Eighteen-year-old Nicholas Hammerstein is at the cusp of finishing high school in his hometown of Los Alamos, NM. He has a seemingly ideal life and is blessed with loving parents, a cute baby sister, and great friends. Nicholas is a gifted student and martial artist who has dreams of leaving for college at the end of his senior year. But, living in a world of Emergent humans, he will soon find his life turned upside down as his life and the fate of a kingdom hang in the balance. His future and theirs will be determined by how he navigates the drastic changes in his body and the magical and superpowered Mergent population he joins.

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The Legal Stuff: Emerald Princess © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2016-2023 By Sofia Hammerstein. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Chapter 31: Costumed Life

BY THE NEXT morning, I felt like a small routine had become somewhat normal for me, just in time to welcome our week off for Thanksgiving. Hannah and I worked on homework and caught up on stuff we’d missed all morning. Our costumes had been approved for design, so I spent a half-hour magically making them. I even completely copied multiple properties of the innovative fabrics our teacher had shown us. Ultimately, our costumes were fire, bullet, and stab resistant. Caireen had even shown me how to add the anti-wrinkle spell to them, along with another that would allow the fabrics to heal themselves.

“You should try it on now!” Hannah said as she watched me tweak it on a magical dress form Caireen had suggested.

I shrugged, “I think it’s good enough.”

She was up in an instant, just like she had been excitedly waiting for the invitation to do so! Hannah picked the outfit off the dummy, grabbed the tights that were sitting nearby, and then grabbed me and sat me down on the changing table. “You’re a little wet, but I think it’ll wait a bit,” she told me with a smile.

I cringed, “maybe you should change me anyway? It’s going to be tough to get that off of me to change me later.”

She looked at me and shrugged, “what’s one more diaper change, huh?” After Hannah quickly had me changed, she started by helping me pull the tights on. These were all white but were the same fabric as the rest of the costume. It scrunched my diaper up underneath a bit but seemed to be a good fit. I watched her fiddle with the back of the rest of the costume next as she unbuttoned a clasp and unzipped it. Finally, she helped me thread my legs through the leg holes I had designed and pulled the top to my shoulders like a swimsuit.

Hannah fiddled with the zipper and the clasp for a moment before saying, “You look totally adorable like this!” I started to stand up to see, “Hold it, Princess,” she said to me in her mommy’s voice.

“What?”

“Let’s get your tiara and pacifier in place first,” she smiled.

With that, she went to a jewelry box my tiara was sitting in. She must have played with my hair for twenty minutes before handing me the temporary pacifier I had created. “So, you’re going to get a technomage to do something else for you with this?”

“I’m going to try… I need to find out who would be good for that first,” I said before I plopped the pacifier in my mouth. I had designed it with an extra-large shield, a sizeable actual emerald for the button, and a few magical enhancements until I could get a technomage to help me out. For now, the magic helped conceal my face by blurring it if I wanted and supported my breathing. It was also just as soothing as any regular pacifier was to me too!

With that, Hannah picked me up and sat me in front of the full-length mirror that let me see myself. I smiled around the pacifier, but you couldn’t tell. I looked adorable! Someone would probably think I was wearing a Halloween costume or a fancy baby dress if they saw me on the street. The actual ‘dress’ part of the outfit ended just above the leotard-like diaper cover, leaving just a hint of the diaper below it. I designed the outfit by modifying the look from Sofia the First, like my previous signature outfit. Still, it had some differences - to avoid copyright infringement, if nothing else! Instead of white petals on the shaped skirt pieces, they were made of thousands of tiny emeralds attached to the fabric. The green emeralds against the dress’s purple and white really looked pretty! I included some diamonds as well to help add some sparkle.

“What do you think?” I asked her.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’ll take everyone who attacks you with the cute card first.” She knelt next to me and hugged me from behind. “Then I have a feeling you’re going to beat them up, and they’re going to be soooo embarrassed that a little baby girl beat them up.” She giggled as she said that. “Are… are… those real gems?” she asked a moment later.

I nodded, “Don’t tell anyone else.”

“That outfit…”

“Is expensive,” I smiled. “It doesn’t mean much when I can just magic more into existence.”

She nodded to agree.

“Now, to your costume?” I suggested.

“Actually, Sofia, let’s get to lunch. You still have that meeting with the FBI to go to.”

“Should I just stay in costume for that?” I asked her.

She shrugged, “It’s up to you, but remember, I’ll have to totally undress you to change your diaper.”

I thought for a moment and then said, “Well, when you have to change me, you can put me in something else then?”

She giggled again, “You really just want to show off your new outfit, don’t you?”

“Maybe…” I said with a blush.

“Shall we go?”

“Don’t you need me to nurse first?” I asked her.

“I pumped while you were looking over the costume.”

“Oh…” I said, not really disappointed, but it had become so standard to do so at lunch.

She tickled me, “You can have some in a bottle at lunch,” she reassured me.

I blushed and held my hands up to her. Lunch was pretty typical, with some of our friends absent doing other things. In general, Friar Hall seemed a bit quieter today. Esmie came up as I finished the bottle Hannah had promised me, “Oh my God, how can you get any cuter?!?!”

“I have my ways,” I joked.

The other girls laughed then too. “So, are you wearing your costume to meet with the FBI?” Hannah asked me quietly.

“Should I?”

“Maybe?”

About that time, I felt things change below, and I said, “Umm… So you’re going to have to change me anyway right now?”

Hannah squeezed me tight and tried to keep things from getting messier as she gathered her backpack and said, “We’ll see you all later,” to our friends.

As we got to the bathroom, I thought, “Caireen, can I put this costume somewhere and pull it on like I do with my doll clothes now?”

I felt her think… “I think I’ll let you do that for now.”

“Hannah, can you just set me down on the ground for a second?”

“Umm… sure, while I pull this table down,” she told me.

I sat there for a second and used the magic to put my costume away, leaving me naked except for the messy diaper.

“Well, that should make it easier to get to that diapee,” Hannah said with a smile.

I smiled back and was happy to have her get me out of that mess!

 

A HALF-HOUR later, we were back in the administrative offices waiting for Mrs. Hensley to finish talking to the FBI representative before allowing them to see us. She walked out with a tall man that looked like he came from a recruiting poster. ‘Definitely a Mergent,’ I said to Caireen.

‘Yep,’ she answered.

“He’s got to be a paradigm,” Hannah whispered to my ear.

I giggled, “Caireen and I just said that to each other,” I told her quietly.

“Sofia, Hannah, this is Agent Sanders; he’s the Agency Liaison to Bechtel.”

“Nice to meet you,” I said as Hannah rose to meet him.

“Nice to meet you both as well! You said we could use that conference room, correct?” He asked Mrs. Hensley.

“Yes, Matt, that will be fine.”

“Thanks,” he said to her, “This way, please, ladies.”

We didn’t go far but ended up in a conference room. Sanders pulled out a small micro projector and turned to us. “Sofia, I’m grateful you agreed to meet with us.”

“It seemed like you would be a better option than the CIA,” I told him honestly.

“What exactly do you have in mind, though?” Hannah asked protectively behind me.

“Well, if you agree to help us, Sofia, you’ll be fast-tracked to join the Agency once you finish school. Either here from Bechtel or college, whichever you prefer.” I nodded, and he said, “For our part, we would be making you an offer similar to JROTC’s for the military. You will be a little more official than their officers are, though, in that we’ll give you full agent status for signing on.”

“What about Hannah?” I asked.

“Does she have to come as part of the package?” He asked.

“Well, she doesn’t necessarily have to be on assignment with me every time.” I felt her stiffen there, “but in general, we’ll probably be better off if she is in some way involved with the effort.”

“Sof…” she started.

I turned around and cut her off, “If I do this, it’s like any other agent; that means my mommy can’t always be there for me.” I gave her a quick hug and did my best to ignore her tears.

Agent Sanders looked like he was in a room with two females getting ready to fight. I noticed a definite deer-in-the-headlights look as he tip-toed around the minefield and continued. “We can go ahead and sign you on, too, with the same conditions, Hannah, but I’ll be honest Sofia is the asset we’re trying to gain here.”

Hannah sighed and squeezed me in a hug that said she would get over it. She said, “I understand you may not be able to have me with her all of the time, but I would appreciate it if I could come along for the ride as much as possible.”

“Fair enough,” he said. “You will receive a monthly paycheck to your school accounts for your time and efforts.”

“Really?” I asked somewhat excitedly.

“Really, but don’t get too excited. Unless you’re on an assignment for us, it will be a small amount; four-hundred dollars per month until you leave school.”

“Okay…” I said, thrilled with the thought of getting more than my allowance out of the deal.

“And when she’s on assignment?” Hannah asked, getting to the critical point.

“It’ll be based on an hourly wage. That includes sleeping if Sofia’s on an undercover assignment, which will be most of her assignments.”

“How much?”

“Well, I’m going to suggest around fifty an hour there.”

I felt my jaw drop, “Okay, say I do this and go for this as a career. You mentioned starting this like a JROTC setup. What pay grade do I go into when I do go in full time?”

He smiled at me, “Smart question to ask there, Sofia. I’ve been authorized to tell you if you go straight in from Bechtel, we’ll hire you as a GS-8. But, if you’ll hold off and keep our part-time arrangement and get that college degree, first, it’ll be as a GS-10.”

I smiled at that, “I think I could live with that. But does the same deal apply to Hannah? You really need to think of her as a permanent handler.”

“We can make that offer, too,” he agreed.

With that, we spent a good hour going through forms and agreements, essentially signing my and Hannah’s lives away before he turned on a projector he had set on the table. “Okay, you’re not being given a full go yet on this mission, but I was told to go ahead and brief you if you agreed to join. We’ll likely be asking for your assistance in a few weeks.”

“Already?” Hannah asked.

“Yes, it will be very-short notice if we call you up for this. I’m going to recommend you both get some special firearms training above and beyond what you’re already doing, Hannah.” I thought that Hannah hadn’t even once commented on her Firearms class.

‘I’ll have to ask her about that later,’ I thought.

‘She’s doing well with it,’ Caireen told me.

‘How do you know?’

‘We’ve talked when you’ve been napping.’

I groaned mentally and watched as he began. “Sofia, we believe that most of the time, we will need you to be undercover in situations where we know children are at risk. I’m going to warn you that some of these situations will be really awful. But we’re hopeful that with your help, we can avoid real children and babies being at risk longer. We also hope to be able to investigate more thoroughly by using you as an inside asset.”

“That’s kind of what I figured,” I told him. Hannah had meanwhile grabbed a tighter hold on me.

“We’re currently investigating a ring of what we think is a combination of abuse and pornography.” But I grimaced as he brought up a map, “we’ve managed to ID several of the children in some images, and they have one daycare in common. But, unfortunately, the children are too young to be useful at pointing out who has been doing this to them.”

Caireen’s anger rose as I felt sick over what he was saying. Fortunately, he didn’t show any images, “so... is it just pictures?”

“We don’t know. Disturbingly we haven’t been able to find out anything despite our best efforts to identify the employee or employees responsible. We keep hoping a job will open at the center to get an undercover agent inside. But, unfortunately, they seem to have very stable employees - and subs when needed.”

“That’s really weird for a daycare,” Hannah said. “I think the one that Sofia’s sister goes to must turn over at least a couple employees every month…?”

He nodded, “That’s one of the things we’re concerned about. It just doesn’t feel right.”

“None of their parents have said anything?”

“None, although we’ve been very discreet in speaking with the few we’ve approached.”

“What kind of kids are these sickos going after?” I asked.

“Well, the ones that can’t speak up for themselves. Looks like the average age is between twelve months and two.”

I felt myself throw up a bit in my mouth, and Caireen’s anger boiled to match. He looked a little unnerved a second later, “Did you know your eyes can glow?”

“Huh?” I asked.

I turned to Hannah, and she said, “That’s different. I guess I know when you’re pissed off…?”

She grabbed her phone and took a quick picture before showing me.

“That might be a problem,” I said.

‘Don’t worry about it, Sofia; I’ll teach you a spell to change our appearance tonight.’

‘The one you promised me?’

‘Yes, but I’m going to ask that you only use it to change this stuff for a week or so.’

‘Deal.’

“Umm… Sofia, are you okay?” Agent Sanders asked.

I looked at him, “Yes, sir, whenever you need us, we’re ready to go. We’ll be happy to find this scum and help you remove them. One thing the spirit attached to me and I completely agree on is we despise anyone who would hurt a baby.”

“Can you do something about the eyes? That could give things away.”

Caireen took over unbidden, “I will make sure she can completely change her appearance by tonight. Would she be better off as a younger baby for your purposes? Different color hair, eyes? We will change anything you know to make us a better lure.”

That led off to a discussion for another half-hour about what he knew. “I think we’ll be in touch about the same time as your winter break. We’ll probably introduce you as the baby of a mother who’s going to work as a seasonal worker, to begin with…?”

I nodded, “Okay, by me.”

“We’ll also give you a fuller briefing when we get to that point. Tomorrow I will have some special sessions set up for you to begin training with firearms, Sofia. Given your strength levels, you should be able to handle a pistol just fine. We’ll work on getting one made small enough for you to feel comfortable with. I’ll fast-track that and, if possible, have it dropped off at the range before your appointment at two tomorrow. Any other questions?”

I thought about where we were heading next and asked, “Is there any problem if I agree to participate in modeling jobs as well?”

I watched him contort his face for a second before asking, “You’ll be able to change your appearance for assignments?”

I nodded.

“I think it’ll be fine.” He thought for a second, “I’ll run it by my superiors, but it might even be a good idea since you would then ‘look like’ that baby from that commercial. It might actually help on some assignments. Nobody would actually expect a celebrity baby.”

I smiled, “Okay then, I think that’s it!”

He led us back out of the conference room, and Hannah led us directly to the tiny restroom we’d become familiar with. “I really need to pump or something Sofia,” she told me.

“Well, find a seat and put me up there; I think I’m faster than the pump?” She seemed to agree, “And then you can change my wet diaper?” She squeezed me tight and sat on a bench conveniently by the door.

 
 

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