Chapter Five

DISCLAIMER: I am not a canon author.

Monday morning while Brita and Sally got driven to the DPA offices to get tested Fred ran by himself again and practiced his new running spell.. He was planning to surprise the other two with it some time.

Fred saw them at lunch, "Hello ladies. How did it go?"

"It went well," Brita said. "Sally was great at moral support. I am an avatar 1, induced Exemplar 3, and an Energizer 4a at least for now."

"She can produce both light and heat in great amounts but with little control as yet," Sally said.

Brita winked at him, "You missed the show. I managed to burn off my test suit. It's supposed to take temperatures hot enough to melt iron but I passed that and was left wearing soot and bits of melted metal."

"Not just melted Brita," Sally said. "Vaporized then deposited back onto you after you cooled down. It's a good thing you can turn it on and off at will."

"Yeah, but I still have a long way to go in training," Brita said.

"Speaking of training," Fred said. "Are you going to spar with us today?"

"Sure!" Brita said. "My energizer training is going to be Tuesday and Thursday so I can spar with you the other three days and we can use the time to learn what we can do physically, both separately and together."

"Well, let's go then," Fred said.

Afterward when he went to shower all his body hair washed down the drain. He sighed and asked Freya, "It's started then?"

"Yes," she replied. "By summer you shall be female and look like me. Not exactly but close enough that the others should recognize me."

"I understand," he said. Once out by the pool he told the other two, "I lost my body hair in the shower. Freya confirmed that it's the start of my changes and told me I will be female by summer."

The other hugged him and Sally said, "I will help as much as I can."

Brita adds, "You'll still be welcome to ogle me anytime. Assuming you'll still like girls."

Fred blushed but nodded, "Yeah, I asked and she has said she won't be altering that. Apparently she doesn't mind either way and is fine with leaving that part of me alone."

Sally blushed a bit, "Isn't she a fertility goddess among other things?"

Fred said, "Sure, but that doesn't mean she bore the children herself. She just helped others who wanted it."

The next day Brita joined them in classes on the history of supers and the changes in the law that deal with them. The energizer giving the speech also included anecdotes from her time at Whateley.

"Hey, Sally," Fred said that afternoon while Brita was getting training in energy projection and the basics of being an energizer.

"Yeah?" Sally replied. She turned to look at him. They were both in the pool swimming laps.

"You didn't share any recollections about Whateley with Charles while he was teaching," Fred said. "So I want to make sure of what the official story is as far as he's concerned."

"Nobody told you?" she replied.

"I guess they figured you would," Fred said.

She nodded, "Very well. As far as anyone who wasn't already employed here when we came home from the hospital we are three newly manifested mutants who are all teenagers. I mean people you know and are certain were there. If you aren't sure they should know anything but that official story then stick to it."

"I understand," he said. "Let me know if that changes?"

"I will," she replied. "I'll tell you what I know from now on since I guess people are assuming that anyway. If people ask where I or Brita came from, tell them to ask your father. All you know is he's sponsoring us to the Academy and if pressed you assume we are kids of employees."

Fred nodded, "I'll remember, thanks."

After about an hour Brita came running towards them from the concrete building that held the pistol range. She was glowing faintly as she left and it grew brighter as she raced for the pool.

Fred stroked hastily for the side of the pool, "Let's give her some room."

"I agree," said Sally.

She dove in from about five feet away and hit the water with a hiss. A little steam rose but nothing else happened. She surfaced and exhaled a sigh, "Ah, that feels better. I think I could have stayed but there's a lot of ammunition stored there. If I'd had a real meltdown that would have made it worse." She sighed again, "As it is I'm going to need to order more clothes soon. Online ordering unless I get better fast."

"If your room is unlocked I can grab you a swimsuit," Sally said. "Then you can either stay here and swim with us or go back and try again. I'm not sure if you should continue training after that but I'm no expert on Solar powers."

"Thanks," Brita said. "I'll stay in the pool until you're back. I'm told that I shouldn't try and use my powers for a few hours after they've gotten away from me. At least at the early stages of training so that's it for today."

"He stuck a hand in the water, "A little warmer but still not too hot."

Sally gave him a look and he pulled his hand back, "I'll stay out until Sally comes back with your suit."

Brita smiled, "Thanks. That makes me feel better."

"I'll be back soon," Sally said and left.

"I don't mind if you look," Brita said. "I'm just worried about what people might think if they saw us both in the pool and me without a suit."

Fred nodded, "Very reasonable." He lowered his voice, "Especially since you are supposed to be a young teenage girl." He grinned, "People might assume our hormones had taken over if they saw us skinny dipping."

She laughed at that and said, "Well, according to my trainer anyone who can create volcanic or higher levels of heat, like I can, has weeks of embarrassment ahead. So you'll get plenty of chances to see anything you missed this time and I will be shopping entirely online for the near future."

"If you go through that many clothes then maybe I should buy you a few," Fred said.

"Well you'll need to get practice at that eventually but I don't want to be the guinea pig for your first foray into buying women's clothes," Brita said. "I'm sure I can afford to buy new clothes though. Your father pays well." She shrugged, "Soon enough we can go and shop at an actual store and you can get a sense of how it's done for when you need new clothes."

Sally heard that as she came back with a suit and tossed it in the pool, "That's true but if you don't mind doing your online browsing with an onlooker you can show Fred the basics."

Brita nodded, "Sure, I can do that."

She swam over to where the bikini was floating and put it on, "Okay, now you can come in Fred."

Every day Fred got a little more female looking and Brita managed to last a little longer before losing control and having to dive into the pool. Two weeks after the second ritual Fred developed breasts and Sally had Mr. Nilsen declare the pool and surrounding area off limits to everyone but the three of them. The gym they exercised and sparred in was already theirs and was the only space on the ground floor facing the pool.

"I'll stop wearing tops by the pool now," Brita said. "It won't be the first time I've sunned topless and after all the times I've burnt my clothes off I've got nothing you haven't seen."

"Thank you for your show of solidarity," Fred said. "I wish this would go faster. It feels weird to be stuck halfway and dad sent away all the tutors but the woman from Whateley who is training you. I understand why but those classes were pretty interesting and I was getting better at the hand to hand."

"We can still spar," Sally said. "That will help you get better and get used to the changes in your body. It might be good for you too Brita. We can keep the sliding doors open so you'll have easy access to the pool."

"Thanks," Brita said. "I can use it." She rolled her eyes, "I should order a half dozen gis. I've managed to get five new bikinis in from online purchases so I should set for a week or so on that score. But if we're sparring with powers added I will need them."

"Nope," Fred said. "No powers while sparring. We're training skills so we don't boost anything." Looking over at her Fred asked, "You're able to use your spirit to boost your Exemplar level like Sally does?"

"No," Brita said. "I'm not using the spirit directly. I'm using the energizer powers she gave me. My trainer calls it the internal use of energy. I haven't found out how much I boost yet because I'm still getting the hang of it but I can make myself faster and stronger. I can also do an energy blast of laser like light or a wide blast of heat and light. My aim is slowly getting better. I can pick a general direction for it now. The main problem with being an avatar of a sun goddess is that, like the sun, she tended to radiate in all directions. Directing it takes concentration and focus. When my focus slips sometimes it fades away but more often I just start glowing and the temperature around me goes up to around 400 degrees. I stopped wearing shoes to train after the first day and I'm considering just wearing a robe and hanging it up once I'm inside."

"But that only happens when you're trying to use your powers?" Sally asked.

"Yes, and only after I've been using them a while," Brita said. "I'm up to almost two hours." She held up a hand and it glowed briefly then went out. "If we're sparring or whatever and I start to glow just move a few feet away. The heat drops off fast."

"That's workable," Fred said. "I'm sure you'll keep getting better at it. I'm surprised you have the energy to practice for two hours straight."

Brita smiled at that, "Yeah, that impressed the trainer too. I've got plenty of gas in the tank. Eventually we'll find the bottom though and that will be the goal. Being able to keep focus until I'm too tapped out to blast."

"I'm sure you'll get there," Sally said.

"Yeah," Fred agreed.

"Hopefully I will get there by the time Fred is finished changing and we can all go out together to shop, eat, and see the outside," Brita said.

"Sounds good to me," Fred said. "We are going to miss the equinox celebration so maybe we can take a week of that two week vacation dad was talking about."

"We can ask," Sally said. "Where would you want to go?"

"South Pacific somewhere," Fred said. Sighing, Fred continued, "I don't exactly match my passport photo anymore so maybe Hawaii?"

"You still need identification for that but your MID will do," Sally said. "You'll need a new one with a new picture and probably a new name."

"Yeah,in that case Tahiti," Fred said. "Frederica is what I'm thinking of for the name. So I can still answer to Fred."

"It's a pretty name," Brita said.

"We can go with you as guards," Sally said. She gave Brita a look.

Brita sighed, "I promise to keep my hands off but we agreed that a little ogling and flirting is okay, right?"

"We agreed, well I agree that it's normal for a teenager to do it," Sally said. She sighed, "I won't complain about the rest as long as Fred's fine with it. I guess she'll have to get used to that among many other things." She turned to Fred, "So are you okay with Brita flirting and ogling?"

Fred nodded, "Yes, as long as I can flirt and ogle back I'm good. Maybe it will keep the boys away."

"If that's all you want to do it for then don't bother," Brita said. "In my experience it only deters the more rational and mature males. The rest just think it's hot for some reason."

"That's not the only reason," Fred said. "You can flirt and ogle all you like regardless."

"I think the hormones are getting to you both," Sally said. "I'm going in for a few minutes. I'll be back."

"Think she's going to go report us?" Brita said.

"Possibly," Fred said. "Or going to arrange the vacation. Don't worry about her telling on us. Dad wouldn't fire you for flirting with me and even if we start something he would just be concerned about the PR applications."

Brita sighed, "I think she's right about the hormones."

Fred laughed, "It'll help your cover as a teenager."

It was about an hour later when Sally came back out and she had a camera with her, "I need a picture of your face Fred."

"Sure," Fred said. She sat up and took off her sunglasses, "Is this good?"

"Should be," Sally said. She took the picture and said, "I'll send this to the substation where we got tested and they will make the changes. They were halfway expecting it once they found out your spirit was female and are geared to make the changes. As a strong avatar you might have beat the odds so they didn't offer while you were there. Are you sure Frederica is the name you want? It's a good one but as long as we're changing it you can pick anything."

Fred said, "I'm sure of it. Thanks for asking though."

"Okay, I'll get that started," Sally said. "Try to keep your hands off each other until I'm back to chaperon."