A Dream of Dragons continues in Part 2!

Disclaimer: This is fiction. All the characters and events portrayed here are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely accidental and unintentional A big thanks goes out to Paula for helping proof and generally make this readable. Another big thanks goes to Cathy who pre-read this. Any remaining errors, or mistakes are mine! Enjoy!

PS: It's been brought to my attention that others have helped with this one too. Please accept my apologies for forgetting to credit the wonderful help you've given me, Hope, Janice and others! Thank you!

Dimitri Mitsopoulos eyed the wondrous object in front of him. It had taken him fourteen years to find it but there it was. The journey to reach this point was one that even the legendary Odysseus might envy. He had begun with gathering the minute traces that had caused those rainbow tinted sunsets, so long ago, after Angelo Echidna had erupted.

That task alone had been difficult, but then no one had the slightest clue of how to make sense of what the analysis had found. Dimitri had to go back to school and almost founded a new area of research just in that endeavor.

The amazing surprise was, the particles had indications that they were from a single organic source, which of course was impossible. Nothing organic could be big enough to, even if vaporized, to cover the entire planet in particles thickly enough to cause those rainbow sunsets.

What he had found had led to advances in refractive materials and though that distracted from his real search it did pay the bills. Dimitri wondered sometimes at fate's hand, because if he hadn't developed those advances, it was likely that he would never had gotten this position.

He had gone back to basics and started pouring over every report of falling objects of unknown origin after the eruption. There had been many ‘false alarms’ but coming across that article about that poor man in the United States who had gotten killed by a meteorite had led him here.

A cross search had taken him to Octavia Washington and her project. His credentials from his research had convinced her to have him as part of her team. Dimitri's status as a foreign national made him unpopular with the project's security although Mr. Hunter, the head of security, looked to be an emigrant himself.

Not to say that was the only mystery concerning Mr. Hunter and his close associates. In theory security was so tight because of the anomaly, but Dimitri suspected that the United States government was involved. Why was a mystery to him. After all, it had shown no signs of life for over fourteen years!

The question was why did Orion Research hire, to all practical purposes, a group of mercenaries for their security? He might have spent his entire life in academics but that didn't mean Dimitri couldn't recognize dangerous people when he saw them.

His field work had taken him all over the world and he was no stranger to certain brutal realities of the world. Every one of Mr. Hunter's six close associates were as scary as any he had ever met.

All of them had that rather formal politeness that truly dangerous individuals processed. Saladin, the large bald dark man whose sharp eyes missed nothing, was Mr. Hunters second-in-command. Mr. Sato was an enormous, sumo wrestler-like, man who moved entirely too quietly for someone of his size. Mr. Akna was a small, dark, Iniut man whose hands were always busy, usually with a knife.

Just as unnerving were the twins who were called Richard and Jane Smith. They spoke with a soft southern United States accent, but no one who knew them for long mistook them for fools. They used their natural good looks and people-skills to ruthlessly get what they wanted.

However in just pure creepiness Mr. Whyte out did them all. His aristocratic English accent and arrogant manner was enough to drive anyone to distraction, but he made no secret of the fact that he was a mage. It didn't take long in his company to convince one that whatever magic he dealt with it wasn't of the gentle variety.

Dimitri thought that all of their names were aliases and that, along with everything else made him very uneasy. That being said, working with Octavia Washington was a real pleasure. Their end goals might be different since she wanted to know how the anomaly worked and he wanted to know its origins.

The path to their goals was the same. The first week of work had mostly been just measuring, photographing and working out a testing procedure. During one such meeting, Gregory, a young testing tech had asked what if it really was an “egg.”

Dimitri had suggested that they go and find out. Everyone had followed him out curious just what he was going to do. The anomaly was on a turntable so it could be moved without being touched.

He had simply turned the controls to rotate it at its fastest speed which wasn't that fast but it didn't need to be. A few guffaws had broken out as they figured out what he was doing as soon as he started.

Dimitri admitted to himself he had been showing off for Octavia, as he hammed it up while waiting for 5 minutes to pass and then stopped the turntable. When the Egg was not being studied there was a system of lasers to measure the slightest movement, so Dimitri had armed the system to check for movement. The set up had been insisted upon by Mr. Hunter.

Everyone held their breath, but even he was surprised when the egg slowly began moving. The only sound was the motion alarms from the lasers as they all just watched until Mr. Hunter and his associates came tearing in armed to the teeth.

The head of security was very upset that a test had been run without his knowledge and it took Octavia some time to mollify him that it had been a joke and not a serious test at all.

All the while the rest of the scientists had stood there watching the egg as it wobbled to a stop. Gregory the young man who had asked the question to start with, commented, “That answers that.”

***

“Whee!, giggled Jake as he spun around and around. Dizzily he went round and round on the giant lily pad floating on the fern forest surrounded pond while bird sized dragonflies flitted hither and yon. His pad gradually slowed and began spinning the other way as Jake rocked back and forth joyfully.

Feeling something wrong, he looked up to find Mama looking down disapprovingly at him. “Why did you leave when I was showing you how to 'see' magic young lady?” She asked.

“Everything started spinning Mama!” Jake giggled excitedly.

Upon seeing the stern look in her eyes, “I just wanted to have a little fun. I didn't mean to do anything bad Mama”

Lovingly she gather him up in her fore-claws, “I know dear one. You just have so much to learn and time is growing short. Shall we begin?” as the dragon restarted her lesson.

***

Dimitri and Octavia poured over three years of reports from their testing. Sipping at his mostly cold coffee, Dimitri considered what they had learned. That first test from that long ago first week had demonstrated the anomaly wasn't solid but had a fluid center.

Despite appearances the outer shell wasn't solid either but an intricate structure at the ‘nano’ scale. He remembered trying to explain their findings to their dear head of security.

“Imagine an ancient army armed with shields and spears. Depending on the threat, their formation would change to best thwart an attack. They could close ranks and become denser or open ranks to let them let it pass though harmlessly or change the angle of attack to best redirect their enemy’s blow,” Dimitri illustrated with his hands.

“The anomaly does much the same but it does it at such a small scale and so quickly it appears that whatever damage we attempt has no effect at all. In truth in every test the entire structure is actively working at protecting itself” Octavia concluded.

“What we have found so far is that the anomaly is a very advanced nano-scale structure. Dr. Mitsopoulos has identified traces that indicate of a possible organic origin, but the mechanism is such that we are only now beginning to analyze it.” Octavia lectured with passion.

“We are in the position of trying to reverse engineer something that we barely have the knowledge to understand. The complex nature of using memory retentive materials, heat expansion, and other tools for it to achieve its function is ten to fifteen years beyond what we can do now.” Octavia pointed out.

Dimitri grunted, “More like twenty. The processes although complex are also quiet elegant.”

As always Mr. Hunter wanted to know, “So how do you destroy it?”

Miffed Octavia replied, “I wasn't aware that we were here to destroy anything Mr. Hunter?”

“Miss Washington if what you discover from it is to be used for protection then we must know just how much we can depend upon it.” The head of security riposted.

Seeking to defuse the looming fight, Dimitri pointed out, “The best chance to overwhelm the anomaly would likely be to cover the entire structure with many different kinds of stress. You are not trying to destroy a ‘thing’ but in this case a set of ‘processes’. If you can interrupt the processes enough the protection should break down.”

“Once we know more we should be able to target specific areas to disable the processes but right now we are learning more about advanced nano-scale engineering with every passing day. Some of these processes are still just ideas we have seen written in some journals, here they are real!” Octavia said still upset with their annoying security chief.

Dimtiri mused that Mr. Hunter hadn't improved at all in the intervening years. In fact he had grown certain that most of if not all of Mr. Hunter’s associates were supra or para human. The difference being supra was from mutation, while paranormal was linked with the supernatural or magic.

That last was very troubling, for if having a team of mercenaries as guards was unsettling, having a group of capes, in costume or not, present was nerve racking. Part of ULTIMATE provisions had stated that no national government could directly control a supernal human. They could regulate and sponsor but not give orders too.

At the time it was signed in 1961 the presence of Soviet supranormals and missiles in Cube had almost ignited a world war. The skirmish between the Soviet and American capes had almost pushed the Doomsday Clock past the point of no return.

With the increasingly active affairs, super-villains were playing in world events, the need for a united organization to combat these threats was ever present. The ULTIMATE had addressed this with member sponsored ‘super reaction teams’.(SRT)

The SRT was the only instance when a government could order a super under the treaty, even if it was tantamount to a 'draft'. The term was usually two years with generous benefits and many volunteered for service. Unfortunately just as many went rogue to avoid that service.

Most considered the so-called ‘citizen of the world’ non-national supranormal policy a complete fiction. Even if the employment of supers as 'consultants' was illegal, every nation thought of it as a 'if you don't get caught it's not wrong.'

In the three years they'd been studying the anomaly they had found only mysteries and not threats to any one. There was always the fear of the unknown and what secrets lay within their mysterious guest could certainly qualify for that. Was there fear enough for ‘someone’ to fund a very dangerous team of mercenary capes for three years, working a desk?

***

“Is it time Mama?” Jake sleepily asked becoming cramped in the small space.

“Hush, back to sleep little one. Not yet, but soon.” she gently eased him back to sleep.

***

Octavia was displeased with the current restrictions which were limiting her research. The anomaly was now in a very secure enclosure that she was sure was a shocking case of overkill. The damn enclosure made access to the anomaly much more difficult and therefore slowed her research.

If that wasn't enough the outside of the Lab was more like a fortress now that the despised Mr. Hunter had increased security. She sarcastically wondered, which army was going to attack them.

Dimitri Mitsopoulos, her trusted second-in-command of the research team, had been under even more harassment by Mr. Whyte, the wizard in security. Dimitri's multi disciplined background had been enormously useful, but the stress from this stupidity was beginning to tell on him.

All this scrutiny was just because, in the last three months, movement had begun in the anomaly. Movement so slight, if not for the lasers, they never would have detected it. Caution was admirable, but Mr. Hunter's reaction was extremely over the top, there hadn't been any other changes.

Octavia double-checked the calibrations on the sensors festooning the anomaly herself, unwilling to force a lab tech to go through the gauntlet of actually entering that damn enclosure.

***

“Little one, it's time,” the gentle voice roused Jake from his slumber.

Trying to stretch he found that he couldn't. Why was it so tight in here he wondered?

“Precious one I have done all I could to prepare you for this moment, but I still fear it will be most unpleasant for you. You'll have the right to hate me for what I've done, but I hope the future will allow you time to forgive me.”

Still dreaming Jake muttered, “I don't hate you Mama. I love you.”

“I know my little one,” she said softy, “but it is time for you wake. I died many years ago now and now it is time for you to live.

Jake although cramped and half-awake resisted and stubbornly clung to his dream.

“WAKE” roared the Dragon!

***

Octavia frowned, “That isn't right.” She rechecked the setting, just as the alarms went off. Holding her ears she looked at the control booth above shouting, “Turn it off already!” She saw Mr. Hunter rush into the booth.

He grabbed the mic, “Doctor you should leave the enclosure NOW.”

Biting back an angry retort, Octavia caught some movement in the corner of her eye. Turning, she the anomaly move! At first just a wobble, then one side collided with the ranks of sensors and cameras.

She backed away disbelievingly as the clear sound of an impact from inside the Anomaly echoed in the now far too small enclosure. The lasers detected movement but if certain thresholds were passed it would also trigger a security lock-down.

Octavia ran for the door, but another crack echoed from behind her. She reached the door just as the automatic safeties slammed into place sealing the door into place and the lock-down alarm added its blare to the cacophony.

Dimitri sprinted to the control booth realizing that Octavia was inside the enclosure. He had been overseeing the assembly of some new equipment when the lock-down alarm sounded. With no tests scheduled for today no one had been in the booth but for one security guard.

Mr. Hunter stood calmly in the center of chaos as his associates rallied their troops. Dimitri could see some tracked robots as well as other heavily armed guards quickly scrambled outside the tripled-wall enclosure.

“Open the Locks! Let her out!” Dimitri yelled as he slid to stop.

Mr. Hunter calmly replied, “We can't do that Dr. Mitsopoulos. That would compromise the enclosure. Dr. Washington knew the risks when she began this project. I must admit a certain amount of satisfaction after spending four years being ridiculed by you scientists as a paranoid control freak.”

“Sometimes Doctor there really are monsters in the closet,” Mr. Hunter told him.

The large dark man Saladin quietly came in carrying a very long wooden case and stood at Mr. Hunters side as they watched the enclosure.

***

Jake woke unable to move. Panicked he didn't know what was going on. He was packed into some kind of box or something!

The last thing he remembered was endless dreams of the Dragon with her smoothing voice. Having problems breathing he smashed at the wall with his hand. Hearing something crack, heartened Jake struck it again.

Once more and a piece fell away and he could see light! Something on his back felt weird but almost from instinct he threw his shoulders at the promise of more light.

***

Octavia with her back against the locked-down door turned to see the impossible! For fifteen years the anomaly had resisted all of man's attempts to harm it and now she saw a fragment fall from it as something from inside struggled to get out!

Her mind refused to calculate the force that in theory would be required to breach that shell even though breaking out would be easier than in. Yes, a shell. Octavia had denied the obvious for years that it could really be an egg. Now it was hatching and she was in here with it.

Octavia’s breath caught as a slender hand came into view. Someone was inside? The reports had said that a Jacob Morgan had disappeared the night the anomaly had landed, but it didn't look like the hand of an adult much less a man's.

A tremendous glass shattering crescendo caused her to cover her ears again. Swallowing hard she saw a long ivory claw the size of her hand crack open the side of the egg. Octavia half in fear and half in awe wondered just what was being born.

In the booth Dimitri watched fascinated at seeing what he had chased for fifteen years come out of the darkness. Mr. Hunter merely grunted and exchanged a look with dark Saladin, Monsters.

***

Jake half fell crawled into the light. His head was swimming with unfamiliar sensations. Bumbling into some of the many pieces of equipment around him, he blinked in surprise. Where in the world was he?

Looking around himself he was in some sort of Plexiglas box filled with stuff out of a bad sci-fi movie. Above the box was some kind a control booth with a brunch of people staring at him.

Confused Jake continued looking and saw a black woman in her early thirty's maybe, but the fear in her eyes didn't help. Looking behind him he saw a trail of goo leading from an honest-to-god egg just like out of “Aliens”!

Bewildered he turned back to the woman to ask for help, but only a hissing like croak escaped his lips. He was going to try again when her eyes got even larger but focused behind him.

Wondering how his dream had turned into this nightmare, Jake turned to see what was happening now. The egg and even the goo-trail behind him was glowing!

***

Octavia was afraid but she couldn't stop herself from looking at the strange creature that had hatched. The slim hands she had seen earlier were attached to a young girl maybe in her mid-teens. Her skin was very fair and smooth, but it was the hair that stood out. It had a feathery like quality to it and seemed to flash with all the colors of the rainbow like a hologram.

She seemed very human if you discounted the large bat-like wings on her back. Looking closer the rainbow-like effect from the hair seemed to carry over to the wings as well.

The six or eight inch long claw she had seen earlier had come the top of the wing's humerus limb and unlike a bat's developed thumb was sheathed within the root somehow.

Octavia's inspection was interrupted when it tried to speak. The creature seemed confused and lost. Well even if they couldn't learn anything from her at least they had fragments of the egg now for testing. Then the egg shell started glowing.

***

Dimitri watched everything in complete fascination. He had never seen or heard of anything like this winged girl before except, maybe, a demoness from myth. The array of sensors was out but he could see her feet were abnormal but aside from that she looked quiet human.

Mr. Hunter was ordering the enclosures gas containers released but somehow when the egg hatched an EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) had knocked out all of the close electronics. Taking the news in stride he ordered the now inactive remote tranquilizer guns to be fired manually.

Richard Smith inhumanly leaped ten feet to one of the remote guns while his sister did the same confirming for Dimitri that they were indeed Supra's.

Men with ‘tranq’ guns were trying to position themselves while a robot armed with one trundled into the enclosure.

Dimitri could hear Mr. Hunter whispering in an unknown language but his tone made it clear it was urging them to move faster. He could see Octavia raptly studying the young woman, ever the scientist. With everyone’s attention focused on their strange guest almost no one saw the shell begin to glow!

With his observer's eye and years of studying the anomaly he recognized he was really seeing it disassemble itself. Each glowing spark was like that analogy he had made about it being phalanx like and it looked like they had new marching orders.

Now others were aware and Dimitri could hear their exclamations of awe, for it was something seen only in special effects for movies. Mr. Hunter was instead looking with an analytical eye as if unsurprised at his prey's latest move.

Dimitri was starting to wonder just who in Hades, Mr. Hunter really was and just how much he knew that he never told them. He could see the sparks start to swirl and in a tornado like spiral move towards the young woman.

She looked just as amazed by it as everyone else. It settled around her like a swarm of fairy's about their queen. In a brilliant flash of rainbow colored light the sparks turned her into a shiny mirrored sculpture that faded as it settled into place.

***

Jake blinked his eyes as the incredibly beautiful light show drifted over him and gently covered him like a fine blanket of silk. It was then he noticed his changes. What had happened to his arms and hands?

His heart began beating faster when he looked down and saw his new additions. Breasts? I have breasts. Trembling fingers touched his groin and found only a smooth flatness.

Afraid that he might be sexless his fingers probed and felt the seam of his or is that her sex? What had the dragon done to him? Growing aware that she was naked and on display in this glass box Jake covered herself and jerked in surprise when her wings unfurled and covered her like a cloak made from fine mail.

***

Entranced Octavia watched as the flock of sparks had become like a smooth coat covering her from head to toe, which you couldn't see except for the rainbow hologram like shimmers. The girl was plainly in shock and examining herself as if surprised at what she found.

The Scientist in her was wondering just what was happening here. Was this some creature from somewhere else or just the transformed Mr. Morgan?

With a cough of compressed air the first dart struck the girl. With a dimpled ripple of rainbows running across her skin or was it hide(?), it bounced off.

***

Jake was trying to understand what was happening when something struck her. It stung and she looked to see what had hit her. Laying nearby was a damaged dart like she had seen on TV for tranquilizing zoo animals.

Another sting hit her and she spun around to find yet another one had hit her. She saw someone on top of the cube that was aiming a gun like tube at her. Jake was afraid and yet angry at the same time.

Remembering the woman who was inside with her, Jake turned towards the airlock style door. The person she was looking for scooted out as the door opened and a thing kinda like a little tank rolled in. It was about the size of a riding lawnmower, but the gun and camera on top wasn't for yard work.

She grabbed the gun on top and was surprised when it came off in her hand. What was this thing made of, Styrofoam or something? Jake got stung in her shoulder and threw the torn gun at it.

Blinking her eyes she was shocked when her target shattered! The man on top flew off from the impact. Slapping at the sharp impact to her throat, she dropped to her knees more from shock than harm. Pulling her hand away, there were the parts of yet another dart.

Jake stood holding out her hands hoping to stop this. Her eyes locked with the woman on top of the cube with the gun, and without batting an eye she fired.

What was with these damn people couldn't they see she wanted to give up? The dart struck her in the breast and damn it, that hurt! Well if they wanted a fight, Jake thought as she grabbed the lawn tractor thing hoping to find something on it to throw but instead picked up the entire thing!

Flabbergasted she froze for a moment and then as her father used to say “Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.” she threw the whole thing at the bitch that had been shooting at her.

With a satisfying crash it demolished the gun, but the bitch on top had leaped away. There was a small opening now to the outside but she might be able to get out now. Leaping she had no trouble getting to the opening. It was a little small but as she pulled on it, the Plexiglas like stuff bent like it was metal.

Just where the hell was she? This was like Star Trek's ‘transparent aluminum’ or something! Damn it! Another sting hit her in the side. She pulled herself up onto the top of the cube. Shielding her eyes, she surveyed the room about her.

There were about ten guys in here with two large doors at each end with the cube sitting in the middle. Most of them looked armed with those tranquilizer rifles, but two had something that reminded her of flamethrowers because of the large tanks on their backs.

They all had gas masks and were dressed like SWAT guys. Sniffing, she indeed did pick up something in the air and saw vapor coming in from vents in the roof. The booth was midway between the doors and that was where whoever was giving the orders was.

Jake hesitated for a breath fearing the gas might knock her out soon. Looking into the booth she had no problem picking out the ones who were in charge. The taller man had a scholar look about him, but the one that drew her eyes was the small dark man.

She saw hate in them. Jake didn't know what was going on, but this man would kill her if he could, of that she had no doubts. That hate made up her mind. Leaping off the top, she charged for the farthest door for it had fewest defenders.

Whoa, what a rush! Jake exulted at the speed she was moving. More darts were fired but now she was moving not many hit besides they didn't do much but sting a bit. Rushing up to the door she flung one of the guys from her way. Awed, she watch him fly across the room!

Hey, that lawnmower thing hadn’t been fragile, she was just one helluva' lot stronger now! Wham! A large arm threw itself around her and grabbed her arm trying to force her into a submission hold. Twisting around she saw it was that Sonuvabitch that had started the shooting at her!

Almost in instinct she flung her wings opened and he spun away. Damn she must have a wingspan of nearly twelve feet!

Seeing movement in the corner of her vision, the bitch that had to be his twin slid to stop next to one of the tank armed men and grabbed the nozzle.

Jake had just about had it with these flackers, she put her head down and charged!

Calmly the blond witch waited until the last second and then fired! A steam of foam jetted out!

Jake felt the foam hit and was determined to get out no matter what, but the blasted stuff was still expanding and soon she lost traction with the floor. She could and did tear the stuff but the slippery inflating goo lifted her off the floor.

It was like being covered in marshmallows! Jake was having some trouble breathing though the stuff and a sense of claustrophobia grabbed her along with the fear of suffocating. Soon she couldn't see or hear anything as the foam swallowed all sensations.

***

Dimitri forced his hands to relax as the restraining foam captured the girl-creature. She would still be able to breath but it wouldn't be easy. He wondered what he had just seen because he knew he saw her try to surrender. That wasn't a response of a newborn but something that had past experiences. In his own mind he didn't know if she was a person or a creature although it was clear what Security thought.

Mr. Hunter had disregarded the surrender attempts. He had given orders the creature be subdued no matter what she did. It didn't get past him that the head of security had let out a long slow breath when she fallen to the foam for all of his projected confidence.

She had been immune to the darts and to the gas as well since the foam's movement gave evidence to her continued consciousness. Richard Smith who was undoubtedly was a supranormal was thrown almost causally from her.

Dimitri had some ideas but he needed to talk to Octavia to try to sort out and focus his thoughts. He had been grateful that she gotten out without any harm.

A disheveled and breathless Octavia came in and silently their eyes met knowing that they had much to discuss.

Mr. Hunter said to them, “Doctors, if you please, report to the conference room for a debriefing and prepare a report for me by tomorrow.” Finished he turned and left the booth along with his silent shadow.

***

Jake felt herself being lowered to the floor but still couldn't see or hear anything because of the bloody Styrofoam. She tensed waiting for a chance to escape when her soft prison started dissolving in a sticky nasty mess!

She tried to fight to her feet but it was as slick as wet ice. Jake was pawing at her mouth and eyes trying to keep the gooey junk out when a jet of water slammed her into the wall!

Overcoming her panic at being pinned by the powerful river of water washing over her she discovered again that being stronger meant nothing when you didn't have anything to push against.

Abruptly it cut off dropping her coughing to the cold hard floor. Jake brought her hands to her groin and breasts that were still throbbing painfully from the jet of water. From her eye level with the floor she could see the water and goo draining away into a grate in the center of the concrete floor.

Craning her head about she saw she was in a box about thirty foot by thirty foot, with a large mirror on one wall about twenty feet off the floor. The rest of the room was featureless except for some slits in the ceiling where the lights were and water dripping from one of them suggested that was where her unwelcome bath had come from as well.

Undoubtedly the mirror was two way, but there was no sign of a door. Thinking of something she read of an really nasty jail cell in ancient Rome that was just a carven pit of solid rock that the only way in or out was though a hole in the ceiling, she carefully examined the slits up there.

Jake could see where they helped concealed a ten foot section of roof that looked if it could be moved. Even if she could learn to fly up there she didn't see how she could lift such a huge block. With no leverage it was just impossible but what about this wasn't.

Wrapping her arms about herself she felt her breasts. Trying to keep from crying and feeling sorry for herself she examined herself. If someone were watching, let the damn flackers get an eyeful as she shot them the finger!

Standing far enough back so she could see all of her new self in the mirror, Jake recognized her face. It was the same the dragon had worn in their shared dream! She was girlishly slim with breasts and hips that left no uncertainty she was female. With a little shock, she noticed the flash of blue in her belly button. Touching the smooth stone she found there, Jake realized she had still had the dream-stone that first started this adventure.

Her skin was still fair but the addition of that glowing stuff from the shell gave it a rainbow shimmer. Jake ran her fingers though her glittering hair that had even more of a multicolor thing going with holographic like shifting. It was very soft and had a feathery like texture and came down to her shoulders.

Twisting her head, Jake saw she could turn her head a lot further than anyone she had ever seen before. She could see what was almost a horse-like mane, running down her back and covering the area where her wings joined her back and shoulders.

She had six limbs now with the addition of the wings. They were very muscular and more like legs than arms. The soft skin covered wings reassembled bat-like wings more than birds, but while a bat's wing claw was its thumb hers was different.

The tallest arm of the wing had a lot of flexibility and movement and she could move it forward until it overreached her own hands. With that grim claw hidden in it, the wing was like a spear or sword.

It was hard trying to extend the claw but when she did, the thing was razor sharp with a serrated edge ginzu chefs would envy.

If that wasn't enough she almost freaked when she checked out her feet. She hadn't been walking on her ball and heel at all but on the knuckles of her toes! Stretched out her toes were webbed like the wings and were almost a foot long.

Rather than have a tail, she had this webbed foot design. Fighting the feelings of being very alone and one of a kind she saw each toe was very limber and folded under her foot so like she first thought walking on the knuckles of her toes.

Now she knew she was doing it, it was a bit strange but she could see it was done to help her fly. With her toes extended she could she how it could be like a bird's tail. She did still have toe nails but they weren't claw like or anything.

Thinking about claws and nails she looked at her hands. They were long and slender and everything she had desired. They were the hands of a beautiful feminine woman. Testing the edges her nails didn't seem unusually sharp, but they were a about a quarter inch long.

The nails also had a shiny rainbow sheen on them and appeared very hard. Thinking that the nails looked really thick she got another surprise as like with the wing claws she had another half inch of nail sheathed underneath the normal looking ones.

The odd part, wasn't that a laugh, was the clawed extensions weren't symmetrical, but shaped so that when she held her fingers together her they formed a rounded blade-like edge an inch or so from her hand.

Jake had played at the Society of Creative Anachronisms and a similar group named the Marklanders to know a little about blade work. An expert no, but enough to get himself hurt he used to joke, but now it was herself she supposed.

In moving her weapon-hand about, she noted this was meant for slashing while the wing claws were designed for punching though stuff. Well, the hand thing didn't seem to include the thumbs.

Since everything else had a purpose she looked at them. The thumbnail was broader across and when Jake got the claw out the damn thing was almost two inches long!

She hugged her knees to herself again dismayed at being a walking cutlery shop. It had to have been the dragon who did this her, Why? Despite trying not to, the tears began to fall and soon into a uneasy slumber.

***

Dimitri and Octavia glared at Mr. Hunter. “We need access to the girl if you expect us to have any thing other than a Scientific Wild Ass Guess (SWAG).” Octavia said angrily.

“Doctor to start with the anomaly was classified as a Class 6 artifact. Unknown origin with confirmed magical and or psionic potential involved in the death of a person.”

“You got permission to study it with the understanding that securing the anomaly would come first. We already know that Mr. Morgan was killed fourteen years ago by this thing and today it ripped opened eight inches of Glas-steel as well as destroying a mobile gun robot.”

Mr. Hunter took a breath, “Two of my people were injured, one with a broken leg and Mr. Smith with broken collar bone. We hit it with a total of nine harden tranq darts that can pierce a rhino's hide and they just shattered on impact with it.”

“The lab was flooded with enough gas to knock out an elephant but it ignored it. We were very lucky today, Doctors, that we have the latest generation of restraining foam. Even still it tore itself free of the foam but couldn't escape the self-sealing cocoon effect.”

Mr. Hunter placed both hands on the table and stood. “This generation of foam is rated for Epsilon class Supra's and it exceeded that considerably judging by the ease it escaped the enclosure.”

“I'm not going to endanger you or this project by allowing anyone close to this thing. You will have access to the recordings and remote sensors, but that is all.”

Octavia, upset, stood, “How can we determine anything with conditions like that? We need to have detailed electron scans and thorough examinations. Not to mention samples.”

Mr. Hunter grimaced, “Did you find any remains of the shell Doctor? Any type of remains at all?”

Octavia shook her head, “No, but we…”

“And you won't either Doctor,” the head of Security cut her off. “This thing is making certain that it leaves nothing behind. I don't think even if I let you make the attempt that you would have any success.”

Dimitri spoke softly, “Have you asked her?”

Octavia and Hunter turned to him as if they hadn't understood him.

He repeated himself, “Have you asked her? After all twice she tried to surrender but your men continued shooting. That argues that she has some ability to communicate, so have anyone even tried talking to her?”

Hunter looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, “Dr. Mitsopoulos I can appreciate thinking outside the box but in this instant let make no mistake. This thing is a monster. You can't reason or make friends with it. You study it and learn its weaknesses so the next time one like it comes around you know how to best kill it, nothing more.”

He stood angrily. “This brief is over. I need to know how to kill this thing. Anything else is irrelevant.” Hunter left the room leaving Octavia and Dimitri looking at each other wondering what really was going on.

***

Jake awoke on the concrete floor. She half wondered why she wasn't stiff or sore but the pressure in her bladder let her know business comes first. Annoyed she looked at the drain the center of the sloping floor and then at the damn window where her peeking Toms were no doubt getting an eyeful.

While Jake was asleep two buckets had appeared. They were made of simple white plastic and held water and something that had the look of mush to it. Of course nothing to eat with but fingers.

With as much aplomb as she could muster, Jake walked to the drain. Looking pointedly at the drain and back at the window, she shot them the finger. All of her life she had dreamed of being a real girl and now when it would have been nice to have something to aim with she had to squat with an audience no less.

It wasn't like when she had been male but a certain relaxing let the stream begin. She had a small amount of that multicolor hair kinda like a bikini cut right above her sex, but she didn't know what else to call it but a seal or seam?

Her groin had some sort of muscled fold that kept it sealed. At least a rapist would have one helluva time trying to force that open. Not that with all the claws and sharp edges she had would make that a concern.

Next problem was what was she going to wipe with? Carefully she tipped the water bucket just enough to splash some out. Wetting one hand she did her best to clean herself and then cleaned the soiled hand as best she could.

Well at least that tour of duty in Korea had been good for something. In Korea it was considered bad manners to eat with the left hand because that was the one reserved for 'cleaning.'

Using the same concept, she used her other hand to dip into the soggy mush that was something like oatmeal. After tasting it she nearly spit it out. Those Flackers were treating her like she was an animal or something!

That mush really was oats, like you would feed a horse! The buckets should've been a big clue, but even in survival, escape, resistance and evasion (SERE) training in the Air Force they had never fed them livestock feed!

Alright at first she was thinking she was being treated like some sort of rogue supranormal or something, but this was ridicules! Marching up to her damn peeking Toms she was going give them a piece of her mind!

Yesterday her attempts at speaking hadn't gone too well, but this was above and beyond cruel. In the beginning she could only kinda croak, but then Jake guessed she was having to learn how to speak all over again in a way.

Her entire jaw, lips, tongue, and even her vocal range had changed, but even so it didn't take too long before she could manage to get out, “Hey YOU!”

Jake winced at the volume, well she had a healthy set of lungs anyways, and almost made herself smile thinking of her breasts. Get your mind out of the gutter sweetie she told herself.

Addressing her peeking Toms, “Why am I here? What have I done to deserve this?” She said with her hands on her hips.

Not getting an answer, she had the sinking feeling that the nasty little guy with hate in his eyes was responsible for this humiliation. If that was so she had nothing to gain by trying to talk with these people.

Emotion always overcomes reason Jake had learned the hard way. Right now she just didn't know enough to try and escape. Trying to claw her way though that mirror was tempting but she was thinking seeing just how that damn section of roof opened might be more useful.

Jake mused well I might as well get used to eating horse food. Someone is going to catch just a little payback because of this she promised, but for now do nothing.

After she had finished eating her rather unappetizing meal it was tempting to see just what she could do physically now, but that would mean showing her captors as well.

Well, Jake was used to living mostly inside her head anyways, telling herself stories and dreaming of somehow becoming the woman she had always felt she should've been. She settled down in the center of the floor cross legged and daydreamed.

***

The next couple of days passed like the first. She would get up and demand answers from the peeping Toms. Eat that damn horse feed, and sit and meditate.

Jake did learn that the door indeed was in the ceiling but it lowered instead of lifted. That probably meant the way out was blocked above it, like an airlock arrangement.

It also got her thinking that this damn place was built like it had to house a major class villain like Doctor Mortis. That sneaky little trick with the door made her think that just breaking a hole in that glass wouldn't work. It was too obvious.

The simple thing would be if it was just that a mirror. The real observation area would be concealed elsewhere. Seeing how whoever had her had some damn strange materials available to them as proved by that transparent metal stuff it could be anywhere. If only she had Scotty to beam her up right now, but it looked if she would have to do this the hard way.

Jake had added a routine of stretching and isometric exercises to her day. Even with the lousy diet she still had too much energy to sit all day long. She had always envied those girl gymnasts on TV with the floor and parallel bar events, but being male at the time she had no way to live out that fantasy.

Now she had to be careful how much she gave away to the peeking Toms. Sure when she did make her escape attempt it would be pleasant to have some idea of what she could do, but she rather thought the surprises might work in her favor.

She concentrated on doing letter perfect men's pushup's not to build strength but for coordination. When she did break out of this joint, these ass-holes were going to remember it for a long, long time.

End of Part 2