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Author's Note: Sorry if I teased everyone yesterday with my title page but the wait is over. Here's All That Glitters Ch. One. I have to warn you that Mike isn't very likable at the moment but that he will mellow out as the story progresses. Any Northwestern fans or alum out there I apologize too as well, I hope I got things right. I also need to state that the views expressed on Band Geeks and sorority girls are solely Mike's and not mean. I'd like to thank djkauf for being my editing once again and doing a wonderful job. The characters herein are DC Comics and not mine.

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Chapter One:

“Hey babe, can I buy you a drink?”

The blonde at the bar turned to me with a look of disgust. I smiled, showing her my pearly whites and her face changed. It was a gift I had. Girls from all over always threw themselves at me. I may come on too strong when I first approach them but as soon as they get some of the Carter charm, they melt in my grasp. Like this chick. She was good looking, not a knockout like some girls but she had a nice rack. I know what you’re thinking and you’re right, it’s definitely about the rack. The bigger the better I always say. The ones before me were definitely a D and the little top she squeezed them into was perfect for them. I could see her nipples through the thin fabric and she was definitely not wearing a bra.

“You’re Mike Carter, aren’t you?”

I smiled again. “Guilty as charged, babe.”

She giggled. God I loved the dumb ones. She was the stereotypical bimbo: blonde, blue eyed and big breasted. I bet she was a good lay too. “What are you drinking tonight, babe?”

She looked down at her drink, thinking for a second. “It’s a Mojito.”

“Hey barkeep, can you get a lady another one of these.”

The guy behind the bar nodded and went off to mix her drink. He came back about a minute later, handing her the drink. I didn’t have to pay; I never paid. That’s how it was when you were the Star. What kind of star, well the football God, of course. That’s right; I’m a genuine God Among Men as far as throwing the ball goes. I was All State back in high school and during my freshman year at NU---that’s Northwestern University for you civvies---I went from fourth string to second in only two games. In my third game, the first string broke his arm and I got bumped up. I threw fourteen touchdowns, ran in six and had multiple complete passes. Now in only my sophomore year I practically ran the whole team. I walked on water as far as campus life went.

That’s where I got my nickname from too. They called me “Booster” because I could launch the ball down the field like a rocket. How cool is that?

The blonde took her drink and sipped it slowly through a straw. I took her by the elbow and guided her away from the three or four other circling vultures trying to poach her from me. I pushed my way through the crowd. Lenny’s was always crowded after the games and practice seasons. It was the place to be Off Campus. For one it was the only place that didn’t card you at the bar and for another, it had a wall of huge flat screen TVs. Seeing as I was the Hero---The Wildcats had a fantastic season, thanks in part to yours truly---I had a reserved table right in front. After the games and practices, they played highlights and Lenny liked me front and center so I could bask in all the glory. I love the glory. It’s like a drug that I need to be fed every couple of days or I’ll wind down to nothing. Our season ended on a high note and though we didn't get too far into the play offs it was still a damn good time.

The music was loud and booming and there was so much talking I could barely hear myself think. But it was always this way after the games. As I approached the table, a couple of frat boys came by. One of them slammed me on the back and the other handed me a beer. I thanked him and took a slug. Beers were free too and seemed to materialize out of thin air. Anything for the God, I guess. I finally reached my table, pulling a chair out for the little lady. She sat down delicately, crossing her long, sexy legs. She was wearing a short jean skirt that barely covered her ass. When she crossed her legs, for a second I saw her bikini cut undies.

“So what do I call you, gorgeous?”

She giggled. I hated gigglers but I’d let it slid this time because she was so damn hot.

“I’m Brittany.”

Of course she was. They were all named Brittany, Tiffany, or some bubbly name like that. I couldn’t help but stare at her boobs as she sipped on her drink. There was a Sorority necklace dangling around her neck, it was Sigma Alpha Iota. Strange, she didn’t look like a music chick. Usually they were kind of nerdy and a little on the dumpy side. This girl was anything but. I looked her over once more. Thinking past her boobs, I noticed that her shirt was red and it did have Greek letters on it. How the hell did I miss that? I usually avoid the vapid sorority girls because they were like leeches. I guess it can’t be helped.

“What’s your major?”

“Music Theory.”

What the hell was that? I just smiled and nodded. I found that if you at least looked like you were interested in what the girl was saying then at least she’d let you make out with her by the end of the evening. Maybe I’d even get to squeeze those melons of hers. Hey, a boy can dream can’t he?

“Umm, do you play an instrument?”

I needed to keep this thing going until she was drunk enough to sleep with me. Hey, a boy’s got needs and right now, I’m on a Adrenaline High. Having sex was the only thing that seemed to bring me down. That and Black Jack. But if I hit the tables tonight, I’d be tapped out for the rest of the week. I’m kind of in a rut at the moment. In both cards and sex. I had a steady girl for a while but she caught on to my shit and told me I was too immature for anything serious. Frankly, it’s her loss because I’m a Wild Man in the sack.

She giggled again. “Music theory isn’t about instruments, silly. It’s about learning how music works.”

She started rattling on about pitch and all that crap. She went on and on about it. How the hell can a girl this flighty remember all that stuff? I looked around the room, trying to divert my mind elsewhere. The Bar was decked out in Purple and White in honor of the team. Evenm in the Off Season, Lenny loved to show his Wildcats pride. There were a lot of the guys here, wearing their jerseys like me. A lot of the cheerleaders were here too, out of uniform, unfortunately. I’d have bedded a couple of those a while ago if it wasn’t so frowned upon. There were a couple of cute ones at the bar too. Their boobs weren’t so big but they weren’t as vapid looking at Brittany here.

“Hey, are you listening?” She snapped one of her long manicured nails in my face.

“Of course I am, babe.”

God, please don’t ask me to repeat what you just said.

“What do you think?”

That was even worse. She was staring at me with those big blue eyes of hers, waiting for me to respond. I bit my lip. What the hell was I supposed to do now? I looked around the room, hoping for inspiration. The only thing that remotely inspired me was a waitress. She walked by carrying a tray of beers. I looked at the one in my hand. I’d only drained half of it. Fortunately, for me, Brittany wasn’t really paying attention.

“I think I need another beer.”

She pouted and I got to my feet. I slipped through the crowd of purple and white. There were a lot of congrats and more backslaps. At the bar I spotted my buddy Rick, he was sitting alone, nursing a bottle of Coke. Rick was a good guy. We met last year at Freshman Orientation. He was here on brains, me it was all scholarship. He wasn’t a sports fan but he came to the games because I told him it was a good place to pick up girls. Not that he was looking for some dumb flossy. He was looking for the woman he wanted to marry. I stared at him, sitting on the stool alone, sipping on his Coke.

“Hey Ricky” I said, sidling up to him. “Have I got the chick for you?”

He groaned. “Not again, that last girl, Amber, she kept trying to stick her hands down my pants.”

“So she was a little too ambitious for you. But this one is prime, I swear.” I pointed to my table where Brittany was sitting. “Her name’s Brittany. She’s a Music Theory Major and she loves brainy guys.”

Rick was studying Physics. He told me all about it once but I tuned him out just like everyone else.

“Is she boring you already?”

I gave him an innocent look. When he didn’t buy it, I threw the truth at him. “She talks and words come out of her mouth but I can’t make sense of them. I mean I know I should listen and care but really I’m in for the action.”

He sighed. “Ok, but you owe me.”

“Thatta boy, Ricky. Go wow her with that big brain of yours.”

He got off his stool and pushed his way toward my table. Me I sat down on his stool and ordered another beer. Then I looked about, trying to find the next lovely lady that wanted to chat up the Great Mike Carter. I actually found her. She was sitting a couple of stools over. She was another looker. A redhead this time, wearing an orange top and jeans. She looked out of place, especially in this bar. For a minute, I thought she might be a fan of our rivals, The Fighting Illini---that’s University of Illinois. Their colors were orange and blue. We lost to them in the playoffs,so to be a fan here would not be wise. This girl however didn’t look like an Illini fan; she didn’t look like a Wildcats fan either.

I got up and moved into the stool between us. “Hey beautiful, you’re in the wrong place if you’re not drinking.”

She turned to me and rolled her eyes. “But apparently it’s the right place for cheap pick up lines.”

It kind of stung. I liked a girl with a little spunk. But I wasn’t about to back down. “What brings you here?”

“Really” she said, laughing. “That wasn’t enough of a blow off.”

I hated it when they played games like this. “C’mon let me buy you a drink?”

She laughed. “Look, I’m not interested in being one of the Many Conquests of the Great Mike Carter.”

“So you’ve heard of me?”

“What girl on campus hasn’t?”

“Hey, babe” I said, setting my beer on the bar. “I’m not here to get you in the sack. I’m just offering to buy you a drink.”

She looked past me. “Did you get bored with the bimbo?”

I looked over at my table. Rick was doing me proud. Brittany was touching his arm and laughing. Looks like Mr. Science might actually score tonight. Now if I could be so lucky. I turned back to my redhead. There was something about her that intrigued me. Maybe it was her eyes; they were the brightest green I’d ever seen, like two shining jewels. Or maybe it was her hair. It was long and velvety; it hung about her head in waves of curls, like fire. It definitely matched the rest of her.

I needed to step up my game. “You have me at an unfair advantage. You know my name but I don’t know yours.”

“You’re not going to get it either.”

“How about your first name?”

“Not a chance.”

“What about a nickname, do you have one of those?”

She shook her head. “I do but I’m not telling you.”

I groaned. I’d only known this chick for a few minutes and already she was driving me nuts. I’m not sure if I was angry, impressed or really turned on. I think it was all three. She seemed to notice too, because she shifted in her seat, looking kind of uncomfortable. I knew the look, she was about to bolt. But there was no way I was going to strike out tonight. Brittany was a bubbly talker but this girl was a firecracker. Which meant she was probably the same in bed. I just needed to soften her up a bit and move in for the kill. Unfortunately my usual stuff wasn’t working.

“How about I tell you something about me and you give me your name?”

“Why would I want to know something about you?”

“Because you’re interested.”

She laughed. “I am, huh?”

I nodded. “Ok here goes.” I took a deep breath. “I bawled like a baby during Bambi.”

Ok it was a half-truth. I have actually seen Bambi but the crying part wasn’t me. It was actually an old school buddy I used to have. He once confessed during a game of Truth or Dare that he cried during Bambi. We were at a Co-ed party. Later that night, he lost his virginity to one of the hottest girls in school. I’m far from a virgin---I’m nineteen years old after all---but I needed something to get her to put out.

“Is that supposed to make me say Aww and hug you close to my bosom?”

“No, it’s supposed to make you tell me your name.”

She smiled. It was a cute smile. “Fair enough. You can call me Bea.”

“Bea, I like that” I let it roll around in my mouth for a few seconds.

“Is that your full first name?”

She laughed. “I never said it was my name at all” She stood up, straightening her top. “I just said you can call me that.”

She leaned forward and patted me on the knee. Then she did the unthinkable and walked away. I sat there stunned. I couldn’t remember the last time a woman walked away from me. I got up to follow her, even as far as grabbing her wrist. She snapped her head around and I could swear I saw fire in her eyes. I let go of her wrist.

She let me have it. “I was being polite before but I’m so far out of your league I’m on a different planet.”

She whipped her hair around, smacking me in the face with it and walked away.

I stood there stunned. For the first time in my life, The Great Mike Carter struck out.

___________________________________

You want to know what I do when I get depressed: I gamble.

There’s this little pool hall just down the street from Lenny’s. On the sign hanging above the door it just says Billiards, but the place really has no name. It’s kind of exclusive, too. Most people walking by wouldn’t pay it much attention because it’s a hole in the wall establishment. The only way you knew what was in there was through word of mouth. The only way you could come to the place was through invitation. I stumbled upon it about a year ago. The doorman threw me out on my ass the first time I tried to get inside. But I kept trying. But each time I failed and ended up meeting the pavement with my ass. I didn’t get lucky until after my first winning game. When I tried that time, the doorman recognized me and let me in. Apparently, he was a big Wildcats fan.

Gambling is an addiction that runs in the family. My father, Jon, was a serious gambler. His game was poker. He used to pour all his hard earned money into it. He’d spend all his time in a casino about ten miles from our house. He’d keep spending and he’d keep losing. My father was a fantastic card player but he didn’t have the proper poker face. And he had this horrible tell where he’d click his tongue against the back of his teeth. His opponents always caught on to it. So even though he was really good he always seemed to blow it in the end. He squandered our whole life savings at the poker tables and then some. About ten years ago, he got in real bad with lowlifes. He owed them big and wasn’t able to scrounge up the money. So he put a pistol in his mouth.

My mother had to sell our house to pay off his debt. After that, it was just her and me. We moved into an apartment on the far side of town. She had to get two jobs to make ends meet. But she did her best; she wanted me to get a good education so she forced me to do my best too. Schoolwork never really agreed with me. I’m a Straight B student but I’m what they call an “Under Achiever.” My teachers used to get mad because they claimed I was brilliant but I seemed to be bored. But I wasn’t bored; I just didn’t care about school. All I cared about was football and winning.

I stood under the Billiards sign, hunching my shoulders, trying to keep out of the rain. It had been raining a lot lately. The weather girl on the News the other day joked and said it was a Meta. People were always joking about them lately. I suppose it helped pass the time. Me, I could care less. Chicago had their own; they called her Giganta. She was a girl who could grow real big. I have a classmate who swears he saw her in the mall doing something cool. She was the talk of the town for a while but with so many Metas popping up here and there, no one cared anymore. Just the other day there was something on the news about a new one in San Francisco. The Blue Something or other. The only thing I liked about it is that they all seemed to be chicks.

I knocked on the door and waited. It didn’t take long. A little slot opened and all I saw were a pair of eyes. “Password” said the voice that belonged to them.

“C’mon Marty, it’s me Mike. I’ve been coming here for a while.”

“Password.”

I groaned. The password was constantly changing. Every day I’d get a text message with the new password for the day. I reached into my coat pocket and took out my phone, scrabbling through my list until I found the proper message. I read it off to him: “Butterfly” and there was a click. When the door opened, Marty stood there, his bulging muscles pressing against his t-shirt. He had the biggest smile on his face tonight.

“I take it you put some good bet tonight?”

“You bet your ass I did.”

He slapped me on the back. The only gambling Marty did was placing bets, usually on sporting events like football and basketball. I suppose it takes all kinds.

I left him standing at the door and wound my way down the dark narrow hall toward the stairs. Rumor had it that this place once belonged to Al Capone. It was one of the many places where he ran some of his operation out of it. The place had two parts to it. The front room was filled with pool tables and dartboards, the usual things that you’d find in a Billiards place. But it was the upstairs where the real action was. When I approached the stairs, I heard the laughing and the oldies music coming from the front. A lot of the guys in there were regulars. Every once in a while I went and shot some pool but it was small bills.

I liked the big money.

I walked up the stairs and knocked on the door there three times.

When the door opens, a terrifying looking black guy was standing there. He was taller and bigger than me. Which is quite a feat, seeing as I was six three. This guy was easily seven foot. They always changed the guys at the door up here, I’m not sure why. He looked me up and down then stepped aside to let me in. There was a small operation up here. There were a couple of black jack tables, a few poker tables and a wall of screens with each one playing a different sporting event. The room was packed tonight; several games were already going. I sauntered over to the little bar in the corner and ordered a beer. Hey, I don’t have a drinking problem. It’s just that I liked to unwind after a good game.

“Hey looky here, folks” said a loud voice as a short, portly guy stood up from one of the poker tables. “This here is a living legend.”

All eyes were on me. I turned and beamed at the room, giving them the Mike Carter beauty shot.

“Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Chicago’s own Golden Boy himself, Booster Carter.”

There were some murmurs and nods. The portly guy, Joey, came walking over and grabbed my arm, leading me to his table. Unlike me, he liked his poker. I looked at the pile of chips on the table, there had to be close to ten grand there already. Most of the faces I saw I didn’t recognize but that wasn’t uncommon. People came and went; there were always new faces. The only one that seemed to stand out was a guy in sharp, pinstriped suit. He looked like he was made of money. The suit was designer and his watch probably cost more than I make in a year. He had slicked back hair, just graying at the temples and a flashy looking gold ring on his right hand.

He looked at me; his eyes were gray and emotionless. “So you’re the Booster, huh?” Even his voice was kind of cold. I nodded my head.

This guy kind of scared me. “So you going to play cards or just gawk at me.”

I looked at the pot again. This was a high rollers game, way too rich for my blood. “You guys play for big money, too big for my paycheck.”

He smirked. “Nonsense kid. Why don’t you sit down and I’ll front you the two grand buy in.”

I looked at Joey. His eyes seemed to say No while he nodded. He looked kind of pale, so clearly whoever this guy was he was bad news. When he spoke his voice had a bit of a tremble to it: “It’s your call kid. Personally I think this game is a little rich for you but…”

“Let the kid make up his own mind, Joey,” said Mr. Pinstripe coldly.

I looked at the table again. Poker wasn’t my strong suit. I knew how to play but I wasn’t very good at it. I looked at the other faces; all of them stared coldly at me. They kind of sent a shiver up my spine. Joey kept trying to ward me off with his eyes. Then I looked at the pot again. It was huge. If I won that, I could send it home to my mother and she’d be able to pay her bills without a problem for weeks. I took a deep breath and decided.

“I’ll sit for a few hands.”

I sat in an empty chair. Joey looked a bit disappointed but didn’t say anything. Mr. Pinstripe passed me my two grand in chips and we began. They started a new hand, the dealer whipping the cards around the table. When I got all mine, I gave them a look. I wanted to smile but how bad would that have been. Suffice to say I was convinced that I had this in the bag. I played through the first game and doubled my winnings. I did pretty good in the second and third. I was on a roll until I folded on the fourth hand. On the fifth, I hit it big, winning half the pot. I looked at the chips before me, there had to be close to ten grand there already. The pile in the center was triple that amount now. Joey kept looking at me, trying to warn me off. I ignored him. I was on a roll after all. I played through a couple more hands, doing pretty good until I hit a snag. It was a big one too. I started bleeding chips after that until about an hour later I was down to about five hundred dollars. I felt like someone had socked me in the gut. Mr. Pinstripe looked around the table, all smug and mighty. When his eyes fell on me, he didn’t look too happy. Though he’d won back his two grand, clearly he thought I owed him more.

I blew my last chips twenty minutes later. “Well that’s it for me,” I said, standing up.

Mr. Pinstripe stood up too. “Cash me in.”

The Dealer nodded. He stepped away from the table and walked over to me, putting his arm around my shoulder. “Did I do something wrong?” I stumbled, suddenly very afraid.

I may have been Big Man on Campus but I was a small fish in this ocean.

“In a matter of speaking” he said, walking me over to the screens.

I gulped. This wasn’t going to be good. “I’m sorry if I offended you. I did try my hardest but poker really isn’t my game. If you let me play blackjack I can win a lot and…”

He cut me off. “It doesn’t have anything to do with cards. It has to do with that game you love so much.” I gulped again. “You see I like the Fighting Illini, I always place good bets on them. They’ve been a good team, undefeated and everything. But that game back in November. the odds were on you to win. So I took a gamble because that's what I do and you know what happened, a big bump."

I shook my head. I knew but I didn’t want to say it aloud.

“That bump was a Booster bump,” He said, clamping down hard on my shoulder. “There are ways of dealing with certain bumps. But I find that I can even them out without pounding on them too much. Do you understand?” I nodded; this wasn’t going to be good. “I have a proposition for you. You see I put a large sum of money on you that day. I thought I could win some of it back in cards but I wasn’t so lucky. So here’s what I’m going to do. By the end of the week, I have a deal coming up; one that requires the money you lost me. If you can come with the cash in two days I’ll call us even, but if you can’t…”

He didn’t finish. This was bad; this was really bad.

“How much?” I asked, afraid to hear the answer.

He smiled. “About a hundred grand.”

I thought I was going to pass out. How in the hell was I going to get a hundred grand in two days. It wasn’t possible. “That’s crazy. Where am I supposed to get that much money?”

He shrugged. “That’s not my problem. My problem is you and this.” He grabbed my left arm, giving it a good squeeze. It was my throwing arm, the Golden Booster as it was affectionately called around campus. “If you don’t get me my money, I’m going to break this arm in so many places that you won’t be able to grip a ball again.”

He let go of my arm and moved away. He wanted over to the door. The big black guy was actually his goon. He was holding out a coat, which Mr. Pinstripe slipped into. The jackass looked back at me with a smug look then left.

I walked over to an empty table and slumped in a chair. Joey came over a few seconds later, handing me a glass of something. I didn’t even look to see what it was. I just downed it in one shot.

“You look like someone just ran over your dog kid,” he said, sighing.

“I’m screwed.”

“I tried to warn you to stay away from the table, that guy’s bad news.”

I nodded. “Who the hell is he?”

Joey laughed. “You don’t know?” I shook my head. He nodded. “I suppose that explains why you sat down. That, my boy, was Henry Ballard.”

I groaned. Why hadn’t I recognized him? Everyone knew who Ballard was. He was some scumbag businessman; he owned half the city. Rumor had it that he was putting in a bid for the Senate. He was one of the slimiest creeps around and I was now in his cross hairs.

“Son of a bitch” I said, rubbing my hands into my eyes.

“You want my advice?” I didn’t really but I nodded. “Take some money. Play your game and see if you get lucky. You probably won’t get the money you owe but you’ll be able to make enough to disappear.”

“You want me to run?”

He shrugged. “People who cross Henry Ballard don’t usually walk out of these things alive. Even if you pay him the money, he’ll find another way to mess with you. Ballard holds grudges and they’re real bad.”

“Thanks Joey” I said, sighing. “I’ll think about it.”

He stood up and patted me on the shoulder as he walked away.

How had my day gone from fantastic to shit in only a few hours? I pulled out my cell phone; it wasn’t even ten pm yet. I groaned and got up. I wandered over to the table, ordered a shot of whatever and downed it in one gulp. Then I reached into my pocket and took out the wad of cash there. I’d avoid poker; after all, it wasn’t my game. I looked around the room and saw a hot Blackjack table. The people there looked amateurish. I smiled and walked over, sitting in the empty chair. I passed two hundred bucks in twenties to the dealer. She gave me my chips and cards and I began.

“Hey folks” I said, confidence returning. “They call me Booster and I’m going to take all your money.”

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Author's Note: There isn't much action in this chapter but it sets up the next one kind of nicely. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and DC Comics for their characters.

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Chapter Two:

I cleaned up at the tables, as if there was any doubt.

I half walked, half stumbled out of the place. The only time I ever get really drunk is a bad game or when my life has fallen apart. Which means I’ve only been shit faced twice in my life? The first time being in my senior year of high school. Some son of a bitch linebacker hit me from behind. I landed on my arm, luckily nothing got broken. But the coach pulled me anyway because he couldn’t take the chance. They put in the fresh faced Junior second string to replace me. He blew the game big time; they actually booed the poor guy off the field. Me and a couple of the guys bribed my twenty-one year cousin to buy us a couple of six packs and we drowned our sorrow in Budweiser.

The second time I got hammered was a dark day in my life. My mother was driving home late one night and because it was a double---she works as a nurse part time----she was a bit tired. She swerved a bit and some jackass slammed into her. Her car flipped over and hit a telephone pole. Luckily, she survived but she ended up in the hospital with two broken legs, a couple of broken ribs and a concussion. The jerk who hit her only got a few bumps and bruises. I went out and got seriously drunk. That was last year. Mom’s still not one hundred percent but she’s doing better all the time. She’s the reason I started gambling, I needed to help pay her bills. She didn’t approve, of course, but she didn’t turn down the money either.

But tonight I was so drunk I could barely stand. Luckily, I didn’t have to work or else the boss would fire my ass. In case you’re wondering, I work in the Field Museum. It’s nothing fancy though. I’m a security guard. Most of the time I work the day shift but every once and a while I get screwed and end up on nights. Sometimes I take them to make some extra cash. Tonight was my day off. The boss usually gave me game days off, if not, he said I was “unfocused”. Who am I to argue with that?

I was so drunk tonight I could barely walk to the curb. But I managed somehow. I squinted, wondering if it was wise to try to walk home. I only lived a few blocks away. I usually took the Express to campus. Rick and I were roommates. We tried the whole dorm thing the first year but it was kind of a drag. So we both got jobs---he works as a teller in a bank---and decided to get a place of our own. It’s a modest two bedroom, big enough for two wild guys like ourselves. We respected each other’s space, too. Whenever I had a lady friend over, Rick was always nice enough to bail for a couple of hours. I did the same when his family dropped by. I liked his Mom well enough but his Dad was a Michigan State alum so I avoided him. With him it was always Spartans this and Spartans that. He didn’t care that I was the Booster.

I hailed a cab. It didn’t take long for one of the yellow cars to pull up to the curb. The driver gave a once over as I opened the door and stumbled inside.

“Lakeshore Drive” I slurred as I closed the door.

“If you throw up in my cab I’ll dump you on the curb.”

I waved him on. The Cabbie groaned and took off.

Rick and I made enough to live a little better than most college students. His parents chipped in too so we were able to score a place in The Tides, a tower apartment complex right on the lake. It’s really cool because it’s within walking distance to both our jobs and a bus stop that can take us to work and school. I know what you’re thinking, Lakeshore is far from campus but thirty minutes on the Purple Line isn’t too bad. A lot of students live in Evanston but Rick and I wanted to live in the city because there’s a lot more action here. If it meant taking a train to and from school, we were ok with that.

It only took a couple of minutes to get home. I paid the Cabbie; he mumbled something in Spanish and took off. I stumbled across the sidewalk to the front door. The Tides was huge, a giant gleaming building of metal and glass. I know it’s kind of swanky and it costs a pretty penny at almost three thousand a month but it was so worth it. We had a great view of the city and let’s face it; Rick’s folks are loaded. His Dad was an Illinois State Senator and his Mom a doctor. They only had one kid too, Rick. I guess he’s their pride and joy. His parents weren’t too happy about me moving in with him but Rick convinced them I was an up and up kind of guy. Besides, as I said, Rick and I chip in on the rent. Together we pay about fifteen hundred while his Dad does the rest.

I stumbled through the front door and the lobby. Everything was kind of a blur. I think I remember getting in the elevator and pushing the button for our floor. But the next thing I remember is falling face first through our apartment door.

“Mike, Jesus.”

I felt hands around my arms, lifting me up. I can make out a blurry figure, I think it’s Rick.

“You wouldn’t believe the night I had,” I slurred as he dragged me toward the bathroom.

“I bet,” he said, stripping off my jacket and jersey. “Did you score with the red head?”

I shook my head. “She blew me off.”

He smiled. “I like her already.”

I ignored the comment as he took off my belt and pulled my jeans to my ankles. I would have been pissed if any other guy did this to me but Rick and me are tight. I know he’s not queer. Besides, I trusted him. He dragged me over to my shower---I was now clad in my boxers---then he tossed me in. He turned it on full blast and when the cold water hit me, I screamed like a girl. Hey it was freezing. He left me there, sitting at the bottom of the shower. It helped a lot. I crawled out after ten minutes and threw up in the toilet.

Then everything went black.

____________________________

When I woke up my head was pounding. It felt like I was back in high school and someone threw a ball at my head. That actually happened by the way. The Son of bitch got suspended and I ended missing PE for the day. The bastard thought he was justified too, all because I might have slept with his girlfriend. Which was preposterous because I never slept with her, it was a little petting and some fondling under the clothes. Harmless, really. But that has nothing to do with the situation now. Now my head felt like someone was banging on, possibly from both inside and out.

I groaned and sat up, wondering how I got into my bed. I threw off my covers, dressed only in my boxers. The sun was shining through my large window, too bright for my hung over eyes. I squinted and shielded my face, looking away. Last night was kind of fuzzy. I remembered Lenny’s; then striking out and there was something about the billiards. I rubbed my temples. Oh God, I pissed off Henry Ballard. My heart started beating faster in my chest and my hands started to get sweaty. It was thing to win a lot of money at the tables---ok, so a couple thousand wasn’t a lot but it was more than I went in with---but it was another thing to piss off a powerful man like Ballard.

And I owe him one hundred grand or else my football career is over.

I felt the bile begin to rise and ran into my on suite bathroom. I barely made it to the toilet before I threw up. I groaned and wandered over to the sink. I splashed water into my face and took a complete of deep, reassuring breaths. Looking in the mirror, there was a handsome Adonis staring back at me. I prided myself on my good looks; they complemented the rest of me really well. I stared at my wonderful self for a while. I truly was good looking. I had my mother’s golden locks---cut to perfection---and my father’s sparkling blue eyes. A couple of days ago I was at the tanning salon down the street so my skin was nice and bronzed. I smiled and peeled off my shirt, looking at my pecs. They were perfect too. I could bounce a quarter off my abs.

I finally tore myself away and went back into my bedroom. Everything about this place was white but very modern looking. Most of the apartments in The Tides were like this. We rented it fully furnished, neither of us had the spare capital to decorate it properly. Though Rick’s parents fronted him, so we had cash to buy things like a TV and a stereo---all top of the line of course. The only thing in my room that wasn’t here before were my clothes. I wasn’t a clothes hound by any means but I liked to look good whenever possible. Now I know what you’re thinking and I hate to disappoint you but I’m not a designer kind of guy. I can’t afford it. I’m a jeans and t-shirt kind of guy, that is when I’m not out trolling.

I picked a pair of jeans off the floor, sniffed them and threw them on the bed. I did the same with a t-shirt; it smelled clean too. There was a pile of dirty clothes in the corner. I’d been too busy lately to get them washed but maybe I could toss them in with Rick’s stuff. I wandered out into the main room, looking to see where my wayward roommate was today. I looked at the clock on the wall and groaned, it was noon. Seeing that it was Sunday there was no school so Rick was probably at the library, studying like usual. He’s a real Egg Head when it comes to those things.

I wandered over to the bathroom and slipped inside, not bothering to lock the door because no one was home but me. I vaguely remember Rick throwing me in the shower last night. I think he stripped me down to my boxers to do it. I looked around the room and found a pile of my clothes on the floor. But my jersey wasn’t among them. Rick knew better than to leave that lying around. I stepped into the shower and turned on the water, allowing the hot blast to sooth my aching head. In the shower, I had time to think. Where in the hell was I going to get 100 grand? I didn’t know any rich people besides Rick and there was no way Senator Hunter was going to fork over that kind of cash. I had some money saved but it wasn’t nearly enough. I suppose I could go pro. There were some scouts already sniffing around me. But my mother would kill me if I threw away my college education.

I groaned. She made me major in History as a fall back in case my football career fell apart. I’m not an Egg Head like Rick but it was my best subject at school. I’m not saying I know everything but I know enough to get by if I need too. My mother is always like that, making sure all my bases are covered in case something bad happens. She didn’t want me to turn into my father. He was a ball player too. He tossed the pigskin around in high school but never made it to college. He tried for a minor league team but blew out his knee. My father was never the same after that. He took a job driving trucks and fell into gambling hard. But like I’ve said before he was one hell of a card player. He just didn’t know when to quit.

I shut off the water and stepped out of the shower. I grabbed a nearby towel and went back into my room. I got a clean pair of boxers, stepped into them and then put on my jeans. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was about twelve thirty now, I had a little time to kill before I needed to be anywhere. We had practice today, it usually lasted a couple of hours. Then I had some time to loaf around before I had to make my way back home and off to work. On Sundays, I get the long shift because I’m the rookie. I usually work from about eight at night to about two in the morning. Then the morning guard comes in to relieve me. I usually manage a couple of z’s before I have to hit class on Mondays. It’s kind of hectic but when you get paid like twelve dollars an hour, it’s worth it.

I finished getting dressed and wandered back into the main room. I walked toward the sofa just as the phone rang. I groaned. I wasn’t in the mood to pick up so I let the machine get it.

“Michael, it’s your mother. I’m calling to let you know that your cousin Daniel is in town and wants to know if you two want to do something.”

I groaned. Daniel was the son of my mother’s sister. He was a year younger than me. He was an ok guy but he was kind of annoying. He hero worshiped me big time, which was cool except he hung on me like a leech. I didn’t mind hanging with him when I was home but out here would be catastrophic. I smiled; maybe I can pawn him off on Rick. The two of them met once, they got along all right.

The machine beeped, telling me the message was recorded.

I thought about calling her back until my stomach grumbled. I couldn’t remember the last time I had anything to eat.

______________________________

Sal’s is a little diner just down the street that Rick and I often eat at. We’re usually in and out because we’re both in a hurry to get to the train. But today as I walked down the street toward it, I was able to take my time. When I went inside, it was pretty deserted, which is strange, seeing as it was the lunchtime rush. The diner itself looks like an old Fifties diner, with revolving stools and cushioned booths. The waitresses wear bubble gum pink uniforms and Sal is usually dressed like a soda jerk. This is also the only place I know that serves Malts. When I walked in---the bell above the door announcing my presence---Sal smiles.

“Hey Mikey, was wondering when you’d get up.”

I wandered over to the counter, sitting next to the red head there. I paid her little attention at first.

“Sal, you a mind reader of something?”

He smiled. “Nah, Rip was in here earlier.”

In case you’re wondering, everyone calls Rick “Rip” except me. I’m not even sure what it means but he tells everyone to call him that. I tried for a bit but it didn’t really work. Besides there’s no way I can be like everyone else. I am Mike Carter after all, the One and Only.

“Can I have a pop and some fries?”

He nodded, scribbling down the order. “Not very nutritious for a healthy guy like you.”

I shrugged. “I’m not in the mood for anything healthy today.”

The girl next to me snorted. I turned to her, ready with a come back but stopped as soon as I saw her. My face lit up with a smile. It was the girl from Lenny’s last night. I barely recognized her because she was wearing a white blouse and gray skirt. Her hair was up on the top of her head and she was wearing a pair of wire framed glasses. She looked nothing like the chick from last night. Which was great because this whole Librarian look made her about ten times sexier?

“Well, if it isn’t Bea”

She sighed. “That’s Miss Too Good For You.”

Sal laughed. “Stay away from this one, Bea, he blows through women as fast as he throws touchdowns.”

I ignored Sal as he set my drink on the counter in front of me. I looked Bea up and down. “I’m liking the whole school teacher look you’re rocking today. Was last night Let Your Hair Down Day.”

She huffed and turned to me. “If you must know I was waiting for someone last night before you so rudely butted in.”

I smiled, showing her my pearly whites. “Today, unlike you, I have to work.”

“Hey I work too.”

Sal dropped my fries in front of me. “Mr. Star here works at the Field up the street.”

Bea looked me up and down. “For some reason I can’t see you leading tours.”

“I’m a guard.”

She nodded. “That explains it then.”

I feigned being hurt. “What do you do all dressed up like besides crushing men’s balls in your bare hands.”

“She’s a big wig,” said Sal, sounding impressed. “Miss De Costa here works for Wayne Enterprises.”

Now I was impressed. Wayne owned the other half of Chicago, his and Ballard’s property sort of met in the middle. There was a notorious turf war going on there. It was the headline in the papers for the last few months. Well it was until a certain Giant superhero started making waves. Now the only thing that the papers seemed to want to talk about was Giganta and her super powered pals. Not that I was envious or anything.

“I’m not all that important Sal, I answer phones.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” said Sal “today you’re a receptionist but tomorrow who knows.”

“Hey take me for example,” I said, drawing the conversation back to yours truly. “In high school I was fourth string then because of a series of accidents, I was bumped up the totem pole and now look where I am.”

Bea rolled her eyes. “Typical” she said then picked up her cup of coffee, downing the rest of the contents. “It was a lovely lunch Sal; give my regards to your wife.”

She stood up, straightened her skirt and headed for the door.

“Hey Sal, can you box those fries for me. Ok thanks.”

She was half way down the street by the time I got my spiel down and was out the door to follow her. She moved pretty fast for a chick in heels. I caught up to her though and slipped in front of her. She didn’t look too happy but how could she not be, after all she was walking with me.

“You forgot to give me your number.”

“No I didn’t.”

I nodded. “An oversight I’m sure.” I reached into my coat pocket and took out the felt tip marker I kept there, in case anyone wanted the Booster’s autograph. “Here, babe. Write it down on my hand.”

I held out the pen to her but she brushed it aside. “You’re unbelievable.”

“I know.”

What the hell is this chick’s problem? Usually girls were throwing themselves at me. This girl just didn’t seem to get it, did she. I was Mike Carter; I was going to be super famous one day. She was gorgeous, there was no way I could let this one get away.

She walked a little faster, slipping by me. I groaned and walked in front of her again, walking backwards so I could continue to stare at this beauty. I continued to walk in front of her, putting up the best offense possible. But her defense was amazing. She even zipped and zagged like a pro. How in the hell did she even get dates if she played hard to get all the time.

“Are you going to leave me alone?” she huffed, trying once and failing to get by me.

“Only if you give me your number.”

She sighed, snatching the pen out of my hand. She didn’t scribble on my hand though like most girls. Instead, she reached into her purse and took out a white business card. She flipped it over, scribbled on the back and handed to me. I looked at the front first. There was a giant black W on it, her name: Beatrix De Costa below that. In tiny letters below, it said Public Relations. I smiled and flipped it over: 555-6392 Here’s my number, now get lost.

“Can I call you later tonight?”

She sighed. “I wish you wouldn’t.”

“Why did you give me your number if you don’t want me to call?”

She groaned. I smiled. This was my favorite part of the game. Women like her were rare. They were real pretty but they didn’t want to be asked out. It was like they were scared of men or something. Which was strange because she was all sexed out in Lenny’s last night? If she dint’ want to pick up men then what was she doing in a Sports Bar?

She walked to the curb, sticking her arm out to hail a cab. “I’m late for work.”

I held my arm out too. “Who works on a Sunday?”

“Wayne Enterprises never closes.”

“That must suck.”

“I like my work” she said as a cab pulled up in front of her. She opened the door and turned to me. “You’re not going to follow me to work and bother the hell out me, are you?”

I smiled. “I wish I could but I’ve got practice today. But I will call you later, that I can promise you.”

“I can hardly wait.”

She hopped into the cab and slammed the door. I watched as the cab drove off and sighed. She was definitely into me; I just had to convince her of it.

___________________________________

Off Season sucks. Its bad enough that the Coach busted our asses off in the fall but now he's got us doing the same thing in the spring too. Its madness. I think he's probably the only one who works his guys this hard. It was Off Season for Christ's sake and yet he still treated it like there was a game tomorrow. He really needed to lighten up a bit.

“Carter, you’re late.”

“Sorry Coach, I got caught up”.

I ran onto the practice field, the Coach put a hand on my chest. I’d only been a few minutes late but it wasn’t my fault. There was an accident and they weren’t letting people through. So I had to take the long way around to the train depot. It kind of sucked but at least I got here in time to change. It’s not my fault everyone else was finishing up as soon as I got into the locker room.

“Save it, Carter, I don’t care what her name was.” I groaned, he always thought it was a girl. “You’re on the bleachers.”

I nodded and ran toward the bleaches. The last time I ran them, I twisted my ankle because some jackass spilled water all over them. It put me out of three games last year. I’d never seen the Coach more mad in my entire time here. Not that that’s saying much. But when he told you to run the bleachers there was no arguing with him. So I took to the bleachers. I stretched before I started up them and scanned the metal benches, looking for any sign of liquid. When I didn’t see any, then I started my run. It was actually a lot easier than what they were doing on the field at the moment. I was never one for scrimmage drills. I’m the quarterback after all; I just need to throw the ball down the field. But I wouldn’t dare tell the Coach that, he’d have kittens.

I ran up down the first set and then moved on to the second. I was making good time, pacing myself. That’s when I saw him. I didn’t think anything of it at first. There were a lot of spectators that came to watch us practice. But as I got closer to him, I realized he looked real familiar. It wasn’t until I got closer that I realized where I’d seen him from. I stopped dead in my tracks as he stood up. It was the giant black guy, the one from Billiards last night. My heart was pounding like a drum. I took a step back. What the hell did he want?

“This doesn’t look like you’re getting Mr. Ballard’s money to me,” he said, his voice cold and threatening.

“No, this is practice.”

He took a step down the row, his stride covered the distance to me in seconds. He placed one of his huge hands on my shoulders. I tried to pull away but he socked me in the stomach. It felt like someone hit with a sack of bricks. I doubled up, coughing in pain. My rock hard abs were nothing compared to what he’d just done to me. I stumbled back as he took his hand off my shoulder. Then he guided me down, sitting me on the nearest bench.

“Don’t smart mouth me kid” he said, then threw a flyer at me. “We’ll make this real simple. Currently at that museum you work at there’s an exhibit displaying some of the world’s most precious jewels. One of them alone is worth one hundred easy. All you got to do is use your charm and swipe one for us. After that you’re in the clear.”

My eyes bulged out of my head. “Are you out of your damn mind? Do you know how security they have at that place?”

This guy was fucking crazy.

He smiled, showing lots of gold teeth. “You see the thing is, we know all about the security. In fact, we know a lot of things. Especially about your mother in Buffalo. She’s a sweet woman; you wouldn’t want anything to happen to her, would you?”

My anger flared. I gripped my hands into fists at my sides and jumped to my feet. Beneath me, the metal bleaches started to rattle for a second. The big guy looked scared for a split second but it disappeared quickly. “You leave my mother out of this. I’ll get you one of those stones. If anything happens to her, so help me God…”

I pointed my finger threateningly at his chest. He batted it away.

“Watch where you’re putting that thing boy, it might get broken.”

“CARTER!” Coach’s voice echoed up the bleachers toward us. “That doesn’t look like running. You can talk with your friends later. I WANT YOUR ASS MOVING NOW!”

The big guy smiled. “Mr. Ballard will be waiting at this address” He handed me a business card. “You have until midnight tomorrow, if you don’t bring us something, then I’m afraid your mother might have an accident.”

I clutched the card in my hand. What kind of lowlife scum threatens a woman still recovering from an accident. The big guy smirked and slowly walked away. I took my time to take a few deep breaths then turned back to the Coach. “Sorry Coach. Just talking about work.”

This was going to break my mother’s heart but there was no other way. I’m sorry, Mom. I took a deep breath and started running again.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Three. Things are starting to progress a little faster now. After this one, things should move a lot faster. I'd like to thank djkauf for the awesome and super quick editing and everyone else for their input so far on this story, you know who you are.

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Chapter Three:

“You look a green around the gills kid, Coach run you rampant again today?.”

I nodded at my partner, Frank, not sure what to say. I guess I was kind of nervous. Here we were, just the two of us, walking the dark halls. We did this three or four times a night just to make sure there was no one prowling about. It kind of made me laugh a bit inside because here we were looking for potential threats and I was one. My palms were sweaty as I held the flashlight, shining it up and down the hall. We were in the Ancient Americas exhibit; it was one of the newer ones. It boasted of having over twelve thousand artifacts or something like that. This was our usual route. We usually started at that creepy stuffed elephant thing in the middle and make our rounds from there. First it was the Americas then we worked our way south, passing the Gift Shop, crossing Stanley Field Hall and into the animal exhibits.

It was the same path night after night. It was kind of boring but it was orderly. Frank liked order and seeing as he was the senior guard of our duo, he was kind of in charge.

“Hey, what’s up with you, kid? Usually you like to brag about shit. You have a rough night?”

How do you tell someone that you’re supposed to steal something from right under their nose and also mention your mother’s life may depend on it? I sighed. “I got kind of smashed last night, lost some money at the tables, pissed off the wrong guy.”

Frank shook his head. “I told you to stay away from that shit, kid. Nothing good comes from that stuff.”

We passed by the giant Olmec Head statue and I shivered. That thing gave me the creeps. But not as much as that T-Rex skeleton, they had. It was the museum’s pride and joy, the most intact T-Rex skeleton ever or something like that. I took the tour once or twice, it bored the hell out of me, the guide was hot, though.

I stopped at the stairs, leaning against the door. I needed to get up there soon. We were only supposed to patrol the Main Level. The guys upstairs were just about to make the shift change and if I didn’t get up there now, I’d miss my chance. But that still meant I had to figure out a way to ditch Frank. I really liked the guy, he was good for a chat but he was dead weight. Especially tonight. If I didn’t ditch him soon there’d be no chance of me getting in the Hall of Gems tonight. I took a deep breath. I reached into the pocket of my coat, my fingers brushing against the business card inside. I pulled it out and looked at it. It was the one Bea gave me earlier. I brought it and my cell phone with me because I was hoping to get some time to give her a call but personal calls were frowned upon.

I reached into my other pocket and took out my cell.

“What are you doing with that?” asked Frank, shining his beam on my phone.

“Hoping to call this girl I met.”

He sighed and looked around. Our relief shift wouldn’t come for another hour. Then the two of us would be off to the break room to sit for an hour until they came back around and switched with us again. See, I told you it was boring. We did this routine for a couple of hours straight, first them, then us, then them, and us again. It went on and on and it was as boring as hell.

“Tony will have your ass and mine if he catches you.”

Tony was his supervisor, the boss of the guards if you will. He was a grumpy son of a bitch but he meant well and he knew his shit. I also knew not to cross the bastard. He might have been old and walked with a limp but he could kick my ass, no problem.

“I’ll slip upstairs; make the call from the bathroom. Tony will never know.”

Frank shined the light on his wristwatch. “You’ve got twenty minutes. Meet me over by that squid thingy.”

I smiled and nodded. “You’re the best, Frankie my man. Remind me to get you some tickets to next season's home opener.”

“Just give me the game ball with your John Hancock and we’ll call it even.”

I nodded. I pushed open the stairwell door and slipped inside.

I took the steps two at a time, my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t believe I was really doing this. I knew I said I would, but this was some serious shit. As soon as I did it, I’d have to disappear too. This place had security up the yin yang, especially in the Gems room. There were lasers and motion sensors and all that crazy shit. And it’s not like I have a bottle of wine to swap for the thing. Hey, I saw it in a movie on AMC the other night. Peter O’Toole and Audrey Hepburn, God, she was a stone cold fox. So I’ve got a thing for old movies, so sue me. I did say I was a History major didn’t I? I kind of like the past I just don’t like people knowing I like it.

I pushed open the door to the Upper Floor, finding myself standing before the Brooker Gallery but I completely ignored it. The Hall of Gems was on the other side of the museum. Which meant there was a lot of space between me and there. It also meant there was a lot of space for me to get caught. Somewhere up here, two of my fellow guards were making their way about, just finishing up their shift. I looked at my watch; they still had a few minutes. I clicked off my flashlight and crept along the wall, disappearing into the Evolving Planet Exhibit. I crept around, hiding behind one of the displays. I sat and waited. It didn’t take long for me to spot the two bobbing lights.

I knew these guys, Joey and Hank. They were students like me, trying to make some extra cash on the side. How the two of them got to be paired together was beyond me. I was under the impression that younger guards were paired with senior ones. I sat and waited. The bobbing lights got closer and closer. When they swept over the exhibit, I ducked, hoping that the beams would miss me. Luckily, the two geeks were too preoccupied with other things. They were talking about that Giant superhero the whole city was obsessed about. That’s all they talked about in fact. It got kind of annoying, listening to them prattle on and on about her in the locker-room. The two of them needed to get real girlfriends.

I held my breath the entire time they swept by me. Finally, the two bobbing lights disappeared, the darkness slowly swallowing them. With any luck that would be their last pass. I waited a few more seconds then risked turning my light on again. I looked at my watch. Shift changes took about ten minutes. I cursed. I didn’t give me a lot of time to get to the Gems and grab one but maybe I could hide inside and wait it out. Frank had given me about twenty minutes but he was horrible with time. I always had to remind him when the shifts started and ended.

I took a deep breath and silently got to my feet. I made my way through the exhibit, moving as fast as I could. I almost crashed into a kiosk selling dinosaur souvenirs, cursing because I stubbed my toe on the corner of it. The rest of the way I half walked, half limped. I made good time, passing all these unfamiliar places. There were a lot of things up here that I saw on the tour I took but none of them really stood out. Except the Hall of Gems. The only reason I remembered it was because of the way the girl seemed to talk about it. She was real passionate about it, going on about each precious stone and the value of them. Because of her tour, I knew exactly what one I wanted. It was a blue stone, about the size of a fist; it kind of looked like a bug. The stone’s worth was estimated in the hundreds of thousands, more than enough to pay off Ballard.

I moved through the shadows, finally making it to the Gems.

I gulped when I saw what I’d be up against. There were lasers just like I thought. There were cameras too and I’m sure there were motion sensors in there as well. I sighed. How in the hell was I supposed to get past all that. I’m not Catherine Zeta Jones after all. I ran my fingers through my hair, groaning. Each of us guards had a card key that opened electronic locks and things like that. But there was no way I could use it to bypass all this security. I bit my lip, damn it I should have thought this through a little better.

I started pacing, clicking on my light to look at my watch again.

Damn, I only had about five minutes left. I was almost out of time. If I didn’t do something and quick, I was screwed. My mother was screwed too. I took a deep breath and clenched my fists at my sides. I cursed and took a step toward the room. The hell with this. I was one step away from the lasers when something happened. I’m not sure how to explain it but all the cases in the room started to vibrate. The glass rattled, the metal bases they were on slowly lifted from the ground. I watched, wide eyed as they floated in the air for a few seconds then slowly lowered to the ground. The rattling stopped. What the hell just happened? I took a step away, clenching my fists again. Only one case rattled this time, the base lifting from the ground, the glass vibrating violently.

It was the case with the blue stone. It floated up, the glass surrounding it shattered. I jumped, the breaking sounding like a gun shot. The case fell to the ground, making the loudest boom I’d ever heard. The stone rolled out of its holder and right into one of the red beams. The alarm that followed was loud and blaring. I took a step back, slapping my hands over my ears. A large metal door dropped down in front of the exhibit. I panicked, stumbling backwards, knocking into the rail. Something fell out of my pocket and hit the ground. I tried to grab it but the darkness swallowed it. I went for my flashlight but it was already too late.

I heard the sound of running and two beams cut through the darkness, dancing across the floor toward me. I turned before they could get a real good look at me. But I’m sure they knew I was there.

“Hey” said a voice; it sounded like Joey. “What the hell are you doing up here?”

I took a deep breath and made a split second decision. It wasn’t the smartest one but it was the only thing I could come up with. I ran. I charged the two of them. I slammed into both of them. They were frail little guys; I easily bowled them over. Hopefully neither one of them got a good look at me before I charged them. They hit the ground and I ran over the top of them. I didn’t even stop to see if they were all right. I needed to get the hell out of this place and fast.

I ran for the nearest elevator. I whipped out my key card. I knew I couldn’t go out of any of the known entrances but maybe I could use the loading dock. The guy there was old and lazy; he slept on the job all the time.

____________________________________

Damn it, that was really stupid. I cursed as the elevator continued its downward descent. I knew it was a bad idea from the beginning and yet that thought of my mother in trouble seemed to fuel my stupidity. Why didn’t I contact the police? I knew it’d get Billiards in trouble but there were more important things than illegal gambling establishments. Now I was screwed both ways. I rubbed the heels of my hands into my eyes and groaned. It was only a matter of time before they figured out it was me and then I was really screwed. What’s worse, I realized what I dropped back there. I didn’t notice it was missing until I stuck my hand into my coat pocket and what I didn’t find shocked me: my phone. I stupidly dropped my damn cell phone. Now it was lying there, in plain sight for all the world to see. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out it didn’t belong there, that I didn’t belong there. I cursed again, feeling the bile rise up my throat. I forced it back down, hunching over a bit as I did so.

Maybe I can talk my way out of this. I am Mike Carter after all.

The elevator dinged and came to a stop. When the door opened, I was greeted by darkness and musty smell. I groaned. In my haste, I pushed the wrong button. This wasn’t the loading dock; it was the basement. They stored a lot of the old exhibits down here, artifacts from all over history. I’d only been down here once or twice. It was a huge twisting maze, filled with wooden crates and towering metal shelves. It kind of reminded of that place at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark. I took a deep breath and debated what to do next. I looked at the buttons, wondering if I could slip out of the loading dock now. I was pretty certain that the whole museum was on alert now.

I cursed again, I was so fricking screwed. By force of habit, I turned on my flashlight, shining it about in front of me. I held the door open with one hand and took a look around. The basement was kind of cool; it’d be a lot cooler if I wasn’t being chased. I scanned along the nearest stack of boxes, wondering if there was anything cool in there. I continued to move the beam along the row until I got it as far as it would go. When I reached the other end, realization dawned on me. There was a stairwell at the other end of this place, one with an exit that led right outside. It was for emergency use only, in case of a fire but it was there, nonetheless. I smiled and stepped out of the elevator, allowing the door to rumble shut behind me.

I walked along the little hall that the two stacks on either side of me created. They both towered over me, their contents secure in their boxes. I wondered f there was anything worth pawning in one of those. Ok it’s crazy but I’ve still got a real problem. Even if I went to the cops about Ballard now, they’d still take me in for attempting to rob the museum. It was a pretty serious offense; probably land me in federal prison for the rest of my life. I groaned. There’s no way I could do prison, I’m too pretty; I’d be someone’s bitch in ten minutes. I groaned again, there was no way I could go to jail. But what alternative did I have? If I didn’t get Ballard the money, they’d do something to my mother. Her safety was my top priority.

I moved along the stacks, my beam directly in front of me. I scanned it along the floor mainly, making sure I didn’t walk into something that I’d regret later. There were a lot of twists and turns in this place and very little light. If I made a wrong turn, I could get lost and that was bad. This place stretched the whole of the museum and one wrong turn and I could be stuck down here for days. Thinking about that made me shiver and made me all the more vigilant. My heart beat loudly in my chest and was a constant reminder that what I was doing was the stupidest thing in the world. But that was the story of my life. What you don’t think I know I’m a dick. Hey, I know. It’s just sometimes I get carried away. It’s not my fault. All my life I’ve been kind of good at football and there were a lot of people who took advantage of that.

I blame my Anjo coach for that. He sort of stepped into my life after my father left, my mother even dated him for a bit. Coach Dave became a surrogate father figure to me and for a long time I thought he was the coolest.

He had this philosophy to life. He always used to say, “If you have it then flaunt it.” It kind of stuck with me. He was the one who really pushed me into the sport. When I tried out for the team, he saw potential and encouraged me. He even practiced with me when all the other kids left. He not only cared about me but he treated me like a father should treat his son. But there was something off about him too. I didn’t realize it at the time but he was kind of a player. While he was dating my mother, there were always these other women around too. He called them his “special friends” and always made me promise not to tell my mother about them. Dave was a good looking guy and it amazed me that all these women kept throwing themselves at him.

I was crushed when my mother found out. My Mom was a fox when I was younger, she knew and a lot of the single men knew it. But after Dave, things kind of feel apart for her. She went into a depression. He took advantage of her and it ruined her. After they broke up, she pulled me out of Dave’s team. I went to another team. Dave kind of made it his life’s goal to make me miserable for some reason. But in the end I showed him up, our team pummeled his in the Championship. I think it made my mother a little happier.

Unfortunately for me, a little of Dave rubbed off. When I got older and into high school, I got tall and good looking. Hey, I can’t deny what’s true. Common sense kind of took a back seat to my ego. See I can admit it and yet it was like a monster. Women loved me and threw themselves at me, just like Dave. But unlike Dave, I didn’t make a habit of dating more than one girl at a time. Because I never dated any of them. I kind of fooled around a bit and moved on. I carried the philosophy all the way through high school and into college. It’s one of those things where you know you’re doing something wrong but you can’t seem to stop. Kind of like my gambling, it’s this addiction, something that you know is going to bite you in the ass someday but you can’t stop. Consider me bitten. After this was over, I’m never stepping into another gambling establishment again.

I shined the light on my watch and moaned. I’d only been down here a couple of minutes and it already felt like a few hours. It was kind of hard going, moving through the dark with only the dim light of your flashlight guiding you. The only other lights in this place were far off and they flickered, casting light sporadically into the place. As I stumbled along at my slow pace, I first heard them as they entered the room. For a moment, I thought it was my imagination, until I heard the tapping of their feet on the concrete. I cursed and snapped my light off, stopping dead in my tracks. Because the room was so large, their footfall and voices echoed all around me.

“You sure he came down here,” asked one of them, it sounded like Joey.

“Duh, where else would he go” That one was Hank.

Then a third voice spoke, which surprised me. “This is pointless; we should wait for the cops.”

I could recognize Frank’s from anywhere. I sighed. It never occurred to me that they’d drag him into this but why wouldn’t they.

“He could be gone by then,” said Joey, the three of them were moving through the stacks. “Besides this is the only other place left to go. We have all the other exits blocked. I know there’s a way out of here down here somewhere.”

“This is crazy,” said Frank, huffing along. “There’s no way it was Mike.”

“Hey we know what we saw.”

Shit, so they did see me. I took a deep breath and started moving again. They weren’t that far behind me. It was only a matter of time before the three of them caught up. I put some of my constant exercise into play and picked up my pace. I moved as quickly as I could, not daring to use my light anymore, in case they spotted it. I used the dim overheads as guidance. The flickering bulbs were enough to cast circles of light onto the area in front of me. I moved and wove, going from one mazelike pathway to another. I was moving pretty fast too. I got a little cocky and wasn’t paying attention. There was a patch up ahead where the light didn’t show. I figured it was a straight run so I kind of took it as fast as I could go.

I’m not sure why there was a box in the middle of the walkway. But I slammed into it going as fast as I could. The noise was loud and booming. I smashed right through it, getting tangled up and going onto my knees. It hurt like hell. There was some kind of vase inside. It shattered under my weight. I cursed as I pushed myself to my feet. There was no way that they didn’t hear that. As soon as I got to my feet, I heard them running as fast as they could. Luckily, the three of them were out of shape but I knew my luck wouldn’t last for long. I pushed my way through the wreckage and ran as fast as I could, abandoning any attempt to make sense of where I was going.

I was going along pretty good until I hit a dead end. I cursed, slamming my hands angrily into the stack. It shook a bit but luckily, it didn’t go toppling over. Imagine the mess that would cause. I took a deep breath and backpedaled. There was another path that branched off a few feet back. I found it without any problem and started down it faster than I thought I could run. I made a good pace again and others were slowing down. They were definitely out of shape, especially poor Frank with that beer gut of his.

I came to the end of this pathway, stopping at the stack there to catch my breath. Hey, I’m an athlete but I’m not a super man, even I get a little winded. I rested my hand against one of the boxes and something weird happened. The box got hot under my fingertips. I jumped back, surprised. What the hell? I stared at the box for a few seconds then shook it off. There was no way that just happened. I cautiously touched the box again. The burning was gone but it rattled slightly. Not happening, this is just your imagination. I shook off the crazy feeling and started to walk away, laughing. The box rattled some more, shaking everything about. I got about ten feet away and there was a huge crash. I snapped around, half expecting the others to jump on me. Instead, I saw the wooden box on the ground, busted to bits, its contents spilled about.

I cursed. First, I broke a vase and now this. I took a risk and snapped on my light, seeing what mess I made now. Most of the stuff was junk, broken shards of pottery and things like that. I bent down and started stuffing it back inside, making sure I didn’t break anything. I thought I got it all when my light caught a glint of something underneath the stack. I sighed and reached inside, my hand cupping around a round object. When I pulled it out, my eyes got as big as saucers. It was some kind of object, shaped like a football. It was about as big as one too and looked to be made of solid gold.

I hefted it in my hand, it weighed about a pound or two. Someone must have had a thing for gold shaped thingies. I laughed and made to shove it back in the box. But something sharp stabbed me in the finger. I cursed, dropping the stupid thing on the ground. It bounced and rolled away. I cursed again, sticking my finger in my mouth. It was probably a splinter of wood but it hurt like hell. I looked around with my light, finding the gold football a few feet away. I shook my head and walked over to it, picking it up. It felt lighter than before and warm. The warmth disappeared as soon as I cradled it and carried it back over to the box.

I’m losing my mind. I dropped it into the box and lifted the remnants of it, putting it back on the shelf. I started to walk away but something made me stop. I’m not sure what it was, maybe it was my need to save my mother. But that thing was made of gold; it probably cost a damn fortune. I cursed; there was no way I could take it. I shook my head and started to walk away but my conscience failed me. I snapped around and went to the box. I took off my regulation jacket, grabbed the gold orb thingy and wrapped it up. Ok, so I’m going to hell but my mother’s life depends on it.

After that, I seemed that much more anxious to get the hell out of there, especially seeing as dropping that second box really got the others running. I moved a lot faster, not stopping for anything. I wove and zipped through the pathways, finally finding that glorious exit I was looking for. I tore the door open, not bothering to stop as an alarm sounded. There was a flight of stairs leading up. I took them two at a time, running as fast and as hard as I could go. After about ten minutes, I found the exit. It too sounded an alarm but I kept running. I ended up in an alley behind the museum but I ran through it, splashing water from puddles, running as if hell-hounds were at my heels. Who knows, maybe they were after what I’d just picked up.

I got out into the street and flagged a cab. When it got there and I jumped inside, I finally took a deep breath. I sighed, wiped my sweaty brow and told the driver where to go. Then I unfolded my jacket and looked at my prize: the gold orb seemed to gleam and shimmer, radiating a brilliance that I’d never seen before.

I’m in so much trouble.

_______________________________

I didn’t go straight home; I’m not that dumb. I had the cabby drop me off at a corner near an ATM. Luckily I still had my wallet with me or else I’d be screwed. My clothes were back in the locker room at work, probably in an evidence bag by now. After withdrawing some cash, I went into the nearest thrift store. It was still open, what are the odds. I got some jeans, a shirt and a backpack. I dressed in the bathroom, stuffing my work clothes into the pack. I made sure the gold orb was wrapped up in my jacket; I didn’t want to take any chances. Before I left, I bought a hat and some sunglasses too. The girl behind the counter was gorgeous and a part of me wanted to flirt but I forced it way down. This was one instance where I didn’t want to make a lasting impression.

I left the thrift store in a rush and went to a local twenty-four hour convenience store. I was starving. I looked at my watch; it was about one in the morning. I tore into a burrito and slugged down my pop with reckless abandon. The guy at the counter looked at me like I was nuts but I didn’t care. I just tried to break into a museum display, got chased through the bowels of a mazelike basement and stole an artifact made of solid gold. I think that’s grounds for a little craziness. I dropped a twenty on the counter, told the kid to keep the change and left.

My conscience caught up with me. The guilt tore through me, wracking my body. But what choice did I have. They were going to hurt my mother if I didn’t get them the money. They were going to hurt me, too, but my mother was more important. I started pacing on the sidewalk, looking very much like a nut. Luckily, there weren’t a lot of people around. My conscience kept flipping back and forth, from doing the right thing to doing what I was asked to do. I had something that was worth a lot of money but at the same time, Ballard was a crook and needed to be in jail. But if I turned him in then he could easily retaliate. But the police thought I was some kind of thief. At least I’m sure they did now. I hadn’t exactly stopped to see if the news was broadcasting my image yet. But that was only a matter of time.

In the end, my good Angel side won out. I went to the nearest pay phone and dialed 911. I told them that I had reason to believe that Henry Ballard was involved in some nefarious gambling plots; I gave some examples. Then I gave them my mother’s name and address, telling the dispatcher that I thought she might be in danger. When the woman asked for my name, I refused to give it to her. There was no way I was going to let Ballard connect this back to me. I’m not sure if the woman on the other end believed me or not but at least it was a start. I felt better after doing it and finally hailed a cab home. Sure enough on the way there, it didn’t take long for the museum incident to make the radio. There was an APB out on a suspect fitting my description, wanted in questioning for an attempted theft at the Fields Museum. It didn’t mention me, thank God, but it was only a matter of time. Just to be safe I had the cabby drop me off a block from home. When I got to the Tides, my suspicions were correct. There were two black and whites outside the building. I groaned. There was an officer outside talking to the doorman.

I took the alternative route. There was a back door I sometimes slipped in and out of from time to time. The guy there was named Eddie; he was a fan. He was standing outside when I approached, smoking a cigarette. He smiled when he saw me.

“Mike, where the hell you been. You’re missing all the action.”

“I was at work” I bit my lip. Why the hell did I tell him that? I decided to play dumb. “What’s going on?”

Eddie tossed his cig onto the ground and rubbed it out with his heel. “The cops are looking for someone here; they think they might be connected to some kind of robbery.”

I played dumb again. “No shit. Any idea who?”

He shook his head. “If I were to guess, I’d say it was the guy in 10B, he’s always kind of given me the creeps.”

I nodded. “You think you can let me up the back way, I don’t want to walk through the mess in the front.”

“Sure thing, bro” He took out his key and opened the door for me.

“Thanks, I owe you some sideline seats for the home opener.”

"Get me the phone number of a hot cheerleader and we'll call it even."

I slipped into the building, smiling at my ingenuity. I ran up the back stairs until I got to a proper floor. I slipped out the door and went to the elevator. I punched in a random floor number, biding my time. When I exited the elevator, I went to one of the hallway windows and stared out it. I had a perfect view of what was going on down below. Luckily, it was so late that there was no one in the hall. I stood by the window for what seemed like hours watching the police cars. Finally, two officers exited the building and got into their cars. I sighed, glad that that was over. I went back into the elevator and went to my floor.

When I got to the door, I realized I didn’t have the key. Damn Rick is going to be so pissed off. I knocked on the door, it opened real fast. Almost as if Rick was standing there waiting for me. He was dressed in his pajamas but I could tell I didn’t wake him.

“Jesus Christ Mike, what the hell did you do?”

I didn’t get time to respond. He grabbed the front of my shirt and pulled me inside. The apartment was dark. Rick pushed me over to the couch and dead bolted the door. I sighed, dropping the backpack on the floor and collapsed onto the couch.

“You won’t believe the night I had.”

“That seems to be the only thing you know how to say lately.”

I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “Don’t start, I kind of fucked up.”

“You’re telling me. The police just left here, they think you’re involved with some kind of botched museum robbery.”

I smiled slightly. “I can explain.”

His eyes widened. “What the hell did you do?”

So I took a deep breath and told him everything. When I was done, Rick collapsed into the armchair across from me. This time he ran his fingers through his hair. He stared at me, not saying anything for the longest time. When he finally spoke, I heard the disappointment in his voice.

“I told you that that gambling of yours was going to get you in serious trouble.”

“Hey, it wasn’t the gambling. Ballard had me in his crosshairs whether I wanted it or not. He was gunning for me. I was going to pay him back one way or the other. That man is crazy.”

Rick nodded. “Tell me about it. He’s been one of my father’s biggest adversaries for a while now. He keeps trying to push some kind of land development deal in my father’s district but my father keeps vetoing it down. Why he wants land in the north of the state is beyond me. Some political analysts think he’s going to try to run against my father in the next election. The scary part is, he’s got a chance to win the thing.”

I groaned. That’s all this state needed, a psychopath in Congress.

“He threatened my Mom. His goon told me if I didn’t swipe one of the gems from the museum that they were going to hurt her bad.”

Rick sighed. “You should have called the police.”

“Duh, I know that, now.”

Rick got to his feet and started pacing. He did that when he was thinking. Finally, he stopped and turned to me. “The police have eyewitnesses placing you outside the Gem Hall and your phone. They’ve got enough credible evidence to at least bring you in for questioning. I might be able to convince my Dad to help but he’s not going to like it. But he may be willing to toss his hat into the ring if there’s a chance Ballard can see jail time for this.”

I opened my mouth, shocked. “You don’t have to do this, Rick.”

“No, but I’m going to.”

See, we’re real good friends, the best of friends. The only problem is if the situation were reversed would I do the same for him. I’d like to think so but my ego tended to get in the way a lot. I groaned. Why was I such an ass all the time?

I yawned, struggling to my feet. I grabbed the pack, hefting it in numb, tired fingers. “I’m going to hit the sack. Can you give me a heads up if the police try to knock down the door?”

He smiled and nodded. I started to trudge for my room when he asked the question I was hoping he wouldn’t. “What’s in the bag?”

I stopped dead in my tracks. After everything he said he was going to do, I couldn’t lie to him. But I couldn’t tell him the truth either. So I bit my lip and lied. “It's my work clothes. I needed to get out of them so I got this stuff at a thrift store. I didn’t want to look too incriminating.”

“You might want to get rid of them, then.”

I nodded. “I’ll do it in the morning.”

I grabbed the doorknob and opened my door. I kicked off my shoes, sitting on the bed as I did so. I stared at the pack as I dropped it at my feet, stripping off my jeans as I did so. What the hell was I going to do with that thing? I groaned and fell back on the bed, closing my eyes. Right before I drifted off to sleep, I swore a strange golden glow filled the room. I snapped my eyes open and looked around, thinking maybe Rick had turned the light on. But there was nothing. I groaned and went to sleep, thinking nothing about the pain in my stomach.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Four. This is the moment that the story was building too, the Change. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing as always and everyone else who has commented and waited patiently. Things were moving kind of slow before but they'll pick up after this, I hope. Booster Gold and other characters belong to DC Comics.

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Chapter Four:

The beeping of the alarm clock woke me up. I groaned as I opened my eyes, fumbling about looking for the accursed thing. It was one of those loud and annoying ones that sounded like a school bell. You know the type. Well Rick bought me this one for Christmas last year because he was tired of waking my ass up all the time. This morning it was particularly loud and annoying. I groaned and sat up, giving up my blind attempt to find it. I groggily looked around, the blaring sound pounding at my head. For a minute there, it felt like I was hung over again. I finally slammed my hand on it. There was a squeak and it shut up. Finally, some peace and quiet.

I wanted so much to lie back down. that is until I realized what day it was. I groaned, throwing off the covers. Garfield and I have one thing in common, we both hate Mondays. I trudged out of bed, swaying a bit on my feet as I did so. Have you ever had a dizzy spell in the morning? I stumbled a bit, wondering if maybe I wasn’t drunk after all. I groaned, scratched my butt and dragged my feet out into the living room area. Rick was gone but that wasn’t anything new. He took a lot of early morning classes. He said he liked his afternoons free so he could study. Me, I liked the afternoon classes, partially because of my job but they also allowed me to sleep in late. Not that I was going to have much problems on the job front because after this morning---last night? ---I wouldn’t have one to go back to. I’m not sure if that made me happy or really pissed off. I suppose a little of both. For starters, it meant no money, which meant I wouldn’t be able to chip in on the rent. But on the happy side, it meant I’d have more time to pick up chicks. Ok, yes, I had a life changing experience but that’s not going to stop me. As soon as this whole museum thing blew over, I’d be able to get back in the saddle again.

Yes, I’m delusional in the morning. It’s too early to think about the bad things. Ok, so technically, it’s the afternoon but I’m still too tired to think about that stuff. Not until after my shower at least.

I walked into the bathroom, feeling a swaying on my chest that shouldn’t have been there. I was still too groggy to think about it though. Was it possible to spontaneously gain weight over night? I walked over to the toilet, pulled down my boxers and paused. It took me about ten seconds to process what was wrong and then I screamed. I screamed at the top of my lungs and what came out of my mouth was as shrill as the best Scream Queens could muster. Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit. I stuck my hands down my pants but there was no doubt about it. It’s gone. Little Booster had flown the coop. I panicked, stumbled backwards into the shower. I tripped over my boxers, falling on my ass.

As soon as I landed, something on my chest flopped up and down. I looked down and screamed even louder this time. On my chest, for the whole world to see, were two huge mounds. I closed my eyes, my breathing erratic and labored. This isn’t happening; this isn’t possible. I snapped one eye open at a time, squinting down. Maybe I’m dreaming. But when I opened my eyes all the way, they were still there. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. They were breasts. Breasts on my chest. How was that even possible?

I clamored to my feet, kicking off my boxers. This had to be a joke. I laughed out loud, not registering the fact that even my laugh was different. Rick was getting me back for last night’s stupidity. The breasts, they had to be fake. The vagina down below too. Not that I knew it was one but lack of you-know-what usually means the other thing, right? There were shops who sold this kind of stuff, I mean for guys who wanted to be girls. Not that there was anything wrong with that. But Rick had a wicked sense of humor. I reached up and cupped my breasts; they had to be close to D cups. They were lifelike prosthetics. I gave them both a good squeeze and this sensation went crawling through my body. It was incredible. How in the hell did he pull that off? It kind of scared and excited me at the same time.

I gave them a tug and screamed again. It hurt like hell. Ok, so he glued them on. They sell that stuff too. I tore the shirt over my head and looked down, hoping to see the seams. There were none. In fact, they looked life like, even the nipples. I reached up and tweaked them, sending another wonderful sensation through my body. Oh God. I shuddered, nearly falling over. What the hell did Rick do to me?

I ran over to the mirror, maybe I couldn’t see the seams looking down at them. But as soon as I looked into the mirror, I nearly fainted. What in the hell? Staring back at me was not my normal, gorgeous self. Looking back at me was a drop dead gorgeous chick, with sparkling blue eyes, long blonde hair and most kissable lips I’d ever seen. Looking at her made me want to screw her brains out. I reached up and touched my face. The girl in the mirror did the same. How did Rick pull this off? I’ve heard of some wicked pranks but this was absolutely ridiculous. The worse thing was I couldn’t see any seams. I tried tugging on my boobs again but it still hurt like hell. Realization seemed to dawn on me just then. But it wasn’t possible, things like this don’t happen.

I stepped away from the mirror and felt light headed. Guys don’t change into chicks. The world rushed around me as I collapsed unconscious to the floor.

________________________________

“Mike” The voice was dull, like a low thumping in my ears. “Mike, where the hell are you?”

I opened my eyes, groaning. For a second I didn’t know where I was until I looked around. Then I remembered. I was in the bathroom. I sat up, realizing that I was naked. Then I realized something else too. I groaned; looking down at the fake breasts attached to my chest. Yes, I’m still convinced this was some kind of cruel joke perpetrated by Rick. I groaned again. That was the voice I just heard. I used the bathtub to push myself to my feet, scooping up my shirt as I did so. I turned and looked at the mirror, still unable to fathom how he was able to pull such a thing off.

I pulled the shirt over my head and walked to the door, opening it slowly. Rick was in the living room, sitting on the couch. I took a deep breath, clearing my throat in the process. He snapped around and looked at me. At first, his eyes roved up and down then he turned away as if embarrassed about something. What the hell was that all about?

“Oh God, I’m sorry” he clicked off the TV and got to his feet, still not looking at me.

“Dude, this isn’t funny,” I said, putting my hands on my hips. Whoa, he even did something to them to make them appear bigger. HE was really going all out.

“No its not” he said, looking away. “Mike is…”

“Really pissed off” I finished.

He nodded, finally looking at me. “I’ll bet. Being cooped up in here must be crazy. I bet he didn’t even read my note.”

“What note?” I asked, walking into the room.

Rick snatched the note off the table, holding it out to me. His face went red and he turned away. I rolled my eyes. Boy was he really loving this. I snatched it from his hand, scanning it quickly. It was him telling me not to leave the house and not let anyone in here. I crumbled it up, tossing it aside.

“Like that’s going to stop me.”

Rick sighed. “Did you just wake up?”

I shook my head. “Yes and no. I kind of woke up in a fog. I stumbled into the bathroom and discovered this” I waved to my body, shaking my head. “I wasn’t happy.”

“I’ll bet” he said “uh, where are your clothes?”

I laughed. “I didn’t put any on yet.”

“That’s a relief,” he said, sighing. “For a minute there I thought he took them with him. He’s done that before.”

What the hell was he talking about? “Are you referring to yourself in the first person now, Rick?”

He looked at me again. “You know my name?”

“Duh” I said. What the hell was wrong with him? I’m the one who just fainted and hit my head. “You did real good work with this by the way. How the hell did you pull it off.’

All the color drained from his face. “Oh God, it was a date rape drug!”

“You drugged me!”

He took a step back, holding up his hands as I advanced on him. “I didn’t do this, he did. I wasn’t even here all morning. I still can’t believe he slipped you one during the day though. Usually those things are done at night, in a night club or something.”

Who the hell was this “he” that he kept referring too? Speaking from experience---hey it happened only once and I was young. “You can give them any time of the day but it’s better at night when the girl is real drunk…”

No, I didn’t rape her. I slipped her the pill in her drink and she passed out in my car. But I chickened out. I think it was that pesky conscience of mine. When she woke up, I helped her back to her house, told her parents she got a little drunk. The next day I sent her a huge bouquet of flowers and a box of chocolates. I sent her flowers and chocolates the whole month. I never did anything stupid like it again. Hey, I’m a player, not a monster.

Rick walked over to the couch again and sat down, burying his head in his hands. “Look let me call you a cab, it’s the least I can do. When Mike gets home, I’ll kick his ass for you.”

Wait, what? “What do you mean when I get home?” I said angrily. “I’m right here, you dick head.”

Rick snapped around, staring at me. He stared for a long time and then he burst out laughing. He laughed for a while, nearly falling off the couch. I finally glared at him, which shut him up real quick.

“What kind of idiot does he take me for?”

“It depends you jack ass on what kind of idiot you take me for” I walked over to him, looming over him, my hands still on my wide hips. “How in the hell did you pull all this off anyway. The boobs and the vagina are good but the hair, the face, and even my voice. It’s absolutely incredible. I didn’t think something like this was even possible.”

He stared at me as if I’d grown a third head. “You’re a real good actress. I’m not sure why Mike is fucking with me but you can tell him the joke’s over.”

He stood up and patted me on my shoulder.

I groaned. Before I towered over him but now we almost saw eye to eye. How in the hell? Rick was five nine, it wasn’t possible? The color drained from my face this time. I took a step away from him, my heart pounding in my chest, my palms sweating. I felt light headed and stumbled, nearly falling over the glass coffee table as I sat on the couch. It wasn’t possible. Looking at Rick now, I knew without a doubt that he had no idea who I was and if that was the case then all of this was real…I couldn’t breathe, I started gasping for air.

He jumped to his feet and was at my side in an instant. He did his best to comfort, grabbing my now dainty looking hands, gently stroking them. His next words sealed the deal for me: “Miss, are you all right?”

Something popped. I’m not sure what it was but I started to cry. The last time I’d ever cried was at my father’s funeral. I tried to be a man but I couldn’t help it. My mother tried to reassure me it was ok to cry when one was sad but men didn’t cry. My father told me that once. We were in the garage and he cut his finger with a screwdriver. I asked him if he was hurt and he said yes. Then I asked him why he wasn’t crying and he told me “Real men don’t cry.” Ok so my father was kind of an ass but I took that philosophy to heart as well. So my mother wasn’t a very good judge of character when it came to men but at least she tried to do right by me.

I finally found my voice, struggling through my sobs. “You think I’m some girl that Mike hired don’t you?”

He smiled. “At first I thought you were one of the bimbos he usually brings home with him” he said with a laugh. I wanted to punch him but he was half right. I brought home the dumb girls because they were easier to fool.

“I’m not a bimbo,” I sobbed, unable to control it. What the hell was wrong with me? “I’m not some girl that Mike hired either. I am Mike.”

Rick laughed. “You’re still acting on about that.”

“I’M NOT ACTING!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, my voice shrill and girly.

He sighed, wincing slightly at my scream. He nodded but I could tell by the look on his face that he didn’t believe me. He was a man of science and facts. The only way he’d believe me is if I showed him proof. So I took a deep breath and tried the logical approach first:

“They call you Rip, not because you got torn off your surfboard on vacation and nearly drowned in a rip tide like you told everyone here. They call you Rip because you split the seat of your pants during your first dance with a girl in sixth grade because your pants were too tight.”

The look on his face was genuine. But he shook his head. “I’m going to kill Mike. He swore he’d never tell anyone that.”

I groaned. “I didn’t tell anyone that, you dumb ass.”

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

I groaned. There was only one other thing I could do to prove I was me. I pushed away his hands, wiped the tears from my eyes and stood up. I took a deep breath and turned around, lifting up the shirt to show him my butt. He turned away at first until I cleared my throat, causing him to look. What he saw confirmed I was telling the truth. There were only two people in this world alive who knew what I showed him: Rick and my mother. Ever since I was born I had a birthmark on my butt, it wasn’t very big but it was kind of embarrassing because it was in the shape of a teddy bear. Rick saw it last year when we were in the pool house showers at his family’s estate. The two of us were getting dressed and my towel slipped. He’s the only one besides my mother who knew of its existence and I swore him to secrecy on threat of his life.

I heard an intake of breath then he fell backwards in his chair. I dropped the shirt and turned to him, smirking. He stared at my face then looked up and down my whole body. I let him get a good view before I say back down on the couch, huffing, blowing a strand of hair from my face. There was no way I was going to get used to all this hair.

Neither of us said anything for a long time. He kept staring and I just sat there, wondering which one of us was going to break the silence. At least I stopped crying, thank God.

Finally, he broke the silence: “I don’t understand.”

I sighed. “That makes two of us.”

“You’re really Mike?”

“Do I have to flash you again?”

He shook his head, blushing a bit. “You’re definitely Mike all right. The question is, how did this happen?”

I stood up and started pacing. He watched me, his eyes the only thing moving. I tried to ignore it but it was kind of creepy, especially when they went from one place to the other. It was only two places too: chest and legs. Finally, I got sick of it and stopped; tugging on the end of my shirt, wishing to God it was a whole lot longer. My pacing was an attempt to come up with an answer but I had nothing. I turned to him, searching his face for some sign that his brain was functioning. I knew exactly what he was thinking. Hey, I saw myself in the mirror; I knew how hot I looked. But this was neither the time nor the place for that. In fact, it was never going to be the time or place for that. At least not with him or any other guy.

“You’re the smart one Rick” I finally huffed. “What do you think?”

He didn’t say anything for a while. He had that look on his face he sometimes got when he was doing homework. At this particular moment, it was there for a while. That look always used to annoy me because it made him look like he was so much better than everyone else. When it finally went away and he spoke, I’m not sure if I was relieved or not.

“I have an aunt who works at STAR Labs a few miles from here. She’s a geneticist; she knows her stuff really well. I think maybe I should give her a call and see if she’d be willing to see you.”

All I could do was nod. Rick talked about STAR Labs a lot. In fact, it was his dream job. He could spend hours talking about this and that. They were apparently one of the leading research facilities specializing in everything. It was definitely the ideal work environment for an Egg Head like him. If anyone could tell us what was going on it would definitely be them. The question was would they be willing to even see me. I mean how often do guys change into girls. Maybe they’d think I was some kind of freak and not want anything to do with me. Or maybe it’d be the complete opposite and they’d want to dissect me. That one sent a shiver up my spine.

“You sure calling your aunt is the best idea?”

He nodded, walking over to the phone. He picked it up, holding his hand up to silent my protests. I watched as he dialed the number and got her voice mail. “Aunt Jenet, its Rick. I’d really like you to give me a call when you get this message. My friend has a problem and I was wondering if maybe you could help him with it.”

He hung up the phone. “You think she’ll call back?”

He shrugged. “She’s intrigued by problems so I think this will pique her curiosity.”

I nodded. Then I shifted my body, trying best to figure out how to sit. I am, after all, only wearing a shirt. I tried a few different poses but no matter what I tried, the shirt wasn’t really that long and no matter how I sat, certain things down below were hard to hide. I caught Rick looking and trying not to look. I think it was making both of us embarrassed. Finally I got to my feet, fed up with trying to find the proper way to sit.

“I think I need some clothes.”

“Can you wear any of your old stuff?”

I shrugged. “I doubt it.”

He sighed. “I guess I can go out and buy you some more.” He looked me up and down again, looking kind of nervous. “Umm, what do you think your sizes are?”

I looked down and smiled. I was usually pretty good at sizing women up; it was a gift. I looked at my boobs then turned and looked at my butt, finally taking a long look at my hips. I turned to him and rattled off the measurements. He looked flustered at first but then grabbed a pen and paper. He scribbled down what I told him. Then he grabbed his coat and house key, making his way toward the door.

He turned to me before he left. “Don’t open this for anyone.”

I rolled my eyes. “Duh.”

“And stay away from the TV.”

“Why?”

“You won’t like what’s on it.”

I sighed but nodded. He smiled and left. I waited until I heard him walk down the hall toward the elevator before I ran over to the coffee table and picked up the remote. I clicked the TV on; Rick had it on one of the local news channels when I walked in earlier from the bathroom. I groaned as I saw the scene. It was an exterior shot of the Field; there were a bunch of police cars and news vans parked outside in front of it. There was a huge crowd too. The volume was down but I didn’t need not turn it up. The pretty brunette newscaster, Rose Jenkins---she was really hot---was talking. I didn’t need to know what she was talking about to know it was bad. What shocked me even more was when a picture of me flashed on the screen. It was my work ID photo.

I turned the volume up to catch the last bit: “Michael “Booster” Carter, Northwestern football hero, is wanted for questioning. The police will neither confirm nor deny if Carter is their main suspect but a figure matching his description was seen fleeing the scene of the crime.”

Crime, what crime? I didn’t steal anything.

Then something else flashed on the bottom of screen. FIELD MUSEUM THEFT. PRECIOUS STONES STOLEN FROM GEM HALL. What the hell was this? I didn’t steal anything. I mean I tried to steal it but I failed. Joey and Hank would testify to that. What the hell was going on? I angrily grabbed the remote and shut off the TV.

“SON OF A BITCH!” I shouted, letting it all out.

There was a metal pencil holder sitting on Rick’s desk. It rattled about and flew across the room, slamming into the far wall. I jumped in panic. What the hell was that? I looked around the room, maybe it was a gust of wind.

I shook my head. I think I need to go back to bed. Or…I looked back toward the bathroom. I smiled; maybe a nice hot shower could help clear my head.

__________________________________

I stepped out of the shower, grabbing the towel off the toilet.

Did you know that it feels much better to pat this body than to rub it? I tried rubbing a few seconds and it was kind of harsh on my skin. But patting my body dry with the towel, it felt fantastic. I know I shouldn’t probably be thinking this but this body had all this wonderful feelings. When I first stepped into the shower and the hot water hit my body, it was like an orgasm times a thousand. The feeling was so overwhelming I nearly fell to my feet. It took everything in my power not to play with myself. I’ve heard about how girl orgasms were supposed to be ten times stronger than but I thought it was a lie they told to get more pleasure out of sex.

Boy was I wrong.

As I finished toweling off, there was a knock on the door. At first, I thought it was the bathroom but it was too distant. The knocking repeated. I groaned. I could swear Rick left with his key. I took the towel and involuntarily wrapped it around my body, like most women did. I opened the bathroom door and skipped across the room to the front door. Yes I skipped, don’t ask me why? I didn’t bother looking through the peephole when I unlocked the deadbolt and pulled the door open. Man I wish I had. I gasped, so did the guy on the other side. His eyes quickly snapped away, looking anywhere except at the girl draped in the towel who stupidly opened the door for him. I cursed. I just broke the only rule that I had.

“Sorry to disturb you, miss” he said, his voice soft, his head turned slightly away.

I looked his up and down. There was no doubt who he was. He was dressed in a gray suit and there was a slight bulge on his left side. I groaned, this was all I needed. “How can I help you, umm Detective?”

He reached into the inside of his coat, took out his wallet and flipped it open. His early embarrassment disappeared, replaced by a serious stone cold confidence. “Special Agent Broderick, FBI.”

Damn it. It was a Fed, this was all I needed. What’s worse was that he was a pushy Fed. He didn’t even bother to wait for me to invite him in. He snapped his badge shut and brushed me aside, stepping into the room. He even shut the door behind him. All I could do is follow him in and watch as he glanced around a bit, nodding here and there. This guy was already pissing me off.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for Michael Carter.”

“He’s not here.”

The FBI Agent continued to walk around the apartment a bit; looking in the bathroom I vacated then walked over and peered into my open bedroom door. Who the hell did this guy think he was? I followed closely at his heels, so close that when he turned around he nearly ran me over.

“We both know that’s wrong, Miss” he finally said, pushing me aside again. “Mr. Carter didn’t show up for class this afternoon and I know he came here last night after the officers left. In fact, according to building security, he came here while the officers were present. He slipped through a back entrance and hid on one of the lower floors until the black and white left.”

I inwardly cursed. I forgot this place was high class enough to have cameras everywhere. I bit my lip, thankfully he didn’t notice. “He was gone when I woke up.”

Broderick looked me up and down. He was an older guy, probably in his forties, a couple of inches taller than me. There was a little steel gray at his temple and worry lines all over his face. This was a guy who spent too much time on his job. Clearly, he had his own methods too and they were a little invasive if you ask me.

“You the girlfriend?”

I sighed. “Yuck, no” Shit, now what. I bit my lip again. “I’m his sister.”

Where the hell did that come from?

He turned and looked me up and down. “I guess I can see the family resemblance. Do you mind if I ask you a few questions, Miss Carter.”

“Its Mi...My…Myka, actually.” Great let’s just keep digging that hole. “And actually I do mind. This isn’t my place and I don’t appreciate being interrogated by complete strangers, especially wearing only a towel.”

Maybe if I play the bitch I can get rid of the bastard. Hey, as long as I had the body I might as well try to use it.

He smiled thinly. “You’re not embarrassed to be seen dressed like that or else you wouldn’t have answered the door.”

I groaned. Who the hell was this guy?

Then he launched into the questions. He didn’t even bat an eyelash at my comment. First, he wanted to know all about Mike---I mean me---hey, it’s hard when you’re pretending to not be yourself. He asked stupid questions at first: like where I was, what I was doing last night, that sort of thing. But he knew all that already so I think he was trying to trip me up. Then he wanted to know about me. Luckily, for this jackass I was quick on my feet this morning. I made up a fake story for my fake sister. Apparently, I was a senior in high school, visiting from back East. I arrived yesterday morning and would be staying with my brother and his roommate for a few days while I look at possibly coming to Northwestern next year.
Hey, I thought I was pretty good.

Broderick one upped me. “So if I call your mother and ask her about you being out here, she’ll confirm all this?”

I bit my lip. I never actually thought the jackass would follow up on any of it. “Of course. I’m not sure if you’ll get her because she’s really busy but you can try.”

“And your brother. When was the last time you saw him?”

I shrugged. “We bumped into each other briefly yesterday morning.”

“Briefly? He didn’t pick you up at the airport. You being his baby sister and all?”

Who the hell was this guy? “I’m a big girl; I don’t need my brother holding my hand everywhere I go.”

He dropped that line of questioning. “So you haven’t seen him at all since you “bumped” into him?”

“I haven’t seen him but we spoke briefly on the phone. He called me from practice and told me he wasn’t coming home in-between there and work because he had some errands to run.”

Boy, I was digging myself deeper and deeper, for both my identities. But thankfully, Broderick didn’t seem to pursue it. He asked me some more little questions and looked around the room once more. I think he thought I was hiding myself somewhere---how weird is that to think that this guy was looking for you and you were standing in front of him. He asked to check the bedrooms just to make sure that “Mike” wasn’t hiding anywhere. But I humored him and opened both doors, following him in as he looked. He checked under the beds and in the closets.

“You’re sleeping in your brother’s room?” he asked, looking at the backpack on the floor.

I nodded. “Mike is taking the couch while I’m here. Well, he would if he slept here.”

Shit, why did I say that? Broderick didn’t pursue it. He just nodded and allowed me to show him out of my room. He took another quick look around the living room and was done, finally.

“Well Miss Carter, if your brother shows up I want you to give me a call” He reached into his jacket and took out a business card. “It's very important that I talk to him as soon as possible. There are some things he and I need to discuss and soon.”

I took the card and smiled. “I’ll give it to him as soon as I see him.”

He smiled back and I led him out the door. I watched him walk to the elevator and waited until he got on before I shut the door and dead bolted. I leaned my back against it and slumped to the floor. Holy shit, that was too close. I sat there for a while, not caring that I was still dripping wet and wrapped in a towel. I didn’t move until I heard Rick’s key in the lock. I jumped up and as soon as he opened the door---bags in hand---I wanted to jump in his arms and cry. Don’t ask me why? Instead, I sighed and walked over to the couch, sitting on the end of it.

“You look like someone punched you in the face,” he said as he set down the shopping bags and shut the door behind him.

“You and I have a problem.”

-----

Author's Note: Here's Ch. 5. If you pay real close attention to this chapter you might notice the appearance of another lesser known DC hero. I'd like to thank DC Comics for their wonderful characters and djkauf for the wonderful editing.

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Chapter Five:

“Just stick out your tongue, sweetie?”

I did as I was told as the pretty red headed scientist stuck the tongue depressor in my mouth. I hated these things; they always had a funky taste to them. I crossed my arms, showing I was unhappy with the treatment so far. Not that much had happened. Rick and I had only just arrived about twenty minutes ago. As soon as we walked into the shiny glass building, we were rushed off to a small examination room. I didn’t even get a chance to look around. Even now as I sat on the cold cushioned slab, in my paper gown, I still couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. But the whole ride over here---all two hours of it---Rick was gushing like a little kid on his way to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory or something. When we finally pulled up, he actually let out a sigh.

I bet you’re kind of confused huh? Well I guess I can bring you up to speed a bit. After Agent Obtrusive left, I quickly filled Rick in on what went on. First he scolded me like I was a child then he picked up the phone and made a few calls. I’m not sure who they were to but when he got off, he promised that Broderick wouldn’t be bothering us again. I guess it pays when your Daddy is on almost every Committee from here to Washington. After that, he picked up the bags and threw them at me, kind of embarrassed about them. One of the bags had normal clothing; the other was filled with under garments. I’m not sure which one made him more nervous.

I carried them into my bedroom and dressed. Suffice to say I don’t need to bore you with the details. But bras are much harder to put on then to take off and trust me I’ve taken off my fair share.

After that, his aunt called back. Apparently, she had some free time the following afternoon---right now actually---and we made an appointment. The rest of the night, the two of us sat in awkward silence, at either ends of the couch. We watched our normal shows, I caught the highlights on Sports Center and then we went to bed. This morning was even worse. As a guy---see I’m kind of adjusting---I slept in t-shirt and boxer shorts. As a girl, it was no different except I replaced the boxers with panties. Hey, as long as I’m a chick I’m going to be sexy about it and what’s sexier than a hot chick wearing an oversized male shirt and panties. I don’t think Rick agreed with me, though. He went all different colors when he saw me this morning. I made matters worse when I ate breakfast in nothing but a towel.

It was kind of fun watching him squirm all morning. My morning fun was over now.

“You’re such a sour puss,” said the doc, finally pulling the depressor out. I opened my mouth to complain and she stuck a digital thermometer in. “And you say you woke up like this yesterday morning?”

I nodded. Rick answered for me. “He was a perfectly healthy, six foot something college quarterback, Jenet, and now look at him, err her.”

She smiled, nodding. “Have you guys been paying attention to the events on the news lately?”

“You mean the museum theft?” asked Rick, becoming very defensive.

The red head, his aunt Jenet, shook her head. “I’m not talking about that recent” She gave me a stern look. “I was talking more along the lines of all those superheroes that have been cropping up lately.”

I groaned. Here we go. Did I forget to mention that Rick’s kind of a fanatic? I did say he was a Physics major, right? Well Mr. Science here finds it really fascinating that normal people can suddenly start exhibiting powers out of the blue like that. He was convinced it had something to do with cosmic radiation or some shit like that. Me, I could care less. All I wondered is why none of them had used their powers for something cool. All those talents and none of them decided to make a quick buck. What the hell was up with that?

Jenet pulled the thermometer out of my mouth, looking at the display for a second before setting it on a nearby table. “Are the two of you familiar with American Dream?”

God were we ever. “She’s the hot blonde chick in the red, white and blue, right?”

Rick groaned. Jenet ignored my comment. “Yes, that’s the one. She’s government sanctioned. She’s on Uncle Sam’s payroll and everything. I’m sure you’ve heard the PR. But what you and most of the public don’t know is the real truth. The Meta gene is extremely rare and only affects a small fraction of the population. Most of the people infected are seemingly healthy and very normal until the gene takes effect and changes them. American Dream, Terra, Giganta, even this new girl in California, the Blue Beetle, all of them were one hundred percent male before the changes took place.”

Rick’s jar dropped. Mine followed a split second later. “You’re shitting me right?”

She shook her head. “It's not known to the public, the government wrapped it up pretty quickly. It’s a strange phenomenon but it’s becoming quite common with the Metas I’m afraid. There are probably several more out there and several more waiting to transform. We’re not sure why the change turns some of them into women. We’ve been studying the blood for a few months now and so far it seems to be perfectly normal, aside from the mutagenic properties of it of course.”
I groaned. Most of that went over my head and it sounded pretty simple. Hey, I’m not Science Guy. I was still trying to wrap my head around the fact that that chick in the tight stars and stripes suit was once a dude. I jacked off a couple times to her pictures. I’m not sure, if I was going to be sick or if that somehow made me gay. Well, not now but before I mean. I mean she was a dude, hell they were all dudes. I groaned, running my fingers through my hair. I stopped and it was as if a light bulb went off over my head. Oh god…

“You think I might be a Meta too?”

Jenet sighed. “It’s a very big possibility. I’m going to need to take some blood to be sure but all signs seem to point in that direction.”
I smiled really big. How fricking cool was that? “Does this mean I have superpowers?”

Rick groaned. I looked at my hands, wondering what I could do.

“Once again, there’s a big possibility” She sounded excited when she said it. I think she noticed that we noticed it. “I’m sorry; it’s just that we here at the Lab have been waiting for this opportunity. Most of the samples taken from the others have been shipped off to other places. You’re the first, I mean potential first.” She sounded so giddy. “Dr. Hamilton is going to do back flips.”

Rick became the voice of reason. “That’s great for him and for you but what the hell does this mean for Mike. There’s no way I’m going to let you turn him, I mean her, into a lab rat.”

I smiled and slapped him in the shoulder. “Thanks for getting my back, buddy.”

“We have no intention of doing anything of the like to her. She is a great commodity, if she’s willing to allow it, I’d like to run a full spectrum of tests on her.”

I jumped off the bed. “Hey, do whatever you want. Poke me, prod me, hell you can even use an anal probe. Just figure out what’s wrong with me and then whip up an antidote to fix it. I’ve got a big game this weekend and there’s no way I’m doing it wearing a sports bra.”

No one laughed. I thought it was kind of funny.

“I don’t think you understand, Miss Carter” I let the “Miss” part slide. “This is a strange and new phenomenon that we k now little to nothing about. We couldn’t even begin to grasp what’s going on inside that body of yours.”

I nodded. “What does that mean?”

Rick rolled his eyes. “It means that there’s no cure for what ails you.”

I felt lightheaded and dizzy. I stumbled backwards and forward. Rick caught me in his arms and that’s when I puked. I shouldn’t have eaten that huge breakfast this morning. Rick groaned, Jenet pushed a button on the wall asking for maintenance and my dizziness only seemed to increase. I felt extremely woozy and then the whole world rushed around me as I dropped to the floor, greeting my friend Mr. Darkness once again.

________________________________

I opened my eyes and looked up, seeing a bright light shining across my face. I absently reached up and batted it away. When the light was gone, I saw Jenet staring down at me. She smiled and stepped away. Rick was there a split second later. He looked worried. He grabbed my hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. I quickly pulled it from his grasp. It was bad enough he looked at me differently already, there was no way he was holding my hand.

I groaned and sat up, rubbing the back of my sore neck. “What happened?”

Jenet handed me a Dixie cup full of water, which I downed in one gulp. “You fainted, sweetie.”

I groaned again, crumbling the cup and tossing it away. “I guess that means I’m a real girl then.” I laughed, neither of them did.

I shrugged and looked around the room. I was no longer in the exam room and I wasn’t on an exam bed. I was on a real one, with a real blanket covering me. The room looked kind of like one you’d find in a hotel. There was a TV mounted on the wall, a chair in the corner, even a small couch along the wall. The walls were painted a pale blue and the floor actually had carpet. The exam room was a drab white and the floors were linoleum. Whatever this room was, I don’t think it was meant for people to see. Or if it was, it was by people who didn’t get out much.

Jenet seemed to read my mind. “After you fainted, we moved you from the Lab to our dormitory. Most of us who work at STAR actually live right here at the facility. This is one of our guest dorms.”

“Does that mean I have to stay here?”

She shook her head. “Only if you want to?”

The offer sounded tempting but I couldn’t run away from the city for long. Sooner or later, I’d have to face the charges brought up against me; even if Mike Carter wasn’t the man he was a couple of days ago. It was going to be very interesting convincing anyone that I was me, though. There was a little mirror on the wall and when I looked into it, the same blonde haired beauty stared back at me just like before. I shook my head. There was no way anyone would be able to connect my new self to my old one, that’s for sure.

“So when do you take my blood for the tests?"

Rick cast a sidelong glance at his aunt. It wasn’t a happy one.

Jenet cleared her throat, pushing her wire frame glasses up her slender nose. “We’ve already taken some blood while you were unconscious. But there are a few other tests we’d like to run, just to be on the safe side.”

I sighed but nodded. “Bring them on, doc.”

“Are you sure?” asked Rick, acting concerned for me again.

“I’m not a frail glass angel, Rick” I threw off the blanket and slowly slipped off the bed.

I stumbled and he made an attempt to grab for me. He only stopped when I shot him a nasty look. This thing of his that he had going with me was going to stop and soon. But I’d confront him about it later; I didn’t want to embarrass him in front of his mother’s sister. I looked Jenet up and down, her much younger sister. She was mid thirties tops. The oldest I’d ever gone was fifty and there was nothing over the hill about her. Looking at Jenet, I could have had a fun time with her. Who knows, maybe she swings both ways. I winked but she ignored me.

“I’ve got us set up in a lab down the hall.”

“You have labs in the dorm?” asked Rick as Jenet used a keycard to open the door.

“Sometimes we get inspired. There’s a few labs like the one we’re about to go to. They’re on every floor. Most of the time they’re left vacant but every once in a while someone gets a brainstorm in the middle of the night. They’re fully stocked for just about any occasion.”

She led us down the hall. It had white walls and no decorations. It felt like a hospital corridor. At least the floors were different, hardwood instead of tile. It was kind of cold on my bare feet though. I tried not to let it bother me though, as Jenet quietly led the way. When we came to the lab, she swiped her card through another card thingy by the door. There was an electronic hiss and the door popped open. When it was fully opened, I got my first look inside. I was surprised by what I saw. I was expecting something out of Frankenstein. But it actually looked fairly normal, kind of like the chemistry lab back in high school except there were less counters and no balding Mr. Green.

This lab wasn’t very big but it was jam packed with scientific stuff. Don’t ask me to describe any of it to you because I couldn’t even if I wanted to. The room was sterile smelling though and everything was white. There were two people inside both wearing white lab coats, a man and woman. The guy was tall, real tall, like NBA player tall. He had a shock of red hair and was holding a gold pop can in his hand. I read the label, Gingold. I groaned; I hated that shit. It was some high energy Sports drink. Some of the guys on the team drank it before and after practice. It was supposed to increase flexibility or some shit like that or so the ads say. Me, I thought it tasted like chalk. Don’t ask how I know what chalk tastes like. The woman was shorter than the guy, much shorter. They were like polar opposites. She had black hair, cut to her chin and black framed glasses. The two of them were standing close, their hands almost grasping. I noticed wedding bands on each of their hands.

Jenet cleared her throat. “Rick and ummm Mike, I’d like you to meet Drs. Ralph and Sue Dibny.”

I nodded. Rick walked forward and shook their hands. He was such a nerd sometimes.

Ralph cleared his throat and came forward. He took my hand and shook it without asking but I didn’t mind. It amazed me how much larger his hand was to mine. “It’s a real pleasure to meet you and not because you’re Booster, or I mean, were Booster.”

I smiled. “I’m still me just repackaged. You can say I’m Little Booster now.”

The two of us shared a laugh. The others didn’t join in. I smiled at Ralph. I kind of liked him; I could see the two of us becoming fast friends. His wife on the other hand, she was cute but she was a cold fish. She kept staring at me, giving me the evil eye. I’m guessing she wasn’t Miss Popular in high school and here I am looking like the fricking Homecoming Queen. I smiled at her but she huffed, turning away. I shuddered, suddenly feeling really bad for Ralph.

Jenet cleared her throat. “So shall we get started?”

She pointed to a chair at a nearby desk. I walked over and sat down. Ralph looked around the room, trying to find something. I think he found it because he reached out of those long arms of his half way across the space and grabbed it. He came back with a stethoscope and a smile. Jesus, this guy was like Elongated Man or something. I’ve never seen anyone with arms that long. I looked at the gold can and grinned. Maybe that stuff made you more flexible than I thought. That still didn’t mean I was going to drink that shit though.

Ralph started off the tests. He acted like a normal physician at first, doing all the things that Jenet already did. Then he asked if he could take some blood. After that was finished, he proceeded to get a DNA sample---making me run a cotton swab along the inside of my mouth---and then snipped a little bit of my hair. Hey, whatever helps them understand me more? Ralph chatted to me the whole time he did his various things, asking me all sorts of questions. None of them were invasive. As it turns out he was a big football fan, not necessarily a Northwestern fan but I won’t hold that against him. Ralph was kind of talkative but that was fine by me, seeing as everyone else was being kind of quiet.

After he was done, I can’t even begin to describe all the things he did, it was his wife’s turn. Her tests were invasive and apparently required me to strip down to my birthday suit. She made the guys leave for that part. How strange is that, not being included in the guys anymore. When they were gone, I had no qualms about pulling the flimsy gown over my head. As soon as I did so Sue huffed. She started pinching and prodding me and wasn’t very gentle about it. One she started poking me with sharp needles, I finally took offense to it.

“You’re pissed because you think your husband is going to trade up to a better, shinier model.’ I snapped, causing her to drop her needle in shock.

Hey, I was blunt and didn’t give a damn. Her Mengele impersonation was driving me nuts.

“Mike” snapped Jenet, apparently shocked I’d say something like that.

“You’re mistaken,” said Sue quietly as she bent down, picked up her needle and threw it away. She then went over to a cabinet to get another one.

I sighed. Why did women do that, pretend to hide their true feelings. “No, I’m not. You’ve been giving me the evil eye since I walked into the room.” She gasped. “Let me save you the trouble, lady. I’m not attracted to your husband; in fact, I’m not attracted to guys at all. The only one in this room that’s ringing my bell right now is Doc Klyburn so you have nothing to worry about.”

Jenet blushed. Sue smiled. She was a lot nicer after that. I’m not sure what her tests entailed but she filled a couple of needles with strange stuff, stuck me in a couple of places and recorded the results. Then she hooked me up to some machines and recorded the results. She wasn’t nearly as talkative as her husband but she did ask me a few questions. She mainly wanted to know how I felt, so I was as honest as I could be. I mean how else do you think a guy would feel after waking up as a woman. Suffice to say I didn’t give her a “kittens and rainbows” answer. The rest of her questions were about my health from beforehand and of course, being an athlete I was in peak physical shape. I might be a chick now but I’m still Booster.

After Sue’s tests, she told me to put the gown back on. As soon as I did, the guys were allowed back into the room. Ralph actually had to duck slightly when he walked in. God he was tall. He smiled at the three of us.

“All done, ladies?”

“She’s all set. I think we have everything we need,” said Sue, walking over to her husband, squeezing his hand gently. “If there’s more, we’d like to see you if that’s ok?”

I nodded. “It was kind of fun, especially seeing as I got another day off from classes.”

The grownups laughed. Hey, I’m far from grown up.

“I think it’s safe to say that you’ll be excused from classes for at least the rest of the week,” said Jenet, the other two scientists nodded. “Unless you want to come out and tell everyone who you really are.”

I wasn’t so sure about that. Mike Carter was a wanted man now and I don’t think I was ready to deal with everything that entailed. Besides, not being me had its advantages too. I needed to find out who set me up for starters. You thought I forgot about that, huh? There’s no way I’d forgot that someone looking like me actually robbed the museum where I failed. I had a pretty good idea who was behind it, but I had to figure out how. I also had to figure out how I was going to tell my mother about this. Yesterday I kind of avoided it, partially thinking that there was a cure for it. Now that I knew that was unlikely I’m not sure how I can explain things to her. She worshiped me; she loved having the football hero for a son.

Now…I’m not sure what I could do with a body like this.

We left the lab after that. Jenet took Rick and me back to the first exam room I was in. She made Rick stay outside while I got dressed. It felt kind of strange putting on these new clothes but I was surprisingly adapting really quickly to it. Yesterday I was kind of a wreck about all this but this morning it seemed almost natural. I’m not sure if I was scared or not. There was something else different too. I couldn’t quite place it but I felt more alive than I have in years. My head didn’t feel as jumbled either, like a great weight was lifted from it. I’m not saying I was thinking like a chick but I wasn’t exactly thinking like myself either. It’s really strange to describe but it almost felt like I was becoming a different person.

Jenet walked with us to the front entrance. She hugged Rick first, telling him to stop being such a stranger. Then she turned to me, giving me a hug too. It kind of surprised but it was nice too. The last time someone hugged me was a couple of years ago and it was my mother.

She pulled out a business card and handed it to me. “If you have any questions or even if you just want to talk, you know where to find me.”

“Thanks doc” I took the card and slipped into my front pocket.

Rick and I left the building, walking toward the parking lot. We passed a pair of younger guys in lab coats, one of them wolf whistled at me. I turned, flipped my hair and put a little sway to my walk. Rick turned every shade of red imaginable. Hey, if you’ve got, you might as well flaunt it, right.

__________________________________

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” I said, shouting at the TV.

I’d only been home for about an hour. Once again, Rick played my great big protector and told me under no circumstances was I to leave the apartment or answer the door. Hey, I’m not making that mistake twice. But he said nothing about not watching TV. So after he left to do some studying at the library, the first thing I did was go to the television. I went right to the news, after all, I was headline making at the moment. Sure enough, I wasn’t disappointed. Rose was at it again, this time she was at NU, interviewing some of my teammates. She was talking to one of the tight ends, Marcus; he was a good friend of mine. Or least he used to be. He was currently selling me up the river, telling her and probably the millions of viewers watching, that I was the biggest jackass imaginable. But that wasn’t the worst part.

“So you’re telling me that he stole your girlfriend?” asked Rose, trying to clarify what Marcus just said.

The giant sandy haired oaf nodded. “She was the love of my life and that bastard swooped in and took her from me.”

I groaned. It was bull of course. Becca, Marcus’s “life long love” was a cheating minx. She actually approached me, all hot and heavy one night in a club about a month ago. She was kind of drunk and really horny. I tried to push her off because there are certain unwritten rules, one of them being to leave the “girl” of your teammates alone. I tried my hardest to get rid of her and when she finally got the clue, she went off in a huff. A day later, she started spreading rumors that we did a lot of nasty things in a motel room off the thruway. Not that I wouldn’t have, she was hot but I didn’t dip into another man’s honey. At least not a man who weighed three fifty and could snap me like a twig. Marcus and Becca broke up after that. But he didn’t blame me for it; at least I thought he didn’t.

Now he was “Benedict Arnold”ing me all over the news. What a jackass.

It didn’t stop there. Rose moved on to some of my other teammates and sure enough they sold me up the river too. Each one of them had a horrible story to tell about me, painting me as some kind of diabolical monster. Most of them were about women too. So much for team spirit or whatever. These guys were supposed to be my friends and what do they do as soon as I’m implicated in a crime, they all turn against me. It pissed me off.

It got worse when she interviewed the Coach.

“Coach Danfield, you being Mike Carter’s coach, you must have noticed something wrong?”

The Coach sighed. “Carter was a good kid but it’s usually the good ones that go bad.” He ran his hands through what was left of his hair. “He had this way about him, you know. He walked around like he was God’s gift to the world and that everyone should do what he said. I guess must good players have an ego but Carter’s is something else. I’ve never seen a player demand as much as he did.”

“YOU SON OF A BITCH!”

I lost it. I jumped to my feet, clenching my fists at my sides. I’m not sure what happened. But the everything metal in the room started to shake. When I say everything metal, you have to understand that Rick kind of has this modern style. Most of his furniture is made of chrome and glass. So when I say everything, I mean everything. Then something else happened, something crazy. First, it was the chair in the corner; it rose about two feet in the air. Then it was the glass-topped coffee table, after that everything else started to hover too. Some of the pictures came off the wall and other little knickknacks rose from where they were sitting. There was this metal vase sitting on a bookcase---a gift from Rick’s mother---it rose so high that it touched the ceiling. At first, I didn’t know what was going on and then it clicked. I was doing this; I was the one making all these things float. I panicked after this. As soon as I did, everything dropped. The coffee table shattered, the chair made a loud thump and the odds and ends were scattered everywhere. I dropped back down on the couch, shocked. I stared at my hands; palms spread wide open.

What in the hell just happened? I grabbed the remote and absently clicked off the TV. Then I ran my hands through my hair. I did that, I made those things float. I’m not sure if I was scared or excited. The implications of what I just did were staggering. Jenet said it was a big possibility that I was a Meta but that pretty much proved it, didn’t it? I wanted to smile but I was too shocked to do so. It’s not every day that someone turns into a whatever I just did.

I continued to stare at my hands, wondering if something like I just did could be controlled. I mean I did it in a fit of anger but could I do it without.? I took a deep breath and stood up. I looked around the room, trying to find something small enough to practice on. The vase. It was small enough and it floated higher than anything else in the room. I took another deep breath and pointed my finger at it. I closed my eyes and concentrated. Come to me, you bastard. I felt something, something deep down from within. There was a tingling sensation that traveled down my arm to the tip of my fingers. When I opened my eyes, I saw the vase hovering a few feet from the floor. It was the coolest thing in the world. I snapped my wrist slightly and the case started floating toward me.

How fricking cool is that?

I started to play around with it, floating it here and there. After a few minutes, I gently lowered it to the ground. Ok the vase was easy now something else. I looked about again, my eyes falling on the bookshelf. I concentrated on one of the books there. It was hardcover and pretty lightweight. I put all I could into, trying to will it toward me with my mind. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t bring the book toward me. I sighed; maybe it was a fluke. I snapped my wrist and something else flew into the air. It went right at my head; I had to duck to avoid it. When it smacked into the wall behind me I snapped around to see what it was. It was that damn pencil holder of Rick’s. Who the hell had a metal pencil holder anyway? Then it dawned on me. I groaned, looking around the room. Metal, everything that floated earlier was metal. I pointed my hand at the pencil holder and concentrated on it. Ever so slowly, I lifted it off the floor then gently lowered it again. Holy shit, I’m Magnet Chick. I quickly started lifting other things too, all of them metal, all of them things that had floated when I got angry earlier. It was the coolest damn thing in the world.

I’m a Meta; I’m a Magnetic Meta girl. I smiled. How cool was that.

There was a sound behind me. I snapped around quickly, turning toward my bedroom door. The door was open from earlier; I never close doors around here. What I saw made all the color drain from my face. It was that golden thing, the one I took from the museum. In all the crazy stuff that had been going on lately, I completely forgot about it. My eyes widened and my mouth dropped open. The golden football size orb thingy was floating in my doorway, a little red light blinking in the center of it. At first, I thought I might be seeing things or maybe I somehow floated it with my newfound powers. Then it did something I didn’t expect. It floated through the room, stopping in front of me, hovering a few inches from my face.

Then the craziest thing in the world happened, it spoke:

“Goldstar? Is that really you?”

-----

Author's Note: Here's Chapter six, finally. Sometimes there's chapters in stories that when you're writing or in my case trying to write that just don't come to you right away. This was one of those chapters. I knew what I wanted but I just couldn't get it typed. I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing and DC Comics for their wonderful characters.

-----

Chapter Six:

I wanted to scream. I mean how often do floating gold things talk to you? Instead I kind of stood there, staring in shocked awe at the golden orb as it hovered in front of me. There was no way this was possible. I blinked but it didn’t go away. So I closed my eyes, counted to twenty inside my head and opened them again. But the damn orb thingy was still there. It didn’t speak again but it continued to hover in front of me, the little red light did get kind of bigger though. It moved, too, looking me up and down. I looked down too, trying to see what it saw that was so fascinating. I was a wearing a pair of skinny leg jeans---Rick bought them because a lot of girls around campus wore them--- and a white t-shirt with a picture of the NU Wildcat on it. Rick got that because he thought it would make me feel more natural.

I found my voice finally. When I spoke, it was soft and barely audible. “What the hell are you?”

At first, the orb said nothing. It continued to look me other with that red eye. “You don’t know who I am?”

I shook my head. It sighed. “I was afraid of this. It would appear that you resemble her a great deal but after scanning you, I have found some genetic differences. They are minor but they are there. It’s strange because you two are very similar, perhaps relatives. Tell me what is today’s date?”

I took a deep breath. What the hell was this thing? I answered in my soft voice again: “It’s April 15th.”

“And the year?”

This thing was joking right. “2011”

It sighed or at least it sounded like a sigh. The thing had a strange voice. It was kind of mechanical and British, almost like the brother in Frasier. I’d like to say almost C-3P0 but not nearly as stuffy and annoying but it did have the whole gold thing going for it.

I asked my first question again. This time it answered.

“I am a BX9 Security Drone, property of the Time Corps Police Force, designated number 0098765. My previous partner, Goldstar, called me Skeets.”

Most of that was crap to me except the last part. “Did you say Time Corps?”

“Yes. I am a representative of a police force that monitors temporal anomalies. My partner and I were tracking a dangerous criminal AI calling itself Brother Eye. It created an illegal time portal and disappeared into it before we could apprehend it.”

I nodded. Again, it was geek to me. The time travel part I got but the rest of it, I felt like I was talking to Rick when he got all nerd on me. “And your partner is this Goldstar?”

“Yes, she and I followed Brother Eye into the temporal portal but something happened. The portal was unstable and depolarized before we could calibrate to it. There was a massive disturbance of some kind and the two of us were separated.”

I nodded. I think I was slowly starting to follow this thing. Finally. But it still sounded crazy. But I suppose it wasn’t anymore crazy than a normal healthy nineteen year old male changing into a chick over night. So time travel and floating gold robot things, not so crazy after all. But the fact that it was talking to me, that’s what I was having a problem with. A couple of days ago this thing was nothing more than a motionless gold football and now, who knows what it was. I know what it said it was but that meant very little to me. For all I know I could of slipped and hit my head and this is all just some crazy illusion.

The thing, Skeets, floated over to the window. It hovered there for some time, looking I think. I slowly walked up behind it, trying to keep my distance. I’m not sure if I trusted this funky thing. It hovered and looked for some time then it turned to me.

“This city is Chicago, is it not?” I nodded. “In my time it is called New Gotham. Most of this area is still here but it’s considered a highly underdeveloped zone. Most of the buildings in the twenty fifth century are three times taller than your tallest one here. This is most strange indeed.”

“The 25th Century?”

It didn’t answer. Instead, it floated over to the desk in the corner where Rick’s laptop was sitting. “Do you still use the Internet in this century?” I nodded again. “How primitive. I need to use this console device to access the network. I am afraid that I have been in hibernation for far too long.”

It didn’t wait for my say so. Instead, a small hole opened in the side of it and a whip-like cord came out. It snapped through the air and stuck into the front of the laptop. Skeets started to glow and hum, vibrating slightly. It didn’t last for long. We had Wi-Fi but this was crazy. I’d never seen anything like it. When it was finished, it stopped humming and the cord snapped back into it. Then it floated over to me again, hovering close to my face like before. Didn’t It know anything about personal space? I took a step back, hoping it wouldn’t follow. It didn’t.

“I have finished updating my internal databases. I am now up to date on all the comings and goings of the past three or four centuries, where most of your relevant data is stored. Though my own historical databases were once extensive, they seemed to have been damaged some in the Jump. I can still recall some things but most of my database is corrupted. The accumulation of knowledge is quite important to me.”

I nodded and smiled. It was a fake smile and nod. I had no idea what the thing was talking about. It definitely picked the wrong guy…err…chick to talk too. “Are you telling me that you surfed the whole web in a matter of seconds?”

“Yes if you mean that I have thoroughly copied and downloaded every bit of relevant data I could find.”

“What are you looking for exactly?”

“Goldstar of course.”

“Did you find her?”

He made that sighing sound again. “I believe I have. It is most tragic indeed. Apparently, the time portal threw her into the Dark Ages and she was believed to be a witch. The primitives of the time captured her and burned her alive. If I had emotions or tear ducts I would mourn for her.”

Damn, tough break. I felt bad for the little dude but it was hardly my problem. “So what are you going to do now?”

“Continue our mission of course.”

I nodded, leaving it standing by the desk. “Good luck with that. You can open the door by yourself can’t you?”

I walked over to the couch, dropped down on it and snatched up the remote. I flicked on the TV, avoiding the news this time. There was no way I was going to make that mistake again. I found some cartoons. There wasn’t much on during the mid-afternoon. As much as I wanted to talk more to the gold dude, it was too freaky to worry about. After all, its partner was dead; she died a long time ago. That was hardly my problem. The only thing I cared about when I grabbed it was selling it. Now that it was apparently alive and floating about, I could hardly do that. As cool as it was, I couldn’t keep it either. There were too many problems with that plan.

It floated over to me, dropping down in front of the TV, blocking Sponge Bob.

“You do not wish to assist me?”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it. This thing was a crazy robot from the future. The faster it was out of my new luxurious hair the better. “Look, your name is Skeets, right? Look Skeets, I’d love to help you out but frankly, I’m not sure where this involves me. I found you gathering dust in a museum basement. I only took you because I needed cash and thought I could get a fortune from you. I’m sure you’re grateful that I liberated you but I’m not in the mood to get involved in your mission. I have my own problems to sort out.”

Skeets moved closer to me, too close. His red eye thingy started to glow and this strange red beam emitted from it, hitting me right in the eye. I tried to swat it away but it was no use. The beam stayed there for a few seconds. It kind of tingled a little and then went away. It pissed me off. I felt my anger rise a little bit but forced it back down. I’m not sure I wanted to get angry again, especially after what I did earlier.

I opened my mouth to tell it what I was thinking but never got a chance. I heard the key in the lock before the door opened. Skeets must have heard it too because I only looked at the door for a second and when I snapped back to tell it to scram, it was gone. How in the hell did it move that fast? I looked about a bit but it was really gone. I shrugged and shut off the TV as Rick walked into the room. He was carrying a pile of books, looking exhausted. I did my best not too care. He looked at me and smiled, setting the books on the little table near the door.

“You wouldn’t imagine the mob outside the building right now; I had to fight my way through. Tom actually had to help me.”

Tom is the front door man. I guess I never mentioned him because I didn’t think he was relevant.
I nodded and looked about, wondering where my little gold friend disappeared to. “Are they still trying to find a sound bite about the museum?”

Rick looked at me like I’d just grown a third boob. Hey, that would be kind of hot, like that chick from Total Recall. “You haven’t been watching the news?”

I shook my head. I was avoiding it ever since I went all Magnet Girl.

He abandoned the rest of his stuff, snatched the remote from my hand and clicked on the TV. He flipped to local news and what I saw made me groan. It was an exterior view of some bank, police cars and news vans swarming the building. There were a lot of people there too. I looked down at the words scrolled across the screen: CARTER STRIKES AGAIN. What the hell is this? I dropped onto the couch while Rose Levin stepped into frame. She was beginning to look less hot and more like a nuisance every time I saw her, especially when she dragged my good name through the mud.

“This is Rose Levin, outside the municipal bank on Lakeshore.” I groaned; that was down the street. I even had an account there. “At one o’clock this afternoon, college football phenom Michael Carter walked into the building behind me, armed with a small pistol and demanded a large amount of cash from one of the tellers. The young woman bravely faced down the troubled youth, pushed the silent alarm and waited patiently while police arrived. Mr. Carter, sensing the inevitable fled the scene in a rush. We will have video of the whole incident momentarily.”

“What the fuck is this?”

“You tell me,” said Rick, sighing, slumped in the chair. He glanced around the messy room and back at me. But something told me he wasn’t talking about the apartment.

“How the hell should I know? You and I were still on our way back from the visit with your aunt. Unless I can spontaneously change genders and be in two places at once, I don’t think it was me.”

Ok so I did spontaneously change genders but there was no way I could multiply myself. Rick stared at me for a few seconds, his eyes narrowing. Then he sighed, looking more relieved than ever. I think the stress was getting to him. It was getting to me, too. It’s not every day that you rob a bank and are not around for the actual robbery.

“I thought maybe you had some power that…”

“I don’t have any power you jackass.”

Ok so I decided at that second not to tell him about my new found gifts. I didn’t want to freak him out anymore than he already was. He looked like hell. I don’t think he slept much last night. His hair was disheveled and his clothes looked a little rumpled. Rick was a clean guy and well groomed too. He always took the time to take care of his personal appearance. Besides being a bit clingy and overprotective as of late---i.e. the last day or so---he was always a cut up kind of guy. The guy sitting in the chair across the room was anything but. I think both my situations were getting to him more than they were me.

“So if it wasn’t you, then who…”

I cut him off. “How in the hell should I know. It’s just like the museum. I’ll admit to wanting to steal the gem, hell I almost did but those dorks caught me in the act. I took off after that, ran through the basement to get out there. Whoever robbed the museum did it after I left but somehow pretended to be me. The same thing must have happened here, too.”

“But why you?”

I was thinking the same thing. Everyone loved me or so I thought. I wasn’t so sure about my fucking teammates and the Coach. At least Rick still thought of me as a bud, even if he thought I actually robbed that bank. But seriously, not all those who pretended to like me hated me enough to frame me like this. There was only one person who was really pissed at me and that was Ballard. But it still didn’t explain why Ballard would pull this shit. I figured he’d try something, but why go to all the trouble of telling me to swipe the gem and then send someone else to do it after I failed. Then pull a bank job a day or so afterwards. It didn’t make any sense. I know he was pissed, but he needed to get over it already. That gem he took---whichever one it was---was more than enough to pay off my debt to him. Unless he held a bigger grudge than I thought. I groaned, rubbing my temples. This guy has serious issues.
“It’s got to be Ballard,” I finally said.

Rick slowly got to his feet, walking over to the phone. “I’m calling my Dad.”

I watched as he picked up the handset and called his old man. The two of them started to talk; Rick wandered over to his bedroom to do so. Me I sat on the couch, pulling my legs up into my chest, wrapping my arms around them. It was kind of a girly thing to do I know but I wasn’t feeling particularly manly at the moment. I continued to stare at the TV, watching the scenes unfold. It was muted now; Rose was talking to people, apparently eyewitnesses. It didn’t make any sense. Why would Ballard want to besmirch my name like this? He got what he wanted, didn’t he? But the bigger question was how did he do it? How in the hell did he make someone look like me?

I wracked my brain but couldn’t come up with a thing.

Rick came walking back into the room. He looked like someone poisoned his drink. He moved kind of slow, setting the handset gently on the receiver as he did so. He looked at me and I could tell it was bad news.

“The old man doesn’t want you anywhere near me, does he?”

Rick sighed and nodded. “He thinks that my association with you might somehow reflect badly on him. I tried to talk him out of it but he threatened to cut me off and pull me from school.” Rick sighed, dropping into the chair. “I either play along or its bye bye Northwestern.”

That fucking sucked. I knew the old man hated me but this was ridiculous. Rick was a good friend, probably my best one. I’m sure you might have guessed it but I don’t have a lot. I have loads of fans and pretenders but when it comes down to it, Rick is the only guy who truly befriended me. He didn’t care that I was a football God. He liked me for me and though we were two different people, he treated me like a person.

“You went along with it?”

He sighed. “I don’t want to but he’s not giving me much of a choice. I have until tomorrow morning then he’s sending a car for me.”

I nodded, tears flowing down my cheeks. I sniffled. God damn female hormones. I wiped my face but it didn’t help. I struggled to my feet and stumbled over to him. He stood up slightly and wrapped his arms around me. My mind was a mess and my emotions, don’t even get me started. When he held me, it felt good and not at all the way I wanted. Usually when friends hugged, it was as friends.

Specifically we were two dudes and we used to hug like them. But him hugging me now felt so much different. The strange part, I kind of didn’t want it to stop. When it finally did and he pulled away, my nipples were kind of hard and my lips sort of moist.

I pushed away quickly. My heart was beating a bit. There was no way I was going to let that happened. I liked chicks, I liked chicks a whole lot. I closed my eyes and visualized a hot blonde in a string bikini. I sighed. A sight like that would have given me major wood. But my nipples tweaked a bit and I got a little wet down below. But something happened. The blonde started to transform into me and behind her a man appeared, wrapping strong arms around my waist. When his face came into view, I blanked it out and snapped my eyes open. NOT GOING THERE!

Rick was standing there, staring. I laughed. “What are you waiting around here for, go pack?”

He nodded sadly. “The apartment is paid up until the end of the month; I can front some cash if you want to stay longer…”

I shook my head. “Just go pack you dumb-ass.”

He nodded again and stumbled off to his room.

Me, the tears started flowing again and this time I couldn’t stop. Rick turned from his doorway but I couldn’t let him see me cry again. I snapped around and ran into my bedroom, throwing the door shut behind me. I dropped onto the bed and cried into the pillow.

“I hate to interrupt,” said a mechanical voice. “But you and I need to talk.”

I groaned, grabbed a pillow and threw it at the floating nuisance.

______________________________

“I do not think this is a good idea,” said Skeets, hovering near my head.

At least I think he was. He was hovering somewhere nearby but apparently he had a Stealth Tactical Cloak, sorta like in Star Trek. That’s how he disappeared so quickly when Rick came into the room. He explained it all to me after he dodged the pillow I threw at him. Then he listened to my wallowing sad story. Ok I didn’t really wallow but it was close to it. Not only did he have the Cloak but he had a bunch of other cool little gadgets hidden inside that football-sized body of his. One of them was a Voice Replication function, something that I was really interested in.

“You’re the one who wants my help, right?”

He sighed. “Yes, but how does your helping me have anything to do with you getting in there.”

The there that he was referring too was Wayne Enterprises. The two of us---me visible, him not---were across the street from the towering skyscraper, both staring in awe. It was the only thing I could think of when I came up with my plan. Oh that, right I haven’t explained it yet. Ok so here it is: We need to find Ballard and the only one who might know where his whereabouts is Wayne. I know it’s a long shot and I probably won’t get to see the man but I did have a connection.

I looked at the business card in my hand and smiled. You better be working today, Bea. I held the card in the air. “Can you see this?”

“Yes, I’m cloaked, not blind.”

I turned and looked at the building again. It was a gleaming beacon in a rather dismal looking area of town. Ok, not really dismal but not exactly the best place to be. Thomas Wayne built the building here back when the city was going through some hardships of its own. It was during a time when the economy was struggling and people needed something to look up too. So Wayne Spire---not to be confused with the other famous Chicago landmark---was erected. Now it was hardly the biggest building in the city but it was definitely an eye catcher. Especially with the large W sculpted on the top of it.

“Hurry up and make the call, don’t screw it up or I’m sticking you in the closet tonight.”

So he made the call. It was kind of weird, hearing my voice again. He copied it from the Voice Mail on my cell phone; luckily, I hadn’t changed it yet. That’s what his Voice Replicator thing did. Once he heard a bit of speech, he could copy it after only hearing a few lines. It was kind of freaky but when he demonstrated it earlier by copying my voice---my new one that is---I was hooked. That’s when my plan fell into play. I’d get him to imitate Mike and call Bea, asking her to look up the information for us. If anyone had info on Ballard, it was Wayne, his chief rival.

Skeets tapped into my Blue Tooth so I could hear both sides of the conversation.

“Hello?” I sighed; Bea’s voice was heavenly.

“Hey babe” Skeet’s imitation was uncanny. “Guess who this is?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“I don’t think so”

I smacked my forehead. He may have been a super advanced robot from the future but he definitely needed a crash course in modern human behavior.

“Look you shouldn’t be calling me. If your number appears on my phone, a Wayne Enterprises employee, then that could look bad for everyone involved.”

“I’ll make it brief. I just need you look up someone for me.”

“What am I, 411 now?”

Skeets sighed. Even the sigh sounded like me, the old me I mean. It was kind of creepy. “I just need you to look for someone. Your boss knows him, Henry Ballard.”

“That name is kind of blasphemy around here.”

“I’m not asking you to call the guy into the office. I’m looking for him, it’s kind of important.’

Bea groaned. “Ok but only if it gets you off the phone.”

I smiled, giving Skeets two thumbs up. At least I thought I was giving it to him, this whole invisible thing was driving me nuts. But I couldn’t exactly walk through the streets with him, people would definitely freak out.

The two of us waited for her to come back on the line. We waited ten minutes but she never did. Just when I was thinking she screwed us over, I saw her coming out of the building. I cursed; this wasn’t a part of the plan. She was expecting me---the Mike me---not the hot chick. I slipped further into the alley we were standing in, hoping Skeets would follow. Bea walked to the curb and looked around, holding a slip of paper in her hand. She looked good, real good. She wasn’t dressed as much like a school marm today, her hair actually down. I smiled. Did that mean she was trying to look good for me?
I bit my lip. “Call her back. Tell her to walk across the street and over here.”

I’m not sure if Skeets called her back, but a few seconds later, I saw Bea pull a cell out of her pocket. Skeets told her what I told him. Bea looked both ways and waited then crossed the street in a bit of a run. I slunk back further into the alley. I’m not sure how I was going to explain all of this to her. I suppose I could pretend to be my sister again. But what good would that do. It would be another lie to another person. I’m not sure I could do that again. Hey, listen to me, I actually sound like a real person. Who would have thought that was possible.

“Mike?” she asked, looking about. She groaned. “Carter, where the hell are you. I only get a twenty minute lunch break.”

“Back here, babe,” said my voice, coming out of Skeet’s mouth or whatever it is he had.

Bea shielded her eyes and peered into the alley. She groaned and marched inside. I took a deep breath and stepped forward. When she saw me, she rolled her eyes. She looked around me at first but when she didn’t see anything, she put her hands on her hips. She looked kind of pissed. I guess I couldn’t blame her.

“Don’t send your bimbo. I don’t have all day.”

“I’m not his bimbo, Bea,” I said, my voice small and insignificant. I sighed. “I’m Mike.”

She stared at me for a few seconds. She looked me up and down, her eyes lingering on my feminine bits for a second. Then she looked at my face. “Nice try” she finally said, scoffing. “I talked to Mike on the phone. Where the hell is he, I don’t have time for these games?”

“I’m serious,” I said, stepping forward. “I’m Mike Carter. You remember meeting in the diner, right. Well that night I went to practice, then work. Things happened at work. When I woke us the next morning I looked like this.” I waved my hands over my body.

“I don’t…” her voice trailed off. Then her eyes got big as saucers.

“Are you a Meta?”

I nodded. “I took some tests for it this morning.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” she said, shaking her head. “I just talked to you on the phone and there was no way you were a girl.”

“Skeets, you can come out now.”

He suddenly materialized beside my head. When he did, Bea let out a startled gasp. She took it a lot better than I thought she would. In fact, she took it a little too good. She didn’t even freak out when I told her I was a Meta. In fact, she looked too calm for it. What the heck was going on?

She looked at Skeets. “This thing mimicked your voice?”

“Yes” Skeets said, still speaking in my Mike voice.

“That is so freaky.”

“Tell me about it.”

“So what does this have to do with Ballard?”

I sighed and gave her the short version. She nodded and listened. When I was done, she shook her head.

“You’re a real idiot, you know that.”

I nodded. I’d been thinking that a lot lately. But something was different now, something I couldn’t quite place. I think I might have mentioned it before but I felt different. I still felt like me but I was a different me. Bea stared at me for the longest time, not saying a thing. She wrapped her arms around her body and toed the ground.

“That feeling you’re feeling right now will go away in a few days. It’s a little jarring at first but it passes and then you find inner peace or the closest thing to it.”

“How would you know?”

She smiled. She raised her hand, palm up and the most amazing thing happened. Her entire hand burst into green flame. “Because you’re not the only freak around here.”

-----

Author's Note: Here's Chapter Seven. The action will pick up after this one but I felt it was necessary to tell this chapter first. I'm real excited about it too because I got to do something that I've wanted to do since starting the Retcons a while ago...so look for a very important cameo in this one. I can't say much more without spoiling it. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and Lilith for letting me me use this character. I also have to thank DC Comics for their wonderful characters.

-----

Chapter Seven:

After revealing her deep dark secret, Bea gave us the slip of paper and promised to explain everything after work. She told me and Skeets to meet her back at WE---that’s Wayne Enterprise, in case you’re wondering--- after seven, when she got out. So we wandered about a bit. I took Skeets sightseeing a bit and then to some of the shops. I didn’t have a lot of money but I had enough to do some browsing. I’m not going to bore you with all the gory details. But when I passed a woman‘s clothing story, the manager practically dragged me inside. I think she thought I was a model. She kept on asking me the name of my agency and if I had a portfolio, she could see. I tried to tell her I was just a civilian but she wouldn’t listen. She gave me her business card and told me to contact her as soon as possible.

Like that’d ever happen. After that, I took a taxi away from the shops. We went to the Lakeshore and I returned to the scene of the crime. It felt kind of weird walking the halls of the Field, especially during the day. Skeets stayed invisible while we wandered the halls. I went to all my favorite places. I even went by the Gem Hall and took a peek inside. I was kind of curious to see what the fake me took. It turned out it wasn’t the stone I would have picked. The blue stone was still there, resting on its little glass covered pedestal. It was a strange thing. The little plaque underneath said it was from Egypt, a replica of the one some pharaoh decorated all his things with.

After a couple of hours, I hopped in a cab and went back to WE. Bea was waiting outside for us. We went to a little diner down the street. We didn’t say anything until we ordered and even then I wasn’t sure what to say. I looked around to make sure there was no one nearby.

“So how long have you been a you know?” I asked as I dipped a fry in some ketchup.

She didn’t say anything at first. She took a sip of her drink and looked around the diner. I think she was just as nervous and just as cautious as me. After all, Metas weren’t exactly things you ran into on the street. We were a dime a dozen. Ok, so maybe I knew a little bit but it was hard not to. After all that Jade chick did talk about us when she announced to the world that we existed. I just never thought in a million years that I’d be one, too.

“It happened a couple of months ago,” she said in a soft tone. “I’m a business major at NU and I was interning at WE. I’d like to think I did a good job but there was always room for improvement. When the change happened, I was devastated. I kind of had my whole life ahead of me, you know. I had good grades, the perfect girlfriend and a job I liked to go to every day.”

“So you were a dude too?”

She nodded. “It seems to happen to a lot of us.”

“You’ve met others?”

“Just Doris and Jade.”

I was jealous. I’m not sure why but it was really cool. I wonder if they’d seek me out too. After all, I just started this whole new life. “Did you go to STAR Labs too?”

She shook her head. “They brought me up to some spaceship. They tried to recruit me into their little group but I wasn’t really interested. Jade seemed to respect my decision. She told me that if I ever changed my mind that she knew where to find me.”

This new revelation kind of shocked me. She had a cool power, why wouldn’t she want to help people. I ate a couple more fries, staring at the smoking hot chick across from me. It was hard to imagine that she was ever a dude. But then again when I looked in the mirror all I saw was a smoking hot chick too. The problem with her though, was that she was so damn good at being a chick. She walked like one and talked like one. I sniffed the air, smelling her flowery perfume. She even smelled like one. I wonder if it was ingrained in all of us now or if it was something we learned in time. I’m not sure if I liked the latter thought. I could see some things as a given but there was no way I was going to act all girly and giggle.

I asked a few more general questions but I didn’t want to pry. Clearly, she felt brave enough to reveal herself to me but not brave enough to tell me about her life. There were a few things I needed to k now, though.

“So that night in the bar, you really weren’t interested in me?”

She took another sip of her drink. Her salad still sat untouched on her plate.

“It's complicated,” she said finally, trying not to make eye contact.

I smiled. “So you were interested?”

She didn’t say anything but she didn’t need to. If I had been my male self, I would have been ecstatic but my new self felt kind of ashamed. Suddenly I knew why she was so standoffish and I understood. I think I was going through the same problem with Rick. I’m not saying I was interested in him, but I had feelings. They were strange feelings. Looking around the room, there were only three or four people besides us, two of which worked here. The other two were a pair of overweight middle aged truckers. One of them was eyeing us and it creeped me out. For the first time in my life, my skin crawled and I knew exactly how a hot chick felt.

I looked at Bea, seeing the tears started to well in the corner of her eyes. I bit my lip. I needed to change the subject and fast. I looked down at the slip of paper sitting off to the side. It had the information I asked her to get for me.

“So, do you want to go there with me?”

She looked at the paper and sighed. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

“C’mon, I think it would be fun.”

Ok, so I was lying. The only reason I wanted to go was because I needed to get to the bottom of this. It’s kind of freaky that a man who wants to be a Senator also runs and owns one of the more raunchier nightclubs in town. I’d only been in The 1000’s once before but it was definitely the place to be. I took a couple hot young things there after a game once. Of course, yours truly didn’t have to wait in line like everyone else. It was a booming place with great music, lots of sexy dancing and one of the best mixers in the city. It had atmosphere too and these scantily clad waitresses that any guy would love to bang.

I inwardly shuddered at that thought.

“I can’t get any more involved in this than I already am,” she said, finally picking up a fork and digging into her salad. She took a few bites. “You should drop it too. Your old life is over. Mike Carter doesn’t exist anymore; let them drag his name through the mud all they want.”

She was right in a way. But my ego wouldn’t allow it to rest. “I can’t. They’re still looking for me, I owe them money. They’re going to continue to pull this shit until I give it to them or until I stop it.”

She sighed. “Ballard is dangerous. He’s destroyed people a lot more important than you.”

“I have to do this. He threatened my mother. He’s dragging me through the mud. I might not be Mike Carter anymore but I can’t let him do this to me.”

“He’s trying to drag you out of hiding.”

I nodded. “Well it’s working.”

She ate a few more bites of her salad then looked at the paper again. She picked up her glass and took a small drink. Then she sighed heavily. “Ok, look I’ll go with you to the club but I’m not getting involved in the rest of your crap.”

I smiled big. I knew she wouldn’t let me down. “So when do we do this thing?”

She took a big sip. “Tomorrow night. I work early tomorrow but I have the next day off. If we’re going to do this then we’re going to have to make it a long night.”

I smiled real big at her. “Then it’s a date.”

She rolled her eyes. I picked up my glass and gently tapped it against her’s.

__________________________________

I gave her my cell phone number and walked with her to the curb.

“I’ll call you when I get out of work,” she said and then she did something I didn’t expect, she gave me hug.

You know what; it was kind of nice. I smiled as a cab pulled up and opened the door for her as she got inside. I waited until she closed the door and drove away before I flagged for my own. She lives in the opposite direction of me in case you’re wondering. Now too many people that I associate with live in the Tides, besides Rick of course. I suppose I won’t be living there any longer either. It’s kind of a drag but I understand why he did it. Senator Hunter is the kind of dick who likes to get his own way. The only reason I voted for him the last time was because his opponent was caught in a nasty scandal involving a boy scout---I’m not going to get into the details. Hunter wasn’t up for election for another year or so and if it meant Ballard was running against him, I guess I could deal with Hunter being in the Senate again.

I stuck my arm out, waving it up and down. It didn’t take long for a car to appear. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a cab. It was a blue sedan. I looked at the driver as it pulled up and groaned. What the hell did the Feds want now? I took a step back, wondering if I could run and get away with it. But how would that look, after all I was supposed to be cooperating with this guy. So instead, I smiled sweetly as he rolled down the passenger window.

“Miss Carter, fancy meeting you here” he said, not even trying to pretend to be surprised.

I inwardly groaned but outwardly, I feigned pleasantness. “Agent Broderick, are you stalking me?”

He smiled. “Guilty as charged” The lock on the door popped. “Hop in; I’ll give you a ride home.”

I groaned but how would it look if I refused. I looked around, wondering if there were witnesses. There were a couple of guys lingering against the building. One of them looked at me and gave me a kissy face. I shuddered and pulled open the door, hopping into the car. Broderick looked at me strangely, as I buckled up and slammed the door.

“I’m sorry I was a bit late, I could have given your friend Miss De Costa a ride home too.”

I sighed. “So you were spying on me?”

He shrugged. “I’m looking out for your welfare.”

“I don’t need to be protected.”

He laughed. “In this part of town, everyone does.”

He started the car and pulled away rather quickly. We drove slowly by the lingering guys. They made nasty gestures with their bodies and I gave them the finger. Please tell me I wasn’t that bad when I was a guy. I admit I was a cad but there was no way I scum like that. Except that one time with the roofie but I’ve apologized for that, right?

We drove along for a while, going slower than I would have liked. It also seemed that the jackass was driving around the block. What the hell was up with that?

“My apartment is in the other direction?”

“It’s not your apartment, it belongs to Mr. Hunter and if I’m not mistaken, he currently vacated it this afternoon.”

What the hell was this guy’s problem?

“I’m staying there until I can find another place. Rick is a good guy like that.”

“Rick, not Rip?”

I groaned. “What’s it to you?”

“Everyone calls him Rip, don’t they? Everyone except your brother. Where is your brother by the way?”

I shrugged. “How should I know?”

“I think you do know. That’s why you tried to run when you saw my face through the windshield. Mind you, if you had run, you wouldn’t have gotten very far.”

“Stop the car.”

He continued driving. He had a smug look on his face. “Your brother is playing a very dangerous game. I’m going to catch up with him; it’s only a matter of time.”

My heart started pounding. My palms were sweating. I wanted to scream but what would that accomplish. “Stop this car now or I’ll roll down the window and scream rape.”

He laughed and pulled over to the curb. I didn’t give him a chance to stop me. I unlocked the door and stumbled out. I got to my feet and looked around. The giant looming presence of Wayne Spire stood before me. There was a light on in the lobby. I took a deep breath and started walking toward it. Broderick got out of the car too and moved faster. He grabbed my arm and spun me around. I wish Skeets was here. Why in the hell did I send him home?

“It’s rude to run off in the middle of a conversation,” he said, squeezing my arm.

I gasped. “You’re hurting me.”

Tears started to swell in my eyes. I’d never felt this helpless in my life. If I had still been Mike, Federal Agent or not, I would have pounded his ass.

“Where’s your brother?” There was an edge to his voice and a demonic fire in his eyes.

I opened my mouth. But not to response, I was going to scream. The only thing that stopped me was the approach sound of a footfall. I snapped my head around and saw someone coming out of the building. He was walking at a brisk pace. He was tall with dark hair and an air of sophistication. He was a couple of years older than me---gorgeous too, not that I noticed. He approached quicker than I thought someone in an expensive suit could.

“There you are, sweetheart,” he said in a calm, friendly tone.

He walked over and took my arm, gently pulling it from Broderick’s vice like grip. Broderick’s eyes narrowed and he didn’t look to happy. I looked up at the guy---he was a couple inches taller than me. He had the most dazzling blue eyes ever, I could get lost in those eyes.

“This is a private conversation,” snapped Broderick.

The man smiled. “Nothing’s private when it takes place out on the street.”

He pulled me to stand by his side, putting a protective arm around my waist.

“Do you know this man, Miss Carter?” asked Broderick, puffing up like a peacock.

The man answered for me. “Of course she does. I’m Thomas Knight, the two of us met last night at a company party. You were a guest of Bea’s weren’t you?”

I’m not sure if he was asking or telling. But there was something in his voice that told me I should agree. So I smiled and nodded, wrapping my arm around his waist, albeit reluctantly. “Its good to see you again, Tommy.”

I kissed his cheek to throw in the added effect. Broderick looked like a deflated parade balloon.

His eyes narrowed. “You’re hindering in a federal investigation, Mr. Knight.”

“Really?" he looked down at me and then back at Broderick. “Miss Carter here hardly looks like a hardened criminal.”

Broderick grumbled. I think he knew he was out of his league. “I’ll be seeing you again, Miss Carter. You and I have some unfinished business.”

The stranger, Mr. Knight, smiled. “I don’t think you will but it’s nice to be all formal, isn’t it?”

Broderick grumbled again and slowly slunk back to his car. Mr. Knight stared at him while he got inside. He didn’t take his arm off my waist until the sedan pulled away. When he finally did, he ran his fingers through his slicked back hair.

I pulled away from him as quick as possible. “Thanks for the help, buddy.”

“It was my pleasure,” he said, tipping his head slightly. He looked about. “Let me have my butler drive you home, it’s the least I could do.”

I looked about and sure about there was old fashion Rolls Royce parked in the shadows. How had I not noticed it before? But more than that, who was this guy that he could afford such an expensive car and the butler to go with it?

“I couldn’t.”

He smiled and nodded. “Fair enough. Let me call you a cab then."

He whipped out his phone, faster than I could say no. He talked for a few seconds then snapped it shut. He smiled and informed me it would be here promptly. I kept staring at this guy and at the fancy car in the shadows. I could just make out a figure standing near it. It was an older man in a black suit. He was half obscured by shadows but he must have been the butler Mr. Knight mentioned.

“If Agent Broderick bothers you again I want you to call this number” Mr. Knight reached into his coat and took out a gray business card.

I took it gently and looked at it: Special Agent King Faraday, Homeland Security.

“Is this for real?”

Knight nodded. “He’s a good guy, owes me a few favors. One call to him and Broderick will be out of your hair.”

I smiled and nodded. “Thanks.”

The cab came remarkably quickly. Knight walked over and opened the door for me then he took my hand helping me inside. I’ve never had better service in my entire life.

“You look after yourself, Miss Carter and please stay out of trouble.”

I smiled and slipped inside as he shut the door. I watched him standing on the curb as the cab pulled away. I saw him walk slowly over to the Rolls Royce and disappear into the shadows. Something about the way he walked and disappeared like that sent a shiver up my spine.

The cab driver talked about football the whole ride home. He was a Bears fan and wondered what I thought of their chances next season. Seeing as they did fairly well I thought their chances were pretty good. But I didn’t tell him that. Usually all you’d have to do was mention football and I’d talk your ear off. But tonight I just listened to him yammer on about the Bears while I stared out the window. It was kind of strange but I didn’t feel in the mood to talk shop. I looked down at my chest and sighed. I wonder if my new body had anything to do with it. Imagine that, the Great Mike Carter bored with football. I suppose there are better things out there. If I’d thought that thought a couple of days ago I’d of probably punched myself.

It took about twenty minutes to get home. I went through the front entrance. The doorman didn’t bat an eye. I was marked down as a guest of Rick Hunter. I think he and the front desk guard thought Rick and I were an item. Neither of us tried to correct them. It was hard enough trying to explain to people who I was or who I was pretending to be at the moment. I suppose calling myself Myka Carter, Mike’s little sister worked only some of the time. The rest of the time was too hard to think about.

I trudged into the elevator and took it up to my floor. When I got to the room, the door was unlocked. That gave me pause. My heart started beating a little faster. Was it Ballard’s men looking for me or maybe that jackass Broderick? I took a deep breath and turned the knob. What I saw was neither. I sighed with relief but was a little shocked too. Rick was spread out on the couch, snoring like a baby. I smiled and looked at the clock, it was only nine. There was an open book lying face down on the floor and a spread of papers all over the place. I would have bet even money that he’d be half way to his parents’ place upstate by now.

I smiled as I tiptoed past him. Maybe Daddy doesn’t hold all the cards after all.

______________________________

“So how did it go?” asked Skeets as soon as I slipped into the bedroom.

I jumped; it was kind of jarring to be ambushed, especially when you weren’t expecting it. I groaned, putting a hand on my chest to stop my beating heart. I guess it’s going to take some time to get used to the fact that he would be floating around for awhile. I didn’t answer him at first though. Instead, I took off my coat and threw it over him, then walked over to my bed. He struggled a bit to free himself from the garment. But it gave me some time to pull off my sneakers and slip off my pants. I really needed to shower but I was too lazy to bother. So instead, I stripped off my shirt too, took off the offending bra and grabbed my jersey from the floor. Yeah I still had it and as long as I wouldn’t be wearing it on the field I mind as use it for something. Once I had the jersey on, I freed him of my coat, which I tossed on the floor with everything else. Yep I’m a slob, not even a gender change could fix that.

Skeets repeated the question. Great not only did I have an annoying gold robot but he also did a good parrot impersonation. “Ballard works out of a nightclub called the 1000's. Bea and I are going there tomorrow night to scope it out.”

"Excellent, what time do we leave?”

I sighed. “There is no we, it’s just me and Bea.”

Skeets made that sighing noise. “But you and I are a team.”
There he goes again. He said the same thing after I agreed to help him with his little mission. But I made it very clear that our “partnership” as he called it was a onetime thing. I didn’t need some freaky gold robot from the future floating about, cramping my style. Besides, I had enough problems without him annoying the hell out of me. I tried calling my mother after getting back from the Lab today but I got the machine. I definitely didn’t want to leave a message.

Could you imagine what that would have been like: “Hey Mom, it’s your son turned daughter. I have some good and bad news. The bad news is I won’t be able to play football anymore but the good news is I can pee sitting down now so you don’t have to bitch at me about leaving the toilet seat up.” I joke but I definitely need to talk to her to tell her what’s been happening.

But getting back to the team thing. “We’re not a team. I told you that before.”

He sighed, floating away toward the window. He did a lot of that.

“I understand. It’s hard, especially looking at you.” He turned to me; his red eye looked smaller than before. “You look just like her. Every time I look at you I half expect to hear her voice again. You may look alike but the two of you sound very different.”

I sighed. I guess it’s time to play Doctor Phil. “What was she like?”

He snorted or at least it sounded like one. “Nothing like you.”

“Thanks.”

“You misinterpret my meaning.” He floated over so he was only a foot away. “You may look alike but the similarities end there. Michelle…ummm…Goldstar, she was very goal oriented. She didn’t take time out of her day to do anything else but her job. It was the only thing that mattered to her. She and I were partners for five years. She was the top of her Academy graduation class, a sharp shooter and an expert investigator. There were a lot of people younger than her who wanted to be just like her. Goldstar was a star, an ace.”

I nodded. “Sounds like she didn’t have a social life”.

“Unfortunately you’re correct. As much as the two of you look alike, you are much more laid back than she. Not that that’s a bad thing but she would definitely not want to be around you.” He sighed and floated away. “She was always trying to live up to her childhood idol.”

“Her idol?”

“A superhero from your generation. She would go on and on about her. She did everything in her life to model herself after this person.”

I nodded. “What was her name?”

He was about to answer when there was a knock on my door. I snapped my fingers and he vanished into thin air. I took a deep breath and opened the door. Rick was standing there, his hair a disheveled mess, his clothes all rumpled. He looked pretty much the same except a lot groggier than usual. He scratched his head and yawned.

"I fell asleep waiting for you,” he admitted, I nodded. “Can we talk for a sec?”

I slipped out of my room, closing the door behind me. We walked into the living room. I took the couch, sitting crossed legged, making sure he didn’t get a peek off anything down below. Hey, I’m a girl now and I have to be modest. He sat in his chair. I looked around the room real quick, noticing a lack of boxes or suitcases. Maybe they were in his bedroom.

He took a deep breath and when he let it out it came out as a long sigh. “I need you to tell me to stay here.”

Great Doctor Phil Time Round 2. “What are you talking about?”

“You are a smart, beautiful, amazing girl and I’m the dumb idiot who can’t live without my Dad’s money.”

I groaned and blushed at the same time. Hey, you blush when you get complimented right. I don’t care if its from a guy or Rick. There was something wrong with me I know and the old me would have punched him in the face. But the new me, well I think she kind of liked being told she was pretty. Ok, he said beautiful, I guess I’m being modest. Ha, who would have thought I could be modest. I smiled weakly, inside my head a male voice was screaming.

“Do you want to leave?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a choice.”

Typical Rick. “Of course, you do, dude. Don’t think about your Dad for a second. Think about you for a second. Do you really want to leave this place?”

He took some time to answer. I could tell he was thinking it over because he got that look. It used to annoy me before but now it was kind of cute. I groaned. What the hell was wrong with me? This was Rick; he was my best bud.

He came full circle with his response: “Do you want me to stay?”

Like a fricking broken record. “Stop worrying about what other people think and think for yourself.”

He ran his fingers through his hair and jumped out of the chair. He started to pace about the room. You know what; in all my ramblings I don’t think I ever described Rick. I might be a little biased with the description now but here goes. He’s not overly tall but he’s not short either. I was taller than him before but now we’re the same height so I guess that makes him and me about five ten. He’s got shaggy brown hair, blue eyes and is kind of on the scrawny side. I used to drag him to the building’s fitness center but he only stayed an hour or so. He had a little six-pack going, a baby one maybe. Male me thought it was pathetic. Female me…well I’m not going to embarrass myself. Male me would have called him dweeby but for some reason now when I looked at him all I saw was this cute bashful guy. It’s kind of funny because this morning I wanted nothing to do with him.

Now, I’m not so sure. God, these stupid female hormones are so confusing. How could my mind change so damn quickly?

He finally stopped pacing and turned to face me. He took a deep breath. “Can you do me a favor? It will help me decide if I’m making the right decision or not.”

I nodded. “I’ll do it within reason. I’m not taking off my jersey and flashing you.”

He laughed. He took a deep breath. “I need you to kiss me.”

I jumped to my feet. He was nuts. There was no way. “Are you out of your fucking mind?”

He looked like I’d bitten off his head and kicked him in the balls at the same time. My anger flared a bit and some of the metal stuff behind him rose from their resting places. I took a deep breath and calmed down. They lowered to the floor; thankfully, Rick didn’t see any of it.

“I need to know if I’m staying for you or for me,” he stammered. “It's crazy I know but I can’t seem to stop thinking about you. You’re driving me insane. Do you know I completely forgot to study for my exam last night? I went to class after getting back from the Lab and I was completely unprepared. When I stared at the Scan-Tron sheet, all the dots seemed to form your face.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it; it was the corniest thing I’d ever heard. His head dropped. I bit my lip. Damn I hurt his feelings. My heart started to beat real fast and I took a deep breath. I made a split second decision, one I hope I won’t regret. I jumped off the couch, grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled his face into my mine. Our lips only touched for a second but there was a spark. When he pulled away, his lips curled into a smile. I smiled too, but it wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting to be repulsed by it but instead I was repulsed by me.

Oh god. I liked it; I liked it a lot. I felt the bile rise up my throat. I forced it back down and then pushed him away. The tears started down my face. It couldn’t be possible. No, I won’t allow it. He took a step toward me but I shook my head, tears flowing like Niagara Falls now. He made another move toward me but I backed up. Fear overwhelmed me and the metal vase rose from the shelf behind him. This time he saw and his eyes widened. He took a step back and I dropped the vase. I cried out and ran off, throwing open my door.

I slammed it shut and threw myself on my bed. He tried to follow but I willed the lock shut with my power. He pounded on the door for a few minutes. But I ignored him, burying my face in my pillow. I cried myself to sleep.

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Author's Note: Here's the nightclub scene I promised and finally some action. I always knew this story was going to be action light from the beginning but I never realized how light until I started writing it. But besides that, I'm in love with this chapter. I'd like to thank djkauf for editing it so fast and DC for their wonderful characters.

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Chapter Eight:

“You need to wake up now,” said an annoying voice floating somewhere above my head.

I groaned and opened one eye. A normal person would have freaked out to see a gold orb hovering over their head. But I’m not normal, not anymore. I opened my other eye and batted Skeets away, not wanting anything in my face when I woke up. I moaned and slowly sat up. Skeets hovered over to the window, a little arm coming out of his body and pulling one half of the curtains aside. The morning light streamed through, hitting me in the face. I put up one of my arms, shielding my eyes and turning away. I looked at the clock and moaned. It was eight in the morning, far too early for me to get up. I looked back at Skeets as he pulled the other curtain open, more light streaming into the room. What the hell is wrong with this thing?

“You’re asking for an ass kicking.”

“I don’t technically have an ass for you to kick,” he said as he moved away from the window, deftly dodging the pillow I threw at him.

Hey at least he was learning.

I threw the covers off, noticing my jersey. A part of me wanted to scream at the sight but another part was kind of glad. Who the hell wanted to be on a team with a bunch of cowards anyway? They were all dicks too; none of them had enough spine to tell me how they really felt. I got frustrated and pulled the jersey over my head, tossing it into the corner. All men were scum, I’m glad I wasn’t one anymore. Ok so that’s technically not true. I’d give anything to have a penis again.

Skeets floated over to the jersey on the floor, using one of his arms to pick it up. “Would you like me to put it down the laundry chute to have it washed?”
“Burn it for all I care, I don’t want to see it again.”

Another arm came out of his body and he quickly folded the jersey, carrying it over to a pile of folded clothes in the corner. I shook my head. Ever since Skeets showed himself, the room was ten times cleaner. I used to just drop everything, clothes and garbage included. But Skeets was like my own personal maid. My clothes were all folded and the clean ones neatly put away. All my garbage was gone too, either in the trash bin that I didn’t even know I had or in bags ready to take to the dumpster in the parking lot.

“Clearly you’re still upset from last night,” he said, dodging the other pillow I threw at him. “Taking out your frustration on me isn’t going to solve things.”

Damn straight, I was upset and why shouldn’t I be. I kissed Rick last night and I liked it. I shouldn’t have done it but I needed to know as much as he did. I’m not sure who it shocked more, me or him. The worse part, I acted like a girl. I didn’t even wait around to get his reaction. I just freaked and ran away, blubbering the whole time. I looked down at my boobs, wanting to scream. Instead, I cupped them and shook them violently. Who in the hell’s idea was it to give me tits? I definitely didn’t deserve them and even if I did it was a cruel joke. Ok, so I know I’m a bit of an ass and I treat women like crap. Ok, see, I admit it. But don’t you think I’ve suffered enough. It was bad to make me a chick but its worse to make me one that’s attracted to my own best friend.

I wanted to cry but I forced the tears away. Never again. I don’t care what happens; I’ve decided I’m never crying again. I’ve also decided that I’m not going to let this chick thing get the better of me. I’m still Mike Carter, even if I don’t look like it on the outside.

I slipped off the bed and trudged to the door. It never occurred to me that I was just wearing panties. It didn’t matter much anyway. When I opened the door, I found the apartment deserted. I expected as much. But I was surprised to see that nothing was missing. I wandered into the living room and looked about. The broken coffee table was still there, I forgot to tell Rick what happened. But apparently he noticed because all the glass was cleaned up. On the little table next to the couch was a note, I recognized Rick’s handwriting: Mike, I’ve done some thinking. I still want to be your roommate but I think I need some time to cool off. I’m going to book a hotel room for a few days and clear my head. I’ll give you a call when I’m ready to talk.

I crumpled the note and tossed it onto the couch. Typical man, always running from the problem. I groaned. I did not just think that.

“You should cover yourself up,” said Skeets, floating into the room behind me, carrying my bathrobe.

I ignored him. “I’m going to take a shower. If anyone knocks on the door, don’t answer it.”

I didn’t wait for a response. Instead, I went right for the shower. I closed the door and locked it, going over to the toilet. There is one thing I like being about a chick and that’s getting to pee sitting down. You never realize how much easier it is until you’re not standing up to do it. I know it’s kind of a gross thing to think about but it’s true. I will never again be yelled at for accidentally forgetting to put the seat up and peeing all over it. Which reminds me I still really need to call my mother.

I finished relieving myself and got into the shower. This early in the morning I like cold showers. But as soon as I turned the water on---to a nice freezing temperature, I might add---I screamed at the top of my lungs as soon I stepped in. Who knew that girls had far more sensitive bodies than guys? I cranked the water to lukewarm, but the damage was done. I touched my nipples; they were so pointy they could shred flesh. I groaned as I touched them but there was no way I was going there. Not today anyway. I showered quickly and when I got out, I walked naked into the living room. Hey, no one was home to complain and if no one was around, I liked to air dry.

“You’re not covered up,” said Skeets, who was busy dusting.

I thought he said he was some kind of police robot or something.

“I’ve been meaning to ask, do you have eyes?”

He didn’t answer. Instead, he dropped the feather duster and floated over to the little table by the door. There was a thick manila envelope sitting there, he picked it up. “While you were washing, this arrived for you. There was also a call on the machine, from your mother I think.”

I groaned about the mother call as I took the envelope from him. I tore it open and looked inside. There was a lot of papers and something else. I dumped the contents into my hands, the smallest of which was a new ID. It wasn’t a driver’s license, I’d have to retake that, but it was a new school ID. It showed a picture of the new me, listing my name as Myka Carter and my age as 18. I groaned at that. What gave whomever the right to name me and make me a year younger? The most shocking of all was the fact that it listed me as a freshman. I didn’t like that one bit. I threw the ID on the couch as I walked over to it and sat down.

I scattered the rest of the envelope’s contents on the cushion next to me. There was a new birth certificate and a new social security card. There was also a form for me to fill out, requesting a new passport, not that I ever got an old one. The most important sheet was a letter from Jenet. She basically told me how she rushed my credentials through because she wanted to make sure I could start back to school as soon as possible. I was now officially re-enrolled in Northwestern as a freshman, a Civics major apparently. Whatever the hell that was. Included in the packet was my new schedule and some of the other things I would need to make my new life believable. There was a sealed envelope as well, addressed to my mother. I smiled; wondering if that meant I wouldn’t have to break the news to her after all. Which reminded me…?

“Skeets, can you play that message my mother left?”

He floated over to the answer machine and pushed play. My mother’s shrill and angry voice filled the room. “Michael Jon Carter” I cringed, she was serious when she used my middle name. “I am your mother, shouldn’t I have been the first person you called when you found out you were a Metahuman.”

Shit, busted.

“I got a call from a nice lady doctor and an Agent Faraday.”

Why did that name sound familiar? ‘They informed me that you transformed a few days ago and now you were Myka Michelle Carter. I find that hard to believe but I’ve seen the picture. You make a very beautiful girl, a daughter that would make any mother proud, except this one. If you ever keep anything like this from me again so help me…” Her voice trailed off and she sighed. “I hope to see you soon, sweetheart, so I can meet my darling new daughter in person. I’m so excited, your aunt and I are going shopping this afternoon so we can redecorate your room. You are still coming home for summer break, right?”

The machine beeped, telling me the message was done.

I groaned; that could have gone better. I scooped up all my new stuff and stuck it back in the envelope. My mother was the most important person in my life and I couldn’t believe how cowardly I’d been in avoiding her. I quickly ran my stuff back to my room and found some clothes to wear. Rick only got me a couple of outfits---God, I’m even thinking like a girl now---so I found a pair of my old sweats and a t-shirt, they were a little big, but seeing as I was going to veg around the house it didn’t really matter. I left the envelope on my bed then rushed back out into the living room.

I went right for the phone. I took a deep breath as I picked up the handset and dialed. It only rang twice before someone picked up.

“Hello” her voice always made me feel better.

I took a deep breath. “Hi Mom, it’s me, your new daughter.”

We talked for hours. Ok, so it was only two but it was still longer than I’d ever talked to my mother before. Back when I was still me, we had a good relationship but let’s face it we didn’t have much in common. Now, well it was kind of obvious. She asked me all sorts of questions and I didn’t hold anything back. I told her everything and I mean everything. She wasn’t too happy about the whole gambling thing and me almost stealing the gem from the museum and she knew I didn’t do those other things. How cool is that? She wanted to meet the new me as soon as possible. You know what else I broke my promise to myself and cried, a lot. She cried a bit too. I guess it’s inevitable, being a girl and all. Ok so new promise: I will never cry in public again.

Toward the end of our conversation, my stomach grumbled. “Mom, I have to go or I’m going to starve.”

She sighed. “I really miss you honey and don’t worry, everything is going to work out in the end. You take real good care of yourself and don’t do anything stupid.”

“I won’t Mom, I love you.”

“I love you too, sweetheart.”

We both hung up about the same time. Ok, so I didn’t tell her everything. I left out the part where Bea and I were going to confront Ballard tonight. Yeah, I decided that last night. I didn’t just want to know where this bastard operated; I’m going to confront his ass. I’m going to put an end to all this shit too. I don’t care if he breaks both of my arms; there is no way that Mike Carter is going to be treated like crap anymore. I puffed up my chest and smiled. Then sighed heavily. Of course, it would help if I was actually Mike Carter.

I picked up my new school ID. Myka, I suppose I was asking for that one.

______________________________

“How did you convince me of this again?” I asked, tugging on the hem of my extremely short skirt.

Bea laughed. I think she enjoyed torturing me. “Have you seen the way girls dress to get into this club?”

I groaned. I knew exactly how girls dressed to get into the club, I’d brought a few here myself. But that still didn’t make things any better; in fact, it made it one hundred times worse. Because I knew how girls reacted to the way girls were dressed. I looked down at my outfit again and groaned. There was no way I could walk around in this place without every dick in the joint feeling me up or rubbing against me. Some might call it poetic justice, I just call it plain mean. The worse part, I think that she did it on purpose.

Ok, so a recap is in order.

After getting off the phone with my mother and hightailing it to Sal’s. That was kind of fun as I had to reintroduce myself to a guy I’ve known for about a year and a half now. I told him I was Mike’s sister and that I was staying with my brother for a few days. The great thing about Sal, he believed in his friends. He told me that he thought Mike was being framed and that there was no way he could do the things they said he did on TV. Besides Rick and my mother, of course, Sal was the only one on my side. Bea didn’t really count because I barely knew her.

So after Sal’s, Bea gave me a call. Apparently, the boss man gave her the day off. If I ever meet Mr. Wayne, I need to shake that guy’s hand. I might have to strangle him, too---I’ll get to that in a second. Bea met me a few blocks away, outside of a little salon. Yeah, I know. She was convinced that in order for me to be presentable I had to look the part. I’m not going to bore you with all the gory details but suffice to say, salons are torture. First the hair then the nails and the makeup, ugh. We went shopping after that and boy did we shop. You would have never guessed that she’d been anything other than a girl. She made a confession after the third store that we went to that she might have been a closet you-know-what. Hey, I’m not one to judge. Suffice to say she knew a lot about women’s clothes long before she became one.

We spent hours shopping. Then we spent a couple more hours in her apartment. It was a tiny thing. She might have been a student at Northwestern too, but dorm life wasn’t for her. Apparently she tried it after the change---it must suck going from twenty-five back to eighteen---but she felt she was too mature for the girls there. So with her modest salary she could afford a nice little place. Her building was no Tides but it was nice. But she tortured me when we got there. She said she needed to make sure that I passed as someone who belonged at that club. So she made me practice for hours and hours. Have you ever walked back and forth in four-inch heels wearing a dress so tight that you black out if you move wrong? Ok I’m exaggerating a bit but it was nuts.

After what seemed like forever, Bea announced it was time to go.

What am I wearing, you might ask. Besides the shortest and tightest skirt I’ve even seen, I’m wearing a tube top that would make a hooker blush and so much makeup that a clown would laugh. Ok, so it’s not that much, but it sure felt like it. I felt ridiculous as I stood in line, towering over a lot of girls there due to my massive heels. How in the hell was I going to run in stilettos if something bad happened?

“Stop fidgeting,” said Bea softly as the two of us moved up in line. “You’re making people stare.”

"This is nuts, I look like an idiot and those guys are staring.”

I gestured my head toward a group of frat boys. There were four of them and they couldn’t do anything but stare at me. It was really starting to creep me out. I hated the way their eyes were on me, it made every part of my body feel as if it needed to be washed a hundred times over. Bea turned her head slightly and smiled.

“They’re looking at you, girl, because you’re smoking hot.”

I groaned. I didn’t want to be smoking anything. Ok, remember how I was proud that I was gorgeous, well not anymore. I’d never been a modest anything as Mike, but now standing here in as little clothes as possible, I wanted to crawl into a ball and cry. This was the most embarrassing moment in my life and we weren’t even in the club yet. Wait until these people saw me dance. That’s right, I said dance. Bea spent a good portion of the day teaching me how to move my body the “proper way” as she called. I was a pretty good dancer as a guy---at least I thought so anyway. But apparently, female dancing was completely different.

It was all about the body. She tried her hardest to show me how to move as sexily as I could. But no matter how much she tried, she failed miserably.

“Pay attention, we’re next,” she whispered in my ear.

I took a deep breath as the couple ahead of us was let through the velvet rope. We were so close to the club now that I could hear the pounding music. The bouncer was a huge black guy, not much unlike the one that Ballard had at Billiards. But this guy looked like he could eat the other. When we got up to him, Bea smiled.

He looked her up and down. Then he turned to me and smiled too.

After a few seconds of intense eye searching, he said. “Ok Red, you and Legs, go on in.”

I shuddered at the name. I was tall before but with the heels, I was apparently a giant freak. Bea took my hand and pulled me inside.

The 1000's was like most clubs. The music was loud, you could barely hear yourself think and it was so cramped that it was hard to walk. We slipped through a pair of drunks flirting with one another. Two guys, hey I’m not here to judge. Then we pressed our way toward the dance floor. It was standing room only with a crush of people. Someone stepped on my foot, which kinda hurt. The whole time Bea never let go of my hand as my stomach did flip flops. She pulled me along, acting like a concerned mother dragging her small child through the mall. I held onto her hand as tight as possible. I think this place was once a warehouse, it was huge and even though the smell was greatly masked, you could still smell the lingering aroma of something un-clublike in the air.

Through the dance floor and the flashing strobes, Bea got me to the bar in one piece. There was a crush of people there, too. She ordered some drinks and handed me one. It was pink, in a martini glass that seemed to be glowing. I looked at it and shook my head.

“What the hell is this?” I asked, having to shout over the music.

She shrugged and downed her drink.

I took a deep breathed and downed mine too. Don’t ask me what it was but it sure tasted good. Bea ordered us another pair. I took my time with my second. I didn’t want to get drunk; I needed to remain focused. I looked around, trying to see if I could spot the perfect place where Ballard would hide. At first, I could see nothing in the dim light of the dark place. But as my eyes adjusted, I spotted something that looked promising. There was a large guy in a black shirt standing by a door. It was right next to the bathrooms and marked PRIVATE. That had to be the place. Now all I had to do was figure out how to get through it. I looked around, sipping my drink as I did so.

“Are you having fun?”

I turned to Bea. “I used to be a guy and I used to troll for chicks like me in places like this.”

She laughed. “Maybe we should dance?”

She didn’t wait for my response. She took my land and started to pull me toward the dance floor. I downed my pink drink and let her lead the way. As soon as we got onto the floor, it was like there was a whole new Bea. She came alive and was on fire---not literally, because that would have been bad. She moved as if she was a whole new person, slinking and sliding all about me. There were a lot of guys bouncing around, rubbing up against girls like I used to. They took one look at us and one of them actually licked his lips. My skin crawled. I grabbed Bea’s hand and got into the groove too. Before I knew it, I was taken away by the music as much as she was. It was incredible and so damn sexy. I didn’t even know I could move that way.

One thing led to another and two of us were kissing. It felt so damn exhilarating. Neither of us held back, our tongues battling in our mouths. I felt so alive. My nipples were like daggers and I was wet below. If this was what it was like to be aroused as a girl then I’m never wishing to be a guy again. My whole body tingled and I did everything I could not to drag her off to a dark corner somewhere and have my way with her. I think she felt the same because she was moaning as much as I was.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder, ending all the fun. I pulled away from Bea, feeling slightly flushed. I turned and saw a frat boy grinning at us.

“That was so hot, mind if I cut in?”

Bea answered for me. “Get lost, dick, she’s mine.”

He looked as if she ripped off his sack. All the color drained from his face and the crowd seemed to swallow him as everyone crushed in around us to dance. We did finally stop but not because we wanted to. Exhaustion set in and Bea led me over to one of the tables that seemed to pop up out of nowhere. It seemed strange that she was taking charge. When I was male I was definitely the dominant one in all my flings. But for some reason it felt kind of nice to be led around by the hand. Bea pulled a chair out for me and I sat in it as daintily as possible, just like she showed me.

The good news in all of this, the table was close to that door.

A waitress wearing a black tank top and a pair of neon yellow hot pants walked up to the guy. He didn’t even look at her. We were close enough to hear what she said:

“Vinnie, I need to go up.”

He nodded, stepped aside and opened the door. I smiled because I think I knew a way up there.

Another waitress walked over. She was blonde and big breasted. But her hooters didn’t seem to interest me as much as they would have. Bea looked at me and smiled. Then she ordered some more drinks. The girl scribbled the order down and teetered off.

‘You paying attention?” asked Bea, looking sideways at the door.

I nodded. “So that’s why we sat here.”

“I saw you looking over here before. I figured if we got close enough you might overhear something. You figure out a way to get through that door yet?”

I nodded again. “I’m going to need one of those waitresses alone though.”

“Leave that to me.”

She waited a few seconds for our waitress to return then she stood up, pushing her chair back in the process. She timed it so the chair hit the poor unsuspecting girl in the legs, causing her to drop her tray of drinks. Most of them hit the floor but one fell all over her. She gasped and looked like she was about to cry. I got to my feet after that as Bea apologized again and again. The lump by the door didn’t even move, fricking piece of work.

“Here sweetie” I said, taking her arm gently and helping her up. “Let’s get you cleaned off.”

“What about my tables?” she asked as I led her toward the ladies.

“They can wait for a few seconds. You’re drenched.”

I wouldn’t let her protest any further. I walked her into the ladies room, surprised there was no line tonight. Usually the damn line was longer than some lines at a roller coaster. I pushed her inside first, taking a deep breath and entering No Man’s Land for the first time. It was surprisingly the same except there were no urinals. There was a plush red couch though which was kind of unfair and of course, the tampon dispenser on the wall---I can’t wait to use that, ugh.

The waitress went to the hand dryer, turning it on. The not too bright girl bent down under it, trying to dry her boobs off. I rolled my eyes and reached for my little clutch purse. Yeah I’ve got a purse, how annoying it that. I rummaged around inside until I found what I was looking for. I made Skeets stay home tonight but not before, I asked him for a few things. He had a lot of little gadgets buried inside of his body, there had to be something to help. Luckily for me there was. I pulled out the little sliver cylinder, it looked kind of like a tube of lipstick. I walked up behind the girl and stuck her in the side of the neck with it.

One moment she was standing there, drying off her boobs and the next she dropped to the floor. Holy shit, it worked a lot faster than I thought. I left her there for a second, ran back to the door and waved Bea inside. She slipped in quickly and looked around, shaking her head.

“Your little friend was right; she did drop like a ton of bricks.”

I nodded. “I was hoping to use this on Ballard but I guess when the opportunity presents itself, you take it.”

Bea didn’t say anything. Instead, she helped me as we dragged the poor unsuspecting girl to a stall and then started to strip her.

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I took a deep breath and stepped out of the bathroom. If I thought the skirt and tube top were bad, they’re nothing compared to these little shorts. There wasn’t anything to tug down and they were riding up so badly. I’m just glad Bea forced me to wear a thong tonight or else I would have looked ridiculous. But there is one good thing about this outfit, the shoes. They’re black ankle boots with only an inch heel instead of those neck breakers I was wearing before. I suppose an outfit like this helped the girls get tips but I’m glad I didn’t have to wear it every single day.

I minced over to the door, looking right at the guy, Vinnie. He didn’t look at me, exactly like I was hoping.

“Vinnie” I said, trying to sound like an oversexed bimbo. “I need to go up.”

I held my breath and waited. It felt like an eternity but he finally stepped aside, opening the door for me. I let out the breath after the door shut behind me. There was a narrow staircase before me. I didn’t waste any time as I went up, taking it as slow as I could. Hey, I’ve never climbed stairs in heels before. When I got to the only floor, I sighed and stopped a second to get my bearings. I was now in a long hallway, doors dotting each side. At the end of the hall, I heard the faint thumb of music and laughter. I assumed that’s where Ballard would be. I’m guessing all this area was where he did most of his shady business, whatever that might be. I know he’s dirty but I’ll be damned if I know what’s he’s in to. I’m guessing whatever it is it’s shady enough that he hides it all up here.

But was it shady enough to incriminate the bastard.

I took off in the opposite direction of the noise and went to the first door. But it was locked. I tried the next one but it was locked too. In fact, all the doors leading away from the noise were locked. So I turned around and went toward it. The first door I found opened up into what looked like a simple supply closet. The next door was a grungy looking bedroom with a heart shaped bed and awful smelling incense. I did not want to know what happened in that room. The third door, the one closest to the noise looked the most promising. Partially because it was made of solid oak and it had a name plate on it: DIRECTOR. I groaned, how much of an ego does this guy have?

I tried the lock and surprisingly found it open.

When I went inside, I found myself in a swanky office. It looked like something a scumbag might have. There was a large desk in front of an even larger window. Shelves filled with books lined one wall and the other was covered with flat screens, at least six forty inchers. The most promising thing in the room though, had to be the open laptop on the desk and the two filing cabinets. I went to the cabinets at first but they were both locked. So I went to the desk and tried the laptop. It was password protected though. I cursed and looked around the room some more. All the drawers in the desk were locked too. On the desk was an assortment of pictures, most of them of Ballard with important people. There were more of those on the wall too. There was also a paper on the desk; today’s in fact, the headline big and bold: PRESIDENT TO VISIT CHICAGO. It was kind of big news, seeing as he was from here and all.

I was about to give up when I noticed a manila folder stuck under the laptop. I smiled and slipped it out. When I opened it, I found that it was a criminal file of some sorts. The guy in the picture looked like a real thug: baldhead, face all scarred. I looked for a name but the only one that was there was an alias: Chiller. Who the hell calls themselves Chiller? I shook my head and continued to read. There was nothing else in it, just a list of the guy’s criminal record. That wasn’t going to help me at all. There was one thing that puzzled me. At the bottom of the last page there was a note, indicating that Mr. Chiller showed promise of rehabilitation, it was signed by Lex Luthor. How impressive is that?

I put the folder back. As soon as I did the door to the office opened, I froze.

“What the hell are you doing in here?” It was that big black guy, the one who hassled me at practice a few days ago. The one who threatened me and my mother.
I felt my anger rise, the lamp lifted off the desk slightly. I put my hand on it and calmed myself. Then I bit my lip and remembered that I was supposed to be working here. “I got lost,” I said in that airy voice I used with Vinnie. “Isn’t this the VIP Room?”

The black guy’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve never seen you here before.”

I smiled. “I’m new, I just started working here.”

He stepped into the room. He was on me faster than I could move. He grabbed my arm. “I don’t think so. I should know, I hire all the girls around here.”

I bit my lip. Son of a bitch. The bastard dragged me out of the room and down the hall. He didn’t bother to knock on the closed door that led into the noisy room. He pushed me inside. I landed on a sticky floor. When I looked up, I saw half a dozen faces looking at me. Ballard was one of them, another belonged to a face I never thought I’d see again, my own. The color drained from my face. How in the hell can I be there when I’m here? It wasn’t possibly. The black guy grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet. I looked at the rest of the people in the room. One of them was too fat to sit on the couch he was sitting on, there was a girl sitting on his knee, the same one I saw come up here earlier.

Ballard was sitting on another couch, two girls on either side of him. The last person in the room was me or more accurately a fake Mike Carter. It was kind of eerie, looking at my former self. But how was it possible.

There was a little coffee table spread out in front of them, beers and other assorted drinks laid out there. Ballard grabbed his drink, took a sip and then set it back down. When he looked at me, it was with hungry eyes. I didn’t like them one bit.

“What do we have here, Hertz?”

The black guy put a vice-like grip on my arm. “I caught her snooping around your office, boss.”

I was pushed forward, landing on my knees at Ballard’s feet. He reached down and grabbed my chin, smiling. “What’s a pretty little thing like you doing snooping around here?”

I said nothing. The fake Mike spoke up, laughing. “Let me have her, she looks like fun.”

I gasped, he even sounded like me. But he sure didn’t act like me.
Ballard smiled. “What do you say cupcake, do you want to play with Mr. Chiller…I mean Mr. Carter?”

So he was Chiller. How in the hell did he look like me. The guy in the photo was bald and ugly. I took a gamble because frankly I needed to get out of here alive. “I can’t.” I said, looking at Chiller or rather the Fake Me. I’m confused. “You see it would look pretty bad if a brother screwed his own sister.”

Ok, so I was improvising. I was hoping it’d get the response I was looking for, it did. Something happened to the fake me. He started to change. His face started to twist and turn, morphing back into its old self. I gasped. So that’s how he was doing it. He was some kind of Meta shape shifter. Oh shit, that’s brilliant.

“Oh dear, I believe we have a problem” said Ballard with a smile. “Did that cowardly brother of yours send you to spy on me?”

Everyone in the room laughed, including the girls who were clueless as to what was going on.

I said nothing. Ballard got to his feet and grabbed my arms, pulling me up too. I was a whole helluva lot weaker than before. It kind of sucked. If I get out of this in one piece, I’m definitely hitting the gym or taking self defense classes or something. Ballard pushed a strand of hair out of my face and then gently guided me over to Hertz’s strong arms.

“Mr. Hertz as much as it shames me to say this, why don’t you take our little spy here out back and show her why they call you a blackguard.”

He smiled real big.

“You want me to go too?” asked the fat guy, stuffing cashews in his mouth.

“No Mr. Pruett, Hertz can handle one little girl” He thought about it for a second. “To be on the safe side though, take a couple of the guys from downstairs with you.”

Hertz nodded and dragged me from the room. I fought and squirmed but it was no use. I screamed out and crawled at the bastard, my newly manicured French tip nails digging into the flesh of his arm. But it was no use; it was like the man didn’t even feel it. Before he dragged me out the door, I shouted at Ballard.

“Why have him pretend to be Mike?”

Ballard held up his hand, stopping Hertz. “Practice, my dear. Your brother pissed me off a few months back and then failed to do what I asked of him. So I had Chiller here drag him through the mud a bit. I always like to test my new employees before I pay them for anything big.”

“Practice for what?”

Ballard smiled. “Now why in the hell would I tell you a thing like that?”

He waved his hand and Hertz dragged me the rest of the way out the door. I screamed and kicked but it was no use. He was too strong. He carried me down the hall and toward the locked door at the end of the hall. It led to a staircase. He carried me down it. I tried my hardest to get free but it was no use. When I got down the stairs, he pushed his way through another door. We were outside, in an alley behind the nightclub. There were three other guys there and someone else. I gasped when I saw Bea on her knees. One of the guys was the bouncer from the door.

“Who’s this?” asked Hertz, indicating Bea.

“The two of them came in together. Mr. Ballard just called, the security camera in the bathroom caught them knocking out one of the girls and taking her clothes.”

Bea looked up at me and I mouthed sorry. She smirked, apparently she wasn’t as down as I was. I was defeated. I had powers but what good would they do in this situation. But Bea. I looked at her and widened my eyes but she shook her head. What the hell was her problem? Then I saw it. One of the guys had a canister of gasoline in his hand, ready to dump it all over her. Had they discovered her ability? No, I noticed a few seconds later that they had another one for me. Oh God, they were going to burn us to death. How unrealistic was that?

“You do her,” said Hertz as he threw me to the ground. “And I’ll do this bitch.”

The bouncer laughed, tossing Hertz the canister. I looked around, panicked. The alley was secluded and out of the way. Even if I screamed, no one would hear me. There was only one light, which flicked above Hertz’s head and only one way in and out. Even if I managed to get away, the other guys were blocking the only exit. I was screwed. I looked over at Bea, we were both screwed.

One of the goons was already raising the canister over her head. I closed my eyes because there was no way I could watch my friend burn to death. But as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard a smashing sound. I snapped them open and just caught the streetlight blinking out. Something sharp and metal landed in my lap. I snatched it up and swung it Hertz, using it like a knife. I cut across his face and this time he felt it. He screamed and stumbled back. The others screamed too. I snapped around, hoping to see Bea in action. But she was on the ground, crawling away.

Someone else was there though. I only saw a bit of him because everything was black. He moved fast though. He took out all three guys in a matter of seconds. Then he snapped around, moving toward Hertz. There was a flap of black fabric as he leapt through the air and slammed hard into the son of bitch’s chest. He dropped the big bastard, landing a hard blow to his face, breaking his nose and probably his jaw. But Hertz was down for the count.

The shadowy stranger turned toward me. “The cops will be here shortly. You two need to get out of here.”

“What about Ballard?”

“He’s too connected. Find out what he’s got his hands into and then take him out.”

I nodded. I turned to Bea to see if she was ok. She was slowly getting to her feet but she looked otherwise fine. I turned back to thank the stranger but he was gone. What the hell? I looked around, hoping to see him. But there was nothing. How in the hell? I didn’t wait around long enough to find out what was going on. Instead, I ran quickly to Bea, took her by the hand and the two of us got out of there as fast as possible.

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Author's Note: Here's chapter nine and though it might be short its necessary to set up the rest of the story. There are some good quiet moments here that I like. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and DC Comics for their characters.

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Chapter Nine:

When I opened my eyes and looked around, I was a little confused as to where I was. The room was a lot smaller than my bedroom and it was light blue in color. I groaned and sat up, looking around a bit. I was on a queen size bed, which actually took up most of the small room. There were dark blue curtains hanging from the windows and replica prints of famous paintings on the wall. It looked sort of like the room a teenage girl might have if she was kind of anti-social and didn’t have a lot of friends. I looked about, trying to figure out how I got here. I rubbed my temples, feeling a bruise on my elbow and a pain in my left arm. I groaned, last night’s events coming back to me.

First, it was the nightclub and all the dancing. I had a couple of drinks but I was only buzzed. I think Bea kissed me. I touched my lips and smiled. No, she didn’t kiss me; she ravaged me. I blushed at the memory. Then everything kind of went bad from there. Bea and I knocked out a waitress, I took her uniform---if you can call it that---and I played Jane Bond. I didn’t do a good job at iit either. I got caught, met Ballard and the man who could shape shift into me and then I was almost killed in an alley. Oh god, the alley. I shuddered thinking about it. Those guys were going to burn the two of us alive and then something happened. It was kind of fuzzy but I think someone saved us.

A knock on the door took me out of my thoughts. Before I could say come in, the door opened and Bea slipped inside. She looked as bad as I felt. She was wearing a bathrobe, it hung open, revealing a t-shirt and pajama bottoms. She walked cautiously into the room, moving with slow and steady steps. I knew the look; she was definitely hung over. Clearly, she had had a lot more to drink than I did. When she sat on the corner of the bed, she winced.

“I am never going partying with you again,” she groaned as she flopped on the bed, her head falling on my lap. She smiled up at me. “Tell me I didn’t act too crazy.”

I was shocked. “You don’t remember?”

She moaned. “Only bits and pieces, I’m not sure what’s true or not.” She laughed and clutched her head, apparently even laughing hurt. She had it bad. “Can you clarify some things for me?”

I nodded. “Only the stuff I was there for I’m afraid.”

“Did I order and drink things that I didn’t know what they were?” I nodded. “Did you and I make out on the dance floor?” I blushed at that one which got her blushing too. “Did I strip off my top and hop around like a kangaroo?”

“I don’t know about that one but I would have loved to see it.”

She smacked me as I laughed. “What about the alley? Did some guys really try to set us on fire?”

I didn’t know how to respond to that. How do you tell a new friend that our first outing together nearly ended in tragedy? I teared up a bit. She leaned over and squeezed my hand. “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

She smiled. “We’re ok, so something must have happened?”

She didn’t remember that either. It was kind of vague for me too, but someone definitely saved us. Someone in black, who fought like a madman and disappeared into the shadows. Then I remembered. He threw something at the light and it fell into my lap. I looked around quickly, practically throwing Bea off my lap. I threw off my covers, noticing I apparently slept in my underwear. I didn’t care. I was more worried about the metal thing; it saved my life. I looked about, fluffing the blankets. Finally, I heard a ting as something hit the floor. We both scrambled to the end of the bed to look. There on the wooden floor, lying like it belonged there, was what looked like a metal throwing star.

I bent down and picked it up. But it was different from a normal throwing star because it looked shaped like a bat. What the hell is this? I turned it over in my hand. I even went as far as pricking myself on one of the sharp points. I cursed, sticking my bloody index finger in my mouth.

“What the hell is that?”

I shook my head. “Some kind of throwing star I think.”

“Doesn’t look like any I’ve ever seen.”

I held it in my hand for a few seconds more. Regardless of what it was or wasn’t, the damn thing saved our lives last night and so did whoever wielded it. I’m not sure who that guy was, but he sure had our backs. It was kind of embarrassing actually, me being who I am and being rescued like that. You’d think I was some kind of damsel in distress or something. That didn’t bode well at all. I dropped the funky thing on the bed and continued to suck on my finger. Bea looked at for a few seconds longer then seemed to realize she came into the room for a reason.

“Do you want to take a shower first or should I?”

“It's your place, right?”

See that’s how out of it I was. I knew it wasn’t my place but I never went further than her living room before. So how was I to know where I was?

She nodded. “If I remember correctly, you and I were pretty out of it. We managed to stumble out into the street and get a cab I think. I’m not sure why we asked it to come here but I do remember you putting me on the couch.”

I nodded. I vaguely remembered that too. I had to carry her into the apartment because she was more out of it than me. Apparently, she was a little drunk when those bastards dragged her into the alley. So even if she could have used her powers last night there was no way to tell how accurate she would have been. She could have fried me and everyone else too. I shuddered, that was a scary thought indeed. After I dropped her on the couch, I think I might have stripped her off her clothes and got her into some semblance of PJs. Then I wandered off to her bedroom. I’m not sure how I ended up in only my underwear and on what I assumed was her bed. Looking around the room now I realized it wasn’t the room of an anti-social person but the room of a girl who used to be a guy only a short time ago. It was bare probably because it was in the process of being changed over. I glanced at the floor and sure enough, there were a couple of cardboard boxes stacked against one wall and a lot of shopping bags scattered about. I recognized most of the names on the bags; they were the stores that Bea dragged me to yesterday.

Bea left the room, apparently taking my silence as her go ahead to use the shower first. I slipped off the bed and followed her out of the room, leaving the funky bat star thingy behind. Bea’s place was a lot smaller than mine, which I think I mentioned before. What I didn’t mention was how similar it was in decoration, though. It was clear that a guy once lived here. Bea had the same chrome decoration sense but she didn’t have the glass coffee table. She did have the massive fifty-two inch flat screen though, complete with killer speakers. It was a sweet set up. There was a PS3 in front of it, the controller hidden away somewhere. Unlike our place, hers had a more open layout. The living room and the kitchen seemed to be one, which was kind of cool, an island the only thing separating them.

I wandered about, looking at the walls. There were still some guy things hanging there. The coolest being a pair of snow boards. On a little table beneath them was a framed picture of a guy and girl. The guy was clearly Bea back in her previous life. He was kind of cute, if you liked that whole dark haired, dark skinned kind of guy. The girl was a knock out though. She had almost white blonde hair and was wearing a light blue ski suit, a funky looking icicle medallion hanging around her neck. The two of them looked like they were on the slopes somewhere.

“Who’s the blonde chick in this picture?” I shouted as I heard her rummaging around in the bathroom.

“That’s Tora, she was my girlfriend from before” shouted Bea, over the water she just turned on. “She was the love of my life but she didn’t take my changing too well. She kind of ran off with some other guy. You would have hated her; she was a real Ice Bitch.”

I nodded. She definitely looked like she could freeze a man’s balls off just by looking at them. Staring at her made me shudder.
I wandered over to the couch and grabbed the remote, flicking on the TV. I flipped through the channels, landing on the news. I was half expecting to hear about my doppelganger again but instead there was a scene from the alley. I turned the volume up, my very favorite reporter, Rose, was talking, with the alley in the background.

“This scene behind me is becoming all too familiar in this Windy city of ours,” she said, pointing her arm at the alley. “Here we have the 1000's Club, owned and operated by wealthy entrepreneur and Chicago’s own, Henry Ballard. But last night it was something else. At 12:03 am, police responded to a disturbance call. When they arrived, they found three unidentified individuals, bound and hanging by their feet from a street lamp nearby. There has been no word yet on how these three ruffians were strung up but this reporter has her theories.”

Just like the reporter she is, she didn’t bother to elaborate them, though. I groaned as she switched over to some supposed eyewitnesses. It was clear that the guy strung those three up, where Hertz was I had no clue. The slimy bastard probably slipped away or better yet, Ballard probably cut him down. I clicked off the TV and rubbed my temples. Ballard pissed me off before but now I wanted to beat him to a bloody pulp. All this time I thought he was trying to screw me over with the copycat and it turns out that I was just practice. That pissed me off majorly. This bastard was running around looking like me and the worst part, I had no proof. The only one who saw him do his face change was me and the people assembled in that room.

But that wasn’t the biggest thing that pissed me off. The biggest thing was that Ballard was up to something worse. I knew it wasn’t really any of my business but what that guy said to me last night seemed to hit a nerve: “…Find out what he’s got his hands into and then take him out”. It was almost like he was asking me to look into Ballard’s criminal activities for him. He seemed like the lurking type, why the hell wasn’t he doing it.

I groaned. My anger was interrupted by a knock on the door. I got up and wandered over, looking through the peephole. Hey, I’ve learned. There was a pimple faced teenage boy standing with what looked like a pile of mail in his hands. I unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door but I didn’t take the chain off.

“Good morning, Be…you’re not Bea?”

“No I’m not” I said crossly, the kid looked at my bare legs then quickly back at my face. “Who are you?”

“I’m Chase, I live down the hall. Bea asks me to bring her the mail and paper in the morning.”

“Slip it through.”

He nodded, sliding everything he had through the space I provided. When he was done, I slammed the door in his face. Though technically I was still a teenager, I hated them. I wandered away from the door, setting her mail on the nearest table. I opened the paper as I walked back over to the couch, sitting with my legs underneath me. The headline was similar to the one from yesterday, OBAMA ARRIVING IN CHICAGO SOON. The article underneath went into detail about the President’s arrival and the possible hotel he was going to be staying at. I rarely read front page articles unless it was something exciting. Instead, I usually went to the Sports page which is exactly what I did now. Even though football wasn’t in season anymore, I liked to follow other sports, too.

I started skimming an article on the Cubs when I stopped. I quickly flipped back to the front page, remembering something from last night. It was in Ballard’s office, besides all the useless crap on his desk. I noticed the paper but didn’t really pay any attention to it. But there was something else too. It was a matchbook, from a hotel bar. I didn’t think anything of it at the time because I had a couple lying around, too. But this bar happened to be in the same hotel that the President was reportedly staying at. I flipped back to the front page and read the whole article. The President was expected to arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon. The article didn’t list his itinerary but it didn’t need to. For the last couple of months they yammered on and on about it on the news. First, he was going to have a brunch then he was going to play golf with the Governor and Senator Hunter. After that he was going to head back to the hotel to speak to some group there and then make his way to the convention center for his big speech, the reason he was here in the city.

I groaned. The stranger’s words came back again: what he’s got his hands into. Oh God, it made perfect sense now. Ballard was going to use Chiller to go after the President. It made perfect sense now, why else would he need a shape shifter. The bastard must have been turning into me as a trial run; “practice” is what Ballard called it. It was a pretty good bet that Ballard would have Chiller kill the President and take his place. But to what end? Then it hit me, of course. Ballard was currently running for Senator against Rick’s Dad, and everyone knew that Hunter was going to kick his ass, even this early in the campaign. Ballard didn’t want to be Senator; he wanted to be in the white house. What better way to do it than controlling the President himself.

This guy was more fucked up than I thought.

“You looked fired up about something,” said Bea as she came walking out of the bathroom.

I didn’t even notice the water shutting off. I turned to her. She was wrapped in a towel, using another one to pat her hair dry. She looked so damn hot and sexy that way. I felt my nipples get hard just looking at her. But I didn’t have time for that. I jumped to my feet, thrusting the paper at her. “I think I know what Ballard’s up to.”

She lazily took the paper and scanned it. “The President? You think he’s after the President?”

I nodded. “You and I need to stop this.”

She sighed. “Last night was fun but it was a onetime…”

I ignored her. I sniffed my hair and groaned. It smelled as if I’d been lying in an alley, which I had. I walked up to her pecked her on the cheek and gleefully ran toward the bathroom to take my turn at the shower. I turned back, blew her a kiss and ran inside.

______________________________

“Holy…” gasped Bea as we walked into my apartment.

I smiled. The apartment often had that reaction, especially with the girls I brought home with me. It was something to behold, I guess, if you liked big and swanky. I hated to admit it but I think Rick and I were a bit spoiled by his parents. Ok, they weren’t spoiling me. The apartment was more like a suite than anything else with a larger than average kitchen, a huge living room and a bathroom wedged between our two rooms. I’m surprised I never described it before. The walls were white, there was hardwood floor and only half the furniture actually came with the place. The rest---all the chrome and glass stuff---actually belonged to Rick. The only thing that belonged to me was in my bedroom.

But unlike Bea’s place, ours didn’t really feel lived in. It felt sort of like a large hotel room that the two of just happened to be staying in. We had the large TV and a state-of-the-art entertainment system but that was the only thing that made it feel like two guys---well one guy and one girl now---lived here. As much as I hated to admit it, Rick’s parents had a lot more to do with decorating this place than either one of us. I’m sure I’ve mentioned a few times how Rick’s Dad sort of dragged him around on a leash. Well he didn’t even let his son have his own opinion, it was sad really.

“How in the hell can you afford this place?” she asked as she walked over to a print on the wall, running her hand along it.

“My roommate is Senator Hunter’s son. His parents pay for most of it.”

I watched as Bea walked over to our couch and frowned at the broken coffee table. She looked at me, I shrugged and she smiled. Then she sat down, making herself at home. I watched her for a few seconds and then went into my bedroom. Skeets was floating in the middle of the room and when he saw me, he did that sigh thing he usually does.

“Where have you been?” he said, floating over to me. “Do you have any idea how worried I was?”

“Seriously, don’t start with me.”

I tossed the little clutch purse on the bed. Bea insisted I take it, in fact she insisted I take all the clothes she bought for me yesterday. Which thankfully didn’t consist of the outfit I wore to the club last night, that now belonged to that poor girl I knocked out last night. She could have it. Unfortunately, I was stuck with the clothes that I wore home now. After showering, Bea ambushed me with a new outfit. Yesterday we actually bought several, the skirt and tube top being the ones she settled on for me. This morning, after my shower, she forced me into another tiny skirt---one made of denim this time---a top that made my boobs look two times bigger and a pair of modest heels. I talked her down from the three-inch ones. Never again was I going to wear anything above a two inch.

I turned and looked in the floor length mirror on my wall and groaned. I looked like a bimbo. I was starting to notice a pattern in the clothes that Bea liked me to wear. She apparently liked a slutty look on her friends. I had to laugh though because the girl staring back at me was definitely something I would have picked up. How disturbing is that. I somehow went from me to my kind of girl. I turned this way and that, groaning. Then as quick as possible I stripped out of the clothes. I found a pair of jeans on the floor and then got some modest underwear. I dressed quickly, wearing a turtleneck and putting on my sneakers. When I came out of the bedroom, Skeets in tow, Bea frowned a bit. Yep, she definitely liked the slutty look better.

“Are you going to explain what happened last night, now?” asked Bea, the suspense killing her.

She wanted to know everything that went on upstairs as she was downstairs embarrassing herself. But I didn’t want to tell her anything until I was with Skeets. As much as he annoyed me, I somehow thought of him as my partner now too. Ok, there I admitted it. I don’t think I’d ever tell him that though. So with both of them waiting patiently, I told them everything. I didn’t leave anything out, starting from the moment we entered the club---for Skeets’ sake---all the way to the point of being rescued in the alley. Both were quiet during the story but Skeets did “ahhh” a few times. What was up with that?

When I finished, Bea spoke first. “A shape shifting Meta, are you sure?”

I nodded. “He changed from my old face back to his own. It was really creepy.”

“What the hell do you think they’re planning?”

“It’s obvious, isn’t it?” said Skeets, we both turned to him. “They’re going to replace the President. This all sounds vaguely familiar but I can’t quite place it. I have extensive historical databases but they’re still a little garbled from being in hibernation for so long.”

“Is there anything you remember?”

Skeets sighed again. For a few seconds he didn’t say anything but then his red light got brighter. I waited for him to say something but when he didn’t, I huffed. I hated it when people knew something but were unwilling to share.

“Well” I finally asked. “What do you know?”

“It’s still a bit fuzzy” he sighed. “I’m sorry, I can’t access that information.”

I narrowed my eyes. “You’re lying.”

Skeets didn’t say anything. I grabbed one of the pillows off the couch and threw it at him but he seemed to sense it coming because he already zipped out of the way. I lunged for him and he disappeared back into my bedroom. I got up to follow and Bea grabbed my arm, pulling me back down on the couch. I sighed, resting my head on her shoulder. She held my hand and the two of us sat like that for some time. Her holding my hand felt kind of nice. My heart starting racing and my palms were kind of sweating. It’s kind of funny because I’ve been with a lot of girls and none of them made me feel this way. I knew I felt something when I looked at Rick but with Bea, it was like the whole world slowed down when she looked at me.

Oh God, I like her. I’m not talking about just liking her enough to be a one night stand. I smiled; I really liked her. I bit my lip. I’ve never liked a girl before. I mean yeah, there a lot of girls that I liked but only because they were hot or had some body part I could admit while I had my way with them. But with her, the moment I saw her in that bar, I think I knew. I didn’t just want to screw her and toss her away. I wanted to spend every waking hour with her.

Bea brushed a strand of hair from my face. “What are you thinking about?”

I smiled. “Us.”

I waited for her answer and she gave it by tilting my head back and kissing me long and hard. My arms went up around her neck and I found myself being slowly lowered to the couch. It felt kind of strange, letting her take charge like this but it felt right too. I’m not sure why because I never would have let a girl do it to me as a guy. Now everything was all screwed up and frankly, I didn’t give a damn. We made out for a while, never going anything beyond some exaggerating petting. She did get her hands up my shirt though and played with my nipples a bit. God that felt good. We only stopped when one of us leaned on the remote and the TV clicked on.

“President Obama will be making an earlier arrival than expected” the voice of some female reporter said.

That caused both of us to snap up. It took us a few seconds to get untangled and look at the TV. Bea grabbed the remote and turned up the volume.

The reporter continued. “The President was originally not planning to arrive until next week. But after some careful rescheduling, he and Mrs. Obama wanted to take in some of the sights. Though the new itinerary was not released to the press I can tell you that the President will be arriving at his hotel early tomorrow morning…”

Bea muted the TV. “That’s bad.”

I bit my lip. “Maybe not.” She looked at me, confused. “Think about it. Ballard was planning on the President arriving next week so he won’t be prepared for this change in plans.”

I got to my feet and laughed. Bea was still confused. “This means they’re going to try to kill him earlier than planned.”

I shook my head. “No, this means that the two of us can get to him earlier. Don’t you see? Ballard probably had the whole thing planned out; after all, he still had a week to execute his plan. But with the President coming early, that means you and I can get there before Ballard.”

“Us? Don’t you think we should contact the authorities?”

I sighed. She was right of course. As much as I wanted to run off and be the hero, this really was a job for someone higher up. I groaned because I knew what that meant. I beckoned her with me and the two of us went into my bedroom. She longingly looked at the bed, which made me blush. Maybe later but right now I needed to find something. I looked about on the floor, searching for the jeans I wore the other night. Bea made a couple of comments about the messy state of my room but I ignored her. Instead, I found my jeans and reached into the pocket, taking out the card that Mr. Knight gave me. I looked at the number, found my cell phone and gave it a call.

I got voice mail so I left a quick message. “Hi, umm, Agent Faraday you don’t know me but my name is Myka Carter, this guy gave me your card and told me to call if I had any problems with a certain FBI Agent. But this isn’t about him; it’s about a potential threat on the President’s life…” I then went on to explain everything I found out, hoping that I could leave a message that long.

When I was done, I thanked him for the time and clicked off.

Bea smiled. “Is that it?”

I groaned. “There is someone else but I definitely don’t want to call him.’

“This is kind of important.”

I sighed and went to the trash bin; luckily, I hadn’t emptied it for a few days. I rummaged around inside until I found the other business card I was looking for. It definitely belonged in the trash but Bea was right, I needed to tell others. Hopefully Broderick wasn’t as much as an ass when he was actually during his real job. I got the card and called the number. Of course, he answered, the guy probably had nothing better to do.

“Agent Broderick" he said, sounding annoyed.

“Hi, it’s Myka Carter.”

I heard him groan. “Calling to tell me how innocent that brother of yours is or are you finally going to cooperate and tell me where he is.”

I groaned. “My brother is innocent and can prove it.”

I took a deep breath and told him everything, not leaving out a thing. When I was finished, he didn’t say anything at first. Then he started laughing. I knew then that there was no way the son of a bitch was going to help us. I didn’t even wait for him to stop laughing before I hung up. Bea frowned, now she knew how pointless it was to call him too. She gave my hand a gentle squeeze. I took a deep breath and weighed my options carefully. There was no way we could count on Broderick and as much as I wanted to count on Faraday, how often did guys like him check their voice messages. Besides, would he even believe us?

“What are you thinking?” asked Bea.

I sighed. “We’re going to have to do this on our own.”

-----

Author's Note: Ok back into the grind of things. I took the weekend off to do some things and go to a certain movie that came out. But now I'm back and here's chapter 10. There's finally some action. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing and DC Comics for their characters.

-----

Chapter Ten:

“What do you mean there are no more rooms?”

The man at the counter sighed and rolled his eyes. “You do realize who is staying in this hotel at the moment, don’t you?”

I bit my lip. I felt like screaming at the prick but it wouldn’t help matters. I knew exactly who was staying at the hotel, hell, I was here to save his life. But of course, I couldn’t yell that. The guy behind the counter was just doing his job after all. Besides the two guys in the black suits standing nearby were making all three of us nervous. It was clear who they were from their dark sunglasses and earpieces. They were looming like stoic statues, staring at the people as they entered the lobby. The Drake Hotel was the place to stay at in Chicago, especially for someone like the President. It was luxurious and modern and apparently really hard to get a room at the moment.

I cast a glance at the secret service agents and grimaced. These two probably weren’t the only ones in the lobby. Even though I couldn’t see anymore, didn’t these guys like to go undercover, too? There were a lot of people in the lobby, most of them sitting about, reading magazines and newspapers. There were a couple of bellhops pushing luggage carts and a woman with a screaming two year old that she was failing to keep quiet. Though this place was really swanky, I don’t know why anyone would want to shell out this much cash to stay here.

Bea wrapped her arm through mine, entangling our fingers together. “C’mon sweetie, we can find some other place to celebrate.” She said this as sweetly as possible, resting her head on my shoulder.

The guy at the counter only looked mildly disturbed. The other part of him I think looked a bit turned on. He was young and if he was anything like I used to be, the idea of two chicks together was really hot. So I hammed it up a bit. I turned to her and laid one on her, making sure I went full tongue. I caught the dweeb out of the corner of my eye and though he didn’t visually show it, you could tell he was majorly turned on.

He cleared his throat and began typing on his computer. “We do have one room available” he said, “There was a cancellation a few moments ago. “Its one of our executive rooms, lake view.”

“Oh that sounds perfect sweetheart,” said Bea, really hamming it up now.

“Anything for you, babe.”

“Do the two of you want the romance package?”

“Yes please,” said Bea, cooing slightly. “Can you make it a king size bed too?”

I think the guy blushed several shades of red. He nodded. “Certainly” he said as he typed away. “That will be two hundred thirty a night, non smoking of course.”

Bea smiled. “Of course.”

She pulled out a gold card and handed it to him. I might have forgotten to mention this but Bea kind of rakes it in. Even though she lives in a rinky dinky apartment---her choice---she makes quite a bit of dough working for good old Wayne, even as a receptionist. Plus the government apparently fronted the recently changed bit of cash as an incentive, to help them get their lives back in order. I didn’t have a check, not yet anyway, but apparently it had a couple of zeros on the end of it.

The guy took the card and zipped it through. We waited a few seconds to be authorized then he smiled and handed the card back. Bea took care of everything else as he handed her some paperwork, including the room key, which was actually a card. Me, I looked around a bit more. My eyes went from the front doors to around the room and back to the secret service agents. They were definitely foreboding and scary. But they were just doing their job after all. Me, I was doing my job too. Somewhere in this place was Chiller and possibly Ballard too.

After not getting a response from Agent Faraday and getting blown off by Broderick, Bea tried to talk me into calling the police. But I wasn’t willing to get laughed at again. Besides, they wouldn’t believe us anyway. For one thing, we had no proof and for another, Henry Ballard was a good friend of this city. He was like the Lex Luthor of Chicago; he donated tens of thousands of dollars to charity every year and dotted all his I’s as far as his activities went. Besides the nightclub, he was really well respected. But all of that was factual of course, just like Luthor, if the rumors were true. In truth, Ballard was as crooked as they came, hell he was gambling in a shady joint, placing illegal sports bets and what not. Let’s not forget his almost attempted murder of me and Bea, which I’m sure wasn’t his first but if I’m successful, hopefully his last.

Bea still tried to talk me out of it though. Not that she didn’t want to save the President but she thought there was someone else who could pull this off better than the two of us. Sorry, the three of us, I keep forgetting about Skeets, because he’s invisible half the time. She wanted me to try contacting that superhero from the news, Giganta, or maybe even Jade. But it’s not like I can scream for help and they’ll come a running. Besides, I had no way to contact them. She told me what Jade told her about needing help but we couldn’t leave this up to chance.

I made the overall decision last night. Then the two of us woke up early in the morning and devised this plan. It was kind of simple really. The two of us would pretend to be newlyweds and try to get a room in the hotel. Once that was achieved, we’d try to figure out a way to get to the President and warn him of the impending danger. Ok it wasn’t a very well thought out plan but it was all we had. It’s not like I could go charging into the place, shouting bomb or something. Do you know how fast those two burly Secret Service guys would have tackled me?

One of them did look at me finally. I think he was sizing me up and something else. His gaze lingered on my chest a little longer than it should have. I shuddered, not sure if I liked the attention or not. I suppose I deserved it, knowing how much of a pig I was before. But no girl deserves all the looks I kept getting. It was really disturbing actually. I zipped up my hoodie, pulling the hood over my head and turning away; glad I was wearing jeans and not the skirt Bea tried to talk me into.

“Ok, thank you so much” Bea said to the guy behind the counter.

I took a few steps away, grabbing our two bags. A bellhop tried to take them from me but I shook my head. I didn’t want him to take them and realize they were too light. They weren’t filled with anything besides newspaper, to give them the effect that they were stuffed to the brim. Hey, we’re not here on a real vacation; we’re here for business. I pretended to heft the bags a bit as if they were heavy and followed Bea across the lobby to the elevator. She was dressed sexily today, in a tiny skirt and cute little top. She was supposed to be the bimbo, girly girl of the relationship. Me, I was her butch lover apparently. But even I knew I couldn’t really pull that off with how I looked. I was too damn gorgeous to pull off butch but she pulled off the bimbo pretty well.

As soon as we got into the elevator she sighed, spitting out her gum and finally relaxing her face muscles. I didn’t know a human being could smile that long.

“You owe me big time for that,” she said, massaging her face.

I laughed. “It worked, didn’t it?”

She nodded. “Now what, oh fearless leader?’

“Skeets, you here?”

The golden football materialized next to my head. I sighed, jumping slightly. That was starting to get really annoying.

“I’m here, Boss,” he said, floating a few feet away from my face. “How can I help?”

“Can you use that Wi-Fi thing of yours and tap into the hotel computer system. We need to know which floor the President is staying on.”

“No problem.”

“That’s your plan” gasped Bea “what, are you going to go knock on his door and tell him that someone is trying to kill him?”

I nodded. “Pretty much.”

I know what you’re thinking and you’re probably right. This plan isn’t going to work but I have to try. Chiller will stop at nothing. All he has to do is kill the President and replace him. I’m sure he’s got some crazy plan to get into the room. I bet it’s better than ours, too. Last night I thought we had the jump on things but then I realized that Ballard could change his plans just as easily, too. After all, I’m sure he got the papers and watched the news. Yeah, it was probably difficult but he was a man with a plan. If he was able to organize what he did, I’m sure he could change it just as quickly. It was all the more reason why we had to act so quickly. I was pretty damn certain he’d try to make the switch here. It would be really hard to do it at the Convention Center with all its security.

“I have found the President” said Skeets after a minute or so. “He’s in the Presidential Suite on the top floor.”

I nodded and looked at Bea. “What floor are we on?”

She looked at her keycard. “Eight.”

I nodded again. That meant we’d have to travel up two floors. I looked at the elevator buttons. There was no way the two of us could just waltz up to the tenth floor; it was probably swarming with Secret Service. But maybe we could go there by mistake. I took a deep breath and pushed the button for the tenth floor. Bea gave me a look but I smiled. I think she caught on because she smiled back. When we reached the eighth floor the door opened, I peered out into the hall and sighed. It looked really nice and swanky there. It was a shame that the two of us would never get a chance to enjoy it. I made a mental note to pay Bea back the 230 she just shelled out for a room that was going to go vacant for the night.

The elevator went up past the eighth and continued up to the tenth. I took a deep breath as the it came to a stop and the door slid open. I put on my game face, Skeets disappeared and I wrapped my arm around Bea’s waist. The two of us both took more deep breaths and stepped out the elevator, giggling. It didn’t take long for our laughing to draw attention. I caught a look down the hall as I pushed Bea gently into the wall and had my way with her. It was kind of cool, I felt like I was in a spy movie. There were four Secret Service agents standing in the hall. The closest one, a guy not much older than us, was walking rapidly toward us.

“Excuse me, ladies” he said, his tone gentle but forceful. “You can’t be here; this floor is off limits to guests.”

We pulled away from trying to suck each other’s face off. Bea giggled and put on her bimbo act again. I playfully sized the guy up, looking at the bulge on his left side, where his gun was located.

“This is our floor,” said Bea, giggling, holding up her card in the guy’s face. “See.”

The agent looked at it and sighed. “This isn’t your floor.”

“Sure it is” said Bea, looking at the card. “It’s eight.”

“I know your card says eight” he said, annoyed. “But this floor is ten.”

“Ten” said Bea, looking confused. “That comes after eight, right?”

Whoa maybe a little too much there.

I looked past them, gently slipping my arm away from Bea. The other three guys in the hall seemed to be drawn to the disturbance. The closest one was coming now. He was a tall, bald headed black guy about the same age as the other. He was moving pretty fast. I turned back to Bea. She was really putting on a performance now, giggling and flirting. She had her hand on the agent’s shoulder, laughing. Her plan appeared to be working, whatever it was. I think she was trying to pull off the drunken sorority girl act and it was working. The other agent arrived, ignoring me. He tried to pull Bea off his friend, but was having a hard time. It amazed me to see how strong she was. She was holding her prey’s tie, giggling and tugging on it.

“Why don’t we go to one of these rooms and I’ll show you a good time.”

The other agent grabbed her arm. “Miss, this is inappropriate.”

Bea grabbed his forearm, giving it a good squeeze. “Look at the bicep on you, I bet you work out.”

The agent ignored her. He tapped his ear. “You two better get over here. We have a problem.”

I stood off to the side. Bea was doing a good job keeping these two busy. But I’m sure the other two were going to notice me. I tried to weigh my options. The only thing I really had going for me was my magnetic thing. But I’m not really sure about that. I did an ok job with it in the apartment but that was little things. These were grown men. Besides, I’m not sure what I could do to stop them. As far as I could tell, there was nothing metal on any of them. Except maybe their guns and I wasn’t even sure about them, didn’t they make them out of ceramic now, or something?

The two others were moving down the hall, slower than their companions did. One of them was reaching into his coat, probably going for his gun. Oh shit, this was getting out of hand.

“Skeets” I whispered, going for my only other option. “Do you have anything that can take these guys out without harming me or Bea?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

The two guys were moving faster now when they realized that I was standing there, too. One was coming right for me. He got about five feet away before something happened. It was quick. There was a little metal thing that flew out of thin air---probably from Skeets---it hit the guy in the neck. It didn’t take long for him to drop like a ton of bricks. His companion slowed and reached into his coat. Another metal thing sailed through the air, hitting him in the chest. He staggered a bit but dropped to the ground too. Skeets materialized and snapped toward the two guys who were with Bea. Both of them were too busy to notice.

Two more metal things flew from Skeets, hitting both of them in the back. They staggered and dropped.

Bea sighed. “I thought I was going to have to go pyrotechnic in a few seconds” She looked down at the agents, unconscious on the floor.

“They’re not dead, are they?”

“No” said Skeets, hovering over them. “My darts are non-lethal. They should be out for about a half an hour and then wake up with splitting headaches.”

“Skeets you are a bad ass” I said a with a big smile. “Remind me to never leave the house without you again.”

“It was a pleasure.”

Bea sighed. “You two can have your romance later; right now we have a President to save.”

I smiled and the three of us took off down the hall toward the presidential suite. There were no more guys outside the door. I went first; making sure Bea was behind me. I guess she should have gone first because of her power, but if anything were to happen to her, I’m not sure I could have lived with myself. After all, I kind of dragged her into this. Besides how bad would it look if I got my potential girlfriend shot on our second date? Ok so it’s not really a date but it was kind of cool to think of it as one.

I took a deep breath as we approached the door. I was going to do this as subtle as possible. So of course, I knocked on the door and said, “Housekeeping.”

Hey, it’s subtle, right. At first, there was no answer. So I knocked a little louder. A few seconds later, there was a sound from the other side. When the door finally opened, there was a burly man in a black suit standing there. He was wearing the traditional dark shades and earpiece. When he looked down at us---yes, he was a couple of inches taller---he didn’t look too happy. He didn’t say anything, instead his eyes cast down the hall and at the four guys unconscious at the end of it.

What happened next was really too fast to comprehend. One minute I was smiling smugly and the next the guy had his gun out. The barrel was real close to my face, almost touching my nose. It was so fricking fast. Ok so I know it looked bad but damn.

“ON YOUR KNEES NOW!”

Ok, someone was overreacting. I raised my hands. “I know this looks bad but it was the only way to get past them.”

Three more guys appeared, all pointing their guns too. Thankfully, Skeets was invisible again or they would have really freaked.

“This is a big misunderstanding,” said Bea, raising her hands slowly. “We’re not the threat here but there is one.”

“ON THE GROUND NOW!”

I nodded to Bea and slowly got on my knees. She reluctantly did the same. “We’re not the bad guys, dude,” I said, trying to smooth things over but I think it only made things worse.

The guy ignored us. He touched his earpiece. “Lobby, we have two potential hostiles up here. We need back up now.”

The guy waited but there was no response. He tried again but still nothing. Then he glared at us, his eyes narrowing. Oh shit, he thought we took out the lobby, too. But that was ridiculous, those guys were fine unless….oh God. It was Chiller, it had to be. I looked at Bea and she nodded her head, coming to the same conclusion. Then I took a deep breath and chanced it. I slowly got to my feet, my hands above my head.

The guy snapped back to me, raising his gun. “BACK ON THE GROUND NOW!”

“I’m not the threat here dude” I shouted “but someone is. There’s a guy here, he can look like anyone, and he’s after the President.”

The two agents behind the guy laughed.

“Its true” said Bea, getting to her feet too. “We called this in. Call Agent Faraday of Homeland Security, we left him a voice mail and explained everything.”

The guy pointing the gun at us didn’t flinch. “There is no Agent Faraday or Homeland Security. I know most of the field agents in this sector, he doesn’t exist.”

“Maybe he works for a different one?”

I saw the doubt in the guy’s eyes. Then he was all business again. “Get back on your knees now before I have to use this.”

I tried to switch tactics. “This guy who is coming, he’s a Meta, a shape shifter. He can look like anymore. His name is Chiller, call it in, he’s got a record. He’s working for Henry Ballard; they’re trying to kill the President.”

I said it all in one breath. The other agents behind him laughed some more but the guy in front of me didn’t. He lowered his gun slightly. He looked me up and down then looked at Bea. “You two don’t move” He didn’t holster his gun but it wasn’t as close to my face anymore. He turned to one of the guys behind him.

“Hendricks, phone it and check.”

“You can’t be serious?” said the guy who I assumed was Hendricks.

“Are you questioning me?”

“No, sir”

This guy and the other one still kept their guns trained on us. Hendricks was at a little coffee table in the room at a laptop. He was typing away rapidly. I watched him, looking for signs. I got what I was looking for when I saw his face. His eyes widened.

Sir, she’s telling the truth,” said Hendricks, spinning the laptop around. “I’ve got it right here. It doesn’t say anything about him being a Meta but he’s definitely in the system. He’s bad news sir, on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.”

The Secret Service Agent finally lowered his gun all the way. He looked me up and down. “What’s your stake in all this?”

I sighed. “My name is Myka Carter. I used to be Michael Carter of the Northwestern Wildcats and I’m a Meta.”

The guy’s eyes widened. So did the other guy. “You’re the Booster?”

I smiled. I had fans all over the place, who knew. “Check with the government, I was just registered.”

Hendricks was ahead of his boss, typing away. It didn’t take long. “Believe it not, she’s telling the truth, boss.”

The Agent beckoned us into the room. We stepped inside. I couldn’t believe how large and swanky this place was. It was three times larger than my apartment even. It was lush and looked like a princess lived here. I took a deep breath. If I ever got rich and famous, I was definitely going to make sure I stayed in this room. I looked about; it had everything, everything that is except one very important thing. I scanned the room, seeing just the three agents and nothing else. What the hell was going on here?

Bea asked the question. “Where’s the President?”

The Agent in Charge answered. “The Drake was a decoy. He was never coming here. We set it up to deter would be assassins. The President and his wife have a home herethat they stay at when they come to the city.”

I sighed. So all of this was for nothing. “Is he there now?”

The Agent shook his head. “No, he’s en route to the Convention Center.”

I nodded and then it slowly dawned on me. Ballard probably knew that too, he ran in all the political circles. I groaned. Chiller was never coming here; the two guys in the lobby were probably on a coffee break or something. Oh God, I’m at the wrong place. The color drained from my face. I turned to Bea but she realized it too.

“We’re at the wrong place,” I said softly. “Chiller’s going to hit him at the Convention Center.”

I think that got the Agent’s attention. “That’s impossible. Ten of my best men surround the President. There’s no way he can get close enough.”

I shook my head. “Chiller’s a shape shifter, remember. He could be anyone. Ten guys aren’t going to stop him.”

The color drained from the Agent’s face as realization dawned on him too.

“I have to get to the Convention Center now!”

“Let us handle this, missy”

I looked around the room and found a metal ashtray sitting there. I raised it off the floor to the wonderment of all, including Bea. “I think I can handle this on my own.”

I dropped the tray to the ground and didn’t wait for the others to respond. I just turned and took off running. There were loud footfalls behind me, probably Bea and possibly the others. I’m not sure because right now, I had a one track mind and that said the President was in danger.

_____________________________

Bea and the Agents caught up with me just as I was getting into the elevator. That was ten minutes ago and now the five of us---invisible Skeets as well---were on our way to the Convention Center. The guy behind the wheel of the black SUV was driving like a maniac, swerving in and out of traffic. The Agent in Charge---whose name happened to be Franks---was trying desperately to raise the Presidential convoy. But so far, he was having no such luck. Me, I was gripping my seat, trying as hard as I could to keep my anger under control. How could I have been so stupid? I should have known that the hotel wasn’t the target. But I believed the news in thinking that the Obama’s would be here. But of course, they’d stay somewhere else; they were from Chicago after all.

I cursed. A couple of paperclips floated above my head, hitting the ceiling. Bea grabbed my hand, trying desperately to calm me. ‘We’re going to do this. Everything is going to be fine.”

I smiled, giving her hand a squeeze. “We screwed up.”

“Why can’t I raise the team, Hendricks?” asked Franks from the passenger seat.

Hendricks was sitting next to me on the laptop, typing away. “Someone is interfering with our radio transmissions. It’s really strange but I can’t get through.”

I took a deep breath. Now was time to put all the cards on the table. “Skeets show yourself.”

Skeets suddenly appeared. He was floating near my head. There were some collective gasps in the car. But I ignored them. “See what you can do to help with the radio problem.”

He floated over to Agent Hendricks. The Secret Service agent looked like someone had deflated the air out of his bicycle tires. He looked from me to Skeets to me again. “What the hell is this?” he asked.

“A long story” I said, looking out the window.

I could see the Convention Center looming up toward us. We were about five minutes away. The wait was kind of nerve racking. Bea held my hand, squeezing g it, keeping me from making bigger things form floating about. I bit my lip and squeezed her hand too, trying desperately to hold on to some control. I didn’t want another rehash of my apartment.

Hendricks cut into my thoughts. “We’re through. This little robot is amazing,” He sounded giddy for a second. “The President is in the Green Room right now prepping. I’ve told Donahue about it and they’re on full alert.”

Franks let out a sigh. “Tell them to hold him for the time being.”

“Will do, sir”

We finally reached the convention Center. The SUV went around the back, coming to a halt next to a pair of like colored SUVS. There was a limo there too, with the presidential seal on the side and those little American flags. I looked at a few seconds as the vehicle came to a complete stop. When we did I unbuckled quickly and threw open the door. When I jumped out of the SUV, Skeets flew out in front of me. He went right to the other vehicles, zooming about them. He stopped at the limo for a second, hovering over the trunk.

I ran over, Franks a few steps behind me. “What is it, Skeets?”

“There’s a body in there.”

I took a deep breath and concentrated on the trunk. Please don’t let it be the President. I yanked on the trunk with all my might, tearing the hood clean off. It sailed through the air, over my head and landed somewhere behind me with a clang. Inside the trunk was a red haired guy in a black suit, his glasses and earpiece gone, his neck looked twisted. He was a little pale but other than that, it looked like he’d only been dead for a few minutes.

Franks gasped. “That’s Donahue.”

Hendricks came running over and looked into the trunk. “What the hell?”

Franks pulled his gun and tapped his earpiece. “We have a hostile in the building, masquerading as Agent Martin Donahue.”

I didn’t wait to hear the rest. I took off toward the building. Skeets followed close behind. I think people were running after me but I was too far ahead. Hey, football player, remember. I hit the door hard, knocking it open. I’m not sure if it was my power or my body that did the trick but there was a snap and it came off the hinges. It clanged a few feet down the hall as I ran into the building. There were more running behind me. I ignored them and ran as fast as I could down the long narrow hallway. Up ahead there was a few guys in black suits. They held up their hands, trying to stop me. Nearby there were two metal doors.

My anger took over. The doors got ripped off their hinges and slammed into the agents, knocking them to the ground. I jumped over their crumpled forms and continued to run. I didn’t know where I was going, only that I needed to get to the President before Chiller.

“CARTER SLOW DOWN!” shouted a voice, I think it was Franks.

I ignored him.

“Boss” said Skeets, hovering next to me. “I’ve tapped into the place’s security grid and have a layout of the building. The President is the a room a few corridors down and up a flight of stairs, first door on the left. You better hurry, there’s a commotion going on in there.”

I put on the speed. When I got to the end of the hall there was a flight of stairs. I started up them two at a time. About half way up something happened. My body felt as light as air and I slowly lifted off the ground. It was impossible but somehow I was flying. I looked about and saw metal handrails on either side of me. Was I somehow using magnetic current to lift myself off the ground? I didn’t really care at the moment. All I cared about was getting to the President before it was too late.

I floated the rest of the way up the stairs. Once to the door leading to the next floor, I used my gift and blew it off its hinges. The door crashed down the hall, making a lot of noise. I ignored it and ran out of the stairwell. As soon as I stepped into the hall, my feet touched the ground. I guess it was the current after all.

I ran down the corridor. There were how many corridors now. Wait, no, that was downstairs. Up here, the room was right there. I stopped in front of the door and took a deep breath. I tried the knob first, opening the door slowly. I was just in time. There was several guys lying on the ground, some of them were dead, others looked stunned and confused. Chiller must have been strong, too, because a lot of them looked pretty mangled. But they weren’t the ones who mattered. The President was my goal. He was lying against the wall, a guy in a black suit standing in front of him, pointing a gun in his face.

I reacted on pure instinct. I looked around the room and found what I was looking for. There was a metal table against the far wall. I reached out with my gift and grabbed it, flipping into the air. Chiller---at least that’s who I thought it, was---snapped toward it, surprised. I didn’t give him much time to think about it as I used the table and slammed him against the wall. He dropped his gun and screamed. It was pretty cool but it wasn’t enough apparently. I tried my hardest to keep him pinned to the wall but he was stronger than most people. He pushed the table off, sending it crashing across the room. He dropped to his feet, lunging for the gun again.

I found something else. It was a microphone stand. It was made of metal. I whipped it into the air and send it flying at the bastard. First, I hit him in the gut with it, dropping him to his knees. Then I smashed him in the head. He cursed and looked at me.

“You’re the little bitch from the club” he spat blood from his mouth, his face changing back to the ugly bald headed normal version of himself. “Your little magic tricks won’t work on me.”

He batted the stand away, getting to his feet. He snatched up the gun and fired.

I raised my hand in fear and desperation. The bullet flew through the air and slowed down, stopping within a few inches from my face. He fired again. I snapped the first bullet around, slamming it into the second, stopping it in mid air. Chiller didn’t seem to be fazed as he fired again, twice this time. I caught the bullets and snapped them around, sending them back at him. He may have been super strong but there was no way he could stop bullets. One of them hit him in the left thigh, the other in the shoulder. He dropped to the ground, wailing in pain.

He raised his gun, ready to fire again. But he never got a chance. A shot rang behind me and a bullet whizzed through the air, hitting him in the head, dropping him quickly. I snapped around, Franks was standing in the doorway behind me, panting.

“You really are fast,” he said, slumping into the doorframe.

A few seconds later, Bea pushed past him, running into my arms, throwing her arms around my neck. “Never do anything like that again.”

Franks recovered and ran to the President. I looked, too. Please let him be ok, tell me I’m not too late. Franks checked him over, helping him to his feet. The President stirred and I sighed. He looked about, clutching his arm. He looked at the dead Chiller then at Franks. He patted the agent on the arm.

He sighed. “Donahue tried to kill me.”

“It wasn’t him, sir. It was a meta human shape shifter.”

The President nodded. “Good work, Franks.”

“I didn’t save you sir,” he said, pointing to me. “She did sir.”

The President smiled and nodded. “I owe you my life my dear. What’s your name so I can thank you properly?”

Franks answered for me. “That’s Booster, sir, Chicago’s own golden girl.”

The President walked over and held out his hand. I took it and we shook. “Thank you, Booster Gold.”

I smiled. Booster Gold, huh. I guess it kind of had a nice ring to it.

-----

Author's Note: Here's Chapter 11, I think its the longest one in the story. This one takes place a little bit after the last chapter so there's a bit of a catch up in the beginning but the chapter progresses along nicely after that. There's some good scenes in here, including the first actual appearance of Myka's mother. I've got one more chapter to go with this and then I'm taking a break from Retcons. I'd like to thank djkauf for all the hard work and DC Comics for the wonderful characters.

-----

Chapter Eleven:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present to you the young woman responsible for my life, Booster Gold.”

I was standing on a podium with the President, in front of the huge crowd at the Convention Center. A few moments before the President explained in detail about the attempt on his life and then told the world how a Meta human saved him. It was a complete turnaround. The speech he had planned for the day was actually going to discuss the Meta human impact on the country and the world as a whole. No one knew what the President was going to say but everyone feared it was going to be disheartening. But after I saved him, he tore the speech up and decided to wing it. I’m not sure how much of an impact I had on it or not.

The crowd on the television screen went wild, chanting my name over and over again. Me, all I could do was smile and then I muted it. I started surfing and saw my mug on every single news channel, the headline beneath pretty much said the same wherever I went: ROOKIE HERO SAVES PRESIDENT. It was kind of cool when you thought about it but I couldn’t help but think how annoying it got, too. Hell, as Mike I would have loved all the attention, in fact I would have basked in the glory. Now I just wanted to be left alone. But that it seemed, wasn’t going to happen. As soon as that news broadcast aired two weeks ago my life has never been the same.

For starters, the phone hasn’t stopped ringing. First, it was the reporters, all seeking interviews with the hero who saved the President. I let most of those go to the machine. But there were so many that I actually had to have my number changed. The phone still rang but it had died down a lot since then. Then there was the letters. A lot of people were writing to Booster Gold, thanking her and asking her for help. It got so bad that I actually had to hire someone to help me read them all---I’ll get to that in a second. After the letters, came all the endorsement deals. That’s right; everyone wanted a piece of the Booster.

But that was only the half of it.

My cell phone rang. I groaned and clicked off the TV, snatching the phone off the coffee table in front of me. I looked at the screen and groaned, clicking the speaker. “Go ahead, Dirk.”

“Myka, baby” said the over enthusiastic voice of Dirk Davis, my agent.

I groaned. I told him not to call me “baby” but he barely ever listened. Dirk popped up two days after I popped up all over the news. He said he could help me get my career on the fast track. I kind of ignored him at first, thinking that maybe he was a nut. Then the offers started to flood in. Companies wanted to endorse me; others wanted me to advertise for them. There were even some movie studios who wanted to do movies based on my life. It was kind of crazy. The wildest one was a pitch about Mike Carter, going from all American football hero to darling debutante. No, I’m not a belle of the ball but the studios liked to put their spin on things.

I met with Dirk last week and told him I wanted the offers to stop. But he had other plans. He was convinced that he and I could create a Booster Gold empire. He wanted me to take a few offers, maybe do some commercials and photo shoots, get my name out there. It was kind of crazy really. I only did one thing and the whole world wanted a piece of me. They were fricken vultures.

“I told you not to call me baby, Dirk,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Sorry sweetie” he said, his voice half drowned out by rushing air, he was probably driving. “But I have a great deal for you. “

I groaned. “I’m not interested.”

The offers kept coming in and so far, most of them were crap. I didn’t want to endorse cereal or energy bars. I did have a soda thing lined up for next month and there was some kind of commercial I supposed to shoot for something. I can’t even remember what, Dirk had that all set up.

“It’s big, sweetie” he said “real big.”

I sighed, defeated. “What is it?”

“It’s Sports Illustrated.”

I was all set to say no but the least I could do was hear him out. “Go on.”

I could almost see Dirk smiling. “They want you for the cover of their swimsuit edition. They’ll pay handsomely for it too. They’ll do a spread, a good fluff piece and you get to wear whatever you want. I’m thinking blue and gold; it seems to be your signature.”

I didn’t have a signature. The blue and gold thing happened by accident. Someone asked me what my favorite color was and I said blue. It was one of the damn paparazzi. I was leaving Sal’s, trying to get away as quickly as possible and I was ambushed. A bunch of pricks came out of nowhere, snapping pictures left and right. They kept throwing out questions; I couldn’t hear half of them. But I did answer the favorite color one. The next day my face was plastered in a trashy magazine saying: GOLD LOVES BLUE. Suddenly every started associating my face with blue and gold. It was kind of crazy.

“Are they paying well?”

Hey, its Sports Illustrated. How can I not even think about that? I’m sure Bea isn’t going to be happy but right now, she wasn’t talking to me anyway. She got kind of P.Oed about all the attention. Not that she was jealous, but they started hounding her too as soon as one of the photogs caught us together. Of course, it was in the tabloids the next day. We had a fight about it. She felt that I should tell everyone to go fuck off and I felt she was over reaching. I mean this hero thing was a fad and as soon as the next one popped up, I’d be old news. But she didn’t think so. She felt I was instigating it, basking in the glory of being the Big Man on Campus again. Now she wouldn’t return any of my calls and was hiding in her apartment.

“They’re paying big, sweetie,” he said “huge numbers. This could really get us started and it’ll get your face all over.”

I rolled my eyes. My face was already all over. It was two weeks later and they were still playing that Convention Center stuff on every channel. But Dirk had a point. I needed the money and seeing as it was now Summer Break---school let out two days ago, not that I was attending---I needed to do something with my life. Getting a real job was kind of out of the question too, seeing, as everyone knew that Myka Carter and Booster Gold were one in the same.

“Can I think about it and get back to you?”

“Sure babe. Trixie has all the details, call the office and have her contact me.”

Trixie is my secretary. Yeah, that’s right, I have a secretary. After I brought Dirk on, he brought her on. He used a bit of his own capital at first and rented out a little office space for me. Then he hired Trixie Collins. She was fresh out of school, a few years older than me and kind of hot in that schoolteacher kind of way. She’s the one that reads all my fan mail---I said I’d get back to that. She’s also the one who fields all my calls now. Officially as far as the public knew, I was a one woman show but unofficially Trixie was the one woman show. Me, I was the joker in the monkey suit who everyone took pictures of. Ok, I don’t actually wear a tux, but you get my meaning.

I left the phone sitting on the table and rubbed my temples. Things were definitely different than I expected them to be. For starters, not only was Bea gone but I lost Rick too. But he wasn’t mad at me. After he moved out, he did some soul searching of his own. His aunt Jenet pulled some strings and got him a summer job as a lab assistant at STAR Labs. He was actually working under the Dibnys. Which is kind of cool. We talk a lot on the phone but neither of us has mentioned the kiss again. It’s kind of forbidden territory and both of us have decided it was a spur of the moment type deal. Hey, I was in love with Bea, well I was pretty sure I was. I just hoped she felt the same way.

My doorbell rang, forcing me from my thoughts. I groaned and got up, padding over to the door. I looked through the peephole again and got a shocker. It was my mother, what the hell was she doing here. I looked about, seeing my mess and groaned. Then I looked at what I was wearing, nothing but a bra and pajama bottoms. I cursed and looked around the room, snatching up the nearest shirt I could find and pulled it over my head. I took a deep breath and opened the door, smiling.

My mother gasped. This was the first official time that she and I had met face to face since my change. She didn’t say anything at first; she just stared. I smiled sheepishly but my emotions were getting the better of me. I started to cry, hey, I couldn’t help it. She started to cry too and before I knew it, we were hugging like mother and daughters should. We hugged for a while, standing in my doorway. I’m not sure how long it was but finally we broke apart and I grabbed her bags.

“My baby girl” she said, through her tears, brushing a strand of hair from my face. “You’re absolutely beautiful.”

“Thanks Mom.”

I carried her bags into the apartment, closing the door behind me with my foot. I was still living in the Tides but I moved out of the place that Rick and I shared. This one was all mine. It was bigger, had three bedrooms and a nice lakeside view. It was a couple floors up and twice what the other was worth. But apparently, I could afford it now. It was kind of sparsely decorated at the moment because I only moved in a day or two ago. There were a lot of cardboard boxes stacked against the walls and stuff cluttered about. I didn’t even have a bed in my room, just a mattress. I spent last night on the couch, watching TV.

My mother looked around the room and then looked at me, frowning. “I see you haven’t changed all that much.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just moved in, Mom. I’ve been kind of busy to unpack.”

She looked at my TV and the game system hooked up to it. She frowned again. “I see some of my little boy is still in there.”

I loved the PS3 and the game sitting on top. It was the new Madden College Football. It was made back before the change and so there was actually a digital representation of Mike Carter in there, playing as the quarterback for Northwestern. It was kind of cool, especially seeing as it was one of the only things that still acknowledged that the old me existed at all.

My mother walked around the room, I set her bags down near the door. She was scrutinizing things. She kept shaking her head as she looked in boxes. I groaned. A lot of stuff was things I took out of storage. When Rick and I moved in together, his parents wouldn’t even consider letting me put my stuff in the house. His mother was appalled by the fact. So they paid for a storage locker where I could “hide” things. But the rent ran out on it a couple days after Rick left so I had to take all my stuff out or lose it. Most of it was football stuff, posters and old game trophies from high school. A lot of it I took from my bedroom at home and had decorating my dorm room before Rick and I moved in together.

My mother finally stopped and turned to me. She smiled. “Turn around so I can get a good look at you.”

I groaned but did as I was told. “I’m still me, Mom, just different.”

She nodded and walked over. I bent so that she could get a better look. My Mom was short, about five feet so I towered over her. She touched my face, ran her fingers through my hair. Then she started scrutinizing. She tutted when she saw my nails and groaned at my unkempt hair. She also seemed to have a comment about my lack of makeup. Then she asked the embarrassing questions that no one likes to answers but no one more so than a boy turned girl. She wanted to know my sizes and was especially interested in my bra size. I blushed as I answered her.

“That settles it then” she said finally. “Go get dressed and grab your purse. You and I are going shopping.”

I groaned. “I don’t have a purse.”

She tutted even more at that.

______________________________

So we didn’t exactly head straight to the mall. She wanted to make one more stop first.

“Mom, Bea’s working. I can’t just walk in there and pull her away,” I said, staring up at the tallness that was the Wayne Spire.

But I don’t think my Mom was listening. She had a one-track mind about these kinds of things. Even though we hadn’t seen each other, we’d been talking a lot. She knew all about Bea and thought it was about time I got myself a steady girlfriend. She was giddy with excitement, even mentioning grandchildren on more than one occasion. When I pointed out that we were both girls, she said there was nothing wrong with adopting. So when Bea and I unofficially broke up I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I screwed things up. It turns out that meeting Bea was one of the reasons she made the trip all the way from Buffalo.

So after we left my place---after my shower and a change of clothes---she directed the cabbie to take us straight to Wayne Enterprises. I tried talking her out of it but it was no use. My mother was one of those women who once she got her mind set on something there was nothing you could do to change it.

“Nonsense” she said to my rationalization. “You walk in there and drag her out if you have to.”

I groaned. There was no arguing with my mother. So I took a deep breath and walked into the building. I’d only been in once before and that was only real quick. Bea actually met me half way too; she was in a rush to leave. We went to dinner that time and then spent the night spooning on her couch. That was the day after my “miraculous rescue of the President” as the press liked to call it. It was strange because the press didn’t even know what went on, no one did and if I told anyone, I’d be violating national security.

Wayne Enterprises was very shiny inside. The floors were made of white marble and the walls were polished stone, buffed to perfection. Everything looked pristine and new. Most of the lobby had a glass motif going on, kind of like Rick’s decorating style. Except the chairs were large and comfy, made of leather and any table that appeared was made of black wood. I’m sure it was painted or something. The centerpiece of the lobby was the large metal globe in the center. It was ginormous. In the center of the globe was a big W, the biggest I’d ever seen. I stared at it as I walked around it and headed for the front desk.

Bea was sitting there, absorbed in her computer. I smiled when I saw her; she looked beautiful, even with her hair up. She was dressed like the time I saw her in Sal’s but for some reason she looked so damn sexy. Even with that large W behind her head and the Bluetooth in her ear. She didn’t notice me at first. I walked up slowly, holding my breath the whole time. The two of us hadn’t seen each other in like a week. That didn’t mean I didn’t try. I did everything to get her talk to me but no such luck. She was really taking the whole being “hounded” by the press thing real seriously. I guess I couldn’t blame her; it was annoying the hell out of me, too. They were even there when my mother and I left the Tides but she glared at them and they took off. Not even they would mess with my mother.

I finally let out my breath and cleared my throat. She looked up from the computer screen and gasped. For a second I thought her face lit up with joy but it slowly vanished to be replaced by an annoyed scowl.

“What do you want?” she asked angrily.

I held up my hands. “I come in peace.”

“I don’t have time for your crap, Myka.”

I sighed. I couldn’t do this. I didn’t have the energy for it. “I’ve come to apologize.”

She snorted. “I’ve only known you for a little bit and you don’t do things like that.”

She had me there. “It’s true. I want to say I’m sorry for acting like an ass and I want to see if you’ll come to lunch with me.”

She narrowed her eyes. I hadn’t known her for very long but I knew enough to know that she was thinking about it. She sighed. “Look, Myka, you and I can never work. You’re a glory monger and I’m a quiet thing who just wants to be left alone. Do you know I had to change my phone number twice and that my building actually had to hire security? The super is taking it out of my rent.”

I groaned. This wasn’t going well. “I’ll pay your rent.”

She snorted. “It’s not about that. It’s everything else.”

I nodded. We had this argument before. She didn’t think I should have ever walked onto that stage and outed myself to the world. But I wasn’t like her, I wasn’t afraid of who I was. I wanted to tell the world and show them I wasn’t a threat. People were scared of Metas and if one of them stood up and spoke then I think people would be less afraid. I told her all of this and she didn’t believe me. She was convinced I was a glory monger, that I was doing it to get back some of the Mike Carter thunder I lost when my penis disappeared. Yes, the world know knew that Mike Carter and Myka Carter were one and the same---I even got a full presidential pardon for the museum and bank thing. But that wasn’t what this was all about and she knew that.

I sighed and decided to change tack. I turned and pointed outside. “You see that woman standing out there?”

She had to stand up and look around the giant golden globe. She looked at my mother and nodded. “I see her, what about her?”

“That’s my mother,” I said, she gasped. “She came all this way to see me, finally.”

Bea nodded. Her voice was soft. “That’s wonderful.”

I knew this was kind of a touchy subject. After she changed, Bea’s family threw her out. Her father disowned her and told her to never darken his doorstep again.

“She came all this way to meet you, too.”

She gasped again. I could see the shock in her eyes. Her lip trembled and a tear rolled down her cheek. I reached over and took her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. She smiled and squeezed my hand. We stared at each other for a bit. Then I opened my mouth, taking a stab at it: “I know you’re scared. I know why you pushed me away and it’s not because of the paparazzi” She shook her head but I wasn’t going to let her do this. I walked around to her side of the desk.
“I’m not going to leave you. I’m here and I’m going to stand by your side no matter what. My mother will, too, in fact she’s already talking about grandkids.”

Bea’s eyes widened at that. “I’m not ready for…”

I cut her off. “My mother is like that.”

She laughed. We both laughed. I finally broke her ice barrier and went in for the kill. It was a quick kiss but I think it was perfect. At first, she was a bit reluctant but then she got into as well and soon the two of us were making out in the lobby of Wayne Enterprises. After a few seconds, I think the two of us realized where we were and pulled away. She looked a little flustered and blushed. We both laughed and then she slipped behind the desk, I went back to the proper side.

“Even if I wanted too, I’ve already taken my lunch break.”

“Nonsense” said a voice.

I snapped around and looked over at the elevators. The door just closed and Thomas Knight was walking toward us. Looking at him made my heart thump and my knees kind of melt. He was just as gorgeous as I remembered even more so in his charcoal gray suit. He walked over to us, smiling. HE winked at me and then smiled at Bea. She looked like she’d just swallowed a frog or something. Was this guy her boss?

“Mr. Knight” I said unfortunately at the same time as Bea said:

“Mr. Wayne”

Wayne? I looked at the guy and then for the first time noticed the large portrait above the elevators. It was a picture of Knight and underneath it was a little plague that read” Bruce Wayne. All the color seemed to drain from my face. I looked from the picture to “Knight” and back to the picture again. He wasn’t Thomas Knight he was Bruce Wayne. Oh, my God. Then it dawned on me, no wonder Broderick looked like he’d swallowed a frog too. That also explained why he had a fancy Rolls Royce and a butler.

He turned to me. “Sorry for misleading you before but I don’t like flashing my name around like a badge.”

I nodded, too numb to say anything.

Bea’s eyes narrowed as she looked at me. “You two know each other?”

Mr. Knight…I mean Wayne laughed. “I helped Miss Carter here out of jam a little while back.”

“Yes” I finally found my voice. “I’m very grateful for it too. He hasn’t bothered me since.”

That is, if you don’t count him laughing at Bea and me after we tried to warn him about the whole assassination attempt. Franks called me the next day and told me that Agent Broderick was now on administrative leave, something about harassment and using FBI resources for his own personal gain. I wouldn’t be hearing from Agent Broderick anytime soon.

Bea recovered her composure. “Sorry for earlier, sir” She was referring to our kiss. “We were making up for lost time.”

He smiled. “Don’t worry about, Bea. In fact why don’t you take the rest of the day, spend it catching up.”

He waggled his eyebrows a bit, causing the two of us to blush at the same time.

“In fact” he continued. “I’ll have a car brought around so you lovely ladies and the delightful Mrs. Carter can cruise around the town in style.”

My mother was standing in the lobby now, her mouth wide open. I turned, not even realizing she came inside. Mr. Wayne smiled at her and waved, she absently waved back. Apparently, my mother wasn’t as clueless about playboy billionaires as I was. Boy, did I feel like an idiot.

“Now if you lovely ladies will excuse me” he said as he took Bea’s Bluetooth out of her ear. “I’ll get the car and a temp and you three can be on your way.”

Bea and I nodded absently. He smiled and then went off to start talking. I looked at my mother who was still standing there, waving like a fool. I smiled and shrugged. Bea grabbed my hand and the two of us walked over to my mother. My mother snapped out of her waving and looked at Bea, her smile spreading across her whole face.

I didn’t even get a chance to introduce them. My mother grabbed her and wrapped her in a giant hug. “It’s so lovely to finally meet you my dear.”

Bea was shocked to say the least. “The same here, Mrs. Carter.”

My mother pulled away. “Call me Beverly, in fact you can even call me Mom if you want.”

I groaned and rolled my eyes. Bea looked like she swallowed that frog again.

________________________________

I’m not going to bore you with the details of our shopping expedition. I can say that as soon as we got to the mall, the two of them teamed up on me. They dragged me from store to store, forcing me into this and that. I think I was bogged down with so many bags that I could barely stand. They dragged me into a salon, too and made sure the woman there gave me the works. Have you ever had your whole body waxed? Let me tell you it’s not something I recommend. Though I liked it when they did something with my hair. The woman trimmed it a bit and styled it, even throwing in some highlights. When they worked on my makeup, I was reluctant to have that gunk on my face but in the end, I looked like a knockout.

As traumatizing as the whole salon experience was it was kind of fun too. Don’t tell anyone I said this but being a girl isn’t so bad.
After that, we browsed the mall some more and then went to lunch. We didn’t eat in the mall, though. There was a restaurant in the city that Bea wanted to treat the two of us too. So after some coaxing, she dragged us there. The meal was fantastic. During lunch, my mother got to know her and the new me. I tried to convince her I was the same guy but she kept on insisting I was completely different.

“What are you talking about Mom?” I said when she mentioned that I was definitely not her son anymore. “I’m still Mike.”

She shook her head. “No you’re not, sweetie.”

I don’t think I liked that. I frowned a bit; saddened that my mother thought I was a completely different person.

She leaned over and took my hand. “It’s not like that honey. I know you’re my son, you’ll always be him. I just meant that you’re different, too. You’re not as brash and as cocky as Michael. You think before you speak and you seem more delicate now, less rough around the edges.”

“Gee thanks, Mom.”

Bea laughed and then scrutinized me some. She looked me up and down. “Your mother is absolutely correct you know. When you hit on me in that bar I didn’t want anything to do with you. Yeah, you were gorgeous but you were such a sexist jerk."

I flinched, the verbal arrow was painful. But it was right on the money. I was a jerk before, and now I’m not so sure. I felt different so my mother wasn’t all that wrong. I’m not really sure how to describe it. I was still Mike and yet I wasn’t. That doesn’t mean I’m going to go all girly and paint my apartment pink of anything. It just meant that I was the same person just in a different package. This package just happened to be female and somehow less of an ass as the other one. Maybe it was all the estrogen now. I think I might have mentioned my mind being different before and now when I thought about it I wasn’t thinking like the old me. I still kind of liked girls and loved looking at them but now that I was one, I didn’t think of them the same as before. When I saw a girl in a nice pair of tight jeans, I wondered if they’d look good on me instead of how good they’d look on my floor.

How weird is that? “Ok you two win,” I said, sighing.

They laughed. We continued to eat our meals only nature got the better of me. I groaned, my bladder straining. I wiped my mouth on one of the elegant napkins and stood up. “Can you two excuse me for a second; I have…well nature calls.”

Bea rolled her eyes. “Still needs some work.”

I ignored her. My mother swiped her mouth too. “Do you want me to go with you, sweetie?”

I groaned. “Mom I’m not six. I think I can go to the bathroom by myself.”

She nodded and I left the table, walking toward the bathrooms. I paused, almost walking into the men’s room. I sighed and pushed my way into the ladies. I went into one of the stalls and did my business. It’s strange having to sit to pee now but I’m kind of used to it now. I flushed and went to the mirror. There was a beautiful girl staring back at me. I smiled. The stylist at the salon really did good work on my hair and the woman who did my makeup made me look like a movie star. I couldn’t believe that the girl in the mirror was me. I smiled again, turning this way and that, admiring myself. Who would of thought that this could be my life?

I laughed then started for the door. I pushed it open and was about to go blissfully into the restaurant when I saw them. They were coming through the front door, four of them. The two I recognized immediately: Hertz and that fat guy, Pruitt, I think his name was. There were two goons with them. They looked around the room, spotted my mother and Bea and went for their table. I gripped the side of the door, fighting the urge to make every knife in the room fly at the bastards.

When they approached the table, Bea saw them first. She started to stand up; I could see the green flare in her eyes. Then she looked around the room and saw all the innocent people. She looked defeated and sat back down.

“Skeets, you there?”

“Right here, Boss” he said, materializing next to my head.

Like I said before, I wasn’t going anywhere without him. He’d spent the whole day tagging along with us, invisible as always.

“I need to know what they’re saying.”

It didn’t take him very long to tune into the audio about the room, filtering out everyone else and giving me only the conversation at the table.

“Hello ladies” said Hertz, as he took my empty chair. “Where’s that freak Carter run off too?”

Pruitt and the two goons dragged a couple of chairs over from one of the other tables.

“Who are you gentlemen and what do you want with my daughter?”

Hertz laughed. “Your daughter? Lady, that freak isn’t your daughter, she’s an abomination.”

I groaned and got angrier. But I’d been working on my control and was getting really good at it.

Bea spoke up: “Let’s not do this here. Why don’t we take this outside and I can show you jackasses some manners.”

Pruitt laughed, helping himself to my steak. “We know all about you too, freak. You try anything and we’ll start shooting.”

I looked at the two goons and could just see the outlines of machine guns under their coats. I groaned, this was bad, real bad.

Ballard was out of the everything business. After it came out that he was behind the assassination attempt on the President, he was ruined. His assets were seized and his businesses all shut down. He tried to run but didn’t get very far. The authorities caught up with him at his private airstrip as he tried to board his plane, apparently on his way to some small island somewhere. He’s currently spending his time in a nice cushy cell in a Federal prison somewhere, awaiting trial. I didn’t shed a tear. His guys were all rounded up too. But I guess Hertz and Pruitt slipped through the cracks. Now it looked like the two of them were after some kind of revenge. I guess I should have seen this coming but I figured with their boss gone, the lot of them would scatter like cockroaches from the light.

I guess I was wrong.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here?” said my mother, looking at the four of them. “What has my Myka done to anger you gentlemen so much?”

Pruitt smirked, speaking with a mouthful of steak. “He put our boss behind bars for one.”

I think it dawned on my mother then. “You work for that nasty Ballard fellow.”

Hertz smiled. “That’s right. Now Mrs. Carter, could you be nice and tell us where your son wandered off to?”

“I have no son,” said my mother “not anymore. The only child I have is Myka, my daughter.”

My heart skipped a beat to hear how proud my mother sounded when she said daughter.

Pruitt laughed. “Then can you tell me where your daughter is?”

My mother puffed her chest up. “Not on your life.”

Hertz laughed. “Your life actually.”

He grabbed Bea’s arm, which would have been a good idea if not for who she was. As soon as he grabbed it, her arm seemed to explode in green flame. It roasted her shirt and Hertz started screaming. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I knew she could make fireballs but I never k new she could make her body cover with flames. Hertz let go and stumbled back. Bea got to her feet and her whole body erupted in green flames, including her hair. But it didn’t go anywhere else. The goons stumbled back too, looking like they wanted to piss themselves. Pruitt was the only one who didn’t move; instead, he kept on eating my steak.

I realized why a few seconds later. He had a gun, the barrel pressed into my mother’s side. He smirked as he chewed. “Sit down, bitch or mama here will have a new bellybutton.”

Bea sat down, the flames vanishing. She quickly covered herself up, making sure the whole of the room didn’t see her naked self. I smiled. It would have been so wonderful if not for the whole hostage thing and the bastard about to kill my mother.

I had enough.

“Skeets, can you give me the suit.”

“On it, Boss” he said as a whole opened up in his back and a canister popped out of it.

I stepped into it and the canister explored in front of me. The suit was future tech, the only future tech that I wasn’t afraid to use. It was nano technology, built to utilize battle situations. The suit itself was…well I’m not really sure. Skeets told me about it shortly after rescuing the President. He mentioned if I’m going to continue with the hero stuff that maybe he could help. So he designed the suit for me. It was kind of cool and played on my whole blue and gold theme, with gold on my shoulders and wicked blue star in the center.

It didn’t take long for the suit to form around me, over my clothes, the nanites doing their work. It was kind of cool. I’d only worn it once before, to test it out. But I never actually did anything in it so this was my trial run. I flexed my fingers, moving them about in my gold gloves. I turned to the bathroom mirror, seeing the cool superhero girl staring back at me. I smiled; I could really get used to this.

I stepped out of the bathroom after that. “Let her go” I shouted, causing everyone in the room to snap around and look at me. “I’m the one you’re after.”

Hertz recovered from his burn. He got to his feet. His goons recovered too, whipping out their machine guns. They didn’t waste any time either. They snapped them around to point them at me and prepared to fire. I didn’t’ give them a chance. I snapped my hands into fists, yanking the guns away. They clattered to the floor, sliding against the far wall. The two goons freaked and pulled out pistols. Bea snapped her hands up, green fireballs zapping through the air, hitting their hands. They screamed, clutching their wrists, their hands now blackened and charred.

I smiled at her. Hertz made a run for the door. Bea was there though. She burst into flames and flew across the room, landing in front of him. How cool was it that she could fly? He stumbled back, wailing in pain because he kind of ran into her. He landed on his butt and scampered off, crashing into several tables to get away from her.

Pruitt jumped up, pulling my mother with him. “You’re going to let me out of here or I’m going to kill her.”

“Skeets, can you hit him with one of those darts?”

“Too risky, he might shoot your mother with a muscle spasm.”

I nodded. I couldn’t get at the gun either; it was behind him, out of my sight. I suppose I could try throwing things at him, there was a lot of metal in the room but they wouldn’t work either. He might get startled and pull the trigger. I was defeated and he knew it. Damn it, I’m new at this and already I was screwed.

“Boss” said Skeets. “The suit you’re wearing is a variation of the one that Goldstar wore.”

I nodded. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

Skeets made that sighing noise. “She designed it after her favorite hero of all time, her idol, Booster Gold.”

That shocked me. How in the hell was that possible? She idolized me. I smiled but I didn’t have time for an ego trip right now.

Skeets continued talking. “There’s energy cannons in your wrists, they fire bright yellow balls of concentrated energy. They’re nonlethal but they’re really effective. If we hit him with one, it might be enough to get him away from your mother.”

I nodded. I still couldn’t risk it, but I had another idea.

I didn’t wait for Skeets to tell if it would work or not. Instead, I took a deep breath and pointed my hand at the mirrored ceiling. I willed the energy to come and a yellow ball of light flew from my fingertips. It hit the mirror and reflected around the room. Everyone was blinded except me; apparently, my suit had a built in visor that lowered over my eyes. The bright light was enough though. It caused Pruitt to stumble backwards, letting go of my mother. It was also enough for me to act and see his gun. I yanked it from his hands, tossing it across the room then I lifted a metal tray, throwing it at him like a Frisbee only this one was going really fast. It hit him in the stomach and sent him flying. He sailed through the room and right through the huge glass window of the restaurant, smashing into the street outside.

The blinding flash dissipated. I walked over to my mother and checked to see if she was all right.

“Get the bad guys, I’m fine.”

Bea looked at me. “I’ve got Hertz and his lackeys,” she said, her fingers pointed at them, her green flamed body flickering as she hovered off the ground.

I walked over to the window and looked out through the broken glass. Pruitt was on the street, moaning. There was no way he was going to be a threat anymore. I turned back to the room and there was silence for a few seconds. Then as if they were one, the whole of the room started to cheer. I smirked and raised my arms over my head.

I think I can get used to this whole hero thing.

-----

Author's Note: Here's the last chapter of Booster Gold, thanks to everyone who's read and commented, I really appreciate it. I'm going to take a Retcon break and go back to the Center universe. Then I'll be back back with my own spin on the Green Lantern and the Red Lantern. I'd like to thank djkauf for all the hard work and Lilith for putting up with me emailing each chapter to her. I'd also like to thank DC Comics for the wonderful characters.

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Chapter Twelve:

“Myka, turn to the left”

I did as I was told and the photographer snapped a picture. The flash was so bright that it was blinding but I guess I’ll have to live with it. It’s not every day that you get a contract with Nike. Yeah that’s right, I said Nike. How cool is that? After my little stunt in the restaurant five weeks ago, my hero career kind of took off. Ok, so not really my hero career, more like my endorsement career. As soon as the police arrived to mop up the rest of Ballard’s gang, the press came with it. I tried to get away from the cameras but it was no use. So I ended up staying for a few sound bits. Most of the stuff was about my suit and where I got it. That’s how the world found out about Skeets and that’s where I got my tag line.

“Smile bigger, sweetheart,” said the photographer and I did as I was told.

He snapped through his last frames. My face was killing me. How in the hell do those super-models do this day in and day out. This was tiring work. When it was finally over after all the frames were done, I actually massaged my face. A girl came by with a towel and I wiped my sweaty brow. Those lights were hot. Another girl handed me a bottle of water and then I unzipped the front of the jumpsuit they made me wear. It was a mockup of my real suit but with one difference, instead of the star in front there was a huge Nike swish. I didn’t have any lines to say because it was a print ad; yesterday I did the commercial. That was kind of tiring too. I spent two hours being pampered and then eight hours in a studio shooting a thirty-second ad. Who in the hell knew those things took that long to do? They showed me the final project this morning, all finished. It was kind of cool. When I shot the commercial, they had me in a flying harness---like they used in the Warrior Angel movie----and I was soaring through the clouds. In the finished commercial, I was soaring through the clouds too but the harness and wires were gone.

Luckily, I only had a few lines to memorize. But it was the tag line that drove me insane: BOOSTER GOLD, TRAVELING FROM THE FUTURE TO PROTECT OUR PAST. It was Dirk’s stupid idea; the press actually picked up on the whole future thing. Even though everyone knew I was from the here and now, it was apparently cooler to say I was from the future. I guess I should have never shown Skeets to the world. I guess you live and learn.

Speaking of Skeets, he wasn’t happy with me at the moment. He said I betrayed our partnership. I’m not sure what his deal was. I made a promise and I always kept my promises. He helped me take down Ballard and it was only fair that I help him find Brother Eye. But he was mad because I didn’t do it right away. Hey, it’s not my fault that Dirk booked all these damn things without me knowing. But as soon as I got some free time I was definitely going to help him find his super villain. I’m not sure, when any free time was going to come up, according to Dirk I was booked solid for months but I’d make time. I had too; I never back down on anything.

“You looked beautiful today, Miss Carter” said a meek voice as I walked away from the stack of Nike boxes. I turned and saw Trixie. She was standing in the shadows, holding a clipboard to her chest. She was kind of mousy and shy but cute, especially with those glasses of hers. She’s graduated from my secretary to my full time assistant. Just like Skeets---who liked to be invisible---she followed me around everywhere too. But unlike Skeets, she complimented me about everything. It was kind of annoying but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t get her to stop.

“Its Myka, Trixie” I said for the umpteenth time. “You don’t have to call me Miss Carter; you’re three years older than I am.”

Ok so technically she was two but I was now playing younger, remember. At least that’s what it said on all the ID’s I now owned. It just amazed me that someone like Trixie---a super smart girl with an MBA---would lower herself to following me around.

“I’m sorry Miss Ca…I mean Myka.”

I smiled, shaking my head. The two of us walked out of the studio and down the hall toward my dressing room. How cool is it that I had my own dressing room. Dirk set that up, of course. Now, according to him, I was a big star. But I hardly felt like one. But the media sure thought I was, especially the paparazzi. I thought they were bad before but now they practically followed me everywhere I went. I guess that’s the perk of being a hero who decided to share her identity with the world. It’s a curse too, definitely. After the restaurant incident, people stopped me in the street looking for autographs and though he was unseen, I had a bodyguard that lingered about in case something got really bad. I could handle myself in most incidents but there are some that require the extreme measures of my powers.

We walked together, Trixie trying to fill me on what else was planned for the day. Apparently, after this, I was supposed to go to a meeting with the Sports Illustrated people. Yeah, I decided to do it, they offered good money and besides I’ve been dying to get in there forever. Who cares if it happened to be the swimsuit issue. Hey, it was my favorite magazine for years anyway. But there was something about that that gave me pause and I had this image of a fifteen-year-old boy pleasuring himself to my picture. I shuddered at that.

Trixie stopped following me when I reached my dressing room. “You have twenty minutes, Miss Myka,” she said, smiling.

I smiled. At least she was trying to make an effort to be less formal. “Thanks, it won’t take me that long to change.”

She nodded and I went into the room.

It was a small room, barely big enough for the makeup table and the rack of clothing. I’m not a big star yet so I didn’t expect anything gigantic. Dirk was kind of pissed when he saw it though. He tried to argue that I was everything and that I deserved the best. He wanted me in one of those lot trailers, with a bed and mini-fridge. It was crazy and I told him that. He seemed to think that I was over worked and actually told me to let the “big boys handle things”. He was such a prick and if I didn’t need him, I’d fire his ass in a heartbeat.

But it turns out I did need him, now more than ever.

Two days after the restaurant incident, Pruitt tried to sue me. Apparently, I broke several bones in his body, including both his arms and a couple of ribs. It was kind of ridiculous but I suppose it comes with the territory. Dirk snapped right to it though. He put a lawyer on retainer, some guy from New York. Get this, he’s blind, how cool is that? Anyway, my lawyer told me that Pruitt didn’t have a case but he did warn me that things could only get worse. It turns out making my identity known to the world and fighting crime probably wasn’t the smartest thing to do. Hey, now he tells me. Anyway, he said the government was working on a law that protected Meta Heroes from lawsuits just like this one. It was going before Congress in a few weeks. In fact, I was set to go before them as well, sort of a poster child in favor of said law.

But if you think my life was all bumps then you’re wrong. Shortly after the restaurant fiasco, Bea decided to move in with me. It turns out that she got a little face time too, thanks to her part in the rescue. So the paparazzi were on her as much as me. The two of us decided it might be better if she lived with me. I think there were ulterior motives there as well but hey, I’m not complaining.

My mother went back to Buffalo a few days after that. We had a good time together; I took her to see all the sights. We avoided the Field though; things are still a little iffy with me and that place. Though the President cleared me of all charges, I still couldn’t explain what I was doing by the Gem Hall or who robbed the place if it wasn’t me. The same can be said for the bank that “Mike Carter” supposedly robbed. The bank didn’t bother me as much because Dirk had a guy handling all my finances. When my mother left, we were all in tears, her, Bea, and me. I think my mother was happy to welcome her into the family, even though the two of us have only been dating for such a short time.

A knock on the door interrupted my undressing. I groaned. I had the phony jumpsuit pulled down to my waist, my bra exposed. I waited for the knocker to go away but when he knocked, again I got fed up. I walked over and yanked the door open, ready to bust someone’s balls. But when I saw who was standing there I squealed and jumped into him, throwing my arms around him.

“Rick” I said, finally letting my best friend breathe. “What the hell are you doing here?”

I stepped back and he sheepishly held out a bouquet for me. I took it, carrying it over to my makeup table where an empty vase sat. Don’t even get me started about the squealing, I think I picked it up from Bea. Apparently, it’s very contagious.

“I heard about your commercial so I thought I’d come by and give you my well wishes.”

I smiled. He knew about my commercial because I called and told Jenet about it. The two of us were keeping in touch now. After all, she was one of the first people to officially know that Myka and Mike were one and the same.

“Thanks” I said, smelling the roses. “How have you been?”

I looked him up and down. He was looking good, real good in fact. He had a rugged look going and if I didn’t know any better I could swear he was bulking up. He’d always been this frail thing but I think I saw some muscle definition underneath that t-shirt of his. What’s more, his glasses were gone and it looked like he was starting to grow a beard. I’m not sure if I liked that or not but he had this five o’clock shadow thing going on that was really working for him. It made him look a whole hell of a lot cuter, not that I was noticing. Hey, I’m happily in love with Bea.

“I’m doing good,” he said, looking around the room. His eyes only went once to my bra and then quickly looked away. “I’m seeing someone actually, a lab tech. She’s a year older than me but it’s cool. The two of us work in the same lab, so we have that in common at least.”

I was happy for him. “That’s great. Have you been watching the news?”

He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, the Great Booster Gold. Who would have thought that pigheaded Mike Carter would turn into the beautiful poster girl of Metas everywhere?”

He said it in jest and I punched his arm. But he was right. Somehow, overnight I was the poster girl for Metas. I’m not sure how it happened but whenever someone mentioned Metas now they couldn’t help but mention me too. It was kind of strange really, and I guess I’m not complaining but I’m hardly poster girl material. There were so many of us out there, surely one of them was more fit to take that title. Why weren’t they hounding Jade, Terra, or even Giganta? All of them were much more qualified than I was. Heck, the only thing I’ve ever done is save the President and beat up a bunch of bastards in a restaurant. In the restaurant Bea was there too.

FYI, the media dubbed her Fire, how cool is that. Well she didn’t think so and she’s been kind of cranky about it since.

We talked for a few more minutes but I think we kind of ran out of things to say. He was still my best friend but we didn’t have much in common anymore. Hell we didn’t have much in common when we were living together either, but now it seemed different. It was like being friends with the tomboy girl next door. It was kind of cool when you were younger but then when she started to grow and mature, things got kind of awkward. She was suddenly no longer one of the guys and the two of you had nothing more to talk about. Reluctantly I was the girl next door now and boy had I ever matured.

He sighed. I think he knew it too. “Look” he said softly. “I wanted to apologize for everything. I was a dick and I shouldn’t have kissed you.”

I nodded. “I kissed you.”

“Yeah but I asked for it and I shouldn’t have. I was confused and scared. I was losing my best friend and even though you might not have noticed, you were changing and not just the obvious way either.”

I nodded. I noticed. Boy did I notice.

“You don’t have to apologize to me,” I said, “I understand.”

I leaned forward and hugged him. It was kind of awkward but it was like hugging a brother. I think I could live with that. We pulled away and then he kissed me on the cheek. We said our goodbyes. But you know me, I never really say goodbye to anyone and I told him that. He smiled and left. I sighed and walked over to my makeup table. I looked over at the roses, smiled and finished undressing.

___________________________________

“Bea, I’m home”

I walked into our darkened apartment, nearly stumbling over the hideous pink umbrella stand by the door. Who the hell has umbrella stands anyway? It belonged to Bea and she wouldn’t let me throw it away. I’m not complaining, she did fill my place with a lot of stuff I didn’t have. Hey, it helps when I don’t have to spend money on furniture. But it was kind of surprising that the place was so dark. Usually Bea was home when I finally stumbled into the house, no matter what time of the day it was. You see she got a promotion. She was now the personal assistant to the Head of HR at Wayne Enterprises. Her boss, Mr. Fox, was a cool guy. He let her have real flexible hours, so she could come and go, as she liked. But she worked a lot; I think she liked to bury herself in work to get over the fact that she had a secret life. She was a hero after all, even if she didn’t want to admit it. But I can’t talk her into joining me in any of my promotional ads. Apparently, she still wants nothing to do with the hero lifestyle.

I wish I had her courage. My whole body ached as I trudged over to the couch, dropping my bag on the floor as I dragged my feet. I still don’t carry a purse; it makes me feel too girly. My mother and Bea bought me several on our shopping excursion but they were still in the bags at the bottom of my closet. Hey, I’ve still got to hold on to some of my manhood and that means no purses. I carry a bag though. It’s a messenger bag; Trixie picked it out for me. It’s kind of cool and a lot manlier than a purse. I don’t look anything like a chick either when I’m totting it around town either.

I flopped on the couch, looking about in the dark. Where the heck was Bea?

“Skeets” I said, hoping he was nearby.

He didn’t follow me today. He said he wanted no part in the fake lifestyle I concocted for myself. He’s still pretty pissed that I welched on our promise. But it’s not my fault; I’m just too damn busy. But as soon as I got some free time I was definitely going to help him find this Brother Eye guy.

Skeets appeared, floating out of the bedroom. “You’re home, finally.”

I groaned. “Don’t start with me tonight. Where’s Bea?”

“Miss De Costa is working late tonight. She left you a message on the machine.”

I nodded. Bea didn’t work late often but it happened. It was strange but it felt like we’d been living together forever but it had only been a couple of weeks. But it sure felt a lot longer than that. Don’t get me wrong, I loved living with her but I kind of missed the bachelor lifestyle. No, I don’t mean bachelorette lifestyle either. I kind of missed being Mike. Not a lot but enough to realize that some things about being a guy weren’t so bad. Others I definitely wouldn’t miss. I mean guys can only have one orgasm at a time, how screwed up is that and you know what, I don’t’ think I’ll miss my penis either. I know that might come as kind of a shock but it’s not really all that big of a deal. Now that it’s gone, I feel kind of relieved. How screwy is that?

I slowly pushed myself off the couch. Skeets didn’t even wait for me to say anything more; he just turned and floated into one of the spare rooms. I let him go; I wasn’t in one of his moods tonight. I’d had a rough, tiring day. After leaving the photo shoot, I met with the Sports Illustrated people. They wanted to fly me out to California as soon as possible. Apparently, they were scouting locales and found the perfect one for the shoot. My shoot, at least. They were going to do me separate from the other girls, less stress they said. Yeah, I’m that much of a commodity now, I think I get more paparazzi than all the cast of Gossip Girl combined. How messed up is that? Anyway, they wanted to do my shoot as quick as they could because it was getting close to the summertime rush---it’s only May---but they wanted to beat the tourists. So I let Dirk handle all that. He’s good with the negotiations. After the meeting, I found myself at dinner with some political snobs that I needed to brown nose. Apparently, they were on the committee that was overseeing that law I mentioned. I need to kiss their asses to make sure me and other Metas the world over didn’t get sued for doing what they did best, mainly helping people and stopping the bad guys.

The dinner went a lot longer than I expected. There were three of them---the politicians. They kept referring to Metas as “you people”. It was annoying the hell out of me. I did everything in my power to stop from belting all of them. Luckily, Bea wasn’t there or she would have roasted their asses. It was bad enough that people sneered at us when they saw us holding hands and kissing in public but badmouthing Metas was not something she stood for.

I trudged into the bedroom. We had a king sized bed now. It was the only thing that we purchased that neither one of us had. Ok, there was some Victoria’s Secret’s stuff too, but that hardly needs to be mentioned. I stripped down to my underwear, kicking my clothes about the room. I was too tired to pick them up and was certain Bea would have a fit when she got home. She was a neat freak and I was a slob. Talk about the Odd Couple. I had one up on her though because the other night she had a nightmare and kind of lit the bedspread on fire. She nearly burned the hell out of me, luckily Skeets was there and he woke us before anything bad happened. So whenever she mentioned my slobbiness I just mentioned that incident and she stopped bitching.

I groaned and dropped face first onto the bed. I lay there for a few seconds and then crawled under the covers. I’m not sure how long I was awake but sleep came quickly.

The cold breeze woke me. I groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers up to my chin. Though it was May, it was still chilly this time of night. I tried to ignore the breeze but the flapping of the curtains was really annoying. I groaned, why in the hell were the curtains flapping? Bea didn’t like the windows open because she was afraid that a bird would fly into the room while we were sleeping. She’s weird like that. I rolled, pulling a pillow over my head, trying to ignore it. But the flapping was too loud and annoying. So finally, I pushed myself up and squinted at the clock. It was three in the morning. I groaned and turned to Bea, hoping she’d get up and close the window.

But her spot was empty. She was still working this late.

I rolled over and sat up. I threw the covers off and as soon as I did, I jumped. There was someone standing at the foot of the bed. It was dark and I only saw his shape but he was just standing there. He looked kind of freaky too; the only features I could make out were what appeared to be two points on the top of his head. What the hell is this?

I cleared my throat. “Who are you and what the hell do you want?”

He threw something onto the bed, it was a folder, it landed at my feet. “You’ve been busy. Henry Ballard was a tough guy to get but you handled it well.”

That voice. It was so cold and raspy but also very familiar. It took me a few seconds but I finally recognized it. “You” I said, surprised and shocked.
“You’re the guy from the alley?”

He nodded. “You’ll be happy to know that I took care of the rest of Ballard’s operation for you.”

“If you were so interested than why didn’t you do it yourself?”

“It wasn’t mine to take care of.”

“That’s it,” I said, pulling the covers up to cover my half nakedness. I didn’t want some pervy freak to see me in my underwear.

“I was testing you. Trying to see if you had what it took to take him out and you did. I’m very impressed.”

“Is that why you snuck into my bedroom at three in the morning. You wanted to tell me that I passed your little test.”

He shook his head. “No. I wanted to tell you that you did me a favor and now I’ve done you one as well.”

I groaned. What was he talking about? “Favor, what favor?”

“You took care of Ballard for me.”

“You told me to do it.”

“You were going to do it anyway. Revenge is like that. He wronged you, threatened your mother. It was only natural that you’d go after him.”

How did he know all that? “You want a thank you or something.”

“No. Like I said you did me a favor and now I’ve done you one.”

I looked at the folder for the first time. It was a manila file folder. It didn’t look all that impressive. I reached forward and grabbed it, opening it up. Inside there were a bunch of pictures, most of them of a gray building in the middle of a desert. It didn’t mean anything to me. I sighed and closed the folder.

“What the hell is this?”

“It’s a facility in the Baja Desert of California. It was run by a very dangerous woman and now it’s deserted.”

I nodded. “What does it have to do with me?”

“Nothing. But it does have something to do with something you’ve been looking for.”

I shook my head. “There’s nothing I’m looking for.”

He smirked. “What about an advanced artificial intelligence program from the future.”

I stared fish eyed at him. How in the hell did he know that. “Brother Eye, you mean?”

He nodded. “I’ve been tracking it for a while. I traced it to this facility and then the trail went cold. My resources haven’t been able to dig up anything either, which bothers me some. I’m passing it on to you; I think you’ve got better resources.”

I looked at the pictures again then back at him. But he wasn’t there anymore. I snapped around, finding him by the window.

“Take that flight to California tomorrow. When you get there, make a stop in San Francisco and look up a young woman named Josie Reyes. She might be able to help you find the answers to questions you seek.”

I looked down at the pictures again. “I’ll think about it.”

I looked back up and he was gone. I threw off the covers and ran to the window, hoping to see where he went. But there was nothing. How in the hell did he do that? I stared out the window for some time until I finally got too cold and shut it. I rubbed my arms and then turned to the door. I looked at the folder on the bed and sighed. I guess it couldn’t hurt to look. I took a deep breath and wandered into the living room.

“Skeets” I shouted, “you still up?”

He hovered out of one of the spare rooms. “I don’t sleep.’

I nodded, forgetting he was a robot. “You still want to help looking for that Brother Eye thing?”

“It is my mission.”

I nodded. I had the folder with me. I tossed it on the floor in front of him, its contents scattered about. He looked at the pictures then back at me. His little red light got brighter when he looked at me. I nodded.

“Call Dirk and tell him we’ll take that flight tomorrow morning as planned. After the photo shoot, you and I are going to San Francisco.”

I yawned and stretched. Then turned and walked back into the bedroom. California and everything else could wait until tomorrow. Tonight I was going to get some sleep and hopefully my Bea would be home soon to warm the other side of my bed. I crawled into bed and closed my eyes. Life couldn’t get any better than this.

I smiled, closed my eyes and drifted back to sleep.