed everything else as I fought to control my breathing and pull my hand from his grip. “How dare he look at me and treat me like that?! How dare he make me feel this way?! Is this what’s going to happen when I put on girl’s clothes, or will it even matter what I wear?! Let go dammit! I hate this!” My force field activated even as I fought to prevent it, little red bubbles of unstable energy were building up along the surface of my skin and over my clothing, and I was too freaked out, angry, and focused on the source of that anger to stifle them completely.

Mike practically threw my arm away from him, causing some of the rapidly growing unstable energy bubbles to fly off, where they peppered the storefront of a nearby bookstore and exploded. Glass and pieces of shattered and scorched stonework were sent flying all over the place, the front of the store was a smoking ruin, and there were craters a few feet in diameter in what little remained of the wall and floor tiles. I had been extremely fortunate that nobody had been standing near there and the store itself wasn’t busy. Tasha had instinctively teleported out of range of the blasts, near a pair of women who had stopped to watch the exchange, but all three of the boys, Vanessa, and I had been showered with shattered glass and fragments of stone tiles. Vanessa didn’t seem harmed and my force field had protected me, but the boys all had some cuts and bruises showing on their exposed skin. They were all backing away now, their faces twisted into expressions of fear and hatred as Mike spat out, “Mutie freaks!”

I fought to control the bubbles and bury my power back inside me, but they seemed to be reacting more to my turbulent emotions than my thoughts. It took every ounce of discipline I possessed just to make the bubbles vanish and turn off my force field. Then, tightly clutching the shopping bags in my hands I turned and ran as fast as I could past the crowd that had gathered and toward the food court, with hot tears running down my face and my sisters right on my heels.