Momentum Shift-1 by Lynceus Dr. Ronick was a genus. And probably insane. But like a moth drawn to a flame, I couldn't seem to escape his madness! If only things were different, I thought. In another world, another life, I could love someone like him. Little did I realize that I was about to get everything I had wished for...and a whole lot more!

---

I never set out to become a physicist. Mom was a registered nurse, and Dad, well, Dad was a cartoonist. Actually, he preferred to call himself a humorist; and it's true, he did have a weekly column in the paper that was really funny.

It was hard to take his work seriously, but Dad had a way of making me smile, even when I didn't want to. I miss him so much. He had met Mom late in life, and while they both loved each other dearly, it wasn't easy to have a wife twenty years younger than you are.

Or a teenaged daughter when you're pushing sixty.

But he did the best he could, and I wouldn't trade him as a father for anything. The heart attack was sudden; he'd always seemed so full of life, so young for his age. But then he was gone. Mom threw herself into her work, and me? I shut everyone out of my life.

I decided to become a nurse like Mom. If she'd been there when he had his coronary, maybe Dad would still be alive? It sounds silly, but I wanted to know how to help people. To help pay for school, I took a job at the community college library, helping to organize their old books.

So imagine my surprise when I came across a book called Who are you calling Mad? I'm laughing here!. And it had my father's name on the dust jacket!

I had to read the insert to be sure, and there he was, a lot younger than I remembered him. Dad had written a book?

His style was unmistakeable, every few lines I'd chuckle, laugh, or cry. He'd written about some of the great scientific minds of the 20th century, interspersing fact with humorous anecdotes and observations. "Science," he said, "has long been thought to be the realm of boring, absent-minded geniuses with their heads in the clouds. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Science is a heck of a lot of fun, and I'm going to prove it to you!"

I wondered why I'd never heard of this book before. I asked Mom, and she just shook her head. "He put so much work into that thing. Science was his first love, you know. Which is how we met, he'd gone back to school to try and earn a physics degree. But then you came along, and...oh did we argue about it. I didn't want to cost him his dream. But you know your father. He said 'I may love Science, but being funny pays the bills'."

"But the book?"

Mom sighed. "Just didn't sell. The critics liked it, a lot of really smart people asked to have it autographed, but...well, it's a competitive market. He gave away all his copies, and never talked about writing again."

"Mom...if I wanted to become a scientist, would you be disappointed?" Don't ask me where that came from!

She kissed my cheek. "You could never disappoint me, Linda."

-

That's me, by the way. Linda St. Joan. 24 years old, with a Masters in Physics. I guess I should tell you a little about myself. Let's see. I'm 5' 5", and I have my scale sufficiently intimidated enough that it claims I'm 128 lbs.. I have short black hair, because long hair always gets in my way. I guess I'm pretty, although I've never had men (or women, for that matter) fall all over themselves to get to know me better. I have a slight overbite, despite wearing braces for years, and I'm nearly blind in my right eye, thanks to a freak softball accident (I used to be a real tomboy when I was younger. Chalk it up to being a Daddy's girl).

I'm told my eyes are my best feature; they're hazel, which is weird since neither of my parents had hazel eyes. I'm not adopted, although Dad and I used to joke about it (which annoyed my mother; apparently she'd had a long, difficult labor with me).

I have a bad habit of breaking my nails, so I keep them short, and I never wear heels if I don't have to. Actually, tennis shoes are sort of a trademark with me. And my socks never match, something I picked up from Dad.

As far as my personal life goes, I don't really have much of one. Even when I finally came out of my shell, most people are put off by me. Curse of being a smart girl, I guess. Either I'm too brainy or I'm too silly.

It didn't help much when I finally came to terms with the fact that I was a lesbian. I don't take the lead in a relationship well, but I find aggressive girls to be too pushy. Plus, I culd never live with someone; I'm too attached to my personal space.

So while I have friends, you guessed it, I'm a lonely person. I don't even have cats! Not that I don't love cats, but I'm allergic to cat dander; it wreaks havoc with my sinuses. So there you have it, Linda, the weird scientist girl.

My first job out of high school was a real lucky break; who says good grades don't pay? I got a job at S.T.A.R. Labs, specifically, the Salt Lake City branch. Mormon country, so I try to keep my Methodist teachings to myself. Not that Mormons are bad people or anything, I just don't believe in some of the things they do, and I'd rather not make an issue of that.

I was assigned to work for Dr. Ronick. Erik B. Ronick, to be precise, the resident 'mad scientist'. What can I say about Erik? Well, he's 42, but in really good shape. He works out daily, keeps an eye on the old cholesterol level, and with his sandy blonde hair, rugged good looks, and tanned body, reminds me of a younger Robert Redford.

Seriously, for his age, he's seriously hot, even I notice, and I'm a lesbian! But the other women tend to keep their distance; I see a lot of casual flirting, but that's about it. One of the other lab techs, Nancy, warned me about him. "He's a good looking guy, Linda, but he's...really weird. Not in a scary way, just...strange."

She could have been describing me. Well, other than the good looking guy part.

When I first met Erik, he was setting up a strange, yet oddly familiar experiment. It involves mostly household items. He didn't notice me come in, instead he was chuckling to himself.

"Ah, Dr. Ronick?"

He looked up at me. "You wouldn't be selling Girl Scout cookies, would you? I love Thin Mints."

I frowned. "Don't I look a little old to be selling cookies?"

He grinned. "That depends. Will saying yes get me a smile or a punch in the nose?"

I couldn't help but smile a little. "I wouldn't punch you, Doctor."

"You have a pretty smile. I'd like to see more of it."

I blushed a little. "Well, I'm going to be your new assistant."

"Then this could be my lucky day. And yours! But first, I need to test you." He gestured to the table. "What am I trying to do?"

"Other than possibly getting yourself electrocuted? It looks like Tesla's magnetic wall experiment."

"You're hired! And yes, yes, I probably will get a jolt. But I think I'm onto something."

I blinked. "Really? Because it doesn't work."

"Until now. I hope. It all has to do with the strength of the magnetic field. This field is very weak." He walked over to the far end of the room, and gestured towards the wall. "This field, not so much."

I gasped. You're probably not a scientist, so I'll spare you the details, but it was likely the most impressive magnetic field generator I'd ever seen. The thing took up a large chunk of the lab, and it surrounded a glass chamber, about 7' tall, on a raised dais.

"What..what is that for?"

"Ever hear of the Philadelphia Experiment?"

"Sure, who hasn't? But...wait..."

"Complete quantum teleportation using nuclear magnetic resonance. That's what I'm working on."

I gaped at him. I really did. "You're serious? Isn't that, I don't know, a little...fringe?"

He laughed. "Who invented the radio?"

I groaned. This was right out of Dad's book. "Who didn't invent the radio, you mean. Or, as Otis Pond said: 'Looks as if Marconi got the jump on you.'"

Erik laughed. "To which Tesla replied: 'Marconi is a good fellow. Let him continue. He is using seventeen of my patents.'"

"Big fan of Tesla, huh?"

"Mm, yes. And sure, he had some far out ideas. Some of which just don't quite work as well as he thought, but you can't blame him. He was basically working in isolation. The few people who could understand his work tended to shun him as a crackpot. Yourself?"

"Well, my Dad was a big fan. I guess I picked up some admiration from him."

"Your father is a scientist?" He stepped closer to me, and I realized, this guy is huge! I mean, he had to be almost a foot taller than I was!

"Ah, no. A humorist. Allen St. Joan."

"No..! Not the man who wrote 'Who are you calling Mad?'"

"The same."

"So you're his daughter...I hear he passed away, my condolences. I know it was a few years back but...well, name your cliche. Absent minded. Mad scientist. That's me."

"It's alright. So you knew him?"

"Oh yes, he even signed my copy of his book. It's rare to find someone who really understands people like myself. Where other people see closed doors, I see untapped possibilities. Even the most ridiculous science can offer insight. For example, I originally built this thing here," he jerked a thumb at his magnetic field generator, "to test out all this bioelectromagnetism nonsense."

"Is it?"

He blinked at me. "Is it what?"

"Nonsense."

"Ah...not entirely. Some of their claims actually hold up water, but only with very intense magnetic fields. Which can cause as much harm as good. It's too bad though. Imagine it, a magnetic field strong enough to force new cells to grow, strengthen and even rejuvenate the body. A magnetic field so powerful, it can rebuild you from the ground up!"

He shrugged. "But some ideas are simply too far ahead of their time."

Little did he know what the future would bring.

-

"Do you know what a quantum moment is, Linda?"

This was a few months later. We'd been having a lot of fun, zapping things in the lab. And gotten closer. I can honestly say that Erik was one of my best friends. If only things were different. If only I could accept the love of a man. If only he wasn't so much older than I was! No matter how I felt, I couldn't subject a child to what I went through, when Dad died.

Sure, death is inevitable, but marrying a guy 16 years my senior was asking for it. Not that I could..it's weird. I could see myself falling in love with someone like Erik. But I knew I could never be fully happy with a man. I was well and truly fucked up, no doubt about it.

"Uh, not really."

He grinned. "It's one of those moments in life when you feel, really feel, that something big, something important is going on. You don't know what it is, but you pause for a few seconds, suspended in time, realizing, yes, it's happening. It's really happening!"

He paused, as if trying to bring some cohesion to his thoughts. He did this a lot, so I didn't interrupt. "It's like when I met you. I didn't even know you, but I knew, the minute I saw you, that you were going to be important to me. A quantum moment is when you feel moved, emotionally. It's a normal event, a normal situation, but to you, it's otherworldly, and you respond in an extraordinary way."

I wasn't sure what he was talking about, but I felt a blush spread from my cheeks. I was important to him? Did he...love me?

"It's a paradigm shift. A moment of enlightenment. When you get a brief glimpse at the big picture, and it's glorious. I think I've got it."

He practically dashed to the computer (which was, by necessity, level A TEMPEST-hardened; that is to say, an EMP pulse from 3' away wouldn't do jack to the machine) and began typing in code at dizzying speed. "I never would have realized it without someone to bounce ideas off of. You, very specifically."

He sighed. "If I was younger, I'd probably try to kiss you."

"Erik..."

He turned. "I know, Linda. I know that I remind you of your father. And I know that you're a lesbian. That doesn't matter to me. I appreciate you for who you are, and that's enough."

"You...you knew?"

"Not at first. But I do have a 190 I.Q., I eventually figure out these things."

I shook my head. "I'm not a genius like you are, Erik. If you've figured this thing out, it wasn't because of me."

"Genius has very little to do with intelligence. Einstein was no smarter than you are, yet he gave us equations that, to this day, are a fundamental part of science. You know, I met Lex Luthor once. Absolutely brilliant, yet he, much like Edison, hires others to do the real work. All that it has ever taken, to grasp the stars, is to have inspiration and ambition."

He looked at me wistfully. "I had the ambition. But you were my inspiration." He typed in a keystroke, and the mighty EM generator roared into life, even as the lab was sealed. "Oh..sorry, I guess I should have asked if you wanted to run in terror first."

I laughed. "No. I want to see this."

"There's a good chance we'll just be subtracting the old intrinsic field again."

"I better get out the popcorn, that's always a good show."

"Indeed!" He opened the glass chamber and put in our test target, a 'black box' in a titanium steel alloy shell, stamped with the words 'IF FOUND, RETURN TO S.T.A.R. LABS' on it's face.

We put on our goggles and stepped back as he fired the pulse. And...nothing happened.

I sighed. "It's the #4 capacitor again, I'll get it."

He stopped me. "No no, it's my turn, remember?" He walked over, opened a panel, and tapped the component with his fist. It's a minor short that we hadn't been able to find, but good old percussion maintenance seemed to work just fine.

"There, good enough for the Russians, good enough for me."

And then all hell broke loose. Had he forgotten to interrupt the field generator? Was there a fault in the software? Was his program bugged?

I never found out. All I know is, the EM field manifested. All the metal objects near me rattled ominously, and my glasses simply flew off my face! I watched in horror, spellbound, as the space around the central dais warped, and I could see a disc appear in mid-air, at the center of the EM field. A literal warp in space. I saw a bright sky, an ocean, and a sandy white beach.

The disc expanded, becoming a sphere. Erik tried to run, but he was pulled in, as if it was gravity and he was a leaf on the wind.

"Linda..I...love..."

And then there was a flash of light. I dived to the floor, and hit my head. Hard.

When I came to, there was no sign of Erik Ronick. His intrinsic field had been rather permanently subtracted.

-

When security unsealed the lab, I was still crying. Director Vance could have been a bitch; we had violated safety protocols. But instead, she sent me home and told me to take some time off.

But how could I? Two nights later, I was back in the lab, trying to figure out what had gone wrong. I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer, so I lay my head down.

A loud bang woke me up instantly. I heard a female voice. "Ow!"

"Who's there?!" I stood up, reaching for the only weapon I had available; a flashlight.

"An interesting question. I'm not sure how to reply to it, really."

I walked closer. There, leaning against the side of the EM generator, was a girl! She was a tiny thing, and at first, I thought she might be a child, but then she turned, and I could see she was definitely a teenager. I also saw something else disturbing.

"Your leg!"

"Huh?" She looked. Where her left leg below the knee should be, was nothing but a faint cloud of Cherenkov radiation. "Oh, that. Yeah, I've had bits and pieces of me vanishing off and on for awhile now. At least it's not my head again, that's really damn disturbing."

I blinked at her. I guess she was probably sixteen, with long honey-blonde hair. Very attractive, with flawless skin and a really nice figure. She was also very tiny, as I said.

"It will come back?"

"Oh yeah. Here it comes now." Sure enough, the blue radiation reformed into a perfect leg. "Can you help me up?"

I took her hand and helped her to her feet. My God, she really was a tiny thing! Her head only came up to my chest!

"Woah. You're a tall one!"

"Huh? No dear, I'm only 5' 5"."

"Oh. Wow. Talk about mass displacement. Hey, um, before I start losing pieces again, you think you would mind bolstering my intrinsic field with yon Dragon over here?" She gestured to the EM field generator.

"What? No, I need to call security. How did you get in here anyways? And why are you naked?!"

She sighed. "Please don't do that. I don't want to be poked and prodded until I have the chance to figure this out. As to how I got here, duh, I teleported! And um, about being naked...well, I guess massive EM fields aren't so kind to clothes."

"Give me one good reason why..."

Just then, she fell to the floor. Not because she slipped or anything. No, it was because her entire body below the waist simply vanished, to be replaced by a cloud of blue radioactive particles!

"Oh...ow...that hurt."

"My God! Are you ok!?"

"Well, yes and no. I mean, I'm half the person I used to be! Heh...in more ways than one." She giggled. "No, it doesn't hurt, I'm still there, just...not very solid. Could you please help me, Linda?"

That part of me that wanted to be a nurse came to the fore, and I picked her up and dragged her to the glass chamber. Her legs returned, and she was able to half-crawl, half-walk inside it.

"I don't know what settings to use!"

She frowned. "Uh...setting 19. No wait! 16! Yeah, that's it."

Frantic, I logged in and changed the field settings. "It needs a password!"

"It's SaintJoan."

I typed it in. "There, that...wait."

I looked to the girl, my eyes wide.

The field started up and she looked at me sheepishly. "Uh, hi again. It's me, Erik."

-

I didn't faint. But I do distinctly recall sitting on the floor when the machine powered down and the girl let herself out. She walked up and crouched next to me. "Linda? Linda? Please be okay!"

I blinked. "You can't be Erik."

"I'm inclined to believe you. Erik is a tall old guy. I'm anything but! However, I know stuff only he would know. Like who you are. Or the six passwords that could let me shut this place down forever. So...that does beg some questions, doesn't it?"

I hugged her. "Oh God, I thought you were dead...you jerk! You jerk! How could you do that?! How could you die on me!"

"Linda...I'm sorry."

I looked down at her. "And then you died telling me you love me?!"

She blushed. "I...it seemed like a good idea at the time. If I die again, maybe I should go out on a joke?"

I took off my labcoat and put it around her shoulders. It's damn cold in the lab, and for good reason! Needless to say, it hung on her like a tent.

"Thanks, it was a bit chilly in here."

"How..why are you a girl?"

"Honestly? I have no idea. It felt like I was in the wormhole forever, falling towards that damn beach. The whole time, my body kept phasing in and out of existence. By the time I landed on the beach, my body parts were coming back...different. I have no idea where I was, the stars were totally wrong."

"So how did you get back?"

"To be honest? I have no idea. I couldn't explore very much. Every few minutes I'd lose a foot or something else kind of vital. And yes, I did lose my head, or at least parts of it. You have no idea how weird that was. I could still think like it was there, but...yeah."

"And you eventually turned into this girl?"

She nodded. "I just hope that in some alternate universe, there isn't a pretty girl who got stuck turning into me. That wouldn't be very pleasant."

I hugged her again.

"Hey..oh hell, I really had you upset, didn't I? I'm so sorry, Linda."

"Are you stable now?"

"I think so. I feel stable, at least."

"You seem to be...well, taking this pretty calmly."

"I know! I think that's odd too. Maybe it's just the novelty of it all. I mean, I should be dead. And I mean, really dead! Instead, I'm alive. And young again. And a girl. Uh...I know this sounds vain, but...am I pretty?"

I went through my purse and found my compact. I didn't use it much, but it's handy to have one around. "Here."

She looked at herself. "Oh...oh wow. I'm...hot!"

I giggled. "Yes, you are. I'm jealous."

"I can't stay here."

I nodded. "I know. You'll have to come to my place while we figure this out. Those passwords, they involve shutting down security checkpoints?"

"What passwords?"

"The six passwords that can shut this place down?"

"Oh...those passwords. Yes."

"Good."

-

In the end, I was able to smuggle her out of the building without being observed, and incidentally, destroying a lot of data. Not on the other projects, but on ours, and all the security logs, files, and camera feeds. If anyone asked, well, I was on leave, remember?

By the time I got back to my apartment, Erik...Erika? Whoever she was, she was sleeping softly. She looked a lot younger when she was asleep. I'm told most people do, but I was struck by it.

I carried her in, she didn't weigh much at all, and put her in my bed. I should have slept on the couch, but I needed to touch her. To know she was real, and that this wasn't a dream. So I put my arms around her and held her while we slept.

She cuddled up next to me, and I let exhaustion take me.

-

I awoke to the smell of cooked bacon. Sitting up, I realized I was alone in bed. Putting on a gown, I walked out into the kitchen, only to find Erik, dressed in one of my shirts (which served her quite well as a nightshirt, I might add) cooking breakfast.

I noted with a smirk that she was standing on my footstool. What can I say, reaching the top shelf isn't as easy at it sounds!

"Breakfast?"

"Morning, Linda. I already ate, and I was working on seconds when I thought you might be hungry too."

"Seconds? Where would you put them, are you hollow inside?"

"I don't think so, but I'm ravenous!"

I got myself some juice and sat down, just staring at her until a thought came to me. "You must be a metahuman."

"You think so too?" She hopped off the footstool and slid an omelette and bacon onto my plate. "I figured it was the most likely scenario for my survival. Somehow, rather than teleport things, what we were actually doing was punching little holes in reality. Accessing pocket universes. And I got sucked into one."

"That doesn't explain your transformation though."

"I'm willing to bet normal people wouldn't survive having body parts dematerialize on them. Plus, the magnetic forces in the wormhole must be immense. Enough to kill a human, easily. So I mutated to survive."

"...magnetic force strong enough to rebuild someone from the ground up..." I remembered his words.

"Yep! I'm going to have to do some serious research, but I do recall a Japanese scientist making some comments about how one's environment interacts with the awakening of the metagene."

"Genes don't work that way." I gestured at her with my fork, then ate the bite of omelette. It was really good!

"Sue me, I'm a physicist, not a geneticist!" She put her hands on her hips, then giggled as she turned to make herself more food.

"Still not going crazy over your lost manhood?"

"No, and that's weird. I've never entertained a thought about being a girl in my life. At least, not that I could recall. My opinion on the matter was much like Lazarus Long's."

I chuckled. "You're too old to figure out the new plumbing?"

"Something like that. I haven't read 'Time Enough For Love' in years. But no, really, I feel really enthusiastic for some reason. I mean, I have no idea what I'm going to do with my life now. I have no identity, no place to go."

"You have me." I don't know why I said that.

"Thank you, Linda. But I can't be a burden to you like that."

"Erik...you're not a burden to me."

She sighed and turned off the stove, walking back over to me. "Linda. You're too young to be burdened with a child."

"You're not a child!"

She frowned. "I feel like one! I mean, how else could I possibly screw this up?! I hurt you, I ruined all our work, I forced you to have to deal with my feelings for you...and now, as if I haven't screwed it up badly enough, even if you did find me attractive this way, I'm the one who's too young now!"

I blinked. "I thought you weren't upset."

"Hm. So did I. Well, I'm not crying, that's something."

"Erik. I do find you attractive." Don't do it!, screamed my inner voice. Which I decided to ignore.

"Uh...but..."

"Come here."

She walked over to me and I kissed her. I thought it might be hard, given how young she looked, but it wasn't. It was easy. Great, Linda. Now you're a pedophile. I really hated my inner voice! What was it Heinlein called it? My worse, if wiser, self.

At first she was shocked, but then she warmed up to my kiss, and it wasn't long before we were making out like a couple of horny teenagers. When I kissed her on the neck, however, she froze.

"Oh. Man."

"Erik?"

"Sorry, it's not you. God, it feels good. But, um...reality is setting in. I'm a girl!"

I wanted to laugh, but I knew that would hurt her. She was really fragile right now. "I'm afraid so."

"It's kind of scary."

"Do you want me to stop?"

"Yes! No! Uh...maybe?" She frowned.

I took her hand in mine. "We can take this slow, there's no need to rush."

"Part of me is relieved."

"And the other part?"

She frowned. "The other part is feeling really frustrated right now."

I did laugh then. "A part of me feels the same way."

"We should finish, then."

"Erik...you don't need to..."

"Rhea."

I blinked. "Huh?"

"Call me Rhea. Rhea Jones." She grinned.

"You just thought up a new name like that?"

"Yeah, isn't that cool?" She did a half-spin, and then I found her in my lap. She was deliciously lap sized, and I held her close.

"Yes, it's very cool."

"Ah, but that's not all!" She reached out her hand, and my silverware flew off the table to crash on the floor.

"Er. That wasn't what I had in mind."

I blinked. Again! "What did you do?"

"Well, uh...I seem to have magnetic powers. Kind of."

"You're generating a magnetic field?!"

"Uh...yeah. But it shouldn't hurt you!"

"Of course. Metahuman. Superpowers." I shook my head. "This is going to take some getting used to."

She cuddled in my arms. "I'm sorry."

I kissed her hair. "Don't be. We'll figure this out, somehow."

-

After getting a shower in, I went out and got Rhea some clothing that more or less fit her (she has a better figure than the vast majority of girls her age). I remember the clerk giving me an odd look when she checked my ID, but I didn't think much of it.

We slept together that night, but we didn't do much. Some heavy petting and kissing, I swear! We both had some reservations about our situation.

The next morning, I woke to the smell of french toast. Oh God, Rhea was such a good cook! I padded into the bathroom and turned to face my reflection. And got the shock of my life when a very surprised-looking teenaged girl stared back at me.

"Oh my God...Rhea!?!!"

She practically ran into the room. "What? What's wrong?!"

I looked at her. She looked at me. And a heartbeat later, we both spoke at the same time.

"Oh hell."

---

To be continued!

Momentum Shift-2 by Lynceus Erik had come back to me, in the form of Rhea, which was itself quite a shock. Then I woke up to find that I'd mysteriously become a teenaged girl again! Had I gone insane?!

---

Rhea had to practically pull me away from the mirror. I'm not sure how she managed it; I'm a lot taller than she is. My hair had grown out to shoulder length, and I kept brushing it out of my way. The girl in the mirror hadn't been me! I mean, yes, she resembled me, but she was...way hotter.

Rhea sat me down on the couch, and then joined me, pulling her legs up onto the couch. “Ok, Linda, first things first, are you ok?”

I blinked at the tiny girl. “Ok...? I...you! You did this to me!”

She held up her hands defensively. “Woah, wait a minute! Yeah, I can generate a magnetic field, but come on! The kind of power I'd need to do...um...” She paused. “Can I mention you look great?” She continued in a much softer voice.

“I...thank you? This can't be happening. I've gone insane. You're dead, and this is just some grief-induced hallucination!”

Just then, my smoke detector went off. Rhea jumped off the couch, and dashed for the kitchen. “Ah, breakfast...burning...bad!”

In a daze, I went back to the bathroom mirror. I judged the girl I found there to be about seventeen. She...I...looked amazing! But there was a coldness to my features that was new. Even when I smiled, there was a haughtiness that I didn't care for. It's like she was saying, I'm better than you.

That wasn't me at all! I closed the door and locked it. Rhea...Erik...whoever that person was, had done this to me! I wanted to cry. Would my own mother recognize me? Who the hell was I?!

Somehow, I managed to climb into the shower. I growled at all my stupid hair. This is why I kept it short in the first place! Washing it, conditioning, drying it out, keeping it out of my way...what a hassle! So what if it made me look sexy, I was a child!

The lights went out, leaving me in darkness. “Oh...that's...just...great!” I punched the wall. My fist cracked the plastic, and embedded itself in the plaster behind it. “What the hell?!”

“Linda! Are you ok! I'm coming in!”

“Wait, the door is locked!”

I heard the lock turn and Rhea bust in, just as I exited the shower. Sunlight streamed into the room. She looked at me, her eyes widening.

“...woah.”

I frowned. “See something you like?”

She nodded energetically, and despite myself, I giggled.

“You look like someone just slapped you in the back of your head, hon.”

“I'm not sure they didn't! Sorry about the power. I'm not sure, but I think I shorted out something.”

I reached for a towel. “Good grief. You're a menace!”

She looked down. “I'm sorry.”

I sighed and hugged her. “No, I am. I'm being a real bitch. It doesn't help that I look like one either.”

She looked up at me. “You don't look like a bitch.”

“Oh come on, I look like one of those uppity rich girls from High School!”

She pulled me out into the hallway. “Let me take a closer look.”

Rolling my eyes, I posed, one hand on my hip.

“Wow. I think I see what you mean. But...it's not because you're a bitch, Linda. You look...stronger. More confident.”

“Oh dear God, I'm an Alpha female!” I sighed.

“So what was that noise, did you fall?”

“Ah, no. I punched through the wall.”

She blinked. “No way!” She went into the bathroom to check. “That's awesome! You must be a metahuman too!”

“...don't be ridiculous, do you know what the odds of that would be?”

She grinned at me. “Never tell me the odds.”

Despite myself, my inner geek couldn't help but laugh.

“Oh you like that? How about this? Back off, man, I'm a scientist!”

I laughed so hard I nearly dropped my towel! “Oh God...stop!”

“If I did this to you, I'm sorry.”

“Ugh, stop. You're too cute for me to be mad at. And you're right, it's highly unlikely you could have done this. But what could have caused me to mutate now, of all times?”

“Exposure to a powerful magnetic field, I imagine.”

I raised a brow. “What?”

“You were right there when I got ripped right out of this universe. And when I came back. And then you were standing nearby when you stabilized my intrinsic field. Maybe it just took longer with you, I don't know. For the moment, I want to test this strength of yours.”

-

Well, first, I got dressed, while Rhea replaced the circuit breakers. I wasn't really any shorter, but I had lost some weight, so most of my clothes didn't fit very well. “Christ, I was pretty chunky, wasn't I?”

Rhea shook her head. “No, all the padding was in the right places. But slender is a good look for you too.”

“Mom always had a problem keeping the pounds off. But Dad was real thin.”

Rhea nodded. “I remember. You look a little more like him than before. Except he smiled more.”

I frowned. “It's hard to smile. Ok, so what do you want me to do?”

“Uh..try lifting the couch.”

I did, and my girly arms exerted about as much force as you'd expect. “Ugh. No go.”

“Now that's odd. Let's go back to the bathroom.”

Shrugging, I followed the pint-sized physicist.

“Ok, punch the wall.”

I did. “Ow!” I shook my hand. “That smarts.”

Rhea closed the door, and turned off the light. “Try it now.”

“Uh, sure.” I punched the wall, and if anything, I made a bigger dent than before; I even heard the wooden stud snap! “What the!!?”

“Now that, I have to admit, is weird. You're a supergirl, but only when it's dark!”

I turned on the light. “Oh swell. We really got the bottom of the barrel super powers, didn't we?”

Rhea chuckled. “Oh I don't know. More crime happens after dark, right?”

“You can't be serious.”

“Why not? Look, nobody is going to believe us if we tell them who we are!”

I frowned. “Are you sure? I mean, haven't other metahumans gotten younger?”

“Sure, but we'd still have to prove it. And who's going to hire us?”

“...you have some secret superhero fetish, don't you?”

To my shock, her eyes flashed. Literally! This bright white light was burning in them, and it scared me more than a little!

“Linda, you can make fun of me all you want. But if I can help people, then I want to! All my life, I've tried to help the world from the lab, and what did I get for it? Transformed into a damn midget of a girl?! But you know what, I'm sure there are lots of people who could kill for that kind of bad luck.”

She paused. “Anyways! What do you want to do that's so much better than using your powers to help people?”

I gaped at her for a few minutes. Then I sighed. “Nothing. I'm sorry, it's just...this is all so surreal!”

She hugged me then. “I know. I know! Look, has anyone gone to my place yet?”

“I don't know, where do you live?”

She got an odd look on her face. “Oh. You know, I don't think I bothered to tell anyone that I moved. Come on, let's get you fed, and then, it's time for a road trip!”

“...if we get stopped by the cops, we're totally screwed, you know that, right?” I thought again to last night, and the cashier who had given me an odd look. Christ, I must have started to change while I was out last night!

“It might be better to take a cab anyways.”

-

That turned out to be really good thinking; the cab died four times on the way to Erik's apartment! Luckily it started again each time, but I could tell from the look on Rhea's face that she felt guilty.

“Not so much control over your power, huh?” I sighed as the cab driver left, cursing his luck. He'd refused our fare because of how much extra time the trip had taken.

“No...I guess not. I'm going to seriously need to practice.”

“So you going to let us in with your powers?”

“Nah, I have a security system, passcoded and everything.”

“It wouldn't be Saintjoan, would it?”

“Ah...no, I moved here before I met you. It's still nikolathomas.”

“Tesla...and Edison?!”

She giggled. “Well who would think to put those two together?”

I ruffled her hair. “You're weird.”

“I know.”

“Come on, show me your place.”

-

It was bigger on the inside than I'd expected; apparently the house extended out pretty far into the back yard. Everything looked so expensive! “Holy shit, Rhea, you're loaded!”

“Yep, yep. That's how I can afford to be a physicist. The job doesn't pay as much as you'd think.”

“Gah, tell me about it. So you inherited your money?”

“Mhm. I'm actually Erik B. Ronick the Third. Or was.”

“Wow. So this place is bought and paid for. But you're dead, so...what's going to happen to it all?”

“The estate is managed by Dad's company. I don't have any head for business, so I sold my controlling shares back to the company.”

“Weren't you afraid they'd screw you?”

She shrugged. “What's the point? Maybe if I had kids, but...I never got married. Almost, a few times, but...I never met the right girl. Until it was too late.” She looked to me.

“Rhea...”

“Come on, we're mostly here to pick up my money.”

“Your money?”

“Money, bonds, my stock shares. I may not know how to run a business, but Gramps taught me a lot about how to hoard cash.”

I chuckled. “Don't trust banks, huh?”

“Not really. I prefer investments. Oh sure, there's always the risk the bottom will drop out of the market, but that's all the banks do with your money, so I just cut out the middleman.”

“There's a flaw in that logic, you know.”

“Yes yes, now help me carry stuff.”

-

We hung out at Rhea's place until it got dark outside. And sure enough, I got a lot stronger! “So, ok, the darker it is around me, the stronger I get. Cool, but how?”

Rhea shrugged. “Magic?”

I blinked. “Rhea, you're a physicist, how can you say that?”

“You make it sound like it's a bad thing! Would saying 'I don't know' be any better? There are a lot of things in this world that can't be explained. Your power is one of them. I mean, the only thing I can think of, is that you're normally super strong, and light somehow disrupts your power. Like...Kryptonite.”

“Which doesn't make much sense, you'd think the opposite would be true. I don't know how strong I am, but it stands to reason I need energy to do what I do.”

Rhea nodded. “Exactly. And where does that energy come from? Not the sun, obviously!”

“Right, I guess magic is as good a guess as any, then. It's kind of lame though.”

“Hm, in what way?”

I smiled. “Well, I mean, what kind of secret origin is that for a hero? Oh uh, I'm magic. Move along!”

Rhea chuckled.

-

We had to leave Salt Lake. I don't think the Mormons are ready for superheroes. But where to go next? Rhea was thinking Las Vegas, since a few odd things had been seen there lately. But I wasn't so sure. “Maybe we should go someplace with less heroes?”

“Oh sure, I mean, it makes no sense to gather all in one spot. But I want to meet some of the other ones, and we wouldn't be able to do that in the middle of nowhere.”

I nodded. “I guess that makes sense.”

“Plus, we need to train. I was thinking we could buy a warehouse. You're not dead, and it's amazing what you can do without meeting someone face-to-face; trust me, I know.”

“Ok. So we can find out if I can do anything else, and give you a chance to practice without destroying anything electronic in reach?”

“That's the idea.”

“Ok, it sounds good. But I do have a condition.”

Rhea looked up at me. “What's that?”

“When we get settled, you're going to take me out on a date.”

She blinked at me, then slowly smiled. “It would be my pleasure, Linda.”

I winked at her. “So, given any thought to code names yet?”

“Well, I hope you don't get mad, but I was thinking you could be Night Girl.”

“Night Girl?” I thought about that. “It's kind of....generic, don't you think?”

“Sorry, I'm a physicist, not a...whatever I'd need to be to think of a cool name.”

I chuckled. “So what are you going to call yourself?”

“Cosmic Girl.”

“Ooh, I like that. And it's not like anyone would make the connection right off either.”

Rhea beamed at me.

“Wait a minute...how come you can come up with a cool name for you, but not me?!”

“Uh...” She giggled nervously and took off running.

“Oh...you! Get back here! I got longer legs, I'll catch you and you know it!”

“Let's see you try it, 'Night Girl'!”

And it was on!

-

I caught her, of course. And then tickled the stuffing out of her before I lay on the ground, exhausted. Once she caught her breath, Rhea turned to look at me.

“Are you happy, Linda?”

I smiled softly at her. “Yeah, I think I am.”

---

To be continued!

Authors Note: and I finally get around to revealing who our new Retcons are!

Cosmic Boy (Rokk Krinn) was a founding member of The Legion of Super-Heroes, possessed of 'generic magnetic powers'. Completely subverted here, as Cosmic Girl has much stranger, yet still magnetic-based abilities.

Night Girl (Lydda Jath) was initially, rejected by the Legion, since her strength was very unreliable, only functioning in darkness. But eventually she persevered, and became a full-fledged heroine. Yes, her ability is a little silly. Yes, there's more going on with her than I've let on.

EDIT: Almost forgot. The Rhea Jones name is another reference, to Lodestone of the Doom Patrol. Who was subject to a revamping by an obviously insane Grant Morrison that has to be seen to be believed!

Possibly NSFW, despite being printed in a regular ol' comic book anyone could by. Grant Morrison, folks. He's just plain nuts!

http://www.comicvine.com/lodestone/29-54003/all-images/108-2...

Thanks for reading!

Momentum Shift-3 by Lynceus A mere year ago, I lived in a world where things made sense. Magic was impossible, and superheroes were just a modern-day analogue to the Heroic Myths of ancient times. Now, my world was changing around me so fast I couldn't keep up, I felt lost, and very confused. And then Rhea took me by the hand, and led me into her world.

---

Alvin Toffler wrote a book in 1970 titled, Future Shock. As he defined it, Future Shock is a personal perception of 'too much change in too short a period of time'. That pretty much summed up my feelings as I sat on my couch, watching Hurricane Rhea, armed with nothing more than a pre-paid cell phone and my computer's internet connection, made plans for our future.

It occurred to me that she had done this before; completely uprooted and reinvented herself; there's no way even someone with her intellect could plot this out in such a short time. As for myself, I was having an existential crisis.

Who was I? I mean, obviously, I'm Linda St. Joan. But who that person is, had changed greatly. I was, to all appearances, a 17 year-old girl with a Master's in Physics. And, apparently, a superpower that defied everything I'd learned about Science to such a degree, that it could only be described as 'magic'.

Magic didn't exist. It was the stuff of legends. Myth. At best, one could attribute inexplicable phenomena to science or physics we had yet to understand. But apparently, I now lived in a magical world, or at least, one in which Scientific laws no longer applied.

Metahumans. I could accept, on some level, the idea of psychic abilities. Or people who could perform feats beyond what was generally considered to be human limits. I vaguely remembered something I'd read in my childhood, I think perhaps in a Heinlein novel, about how, at one point, a man had collected data about human speed, endurance, and all other factors associated with running.

Backed by sound medicine and science, he'd declared that no human could ever run the four-minute mile. And then, in 1954, Roger Bannister did it. And others soon followed. Today, it is the standard set for all professional middle distance runners.

Well, men at least. Women, until recently, hadn't been able to quite reach that standard. But I'll get back to that.

So yes, I believed that the boundaries of human potential were always being pushed forward. And that's just fine. Then Jade appeared, and in a few minutes, she not only told us that, yes, alien intelligences were real, but that shortly, other humans with amazing abilities would come forth.

Many scoffed at her claims. Now? Well, I knew for a fact that I was living proof. At first, I'd been willing to entertain the notion that Erik's transformation into the child-like Rhea was the result of a bizarre experiment gone horribly...right?

But even she could not reconcile all the details of her metamorphosis with science. No, she had come to the conclusion in short order that she was a metahuman. Even then, however, it hadn't seemed too far beyond the pale.

And then, I woke up to find that I, too, had transformed. In a way that defied all logic. I wasn't alone, of course. I had heard of others, many of whom (mostly young women, for whatever reason) who had gained abilities, and used them for good.

Yes. Superheroes.

Now Rhea wanted us to join the ranks of these new heroes. I admired her spirit, her drive to help others. But...was this something I could do? Was I the kind of person who could wear a silly costume and save the world?

I didn't know. The future was suddenly a frightening, uncertain place for me. Hell, the present was pretty scary, the future terrified me!

That's when Rhea hugged me. I hadn't even noticed her climb onto the couch next to me.

“Linda, please, trust me. Everything is going to be ok.”

“I...it's just all so much!”

“I know. I know! Why do you think I'm keeping myself busy? I know that if I stop to think about it, I...I wouldn't be able to handle it.”

Despite myself, I smiled. “Bullshit. I know you could.”

“I..I'm not so sure. All I know is, I've been given a great gift. And it's not my powers! It's you. You have no idea what you've done to me. Ever since you came into my life, you've beguiled me. Intrigued me. I fell in love with you, even though I knew I could never have a future with you. I don't know how you feel, but I love you. And I have for a long time now. And the idea that somehow, I could have a future with you..that's what gives me strength.”

I felt tears stream down my cheeks as I turned to look at her. “How long have you been wanting to say that to me?”

She reached up and brushed away my tears. “A few days after I met you.”

“I...I don't know when it happened, but I did come to care for you a great deal. But I knew...it was impossible. You were a man, and while I could appreciate you, I couldn't...”

“I know. I know! And what could I offer you? I mean, I wasn't that old, but...” She sighed.

“That's changed.”

She sighed. “Has it? Can you really accept me, in this body? Because you're not that superficial. Just because I have a female body doesn't make me a woman. It doesn't make me what you've been looking for.”

“You always were what I was looking for. And yes, I was that superficial. And foolish.”

She knelt on the couch and leaned in close, pressing her lips against mine. I returned her kiss. My tongue met hers, and it felt like a mild electric shock ran down my spine. I wanted her so badly, more than I'd ever wanted another human being. We parted reluctantly.

“Linda...you're not. You're beautiful, inside and out. You want to think of yourself as this terrible person, but you can't change who and what you are in an instant, no matter how much you might want to.”

I laughed. “I can't, but apparently my body can. I mean, look at us! This isn't just impossible, I can't even...”

She put her fingertips over my lips. “Shh. Linda, listen to me. What's happened to us? Yes, it's impossible. Yes, everything has changed, and that's scary. I know it is! But stop a second. Think. Isn't this really a miracle, for the both of us? Rather than be upset that our understanding of the universe has been irrevocably altered, open your eyes, and realize we live in an age of wonder. Where the unthinkable is real. A world where we can be together.”

She smiled at me, and I was struck by how very young she was. Not just her body, but her mind as well! I understood it, hell, I grokked it! The miracle wasn't our powers, the changes in our bodies. The miracle was that a grown man had been allowed to see the universe with the eyes of a child again. No preconceptions. To her, everything was possible again. She could believe in magic and dragons, and superheroes.

And so could I! I felt my lips curl up into what, in my mind, was a manic grin. “I want you. Now.”

She blushed a little. “You know, I'm not very experienced. As a girl, I mean.”

I leaned close to her, my voice soft and husky. “Then I guess class is in session.”

-

I lay there on the couch, afterward, only a sheet covering our naked bodies. Rhea was curled up on her side, facing me. Her mouth wasn't very far from my nipple, and her light breathing tickled in a very pleasant way. I'd never been aggressive with another woman before. And now I realized why.

I had desired the comfort of another woman, but I had never really loved one. Not until now. I grinned as I thought about what I'd done to poor Rhea. It had been pretty good for me, even though I hadn't let her do much. Just pleasing her, sating her tiny body, had been more than enough for me.

But I imagine the experience had been mind-blowing for her! What was it like, I wondered, for a man, to experience for the first time, how a woman felt pleasure? Had I gone too far? What would this do to her psyche? Could her male ego survive intact? Or would it be broken down completely?

She stirred lightly not even opening her eyes, and mumbled softly. “...go to sleep, you worry too much.”

I squeezed her gently. “Ok baby.” I know good advice when I hear it!

-

That afternoon, we hiked out of the city, until we found ourselves pretty far from, well, everything! We'd been following train tracks leading out of Salt Lake City, because Rhea wanted to try something. Stepping between the tracks, she held her hands out.

“I seem to be some kind of magnetic monopole. And before you correct me that magnetism doesn't work this way, trust me, I know, it's totally bizarre. My field doesn't attract, it repels.” Before my eyes, she simply rose into the air!

“This part is easy, I just repel the Earth's natural magnetic field. But all I can do is move up and down; I can't really propel myself in any other direction. I tried, in your apartment, and slammed against a wall.”

“So that's what that noise was!” I'd been in the shower when I'd heard a loud thud.

“Yeah. It didn't hurt, I was more embarrassed, really. The minute I tried moving in another direction, Earth's natural rotation caught up to me.”

“Rhea! That kind of speed should have killed you!” I gasped.

“Yeah, but it didn't. Luckily for me, there's metal nails, and probably other stuff, in your wall. My field repelled them, and they held, reducing my impact immensely.”

I shivered. “God, please be more careful! I...I don't want to lose you!”

She gave me a thumbs up. “Linda, I came back from another universe to be with you. You think you're going to get rid of me that easily?”

I shook my head. Her confidence was infectious. “I'm sorry. I can't help but worry about you.”

“Because you love me?”

I blew her a kiss. “You know I do! Now, show me what you got!”

And she did, zipping along the railway at ridiculous speed!

“Woooaaaahhhhhyaaahhhoooooo!!!!!!!”

I laughed at her expression of mixed fear and joy. I couldn't quite let go of my adult nature, but it warmed my heart to see her be so totally...unrestrained.

I couldn't even see her in the distance. Could she stop?

Then, a speck appeared. Which got bigger, until she rushed past me at hundreds of miles per hour, still screaming at the top of her lungs! How she was even breathing at that speed defied logic...but I'd long since discarded my notions of logic and reason. In this crazy new world, very different rules applied!

Soon she was zipping back my way, laughing hysterically. “I can't stop!!!”

Then, off in the distance, I heard a noise. Oh no, a train!

Sure enough, a few minutes later, the train...and Rhea, came rumbling along the track, the horn blowing mightily. Rhea had stopped herself by repelling the train; of course, it far outmassed her, so she was being carried along with it!

I thought for sure I wouldn't see her again until the train stopped, but suddenly, she floated up, and zipped along the top of the train and the cars! When the train finally passed, she simply floated downwards.

“Oh man...my heart won't stop racing! That was awesome!”

I hugged her tightly. “I thought you were going to leave me behind in the dust!”

“Naw, not me! When I hover, I can propel myself along any metal surface, including the train. I'm glad it came along, I wasn't sure how the heck I was going to slow down!”

I scooped her up in my arms effortlessly. One, she doesn't weigh much, and two, it was starting to get dark, which caused my bizarre strength to kick in. “You reminded me of a railgun!”

“Mm, yep, that's me, the one-girl mass driver! Except, of course, I'm the mass being driven.” She giggled. “Hey, this is kind of fun, being carried.”

I kissed her. “I'm glad you like it. Too bad you can't carry us both home.”

“Hm...maybe if you wore some kind of metal harness...but I still need to figure out how to slow down...I actually could have gone faster!”

I shivered. “That was fast enough! I wasn't sure how you were breathing!”

“Hm. Good question. Remind me to bring an oxygen supply in the future. Just in case.”

I shook my head. “Great, so I get to be the practical one in our relationship?”

She got comfy in my arms. “You always were.”

“Good point. Well I guess it's my turn, let's see how fast I can run!”

-

I'm pretty sure I had the four-minute mile totally beat. Super-strong legs will do that. We got to the train yard about an hour later. It was pretty deserted, although I was sure the place had security of some kind.

I set Rhea down. She wobbled a bit. “Heh...got a little dizzy there.”

“I'm sorry hon, why didn't you say anything?!”

“S'ok. Shaken, not stirred.” She gave me a thumbs-up.

“Wow, I'm not even breathing hard!”

She nodded. “Your power must increase all aspects of strength, including stamina and probably physical resilience as well. The effect is like having massive muscles, but your mass remains constant.”

I frowned. “I wish I knew where the energy was coming from.”

“We'll burn that bridge later. Come on, let's see how strong you are!”

I looked at a railway car. “Ok, this isn't just a matter of strength. It's mass. That thing outweighs me by...um...a lot!”

“Well, an unloaded freight car weighs about 30 tons. However, it's on a track, so you don't need nearly that kind of strength to move it.”

I choked. “There's no weight I could move thirty tons!”

She poked me, but I didn't even feel it. Weird. “Wheels. Track. Aren't you listening?”

“Sorry, it's just...well here goes.” I braced myself, getting a good grip on the train, and pushed. And nothing happened. “Hm. So much for that.”

“Objects at rest tend to stay at rest, but...no, I've seen that strongman guy pull one of these with his teeth, you have to be able to move it!” She lifted herself up into the air, and circled the train. “Aha! The brake is engaged!”

I heard the sound of metal moving. “There, try it now!”

I shrugged. “Ok, here goes!” I pushed again, and to my surprise, the car moved! “Woah!” As I pushed it along, I realized the trick wasn't moving the train; as a wheeled object, it wouldn't take a lot of force to do that. No, the problem was one of traction; my damn tennis shoes weren't cutting it!

“Hey hon?”

“Yeah?”

“Take your shoes off.”

“You're kidding, right? The space between the ties is covered in rocks!”

“Do you feel the rocks?”

I blinked. Well, not really. I stopped, the train car still rolling along, and took off my shoes and socks. Then I deliberately stepped on the rocks. I...well I felt them. But it didn't hurt! “What the?!”

“I told you, resilience! Your body literally gets tougher when it's dark outside.”

I frowned. “Wouldn't that have more to do with my skin than my muscles?”

“Er...hon, I'm a physicist, not a physician!”

I giggled. “Ok Bones, I'll see what I can do.” I sprinted up to the train and got a good grip on it, stopping it's momentum. Then, I started to pull it along! Properly braced, transmitting my force along my spine, I easily pulled it along like it weighed nothing!

I laughed. “Oh wow! I'm a super girl!”

“That's nothing, let's get a loaded car!”

So we did. A fully loaded train car can weigh up to 140 tons. I don't know how heavy this one was, but again, I moved it effortlessly!

“Jesus...how strong am I?”

“Mm...well, it really only takes maybe 400 to 800 pounds of force to move one of these bad boys unloaded. Assuming that this thing weighs, call it, 120 tons, that's a factor of four, so you're talking...1600 to 3200 pounds of force. You don't seem to have any problems doing it, so, as a ballpark, you should be able to push something that weighs 2 tons easily.”

“Wow.”

“Mm, as metahumans go, that's not really as strong as it sounds. Giganta can lift a bus.”

I considered that. “What does a bus weigh?”

“50,000 pounds or so. 25 tons.”

I considered that. “Well, she is a giantess, right? So that stands to reason.”

“That helps her get a better grip and gives her more mass, true. And yes, no doubt makes her a lot stronger. Bigger muscles, and so on. I need a slide rule for this.” She frowned.

Wait a second. I could see her frown? It was getting kind of dark. “Oh wow, I can see in the dark!”

“I kind of noticed your vision has improved. It kind of makes sense though. You're adapting to a more nocturnal lifestyle, because that's when your body functions at peak efficiency. Plus, you haven't been wearing your glasses.”

I stopped the rail car. “....you're right. I didn't even notice!”

I saw her walk towards me, and trip. “Ow, damn it!”

I went to her and helped her up. “Sorry baby, I guess you don't get night vision.”

She laughed. “Just a bruise, I'll be ok. But yeah, um, you've had a lot on your mind.”

“True that!” I sighed. “But this presents a problem. How can we work together, if I'm a night person, and you can't see in the dark?”

“Hm. Night vision goggles?”

“Which require a high voltage power supply. Which, baby, you'll short out.”

“...fuck. I don't know.”

I hugged her, picking her up. “I'll walk slow, you just think about it while I walk us home, ok?”

She got comfortable, cuddling next to me in my arms. “Ok hon.”

-

Somehow, she actually managed to fall asleep while I was carrying her! I didn't feel tired at all; my senses seemed sharper, my mind more alert. I really was becoming a night person! Of course, that adaptation had it's price.

I get tired around dawn, and I sleep in pretty late. Apparently I do burn some of my body's energy reserves to support my strength. My relative invulnerability fades as it gets brighter around me as well.

When I woke up around three the next day, Rhea had a surprise for me. A drawing of a girl (myself, I realized, and not a bad likeness) wearing a costume with a stylish Owl-insignia. It was labeled 'Night Girl'.

“What do you think?”

I looked at it. “I didn't know you could draw, this is really good!”

“I dabbled at drawing comics in my younger days.”

I giggled. “Hearing you talk about your younger days seems kind of funny now.”

She grinned. “Yeah, I guess it does. So you like it?”

“Mm...but who's going to make it? I'm not a seamstress.”

“Oh I'll handle that.”

I blinked at her. “You cook. You can draw. You can sew. What can't you do?”

“Kiss you when you're standing up?”

I laughed. “Just levitate, silly.”

“Oh. Oh yeah!” She floated up about a foot into the air. “Better?”

We kissed, and when we finally pulled away, I smiled. “Perfect.”

-

Night Girl. It was kind of generic, but it was growing on me. I could do this. I could really do this!

I no longer missed my old life. There was a whole new world to explore! And it was glorious!

Carpe Noctem!

---

To be continued...