---

Cindy watched her son slouch off to his room after dinner and sighed. "I'm worried about Larry." she said.

Stefan glanced in the direction his wife was looking and said, "So am I. But there's not a whole lot we can do, is there?"

Cindy sighed again, "No, I suppose not. But that's what worries me. The doctor said he might become suicidal if he feels trapped as he is."

Stefan leaned over and wrapped his arm around Cindy's waist. "He's bound to feel trapped now, isn't he? The hormones made him sick, and he doesn't really look like a girl even dressed up with makeup and everything." he said sadly.

Snuggling into her husband's arm Cindy nodded, "No, he doesn't. We've got to find some way to help him!"

Stefan held his wife and tried to sound confident as he said, "We will, honey. Somehow, we will."

---

Admiral Clay glanced around at the holding cells as Dr. Milner took him on his monthly tour. "We have a few promising specimens here, as you can see. But the really exciting work hasn't quite gotten that far yet." Dr. Milner was saying.

"And why is that?" Admiral Clay asked.

"Well, as you know, there are some...logistical issues in obtaining specimens for my research. We've opened some new clinics to obtain more, but it takes a little time as we are unable to advertise openly." Dr. Milner replied.

Admiral Clay grunted his understanding. "And what is so exciting?" he asked.

Dr. Milner smiled, "As you know, Kittyhawk has exhibited traits from several donor animals. Now that we've made such progress in identifying and controlling different kinds of mutation, we're working on combining mutations in a single subject. If Kittyhawk is any indication, we could end up with much stronger mutations!"

Admiral Clay nodded, "And what kind of combinations are you trying for?"

"There are several combinations we'll test. A panther/hawk mix is one, for obvious reasons. I'm also experimenting with insects, particularly ants. None of the single-donor mutations have developed an exoskeleton, but I'm hopeful a mix might. In that case we'd have a subject with enhanced strength and natural armor all in one!" Dr. Milner explained.

"That does sound promising. Let me know when you have something to show me." Admiral Clay said.

---

Larry sat down at his computer and logged onto a transgender chat room as Laura. For the first time all day he was able to relax and be himself; something that was impossible for him in real life. He tried to keep the conversation light, but some of his worries must have shown.

Is something wrong? one of his online friends, Megan, asked him.

He hesitated before typing, Estrogen made me sick. I can't take it. He felt the tears flowing down his face and let them.

OMG!! What are you going to do? she typed.

Larry shrugged, then typed, What can I do? I look like a Neanderthal! Unless my parents can get the money for surgery somehow, that's it.

Don't talk like that!! There's got to be something that can be done! Megan typed.

No. was all Larry could type out before he started sobbing uncontrollably. A few minutes later he was able to get control of himself and wiped his face off. Looking at the screen there were several frantic messages from Megan, as well as a couple of others who had just joined in. He didn't feel up to talking to them and was about to exit the chat room when he noticed a new message from someone he didn't recognize.

There's always a way. Call this number; they'll help you. was the message, followed by an eight hundred number. The user name was SC4U. He went to see if there was any information in their profile, but it was blank and they'd already logged off. He sat there and stared at the number for a while before writing it down and logging off.

After shutting down his computer he stared at the number for a long time before taking it with him into the kitchen where his parents were still sitting snuggled together. A smile tugged at the corner of his lips seeing them together like that, but it faded quickly. He hesitantly reached for the phone and let his arm drop when his father asked, "Are you okay, honey?" He managed to hold back the grimace at what his Dad called him. He always tried to treat him like a daughter when they were at home, but it just made things worse now.

Larry nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just going to call Jessie." he lied. Jessie was the only one other than his parents that knew about him. He figured they wouldn't be suspicious if he said he was calling her. His Dad nodded, so Larry grabbed the phone and took it into his room. Once he was safely locked in he sat on his bed and stared at the number again. Can they really do anything for me? he thought. Finally, he got up the courage and dialed the number.

The phone only rang twice before a woman answered, "Hello, how can I help you?"

"Um, someone gave me this number in a chat room..." he trailed off, unsure what else he should say. He didn't want to identify which chat room it was, just in case it was some kind of prank.

"Would this be Laura by any chance?" she asked.

"Wha...how...um, yeah." he finally mumbled, shocked at how casually she called him by his girl name.

"I'm glad you called! I run a little clinic where we help people like you. We've got an exciting new treatment that I think will solve all your problems. It's experimental, so there's no charge. You'll be doing us a favor, in fact. What do you say?" she said.

"Uh, is it safe?" he asked worriedly.

"Well, I can't guarantee that it will work, but otherwise it is safe. And I really do think it will work. What have you got to lose?" she replied.

Yeah, what do I have to lose? he thought bitterly. If it doesn't work, I can always slit my wrists and end it. "Okay, what do I have to do?" he asked. She gave him the address of her clinic, which was about eighty miles away.

"Oh, and one more thing. Many of our patients won't come unless they're sure of their privacy. So you can't tell anyone where you're going, okay?" she said. She made it sound like it was no big deal, but it started ringing alarm bells in Larry's head.

"Uh, sure, I can do that." he lied. There was no way he could get there on his own; he didn't have his license yet. And his parents wouldn't allow him to go anywhere on his own right now, anyway. They were too afraid he would hurt himself.

"Excellent! Just come down whenever you can, you don't need an appointment. And good luck!" the woman said before hanging up. Larry sat there thinking about the conversation for a while before taking the phone back into the kitchen and hanging it up.

"You have a nice talk dear?" his mother asked him worriedly. Both of his parents looked worried and hadn't moved since he got the phone.

"Uh, kind of. Do you think you could drive me somewhere tomorrow?" he asked hesitantly.

"Where?" his Dad asked.

"I, uh, wasn't talking to Jessie. I was talking to someone at this clinic." Larry said, showing them the piece of paper he'd written the phone number and address on. It wasn't until he was showing them the paper that he realized the woman had never given a name to the clinic, or herself.

"Clinic? What kind of clinic is it?" Larry's mother asked.

Larry shrugged, "I don't know exactly, but the woman I talked to said they have a new treatment that could help me."

"Maybe I should talk to this woman." his Dad said.

"No! They said I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about it. If you do that they won't help me!" Larry exclaimed.

"That sounds fishy. Now I really want to talk to her!" he said.

"Dad! This could be my only chance! Please don't call her!" Larry begged.

"Honey, you have to admit this doesn't sound legitimate." his mother said.

"So? Do you have any better ideas?!" Larry asked angrily.

"No, but it's too dangerous. We have no idea what kind of people they are!" she replied.

Larry took a deep breath and let it out slowly to try and calm himself. Once he had a handle on his temper he calmly said, "You know I'll go on my own if you don't take me."

Nobody spoke or moved for a long time. Finally, his mother sank back into her husband's arms and sighed. "Isn't there some way we could talk you out of this?" she asked forlornly.

He shook his head, "No. I have to try this."

His father looked concerned, but finally nodded. "All right, we'll drive you over tomorrow. On one condition." he said, holding up a finger and looking sternly at Larry.

"What condition?" he asked suspiciously.

"That you take your cell phone and call us within an hour of going into the building. If we don't hear from you we're going to call the police and go in after you." he said.

Larry nodded, “Okay, that's fine." His father nodded back, so he decided to go to bed. After saying goodnight to his parents he went back to his room to try and get some sleep.

“Is that all we're going to do?" Cindy asked her husband.

“No." he replied, shaking his head. “But that's all we're going to say to Laura. I'm going to call the police now and tell them what we intend to do. Hopefully, if there are any problems, they'll be right there to help us."

---

“Why hasn't she called?" Cindy said worriedly.

“I don't know, but it looks like the police have gotten tired of waiting." Stefan replied. They were parked almost a block away from the building Larry had gone into and could just see the entrance. Police cars had moved stealthily in as soon as Larry was inside. Now they were out of their cars and getting ready to storm the building.

Someone broke down the door and the police streamed in with guns drawn. Ten minutes later they got a call on their cell phone. “Mr. Paulson? I'm afraid we're too late." the officer on the line said. “The building is empty."

---

Valerie waited until the last team arrived with impatience. Finally, the last van drove through the doors and unloaded its unconscious cargo. One of the men who unloaded the subject came over to report to her. “Is that all you got?" she asked.

He winced, “Yes Ms. Kreuge, and we're lucky to have that much. The police were waiting for us."

“What?! Were you followed?" she asked angrily.

“No, we weren't followed. Our lookout arranged a distraction so we could get out undetected. But our subject must have talked to someone." he replied.

“Figures!" she spat, “The freak's parents were trying to help it. They probably arranged it. That freak was too desperate to call the police himself. Are you sure you weren't followed?"

He nodded, “Yes, I'm sure. We're going to ditch the van anyway, just in case, after we clean it out."

Valerie nodded thoughtfully, “I suppose this means it's time to move our operations again."

He shrugged, “Where are we sending this one?"

Valerie smiled, “The doctor wants the really desperate ones, so we'll send this one directly to him."

The man nodded and walked off to deal with the disposal of his team's van. Better him than me. he thought with a shudder.

---

“So, doctor, do you have anything to show me about that new method of yours?" Admiral Clay asked as they waited for the elevator that would take them down to the holding cells.

Dr. Milner nodded eagerly, “Yes! We've got three subjects who have survived multiple donor mutations. One is a panther/hawk mutant who is showing very promising increases in strength and agility. And we have a scorpion/ant mutant, as well."

“But you said you had three survivors. What about the third?" Admiral Clay asked suspiciously.

Dr. Milner cleared his throat nervously. “Well," he began, “that one is a bit...unusual. We've kept them sedated through the mutation process. This one took longer than the others and has just finished mutating. Or maybe not." he mumbled the last.

“What do you mean?" Admiral Clay asked, having caught the last part.

Dr. Milner fidgeted and said, “I'm not sure it's done mutating yet. You see, it appears to be a caterpillar mutant right now."

“Appears to be? Didn't you decide what kind of mutant these subjects would be?" Admiral Clay asked.

“Yes. This one was supposed to be a butterfly/ant mix." Dr. Milner admitted. At Admiral Clay's incredulous look he said, “Butterflies are more useful than you might think. Their wings are actually quite tough, and their senses are very good. Combined with the senses and strength of an ant I thought it would make a formidable mutant. But for some reason this one seems to be stuck in the caterpillar stage. I don't know if it will transform into a butterfly or if it will remain as it is."

“What kind of abilities does it have now?" the admiral asked.

“Until it wakes up, we won't know for sure. But we do know that it has an exoskeleton, in addition to a regular human skeleton. It also has three pairs of arms and two pairs of legs. Not to mention antennae and mandibles. I suspect it will be very strong and tough." Dr. Milner replied.

“Let's see it, then." Admiral Clay said as they boarded the elevator. Dr. Milner nodded and followed him onto the elevator. The elevator was a fast one and they were soon among the holding cells again. Dr. Milner pointed out the other multi-donor mutants as they passed them, but Admiral Clay didn't look too impressed. The panther/hawk hybrid looked similar to Kittyhawk, other than being male. The scorpion lacked an exoskeleton except on her tail. The tail seemed to cause her some balancing trouble. Then they came to the butterfly mutant and his interest picked up. Here was a mutant that looked like it could take some damage!

“Ah, it looks like it's finally waking up." Dr. Milner said as they came to a stop outside the cell. The cell was largely made up of very thick, very strong clear plastic. Inside looked more like a hotel room than a cell. The mutant inside looked like a caterpillar with it's many arms and legs and it's antennae. It seemed to have some trouble with its many limbs as it staggered to its feet. It looked around itself blearily, not seeing the admiral or doctor through the one way glass lining the inside of the cell. Once its eyes focused on its reflection it stared in silence for a time before throwing its head back and screaming, “Noooooo!!!!"

---

Larry groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. He couldn't remember how he'd gotten here. He'd entered the building and then...what? He couldn't recall. He decided to get a look around and try to find out where he was. Struggling to his feet, which seemed far more difficult than it should be, he staggered around until he'd regained his balance. Everything felt strange; really strange! But before he could focus on that he saw a horrible monster! He recoiled, looking for a way out, but he saw the monster every way he looked. Then he realized something, the monster moved as he did. He stopped and held up his hand, and the monster held up it's hand, too. Frozen in shock, he stared at what could only be his reflection. It was worse than anything he could have imagined. Not only was he still male, but he was a hideous insectoid male! He threw his head back and screamed, “Noooooo!!!" Distantly, he heard a hissing sound, and then everything went black.

When he woke he halfway expected to find himself back in his own bedroom. That must have been a dream, right? No mutant, if that's what I was supposed to be, looks that horrible! he thought. But when he sat up and looked around he found himself looking at that monster again! He threw himself back down on the bed and howled in agony. What have they done to me?! They were supposed to help me, not turn me into a monster! he thought in anguish. Several minutes later he ran out of tears and took stock of his new body. He was covered in some hard material, like armor. He had six arms and four legs, too. Perhaps the worst thing, though, were the mandibles. I'm not even remotely human anymore! he thought over and over again.

Finally he couldn't take the thoughts and feelings running through his head and he ran at the wall. He crashed into it and shattered the one way glass, but the wall behind it shuddered but held. He pounded on it and, when that didn't seem to do any good, he clawed at it with the hooked claws on each of his hands. He raked deep gouges in the wall for several minutes, but finally gave up in exhaustion. He slumped down against the wall, gasping for breath. I can't live like this! he thought, despair driving all thoughts from his mind. Dimly he was aware that someone was watching him, but he paid no attention as he stood and rammed the wall again. He barely felt it through the thick material covering his body, so he tried again. And again, and again. It was while resting after his fourth round of smashing himself against the wall that he heard that hissing sound again and blacked out.

---

“Dr. Milner, subject 2D34 is smashing itself against the walls again. It's managed to crack its exoskeleton and we had to sedate it." a young technician said with a worried look on his face.

“Don't worry about it, it's under control." Dr. Milner replied with a mysterious smile.

“But sir, shouldn't we terminate it? It's extremely strong and it has clearly gone insane!" the technician exclaimed.

Shaking his head, Dr. Milner explained, “No, not insane. This is one of the TG subjects. They're extremely sensitive to their body shape. But I have an idea that should fix that. Once that problem is out of the way, I think we'll find that it's a very cooperative subject!" He seemed very excited by the prospect.

“ Sir? How could you possibly fix that?! Once a subject has mutated they never mutate again!" the technician exclaimed.

“ You mean they never have before! Have you ever heard of the Walbachia bacteria?" Dr. Milner replied with an enigmatic smile.

“Sir?" the young technician asked, confused.

“Walbachia is a very common bacteria which has a peculiar affect on many insects. Look it up." Dr. Milner said and walked away with the smile still on his face. During his break the technician did just that, and had to wonder if the doctor wasn't as insane as the patient! The effect Dr. Milner had referred to seemed to only occur in the egg. And although it could turn the males into females or pseudo-females, it could also kill them!

---

Larry alternated between rage and despair. He tried everything he could think of to get out, and everything he could think of to kill himself. Nothing worked, not even starvation. When he refused to eat they strapped him down and fed him intravenously. He didn't know how long he was strapped down like that, but after a time he noticed his anger and despair dulling. He felt lethargic and slept more and more. Then he slipped into a deep sleep where he dreamed of soaring through the air without a care in the world. They were beautiful dreams that he dreaded waking up from, but wake he eventually did. When he woke he found that he couldn't move, but didn't react at first because he was used to being tied down. But then he realized that he couldn't see, either, and he seemed to be in some kind of container that he barely fit in.

Panic set in and he began pounding on the inside of his prison. The sides were too strong, but he found the end above his head to be weaker. He pounded frantically and clawed at it with his fingernails. Fingernails? Didn't I have big claws, before? he thought. But his fear of suffocating soon drowned out all other thoughts as he bashed away until a small opening appeared above him. He reached his arms through (Didn't I have more than two arms before?) and hauled himself out. Something caught on his back, but he squirmed around until he freed whatever it was. Finally he pulled his legs out and collapsed on the ground beside the object he'd been entombed within. He stood awkwardly and stretched, and felt those other arms that he remembered having. Only, these were in the wrong place and felt strange somehow. But they stretched out alright and felt much better, so he ignored that for the moment as he looked around.

Huh, that's funny. I don't remember the pink and purple lights in here before. It was always white light they illuminated this place with. Whoa! And where did the beautiful butterfly girl come from?! he thought. Once again he saw a strange apparition staring back at him no matter where he looked and stopped in shock. He held up his hand, and saw the girl with the iridescent pink and purple wings raise her hand at the same time. He wiggled his fingers, and she wiggled hers. A smile slowly spread across his face, and he watched it grow on the girl's face. I'm a girl! I'm really a girl! They did it! she thought. She marveled at her glittery violet eyes and her hair that seemed to change color with every movement. It was light, usually pinkish, at the roots and darkened into a dark purple at the tips. Her wings were shaded similarly, and refracted the light the same way. So that's where the change in light comes from, my hair and wings! This is so amazing!

She was a little disconcerted by the antennae sticking out of her head, but she dismissed that as she took in the other changes to her body. She was leery of taking her clothes off, what was left of them, without knowing if someone was looking in on her or not, but she was able to see enough to know that there was nothing of Larry left. With the wall to wall mirrors she was also able to get a better look at the 'arms' that her wings were attached to. They had the same hard covering her previous form had had, but it, like her antennae she noticed, had the same glittery purple color as her eyes. Somehow, it didn't seem as disturbing as she thought it should.

It was while looking at her wings through the mirrored walls that she saw the thing she'd crawled out of. Turning to look at it directly she realized what it must be. So, I made a cocoon somehow! I guess I must have been a caterpillar before. But now I'm a beautiful butterfly! she thought.

She wasn't so caught up in her admiration of her new form that she didn't hear, and perhaps more importantly smell, the hissing gas as it entered the room. She could sense the gas in some strange way she'd never experienced before, and noticed that it wasn't affecting her the same way it had. When I was a big strong caterpillar I couldn't break out of this place. Maybe I'd better play possum and see if an opportunity presents itself. she thought and pretended to faint.

---

"Isn't it amazing!" Dr. Milner breathed as he watched the butterfly emerge from it's cocoon for the second time. He'd recorded it and was playing it back for the admiral. "The Walbachia worked! Now we should be able to get somewhere with this subject."

Admiral Clay had to admit that he was impressed with the beauty of the mutant that emerged from the cocoon, but he couldn't understand why the doctor was so excited about it. "And how is this a good thing?! It was more useful to us in its previous form!" he said.

Dr. Milner shook his head, "Don't let appearances fool you. True, it doesn't appear to have an exoskeleton anymore, except on the wings. But it could still be very strong and tough. And once its wings dry it should be able to fly. I'll have to run some tests, but I suspect it will be at least as strong as it was before. That's why I'm moving it."

"Moving it? Isn't that dangerous?" the admiral asked.

"Not while sedated. It reacts quite well to the gas, so we'll have plenty of time to move it to a more secure cell. That one was heavily damaged, anyway. I don't think it could break out, but with its senses returned it's best to be cautious. Besides, I want to study its cocoon." Dr. Milner replied.

"You just said that it may be stronger than before. What makes you think it might not be more resistant to the gas than it was before?" Admiral Clay asked.

Dr. Milner blanched and picked up his phone, "Give subject 2d34 another dose of the sedative immediately!" he yelled into the phone. As he was saying this he turned off the recording and turned on the monitors. Scenes of the cell and the surrounding area came up. He cursed as he saw that the gurney the mutant was being moved on was overturned and the technicians that had been pushing it were unconscious on the floor. He slapped an alarm button and picked up the phone again. "Subject 2d34 is loose! Get security down here immediately!" he yelled.

"It would seem your subject has regained its senses indeed." Admiral Clay said. "You'd better get that mutant under control immediately. If it is seen by anyone above the third deck you are going to have a very big problem on your hands."

Dr. Milner gasped as another image came up on his monitor and turned to the general. "I don't think we need to worry about it being seen above the third deck. It just smashed its way through the hull of the ship on the fifth deck!" he exclaimed.

---

"Is there any news?" Stefan asked the officer on the other end of the line. It had been six months since his son...no, daughter, had disappeared. The police had been very interested when he went to them with their story, as they'd had several disappearances that seemed very similar. But when they'd entered the warehouse Larry went into, it was clear there had never been any clinic there. They found tire tracks, but didn't find the van they belonged to for three days. By then it had been wiped clean and there was no sign of where they'd taken Larry. Since then there had been nothing.

"I'm sorry Mr. Paulson. We haven't found any sign of your son. I'm afraid we may never find him, or the others." the officer replied sadly.

"You're not giving up, are you?!" Stefan exclaimed incredulously.

"No sir, but we don't have much to go on. I'm just trying to be realistic here." he explained.

Cindy rubbed Stefan's back and he sighed. "Okay, please keep trying." he said.

"We will sir. I'm sorry I don't have better news for you." the officer said before hanging up.

"We never should have taken her there." Stefan said.

Cindy hugged him and said, "We couldn't have kept her away, you heard her. She was determined to go, no matter how dangerous it might be." Stefan felt his shoulder getting wet and returned his wife's hug. They cried on each others' shoulders for a while, until they ran out of tears.

They were still holding each other when the doorbell rang. Neither moved until it had rang for the fourth time and someone started pounding on the door. The door shook with each blow and Cindy looked fearfully at her husband. "Who could that be?" she asked.

Stefan shook his head wearily, "I don't know." He stood and walked over to the door with Cindy glued to his side. He reached out hesitantly and grasped the doorknob. The door vibrated with another impact. He was startled, but slowly turned the knob. He cautiously swung the door open and gasped, "Chrysalis!" He and his wife exchanged incredulous looks. What's a super hero doing practically bashing down our door?! they thought.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Laura couldn't believe how easy it was! She'd pretended to be unconscious and they'd loaded her on a gurney and wheeled her out without any guards or anything. She cracked an eye open and saw they were taking her to a different cell, so she knocked out the two pushing the gurney and ran for it. She was getting all kinds of odd impressions from some sense she didn't have before. She could only guess it was because of her antennae. It proved useful, anyway, as she was somehow able to tell where the outer wall was.

She was looking for a door when an alarm sounded. No time for doors I guess! she thought. She didn't know if she was strong enough anymore, but she slammed into the wall as hard as she could. To her surprise the metal bent outwards with ease. Some seams in the metal split under the pressure and she was able to get her fingernails in between and pull them apart. She marveled a moment at the strength of her iridescent purple fingernails. No time for that now. I've got to get out of here! she thought.

In moments she had a hole in the wall and saw another wall just beyond it. The metal plates making up this wall were quite thick, but once she got a handhold on them she was still able to pull them apart without too much difficulty. As she made a hole in the steel wall she saw sunlight streaming through. Emboldened, she quickly expanded the hole until it was large enough for her to squeeze through. Whoa, where am I?! she thought when she saw the water a long ways below her. She poked her head out and realized this wasn't a building, it was a ship!

She looked for handholds on the outside of the ship, but didn't see any. Duh, super strong fingernails! I should be able to hold on okay. she thought. With that she gave it a try. Her fingernails didn't dig in that far, but it was far enough. She slowly inched her way up the side of the ship. It was slow going, but she eventually reached the top and climbed onto the deck.

"There she is! Shoot her!" someone yelled out. She ducked behind some crates and looked for a way out. The ship seemed to be surrounded by some kind of clear barrier, like a bubble. Oh yeah, I know where I am! I saw this on TV. This must be the place where they're trying to figure out how the mutations work.

There were machines all around the ship, but there was only one way out of the Bubble. There was a floating walkway that went from the ship out to a platform on the other side of the dome. Now I just have to find it. she thought. And not get shot!

She knew she couldn't hide very well with the huge wings on her back. Even folded up as they were they were still too big. And they were still wet, so she probably couldn't fly yet, even if she knew how. She decided she didn't want to risk jumping in the ocean as she didn't know how it would affect her new wings. Lacking any better ideas, she ran.

She never heard the shots she was expecting, but a softer sound followed by the sound of metal on metal as a tranquilizer dart hit the ground right behind her. She glanced back for only a moment before pouring on more speed and trying to put as many obstacles between her and the men with the guns as possible.

Soon the gunmen were lost to sight, so she decided to jump up on a nearby crane so she could get a better look around. She managed to spot her exit just before something hit her arm. She looked down in time to see the dart fall away from her with a blunted tip. There was a single drop of blood, but no pain. Or drowsiness, for that matter. That's weird. Uh oh, more guns. Better get out of here and find out what's going on with me later! Laura thought, jumping down from the crane.

She hadn't even thought about the height, but she'd jumped something like twenty feet up in the air onto the crane. But she came down without any problems and kept running. Once more she pushed her thoughts about how much she'd changed aside and kept running. She was hit three more times before she got to the other side of the ship, but each dart stopped as if it had hit a bone or something and fell out.

Laura was still some distance away from the walkway, so she ran along the side of the ship until she was as close as she could get. She stopped and wondered if she could make the jump, it was very far to fall. Three more darts hit her in the back, but she didn't pay any attention to them. But then she heard a normal gunshot and jumped before she realized what she was doing.

I hope I'm tough enough to survive this! she thought as she watched the walkway rush up at her. She hit hard and fell to her hands and knees. The walkway bucked at the impact and cracked badly, but held.

"Ow." Laura said as she got to her feet. It had hurt, but not nearly as much as she expected. Shrugging it off, she started running down the walkway. There weren't any more gunshots, but she didn't expect them. She was too far away for the guns she'd seen to be very effective. Besides, she was expecting the real threat to be waiting for her at the exit.

She wasn't disappointed. There were two guards on the same side of the Bubble as she was, and two more on the other side. There was a sort of airlock arrangement in between them. Well, it can't be any tougher than the hull of a ship, right? Laura thought. She jumped over the guards and slashed into the plastic barrier. It was thicker than she'd expected, but her fingernails were long and surprisingly sharp. She ripped through it in moments and jumped free on the other side.

"Bye!" she said to the guards as she fell to the platform beyond them and ran for the nearest boat. It looked like a tugboat and she hoped she'd be able to get it moving. She had no idea how long it might be before her wings were dry enough to fly, and she'd still have to learn how!

Laura heard gunshots behind her, but the bullets missed by inches. There was nobody on board the boat so she ran to the controls and tried to get the thing running. She got lucky and had the engine started quickly. Then she remembered that boats are always tied up!

Cursing her stupidity, Laura ran back out of the boat. The guards hadn't moved from the exit, except that the other two had joined them. They all opened fire on her. She dodged as best she could, but was hit in the side twice before she'd severed the first rope. Luckily there was some machinery between the second rope and the guards, so she was able to get some cover as she cut the boat loose.

As soon as the last rope was cut she jumped back on board and tried to get the boat moving. She tried buttons and levers at random until she finally got it moving...backwards. The boat lurched into motion and smashed into another boat at anchor. She was knocked off her feet and quickly got up and tried to figure out what she did wrong. At last, she got the boat moving in the right direction and watched as the platform slowly receded. The guards shot at her whenever she came out where they could see her, so she stayed hidden until the platform was lost to sight entirely.

Now what? she thought. I don't really know how to drive this thing, or how long it can go without getting gas, either. And where will I go? She thought back to what she'd seen on television about the Bubble. It's in the Pacific Ocean, so if I go east I should run into North America, or at least South America. Then I can get on solid land, at least! Maybe then I can see if I can fly. That would sure make it easier to get home.

There was a compass right next to the controls, so she had no trouble figuring out which direction to go. Managing to get the boat turned in the right direction was another matter!

---

A few days later her boat did make it to land, though exactly where she had no idea. She ran it straight up onto the beach before jumping off. I'm starving! I hope there's something to eat around here. she thought as she looked around her for some kind of landmark. All she could see in any direction was cliffs and sand. She wandered along the beach until she found a small path up the side of the cliff. It looked rather precarious to her, but she managed it fairly easily.

This body is great! I'm so strong and tough now, yet don't look like it. Even those bullets didn't do much damage to me! Laura thought. She'd finally checked herself for injuries once she had the boat moving in the right direction. Her clothes were torn where she'd felt the impact, and there was a little blood, but that's it. She couldn't find any injury at all.

There was dense growth at the top of the cliff, so she couldn't see much beyond the edge of the forest. Maybe I can find some mushrooms or something. she thought as she started off into the forest. She was immediately assaulted by a plethora of delicious smells. What smells so good?! She followed her nose and found herself smelling a large pink flower. Without thinking she plucked a petal off of it and popped it in her mouth.

Why am I eating a flower? she thought. It tasted wonderful, though, so she kept eating. After finishing that flower she tried another, and then another. Before she knew it she'd tried half a dozen different variety of flowers and eaten several of each.

---

"What's going on here?!" Dr. Milner exclaimed as soldiers began streaming out of the elevator. Admiral Clay stepped out after them.

"What do you think? Did you think there would be no consequences for that escape? I'm taking over this operation directly. But don't worry, you'll still get to conduct your experiments. We've been quite impressed with your progress. But we can't risk another security breach." Admiral Clay replied.

Dr. Milner knew better than to argue. He could only hope that Admiral Clay wouldn't interfere too much.

"Oh, and one more thing doctor." Admiral Clay said as Dr. Milner was walking back towards his office. "I need some hunters. Contact your superiors at Genarm. We need strong mutants that can move quickly. Preferably flyers."

Dr. Milner stared at him in shock. "You aren't going after it, are you?!" he said.

Admiral Clay snorted in amusement, "Of course we are! If it talks to the wrong people it could cause us a great deal of trouble."

Dr. Milner shook his head, "You don't understand what you're dealing with!"

"I've hunted mutants before, doctor." Admiral Clay replied coldly.

---

That was strangely satisfying. Laura thought as she moved deeper into the forest. She didn't understand why she'd wanted to eat the flowers in the first place, but she was no longer hungry. Now if I can just find a clearing maybe I can try to fly. She was eager to try flying, though she didn't expect to be able to fly on the first try. But her wings felt much stronger than when she'd first left the cocoon.

The forest wasn't like the kind Laura was familiar with. The trees didn't create a solid canopy, so there was plenty of sunlight for smaller plants to fill in the gaps. But there were still enough trees to keep her from wanting to risk trying to fly. Hours of walking later and she still hadn't found somewhere clear enough for her to feel comfortable. At least food isn't a problem. she thought as she snacked on another flower she'd picked up on the way. Flowers of many types were abundant in the forest, so there was no shortage of food.

Once the sky began to darken Laura started looking for a good place to sleep for the night. She'd hoped to find some kind of shelter, but she had no luck with that. She could only hope that it didn't get too cold at night. She hadn't thought to look for a blanket on the ship and her clothes were little more than rags. The best she could manage was to gather up leaves and moss into a pile and use that as bedding and her wings as a blanket.

---

Dr. Milner watched with mixed feelings as Admiral Clay briefed the team of mutants Genarm had sent over from its private security force. He was hoping they would bring the butterfly mutant back alive, but he doubted they would. At least I'll be able to examine its body. Maybe I can figure out why it developed the way it did. None of the others worked out nearly as well. he thought.

"Let me introduce you to Dr. Milner." Admiral Clay said as he led the mutants over to him. "He'll tell you what he knows about your target." With that the admiral left without bothering to introduce the mutants to Dr. Milner.

"Hey Doc, I remember you. The guys call me Spike now. So what's this mutant we're hunting call himself?" one of the mutants said. He was the shortest of the group, and had long sharp looking quills growing out of the backs of his arms.

Dr. Milner shook his head, "I don't know. The mutant was a transgendered male before mutation by the name of Larry Paulson. It is now female, but I didn't have a chance to find out what it would call itself."

"So, what, is it a boy or a girl?" a tall mutant with bat wings asked. She was rather voluptuous and was wearing tight black shorts and a black halter top.

"Female, I'm certain. It is very strong; the strongest I've seen so far with the exception of Kittyhawk. It will have likely learned to fly by the time you find it. From the reports of our security team, it is also very tough. I know it can shake off the effects of strong sedatives. I don't really know any more about its abilities yet." Dr. Milner replied.

"Pity." the bat winged woman said with a sexy pout. Then she shrugged her shoulders and wrapped herself around the largest mutant of the group. He was a tall, muscular man, but showed no outward signs of mutation.

"Doesn't sound too tough." he said said dismissively.

---

Laura was surprised to find she wasn't the least bit cold when she woke, and that she slept quite well. After stretching she grabbed a few flowers for a snack and started off again. She sensed a difference in the forest before she could actually see it. Only a couple of hours after she woke she found herself on the edge of the forest. A road separated it from large open fields. They had been plowed recently. This is perfect! I hope the farmers don't get too upset if I make a mess of the field when I fall. For that matter, I hope I don't make a mess of myself! she thought.

She eagerly ran out into the field and started flapping her wings. She was amazed at how quickly she could flap them, and how much lift she could generate. In moments her feet were off the ground. But she had some trouble coordinating her two sets of wings, and crashed down after only a few moments flight. Several attempts later, she was able to get some altitude and get her first good look at the surrounding area.

The forest extended in both directions as far as she could see. The road bordered it the entire way, and the fields covered most of the rest that she could see. There was a small town near the limit of her vision, but she couldn't get any idea of where she might be from that. That's as good a destination as any, I guess. I hope they speak English! she thought as she turned in that direction.

Her flight was erratic, but she managed to stay aloft. She was only a few minutes away from the town when she heard gunshots. Laura was so startled she completely lost control and plummeted to the ground. Ow. What happened? she thought as she picked herself back up. When she did she found herself surrounded by several armed men. Two of them had rifles, and the rest had various farm implements. They were yelling at her in a language that sounded like it might be Spanish. Laura tried speaking to them, but that just seemed to make them more angry. When they pointed their guns at her she took off again, but crashed to the ground when she was hit in the back by a bullet.

"Stop it!" she wailed as they stalked closer, their weapons still pointed at her. I can't die now! I just got the body I was supposed to have all this time! she thought, tears streaming from her eyes.

The men paused and looked at each other in confusion. They began arguing with each other, but Laura had no idea about what. Then one of the men with the rifles pointed his gun at Laura again, and another man brained him with his shovel. More arguing ensued. Confused, Laura just stared for a moment before realizing this was her chance to escape. She crept away as quietly as she could until there was some distance between them, and then took to the air. What was that about?! she thought.

No gunshots rang out as she flew away. She didn't dare look back, but kept flying as quickly as she could for the town.

---

"Well?!" Bull asked impatiently.

"I found her boat." Dragon replied with a growl.

"Come on now, boys, don't fight." Succubus chided. As usual she had draped herself around one of the men, this time Spike.

"So how far out is it?" Spike asked.

Dragon shrugged, folding his insectoid wings behind him, "Hard to say. It took me about four hours to fly back. Probably will take us another day or two to get there in this tub." They were using another of the tugboats used to guide supply ships into the dock at the Bubble. Dragon had flown ahead to spot their target, since he was a stronger flyer than Succubus.

"If that's the case then we have plenty of time to have some fun before we get there!" Succubus purred happily as she wrapped an arm and a wing around Dragon. He grinned back and let her lead him into the cabin.

---

"Please don't be scared, I just want to know where I am! Does anyone here speak English?" Laura asked. As soon as she'd landed in town people had started running from her. Some returned with guns, but never fired them. She kept her distance, and that seemed to satisfy them. A few even lowered their guns, but still no one had spoken a word of English.

"I speak English." a young man said, approaching cautiously.

"Thank goodness!" Laura said with a relieved sigh. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You are in the Piura region of Peru." he said.

"Peru, huh?" Laura replied absently as she tried to remember exactly where it was. Geography was never her best subject, but she was pretty sure that Peru was towards the northern end of South America. That means I'm still a long ways from home. she thought. "Where in Peru is the Piura region?" she asked.

"Northwest. Only Tumbes and Loreto are farther north than Piura, and none are farther west." he replied.

"Good, I was worried I'd end up at the southern most tip of South America. It's going to take me long enough to get home as it is." Laura said.

"If I may ask, how did you come to be here without knowing where you are?" he asked curiously. His fear seemed to have evaporated, as had that of several people nearby. And nobody was pointing guns at her anymore, which made Laura a lot happier.

"I was kidnapped. I just escaped from the Bubble, where I was held and mutated." she explained.

He blinked in surprise, "The Bubble? The ship where the UN set up the lab to figure out what caused the mutations and how to reverse them? Why would kidnappers take you there?"

Laura shrugged, "I don't know much about what was going on there. I just know some people claimed they could help me, and when I went to meet with them they knocked me out with something and I woke up in a cell in the Bubble. I was mutated, and after being held there for a while I managed to escape. I didn't even know where I was until I got outside the ship."

"If this is true, then the Bubble is not what we have been told it is! You must talk to someone about this!" he exclaimed.

Laura thought about that for a moment and shook her head, "Who would I talk to? If the UN is in on it, that probably means a lot of governments are, too. Besides, my parents must be worried about me. I have to get back to them before I do anything else. After that, maybe I'll go back and try to free the other mutants I saw there." She hadn't seen much of the inside of the ship before her escape, but she did notice that there were quite a few other cells, and some were occupied.

The English speaking man looked over Laura's shoulder and his eyes widened in alarm, "You must go! Now!"

"Huh, why?" Laura asked, glancing over her shoulder. All she saw was a truck approaching. There were a bunch of men in the back of the truck, along with three or four in the cab.

"Those men are part of a gang. They hate all mutants. They will kill you if you stay!" he said, fearfully backing away from Laura. The truck screeched to a stop and the men piled out. Some of them grabbed rifles and shotguns from the bed of the truck, while others pulled pistols or knives.

"Not again!" Laura said. She started running and flapping her wings. She had gained a few feet of altitude when the impact of several bullets, mostly against her wings, knocked her down. She landed hard, face first, but was surprised that she wasn't in much pain. And that pain passed quickly. She checked herself for injuries, but only found quickly healing scratches and cuts.

Everyone else had run away when the shooting started, so the street was empty except for her and the gang. The gang members seemed surprised that she was still moving. When she got back to her feet several of them fired again, knocking her back down. She looked down at her stomach where she'd felt one of the bullets impact and found it sitting there. But when she picked it up it had flattened like it hit a wall or something, and the wound underneath was very shallow and healed as she watched.

Wow, am I bullet proof? she thought as she picked herself back up. The men were getting nervous now, seeing her shake off several direct hits without more than a few drops of blood here and there. One of the men yelled at the others and they all drew knives. The others seemed hesitant, but at another yell from the man they all rushed her.

Laura tried to fly away again, but she was too late. They grabbed a hold of her and dragged her back down to the ground and began stabbing her with their knives. The blades didn't bite deep, but they often slid aside from the point of impact, cutting long thin lines all over her.I have to get out of here! she thought fearfully. She started thrashing around wildly, and several men were thrown off. She was almost loose when several men grabbed her arms and legs. They weren't strong enough to hold her down by strength, so they threw their entire weight into it. She could still move, but not very well.

The apparent leader of the group directed more of his men to grab her limbs and keep her immobile while he approached with a particularly large, sharp looking knife. He held it with both hands and brought it down hard on her chest. The blade hit, and started to dig in. There was something just under her skin that was blocking the blade, but it was slowly cutting through. I'm not going to die! Laura thought angrily. She slapped her legs and one arm against the ground for leverage and swung the other up, dragging the two men holding it along. Her fist connected with the leader's jaw, and the two men holding her arm slammed into him as he fell away from her.

As Laura pulled the knife out of her chest, she used her wings to push herself up into a sitting position. She was filled with fury at these men, especially when she realized that they had done this before, to weaker mutants who were probably dead now. She threw the knife aside and grabbed one of the men holding her other arm by the throat. His eyes bulged as she dragged him off of her and tossed him aside like a rag doll.

The other men holding her suddenly released her and scrambled away. Three of them kept going, running quickly out of sight around a building. Their leader yelled after them, but they ignored him. He turned to face her and froze as he found himself looking her in the eye, as she had gotten to her feet. Laura grabbed the front of his shirt in one fist and threw him aside with ease. The others, seeing this, turned and fled. One of them had the presence of mind to hop in the truck and drive away.

This left only the leader of the gang, but even he had lost his courage. With a fearful look at her he ran after his men.

Laura sighed in relief as she realized she was safe now. Why didn't that knife cut right into me, though? she wondered as she took to the air again.

Now that she knew where she was, Laura knew she had a long ways to go. She didn't know how long it would take, but she was determined to get back to her parents and convince them of who she was. They'd stuck by her when she was an ugly boy trying to be a girl, and she knew they'd be worried sick about her all this time. She worried a little that they wouldn't be able to handle how she looked now, but she was pretty sure they could. After all, they hadn't freaked out when they first saw her wearing a dress!

Her flight quickly took her over the town and beyond into a dry area with little vegetation. This in turn gave way to a lush valley full of green. Maybe I should take a break and get something to eat. she thought. She landed and walked deeper into the valley, snacking on flowers and leaves as she went. Sated, she found a large tree trunk to rest against and sat. Checking herself over, she couldn't find any sign of injury. Except her chest, where she could feel something just under the skin that wasn't quite right.

There was an indention there, but more importantly to Laura, the indention wasn't in her skin, or bones. There was a hard material just under her skin which, she realized after checking elsewhere, seemed to be all over her body. That must be why their knives only cut my skin. And the bullets, too! And that's why those tranquilizer darts didn't stick, they hit that stuff and then fell out. But what is it? she thought.

Laura was amazed that she hadn't noticed it before. Even her fingers seemed to have it. While her skin looked normal, there was definitely a hard material just below it that had protected her from injury several times already. But it's not indestructible. That guy's knife was starting to get through. That's what that indentation is on my chest. So I'm probably not bullet proof. But why would a knife get through where a bullet failed? she wondered.

She couldn't figure that one out, or what was under her skin. But it had probably saved her life, so she wasn't complaining. After relaxing under the tree and drinking in the sounds and smells of the forest for a while she jumped back into the air and continued on her way.

---

"What's the matter Bull, lose her trail already?" Dragon asked with a smirk. Succubus and Spike were keeping their distance from Bull, who had been searching around the field for an hour. His frustration had grown until he was growling and cursing under his breath constantly.

"Shut up Dragon!" Bull snarled.

"Come on, Bull, we all knew she'd take to the air eventually. Admit it, you need us flyers to find her." Dragon said.

Bull kept searching for another fifteen minutes before finally conceding defeat, once again earning his nickname. "All right Dragon, your turn." he finally snarled. He hated hunting flyers because he was the slowest of the group. By the time he caught up with their prey his team had usually already subdued them. Even though he always told them to wait for him before attacking.

"You heard him Succubus. Let's show these grounders how to hunt!" Dragon said, launching himself into the sky. Succubus followed suit. They circled around the plowed field while they gained altitude, and then set off in the direction their prey seemed to be headed. If only Spike weren't so fast; this would be the perfect chance to get away. Dragon thought. But maybe when we catch up with this butterfly I'll get an opportunity...

---

To Be Continued...

---

After the town, Laura decided to stay away from civilization for a while. She followed the coast as she continued north. The coast was slowly sloping towards the east, so she thought she was getting closer to Central America.

On the third day after visiting the town she spotted another city up ahead, right on the coast. If she was to keep the ocean in sight she'd have to fly right over it. Well, I should be okay if I stay up high enough, right? she thought. Reluctantly, she continued on her way. She kept her eyes peeled for any activity below her, in case another gang or something decided to take pot shots at her. She knew any bullet fired at this range would have no chance of penetrating whatever armor she had underneath her skin, but the impact could cause her to lose control and crash. She didn't have a lot of confidence in her flying skills yet.

Her tension grew as she flew over the city. A lot of people noticed her, and there were a few shots fired. None of them came close. She was debating veering off and avoiding the rest of the city entirely, when she saw a commotion ahead that had nothing to do with her. What's that? she wondered. Without thinking she slowed her wings, shedding altitude so she could get a better look. A few blocks ahead she saw three men beating on a woman. There were several people yelling nearby, and they didn't seem to be with the men, but they weren't stopping them, either.

The beating looked vicious, so Laura powered down as fast as she could. Coming in as fast as she was, she landed very clumsily and nearly fell on her face. By the time she'd recovered the men had stopped hitting the woman and turned angrily towards her. The people that had been yelling at them pulled back fearfully, but didn't run. The woman wasn't moving anymore.

Not wanting to get into a fight if she could help it, Laura tried to go to the woman. The three men blocked her and yelled at her, but she couldn't understand what they were saying. "I don't want to fight you guys, but I'm going to check on that woman." Laura said, hoping at least one of them understood English. She folded her wings as tightly as she could and pushed the men out of her way when they continued to block her. When she checked she found the woman was still breathing, but she looked pretty bad. She also had floppy black dog ears.

"Look out!" a woman screamed, just before something slammed into Laura's head. She was knocked several feet away but managed to catch herself. Shaking her head, she looked up in time to see a foot heading for her face. She would have been sent sprawling by the blow, except that her wings caught her and put her back on her feet. All three men were advancing on her, one of whom was carrying a piece of wood about four feet long.

The other people on the street were yelling again; some in English. Laura recognized the voice of one of the women as the one who had warned her. Well, at least not everybody hates mutants around here. she thought as she blocked a punch from one of the men. Another kicked at her, but she managed to dodge it. The third swung his makeshift club at her head. She caught it and wrenched it out of his hand before slugging him. The force of the punch knocked him back several feet.

Now that she was armed and they weren't, and they'd seen an example of her strength, the other two men weren't quite so eager to fight. Especially since the third man seemed to be unconscious. Laura swung the board around a few times. "Well?" she asked, grinning. She was beginning to enjoy being so strong and tough.

After glancing at each other the men decided they didn't want to fight after all and went over to pick up their friend before running off. Laura sighed in relief and tossed the piece of wood aside. She returned to the injured woman's side and knelt down to see how badly she was hurt. "Is it safe to move her?" she wondered aloud, as she thought that she should probably take her to a hospital.

"I don't think you should. She'll be okay now, I'll make sure she gets to a hospital." the woman who'd warned Laura said, kneeling down beside her.

"Thanks for warning me." Laura said.

The woman beside her chuckled, "For whatever good it did! You still got hit, not that it seemed to hurt you any. It's too bad my niece isn't as tough as you." She tenderly stroked the injured woman's hair as she spoke, before looking up at Laura. "Thank you for saving her. None of the others were brave enough to get involved, and you're obviously a foreigner."

Laura shrugged, "I couldn't just let them keep beating on her like that. Are you sure she's going to be okay? I could carry her to a hospital if it's safe to move her."

She shook her head, "No need. I've already called for help. And you shouldn't be here when they arrive. Those men are likely to claim that you attacked them."

"What?!" Laura exclaimed. "But everyone here saw them attack me!"

"I know." she agreed sadly. "But you are a mutant. People here are not very friendly towards mutants, especially the police. Please, go. And thank you."

Laura reluctantly took to the air and continued her journey. As she flew she wondered if she'd encounter the same reception when she got home. Even her certainty that her parents would accept her was diminishing. Why do people hate mutants so much? she thought.

---

Dammit Spike! Why'd you have to go and do that?! Dragon thought when he saw Bull below him, easily keeping up now that he had a motorcycle. Spike was right behind him. He'd found a couple of motorcycles in the first town they came to and suggested they steal them. Now I'll never get away from these idiots!

Based on what little information the doctor had given them Dragon had decided to go north, figuring the kid would be going towards home. Assuming she even knew which direction to go. Turns out she did, because he caught sight of her on the second day in the air. He'd been playing with the idea of teaming up with the kid, but Spike's acquiring a motorcycle for Bull changed his plans. He knew he couldn't take Bull. Maybe the kid could, but they'd still have Succubus and Spike to deal with. He didn't like the odds.

Unless... he thought, looking speculatively at Succubus.

---

Why am I not getting tired? Laura thought as she continued to fly three hours after the incident with the dog mutant. The sky was darkening but she felt no fatigue from all the flying she'd done. She had taken breaks her first couple of days in the air, but she found it was almost effortless now.

While she could see almost as well at night as during the day, she decided to find something to eat and then get some sleep.

In the morning she found a stream to drink from and ate some flowers before taking to the air. Thirty minutes into her flight she heard something behind her. She stopped and hovered in the air so she could turn and see the source of the sound. It turned out to be two mutants! She waited for them to catch up with her, but one of them seemed to have trouble with hovering and kept flying in circles around them.

"Do you mind landing? My friend can't hover like this." the man with the insect like wings said. Laura nodded and landed in the first clearing she saw. The others joined her a moment later, landing much more gracefully than she did.

"Hi, people call me Dragon, as in dragonfly. Because of my wings." the man said. He gestured at his friend and said, "My friend here calls herself Succubus. What's your name?"

"Laura." she replied, wondering at the odd names. Are they super heroes or something, using names like that? she thought.

"Don't you have a mutant name?" Dragon asked curiously.

"Mutant name? What's that?" Laura said.

"Most of us choose a name, usually something having to do with our powers or appearance, to use after our mutation. We save our real names for close friends and family, if we use them at all." Dragon replied.

"Oh. No, I don't have one of those." Laura said.

"Well, you might want to consider choosing one. Especially looking like you do. Someone's liable to give you a name if you don't choose one for yourself." Dragon said.

"I'll think about it. So, what are you doing out here?" Laura said.

"Hunting." Succubus said with a nervous smile. Laura noticed she kept glancing around like she expected someone to come by at any moment.

Laura looked curiously at Succubus and asked, "Hunting? For what?"

Dragon cleared his throat awkwardly and said, "Well, don't freak out here, but...you."

"Me?!" Laura exclaimed. She suddenly remembered those other mutants in the cells on the ship and wondered if some of them ended up working for the people who kidnapped her.

She had just spread her wings to get away when Dragon hurriedly said, "Wait! We were sent to bring you back, dead or alive. But that's not what we want to do! We were thinking that, if we worked together, we could all get free!"

Laura frowned, "But aren't you already free?"

Dragon shook his head, "No, not really. There are two more of us, and they'll be arriving any minute. Bull is stronger than me, and Spike is faster. Between the two of them they could take Succubus and me out. We need your help."

"Why not just fly away?" Laura asked.

"I tried that on the first mission we were sent on." Dragon said. "Bull threw a rock the size of my head at me and hit me when I was over a hundred feet up. The fall nearly killed me."

"But you could just fly away at night or something, couldn't you?" Laura asked.

"Not really. Bull is a really good tracker, and I have to land sometime. Between him and Spike, there's no real chance of me getting away. And Succubus is a slower flyer than I, so she has even less chance." Dragon replied.

"What do you expect me to do?" Laura asked warily.

"Fight. I hear you're really tough, and pretty damn strong, too. Together we could defeat them." Dragon said.

"And then what?" Laura said.

Dragon shrugged, "If they're still alive afterward, we'll tie them up. By the time they get free we'll be long gone."

"We're not killing them!" Laura exclaimed.

Dragon held his hands up, "Okay, okay! If you insist, we'll try to make sure they're not seriously hurt. But you gotta understand, Bull is a nasty bastard. He likes hurting people, that's why he doesn't mind working for those slime at Genarm that mutated most of us. I don't know what Spike's deal is, but he seems to like it there almost as much as Bull."

"I still don't want to kill them." Laura said stubbornly.

"Hey, I said we'd try! We can't guarantee anything, though. But we'll do our best." Dragon said.

"...okay." Laura reluctantly agreed.

"They're here!" Succubus exclaimed, jumping into the air. She struggled to gain altitude and pointed out the direction they were coming from.

"Damn! I was hoping we'd have some time to decide where to do this, but I guess here it is. We'll have a better chance from the air." Dragon said, following Succubus into the sky. Laura took off after them, looking down to where Succubus had pointed to try and see her other pursuers.

It was easy to identify Spike. He was running towards them faster than any human ever could and he had quills sticking out of his arms. Bull, as she assumed him to be, was lumbering through the brush at a much slower speed. Upon seeing her he stopped and picked up a rock. Remembering what Dragon said, she dodged to the side just in time.

"Traitor!" Bull screamed when he saw Dragon slam into Spike with Succubus right behind him. Laura trusted them to keep him out of the fight and dived for Bull. "Yeah, come to me, you little pixie freak!" he growled, bracing himself.

At the last moment Laura veered to the side, lashing out with her foot as she flew by. It felt like kicking a rock, but he went flying into the trunk of a tree with enough force to shake loose dozens of leaves.

Laura was surprised she pulled it off, and managed to land fairly neatly, but turned her attention to the brute who was already charging at her again. She tried to dodge his punch, but got hit square in the chest, throwing her back several feet. "Ouch, that hurt!" she said as she picked herself back up. Bull was already on top of her again, but she managed to catch his fist this time.

"What?!" he exclaimed in shock as she absorbed the force of his punch and pushed him backwards. He dug his heels in and tried to push back, but she was clearly stronger. "How the hell are you so strong, bitch?!"

"Hey, just calm down, okay?! I don't want to fight you. I don't want to fight anybody!" Laura said, catching his other fist when he tried to punch her. She pushed him back until he was up against a tree. "Stop fighting me!"

Bull started to say something but stopped, sniffing the air. A strange look crossed his face and he relaxed. Laura almost fell forward at the sudden loss of resistance and jumped back expecting another attack. None came.

"What did you do to him?" Dragon asked in amazement. Bull slumped down to sit against the tree with a strange faraway look on his face. "He looks like he's stoned!"

"Nothing! I just pushed him back against the tree and tried to calm him down. I don't know why he's like that." Laura replied.

"Hmm, I've never seen him so relaxed!" Succubus purred.

"Where's Spike?" Laura asked. Succubus pointed and Laura saw him tied to a tree with some vines.

"Well, whatever you did, I think we'd better tie him up and put as much distance between us as we can." Dragon said. With that they gathered up some vines and used them to tie Bull up to the tree he was leaning against.

"Will these really hold?" Laura asked.

"With their arms tied behind them like we did, they should hold for a while. Long enough, I hope, for us to be far enough away that our trail will get cold." Dragon replied.

"Okay. Well, thanks for your help." Laura said.

Dragon shrugged, "We were helping ourselves as much as you. Thanks for giving us a chance. Good luck!" With that Dragon and Succubus jumped into the air and flew off.

"Guess I should go, too." Laura said, glancing at the tied up mutants. Spike was out cold and Bull still looked stoned. With a shrug she took off and flew towards home.

---

Dragon insisted on flying well into the night to put as much distance between them and Bull and Spike as possible. When they finally landed Succubus was exhausted and Dragon wasn't much better off. "I'm still surprised you went along with this Succubus. You seemed pretty happy at Genarm." he said as they made a nest for themselves for the night.

Succubus wrapped her arms around him and said, "I like fucking. And I got to do a lot of that at Genarm. But I didn't like what they were doing. Besides, I like you. You're braver and have more scruples than the others."

"I don't know about the scruples or bravery." Dragon said. "And you know they're going to keep coming after us. Losing Bull and Spike doesn't mean we're safe."

"I seem to recall hearing about a certain island near that Bubble place where all mutants are welcome. And don't argue with a woman when she compliments you. You're braver and more moral than you think you are." Succubus said. When Dragon tried to protest that she put her finger over his lips, "Shh. No arguing. Now fuck me and we can head to the island in the morning." Dragon didn't argue anymore.

---

Laura had flown almost all night before exhaustion finally overtook her. She woke to bright sunlight coming from almost directly overhead.

I wonder if Dragon was right about the name thing. she thought as she went about gathering breakfast. It still seemed a little weird to her to have a salad of flowers for a meal, but they tasted too good to argue with it. And she didn't even want to think about trying to hunt down an animal and eat it.

I guess it makes sense. I'm pretty unique and stand out a lot. Hard to miss the violet and pink butterfly girl. I guess that's what they'd probably call me if I didn't come up with a name for myself first; Butterfly Girl. I can do without that. Laura thought as she ate. She tried to remember what she knew about butterflies, thinking she might get a name from that.

After eating she continued flying north while she thought about it. Her thoughts were interrupted about half an hour later when she saw that the backside of the beautiful green hill she was flying by was scoured bare for a mine. There wasn't much heavy equipment around, though, which she thought odd. She flew a little closer and saw that there was a long line of people hammering away at the rock with pick axes and sledge hammers.

As she got closer she realized that most, if not all, of the people were mutants. And they were chained together at the ankles. Looks like a chain gang from old TV shows. That thought was reinforced by the men with shotguns that walked up and down the line, occasionally kicking or shoving one of the mutants. One thing that didn't fit into that image for her, though, were the children. Almost a third of the mutants were teenagers or younger.

This doesn't look right. I think I'll go see what this is about. Laura thought. She landed just out of sight of the mine and walked the rest of the way. She had a feeling things could get ugly, and she was right.

As soon as they saw her the guards pointed their guns at her. "Hey, why are you pointing those thing at me?! What is this place?" she asked.

"Filth like you don't need to talk. Get over here and get to work with the others and maybe I won't cut out your tongue!" one of the guards sneered. He had a strong accent, but wasn't too hard to understand.

"What did they do? Or me, for that matter!" Laura said.

One of the guards got impatient and shot her. The blast knocked her on her back. Two of the guards started forward but jumped back when she got back up. "We need to get rid of all these guns!" Laura growled. She knew that, if they were legitimate police or correctional officers, they wouldn't have shot her like that. Unless the government had decided mutants weren't people, in which case she didn't feel the need to abide by the rules.

They took aim to fire and she jumped over them with a little help from her wings. Turning, she grabbed the guns of the two nearest guards and yanked them out of their hands. Then she brained the guards with their own shotguns and tossed the guns away. Two shotgun blasts caught her, then, tossing her back to the ground.

"Ow!" she complained as she stood back up. The guards looked at each other in surprise before firing again. This time she managed to brace herself and shrugged them off. It hurt, and cut into her skin, but didn't cause her any serious harm. Thankfully they were standard shotgun shells, not solid slugs. She wasn't sure how much it would take to penetrate her armor, and she didn't want to find out.

They shot her again and she leaned into the blasts. She was really starting to get ticked off, especially as what clothing she had was gone. She grabbed the shotgun out of the hand of the nearest guard and decked him. The blow launched him into another guard a few feet away and they fell in a tangle of limbs. The others looked worried, one going so far as to drop his gun and back away.

"Why are you doing this to these people?" she said angrily. Another two guards dropped their guns and ran for it. Soon it was a total rout and all the guards had fled. Am I really that scary? Laura wondered.

Once she was sure it was safe, she turned and started freeing the other mutants. The guards probably had the keys, so she used her sharp fingernails to cut through the locks on the chains. It took her thirty minutes to free all the mutants. Fortunately, a couple of them spoke good English. "Thank you!" one young woman said as they all gathered together.

"You're welcome. Why were they keeping you all chained up like that?" Laura asked.

An older man answered that, "We're just animals to them. Beasts of burden. So they put us to work. Thank you for freeing us, but what will we do now?"

"Uh, I don't know?" Laura said. "Can't you go home?"

The woman shook her head, "No, and I don't think the others can, either. It was my own family that turned me over to those animals. I have no where to go." A brief conversation revealed they were all in the same situation. "Can we come with you?" she asked hopefully.

"Um, I don't know if that will work. I'm going to the US, and I'm sure they'd stop us at the border. I'll have to fly over it as it is, since I don't have any identification and don't look like I used to anyway." Laura said.

"Perhaps we could travel with you anyway, until we've found a safe place to settle?" the man asked.

"Okay, that makes sense." Laura agreed, though she was worried about the delay this would cause.

"First, let's find you some clothes." the woman said. It turned out there were extra clothes in the cells where the mutants were kept. There were a couple of winged mutants in the group who donated some of their clothes and Laura was finally able to be fully clothed.

They searched the area for anything of use to them and packed it up in a few bags they found. Then they started heading north. In all, there were thirty six mutants. Of those, eight were young enough that they couldn't keep up well, so progress was slow. They also had to take time to forage for food and water for the group.

They stayed away from civilization as much as they could. With Laura and the other flyers it was easy enough to find the best path. They still had to skirt small villages and towns on occasion and it was always tense. They figured the only reason they weren't attacked was their numbers.

Their numbers grew further as they encountered a few other mutants who had been driven from their homes and hid in the wilderness. Finding food for everyone was always a problem, though the others were amazed that Laura could get by with just flowers.

After a couple of weeks they found themselves in a more densely populated area and had more trouble avoiding people. After a few tense confrontations the group let Laura deal with anyone they encountered as she seemed to have a lot better luck calming people down. In fact, after Laura talked to them, many people who were hostile at first ended up helping them.

One of those people had some information for them that one of the women translated for Laura, "He says that Costa Rica is very friendly to mutants. Many go there from all over the area. If he's right, then we may find a home there, too."

"Hey, that's great! How far is Costa Rica?" Laura said.

The translator talked with the man a little longer and turned back to Laura, "He says it is about two hundred miles to the north. It will probably take us a month to go that far."

The others were thrilled with the news, though not so happy about how long it would take to get there. Laura chafed at the delay herself, but she couldn't leave all these people until she was sure they'd be okay.

They'd picked up a couple more mutants by the time they got out of that area. These two were twin girls that couldn't be more than ten years old. They didn't slow them down any, though. They were horse mutants, the first Laura or the others had seen that actually had four legs. Between that, the tails, and their long main-like hair, they made perfect cute little centaurs. Some of the smaller children were even able to rest on their backs so the group could keep moving at times as they were very strong for their size.

The next day after finding the centaur girls some military helicopters started following them. Laura was afraid she'd have to try and fight them off, but they never did more than follow.

Laura watched for the helicopters the next day but didn't see them. She did hear them, however, along with the sound of many land vehicles. They sounded heavy, too. She wasn't the only one to hear them. The others were starting to get worried, so Laura took to the air to find out what all the noise was about.

When she saw she nearly fell out of the sky in surprise. Behind and to either side of her group were a mass of military looking vehicles, including the helicopters and a few tanks!

She quickly returned to the group and told them what she saw. "Why would they be following us, or is it just a coincidence?" she wondered.

Several of the others shook their heads and one man said, "No, they're here for us. They are probably afraid at so many mutants being in one place. If we're lucky they're just making sure we leave the country."

Without any better ideas, they continued. The sound never diminished, if anything getting louder as if more vehicles had joined the pursuit. A few hours later a helicopter flew overhead and landed in front of them. Several soldiers jumped out, aiming their guns at their group. They stayed close to the helicopter, though, while another man flanked by two more soldiers got out and walked towards them.

All of the mutants huddled together away from the armed men except for Laura. She found herself standing alone several feet in front of the group, so started walking towards the man. The soldiers with him pulled their weapons up to track her movement so she stopped and waited, hoping that would calm them.

When he finally arrived in front of her the man started speaking in Spanish. When Laura clearly couldn't understand he switched to English, "What are you mutants doing out here?" he demanded. He spit the word mutant out as if it were something unbearably disgusting.

"We're just passing through to Costa Rica." Lauara replied, trying her best to project calm at the clearly military man. She had found that generally made a difference, though she didn't understand why.

To her relief it worked once again. Although he still clearly hated mutants, he calmed considerably. Glancing at the group behind her he nodded once and said, "Alright, but keep moving. We'll be following you until you leave our country."

Laura felt that was as close to friendly as he was likely to get so thanked him and returned to her group. He did the same; the chopper taking off as soon as everyone was back on board.

"Looks like you were right, they just want to make sure we leave." she said as she rejoined the group.

He nodded, "Yes, but only because you calmed him. I've heard of this man before, his hatred of mutants is already becoming legendary. If you had not been here he would have killed us all." Several of the others nodded in agreement.

"How could I have made that much difference?" Laura asked.

The man shrugged, and a woman said, "You've done so many times already. You have some kind of power. You make other people feel what you do, or what you want them to. Did you not know this?"

Laura gaped at the woman silently for a moment before shaking her head, "No way! I'm not some kind of empath, or anything!"

Several others chimed in with similar sentiments, but Laura couldn't believe it. It was just coincidence or something, right? she thought.

The military vehicles were still approaching, the noise of their approach becoming louder as they talked, so they ended their discussion and got moving as quickly as they could.

Laura stewed over their words as they continued. She could kind of see what the others were saying; people had reacted oddly to her on several occasions since her transformation. But she couldn't figure out how that could possibly work. There had been no mention of mental or magical powers among mutants. Only abilities that various animals or insects had.

They were all relieved a few hours later when they crossed the border and the military vehicles stopped. They stayed on the border for some time, though, until their group was out of sight. "I hope that guy was right about Costa Rica." Laura said. The others agreed.

---

To Be Continued...

---

Three weeks flew by with few encounters. They managed to keep away from any cities or villages, just. Food was still a problem, but Laura and the other flyers managed to gather enough for everyone. Laura did most of the gathering of fruits and vegetables to avoid having to kill anything. The others were glad to make that compromise; they all seemed to think that they would never have gotten half as far without her.

Finally, a little sooner than anticipated, they came to the border of Costa Rica. They were dismayed to find it had been recently fortified with a tall fence with rows of shining razor wire on top. Signs dotted the length of the fence warning that it was electrified. There were also two guard posts in sight. Each post had at least two soldiers manning it and they were well armed. With a sinking feeling the group approached the nearest gate.

Once again the others melted back to let her do the talking. She approached cautiously under the guard's watchful gaze. They didn't seem hostile, though, and in fact seemed to be watching everything but her for the most part. "Uh, hello? Someone told us that this was a safe place for mutants?" she hesitantly said.

The nearest guard frowned and glanced at another. That one stepped forward with a grin, "Don't worry about all this," he said, waving at the other guards and the fence. "It's to keep the people who try to hurt mutants out. Ever since we opened our borders to mutants we've had fanatics trying to attack any mutants trying to enter our country. You are safe here."

He seemed sincere, so I waved the others forward. Slowly they trickled through the gate, some talking briefly with the guards. As they did they became bolder and moved with more purpose, a smile on many faces. "This is the biggest group we've had yet. Where did you find them all?" the guard asked her.

"I found most of them being forced to work on some kind of mine. The rest joined up with us as we went." Laura replied.

Frowning at the mention of the mine he said, "Yes, we've heard rumors about forced labor camps. Thank you for freeing them. You must be as powerful as you are beautiful! Don't worry, though, you are all welcome in Costa Rica."

Laura blushed at his words, "Uh, thanks. But I'm not staying. I'm going back home to find my parents."

"Ah, family is important. Are you American then?" he said. Laura nodded, "Are you sure it will be safe there? I have heard bad things about the way Americans are dealing with mutants."

She shrugged, "I don't know, but I think my parents will be okay. Even if I can't stay, I have to let them know I'm alright."

"Understandable. If you find your old home too hostile, feel free to return at any time. What is your name?" he said.

"Uh, I guess I'll go by Chrysalis?" she said, remembering her conversation with Dragon and Succubus.

He grinned, "Ah, a beautiful name for a beautiful mutant! My name is Manuel Castillo. Please, if you ever find yourself in Costa Rica again, look me up? I would like to know how things go with your family."

Laura blushed again, nodding and hurrying to catch up with the others. They were all very relieved to find Costa Rica as welcoming as they had been led to believe. There were a few mutants working on the border who told them about the welcome they received, as well, which reassured Laura that things really were as good as they seemed.

Many of the mutants hugged her and thanked her for her help. She didn't feel that she'd done all that much, but accepted their thanks rather than make a fuss.

Just as she was about to leave one of the mutants working on the border approached her with a bulging backpack. "Chrysalis? We have put together a pack for you. It is not much, just a change of clothes, water, and medical supplies. If there is anything else we can do to help you, please let us know?" she said, holding the backpack out to her.

"Uh, thanks." Laura replied, taking the backpack. More thanks and hugs delayed her before she was finally able to take off.

Laura wore the backpack backwards so it wouldn't interfere with her wings and resumed her flight north. She waved to everyone as she flew by before gaining altitude until she could not see them anymore. I'm glad I helped them, but I really want to get home and see Mom and Dad. I hope they can handle the new me! she thought.

---

She flew for two weeks after Costa Rica without much interaction with anybody. Maintaining a high altitude allowed her to move quickly without being distracted by the people below. That ended somewhere around northern Mexico when she heard screaming. It was faint at her altitude, but her enhanced hearing picked it up and she couldn't ignore it.

Here we go again! she thought, diving down towards the source of the sound. She was feeling a little more confident in her flying abilities now so her dive was very steep. That got her low enough to get a better fix on the sound and adjust her course.

Lot of people down there. Hope this isn't going to be another big delay! Laura thought as she started flapping her wings to slow her descent. The scene she found herself in the middle of was not a pleasant one.

Several mutants were in a pen, like animals. They each wore a heavy steel collar chained to an iron ring in the ground. The chains were very short, so they could move only a few feet in any direction. They couldn't even stand, so were forced to walk on hands and knees. A crowd had gathered around the fenced-in pen and were jeering at the mutants inside, who were all naked and bleeding.

"What's going on here?!" Laura yelled to be heard over the screams of the mutants and the jeers of the crowd. Several men with whips were lashing the mutants for no apparent reason.

If any of the men spoke English, they didn't show it. They did show a great deal of interest in Laura, however. Her words sparked a flurry of activity as half of the men with whips hurried to a nearby shed and returned with shotguns. Not this again! Laura thought, hoping she didn't end up naked again.

Rather than risk it, she decided to be more proactive. Before they had a chance to aim she was on the nearest one, picking him up and throwing him at the next nearest armed man. Remembering the words of the mutants she had rescued, she decided to see if she could trigger whatever it was that she did before. "STOP!!" she screamed, trying to will them to do so with everything she had.

They didn't seem to take notice at first, but just as two of the men were about to pull the trigger on their shotguns, and three more had reared back to strike at her with their whips, everyone suddenly did just that, stop. For several seconds there was no movement at all. Laura was stunned. Did it really work?

The mutants in the pen seemed to shake it off first. One of them asked Laura something in Spanish, but she didn't understand it. Shrugging, she jumped the fence and started pulling the iron rings out of the ground. Not wanting to risk taking the time to remove the collars, she tore out a section of fence and led them out. Slowly everyone was starting to move again, though they all looked out of it, somewhat like Bull had.

I wonder what exactly I did? she thought as she wove between the bewildered crowd. Following behind her the mutants stared in wonder at the confused crowd. By the time they'd passed the last of the crowd they were only just beginning to become aware of their surroundings again.

None of the mutants spoke English, but they recognized the name of Costa Rica and with some hand gestures made herself mostly understood. They thanked her and headed south. She hoped they would make it okay, but she didn't want to go all the way back to Costa Rica and lose that much time. She'd been away from home long enough.

Reluctantly, she left them behind and flew north again. She stayed high and flew as fast as she could.

Another day of travel went by without incident. She rested under the cover of some trees along a river for the night, finding plenty of flowers to eat before flying on. She wasn't even sure if she was in the US yet or not, but she thought she might be. With that in mind she started turning west.

Another night's rest saw her on her way again. A few hours later she heard several gun shots. She thought they might have been directed at her, but she was out of range. But then a helicopter approached!

Great, now what?! she thought, exasperated by yet another delay.

She waited for the helicopter to get closer to find out what they wanted. It wasn't a military helicopter, for which she was thankful, but that sentiment faded when she saw a man with a large machine gun pointed at her through an open door. "Mutant! Land immediately or you will be fired upon!" someone said through a speaker or something on the helicopter.

She wasn't sure her armor would be strong enough, so she did as ordered. When she landed she found several men in uniforms with rifles whom she assumed had been shooting at her before. They didn't look military, but like police or something. As soon as she landed several of them surged forward and tried to handcuff her.

Not happening! she thought, shaking the men off like small children.

"You don't have any rights here, animal!" one of the men snarled. "Stop fighting us or else!"

"What do you mean, I don't have any rights?!" she asked in surprise.

He glanced at the others and laughed, "We got an out of town freak here, huh? Your kind are recognized for the animals you are here. If you don't behave we'll put you down. Got it?"

She nodded, "Yeah, I've got it. But you're going to STOP, right NOW!" She put all the feeling she could into the screams, hoping whatever strange power she had would kick in again. Sure enough, it did. The men acted like they'd been struck, falling onto their backs and staying there, stunned.

Well, they warned me the US was bad. I guess this is what they meant. Laura thought. Not wanting to fight with the helicopter, she ran.

She ran until she couldn't run anymore, staying away from roads and buildings as much as she could. Fortunately she wasn't in an urban area so that wasn't too hard. Finally fatigue caught up with her and she settled down under the shade of a large weeping willow tree to rest.

---

She awoke and, after a quick flower snack, continued on her way. Fearing more helicopters she decided to walk for a while longer. She had no idea where she was, though, so she soon found herself flying again just to get her bearings.

At first what she saw didn't mean anything to her...until she saw what could only be the Grand Canyon. Wow, look at that! I didn't realize it was so huge! she thought, hovering in place to gaze in wonder at it. But soon the fear of more helicopters had her flying on.

At least I know where I am, now. Well, roughly, anyway. If I just keeping going west I'll get home soon enough! she thought happily.

Flying was safe enough for the rest of the day as there was plenty of open space. But as she continued the next day it started to get harder to stay away from cities. Am I in California, then? she wondered. After most of a day's flight she started to see some familiar landmarks.

I'm almost home! she thought with relief. She decided to risk continuing to fly rather than draw the kind of attention she would on the ground. Finding her house proved more difficult from the air than she'd thought, but eventually she was pretty sure she'd found it. It was getting dark but she decided that was perfect since there were fewer people on the street to see her land.

Now that she was finally here she began to feel nervous. What if they don't accept me? Where will I go? she wondered. I suppose I could go back to Costa Rica...but then what? Is there any kind of life available for me like I am? This may end up being as much of a curse as it is a blessing...

She landed and walked up to the door but hesitated to knock. She turned away, turned back and turned away again before stopping facing the door. This is what I've been fighting for for...how long? I know my parents...more loving parents you couldn't ask for. Surely they'll get used to the new me, like they did before when I told them I'm a girl... she thought hopefully.

She stood there indecisively for another couple of minutes before finally stepping up and pressing the door bell. She waited and pressed the door bell again...and again. Maybe they're not home...they didn't move away, did they?

Thinking the door bell may not be working properly she tried knocking. The door seemed rather flimsy and shook a lot with each knock but she finally heard some movement inside. Then it stopped and the door still didn't open so she knocked again. Immediately it opened and her mother and father were standing there, looking upset and surprised. Her dad gasped, "Chrysalis!" before looking at her mom in surprise.

"Uh, hi." Laura said nervously.

They looked at each other and her mom said, "Um, hello. Is there...something we can do for you?"

She kicked herself mentally, Of course, they won't recognize me! "Oh, sorry," she said sheepishly, "I should explain. I'm Laura....your daughter."

They looked startled but then her father looked angry, "What kind of game are you playing at?"

"Wait, it's me, really! Give me a chance to explain!" she said hurriedly, worried they would close the door in her face.

Her mother put her hand on her father's arm, which was grasping the door as if to close it. "What if it is, Stefan?"

"But...is that even possible?" he said, sounding as though he wasn't sure if he dared believe it might be.

Her mom shrugged, "I don't know...why not find out?"

He shook himself, "Yeah...yeah, let's find out. Uh, Chrysalis, would you like to come in?"

Laura smiled and followed them inside. Her mom pulled out a chair for her and they all sat around the kitchen table. "So, um, sorry about being such a pain about that 'clinic' I told you about. You were totally right that it wasn't the real thing."

Her mother frowned, "What do you mean? If you're really Laura then shouldn't you be happy about the way you look now?"

"Oh, I am! I love my body now, antennae and all! It's just...they kidnapped me, as I'm sure you know. And they really didn't care about me...they just wanted a test subject, or something." Laura replied.

"Wait, let's get back to the part where you're claiming to be Laura. Why don't you prove that part, first?" her dad said suspiciously.

"Oh yeah, sorry. Um, let me think..." she said, and then started rattling off things she remembered about her childhood that she didn't think anyone else would know. After a few minutes all suspicion disappeared from her parents faces and they nearly suffocated her with hugs.

"Oh, Laura, you're really back!" her mother breathed happily, pulling back to take a look at her and then crushing her to her again.

"We've missed you so much!" her father said, tears in his voice.

"I'm sorry I worried you guys so much!" Laura said, tears streaming down her face, too.

There were several minutes of wordless hugs and tears before any of them were ready to talk again. Eventually they calmed enough to talk again, though her mother refused to let her go and her father kept a hold on her hand, too.

"So, what exactly happened to you?" her mother asked.

"Well..." Laura said, and began to recount everything that had happened since she was kidnapped. Her mother pulled her closer and cried several times while her father's grip got much tighter. She was sure it would have been painfully tight before her mutation. She went on for what seemed like hours before she had gotten them up to date.

"Wow..." her father said, sitting back but not letting go of her hand. "You've really had an...adventure, I guess you could call it. How are you doing?"

Laura shrugged, "I'm good. It's been scary at times and I've seen a lot of bad stuff but I've finally got the body I'm supposed to have and my parents aren't freaked out by it, so I'm happy!"

"Oh honey!" her mom said, hugging her close again. "You didn't really think we'd be put off by you being as beautiful on the outside as you are on the inside, did you?"

"Yeah, kiddo, we love you. The way you look isn't important to us, so long as you're happy." her dad said, squeezing her hand. Another tear streaked down his face and not for the first time she was glad she had a dad who wasn't afraid to show his feelings.

She couldn't get any words out at that and just cried happily on her parents shoulders. Eventually they all calmed down and her father asked, "So, are you going to try going back to school? I won't lie to you, it could be rough if you do. There's a lot of prejudice out there. It's not as bad as most parts of the country but still rough. It sounds like you can handle yourself pretty well, but..."

She shrugged, "I don't know. I haven't really thought about what to do from here on out, except that I wanted to do something about that Bubble place. I can't just let them keep using people like that."

"Honey, that sounds awfully dangerous. Maybe you should leave it to the authorities?" her mother said worriedly.

"I suppose that might work. It's the UN that runs it, right? I could go to them. If they don't know what's going on then they can shut it down. And if they do...well, I can always shut it down myself, I guess." Laura said thoughtfully.

"It's great that you want to help people, honey, but you're just sixteen! Leave it to the authorities to take care of this stuff." her father said.

"If they'll do something about it, sure. But I can't just leave those other mutants there, Dad. I just can't!" she replied, surprised at her own vehemence.

Her parents exchanged a worried glance, then her mother said, "Well, if the people at the UN don't believe you or won't help you, maybe there's someone else who will?"

"Like who? The US government?" she asked.

Her dad laughed at that, "Yeah, right. The government's more backward about mutants than most of the people. But I think I see where your mother's going with this. Kittyhawk, right?"

Her mother nodded at her father's inquisitive look, "Yes, that's what I had in mind. She has a little different reputation than you do. I'm not sure what to believe, frankly. But if she really does care about mutants like they say she does, she might help you. And I read in the paper this morning that she'll be at the UN building in a few days. So you can talk to someone there and if that doesn't work out you can try to talk to her. Assuming we can figure out how to get you there that fast. An airplane might not be the best idea..."

"No, definitely not. The airport in San Francisco would be okay, I think, but who knows what the airports at any stops along the way would be like? And even your reception in New York is uncertain." her father said.

"That's okay, I think I could fly it." Laura said.

"What, on your own?" her father said. "You can fly that fast?"

Laura shrugged, "I think so? I got from the Grand Canyon to here in a day and I wasn't going in a straight line or as fast as I could."

"Where in the Grand Canyon?" her father asked."

"I don't know. I was kind of lost before I found it." Laura replied.

"Hmm, maybe you could do it...but I don't like the idea of you going alone." her father said worriedly.

"I've been alone for months, I can manage." she replied.

"I know, but you got into an awful lot of fighting in that time. I'd feel better if we could go with you." her father said.

"I'll be fine. And as soon as I've taken care of the Bubble one way or another I'll come straight back. I promise." Laura said confidently.

There was more back and forth after that but in the end they gave up. Laura had always been stubborn.

Still, they were determined that she should rest for the night and insisted on getting her some clothes. Laura wasn't inclined to argue. It was already getting dark and she was reluctant to leave, despite her determination to see this through. She'd been looking forward to this for months and wasn't any happier than her parents that their reunion would be so short.

That night she slept in her own bed for the first time in months. She went online briefly before bed to let her friends know she was alright but gave no details except to assure them that she was happy and in no danger of hurting herself. Though she felt a bit guilty not only at having worried them, but in not being entirely truthful since she was likely to end up doing something dangerous. She wouldn't hurt herself, but she was likely to get hurt if she had to fight to bring down the Bubble herself. Even with Kittyhawk's help.

Her mother went shopping during the night and bought far too many clothes. Some of them wouldn't work because of the wings but she found plenty that did. She even liked most of them well enough. "Thanks Mom, it'll be nice not to wear clothes that have bullet holes in them for a while." Laura said, hugging her, when she was presented with them in the morning.

"I would appreciate it if you could keep these clothes bullet hole-free young lady." her mother said.

"I'll certainly try, Mom. Getting shot isn't fun." Laura replied.

"I'm just glad you're so tough that you could survive all that...but I don't want you fighting anymore if you can help it!" she replied.

"I'll try...but I don't think I can ignore it if I see other mutants in trouble like I did on the way here." Laura said apologetically.

"That's my girl, always thinking about others." her father said fondly before grabbing her up in a bear hug.

"Dad!" she said, but her laughter revealed her delight at her father's easy acceptance of her.

Finally Laura said she needed to go if she was going to meet up with Kittyhawk. Her mother gave her a picture so she'd know who to look for. "Though, you won't have much trouble. She's as unique as you are." she said.

Laura had to agree, she had only seen one other mutant like Kittyhawk and he'd been in the Bubble. And he'd looked rather unhealthy.

Reluctantly she pulled away from her parents and said, "I'll be back as fast as I can! I love you!!" before flying off. Their own 'I love you's' followed her, seeming to buoy her up and speed her along. She felt so good, in fact, she thought she might fly the entire distance non-stop.

---

That night she decided that wasn't such a good idea. After a full day of full-speed flight she was tired, sore and hungry. She was so tired she landed in a park somewhere, crawled into some bushes and passed out.

Sunlight woke her and she panicked for a moment before remembering where she was. Already she was regretting leaving her parents but she'd promised herself she would do something about the Bubble and the UN and Kittyhawk were her best bets.

Crawling painfully from the bushes she found some flowers to eat and took to the air again. She found that flying at her best speed was too painful. I guess I pushed myself too hard. I'd better be more careful in the future. she thought.

Laura managed a good pace despite her pains, though and encountered no problems. This time she found a more secluded place to rest. She had no idea where she was but she knew she was going in the right direction because her father had given her a compass.

Will I get there in time? she wondered the next morning as she ate and prepared to leave. She could only hope she would. Once she could see the Atlantic Ocean she'd have a better idea where she was.

Not long after she got up to her preferred altitude she saw a large number of planes landing and taking off from the same place in the distance. That's a busy airport. Could that be Chicago? she wondered.

Going on the assumption that it was, she continued on with renewed hope that she would arrive in time.

Amazingly, after all her adventures getting home, she had no trouble on the third day, either and could clearly see the east coast. The next day would see her at her destination. Hopefully in time to catch Kittyhawk. I wonder what she's like? she thought as she lay down to sleep that night.

Again she was in the air first thing in the morning. Finding New York was easier than she'd thought it would be. The hard part was finding the UN building. Or it would have been, if there hadn't been a huge crowd around it. She went down to see what all the fuss was about. She garnered a great deal of attention, unsurprisingly. Some policemen were keeping a crowd away from a limo so she asked him, "Excuse me, sir, what's going on here?"

He did a double take, glancing across her without seeming to notice her and then quickly jerking his head back around to stare at her. "Um, sorry, ma'am, you need to stay back. Some VIPs are leaving the building." he said, looking flustered.

"Oh, okay, thanks." she said, looking around. A sign nearby showed she was at the building she wanted so she went in.

Not knowing what else to do she went up to the first person she saw that looked like they worked there. "Um, excuse me, who do I talk to about some bad things that are going on at the Bubble?" she asked.

She seemed completely oblivious to Laura's unique appearance as she said, "And what 'bad things' might these be, miss?" in a way that made it clear she didn't take her seriously.

"I was kidnapped and taken there! They gave me something to turn me into this and were keeping me prisoner. I managed to escape but there were others, too!" Laura replied.

She seemed singularly unimpressed, "Of course. I'll pass this information on to the appropriate people. Thank you for your time." With that she turned back to whatever she'd been doing and ignored Laura completely. Frustrated, she walked out. Guess I'll have to find Kittyhawk. I don't know how to get to the right people and I doubt she believed me. she thought angrily.

Once out of the building she found she had no idea how to find Kittyhawk. She was supposed to be here but she didn't know when. Now what? she wondered as she looked around.

She wandered off away from the crowd while she thought, Should I wait here for her, or should I go looking for her? And if so, where? I can't afford to miss her!

Her musings were interrupted by a small pain in her neck. Looking down she saw a dart fall to her feet. Not this again! she thought with an audible groan, looking around for the shooter.

Sure enough, a man with a rifle was aiming at her from a window two stories up. How did they find me so quickly...unless that woman told them I'm here! Not wanting to fight and maybe miss Kittyhawk because of it, she decided to take this public where she hoped they wouldn't be willing to follow. It worked. Once she was out among the crowd she'd seen earlier he went back inside and she saw no other signs of pursuit.

"Hey, Mom! Look, it's Chrysalis! Do you think she's here with Kittyhawk?" a young boy said, pointing at her.

"Oh, yes, I see. Well, if she's here for Kittyhawk she's already missed her. She just left." his mother said, looking at Laura in surprise.

"Left?! Was she in that limousine?" Laura asked, hitting herself for not finding out who the VIP was.

His mother nodded, "Yes, that was her. Perhaps if you hurry you can find her at the pier where her plane is?"

Laura smiled, "Thanks, I'll do that!" before taking off.

---

To Be Continued...