Dragonfly, Interim.
By: Set3

Team Valiant had just arrived via one of Copy Cat's teleport cubes on a building high above the streets. The team looked around themselves quickly to ensure there were no surprises in their immediate area. With the rooftop secure, they moved to the edge to see what they were dealing with. The area had been cordoned off by the police shortly after the disturbance happened. Apparently, a super villain who had been responsible for kidnapping several Broadway musical groups had shown up and caused chaos in the street but haven't moved much beyond the area. With the villain's reported henchmen, the civilians that were caught up in this debacle needed help fast.

On reaching the edge of the roof, they surveyed the street. What the team saw was utterly bizarre.

"Oh my god," Copy Cat exclaimed in disbelief facepalming heavily.

A musical was going on the left side of the street. Presumably, some of the super villain's henchmen were dressed up in bug costumes and singing the same song, which appeared to be "In the dark of the night" from the Anastasia cartoon. On a loop.

"They are quite good," Dragonfly remarked out loud.

On the right side, a few dozen people were dressed in a sort of uniform consisting of blue overalls and yellow t-shirts and various types of goggles varied by the person.

"What are they doing?" Halt asked, referring to the group on the right.

Evangel quirked his head, "They appear to be stringing up various pieces of pork products," he answered plainly.

Halt furrowed his brow, "...Why?"

"This can't be happening..." Copy Cat cried out, still in disbelief, if not more so.

"What?" Halt asked, turning to her.

Copy Cat finally pulled her hand from her face, "Remember last month, we stopped that mad scientist that tried to take control of the world by destroying all the coffee beans?" she countered.

"Yyeeahhh..." Halt said slowly, "If memory serves, you wailed on the poor guy pretty hard once we got past his defenses."

"This is worse," Copy Cat replied, ignoring Dragonfly's stifled snort when she got what was happening.

"Sooo, what's going on here then?" Halt asked, still not getting it.

"Didn't you hear what the police said the super vilain was calling himself?"

"The Pundant, right?" Halt answered, "What's that got to do with this?"

It wasn't till we got here and I noticed the guy in question that it isn't 'The Pundant' but 'The Pun-Dant'" she explained emphasizing the space between the words.

"Sooo," Halt prodded further, still not getting it. Dragonfly was struggling not to laugh out loud at his obliviousness.

Copy Cat gestured wildly at the street below to the villain in question who occasionally joined in on the musical. He was wearing a deep/dark purple bodysuit with the word "Pun" in yellow on his front and followed by a dash and "dant" was splayed across his back. He had a utility belt on his waist and what looked like a collapsible bo staff strapped to his back. He was holding a futuristic-looking gun that he fired occasionally at random civilians hitting them with a beam of energy that engulfed them in a ball of light. When the light dissipated the civilian was trapped in a human-sized coffee cup.

"He bases his shtick on puns! His 'minions' are literally hamming it up while he's "mugging" random people," she spat it out as the team moved into action seeing said villain firing his gun off.

"Well," Dragonfly said in bemusement, "Bad puns aside, he's still causing a massive disturbance and kidnapped several people, and may be using unknown means of coercing them to help him. Let's finish this up quickly," Dragonfly said at last as she took off into the air. Dragonfly flew up and over above those in the street aiming for the Pun-Dant.

Evangel simply jumped to the street below, doing a tuck and roll onto his feet, both swords in hand as he ran forth. Copy Cat and Halt's descents were softened by an anti-gravity grenade that Copy Cat threw down ahead of the two that cushioned their fall.

As the team of heroes approached the mass of henchmen, the group noticed that the 'minions' were each dragging a tank with an oxygen mask. Each took a breath from the tanks occasionally. Copy Cat noticed that, as she got closer, each 'minion' was speaking Spanish. Augmented by the gas they've been breathing in, their voices were higher-pitched, giving them squeaky helium voices. It was almost funny, if not for...

When one of the 'minions' saw them approaching, he pointed them out while another almost lazily pulled an rpg onto his shoulder to take aim. It was evident that whatever gas he was breathing impaired his footing as, as soon as he fired, he fell back on his hindquarters as the rocket shot out. His aim wasn't sure as well as the rocket shot wide and sailed over the heroes' heads arcing til it hit a man hole cover. The heroes were equally surprised by the lazy shot as they were by, instead of a deafening explosion, there was only a loud "pop".

"Are they using airsoft toys?" Copy Cat wondered out loud.

"You want them to use actual explosives?" Halt shot back as he ducked prematurely when the one holding a rifle began shooting in their direction with plastic BB's. Putting his arm down, Halt straightened himself out, "I really should be thankful this guy isn't crazy enough to give doped up people real weapons, let's go already!" he muttered.

Copy Cat only smirked at his reaction, but, silently agreed with him and followed him as they made their way to the villian in charge.

Evangel was already upon the "minions", using the flat of his blades to knock the wind out of them while using the edge of them to slice the airsoft weapons in half just in case they did secretly prove to be deadlier than originally suspected.

Dragonfly decided to fly up higher to check out the area as it felt like things were going too easy. Something just didn't feel right.

The dancing singing minions seemed oblivious to the heroes as they approached and continued to sing and dance while the super villain in question was busy removing hinges from another door. Halt and Copy Cat were almost upon the villain when he abruptly turned around to join in his singing minions when he spied the two. He quickly pulled out his energy pistol and shot at them. Out of reflex, Copy Cat pushed Halt out of the way before getting hit by the beam herself, screaming in surprised as the energy enveloped her.

"Copy Cat!" Dragonfly shouted as she banked down landing beside her as the energy coalesced into a giant human-sized coffee cup. Dragonfly peered over the lip as Halt stood in the line of fire to brace against the villain's next attack. "Copy Cat! Are you ok?" she asked worriedly.

There was a moment of silence before a small voice trailed back, "Please don't tell anyone I got mugged, yeah, I'm ok. I just can't move," she answered in embarrassment.

Dragonfly couldn't help let out a quick chuckle as she turned away, "Ok, I'll get Evangel to cut you out soon, once I take care of the bad guy, that is. Halt, stay with her."

"I'm never going to live this down," Copy Cat muttered to herself quietly.

Dragonfly took flight again heading straight for the Pun-dant who was running away from them. Just before the beam would have hit Dragonfly, she pulled to the side where it hit Halt instead. Thanks to Halt's power, instead of being engulfed and trapped in a giant mug, the energy beam instead reversed course straight back to the villain who let go of the weapon as the energy swarmed over the weapon trapping it in its own sized coffee cup. The mugged weapon had barely hit the ground when the Pun-dant pulled the bo-staff from his back and readied himself for Dragonfly's attack.

Dragonfly pulled out her throwing knives and threw one, willing it to split apart into three. The Pun-dant batted them aside with surprising expertise considering everything so far. The throwing knife reappeared in its sheath as Dragonfly threw her other one in distraction readying herself to kick the villain. The Pun-dant stepped back as he batted the new knives aside and braced against Dragonfly having somehow anticipated her kick landing on the middle of his staff. Having finished her attack, Dragonfly took advantage of the Pun-dant's braced stance by pushing off his bo-staff landing in front of him by a few feet, already having both knives in hand as she stared him down.

She didn't have to wait long as he was already moving forward. There was a smirk on his face as he brought his staff above his head for a downward strike from above. Dragonfly heard him muttering something about raising the bar on heroes. Hearing this made Dragonfly let out a frustrated growl, that could be confused for a angry groan of frustration as she caught the bo-staff in mid swing.

"No more puns!" Dragonfly growled as she brought the staff in the crok of one arm while bringing the other one down onto the middle of the bo-staff breaking it in half. Without losing momentum, Dragonfly used the half still under her arm and used it to wallop the villain knocking him off his feet. As the two halves of the villain's bo-staff clattered around him. He slowly sat up in a daze for a few seconds before shaking his head and getting to his feet.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a good staff you can depend on in this city?" the Pun-dant asked. Dragonfly couldn't be sure if he was angry or not from the tone of his voice. "It took me nearly an hour! Twenty minutes of looking through the yellow pages of the phone book. Thirty seconds of realizing everyone who's anyone posts their stuff online. Five minutes of a google search. Ten minutes of looking for my phone because I keep misplacing the damn thing. And a seven minute conversation of telling the supplier of what I wanted and finally two minutes of finalizing payment!"

Dragonfly brought her fists up, forgoing her throwing knives, "With all the puns I had to endure up till now, I think I've more than paid the price of breaking your stuff!" she retorted running forward taking a swing at the Pun-dant. The Pun-dant expertly dodged her fists giving ground as she pressed her attack. The Pun-dant was completely on the defensive as Dragonfly kept punching at him and even threw in a few kicks as well. Despite this, Dragonfly was able to get a few through and with a cross-check with her right fist across his face she landed a left fist into his stomach. She then finished off with a knee to the face when he doubled over from the hit to the gut. Blood exploded from his nose as he fell over backwards to the ground.

"Wait!" he called out as he slowly got to his feet. He reached into his utility belt and pulled something out and unfolded it before gently placing it on his face. It turned out to be glasses. "You wouldn't hit a guy wearing glasses would you?" he asked shakily, a goofy grin on his face.

Dragonfly slowly took the few steps closer to the Pun-dant, "Oh Pun," she said softly as she gently pulled the glasses off his face, "You aren't wearing any," she stated as she drew back with the other and hit him again sending him flying back to the steps of a building entrance behind him. Surprisingly, the Pundant was still conscious. Dragonfly was only puzzled by this for just a moment before she groaned in realization, "You were rolling with my punches weren't you?" she asked him candidly.

The Pun-dant let out a small giggle, "You know it!" he said with a bloody smile.

Dragonfly sneered at that, "Since I've got you down there," she started as she looked over her shoulder seeing Halt rounding up the costumed henchmen while Evangel was cutting Copy Cat out of her mug, "Were you the one that kidnaped those Broadway actors and are they all here now?"

The Pun-dant laughed, "I always wanted a theme-song to play while I worked, don't you?"

"How did you brainwash them to do all that?"

He rubbed the back of his head before cracking his neck, "Just take off the band on their heads and they'll return to normal. It's not my style to do any lasting harm apart from my bad puns," he explained, the smirk never leaving his face.

"Just... What kind of person are you? Why would you do all this?" she asked waving at the scene behind her, "You can't seriously tell me it was all just for a bad joke!"

"While, I admit, I wasn't expecting the Spanish Inquisition..."

The Pun-dant was cut off by the door behind him suddenly swinging open to reveal three men clad in red robes. The leader of the trio wore a wide-brimmed red hat while another had an old pilots helmet on his head, the third was wearing a ski mask with the face cut out to show said face.

"No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!" the one in front shouted.

The Pun-dant burst out laughing til he was crying, "I always wanted that to happen," he weased between tears and laughter.

Dragonfly's mouth hung open as she saw the trios shocked expressions on seeing her, "Who are they?" she demanded.

"College students," he answered, "It's surprising what you can get them to do when you pay off their student loans for them." Seeing suspicion creep up on her face he wave her off, "I only paid them to wait behind that door and come out and say the line, they have nothing to do with me beyond that. Hardly the beginnings of a criminal life I'm sure you'd agree."

As much as Dragonfly hated to agree, he was right. She wasn't going to condemn three kids for something so minor, even if this whole situation gave her a huge headache. She took a calming breath, "Okay, lets just rap this up," she said.

"When the reporters report on this," the Pun-dant started, pulling a red ribbon from his utility belt and tying it around his head. He then pulled on a hidden tread on his shoulder that removed the "-dant" from his back, "Call me: "The Crimson Pun"!" he said with his hand on his hips, a less dignified stance since he was still sitting on the ground.

Dragonfly looked nonplussed at him, "Punny, I'm calling you mud" she declared as she caught the cuffs Copy Cat threw to her.

Shortly after that the "Crimson Pun" was arrested and handed over to the police. The singing troupe were returned to normal just as the villain said. But, they were still sent off to get look over just in case. The same was done with the "minions". The "Spanish Inquisition" trio were given a stern talking to by the police but were otherwise released. After checking the area for anything lethal beyond another hidden bad pun, Team Valiant returned to base and began debriefing. Once that was done, each went their separate ways.

Halt was heading home after a quick grocery stop to a local mom n pop shop. As he was passing an alley he could hear sounds of a scuffle causing Halt to stop and listen. He could hear some one getting beaten up and inwardly sighed. "I suppose one more won't hurt," he said to himself as he place his grocery bag down by the wall, hoping that no one would take it in his absence despite how empty the street seemed at this time of night and quickly made his way down the alley. When he came around a corner, he saw two teenagers beating the ever loving hell out of a third. Halt grimaced as he stepped up behind the two, grabbing both by the back of the collars and yanked them back and threw them as hard as he could down the alley.

"I think it's time you two run home now, don't you think?" he said threateningly. The two teens eyed him disbelievingly before turning to each other and deciding running was the better idea. Halt turned to the kid that was still on his feet giving him a shocked look before turning to look after the other two. "You should probably make your way home too kid," he said more softly as he turned to head out the alley the way he came. He picked up his back of groceries, which thankfully were unmolested, and was on his way home again. Minutes later he stopped at a crosswalk waiting for the light to change when he heard the quick footsteps of someone running up behind him. Halt turned his head to see the kid he rescued in the alley so decided to fish out is cell thinking the kid wanted an autograph or a pic for his social media page. "What's one more?" he asked himself with a smile. He was flipping through the apps when he stiffened on feeling searing pain stab him in the back. He turned his head and saw the same teen with a wild look in his eyes as he felt him pull the knife out only to shove it back in again almost in the same spot. He dropped his groceries.

"It's all your fault!" the teen whispered hoarsely, "All I had to do was let them canonize me and they'd let me in their gang. Now," he stabbed Halt again, "They say I gotta kill you before I can get in," He stabbed again, "It's your fault I had to do this!" he shouted.

With one more knife in the back, Halt fell to the street on his back, he could feel the warm slickness of his blood puddling around him as he laid there. He looked up at the teen, he looked terrified. The teen turned to leave. Halt's hand shot out grabbing the kids ankle as hard as he could.

"Just one more put away," Halt thought. "Just one mor...," and he was gone.

Unbeknownst to the teen, Halt had activated a panic button on his phone after the kid stabbed him the first time. This would alert the rest of Team Valiant to his position. The team arrived too late for Halt unfortunately. What they saw on arriving was Halt. laying in a pool of his own blood with a literal death-grip on some teenage kid's ankle. When Copy Cat checked Halt's phone, she played back the audio while the teen was telling Dragonfly and Evangel of some crazy guy who jumped Halt and started stabbing him. He was in the middle of saying how he tried to go after the murderer when Halt reached out to stop him to save his life when the two heroes saw Copy Cat stiffen hearing the playback. She played the audio for the other two. The kid tried to run, but, Evangel quickly grabbed him and held onto him till the police arrived when Copy Cat called them. They recovered the knife the teen tried to ditch when he saw the heroes come up. Brief words were exchanged with the police when they finally arrived and Copy Cat gave them a copy of the audio recording of the kid admitting his guilt and a scan of Halt's body on a flash drive for more evidence. Once the police left with the teen in the back seat, the heroes recovered Halt's body and returned to base and discuss future plans to mourn the passing of their comrade.

---

Far above the earth, just behind the moon, a small ship blinked into existence from FTL. The small ships lone occupant looked over the readouts from its passive sensors. Seeing what it was looking for, the occupant smiled, "At last, I've found it!" the occupant remarked.

END

Dragonfly will return.

Tobias Marshal was following his partner, Phil Dunwhich, down the hall. Both were clad in swat gear, as they should be, as they are part of a larger team that was currently clearing out an old apartment building that housed a group of white supremacists. They had received a tip that they were going to carry out an attack on a local minority church. Not willing to take a risk, SWAT was called in. The building was quickly surrounded and after a quick fire fight at the immediate entrances, they had to clear each room and floor. Since it was such a large building they had to split off into two's as one of the suspects they took told them that there was a bomb somewhere inside. Time was of the essence hence splitting into two's to cover more ground faster.

Walking down the halls, the two came to a door to the left. Tobias posted by the door while Phil readied. On both nodded to the other that they were ready, Phil tried the door and opened it and entered with his MP5 at the ready as he entered. The room had seen better days as there was grim all over the walls and floor. The ceiling looked like it was starting to collapse in the corner. The only furniture in the room was the half rotted remains of a mattress, the spring wire frame clearly visible through the material. The immediate room clear, Phil turned to the only doorway, it's door had been broken off and laying on the floor beside it, and made his way to it. On reaching the doorway Phil could see that it led to an empty closet. Relaxing slightly, Phil left and told Tobias that the room was clear when a man bursts from the room knocking Phil forward. The man was too close for Tobias to accurately shoot the man without hitting his partner and elected to grab the man in a bear hug as his focus was still on Phil. Phil had quickly got up and made his way to the attacker. Tobias felt the man was about to jump up and use Tobias to brace himself to kick Phil as he came up. So Tobias dropped him and he fell to the floor hitting it hard stunning himself. Tobias quickly put a knee to the man's back pinning him to the floor as he pulled his cuffs out and secured the man.

"This is blue three, we got a suspect in custody," Phil said into his radio as he came to Tobias.

"Copy blue three, red two just found the explosives. Continue your sweep for any stragglers," control replied.

"Will do, blue three out," Phil replied.

Tobias got the man to his knees now that his hands were cuffed behind his back and got a look at him. Tobias had to laugh once he saw the man. He was completely shaved bald and had a tattoo of a swastika.

"You really went all out on the skinhead thing didn't you," Tobias goaded him.

"Fuck you man!" he shout back as he struggled against his binds. "Let me go! You know we gotta get rid of those filthy people from stealing our jobs and killing our kids. If we don't do anything to stop these leeches, how will?"

Tobias' lip quivered in anger, "Sure, and you're so nice and squeaky clean and live in the ritzy part of town. This is just your summer home right?" he prodded gesturing around the filthy hallway.

"Fuck you pig!" he shouted back.

"He's obviously gone to Harvard," Phil said with a laugh.

"Definitely a Pulitzer winner here," Tobias quipped as he got up. "Let's get the rest these assholes rounded up," he told Phil.

Several minutes later they cleared the floor having found two woman that the group had kidnapped and were using for sex. The women were rushed to the waiting ambulance to be treated for the abuse they suffered. At the end of the operation a total of eighteen had been taken into custody, seven of those were shot when the SWAT teams breached the building and two of them were killed from the firefight.

After the debriefing and following mountain of paperwork, Tobias and Phil had taken to a bar after work to celebrate their largely successful day.

"So," Phil started after taking a drink of his beer, "Are you sure that this'll be your last day on the force? I gotta tell you, I'm going to miss having you with me," he told Tobias as they clinked their glasses together.

"You're going to have to find someone else to watch your back when you forget to check behind the doors," he replied with a smirk.

Phil laughed at that, "Well, I had to give you something to do. So. What's this part-time.."

"Full-time job now," Tobias corrected.

Phil nodded, "..Full-time job that you have that you can't still work with me and the guys for?"

Tobias stared at his drink for a moment before shaking his head dismissively, "Sorry, I can't tell you since I'm not allowed to tell anyone, but I swear I can make a difference workin' in it," he told him.

Phil snuffed his nose at that, "Yeah well, just be sure to look me up once in awhile," Phil told him while holding up his glass for another toast to which Tobias answered in kind. "Now, lets get you the mother of all hangovers for tomorrow so you can realise the mistake you've made in leaving the force."

"I'll drink to that," Tobias said as he drank.

"You're going to have to," Phil laughed, drinking his own.

They sat at their table for another hour after which the went their separate ways.

On reaching home, Tobias tossed his keys on the table and locked the door before walking into his living room and turned on the TV to watch the news. As he listened to the news in the background. With a sigh, he wiped his face with his hands before he looked at the bracelet on his left wrist. There was a reason for his being vague. In his new job, that was part time up till now, he is a super hero, one of the developed.

His code-name is Dragon and part of a team called Valiant, a mid-level super hero team composed of himself and three other people. Copy Cat, Halt and Reflect, and Evangel.

Compared to his teammates, he was rather embarrassed on how he developed his powers. He didn't get hit with radiation or took some kind of chemical. He wasn't part of a super soldier program and he wasn't brilliant creating awesome technology. And he certainly didn't develop powers through surviving any tragic event. No, he developed powers through a small act of kindness. More specifically, he saved the life of a dragonfly. As it turned out, the spirit of all dragonflies took notice of him when he idly picked up a dragonfly when it stunned itself by hitting a cart by the entrance of a grocery store he was walking out of one day and set it in a safe place for it to recover.

Later that evening the spirit came to him telling him that she was touched by his kindness and humility as she told him that most would walk on without notice. And to show her appreciation to him, she bestowed the spiritual armor of the dragonfly to him. The armor was mostly black in color with metallic green accents where the light reflected off it. It hugged his body like a second skin and had smooth chitness design giving it an insect-like look and covered his entire body including his head. The helmet sort of reminded him of those old Kamen Rider shows he used to watch. The armor also came with weapons in the form of a pair of throwing knives. The armor couldn't allow him to fly, which confused him, but it enhanced his speed, reflexes, and strength to just beyond human levels.

Tobias smiled to himself as he looked at the bracelet which was how it looked when his armor was in its dormant state. He hadn't been able to remove it since he received it but didn't really want to anyways. He had put this gift to good use using it to fight super villains as well as the more standard criminals. He liked it and there seemed to be a lot less paperwork. A quick look at his clock on the TV told him that he should head for bed. While he didn't expect there to be a world crisis event, it still paid to be well rested as his experience in the SWAT unit showed him that exhaustion was as much a lethal enemy on the job as any bad guy with a gun. He shut everything down and headed for bed and was asleep minutes after his head hit the pillow.

The next morning Tobias was up and going through his morning routine and had gone out the door at his usual time and driving off to work. With one change. Instead of driving to the police station, he headed into the opposite direction heading to the headquarters for Valiant. After getting out of his car he headed for the building. On reaching the door he was met by a girl with long blond hair done up in a pony tail who looked to be seventeen years old.

"Good morning Dragon," she said to him with a cheerful smile.

Tobias smiled back, "Morning, Copy Cat," he answered using her code name in return as they both walked through the door.

Copy Cat was the team's resident tech head. She would often try to copy powers and other technology she comes across using technology she built herself. Her uniform consisted of a blue hairband that she wore that had a functional set of cybernetic cat ears that would twitch and turn to the slightest sound. A sleeveless blue shirt that seemed to be made of a glassy material with a circuit pattern instead of real fabric. Her fingerless gloves and cargo pants seemed to be made out of the same blue glassy material. The only exception to this was her goggles, although they had a glassy blue frame, which had orange colored lenses. To cap off her uniform, she carried a small satchel that was her first invention as well as her pride and joy. It had the same blue glassy look to it as well and had dimensional technology built into it. This allowed her to put pretty much anything she wanted to, regardless of size, into it. She got the idea from an old cartoon where a character would pull out an anvil that was twice the size of the character and copied it for her own use. She even included some sort of warping technology into it so the object would compact as it was it was put into her satchel. He had to laugh once, and was thankful it was harmless to humans, when she once shoved a villain into it when we had no other means of transporting him safely to a holding cell. The reason she looks seventeen is because of her first, and only, foray into bio-mechanical suits. Back when she was twenty-one she had seen a TV show where a character was wearing a suit that made them look like a completely different, and smaller, person. She then tried to replicate the effect by creating a bio-mechanical suit that looked like herself from when she was seventeen. Unfortunately, it seemed that she made a mistake and locked herself in the suit. Because of the way she designed it, simply trying to rip it wouldn't work. Even though she is a full-fledged adult she still, at times, acted like she was seventeen. In any case, she was an invaluable member to the team.

As the two walked through the lobby they bantered to one another when Halt and Reflect came walking out of the gym with a towel his shoulders.

"Hey Halt," Copy Cat greeted him as they passed.

"Morning Cat," he replied as he headed off to his room for a shower.

Halt and Reflect, or Halt as most people called him had no real uniform, usually sticking with a simple pair of jeans and a muscle shirt. His powers allowed him to stop energy before it hits him and bounce it back to it origin point. He was well fit and would often brag about his physique.

Tobias and Copy Cat were soon in the central control room which had a conference table with chairs around it as well as computers and TV screens that lined the walls. The TV's were set to various news channels, the computers were analysing police radio bands for possible super villain attacks or just regular criminals that were too well equipped for the regular police force. The two sat down at their separate computers and went through the logs to review potential new comers, both heroes and villains coming to the city.

"So where's Evangel?" Tobias asked.

Evangel didn't have a uniform per say but he always wore white clothing that seemed to make him look like an aristocrat from the last century. He also wore an incredably long white scarf that was wrapped loosely several times around his shoulders and the ends still fell to his waist. He carried a pair of swords at all times. If they weren't in his hands they were in sheaths that covered only the blades edge. No one in Valiant had ever seen him eat or drink and despite a few times the had camera's trained on him out of curiosity, they never saw him sleep either. His swords, so far, could cut through anything. Tobias thought that he was a speed booster as he was always able to block what ever came at him or moved out of the way just in time to avoid injury.

"He went on his vacation two days ago," Copy Cat answered.

"Oh," Tobias replied.

For three days each month, Evangel would disappear. They didn't know where he went and just considered it his vacation as he was always on duty otherwise.

Just then an alert sounded and Tobias flicked on the police radio.

"Send back-up, we have a mob here at the mall. Confirmed developed involvement. I repeat, a developed is instigating a riot! It's.." there was a female voice that cut off the officer and then the signal went dead.

Tobias switched off the speaker, Copy Cat had already got up and was heading to the door, Tobias ran after her. They ran to the roof where Halt was waiting, still soaking wet from his shower but otherwise dressed and ready.

Copy Cat pulled out a cube, a teleportation device, from her satchel and placed it on the ground between the three. The sides slid out providing a stable platform while the top raised up until it was just above everyone. Everyone stared at the erected post as it activated. From the team's perspective it looked like a cross fade you see on TV shows. One second, they were on the roof of their headquarters, and the next they were on the roof of the parking lot of the mall where the mob/riot was happening.

Not wasting any time Tobias willed his armor to activate and he was immediately clad from head to toe in chitiness armor and followed his team members to the mall's skylight to peer in for a look. What they saw was a mix of controlled chaos. The men were running around smashing storefront windows and raiding them of valuables. The women were alternating between fighting each other and bowing in one direction.

"Oh shit," Copy Cat swore as she saw who it was and went fishing in her satchel pulling out a pair of goggles and headphones and handing them to Halt. "It's Princess," she stated with distaste.

Princess is a woman who was so named because she had an obsession of looking like a princess. She dressed like one, more specifically like a Disney princess. She was a dangerous developed because her body produced an aura that drew everyone who looked at her to her. Even her voice had a hypnotic effect which made it very hard to fight her on her own. She would often go into large crowds before turning on her power to create an instant army of people to warship and do her bidding. Last year, she almost took over the city including half the team as well as other local heroes. It was thanks to Evangel, who seemed to be immune, and Copy Cat who had her gadgets to filter out the effects of Princess' powers. Tobias didn't have his armor active at the time she got him. Copy Cat was able to make enough earphone and goggles for all the heroes while Evangel ran interference. After Princess was defeated, all the heroes were embarrassed to realise that they were fighting with cat ears on their head.

As for the present, Princess was still building her power base in the mall and the mob of hypnotised hostages was still relatively small. Without further adieu, Copy Cat pulled a blue hula hoop out of her satchel and placed it on the skylight. The hoop sank into the skylight and after a flash, the glass inside the hula hoop disappeared. Tobias jumped down the hole first as he pulled out his throwing knives, making sure he held the pointed ends in his palms so he wouldn't hurt anyone more than he had to.

"Stop this Princess, before we have to," Tobias told her as Copy Cat and Halt landed behind him.

The woman gave them a dirty look but seemed largely disinterested before adding a scowl in Copy Cats direction. "Everyone," she called out. Everyone turned to her. "Please remove these unsightly peasants' heads from their bodies, your princess commands it," she told them with a gesture in the heroes direction. The crowed of people were instantly on them.

Tobias ducked as a man swung at him with a machete pilfered from a nearby sporting goods store while blocking a mop a janitor swung down at him. Tobias grabbed the mop and yanked on it pulling the janitor towards him off his feet and thrusts his fist into the janitors' stomach. He doubled over and was, for the moment, out of the fight. The man with the machete swung at him again while he block the strike with the flat of his knife while kicking another in the chest as he ran up to him. In one swift motion, Tobias wrapped his arm around and grabbed the machete away from the man and flung it up where it stuck in the ceiling. Tobias then grabbed the man and pulled him over his shoulders and threw him into a rushing crowd of people knocking them over like bowling pins. With his immediate area clear for the moment he spared a glance over to his team mates. Copy Cat had already pulled out an energy rifle with 'crowd control' written on the side and was firing at the mob when they got too close to her. Those hit by her rifle straight on were knocked to the floor while others that were grazed were sent spinning before hitting the floor. Halt had his own rifle, courtesy of Copy Cat he was sure, and was shooting it while physically knocking back the ones that made it past his shooting.

"Copy Cat," he called out as he kicked another back.

"What?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the mob of people trying to rush her.

"Go and take Princess and we'll cover you!" he told her.

"Kay," she shouted back as she kicked the legs out from under a woman that managed to get close. Copy cat fired a few more times before turning around and running towards Princess who was starting to look nervous.

On seeing Copy Cat running towards her Princess pulled two large men she kept as her guards in front of her as she grabbed some jewellery from the pile she had everyone collect for her and began to make a brake for it. Copy Cat ran after her firing her rifle as she went. She hesitated when she saw a police officer approach her and hit the floor as he shot at her. She fired back low hitting his legs, the officer spun head over heels before landing on his back in a daze. Copy Cat didn't waste any time and continued on. She eventually caught up with Princess who had ran into a dead end and was trying to open the locked door.

Hallway was empty so Copy Cat put her rifle away in her satchel but she held the bag in front of her in a taunting motion.

"Get away from me, your princess commands it," Princess cried in fear.

"Not going to happen Princess," Copy Cat replied as she swung her bag in front of her menacingly, "You've been a naughty little princess and you need a time out. Now, since I haven't had time to figure out a way to nullify your powers for transport, you're going to have to take a ride in the bag," she told her.

Princess screamed, "No please, I'll be good, I promise," she pleaded.

Copy Cat just shook her head like a parent disciplining a child, "We tried that last time remember? You tried to escape so now you have to get in the bag," she told her almost condesendly as she stepped closer.

Princess tried her best to back away as much as she could into the corner as she cried until in one swift motion Copy Cat swung the satchel over Princess' head and pushed it down. It was almost comical, in a scary sort of way, to see Princess' legs kicking from the opening of the bag until Copy Cat grabbed a foot and pushed them the rest of the way in and made her way back to her team mates where they had gone from fighting the crowd to helping them as they returned to normal now being out of sight and sound of Princess. Fortunately, most of the injuries were limited to bumps bruises and minor cuts. Some from team Valiant but most from Princess' doing. The worst was an old woman who'd broken her hip.

As the injured were looked over and treated, the police arrived with a specialised containment unit for Princess. When the police inquired about where the suspect was and Copy Cat simply held up her satchel and swung it slightly while giving them a knowing look with her cheshire grin. Without any further words, or any words for that matter, she walked over to the containment unit in the police van and closed the door, disappearing in the back. After a few minutes a muffled scream could be heard a few seconds later Copy Cat came back out making a show of dusting off her hands.

"So," Tobias urged, "Did she say why she attacked this time?"

"Apparently, she got wind that a store received a shipment of the Snow White re-release from Disney," she told them with an amused look on her face accompanied by a raised eyebrow, "She didn't want to wait or risk not getting a copy so she went on the warpath."

Halt scoffed at that, "She caused a riot because she wanted a movie that everyone has at the back of their closet?" Tobias nodded in agreement.

Copy Cat laughed as she agreed with the others before responding in a mock impression of Princess, "It's a digitally re-mastered blue-ray with over thirty hours of behind the scenes footage and running commentary of the director and lead animator," she said before circling her finger beside her head in the universal indication of crazy. Copy Cat pulled said blur-ray and handful of jewellery out of her satchel and handed them to one of the nearby police officers. "She screamed when I took the blue-ray away from her more than the jewellery. I swear, she's such a child," she said with a roll of her eyes.

Tobias raised an eyebrow at that, "Last week, you set up a complex set of dominos pieces to hit the snooze button on two of your alarm clocks," he chided her.

She responded by sticking her tongue out at him before breaking into a grin.

The trio laughed again before checking with the police for anything further and to ensure they were aware of the containment procedures needed for transporting Princess. Soon enough, they were back on top of the mall roof standing in the same spot were in when they arrived. As Tobias had his armor return to its dormant state Copy Cat pulled out another cube to teleport them back to their headquarters. After setting the coordinates, she programed the cube to self-destruct after it sent them back. Once she set it down it opened up and sent them back home and then began to rust before bursting into flames that burnt away to ashes, the hula hoop device they used to get through the skylight returned the empty space of glass before removing itself from the skylight and self-destructing as well.

On returning to the roof of their headquarters, Copy Cat knelt down to retrieve her device. Halt was already on his way inside and Tobias was about to say something to Copy Cat when he felt a sharp thump hit him in the back immediately followed by a bright light below his eyes.

Tobias looked down to see what caused the flash of light when his sight fell on his shadow. At first he couldn't place it why his shadow looked different until he noticed that the sun was shining through his chest. Perplexed, Tobias looked down at his chest and saw a few wisps of smoke leaving his chest. He reached up with a hand and was surprised to see that he could put his hand into his chest. Tobias then realised that the reason the sun carried through the chest of his shadow was because HE had a hole in his chest. His last thought before he collapsed was: "I thought something like this would hurt." And then his mind fell to darkness as he heard Copy Cat screaming.

Copy Cat looked up as she heard the discharge of energy just in time to see Tobias reaching a hand into the hole in his torso before he collapsed. Copy Cat then screamed out his name, not his code name, and caught him as he fell. She couldn't think, there wasn't any blood and when she tried to cover the hole with her hand, she couldn't quite bring herself to touch the fatal wound. She still screamed.

Halt was on his way back to the exercise room when he heard Copy Cat start screaming. When he turned around he saw that Dragon was on the ground and Copy Cat was screaming over him. Halt then looked up to see a man dressed in traditional Chinese garb standing atop a Chinese dragon with a canon of some sort strapped to his wrist.

"Drake," Halt spat out the man's name. A villain who had the power to create solid objects and illusions. He seemed to have a long-running personal grudge against his teammate Dragon simply because of his code name. Right now that didn't matter to Halt. Drake obviously hit Dragon and Copy Cat had gone into hysterics screaming and sobbing not seeming to notice the man aiming his canon in her direction. Seeing what was going to happen Halt ran and jumped over his team members, grabbing them both and bracing himself as he shielded them with his body. Drake fired his canon and Halt used his power causing the beam of energy to stop inches from hitting his body and reversing back into the canon causing it to explode injuring Drake as some shrapnel carved up his arm and some of his face. Drake fell back with a cry of pain before laughing.

"Now I shall claim the right to truly be called the Dragon," he said as he had the dragon he was riding carry him away.

It was at this moment that Copy cat regained her senses and jumped up as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a missile launcher that was a little too large for a normal person to carry. She had compensated for this by adding support struts and targeted Drake. When she got a lock she fired five missiles. Drake dodged the first two easily and formed a pair of Chinese swords to intercept the next two and had his dragon stop the last with its body to shield him. Copy Cat roared at this and pulled out and energy rifle and began firing haphazardly in Drake's direction. A few minutes later, Drake was out of sight. Copy Cat continued to fire until Halt grabbed the rifle from her. She turned to Halt with tears streaming down her face.

"He killed Dragon," she whispered weakly, her lip trembling.

Halt pulled her to him. He couldn't think of anything to say. And telling her that everything would be okay would just upset her. The short girl sobbed into Halt's chest soaking his shirt with her tears but he held her tight regardless until she pushed him away.

"M-maybe I can save him," she blubbered as she hurried over to Tobias' body, "Help me get him to my workshop. If we can get him there soon enough, maybe I can rig something up and bring him back," she cradled her head in her hands trying to think as she paced back in forth. Not seeing Halt moved, she turned to him, "Come on and help me, I can't carry him myself."

Halt hesitated until Copy Cap screamed at him to help her again. Halt wanted to tell her that there was no use and that Dragon was dead but he could see that Copy Cat was barely holding on. Still, Halt didn't like the thought of leaving Dragon's body out in the open and moved to pick his body up all the while Copy Cat was fretting over him. They went at a careful, but rushed pace, as they descended down into the building until they reached Copy Cat's workshop. As Halt carried Dragon's body in, Copy Cat rushed over to one of her work tables and brushed the projects she was working on off onto the floor, some of the devices fizzled as if to complain which went unnoticed by Copy Cat whose attention was squarely on Tobias that Halt was gently placing on the table.

Copy Cat went to his side and looked at him and was briefly disturbed that his eyes were still open. She closed her eyes to hold back a wave of sadness before opening them again and using her hand to close his. Dozens of thoughts ran through her mind at once as she considered what to do first. She couldn't just leave Tobias laying there with a hole in his chest but she had so many other things to do before that. His brain was already starved of oxygen minutes ago. She had to build something to stop his body from rotting. There was just too many things to do at once for her to decide which to start first. She began to pace again.

"Uh, Copy Cat?" Halt asked drawing her attention.

"What?!" she snapped looking him straight in the eye with a manic look in hers.

"Something's happening to his bracelet," He told her as he gestured down at the trinket as it appeared to grow up Tobias' arm, forming his armor.

"No!" Copy Cat cried out as she grabbed a jig saw and moved dead set on removing the armored clad arm from Tobias' body only to be stopped by Halt who grabbed the tool away from her and held her tightly. Copy Cat struggled against him and kicked at him wherever her heels could reach. Halt grimaced but held fast.

"Let me go," she ordered him as she continued to struggle, "I need to get it off him before.."

"You're not cutting his arm off," Halt told her forcefully, "This isn't like you, you're not thinking straight. How the hell is cutting his arm off going to bring him back?" he asked her trying to get her to see reason.

"Shut up," she shouted back. "The damn armor is magic. If it covers him up then I don't know what will happen and if I can't get it off him then I can't bring him back!" she cried before she finally went limp. She sobbed again, "I don't want to loose him," she cried.

Halt turned her around so he could look her in the eye. Her eyes were red from the crying and her face was slick with her tears as she continued to cry. The armor was now spreading across his chest as it moved down his torso and up to his head.

"For all we know, this is supposed to happen," he offered, although he didn't sound convinced himself. For all he knew, the armor was eating Dragon.

"I hope so," Copy Cat said listlessly, her senses seeming to return to her finally, "Because I won't be able to get it off him without losing him," she said dejectedly with a sniffle as the two watched the armor slowly swallow Tobias' body until it sealed him in completely. Copy Cat turned her head before it finished.

Tobias felt himself floating as he awoke, memories of his attack came back to him. While keeping his eyes closed he reached up with his hand and felt his chest. He was relieved to find that his chest was whole, he chuckled a little at his unintended pun, marveling slightly at how one added letter changed the entire meaning of a word. Despite himself, he felt incredably calm and peaceful. Slowly, he opened his eyes to find himself in a void. On noticing his surroundings though, the void shifted into a pleasant grassy shoreline to a large pond. It was the kind of setting where one would take a nap beside under the guise of lazily fishing. The sun is warm and the flitting of dragonflies about told Tobias where he is.

This was where he first met the spirit of all dragonflies. This is the ethereal planescape that she had summoned him too and given him his armor and powers.

Looking up behind him, he saw her standing on the small hill above him looking down at him with a warm, but concerned, smile. Just like last time, she appeared to be a human woman in her mid-twenties but the way she carried herself seemed to make her look much older. Clad in only a simple dress, she began walking down and sat down beside him as she took in their surroundings and held a finger out as a dragonfly landed on it briefly before flying off again, her smiling after it.

"It has been a long time since we have met like this," she told him with a guilty look.

"About four years or so, but I've been busy, so I couldn't come to visit anyways," he told her trying to lighten the mood.

She nodded, giving him a wry smile, "I have noticed. You have certainly put the gift I have given you to good use," she said before she grew sad, "I have brought you back here for a reason, Tobias," she said looking apprehensive.

Tobias looked off to the pond, "Does it have to do with my being attacked before coming here?" he inquired, although he already knew the answer.

With a sad smile she nodded her head again, "You were killed in that attack," she admitted, "Your soul would have moved on had it not been for my intervention," she explained as tears fell from her eyes, "There has been so much death at the hands of evil recently and continuously, so many I couldn't stop. So many kind souls perished," she touched Tobias' arm lightly as she looked into his eyes, "You have such a kind soul Tobias,"

Tobias grunted slightly and was about to protest when she put a finger over his lips to stop him from speaking.

"I might not have been able to save any of those that have perished, but I can save you," she told him.

Tobias didn't understand, there wasn't much you could do to fix a hole in the chest, "How?"

She then touched his chest where his injury occurred, "By giving a portion of myself to you. A small fraction of a sliver, any more would overwhelm you and what I gave is already too much," she explained as Tobias felt a warmth spread through his chest to the rest of his body from where she touched it. She smiled at him sadly, "Now, go and live, I can only ask that you forgive me for my selfishness," she said before looking off to the pond.

Tobias was about to ask her what she meant by that when he felt himself fall away from the idyllic scenery and the spirit woman back into darkness.

Copy Cat remained in her workshop next to the armored form of Dragon, Tobias, waiting anxiously for any change. After the armor encompassed Tobias' body, it reformed into a pod-like container. Solid and black, it prevented anyone from the outside from seeing in. And, much to Copy Cat's chargin, immune to the devices she had on hand to scan the internal structure of the pod. It had been eight hours since and Halt had long since left having grown both concerned of Copy Cat's unwavering vigil and bored of the stillness after the armor completed its shift into its current form. As Copy Cat paced around the pod, she'd pause to put an ear to it to hear the muted sounds of something shifting inside before going back to pacing. As she chewed on her nail, she briefly considered using one of her other devices to open it but with her fear of hurting Tobias and a promise she made to Halt to not use any weapons on it, she went back to pacing and chewing on the end of her thumb nail.

She stopped again to think of building a stronger scanning device to penetrate the shell when she heard a cracking sound. She turned to the pod to see a small crack on the top. Something, presumably Tobias, pushed up against the top making the crack slightly bigger.

Copy Cat ran to the door to yell down the hall to tell Halt that something was happening with Tobias' armored pod. Turning back, Copy Cat could see that the crack was large enough to see the Tobias' back. She was thankful that there wasn't any goo of any kind and grateful that from what she could see, Tobias' wound was healed. She wanted to help open the pod for him but wasn't sure what to do. Tobias' armor was magic based, and she long since learned that what's true for science was not true in the realm of magic. So all she could do was fidget and console herself that he seemed to be moving by himself. It was then as the more Tobias pushed out that Copy Cat notice that there wasn't a stich of clothing that she could see so far. So when Halt finally came in, she pushed him back out to get some of Tobias' spare clothes that he kept in the building.

Up until a few minutes ago Tobias felt like he was floating when he suddenly realised he was stuck curled up and couldn't move. It was so tight that he couldn't move his arms around to feel his surroundings. So he tried to push against his enclosure. He felt it give only slightly but it gave him the incentive to continue to try. Each time he pushed he could feel it give a little more. He kept going and just when he was about to collapse from exhaustion, he heard a crack and cool air flow over his back from where he must have broken it. Spurned by his success, he renewed his efforts and pushed again resting every few seconds. The crack was now large enough that fresh air reached his nose and he breathed in a lungful of fresh air. With a final push, at long last, he was free from his confines. Sitting upright he sucked in more air as he threw his arms to his sides to rid himself of the cluster phobia his confinement brought on.

A gasp drew his attention and he turned his head. Long dark hair fell in his vision, he quickly brushed it aside as he looked at Copy Cat who had a nervous look directed at him. He was about to say something while addressing his longer hair when he saw and felt something on his back. Twisting himself further looking over his shoulder to see a large pair of wings, more specifically, dragonfly wings. Tobias turned and looked over each shoulder and confirmed that the wings were attached to his back. He was further assured when he felt them twitch.

"What the hell?" inquired Tobias as he tried reaching back to feel them.

"Tobias?" Copy Cat asked unsure of who she was looking at.

"Yes," Tobias responded seeing her slowly put her hand in her satchel.

"If it's really you then what's my name? What's my real name?" she asked him. She was trying to hide it but Tobias could see the butt of a weapon she was ready to use just in case.

"Brenda, you're starting to scare me," Tobias said slowly, trying to calm her down.

It seemed to have work but she still had a worried look on her face, "That's really you Tobias?" she asked again as she put her weapon back in her satchel.

Tobias gave her a side-long grin, "I know I seem to have wings now but it's still me. I'm still Dragon. Just with wings, and longer hair now it seems," he said as he pulled at a lock of hair that had gotten in his face again.

"Tobias," Copy Cat started before correcting herself with a pained look, "Dragon, Those aren't the only things that changed on you," she told him cautiously.

"What do you..." Tobias started as he looked down at himself and was rendered speechless by what he saw. It was no longer his body that he saw. whether you could call it fortunate or unfortunate, his clothes had vanish affording him with a clear view of his body. He now had a slim well toned waist, thin feminine limbs, sizable breasts, and a woman's vagina. The only other thing that stood out was a large blue gemstone that was imbedded in his chest sitting in place where Drake's attack struck him.

Tobias' shocking discovery was interrupted when Halt returned muttering something as he opened the door before stopping in his tracks on seeing a naked woman with insect wings sitting in the pod made from Tobias' armor causing his jaw to drop. As Halt stood gaping, Copy Cat, Brenda, walked over to him and in one swift motion, grabbed the clothing he brought and pushed him back out the door and closed it in Halt's protesting face.

Brenda turned to Tobias and as she walked to him she quirked her head in thought before dropping the shirt from the bundle of clothes as she handed him the pants, "I don't think your shirt will fit you anymore, not with those wings of yours now. I suppose I have a tube top I can lend you. Although you're bigger up top than I am but it'll work as a bra till you get a real one," she said snarkly.

Tobias snatched the pants indignantly from her to cover his new bare skin. As he was about to stand up to get his pants on, the armor that made up the pod he was in began to shift. Tobias cried out in a rather girlish scream as he fell back down to his knees to steady himself. The armor then seemed to come alive as it was no longer one solid piece and flowed over Tobias' body like a liquid. It seemed to cover every square inch of his body save for most of his head. It crept up the back of his neck and flowed up behind his ears and over them coming forward where they met covering his forehead. The apparently living armor rippled for a second before solidifying.

Tobias stood up on the table looking down at the reformed armor that now encased his equally new body. As he raised his hands to see the changes he noticed, aside from the slim feminine arms and hands, he took further notice of his armor. It seemed to be even more form-fitting than before as well as having a more angular look. The fingertips of his gauntleted hands ended in deadly points. He checked his waist, getting distracted by his new bust line, and found he still had his throwing knives. When he picked one from its sleeve to test its balance, it felt the same as he remembered but there was something more he could feel, like trying to remember something on the edge of your mind. Replacing the knife back in its sleeve, he turned to Copy Cat who startled when she saw him looking at her.

"Hey Brenda," he said as he hopped down to the floor, "Can you get me a mirror please? I want to know what I look like."

Copy Cat finally snapped out of her stupor and gave him an annoyed flat look, "What makes you think I even have a mirror in here?" she asked him, crossing her arms.

Tobias raised an eyebrow, "I saw you put a kitchen sink in your satchel once just so you could pull it out for a joke," he said, "If you don't have one, then I'll go to the washroom and use that," he said as he started for the door.

As he passed Copy Cat, she grabbed his arm to stop him, "Wait," she said sounding defeated, "I have a full length mirror, just let me get it out," she said as she reached her hand into the satchel. Within the moment, she did indeed pull out a full length mirror and set it on the floor in front of Tobias.

Tobias stepped in front of the mirror and was immediately taken aback by what he saw. His reflection matched that of the spirit of all dragonflies. He had long straight raven black hair that reached the small of his back. His face was beautiful and youthful while at the same time showed a seductive maturity, the only thing missing was the presence that she projected. He could see that his body was fit even with the armor on. On his chest, just below his breasts (he swore that he'll never get used to referring to "his breasts") was a large blue gemstone. Noticing it from before his armor reformed over him so he could guess that the gemstone was now a part of his new body. His fingertips tingled when he touched it.

"Guess that was the part she was talking about," Tobias mumbled to himself.

"Looks like you're a D-cup," Brenda said as she crossed her arms in annoyance. "How come you get bigger breasts than me? You aren't even a real girl!"

Tobias sensed the jealous tone in her voice and decided to prod it by taking a pose showing off his new chest, "You don't think these are the indication of a real woman?"

Brenda's face swelled with anger, "Shut up!" she shouted turning her head, "And why are you so happy about losing your dick anyways? I thought you macho types would freak out having that happen."

Tobias frowned, "I'm not happy about suddenly transforming into a woman before waking up. It's probably a combination of my SWAT training and shock that's preventing me from freaking out right now. Also, there's this," he said pointing to the gemstone on his chest, "I can't really explain it but I have faith that the spirit of dragonflies meant well in doing this. She even apologised saying that if she did any more for me then I'd lose my soul. Or something to that effect, so if becoming a physical copy of her is all it takes to keep my life and soul, then I'll accept it," he said with a wave.

Brenda wanted to spout another insult but decided against it. At least for now. "So," she started as she Tobias a look up and down, "This is what the "spirit of all dragonflies" really looks like," she paused looking thoughtful, "If she's the spirit of ALL dragonflies then wouldn't that make her a god? Or goddess?"

Tobias smiled at that, "I asked her the same thing when she first introduced herself to me and she laughed at me and said that anyone calling themselves "gods" are full of themselves."

Brenda smiled at that, Tobias thought she was going to let out a smart aleck comment but was surprised when she rushed towards him and threw her arms around him and began sobbing. Tobias didn't know what to say so he just put his arms around her in return and held her gently while she cried.

"I couldn't do anything," Brenda blubbered into Tobias' shoulder, "When we teleported back, I barely notice Drake standing behind you and when he shot you..." she paused to wipe her runny nose, "I frozed. He shot you and I didn't do anything. If Halt wasn't there he would have got me too. I was useless and couldn't even stop him from getting away! What kind of a super hero am I that I let my team mate get killed in front of me and not stop the guy who killed him?" she cried.

Tobias held her more tightly to try and comfort her, "Shh, shh, it's ok. I'm still here see? Just a little different now," he told her gently.

Brenda shook her head, "No. No, it's not ok. I couldn't think of a way to bring you back. If it hadn't been for you spirit woman..." she trailed off into another sob. "I'm sorry," she said quietly holding Tobias tighter.

They stood there for a few minutes just holding each other in silence. A quiet knock on the door followed by Halt opening the door and poking his head in.

"Copy Cat?" he paused when he turned to Tobias giving him a questioning look, "Dragon?" he asked. Tobias nodded. Halt stared a him a moment longer before shaking his head deciding, for the moment, to accept Tobias' answer, "It seems that we made the news," he told them grimly before leaving assuming that they'd follow.

Brenda seemed to agree with his assessment and left her workshop and Tobias followed after, thankful that his new armor didn't come with a pair of heels like he'd known some of the lady hero's had with their uniforms. A minute later, they were in the control room where they were when the day started. Halt was sitting at a computer with a web page from a local news station pulled up, a paused video of a newscast was in the middle of the screen. Halt turned around to see if they were all there, on seeing them both looking over his shoulders he turned back and hit the play button.

The image of a male newscaster came to life, "Our top story today: This morning, after a notorious criminal "Princess" caused a riot at the local public mall. Turning patrons in the area into her willing subjects to pillage the establishments in the mall causing moderate property damage as well as minor injuries of those she took under her control. Half an hour later, Team Valiant arrived and made short work in subduing and capturing the villain. Unfortunately, it seems this may have been ruse as before this broadcast we have received an amateur video taken of team Valiant returning and being attacked by the equally notorious criminal "Drake". We will now play this unaltered," he said as the image switched over to a video taken by a low grade camera phone but was still good enough that you could tell who was who.

The video blurred a bit as the camera moved sharply before coming into focus on the helipad at the roof of the building. A lone figure could be seen standing on the opposite side of the helipad away from the roof access door.

The three instantly recognised the figure as Drake.

A second later, on the helipad, a cross fade wipe effect happened and the team appeared on the helipad. In the video, Halt instantly made his way to the roof access door. It was when Halt was halfway there that Drake raised his arm which had a weird cannon strapped to it and fired hitting Tobias' unarmored body in the back.

Tobias felt a twinge of pain in his chest when he saw that, he wasn't sure if it was real or just psychosomatic but he had his hand where the gemstone was anyway to massage the worry away.

Copy Cat screamed and fortunately, due to the crappy quality of the phone, you couldn't hear her scream out Tobias' name as she caught Dragon as he fell.

Brenda flinched and grabbed hold onto Tobias' arm when she saw that part.

Halt jumped in front of the two showing his back to Drake who fired again. The effect of Halt's power made it seem like the video was switched to reverse as the beam of energy reversed its flow and pulled back into the cannon and exploded, throwing Drake back and to the ground. Drake got up quickly and left on his Chinese dragon construct as Copy Cat got up and began shooting at Drake who quickly left afterwards. A second later, the video stopped playing and the male newscaster's face reappeared.

"Shortly after this video was sent in, we received a call from someone claiming to be Drake saying that he had killed the hero known as Dragon who is a member of team Valiant. Our experts have yet to identify the man who was killed in the video and our inquiries to the team have gone unanswered. Our next story, surviving officials of Boston have come under fire for deciding to cancel the Boston marathon in consideration for the attack on the city by Baron Nevermore. Both surviving residents and recurring attendees as well as a growing community have protested this decision and have stated that they will hold the marathon regardless of official's decision to cancel. We have approached some heroes on this matter and they responded that they will attend the Boston marathon should it continue as originally scheduled. A proponent for the marathon has said that they will not allow the attacks of super villains or terrorists sway them and will continue to attend the marathon as a sign of solidarity and remembrance to all those who've lost their lives."

Tobias stood back as he looked to Halt, "Ok, Drake was waiting for us, and?"

Halt just shushed him, saying that there was more in the video.

The male newscaster suddenly paused in mid-sentence, "This just in, the police transport carrying the earlier stated captured criminal, Princess, was attacked by Drake. Our sources say that after severely injuring several police officers, Drake freed Princess before leaving the area. Two of the five officers at the scene are now in critical condition in hospital."

Halt stopped the video and pushed back in his chair before turning to the two behind him, "We were set up. Princess was a diversion while Drake got set up to ambush us when we got back."

"That can't be right," Brenda protested, "If anyone tries to get in or on the building then they'd trip the security system."

"Either way," Tobias said while clenching his fists, "Someone's put a hit out on us and we need to find out who and why."

Copy Cat and Halt did a visual inspection of the buildings security systems and have made a shocking discovery that the system was indeed sabotaged. Someone, possibly Drake himself, used an energy weapon to destroy a junction in such a way that prevented the system from alerting Copy Cat.

Tobias himself, was in the gym learning the new limits of his female body. Having discovered that he was now more flexible and agile than before but found the trade-off of not being as strong as before. What upset him was that he couldn't figure out how to remove his new armor. As he stared at himself in the mirror of the gym, he took in the new features of his armor. He had no helmet but he did seem to have a tiara of some sort that covered his entire forehead that had one large gemstone in the middle and two smaller ones on either side, the gemstones being dark blue in color. He felt the edges of the tiara as they ran over his ears just under his hairline down to the back of his neck where it seemed to merge with the collar. He turned and looked at his back to the four dragonfly wings that adorned his back. He felt thankful that they didn't give the look of faerie wings. It was while he had turned to look at his side profile he saw a long insect tail-like thing protruding from above his rear. It looked like a long thick rod sectioned in insect scales. He tested moving it not sure if it was a part of him like his wings or just part of his armor. It did move to his command but it didn't flex like an animal tail, like a cat, but he could still move it with reasonable effort. Still, he couldn't move it enough to where he could sit comfortably in a chair which irked him somewhat, having already realised that even if he could turn off his armor his wings would prevent him from getting a decent nights sleep and with his new chest it limited his positions for sleeping.

Shrugging it off for now, he turned to the dummy targets set up at the other end that he, Copy Cat, and Halt used for target practice. He pulled his throwing knives out, one in each hand, aim his shot and threw the first knife. It spun through the air and hit the dummy center mass. A few seconds later, it disappeared before reappearing on his waist, an additional part to his original power, and he threw his second at the next. As it spun towards its target, the throwing knife suddenly split into three individual knives which all hit three separate dummies. Tobias was dumbfounded as he watched two of the knives disappear before the center one faded as well before showing up on his waist like the first one. He pulled them out again and looked at them, they had never done that before but decided that he liked this upgrade as he tried again intentionally willing both his knives to split again as he threw them. They both split again and two knives hit each of the dummies, two in the head and two in the center mass. He practiced this several more times until he was sure he was sure he could control this new power. He looked over his shoulders at his wings and flexed a muscle in his back causing them to twitch. He hadn't tried flying yet but with his "death" and the possibility of someone waiting for them, he wasn't in any hurry to learn yet.

Copy Cat and Halt returned from repairing the damage and reinforcing the system as well as adding more security nodes to cover the blind spots they found. When they started to discus their plans in what to do when an alert sounded. On checking the wireless, Copy Cat said that there was a bank robbery that had gone bad. With their current plans on hold, the three stood together, this time inside, while Copy Cat teleported them all to the roof top of a nearby building by the bank. The robbers were well armed but judging from their position on the opposite side of the street from the bank, the police showed up just as they were taking off. A ruined car pushed up against a spraying hydrant was evidence of that hypothesis. The three were immediately in action as one of the robbers fired a grenade launcher of all things causing one of the police cruisers to explode. Halt and Copy Cat landed by the police still shooting, Copy Cat pulling out an energy rifle and handed it to Halt before pulling another out for herself and began shooting, what ever it hit was instantly covered in frost. Tobias ran a little further along the roof top until he was behind the robbers where their attention was lax. As he dropped down, he threw his knives willing them to split. He hit one behind both knees causing him to drop. This, unfortunately, drew his companions attention causing him to hit just one other in the foot with one of his knives while the others struck harmlessly in the ground. As soon as he hit the ground he stayed low as he ran to the robbers as he pulled his knives out again throwing one, willing it to split to hit them in their hands to force them to drop their weapons. It worked. One of the two that turned to him got his head blown off from one of the police, distracting the second as he turned and ducked. Tobias used this to his advantage he closed the distance with a final push using his throwing knife in hand to push it into the robbers hand causing him to scream out as he let go with his shooting hand. Tobias finished up by throwing his fist in the robbers stomach causing him to double over and collapse. The final robber was able to turn his weapon on Tobias but he was hit by Copy Cat's rifle and was covered in frost after which he fell to the ground shivering. With the crisis over the police began to move in to arrest the robbers, with the exception to the dead one.

As the police put the robbers away and Copy Cat assuring one that the affects of her frost rifle were temporary, Tobias' eyes darted around feeling a little paranoid, rightfully so considering the circumstances, and was surprised when one officer came up to congratulate him.

"Thanks miss, I heard about what happened to Dragon. I'm sorry to hear about it, he did a lot of good for the city."

Tobias didn't know what to say. Even though he knew that some hero's have come back from the dead like Ms. Miracle and more recently Circuit but he wasn't sure how everyone would react if he told the public that he was Dragon. No, it would be best for now to let everyone believe that he really was dead.

"Yeah, I never thought that would happen," he told him honestly.

The officer nodded, "So what's your name?" he asked giving Tobias a determined look.

Tobias looked over his shoulder, one of his wings caught his attention, and turned back to the officer, "Dragonfly, my name is Dragonfly," he told him.

The officer shook his hand, "Good to meet you Dragonfly. I hope you do team Valiant proud," he said before helping collect evidence.

"Me too," Tobias said, returning to his own team. They returned to the roof and teleported back to their base. Thankfully, no one was waiting to off them when they returned. Though that didn't stop everyone from checking the entire building from top to bottom. Having been satisfied that everything was unchanged, they went their separate ways. Copy Cat to her workshop, Halt to the gym, and Tobias went to the room he used when he had to stay over.

He sat down on his bed silently swearing the fact that until he turned off his armor he would be unable to use any chair with a backrest. It had been a long day and he didn't want to dwell on his assassination, feeling another twinge in his chest, he decided to call it a night. Deciding to leave the covers as they were, he laid on his side feeling foreign parts of his body shift from his new breasts to his long hair to even his wings. He briefly tried sleeping on his front but the uncomfortable squishiness of his breasts changed his mind for him and fell asleep an hour later on his side.

It was around midnight when he woke up with a kink in his neck, grumbling as he got up to stretch. As he walked down the hall, he noticed that the lights were off yet he could see everything clearly if marred by a ghostly after image over everything. Tobias looked down at his hands, seeing the same but slightly different ghost after image over them as well.

"Weird," he thought as he looked at his surroundings, more specifically the ghostly after images, "It's like an aura or something," he noted as he looked around seeing patches of after images along the floor like footprints. It seemed that every time he turned around there was something new he discovered about his new body. Once again he had to admit that the spirit woman who saved him was right about what little she gave him would be too much for him to handle. He was still avoiding his body and focusing on his armor and new abilities. He'd seen some newly developed get overwhelmed by their powers and got consumed by them either turning to crime or just flat out destroyed themselves. He hoped that last part didn't happen to him, it wasn't pretty when that happened. Deciding he had enough of this ghost vision, he went back to his room deciding that he worked enough of his kinks out to sleep again. Another fitful hour and he was asleep again.

The next day Tobias woke up with another kink in his neck along with a stiff shoulder where he then walked down to the kitchen where a sleepy Brenda was sitting at the table drinking from a coffee pot with one hand and working on a half-built device of some sort with the other.

"So, what are you building?" Tobias asked her.

Without looking up from the device she replied, "It's a new containment unit for developed criminals like Princess that use hypnotic effects," she explained as she drank from the pot, "This way we won't have to worry about chasing after them and potentially risking more civilians."

Tobias nodded in agreement before giving her a smirk, "You do realise that you're drinking from the coffee pot right?"

Brenda looked at the pot for a moment before registering what it truly was, "Oh. I was wondering why I didn't need to refill it," she said before taking another drink.

Tobias chuckled at that while he got his breakfast ready, he scowled at the chair by the table before he turned it around to sit on it sideways. They both sat in silence, Tobias eating his breakfast and Brenda working on her device while drinking from her coffee pot.

Not ten minutes later did Brenda look up at Tobias as if noticing him for the first time that morning, "Are you still wearing that armor?"

Tobias looked down at himself sheepishly, "Yeah, I haven't figured out how to turn it off yet. And there aren't any clips or anything I can undo to take it off either," he pulled back a lock of hair that got in his face behind his ear.

Brenda sat agape at him, "You mean to say you haven't had a bath or anything since the day you were..." she trailed off looking guilty.

"Magic armor," he said quickly to get her mind off that sore subject, "Just one of the advantages over normal gear," he said with a weak smile.

"I could have made something like that too but I'd still feel icky at the end of the day."

Tobias chuckled at her saying "icky". It was little things like that that made people believe she was the younger than she really was.

"So... What happens now if you need to use the bathroom? It's not like magic armor comes equipped with depends right?"

Tobias stopped eating, "I've... never thought about that," realising that he hadn't felt the need to but Brenda's question made him not want to tempt fate. "I think I'm done with breakfast," he said as he got up and left the kitchen.

He returned to his room and went to the attached bathroom. He might not be able to wash his body but he could still wash his face and hair. As he washed he took note of how silky and smooth his hair is, not to mention long. The skin on his face felt soft as well. When he was done, he had a hell off a time drying his long hair. The towel he normally used to dry himself off with had gone wet and his hair was still damp. Deciding to let his hair air dry he went back into his bedroom and sat down on the floor crossing his legs. As he sat up straight, he closed his eyes as he began to concentrate. It was obvious that his armor was different now, both in appearance and ability. When he first got his armor it had been so effortless to use it, from its weapons to simply turning it off and on. If he was going to master both his armor and his body, he'd have to start now. Especially if there was someone gunning for them.

Shoving that thought aside for now he cleared his mind again and focused on his center while steadying his breathing. Ten minutes later he could feel a tingling in his chest where the gemstone sat, a second later he felt something leave him while simultaneously feeling his mind and awareness expand to the whole bedroom. Even with his eyes closed, it was like he could see his bedroom from several different view points. He looked at himself from one of these viewpoints to see the ghostly after image over himself. He moved closer to himself while looking at his room from the others seeing more ghostly markers. He wasn't sure why but it felt like the markers were made by him from when he went about his business like he really was leaving a part of himself behind as if to prove he had been there. As the view point he used to get a closer look at himself got closer, he started to hear the flicker of wings coming towards him. This startled him enough that he opened his eyes to see what it was and saw a dragonfly flying towards him. He fell to the side as it darted away. He got dizzy for a moment from seeing things now from four different view points including his own. He steadied himself and closed his eyes again till the dizziness went away then slowly opened his eyes again. As he looked about himself he could see a total of three dragonflies flitting about. When he stared at them with his altered vision he noticed that the after image they had matched his own. As if they were a part of him, like three small bits of his soul he sent out. As a test, he mentally commanded them to land in front of him and was pleasantly surprised to see them do so right where he wanted them to. With them all facing him he reached out to one with his hand and as he touched it he felt a tingle, it then flashed before disappearing towards his hand. Tobias felt a rush of something flow up his hand and arm as he watched it vanish feeling something return to him. He willed the other two to return to him and felt two more rushes of energy as they did so.

With a quick breath he looked down at his armored body, "Ok, I can send out soul sprites in the form of dragonflies now too," he said to himself as he sat up straight again and closed his eyes. "Now if I can only turn this damn armor off," he mumbled as he steadied his breathing and concentrated again.

It took him two hours to find the mental switch that would allow him to shut off his armor. It felt like an unused muscle as it took him another hour to slowly flex it. As he did so he could feel his armor shift around his body, slowly receding to its dormant state. At long last, he was sitting naked on the floor of his bedroom.

Tobias breathed slowly as he opened his eyes once more and looked down at his bare breasts. It was the second time he saw them in all their bare glory. As much as he hated to admit it, they were nice and full and round with the right amount of bounce when he moved, which caused him to blush furiously. He then check his wrist for the bracelet, the dormant form his armor took, but was surprised to see it not there. He franticly searched the floor around him looking for it. He got on his hands and knees looking for it and was in such a frenzy searching that he hadn't heard the knocking on his door.

A now fully awake Brenda had gone to check on Tobias. Having heard some sounds coming from his room, she knocked on the door. A few more knocks later and no response but still hearing various sounds behind the door, she became concerned and decided to enter.

"Sorry for just barging in but you didn't answer and I heard these noises in here and..." she was meet by a naked woman with long black hair and large dragonfly wings growing out of her back currently looking under the bed. Her shapely butt was pointed straight at Brenda much to her embarrassment. This had Brenda caught, like a deer in the headlight, she was unable to form a coherent thought and did the only thing that got her back in motion.

She booted the woman's butt so that it was no longer pointing at her.

Tobias fell over in a start, stunned from the sudden impact from behind. He rubbed his backside as he turned around angrily, "Who the... Oh. What do you need Brenda?"

Brenda, still mortified, held her hand in front of her face, "First, put on some clothes first," she pleaded.

Tobias finally realised his bare self and ran for his dresser, deciding to forgo underwear since they probably wouldn't fit him anymore anyways and pulled out a pair of sweatpants he used for training and slipped them on. He then looked for a shirt and pulled out a white t-shirt but was met with a problem. There wasn't any way to pull them over his wings.

"Damn it," he spat before turning around to Brenda while holding his shirt up to cover his breasts, "Um, it seems that I'll need a different kind of shirt to wear that'll be compatible with these damn wings," he sighed with annoyance. The wings seemed to flick in defiant response which caused Tobias to growl as he looked at them.

Brenda, relieved that her friend was, mostly, dressed again stared at Tobias and his wings. They certainly would limit his clothing options. She thought for a minute, he would have to wear something of hers until he could get his own. But she didn't have anything that would fit him except for... she looked down, a sad look on her face before covering it up with a false smile.

"Come with me, I think I have something you could use for now," she told him. "Hold onto your shirt for now though," she added as she saw him about to drop the article of clothing.

Tobias blushed as he brought the shirt back up and held it over his chest as he followed. They soon reached her room and entered. Brenda went to her closet and began digging through it. She eventually pulled out a large box from the back and set it on the bed as she sat down beside it. She placed a hand on the lid almost longingly as a look of nostalgia fell over her face. She then opened it and first pulled out a package and threw it at Tobias.

"Here, you'll need these since your underwear won't fit you anymore. Don't worry, I never had a chance to wear them myself," she said as a pained look flashed across her face as she continued her search through the box.

This hadn't gone unnoticed by Tobias and grew concerned, "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," she answered as she wiped a tear away, "These are just my old clothes, emphasis on "old"," she gave a weak smile. "These were the cloths I had before I got stuck looking like this," she said as she gestured down at herself.

Tobias' eyes widen at that, he knew that she had unintentionally trapped herself looking like a seventeen year old girl. But he never thought she was ever homesick from the way she acted most of the time, she just didn't strike him as the person to hold onto things like that.

She eventually pulled out a black top with a low back, enough for his wings to clear, "This is a wrap around. You basically put it on like a jacket and clip it in front," she paused wistfully, "This was one of my favorites. I wish that I could still fit it, but you need it more," she said before handing it to Tobias to try on.

Tobias had already pulled the panties and was slipping his sweatpants back on when he grabbed the top. Just like she said, he was able top put it on like a jacket as he pushed his arms through the sleeves and then pulled one side around covering his breasts and found a loop to keep it in place. He pulled the other around that also went over his breasts and fastened the clasps keeping it in place. It still showed off his mid drift.

"That should keep your "girls" in place until you can get a real bra. I'd lend you one of mine but you look larger than even the old me," she told him.

Tobias blushed again as he tested the top by moving his arms and rolling his shoulders, The top was indeed "tight" enough to keep him in place. He even jumped once feeling his breast bounce embarrassed slightly at the alien sensation.

"So, what were you looking for before I came anyways?" Brenda asked looking a little sheepish.

Tobias blushed yet again, convinced his cheeks were going to become burned in a permanent red, "I was looking for my bracelet. It's what my armor looks like when it's in its dormant state," he explained as he held up his wrist for emphasis.

Brenda blinked, "You mean that necklace and belt aren't it?

"Uh," Tobias started as he looked down at himself. Sure enough he could see what looked to be a necklace that went down his chest. He lifted his top to see the obsidian links as it traveled down between his breasts where it seemed to connect to the gemstone in his chest. "So I can't take it off, " He thought to himself as he poked at it but was unable to move it. Like the gemstone, it too was embedded in his body. Deciding to leave it for now, he bent over to look over his chest to check his waist. He twisted and turned, trying to get an angle but couldn't quite get a decent view.

Brenda giggled before she could bring a hand up to stifle it. At Tobias' glare she gave him a playful smile as she pointed to the large mirror over her vanity table. Tobias huffed then growled at himself for what he considered a very feminine reaction as he stepped over to the mirror and focused on the area around his waist. Like his necklace, his "belt" seemed to be made of the same obsidian material and just like his necklace, the belt was firmly attached to his body and immovable.

"This is new as well," he said out loud to himself, "I hope this is the last of the surprises," he said at last.

"There is one thing I'm wondering," Brenda started.

Tobias gave her a questioning look that prompted her to continue.

"You've had those wings for well over a day and I haven't seen you use them at all. Not even when we jumped down from the roof top to stop those bank robbers. Do they work? Or are they just for show?" she asked curiously.

"I.. don't know," he answered truthfully. He never had wings with his old armor and couldn't fly before but now that he had them, and with Brenda's questioning, he was more than curious now and wanted to try them out. But it was too dangerous to go outside just to see if he could fly, not with what happened the other day.

As if sensing his concern Brenda got up and started walking out of her room while dragging Tobias with her, "Come on, you can use my training room," she told him as they went to her workshop.

When they arrived, Brenda continued to pull Tobias over to a door standing well away from the wall that had wires and other tech in it. "This was the prototype for my bag. It doesn't have the near infinite space my bag has but is more than big enough for just training and weapons testing," she explained as she open the door. When they walked in, Tobias could see that it was indeed huge. At Tobias' star struck wonderment Brenda grinned, "It's about three square kilometers in here. Big enough to see what you can do."

Tobias nodded and looked up and around the artificial room and then back over his shoulder at his wings, "Let's see what you can do," he said to himself as he willed himself up into the air.

His feet remained firmly planted on the ground.

"Er," he started embarrassed, "Looks like flying is a little harder than it looks."

Brenda chuckled, "That's why I like tech. Jet packs are easy, turn it on and boost the throttle," she bragged.

"Har de har har," Tobias replied as he closed his eyes and focused, feeling for the new muscles that would move his wings. Finding them was easy but it took him nearly fifteen minutes of testing them to getting use to them where he didn't have to think about them as much. Another ten minutes of moving them into the right way where his wings could provide lift. Once he was ready he looked up again, took in a breath, and flapped his wings.

Instead of a gentle lift like he was expecting he shot up at incredible speed that caused him to immediately break his focus and sent him tumbling to the ground. Rubbing his arm and shoulder as he got up, he gave Brenda a glare as she laughed at him.

"And a point goes to the jet pack," Brenda stated as she got her breath.

"Jet packs run out of gas," Tobias shot back. Brenda shrugged but didn't say anything, she kept a grin on her face though.

Tobias stretched before getting a determined look on his face. He prepped himself again now knowing just how easy it was to fall out of the sky. Again, he flapped his wings and shot off into the air. He was a kilometer up from the ground before he stopped and glided a short distance before twitching his wings causing him to slide sideways before he continued forward. As he flew, it was becoming clear that he couldn't hover but he could glide a short distance before needing to flap his wings again. Once he was sure of his lower limits, he decided to see what he was capable of and poured on the speed. Soon he was doing sharp loop de loops, and barrel rolls that would put the best fighter jets to shame and he was able to change directions on a dime practically. He looked down at Brenda below who was waving her hand excitedly and cheering him on. He smiled down at her and pushed himself faster still.

It wasn't long after that that he felt cooped up in the room they were in. All of the sudden, three square kilometers seemed all too small. Tobias felt that he reached the limits that Brenda's training room could provide so he turned back and landed down in front of Brenda who ran over to him, throwing her arms around him still excited from his aerobatics display and gave him a peck on the cheek. Tobias was surprised by the sign of affection as she pulled back looking into his eyes. She surprised him again when she leaned forward again kissing him passionately full on the lips. The kiss lasted for several seconds before Brenda pulled away once more with a look of lust in her eyes as she looked at him waiting for his response.

Tobias stepped back, still reeling from the kiss, "...Brenda..."

"I know that I look like a teenager and you probably think I'm just having a school girl crush but," Brenda started as she crossed her arms holding herself as she looked down at her feet, an air of apprehension about her, "I've had feelings for you ever since we started working together. I didn't act on them because I was afraid I'd make you feel like a pervert since I look like a teenager." She gave a weak laugh, "How funny is that? I'm twenty nine years old and I'm afraid that I'd make you look like a cradle-robber."

Tobias tried to protest but she continued.

"Since I knew that no one would accept my feelings for you, I was fine with just being your friend, but when Drake shot you..." he voice broke as she held back a shudder, "...And when you fell... Everything broke in me. I saw you die before you fell into my arms and I just couldn't go on without telling you what I feel about you. It was so bad that I was willing to maim you when your armor started to grow. If Halt didn't stop me when he did... You'd still be dead and I'd still be broken." She shuddered again as tears fell down her face, "I was so happy when I realised that you came back that I almost went back to just playing your friend again. But with the possibility of someone directly attacking us, things are just going to get more dangerous," she looked up at him in the eyes with determination, "I lost my first chance to tell you. I'm not wasting my second chance. Dragon, Tobias, I love you!" she exclaimed.

Tobias took a step back, being understandably taken aback by Brenda's confession. Brenda winced at Tobias' reaction but didn't shy away. Instead, she stepped forward reaching out for Tobias' hand and grasping it in hers.

"I'm sorry, but I'd rather face this awkwardness then not let you know how I feel," she said looking into his eyes.

The two shared a moment of silence looking at one another until Tobias made a face before speaking up.

"I'm really sorry, but I'm still not used to this new body of mine and I really need to go before I pee myself," he admitted with a look of deep embarrassment and to a lesser extent, shame.

Brenda looked like she was about to get angry at first. But then she broke into a grin before letting out a stream giggles before laughing.. As she tried to bring herself back in check she waved him off to do his business vowing vengeance for ruining her moment and confession. Tobias promised that he'd make it up to her as he hurried out the door of her training room.

On reaching the closest bathroom, Tobias swore to himself, still ashamed of himself for leaving the way he did, swore again as he saw the limited room around the toilet. Tobias looked at his winks wishing they were a part of his armor as well. With the insistence from his crotch increasing he growled to himself as he twisted his wings so they pointed up as he turned around and dropped his pants and underwear. It was a very uncomfortable position for him to sit in and he still had to lean forward as he couldn't point his wings straight up. He considered having a custom bathroom built to accommodate his new anatomy. But that will have to wait as he pulled his hair around so not to accidentally sit on it and without further need, he released his hold on his bladder. He sighed with relief at the familiar start as the urine came out of him and immediately noticed the lack of the follow up sensation of his former penis would provide. This lack of sensation was what finally pushed him over the edge and he broke down crying.

First, he got shot in the back, and then he lost everything. He lost his body, his identity, and replaced it all with completely different things. He had wings, as much as he hated to admit it he now had a lush female body. Something that he was never supposed to have, at least not in this life time. One hand groped a breast while the other grasped the gemstone in his chest.

"Can I even consider myself a guy anymore?" he asked himself. He, or she as she had to admit now, looked down at her legs seeing her knees were together like most women would do when sitting down. This caused her to let out another sob as she continued to bawl. Tobias tried to fight back the tears by cursing at herself to remember her training and take it like a man. It didn't work and she fell deeper into her new found depression. She wasn't a man anymore and she began to think that she wasn't even Tobias anymore either. Was she really just a copy of the spirit of all dragonflies that thought she was Tobias? She didn't know anymore. She put her head in her hands and continued to sob.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door.

"Shit!" Tobias spat, she didn't want to talk to anyone right now.

There was a moment of silence followed by another knock, "Tobias? Is everything ok in there?" Brenda called out.

"Leave me alone!" Tobias called back a little bit more harshly than she meant but meant what she said still the same.

She heard the knob turn and swore to herself for forgetting to lock the door. Brenda slowly opened the door and poked her head in and saw Tobias sitting on the toilet leaning forward and hugging herself, red eyed from crying. Seeing this, she let herself in and walked over to her and knelt down in front while putting a reassuring hand on Tobias' knee.

"Are you sure Tobias?" she asked, worry was evident on her face.

"Don't call me that!" Tobias snapped, "I'm not Tobias, not anymore. He died, I know because I felt him die. I'm just a part of the spirit of dragonflies using what's left of his body and memories," she told Brenda bitterly.

Brenda suddenly slapped her hard enough to force Tobias' head to turn to the side.

As Tobias turned back, a hand on her now reddening cheek, she saw Brenda staring her down with the angriest look on her face softened only by a quivering lower lip.

"Don't you EVER say anything like that to me again," she told her in a low steady voice. She grabbed Tobias' shoulders to push her further upright but a sharp yelp of pain from Tobias from having her wings pushed further than they were able to and let go. She instead grabbed Tobias' head and forced her to look her in the face and eyes. "You are Tobias," she assured her, "Yes, you look different. Yes, you're a woman now and I can't imagine what that's like switching genders but I do know what it's like to lose one's identity. I've been stuck at age seventeen for the last eight years, you don't think that screws with someone's mind more than once?" Tobias tried to shake herself away but Brenda help firm, "You are ALIVE. You have been given a second chance, use it to do some more good in the world. Don't waste it on thinking about what was lost. Believe me, it's not worth it."

Brenda's words seemed to finally reach Tobias and bring him out of his self-pity and identity crisis as she looked into Brenda's eyes taking strength from the determination in them.

"I'm sorry," Tobias said finally in a shaky voice, "I guess it all just hit me when I went," she said sheepishly, "Either way, I don't think it'd be right to refer to me as a guy anymore with all things considered," she said as she gestured down at herself.

Brenda gave a short laugh as she stood up, "Yeah, I can't even call you butch with your figure," she said as she moved back to the door, "When you're done, why don't you come to my workshop and I'll do a scan on you so you can at least know everything about your new body. No surprises right?" she called over her shoulder as she closed the door behind her.

Now that she was alone and long since relieved herself she began cleaning up, remembering vaguely from somewhere that you had to wipe from front to back to prevent infection. She wasn't sure if this was true or not, but she thought it was better safe than sorry.

"God has a terrible sense of humor, putting an asshole next to a vagina," she grumbled as she wiped. After she was finished and pulled her pants back up, she washed her hands and left for Brenda's workshop.

On entering, she saw that Brenda was back in her uniform standing by a table, a large glass screen stood behind her. On seeing Tobias walk in she smiled and patted a spot on the table, "Hop on," she said while waving a wand-like stick with her other hand. Tobias did so sitting on the table and Brenda waved the wand over her and looked over her shoulder as the glass screen started displaying data on Tobias' new body.

"Well," Brenda started, "From my scans so far, You are one hundred percent a woman," she declared. "With all the pros and cons that come with it," she added.

Tobias' slumped her shoulders at that, "Great," she said unenthusiastically, she was hoping Brenda would find something that would allow her to change back to her real self, or at least become a guy again.

"Yeah," Brenda continued still looking at the data, "Monthly periods, multiple orgasms if you can swing it, and sexual discrimination to some degree for decades to come."

"Okay, I get it," Tobias said with exasperation.

Brenda smiled at her in a way that told her she was only teasing, "I'm just pulling your leg Tobias. Aside from the periods, it's not that bad," she assured her as she moved around the table and began waving the wand over Tobias' wings, starting where they grew out of her back and out from there over each wing in turn.

"The muscles in your back, while oddly placed for the wings, are incredibly packed with muscle tissue. That probably explains why you can fly so fast," she explained. Tobias thought she heard her muttering about her being lucky and something else about back problems. "Your wings are really weird," she said as she reached a hand out to feel one of the lower wings that twitched when she touched it batting her hand away. Brenda swore as her wing hurt her hand when it batted it away. "Anyways, they're made of some kind of organic material that seems to make it as tough, if not tougher than frontline tank armor, yet they're so light and flexible. And if I may say so, they sting like a bitch with even a light love tap like the one you just gave me," she said as she shook her hand again. Tobias could only shrug with a half-hearted guilty smile, she didn't mean to twitch her wings to her touch at all. It was just a reflex that happened before she even knew it had.

"Still," Tobias mused, "I'm thankful that I don't have that damn tail all the time," she said remembering the annoyance it presented before she turned her armor off.

"I bet," Brenda agreed with a nod, "In any case, I'm going to have to rebuild the bathrooms for you so you don't have to sit down all painful and awkwardly."

Tobias agreed at that, remembering the brief moment of pain from when Brenda tried to sit her up straight.

Brenda just smiled as she waved the scanner wand over Tobias' "necklace" and "belt". After looking over the data she grimaced, "The material your new gear is made of the same stuff your original bracelet was. And unfortunately, magic being nowhere near my speciality, I have no idea what the stuff is made of," she gave a shrug, "But if it works, who am I to argue?" She then set the scanning wand down, "All that aside, there's one thing we still haven't addressed yet," she said in a matter of fact tone of voice.

Tobias gave a wry smile, "Yeah, we still need to find out why Drake and Princess are working together and who else is working with them."

Brenda looked on, "There is that," she agreed before turning back to Tobias like she was about to drop an obvious secret, "It's your name," she said finally.

Tobias quirked her head in confusion, "What, Dragonfly? It just kind of came to me and seems more appropriate now considering my new looks and powers."

Brenda gave her a deadpanned look, "It's not your codename, awesome choice by the way, It's your real name. Sorry to say it, but you don't look like a Tobias anymore," she told her apologetically.

"Hey! My mom gave me that name," she said defensively.

"And it's a really good name too," she said throwing her hands up in her own defense, "It's just not a name you'd normally see attached to a woman," she explained.

As much as she hated to admit it, Brenda was right. If not now, the subject would come up later and if she were to let everyone believe that her original self was indeed dead, than she'll need to come up with something other than Tobias. "Okay, what would you suggest?"

Brenda thought for a moment, "We could shorten you name to Tobi with an i. Like Bobbi or Toni," she offered.

Tobias grimaced, "That's a little too close. I don't think anyone will put two and two together but it still feels wrong to me. I'm a new person now and my name should reflect that." She thought about it for a minute momentarily distracted by the unconscious flutter of her wings. "I think I'll go by Lucy now. It's one of my mom's middle names. What do you think?" she asked Brenda.

Brenda looked like she was thinking it over in her head before speaking, "... Lucy Marshal. It has a certain ring to it," she said at last approvingly.

Tobias, now Lucy, breathed a sigh in relief still feeling her psyche being rather fragile still. "'Kay, from this point on, I'm Lucy," she said with a half-hearted smile. "At least until I find a way to become a guy again," she added in an equally half-hearted attempt to hold out hope to return back, at least someday in the future.

An awkward silence followed between the two until the newly named Lucy coughed, "Lets go and tell Halt about my new name."

Brenda agreed eagerly, "Yeah, it'd be good to spread some good news in as many days." And they both left the workshop together.

The two made their way to the gym expecting Halt to be working out there like he usually was but were surprised to see the gym empty. With nothing else to do, the two ladies decided to go to the control room to check on any sightings of Drake and Princess. When they got there, Halt was sitting at one of the computers working so diligently that he hadn't noticed the two enter.

Lucy coughed to get Halt's attention, "Hey halt, what are you working on?"

"I'm looking through local forums and other information that would tell us when and why Drake, or Dragon if we're accepting his self-proclaimed declaration, and Princess are working together. So far, I haven't found anything, let alone who else might be working with them," he said without looking away from the screen. A minute later he leaned back in his chair and wiped his tired eyes, he finally looked up at the two. "Also, we got several more calls from various news and gossip agencies asking to confirm the footage of Dragon's attack by Drake." he looked annoyed as he said the last part.

The two women were downtrodden at the news and reminder until Brenda perked up with a clap of her hands to distract the others, "Oh!," she started to tell Halt as she grabbed Lucy's arm, "We were talking and came up with a new name for our newly minted girl. Not only is she Dragonfly when she's hero-ing it up, when it's just us in private you can call her Lucy."

Lucy felt her cheeks burn with embarrassment when Halt looked at her for a minute after which he shrugged in acceptance and turned back to the computer. "So, if we can't find what's going on with these two then how are we going to find them and stop them?"

Lucy looked over Halt's shoulder at the data he compiled to see if there was anything he missed. He was thorough and had looked into everything she would have thought of except...

"It's a long shot but there may be one lead we can still follow up on," she said at last, turning to the two staring at her expectantly.

"What?" Brenda urged. Halt continued his stare waiting for her to explain herself.

Lucy grimaced, "The Fireman," she said at last, "He's been out of the game for eight years now, but he still hears things from the super villain community and since he's still one community probation it shouldn't be too hard to get anything out of him. He's been cooperative ever since he left jail," she told them.

The other two made their own comments about trusting information from a known super villain, let alone an ex-convict. But with the sparse trail already cold, they had no choice but to check with this lead.

With nothing further to discuss on the subject Halt got up from his chair while Brenda reached into her satchel for one of her teleport cubes. As she was pulling one out Lucy held her arm still to which Brenda gave her a perplexed look.

"We should only use those for emergencies when lives are at stake. And we risk leaving ourselves open to attack when ever we use them and right now, we need every advantage we can get. Even if it takes a little longer. Brenda was about to argue but stopped and paused before closing her mouth and pulling her hand out of her satchel empty.

"'Kay then, I guess we're driving then," Brenda said as she turned around and walked off towards their bases underground garage, Halt and Lucy following close behind.

On getting to the team's vehicle, a converted military APC, Lucy stopped short of getting in with the others remembering her new unusual anatomy as she glanced at her wings that twitched in annoyance. "I guess I'll have to fly," Lucy said as she stepped down from the hatch. Brenda gave her a worried look, obviously wanting to protest her decision but accepted. She grabbed something from a compartment and tossed it to Lucy. It was an earpiece to keep in contact with them. Brenda told her to stay safe before she closed the hatch. Lucy stepped back as the APC started up and drove to the ramp that would take it to ground level. Lucy, herself, willed her armor to grow over her body. A second later she was flying just above the ground up the same ramp and out into the open air.

Half-expecting to be attacked again she flew as fast as she could up into the air until she was well above the city. Having lost sight of her team's transport, lowered her altitude until she was close enough to see the vehicle but not so low as to distract other drivers on the road. Once she settled into the right height she found that flying in the real world was infinitely different than the static environment of Copy Cat's personal training room. Wind buffeted her about, which in itself, wasn't too difficult for her but it did toss her long hair about in her face whenever she slowed down to glide a short distance before she flapped her wings again for forward momentum and continued flight.

As the APC continued driving through traffic, Dragonfly had to fly in large circles over them to keep at their slow pace. While she flew in circles she switched on her ghost vision and the world around her bursts into such amazing colors that would put even Los Angeles to shame. Every light she could see seemed to be connected to people he could see on the ground or a random animal. It was beautiful. "Wow," she stated awestricken.

"What's that?" came Copy Cat's voice over her ear piece.

"Hmm? Oh, I was just using one of my new powers. It's a weird new vision that lets me sort of see after images that people and animals leave behind. Like a ghost vision or something," she told her.

"Sounds trippy," she replied, "Wish I was up there. Driving on the ground is BORING!"

Dragonfly grinned to herself as she looked down at the APC, "Don't worry, you guys are almost at the factory," she assured them.

About ten minutes later, Copy Cat and Halt finally arrived. Dragonfly, instead of landing normally, Dragonfly dive-bombed her way to the ground before pulling up at the last moment to land softly on her feet. While she walked over to her teammates Copy Cat came up to her and put her hand on her hips in a displeasure that only a teen of her apparent age could muster.

"You said we were close! A ten minute drive does not mean close to me," she then crossed her arms before braking into a grin, "That landing was pretty sweet though," she commentated. She then leaned in close to Dragonfly before whispering, "Don't think I've forgotten our discussion earlier. I still expect an answer from you."

"I didn't forget," Dragonfly said quickly while throwing her hands up in surrender.

"You better not," she said with a playful shove to Dragonfly's shoulder, "And this time, there won't be any interruptions like last time," she added with a smirk.

Halt quirked an eye, "What is she talking about?"

Dragonfly squirmed as she remembered the embarrassing memory, "Nothing," she told him flatly as she turned to the building before them, "Let's get in and talk to the Fireman already! We still have targets on our backs so we can't waste time right now," she said as she started to the building. Halt looked to Copy Cat for answers but she only gave him a knowing smile before following after Dragonfly.

Watching the two walk ahead of him, Halt shook his head before muttering, "Women," catching himself as he said it remembering that Dragonfly was originally the Dragon little more than a day ago. Deciding to leave it for now before he started getting a headache trying to figure out the technicalities. He quickly caught up with the two as they entered the building.

When they got inside, they were met by a secretary sitting behind a desk taking calls. After a minute of processing calls before she looked up and did a double-take at the team of heroes standing in front of her, "D-do you have an appointment?" she asked demurely, trying to remain professional, friendly smile and all.

Copy Cat walked up to the desk placing one hand on the desk, lightly tapping her fingers, "Yeah, we're here to see the Fireman. So please tell us where he is and we'll be on our way."

The secretary frowned, "I'm sorry, but we can't divulge the names of our employees let alone whether they work here or not," she said flatly, "Especially to little girls," she added before going back to her computer.

Copy Cat's fingers twitched as she turned her head to the secretary with a very fake, but very scary, smile on her face, "Excuse me?" she asked sweetly.

Before things could escalate any further, Dragonfly pulled her back, "Gerald Birtch is an ex-criminal who is still under probation. That means if any law enforcement officer, including a recognised developed super hero team, then he will have to dispose himself to said law enforcement. We are Team Valiant, a recognised developed super hero group, and we want to talk to Gerald Birtch. If it makes it any easier, he is not a suspect in the investigation we are conducting. We just want to talk to him," she assured the secretary. The secretary hesitated a few moments before acquiescing and giving them the directions to where he was working.

As they were walking down the hall Copy Cat lean close and whispered, "How'd you know to say all that?" she asked, clearly amazed.

Dragonfly smiled as she whispered back, "Several years on the force, even as a SWAT and you pick up a few things that can come in handy."

Her response seemed to answer her question, for now at least. As they walked past offices and lab rooms as well as a few chemical storage rooms, Dragonfly brought up everything in her mind that she could remember about the Fireman. According from what she saw of his rap sheet when she was still on the force, "And still a guy," she thought. The Fireman started life off as a serial arsonists, starting fires at various places and causing large property damage, fortunately for him, there were no deaths injuries from his acts of property damage. It was when he was setting fire to a chemical factory, the very one they were in ironically, that he got his powers. He had set a firebomb to one of the small storage tanks but accidentally set it off early before he could get safely away breaking open the tank and bathing him in the chemicals stored within, and thanks to the firebomb he had set himself on fire as well. It was after his release from his lengthy stay in hospital that he discovered his developed abilities to conjure and control fire. Even though he could control fire with almost impunity, he wasn't immune to the ill-effects of that being in close proximity to fire. Thusly, his original costume had him look like a fire fighter. It was a dark red in color with yellow flames patterned on his pants and the bottom of his coat with the addition of satanic symbols within the flame patterns to add to his villain look. Aside from the aesthetic look of his costume, he had also had kevlar and trauma plates inserted in his costume to give him protection against firearms and other physical abuse he was sure to come across. The total affect made him look bigger and also spooky appearance further enhanced by his ability to summon and control fire.

Despite all this, and his natural tendency to arson and destruction of property, it seemed he went out of his way to avoid hurting civilians. It was during a fight with a hero that he had accidentally set fire to a building that had people inside it while fighting said hero. According to his testimony after his arrest, he stopped to use his powers to put out the fire while moving it away from the trapped people. IT was during this time that the hero knocked him out. Fortunately the fires on the building were almost out and the hero was able to get the people out unharmed. Gerald's lawyer pointed out the fact that he never used his powers on people except for defense and was able to get a slightly smaller sentence. The Fire man became a model inmate while in jail and got out on parole with good behavior. Ironically enough, he was hired be the same company that owned the chemical factory he had tried to firebomb that gave him his powers. He now makes a living by using his powers to dispose of waste chemicals produce by the plant.

"There is something I've been wondering about," Copy Cat said curiously as the walked down the hallway.

"What's that?" Dragonfly asked.

"If the Fireman is no longer a super villain, then how would he know what would go on in the criminal underworld?" she asked, an accusatory note in her voice showed to suggest that she believed he was still involved somehow.

"He was one of the first super villains in the city," Halt answered, "There's been a few thugs and what not who view him like a grandfather. They'd come and tell him what they did or are going to do as if seeking approval, like measuring themselves up to a bar he set back in the day," he explained.

Copy Cat smirked as she gave a snort, "How can these guys be so stupid? Don't they know that he's an ex-villain who's in contact with the police regularly?"

Dragonfly smiled at this letting out her own chuckle, "They know, and the active super villain's don't tell him any of their plans obviously. But every now and again some mugger or vandal come to him and tells him what they did, then they get a selfie with him, and them he tells the police. Sometimes, if we're lucky, a henchman to a super villain will tell him what they're doing and then we get alerted and hit the bad guys before they get to set up their plans."

Copy Cat accepted the explanation but still muttered something under her breath about not believing someone being that stupid.

It was a minute after the discussion that the trio finally arrived at their destination and entered a room where the Fireman and another technician were working. the technician was sitting at a computer while the Fireman was standing in front of a window that looked into a sealed room where a vat of green viscos fluid sat in the middle.

Gerald, the Fireman, was holding his hands out towards the sealed room, "Please wait a moment. If I don't do this right, I could accidentally blow it up if I don't get the ignition temperature right," he told the three without turning to them. He was wearing his costume but it look starkly different. The most notable change was that the satanic symbols on his costume were gone now and his fire fighter suit looked slimmer now, possibly having removed the Kevlar and trauma plated armor. He had a look of concentration as he still held his hands out, then suddenly splayed his hands and the vat lite up like a roman candle with green smoke bellowing out the top and earie flames licking from the rim. After a minute, it died down and extinguished, the vat now empty but the room now had a green mist hanging about. The fireman gestured to the technician at the computer who type something in which caused a hissing sound in the mist-filled room as oxygen was pumped into it. When the hissing sound stopped the Fireman snapped his fingers and the entire room flashed as it was completely engulfed in flames. A few seconds later when the flames exhausted it's fuel of oxygen leaving the room now looking clear.

The Fireman put his hands on his hips as he gave a short grunt, satisfied on a job well done and then turned to the heroes, "Sorry for making you wait. I had a feeling that I'd be seeing you since that video of Dragon's death they showed the other day. My condolences by the way, he was a great hero," he said as he pulled his fireman's hat and mask off revealing his scared face and shaved bald head. The were patches of different colored skin. One ear looked like it was melted while the other was completely missing. Thanks his unfortunate accident that gave him his powers, he was truly a frightening sight, which may have contributed to his choice of costume.

"Holy shit, what happened to you?" Copy Cat blurted out before clapping her hands over her mouth, too late to hold her words in check.

Gerald only gave a faint chuckle and waved her off to assure he didn't take any offence, "Let's just say that the old saying: if you play with fire, you will get burned, fell on deaf ears for me on the night in question," he said with what looked like a smile but was hard to tell with one side of his lip curled already before becoming more serious, "Now, about what you're all here for. I've been wracking my brain trying to think of what I heard. Nothing recent came to mind but after that broadcast, I suddenly remember something a mugger mentioned while he was telling me about his score in the park," he started. "He told me that a man in a business suit was asking around about the local super villains."

Dragonfly shifted in her stance, "Why didn't you tell your parole officer about this?"

Gerald looked at her seeming to appraise her position on the team, not quite sure about her since she seemed to be new to team Valiant but continued regardless.

"Because all I had was circumstantial evidence about a guy asking around about super villains. I was waiting to see if any more news would come, expecting some new villain checking the waters to muscle his way in but I haven't heard anything further. I can give you the name of the mugger who talked to this person. He shouldn't be too hard as I told my parole officer about him and he's in jail now."

The team grimaced in their own way, the tip Gerald gave them wasn't much, but it was a step in the right direction and were thankful for it. As Dragonfly was getting the name of the mugger, Copy Cat received an alert. Putting her hand to her headband, the lenses of her goggles flashed as information scrolled over them. She stiffened.

"Guys, we gotta move," she told them urgently as she reached into her satchel and pulled out a teleportation cube.

"What's wrong?" Halt asked before Dragonfly could.

"There's a group of super villains attacking on main street," she told them, "Drake and Princess are there as well."

No further words were needed. They will stop the bad guys and get much needed answers from Drake. As they stepped into range around the cube Dragonfly briefly wondered what she would do to Drake once she forced him to surrender.

And then the cube transported them.

They materialised on the roof of a relatively short building adjacent to the city's main street that ran through the heart of office and business buildings. Even though they hadn't taken a look there was no mistaking the sounds of chaos down below at the street level with shouting and what could be assumed some one throwing around vehicles onto other ones judging from the sudden groaning and smashing of metal.

While Copy Cat was fishing out goggles and earphones for Halt, Dragonfly decided to try her new powers to get a discreet look down below. She formed two dragonfly sprites and sent them down to street level. Closing her eyes, she focused on the visual input from her sprites. The sight of the streets match the sounds they heard when they arrived. Practically every vehicle on the street were smashed, overturned, on fire, or just smoking from having finished burning. Dragonfly was shocked to see bodies in several of them as well as littering the road and sidewalks. It was then she saw that not all civilians were killed. There was a whole crowd, or more accurately a mob, of people that were running around smashing what ever they could find that was still undamaged and beating one another to bloody pulps. As much as Dragonfly wanted to jump in to stop them, she forced herself to remain still as she had her sprites look for the instigators of this death and chaos. It didn't take her long to find them.

She found four villains just past the unruly mob of people not seeming concerned about anything at all and appeared to be waiting for something.

"Or some one," she thought to herself grimly.

Drake, refusing to call him Dragon, stood amidst three dozen animated Tara kata warrior statues, no doubt conjured by Drake. With that many conjured, it was likely that only two or three of them were solid. The Tara kata warriors stood at attention surrounding Drake who himself made no move in participating in the destruction of the street. He only looked around as if he were waiting for something. Princess was nearby sitting in an office chair pilfered from a business nearby. She was surrounded by a crowd of people she placed under her control as well as what looked to be robotic forest animals like small birds, doe's and rabbits. Princess herself looked bored out of her mind and seemed to have a group of people acting out some sort of play for her.

When she turned her attention to the third that she spotted some one that made her stiffen as she felt a chill run up her spine. There, conducting a dissection on some one was the infamous villain know as "Idle Hands". He was a man who met and exceeded every definition of the term "mad scientist". He was more than willing to get his hands dirty to the point that a few years ago, shortly after his appearance, he removed his own hands and replaced them with robotic clawed facsimiles. It was public rumour that he did so without any form of anesthetic. He was a man who'd build terrible weapons for other villains and erratic nations just for fun, so he says himself. If he was here, then whatever that was going on here was far more dangerous than just Drake and Princess teaming up with a third unknown member. The last one she noticed was a brute of a man, standing at eight feet tall, it looked like he was covered in flat pieces of stones, the sharp edges of which pointed out from his skin. His name is Shale. He is incredably strong and combined with the way his stone skin creates a natural defense/offense, engaging him in hand to hand combat was like willingly giving yourself road rash while hitting a brick wall. A relatively local muscle for hire, he was the only one who was still tearing up the street by throwing vehicles around into the nearby buildings and where ever else he seemed to fancy.

Dragonfly relayed the information she spied to Copy Cat and Halt. Both were grim as she told them of who was down there. Both stiffened themselves when she told them about Idle Hands but kept their composure. Both voiced their concern for so many civilians still in harms way. Dragonfly had to agree with that concern. Like her companions, she'd have rather found a way to separate the civilians from their enemy but with princess involved it was impossible. The longer Princess was on the loose, the more people she'll put at risk. As much as she'd hate to admit it, they had to go now before just one part of this threat would take over the city.

"We have to go now," Dragonfly told them, "Before this gets worse." As she moved to the edge of the building Copy Cat stopped her, turning back she could her see pulling something out of her satchel. It was a pair of goggles and head phones.

"I'm not sure if you're still immune to Princess' powers without your old helmet, but just in case, you should take these," she said as she handed them to her.

Dragonfly put a hand to the gemstones on her tiara. Some of her gauntleted hand brushing some of her nose and face. She felt a brief smile on her face and felt immediately guilty for it in consideration for what was happening down below. She took the small items gratefully, "Thanks," she told her friend as she pulled them on. "Any word from Evangel?" she asked off handed, he was actually overdue to return from where ever he was at.

Copy Cat shook her head, "I tried calling home base while you were looking around..." she gave a listless shrug, "He didn't answer." She then reached into her satchel, "On the bright side," she said as she pulled out an over-sized hammer that glowed with a blue energy, "I've been itching for a bad brick to test out my grav hammer on."

Dragonfly gave a small smile as she turned to her team mates, "Ok, here's the plan: Copy Cat will test out her new toy on the brick down there. Take him out or keep him down long enough so we can get the civilians out of the danger zone. I will fly in and carry Princess out of the area and immobilize her, maybe leave her on top of a high building somewhere. Halt, I hate to do this to you, but I want you to defend and escort the civilians out. Get them out the quickest way or keep the bad guys attention on you while the civilians get out. It's not going to be pretty but I'll be as quick as I can in dealing with Princess and come back to help you take Drake and Idle Hands down."

Copy Cat nodded with an eager grin as she shifted her grip on her hammer. Halt still looked grim, "What should we do if it doesn't go as plan?" he asked.

Dragonfly let out a concerned breath, "If we can't contain the brick and get Princess out as well then we will have to do all we can to keep the bad guys on us and away from the civilians that are still under Princess' control." She grimaced as she added, "If a civilian attacks you, try and be gentle and knock them out where they won't get hurt," she said, not sounding convinced herself that it would be as easy as she put it but it was the best she could come up with at the moment. Gritting her teeth she turned back to the edge, "Copy Cat and I will go first to keep their attention on us. Every one ready?" she asked. The other two nodded and with everything that's been said Dragonfly flew off into the air while Copy Cat made a running leap off the side, her glowing hammer at the ready.

As Copy Cat lept off the building her landing point was as she measured to be right on top of Shale, who was picking up the back half of a car to throw it down the street. Halfway to her landing spot, she pulled the glowing hammer back behind her and swung it forward as she was right on top of Shale who was getting ready to throw. When her hammer touched the scrap that Shale was holding the glow from the hammer erupted into a field of energy that enveloped Shale in a bubble. Once fully encapsulated, Shale was forced to the ground with the scrap of metal falling on top of him pinning him there as the gravity inside the bubble was magnified by eight times the norm. Copy Cat knelt on the shaft of the hammer making sure to keep watch on her trapped foe as well as to draw the others attention to her.

Dragonfly flew in from another direction heading straight for Princess. Just as she was getting ready to scoop Princess up, the robot animals jumped up between them hitting Dragonfly sending her off course. She was able to stabilize her flight to avoid the group of people that were amusing Princess and landed behind them. The people that were entertaining Princess immediately stopped and were beginning to gather around the grounded hero while she growled as she got to her feet.

"No plan survives first contact with the enemy," she grumbled and readied her knives, making sure to hold onto the bladed ends as she prepared to fight the brainwashed civilians, grimacing having to do so.

Princess adjusted herself in her chair as she eyed Dragonfly with contempt, "You look like a bug," she said coolly.

"And you look like a spoiled bitch," Dragonfly called back to which Princess narrowed her eyes and sneered.

"I hate bugs," she declared, "My subjects, kill this bug and receive a reward, your Princess demands it," she commanded with a gesture. Instantly, what ever reserve the crowd of people had was gone as they stormed forward with rabid abandon followed by Drake and his minions. Shale Face was still trapped under Copy Cat's grav hammer but was slowly getting to his knees.

Dragonfly stepped back avoiding a middle-aged man who swung at her with a bat. As the bat hit the ground missing Dragonfly, she hit the handle just above the man's hands knocking it from his grip. She then followed up by placing a hand to the man's chest and used her strength to push the man away sending flying over to the group of people, knocking some back on their rears. The small group quickly scrambled back to thier feet while blocking others that were running nearby. Seizing the moment, she barreled through the crowd knocking people over and out of the way hoping that she could get to Princess. Without her, this brainwashed army would be freed and they could focus on the real villains.

She was a few dozen feet as she continued to push her way through when she looked passed the mob and saw Idle Hands stepping up in front of the robot animals that were still guarding Princess. He still had a maniacal grin as he brought his clawed hands up, his "fingers" twitched with eager anticipation.

"If you're so eager to face us then I'll just have to carve my way through aallll these poor empty headed people," he taunted as he placed one hand around a woman's neck that stood in front of him, a few droplets of blood fell down from under his claws as he turned back to Dragonfly, "What say you hero?" he asked in a playful tone, "If you want so desperately want to face us then I'll have to cut a few of these..." he paused thinking of the right word, "...Road blocks down. After all, nobody cares about the minions so we may as well move to the fight everyone wants to see. And I confess, I'm eager to see what you can do too." His grip tightened slightly on the woman's neck.

Dragonfly frozed. There was no way she could move fast enough to save Idle Hands' hostage. With reluctance, and hope that her retreat would dissuade Idle Hands from killing the woman, she flew off backwards over to Drake. When she looked over her shoulder she let out a sigh of relief when Idle Hands tossed the woman aside who got back up a moment later.

Dragonfly landed in front of Drake separated by several dozen of his Tara kata warriors. Dragonfly felt much more confident in fighting Drake, more so since he only had illusions and constructs to protect him.

"Your armor looks familiar," Drake said to her as he stood making no effort to move. "Were you my adversaries' protégé?"

Dragonfly's upper lip quivered as she tightened her grip on her throwing knives, "You could say that," her voice trembled slightly in anger, "I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Dragon." She glared at her killer, "And I certainly wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for you 'Drake'," she said emphasising the man's name knowing that it would get a reaction out of him.

It worked.

Drake's previous calm poise demeanor of self assurance fell to one of pure hatred.

"That name that you THIEF of a mentor bestowed on me no longer holds its chains on me. The title of Dragon is once again mine as it has been my ancestors before me!" Without anything further to say, he conjured a Chinese style sword in his hand and stood ready. But he made no move towards Dragonfly and gestured with his other hand, three of his Tara kata clay warriors advanced on her.

Dragonfly stepped back and readied to throw one of her knives while holding the other in defence just in case. She was far enough back that she could hit two of the clay warriors. It was a gamble as just one could only be solid or none of them and she would have wasted tossing her knife and not have it for defence if Drake chose to rush her. Deciding to throw her knife, she aimed for the one directly in front of Drake and the one off to the left. The one to the left dispelled into nothingness as soon as her split knife touched it, the other struck the other solidly dead center in the chest. The clay warrior shuddered and fell away in a whisp of smoke as it dispelled. Dragonfly's eyes widen in horror. The Tara kata warrior wasn't an illusion without substance or a solid construct. It hid inside itself a woman who was now bleeding from the knife she just threw into her chest.

"No!" she cried out and with a burst of speed, aided by her wings, practically flew over to the woman that had now fallen to the ground in a heap. She knelt down on her knees forgetting about her surroundings and did what she could to stem the bleeding.

Copy Cat was still perched on her grav hammer focusing on covering Halt with her stun rifle against the mob of people that tried getting around behind him as well as keeping Idle Hands busy by shooting at him as well. She was so engrossed in this that she jumped when she heard a crash below her, she glanced down to see that Shale finally got the large scrap of car off of himself and was slowly getting to his feet and reaching up to her.

"Oh, no you don't," Copy Cat chided as she reached down to the hammer, her fingers danced over the interface to change the parameters inside the bubble. Shale suddenly lurched up before falling back to his knees then raising slightly before falling back to the ground as the gravity inside the switched between 5x to15x normal gravity in random succession.

However, Shale would not let this stop him and he slowly got up, adapting to the rapid changes that was holding him down, using the 'lighter' shifts of gravity to get to his feet and reached up with a large hand and wrapped it around the head of the grav hammer. Copy Cat barely had time to swear as she jumped from her perch as Shale crushed the device causing the field to explode, throwing Copy Cat to the other side of the street closer to Idle Hands. Shale roared at having been contained in such a way and since Copy Cat was no longer nearby, he decided to take his anger out on Dragonfly for now and marched his way over.

"I'll teach you heroes to insult me like that," he growled gruffly as he stomped over to his still distracted target.

Dragonfly barely acknowledged the explosion and Drake was just inside her attention as she continued to do what she could for the woman she injured. Since Drake himself and his forces seemed content on watching her trying to save the woman. They didn't need to do anything anyway as Shale was almost apon the two.

When the hulking humanoid of sharp rocks stood over them he wound back to throw a punch, hurried footsteps could be heard running up behind them, Shale's massive fist was three feet from contact of obliterating the undefended hero and the injured woman to be stopped by the flat edge of Evangel's blade. The pressure wave from the punch hitting the sword washed around the swordsman and was felt by Dragonfly who looked up for the first time noticing the danger she was still in. Evangel, for his part made it seem effortless as he held one of his blade over his shoulder, continuing to fight Shale as he tried pushing against blade before reeling back his other fist. Having glanced this over his shoulder Evangel pulled the handle of his sword forward, Shale's fist slide up and he was thrown off balance as the whole flat of the blade smacked the underside of Shale's arm. Evangel twisted around and used the flat side of his other sword hitting his off-kilter opponent on the side of his head and sending him sprawling to the street, face first. Ironically, Shale would have had some bad road rash had it not been for his rocky skin.

With Shale momentarily stunned, Evangel turned to Dragonfly, as usual his face devoid of emotion, "I'll take care of this one. The police have cordoned off the area in a five block radius, take the woman and get her to one of the checkpoints, an ambulance should be waiting. Now go!" he told her as he turned back to Shale who was once again getting back to his feet.

Dragonfly looked to the woman in her arms for a moment before getting up and hefting her in her arms so she could carry her, "No one dies today," she said with determination as she flew off into the air away from the mob and fight that was still continuing. It didn't take her long to see the checkpoint, the street was full of police cars fire trucks and most importantly, several ambulances. She landed as gently as she could by an ambulance where the paramedics ran the short few steps over to her with a stretcher that Dragonfly once again placed the woman as gently as she could onto. The paramedics gave he a once over before rushing her into the back of the ambulance and took off once the doors were closed. Dragonfly gave a silent prayer before turning to a policeman and updated him on the situation making it clear that Drake was using his powers to disguise some of the hostages as his constructs and illusions as well as Princess being there turning the people into her willing army. The officer nodded saying that they won't put any strike teams in.

Dragonfly nodded, and without further time wasted, flew off back to her team. When she returned, she could see Evangel fighting both Shale and Drake. Halt was still doing his best knocking out the mob of people that surrounded him, and Copy Cat was now using a futuristic-looking battle ax with a short handle as she fought against Idle Hands and several of Princess' guarding animal robots.

Dragonfly could see one of the robots had circled around Copy Cat to attack her from behind while she was still focused on the other robots and the crazed super villain and dived down pouring on the speed readying her knives. On closing to thirty feet she let her knives fly, letting them split into six spinning blades. With the precision she had long mastered, all but one of the blades struck the robotic deer, one buried deep into its neck while the other four struck the joints where the limbs met the body. One limb was nearly severed as it fell to the ground in a shower of sparks, Dragonfly landed soon after just behind Copy Cat as she pulled out her reformed throwing knives from her waist ready to back her team mate up.

Idle Hands jumped back on seeing her arrive and, with his ever-present predatory smile, wandered over to Princess standing behind her still sitting in her chair, he caressed the top of the chair with his clawed hands and bent down to one side near Princess' ear while Copy Cat and Dragonfly were still busy with the robots.

"My dear Princess, I think it would be time to show them your new royal knight, yes?" he prodded.

Princess tilted her head while touching a finger to her chin in thought for a second before showing an evil smile towards the heroes, "Yes, it is time to have my knight teach these peasants a lesson for defying me," she turned face Idle Hands, "You make a great royal advisor, I should add you to my court."

Idle Hands grinned wider, "You flatter me, my dear Princess, I am not worthy to council some one of your grace," he said.

To anyone else they could hear the sarcasm overshadow the words but in Princess' pompous mind, Idle Hands sounded genuinely humbling and pleadfull to her ears. Princess smiled pleasantly as she decided to be gracious to the man, "Very well, but my offer stands." She then put her hand to an earpiece in her ear and spoke into it, "Come to me my knight. Your Princess commands it."

Immediately following Princess' order a woman dropped out from the sky and landed in front of Princess in a gust of wind bent down to one knee awaiting Princess' further command.

"Rise," she told the woman.

The woman shifted to her feet in a smooth motion revealing her ebony dark-skin origin. She was wearing a dark gold colored body suit that covered her from the neck down and had a violet jagged streak that ran from just under her right arm down across her chest to the left of her hip. Her costume was a modified, highly stylized, glide suit used by cliff jumpers where the 'wings' looked more like a cape than wings on the suit. Her hair was short and bleached a gold color and was done up in cornrows. An old vertical scar over her right eye which itself was slightly discolored from the other. Both Copy Cat and Dragonfly recognised instantly. Her name is Windscar.

And she is a hero.

Windscar was one of the solo heroes in the city. And a very powerful one at that. Her powers allowed her to control air with such finesse that she could hit you with a punch of hurricane wind or use her precision control to use the air like a cutting tool. The two felt a chill seeing the hero clearly under Princess' control and looked at each other in worry.

"My knight," Princess started as she pointed to Dragonfly with a look of distaste, "Kill that insect, your Princess commands it," she ordered.

"Yes Princess," Windscar said without hesitation as she turned to Dragonfly.

Dragonfly backed up away from Copy Cat, "I'll take to the air and get Windscar out of range of Princess. You keep trying to get her contained. When I get back, if she's still here, I'll help Halt with the people."

"Just hurry," Copy Cat replied as she rolled one man over her shoulders that rushed her. Idle Hands, for his part had began skipping over to where the fight between Evangel Shale and Drake intent in joining their fight.

Dragonfly didn't respond as she pushed several people back into a rush of others knocking them over to get enough space to flap her wings and get airborne. Fortunately, the few seconds reprieve were more than enough and she was high above everyone only pausing to look back at Windscar to gauge what she would do.

Windscar gave her a look of contempt and anger as loose dirt and debris swirled around her by a sudden wind. As the wind got stronger she opened her arms allowing the wind to catch under her glide wings lifting her up into the air. With a gust that bowled over several others nearby she was up in the air and chasing after Dragonfly.

Dragonfly flew as fast as she could while still keeping Windscar close enough to keep her attention on her. She lead her on until they were three miles out from the battle when she looked back at Windscar and was surprised to see that she was still following her with the same determined murderous look.

"How the hell?.." Dragonfly muttered to herself. They were well outside of the influence that Princess would have had on her. She didn't have much more time to think on this as Windscar gestured at her and she was suddenly hit by a sledgehammer of air causing her to tumble through the air for a few seconds. Getting her barrings again she straightened out and flew farther away hoping to break Princess' connection with Windscar.

"Windscar, you got to fight her! Don't let Princess control you and make you do something you'd regret!" she called out before getting hit by another sledgehammer of air.

"I will kill as many insects as my Princess commands as she sees fit," she called back gesturing at Dragonfly again hitting her with air again.

Dragonfly grimaced. "Why is she still under her control?" she wondered as she flew up and around in an attempt to avoid her attacks. But how can you avoid something you can't see? It was then that she felt her lungs start to burn. It was as if she couldn't get enough air into her. She looked back behind her to Windscar who was still behind her, her hand was outstretched towards Dragonfly, and she knew exactly why she was having trouble breathing. Windscar was literally pulling the air from her lungs. Dragonfly had to come up with something fast as she was already starting to feel light-headed. It wouldn't be much longer until she fell unconscious, and hitting the ground from this height the wrong way would undoubtedly kill her.

Her mind racing and falling into panic being unable to breath. By sheer survival instinct, maybe, she spawned a sprite and sent it directly into Windscar's face. The distraction more then served its purpose as Windscar smacked herself in the face to get the sprite away which in turn released her hold on Dragonfly allowing her to suck in much lungful of the much needed air.

It was during this brief respite that she saw through the eyes of her sprite and noticed something strange. She could see a small white mist-like aura that was enveloping Windscar, which Dragonfly assumed was her using her powers to keep herself flying, but there was another haze pink in color that surrounded her as well and trailed off back into the city in a thin line. Out of curiosity, she sent her sprite to follow the trail and avoided another sledgehammer of air that Windscar sent at her. With her altered vision, she was able to see when Windscar used her powers.

She flew off again with Windscar in tow as it were, determined to kill her, and attacking her with more sledgehammers of air and what she swore were attacks to cut her limbs off but thankfully her armor protected her against that kind of attack. Dragonfly grimaced. While Windscar had no problems attacking her, she was more than reluctant to return the favor. It was slowly turning into the first time Princess took over the city. As she flew she looked back at Windscar to see that she was getting ready to pull the air from her lungs again. She gritted her teeth as she saw Windscar's aura slowly leech up at her. There had to be something that she could do. As she turned she noticed that the aura didn't turn with her as fast and seemed to disperse a little before chasing after her.

"That's it!" she thought. If she made her movements random enough then Windscar wouldn't be able to use her powers on her effectively if at all. She spawned another dragonfly sprite to watch the both of them from a far enough distance so she wouldn't have to keep looking back. With three sets of eyes now, all in different locations, she was starting to feel dizzy but pushed through it. Through the eyes of her second sprite she could see the way she was flying and the realisation hit her instantly. She was flying like a bird or a plane, which in itself was fine for everyday flying, but in combat like this... It was time for her to fly like her namesake suggests.

"Besides," she said with a grin at last, "If both Princess and Windscar were calling me an insect, then I may as well fly like one," she stated as she caught Windscar off-guard by suddenly flying sideways and stopping long enough to let Windscar soar by with a sharp expletive. Dragonfly smiled at that and flew after her.

Windscar slowed down and turned around to face Dragonfly ready to fight again. Dragonfly carried on past and spun while using her taloned hands to slash through Windscars' right wing, tearing large holes in it causing Windscar to lose stable control of her flight. Windscar had to use more of her power just to keep stable and compensate for her shredded wing.

"You insect, how dare you!" Windscar spat as she swept her arm at Dragonfly hitting her with a wall of wind.

Dragonfly tumbled through the air but quickly caught herself. She dodged to the side as another wall of air was thrown at her while she looked through the eyes of her first sprite. It had made its way back to the fight that was still going on where the trail her sprite followed split, one path leading to Princess, the other larger path had spread out all over reaching all those affected by Princess' power before continuing on to a secluded building several blocks away from where the fighting was taking place. Outside the police cordon. She had to find out who was pulling the strings and had her sprite follow the path onwards. Distracted she was hit by another wall of air by Windscar sending her tumbling through the air.

Shaking her head to clear the wooziness from her head, she turned to her opponent, "Okay," she said to herself, "Let's get back to it."

And Dragonfly flew right at Windscar.

Meanwhile the rest of Team Valiant were still fighting.

Halt had knocked back another group of people and stepped back himself to catch his breath. Thanks to Copy Cats weaponry he was able to hold the crowd back, but they kept coming. It surprised him that the stun rifle he used had actually ran out of power. All he had now was a pair of stun wands that Copy Cat managed to toss to him in her own short respite in fighting Princess' robot animals and other people under her control.

"Something's wrong," Halt thought. This "mob" of people was just too organised. It just wasn't Princess' style. She preferred to just give her victims a basic command and leave them to their own devices to carry out her command. But right now, these people were attacking in coordinated waves wearing him out but for some reason not overwhelming him. If they had attacked as a mob then this fight would've been over long ago, with him either dead or under Princess' control.

"Who's controlling all of you?" he asked. The next wave came in while another group pulled back the ones he knocked out. He readied his stun batons for another fight. "Who's pulling the strings?" he asked as he rushed forward again. There had to be some way to free these people, there was always a way.

Copy Cat was running around between her own mob of people, her short handled battle ax had turned into a small shield and she was using it to stun people with electrical shocks. Some were knocked unconscious getting in the way of others behind them. She gave a quick glance to Princess and almost spared herself a smile as, for the moment, her robot guards were out of the way and gave her a clear shot. Copy Cat spun around another person that rush her and in one smooth motion she pulled out a stun gun from her satchel and aimed it at Princess. Just before she pulled the trigger, the gun vanish from her hand.

"What the?" she asked perplexed but couldn't put anymore thought into it as she ducked as a woman swung something at her head. "There's a teleporter here somewhere," she called into her earpiece to her team mates. There were some swears of acknowledgement from Dragonfly and Halt.

The teleporter in question was a man by the name of Danny Whirste. He was standing well away from the fight but still close enough to blend in with the crowd. He was a small time thug whose been convicted several times and suspected of several more incidents of turning otherwise peaceful protests into violent riots costing hundreds of thousands of dollars in property damage as well as numerous severe injuries and related deaths. He looked at the gun in his hand hefting its weight.

"Sorry luv, we can't have that now," he said to himself as he raised the weapon aiming it at Copy Cat, "Cheers luv," he said in farewell as he pulled the trigger. The gun sparked, giving him a shock before falling apart in pieces. Danny shook his hand out, "Bugger that! No fair luv," he swore as he looked at the apparent teen, completely oblivious of his own underhandedness just moments ago. Shrugging it off he turned to see how Shale and Drake or Dragon or whatever he wanted to be called now. The 'hero' Evangel was fighting the two off quite successfully even with Idle Hands joining in. "Maybe I should make things a little more fun, right?" he said with a smile as he pulled out a mechanical gauntlet. "Let's see if the mad doctor's contraption works as advertised." He slipped the device on and concentrated. Danny's power wasn't strong enough to allow him to teleport small objects to himself as long as he was in a certain distance and he could see what he was taking. The glove that Idle Hands built for him was suppose to enhance his ability. So with that in mind, he reached out with his gloved hand and concentrated on taking one of Evangel's swords.

As Evangel fought the trio of villains he seemed to know which of Drake's Tara kata constructs were just that or had brainwashed civilians inside. He destroyed the pure constructs and knocked the disguised ones out and away from the fight. He ran at the three ducking under Drakes sword swipe and used his sword to block Idle Hands' claws as he ran pass straight at Shale who was using a parking meter as a bat to try and hit him. Evangel shifted his stance as he aimed to block Shale's attack with one sword and to cut the same arm off with the other. Seeing this, Danny focused on the sword that was going to cut Shale's arm.

"The bugger better appreciate this," Danny said to himself as he used his power.

As he intended, Evangel smacked Shale's fist to the side with his right and was already bringing it into position to parry Drake's own sword while he swung down with his left sword. Just before the sword made contact with Shale's arm it vanished from his grip.

Danny fell to his knees in exhaustion, his head pounding, "Blimey," was all he could say as he panted recovering from the unexpected drain.

Evangel seemed to freeze for half a second before moving in a flurry of motion again. Spinning around hitting Shale in the side with his remaining sword somehow able to force Shale off of his feet and send him flying through the air towards the brick wall of a building. Drake was unfortunately too close and got caught by Shale's flying body. It may have been sheer luck or by Evangel's design that the two villains hit the wall in such an angle where Shale's head hit the wall saving him from crushing Drake who was stuck under him, Drake himself was only had the wind knocked out of him when he hit the wall but was trapped under Shale's stunned body when he collapsed on top of him.

With the two disabled for the moment Evangel turned bringing his sword up to defend against Idle Hands' raking claws. As the claws scraped down the length of the sword Evangel gave him a left hook across the jaw dropping the mad man to the ground. With the immediate threats out of the way Evangel turned staring directly at Danny and began a swift march towards him. More Tara kata warriors approached him, he fended them off easily knocking those that contained people to the ground and running his sword through the empty constructs bisecting them at the waist before they vanished.

By this time Danny had recovered enough to look up and was startled to see Evangel walking straight for him. "Oh bugger," he grumbled. The damn sword gave away his position. "That'll show me to help some one else," he muttered as he glanced around for something to defend himself with. The sword itself felt too heavy and unwieldy for him to use and he wasn't an idiot to think he could use a sword effectively against some one who fights with swords 24/7. He saw a police officer near Princess and smiled at seeing the gun he had in its holster. Smiling at this he reached out with his hand and the pistol materialised in it. "Sorry luv, but you got more than enough nutters to keep you safe," he said as he brought the gun around and aimed it Evangel firing off several rounds. Evangel deflected them all effortlessly with his sword, sending the third bullet right back into the muzzle of the pistol causing it to jerk back painfully in Danny's hand. Danny swore dropping the gun and shoving his pained hand under his armpit, still for some reason holding onto Evangel's sword that he teleported. "Bugger, that hurts you twat!" he shouted. When he looked up Evangel stood before him a look of moderate anger on his previously emotionless face. Danny fell back a step in surprise and started to bring the sword in his hand up in defense but frozed when Evangel put his free hand around his throat.

"Let me show you what will happen if you continue with this decision," Evangel told him coldly. His eyes started to glow until a bright light shot out into Danny's own eyes.

Danny couldn't move. When the light hit his eyes images flash through his mind, too many and too fast, and yet he could comprehend every single one in all their horror. He could see a monster destroying the city killing everyone then move on to the closest town or city to do the same. He saw heroes try and fight it but fell to its fury. He saw governments trying to destroy the monster, nuking it multiple times but it still lived, still killed, still moved on. Everywhere it went there was death. Heroes and villains banding together to fight it, dead. The entire armies of the whole world, dead. Every person who lived on the planet, dead. The entire Earth and everyone who ever lived on it, dead. They were all dead and it was all his fault. His hand that held Evangel's sword, white knuckled from gripping so tightly, relaxed. Evangel released him from his power and grip and picked up his dropped sword and turn back to resume his fight with Shale and Drake. Danny fell to the ground, no longer seeing the disturbing images, he took his first breath since Evangel grabbed him and screamed. He kept screaming, pausing only to breath before screaming some more. Until finally he curled up into a ball whimpering.

While Evangel made his way back, Halt was fighting yet another wave of hypnotised civilians. He was ragged at this point and beginning to be unsteady on his feet. His movements were slowing down considerably and when he swung one of the stun batons at a man aiming to hit him in the side of the chest but he saw him coming and pulled back causing Halt to miss by inches. The baton carried on it unobstructed course where it hit a teen aged girl in the side of her head. As her head went sideways something fell to the ground.

"No!" the teenager screamed as she grasped her ear searching for something, "I can't hear my Princess' voice any more. Where is it?" She dropped to the ground on her hands and knees searching for something until she found a Bluetooth ear piece and quickly shoved it back in. Her brief moment of content was short lived as she pulled it out and looked at it before going into hysterics, "It's not working! I can't hear her voice, the stupid thing is broken! I..." she paused as if waking up from a trance as she looked around at the chaos as if for the first time. "Wha-what's going on, what's happening?" A man, still under Princess' control grabbed her arm and began pulling her back into the crowd of people towards Princess no doubt to bring her back under her control directly.

As the girl struggled against the man, Halt dropped one of his stun batons and grabbed the girls free hand and started to pull her back while swinging his one baton at the others also trying to pull the girl back, "Let her go!" he called out. But in his exhausted state he was already losing ground and the girl was slipping from his grasp. He suddenly stiffened when he felt a jolt in his back and he was suddenly full of energy. Turning back he saw a woman had pick up the stun baton he'd dropped earlier and was trying to use it on him. He smiled at that. Part of his power that he'd intentionally left out of the public eye is that he keeps part of the energy he reflects back, just enough to recover to full strength. He didn't get any stronger but going from tired and worn out to fresh faced was quite an advantage to him. Shrugging off the bruises that still affected him he made a sweep with his stun baton knocking several to the ground and reasserted his grip on the girls hand and gave her a strong tug finally freeing her from the man. The girl's wrist was probably going to hurt for a while but she was free now. Halt pulled her a distance away from the crowd and pushed her away down towards the empty street, "Run! I'll hold them back for you to escape. Just keep running down the street and you'll reach a police blockade, they'll keep you safe," he told her as he clotheslined a well muscled man and using his baton to stun another that tried to get by him. The girl hesitated before turning off and running down the street. Glancing back and seeing the girl was gone Halt rushed ahead knocking several off their feet, he then knelt down and started yanking the earpieces out of the ears of anyone he could reach. He then turned to the comm in his own ear, "Every one listen up! Some how the bad guys are using a device to extend Princess' powers. It's some sort of Bluetooth in their ears. Pull then out and they'll be released from Princess' control." There were a few grunts of acknowledgement telling Halt all he needed. He moved on to the next group of people to do the same and free them too.

Dragonfly was flying a distance from Windscar trying to think of what to do when she heard Halt's message. The two had done a number on each other fighting back and forth. Dragonfly could swear she was seeing things in double thanks to how many times Windscar had hit her with solid air but gave her share as well her glide wings were practically in tatters and she was barely able to stay airborne. It was at this point that Dragonfly wasn't sure what to do. If she cut Windscar's wings, he would fall straight to the ground, powers or no. And she wasn't sure if Windscar, in her brainwashed state, would allow her to save her. But with Halt's message, there was another option. She pulled out one of her knives and threw it hoping that she aimed right. The knife spun through the air heading to the earpiece she finally noticed on Windscar who dodged to the side well before the knife would hit when it suddenly split forming a second knife that surprised her. Before she could react to the new blade it had already struck through the earpiece in its miniature camera.

"NOOO!" Windscar screamed as she reached after the broken parts as they fell to the ground far below. A second later she blinked in confusion aware of her surroundings for the first time. And no longer using her powers to keep herself aloft she began to fall. She tried to catch herself but the renewed gust had torn her already tattered glide wings to rags and she continued to fall.

"Shit," Dragonfly muttered as she flew after her to catch her. However, this wasn't needed as once Windscar got her bearings she pulled on a hidden cord at her shoulder which deployed a parachute. With a minor push of her powers she was able to maintain her altitude. She took a breath to slow her heartbeat before looking up at Dragonfly.

"Ok, what the hell happened to my gear, why am I up here, and who the hell are you?" she asked in rapid-fire questions, a hint of accusation in her voice as she looked at Dragonfly as she came in beside her.

"I fought you, Princess took control of you, and I'm Dragonfly a member of team Valiant," she answered each in order.

Windscar bit her lip before cursing herself, "Fuck! I should've known better." She then took another moment to look around herself. "How could I 've been still under her control if I'm all the way up here? I don't even know what direction she's in."

Dragonfly grimaced, "The bad guys had some kind of headset that's somehow expanding Princess' powers," she explained, "I don't know how it works but..." she was distracted by her sprite finally reaching the end of the trail. She had her sprite fly in through the open window to see a largely empty room that had what looked to be a large computer tower hooked up to some sort of helmet attached to some one who was sitting in a lazy boy. She instantly recognised the person sitting in the chair as he was on the list of person of interest for the government wanted list. His name is Remote and he had the power to assume control over anything that operates by remote control. He's on the wanted list for suspicion of taking control of several military drones and crashing them in the middle east as well as several suspicious auto accidents of high-profile people in the US. It was obvious that the machine he was hooked up to was enhancing his powers to allow him to control all the brainwashed people.

"I just found out how they're doing it. It's Remote, he's using some kind of machine to help him control the people," she told her.

Windscar just nodded at that, "Great, now we just have to get to him and make him release everyone, any ideas how?"

"Yeah," Dragonfly replied, "He's alone and it's the machine he's attached to that letting him control the people. So, destroy the machine and free the people. Remote's easy to deal with on his own," she explained.

"Sounds like a plan," Windscar stated, "Lead the way and lets stop him!"

"Actually," Dragonfly started, "I need to get back to my team. They're facing four villains down there, not counting everyone under Princess' control, they're a little outnumbered right now." She then turned her head not wanting to show the hatred on her face, "Besides, I have a bone to pick with Drake."

Windscar was perplexed, "Well, I can't go with you since Princess might brain wash me again, so how am I going to find Remote if you don't show me where he is?"

Dragonfly produced another sprite, "This will show you where he is," she said simply before banking away back to the fight.

Windscar looked after Dragonfly for a minute before following the little sprite, "I hope you don't take things too far," she said wistfully. She had heard of what happened to Dragon and if this new girl Dragonfly was taking his death personally... She shook her head only hoping that everything worked out for the best. There were still brainwashed civilians that needed to be taken care of and if what Dragonfly said was true then this would be the fastest way to do it. And with that she used her power to increase her speed.

Dragonfly was now in sight of the battle still going on and she could see Evangel fighting Shale and Drake. Halt was slowly freeing the civilians and she could see a slow trickle of people leaving the area. Copy Cat was doing the same using her small futuristic-looking shield that seemed to have a Taser function and hitting the controlled people on the side of the head with it which seemed to overload the earpieces they wore, she also was just pulling the devices straight out when she was able to. She was doing this all while fighting the robot animals that Princess was controlling.

When she looked back to Drake, her fists clenched involuntary in anger. She could also feel an uncomfortable warmth in her chest where the gemstone sat. Ignoring it for now she flew forward at increasing speeds right at Drake.

"Evangel! Move out of the way now!" she shouted. At the last second Evangel ducked out of the way and pushed into Shale knocking him back as Dragonfly plowed into Drake sending him flying several feet and hitting the ground hard actually flipping once. Dragonfly pulled herself back landing where she hit Drake and waited for him to get up, her knives at the ready.

Drake got up slowly until he was standing straight up. He paused a moment to wipe the road rash on his cheek as well as check the popped stiches in his arm before he looked up at Dragonfly with a look of derision on his face. "You have a lot of determination for some one I have never fought before young one," he said before forming a sword construct and shifting into a ready stance and stood waiting.

Dragonfly let out a growl before rushing forward, throwing one of her knives whole thrusting the other ahead of her. Drake deflected the tossed knife with his sword while in the same motion brought it up to parry her thrust to his gut. When they were close enough Drake used his sword to hold Dragonfly's knife in place lest he carve it up her abdomen while he had his free hand grabbed Dragonfly's empty hand as it reached for the reformed knife in its sheath bringing each other in point blank for spitting distance. "In what manner have I deserved this determination girl?"

"Do you really need to ask after what you did!" she accused as she tugged her hand free and used her wings to pull herself back a few feet avoiding the slash of his sword. She threw a knife again willing it to split into three. Drake deflected one with his sword he dodged another aimed at the top of his chest by ducking to the side and lifted his right foot to avoid it getting skewered by the third. All of this had set Drake off balance and Dragonfly took advantage and rushed forward again. Dragonfly grabbed the bottom of Drake's hand that was holding his sword and used her knife to drive it into his leg on the side above the knee. Drake gave out a satisfying scream of pain as he clutched his leg with his free hand. He then swung his sword down. Dragonfly was about to tuck and roll behind but stopped short as she realised that her wings would trip her up. She swore to herself as she brought her arms up to cover her unprotected head. She was going to have to trust her armor.

"Let's clip your wings first girl," he said angrily as he swung down aiming for two of her wings at the base of her back. When his sword came down the response from her wings was akin to a ball in a pinball machine hitting the bumpers. When his sword hit the two wings, they hit back smacking his sword to the side hitting the other two which batted back. The sudden unexpected reaction caused Drake to wrench something in his wrist forcing him to drop his sword. The construct vanished as soon as it hit the ground. Not wasting the chance she got up and grabbed both his wrists and twisted until she felt something snap under her grip. Drake screamed in pain again but he had enough focus to kick her away from him with a force that surprised her.

"You bitch!" he shouted as he stared at his arms, now unable to hold anything. A dozen or so Tara kata warriors vanished, some revealing people underneath them. "You'll pay for that dearly girl." The look in his eyes showed one of absolute hatred and murderous intent.

Dragonfly had seen this look twice before, once when they first fought when she was still Dragon and the last fight they had before he put a hole in her chest. "Oh, I'm going to do more than that after what you did to Dragon you coward!" she spat back as she pulled the knives from her sheathes to get ready for another round. She was sure that she wouldn't have to worry about him brandishing a weapon again after what she just did but he was still dangerous. She should have done more to make him suffer than just breaking his wrists. "There will be plenty of time for that yet," she thought to herself enjoying the dark thoughts that danced through her mind in revenge for her murder. The uncomfortable warmth produced by the gemstone in her chest grew into a noticeable burning pain as in answer to her dark thoughts.

As Drake pooled his power the remaining Tara kata warriors disappeared leaving emptiness in their place and a hand-full of people previously disguised. Two eight feet long Chinese dragons, each letting out a low roar at Dragonfly as they half-walked/half-flew (or floated?) towards her, their mouths open wide ready to bite. Drake had encased himself in traditional Chinese warrior armor the grieves and hands of the armor were modified to compensate for his broken wrists giving the visual effect of elongated forearms and larger hands. He then produced a spear and held it in an aggressive stance. "I look forward to doing the same to you as I had that thief. I want to see the life drain from your eyes as I run my spear through your heart," he spat, his upper lip quivered in barely controlled rage.

"Like I'm going to give you a second chance to do that," Dragonfly responded with equal resolve as she flew up into the air to draw Drake's dragons away. They followed after her.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Evangel and Shale were still fighting one another. Evangel was running around and dodging Shale's fists and thrown objects while he removed the earpieces from the controlled people and got them out of harms way and returned to harass and keep Shale's attention solely on him. Shale went to punch him but Evangel countered by slapping it aside with the flat of his blade.

Shale stood back getting frustrated. "Stop dancing around and stand still you pansy," he goaded, "I heard you were tough. I'm almost embarrassed to put you down. Not much for braggin' rights if your this soft," he prodded further. He then stormed forward ready to throw another punch.

Evangel gave a small smile, "If I fought at my best then you would have fallen when we first met," he began to run forward as well, "How about a taste then?" he said as he brought his sword above is head readying a downward strike.

As the blade came down, Shale grinned, "Got-ya!" he then shifted and grabbed the sword in mid-swing. He then started laughing, "So, this is the sword I've always heard about? It's more like a butter knife if you ask me. These'll never cut me," he stated as he laughed some more.

Evangel only gave an amused grunt in response before shifting his grip. His sword sank into Shale's hand by an inch. Shale stopped laughing and looked at his hand in surprise as he saw blood dripping down the edge of Evangel's sword from his hand, "This is the first time since you developed that you have seen you own blood is it not?" Evangel queried.

Shale took several steps back staring at his hand in shock not believing the deep cut through the palm unable to say anything at the blood seeping from his grey rocky skin. His eyes darted to a few nearby brain-washed hostages wondering if he could use one as a shield or toss a few to distract the hero so he could get away.

"Attempt to touch any innocents here and I will ensure you fail to do so," Evangel warned.

Before Shale could respond in any fashion the controlled people around them suddenly started screaming and shouting at suddenly being in the middle of a superhero battle and began running away from the heroes and villains. With his only means of escape running away Shale breathed a contemptuous sigh of defeat and raised his hands in defeat, his head drooping, "Fuck it, you win," he mumbled. Evangel nodded and gestured for him to sit down. He did so belligerently. With nothing to restrain him Evangel had to stand watch while his teammates continued their own fight.

Copy Cat was thankful that the people seemed to break free of their mind control and run off to safety. She was even more thankful that Princess didn't seemed to notice and was fixated squarely on her and was too busy controlling the robotic animals. Copy Cat guessed she was more then a little vindictive about sticking her in her satchel. She was currently facing off with a robot deer. And now, with the civilians out of the way she can finally go on the offensive. With her other hand she grabbed the bottom half of the handle of her shield pulling out a full length futuristic sword. She then pushed a button on her shield turning it back into its battle ax form. She finally slid the hilt of the sword into the top of the handle of her battle ax creating a new unique weapon. The deer robot charged her. She eyed the sharp pointed hooves as she stepped to the side and slashed it with her weapon across its side where it sparked angrily and fell to the ground jerking in spastic motions, it internal mechanisms damaged. With the last of the big robots out of the way she turned back to Princess who was still sitting in her chair. Copy Cat took a step forward but was thrown off her feet when an oversized robotic hare jumped out of no where and grabbed her sword in it mouth tearing it from her hand and knocking her off balance. When she steadied her stance Copy Cat could see Princess was clapping her hands gleefully and giggling like a little girl bouncing up and down in her chair.

"Oh, I am sick of your little princess shit you fucking bitch!" Copy Cat swore as she reached into her satchel for another weapon and pulled out an energy pistol and fired it at Princess. She in turn threw her hands up in defense and several of the robot animals jumped in front to protect her successfully guarding her from Copy Cat's fire.

When Princess brought her arms back down and realised she was unharmed she laughed again in snobbish superiority, "You do realise, as your Princess, that you should throw yourself down at my feet and beg for my forgiveness for all my subjects to see."

Copy Cat smiled at that, "You were so stuck up in yourself that you missed your 'subjects' running off on you. So much for your 'kingdom'," she prodded.

Princess looked around herself suddenly aware that aside from the robot "forest" animals, she was alone. She began breathing heavily until she let out a scream of anger then pointed straight at Copy Cat, "YOU," she shrieked, "You will bring everyone back and serve me at my feet now!," she screamed petulantly standing up from her chair and stomping her foot to empathise her point.

Copy Cat shook at her head as she brought her gun up again, "I don't think so 'Princess'," she responded with a smirk and fired again.

Princess had her robots block her shot again while sending several flying bird robots at her. Copy Cat shot at the robot birds as they dived bombed her reducing several to small scraps of metal. She wished that she still had her ax sword but the damn robot still had it and was sitting next to Princess behind her small army of woodland robots. As she shot at the birds several cut her arms with their small feet when she tried batting them away. Eventually she got the last one by winging it, watching it smash into the ground in angry sparks letting out a puff of smoke. With the birds out of the way she began shooting at Princess again but the robot animals kept getting in the way. Growing frustrated at the impasse Copy Cat tried to think, what she needed was a distraction, but what? When it came to her she reached into her satchel again to pull out what she had in mind while keeping Princess occupied.

Princess was getting more than angry at this point. That commoner bitch Copy Cat was shooting at her again. Her of all people, "Doesn't she know you're not supposed to shot at princess'?," she thought. When the shooting stopped she lowered her arms to see what she would do when she saw a flash of silver metal coming at her. She instinctively put her hands up to protect herself again, her robot pets jumping in to keep her safe. She heard a light metal on metal ding. This puzzled her and when her line of sight was clear she looked down at the ground to see what it was and saw... A stainless steel sink. "A sink? You threw a SINK at me?" Princess asked incredulously still staring at the fixture when se felt something bap her on the back of her head. Before she could turn around, her vision was awash in blue energy and immediately after she fell away from the world.

With Princess out of the way Copy Cat made short work with the rest of the robot animals with another weapon she pulled out of her satchel. Now that the area was clear she put the weapon back in her satchel and walked up to the device she had built earlier and picked it up. The device was a small ball with the bottom half the same color as her trade mark glossy blue and te top half white making the ball look slightly like a poke ball. She pushed a button on the side and the white side of the ball turned clear revealing a black and white colored Princess standing in a stone bedroom that would be able to fit in any castle you would see in a Disney movie.

"Yeah I did," Copy Cat answered with a satisfied smirk as she put the ball in her satchel and walked away, "And Dragonfly thought I put that in there as a joke," she said to herself with a grin. She walked over to Evangel and pulled out some specialised restraints for Shale. Once she was finished Halt came walking up and handed the stun baton back to Copy Cat.

"I got all the civilians are out of the area," he reported, "So how's everything here?"

"Great!" Copy Cat chirped, "I caught a Princess, no chance of her evolving ever," she joked and nodded to Evangel, "And Evangel has Shale here sitting pretty like a kindergartener art project," she quipped. Shale glared at her but didn't say anything.

"And I see that some one knocked out Idle Hands," Halt stated in satisfaction. Copy Cat nodded at that while pulling out another set of restraints and fit them over his wrists. Halt then looked around, "Where's Dragonfly?" seeing their lack of response he began to worry, "Is she still fighting Drake?"

Copy Cat looked up in the sky, "... Yeah," she responded quietly.

Meanwhile, up in the sky above them Dragonfly was in the midst of fighting off on of Drake's dragon constructs. The serpentine creature had its body wrapped around Dragonfly preventing her from flying herself. The dragon snapped at her trying to bite her, a tough job as one arm was partly in the wrapping of the reptilian's body. Also unfortunate her trapped arm was the one holding her knife, the other was trapped in its sheath irretrievable with the dragons body in the way. It was bad enough that she had to fight of the dragon that was trying to bit her head off but the situation was made worse by Drake, who was riding the other dragon would occasionally fly close enough to try squering her with his spear. When he pulled away the dragon wrapped around her darted its head at her again with its sharp-toothed jaw opened wide. Dragonfly threw her arm in the way and the monster bite down hard on it. She let out a gasp as she felt the strength of the bite through her armored appendage, not enough to feel pain but still more than a noticeable pressure baring down.

Seeing her immobilized Drake threw his spear, aiming for her head. Seeing this in time she flapped her wings hard enough to shift her position and was lucky enough to catch the spear with her trapped arm. The dragon biting her other arm let go and drew back for another strike. As it launched forward again Dragonfly, in two quick motions, transferred the spear from her trapped arm to her free hand and used the spear to drive it up through the dragon's head using its own momentum against itself. The dragon fell silent and relaxed its grip on her, the spear tip could be seen poking out the back of its head and it faded back into nothingness freeing her completely.

Now flying under her own power again she turned to Drake seeing that he created a bow with a quiver of arrows and was tacking aim at her. She zipped to the side as an arrow passed by where her head was a moment earlier and returned the gesture by throwing her knives at him willing them to split into six, tree hitting the dragon her was riding and the other three hitting him in the shoulders. While each knife hit their target they each bounced off the hard armor much to her annoyance. She dodged another arrow. Deciding to end this now she moved forward and threw both her knives again having them split to keep Drake off balance. As she approached Drake was able to shoot two more arrows which she dodged easily. When she was close enough Drake had his dragon swing its head up to both block and bite her. Not deterred she flew around the monster surprising Drake as she plowed into him knocking him from his mount, both surprising and winding him. Even in mid air the two developed continued to fight each other hand to hand, Dragonfly using her wings to increase their speed towards the ground and punching him to direct Drake's falling trajectory. As they got close to street level Dragonfly hit Drake once more in the side of Drake's face before pulling away. Drake hit a car, caving in the roof, and bounced off it before hitting the ground with a dull thud. The dragon that was following them down disappeared as well as the armor that he was wearing.

Dragonfly touched down in front of Drake's unconscious form and knelt down grabbing his shirt pulling him up into a loose sitting position. Drake's head dangled back like a puppet with its strings cut but let out a low moan.

The action made Dragonfly's face furrow in anger, "Still alive, huh Drake?" she asked in contempt as she brought her other arm up with her taloned hand pointing straight out in preparation to run it through the man's chest, "Let's fix that. At least I have the decency to do it in front of you," she spat.

"Dragonfly stop!" Copy Cat cried out, running over and stopping Dragonfly just before she did the deed. "This isn't how we do things, this isn't you."

Dragonfly looked up at her seeing the desperate worried look on her face then turned back to Drake and saw what she was about to do. She let him go and stepped away suddenly afraid of herself, the uncomfortable pain she felt around the gemstone in her chest cooled to a pleasant warmth as she hugged herself. Tears fell down her cheeks, "Thank you," she said quietly as she turned and walked away not trusting herself near Drake again. "Cuff him please," she asked as she walked back to her other team members. Copy Cat did so.

Soon enough the team were back together waiting for the police to come and take care of the villains. They were tired and worn out from the battle Dragonfly herself was understandably frazzled about what she almost did and if Copy Cat hadn't stopped her. Dragonfly shuddered at the thought not wanting to think about it.

It was almost startling how calm and quiet everything was now that the battle was over, the silence only broken by a fire hydrant that was knock over with the sound of water splashing the ground as it fell.

They then heard the sound of a low giggle that slowly increased in volume until it broke into a full on laugh. The members of team Valiant turned to see Idle Hands on his feet still laughing at them as his claws of his 'hands' bent backwards each claw producing a cutting tool that cut off his restraints.

"It's too soon to end this now," he said with a look of glee on his face. He then snapped his claws producing a clicking sound, "I still have a toy I want to show off and more of you still need to die anyways so there's still time for fun," he said as an object fell from the sky hitting the ground with enough force to form a crater in the pavement of the road. When the dust cleared a humanoid shape stepped out of the crater revealing it to be an eleven foot tall robotic minotaur.

"BEHOLD!" Idle Hands declared, "I call it my 'Tantamount robot'," he said with glee and another giggle in his voice.

The robot opened it mouth showing a maw of sharp teeth. A glow in its mouth grew in brilliance. This action set off warning bells in Dragonfly's mind.

"Scatter!" she shouted pushing Copy Cat away, the others broke into action and darted away.

A Brilliant laser beam shot out hitting where they stood before. This fight wasn't over yet.

The laser beam kicked up a cloud of dust as it streaked along the ground at the group of heroes already diving out of the way. Dragonfly hit the ground hard having barely pushed Copy Cat out of the way as well. Coughing from the dust she looked back at where they had been standing moments before. When the dust cleared she saw what was left of Shale. The beam had cut a swath right up the middle of Shale's body. From the bottom of his waist up to his head there was a slot the width of the beam of empty space, with most of his head gone he was obviously dead. Dragonfly breathed a sigh of regret at not thinking to save him despite his illegal profession. "No one deserved to die like that," she thought.

Idle Hands only laughed at the sight, "Two down, more to go, two down more to go," he sang as he began to move his claws like he was conducting an orchestra and spun around in place in a small dance.

Dragonfly growled wishing he'd shut up when she heard Copy Cat call out.

"Hey, Jack Ass!"

Dragonfly turned to her seeing Copy Cat standing in front of an overturned van with what looked like a bazooka over her shoulder. What caught Dragonfly's attention was that Copy Cat's uniform. All the colors were reversed. The glossy blue was now a glossy orange. The previous orange lenses in her goggles were now blue, even the formerly black circuit lines in her uniform were now white. And for a reason that Dragonfly knew, Copy Cat's hair had changed from blond to black.

"Let's see how you damn robot stands up to this," she shouted with a hint of arrogance in her voice as she hoisted the weapon on her shoulder. Idle Hands just stood there still waving his claws to his invisible orchestra, waiting. Copy Cat pulled the trigger. The missile inside jumped out of its tube but its rocket cut out which left the missile to drop to the ground a few feet in front of her, a dud. Copy Cat looked down at the dead missile and could only say the one thing that came to mind, "Ah fuck!"

Idle Hands giggled at this, "Oh the poor sweet hero's abilities fail her, such is to be expected when one copies what they don't understand themselves. A mistake you'll never learn from I'm afraid," he chided as he gestured towards her. His robot them brought an arm up, pointing it at her, which opened up revealing a harpoon-like launcher in it. The robot fired the metal rod which pulled a length of steel cable behind it striking Copy Cat in the shoulder making her cry out in pain as it threw her from her feet and pinned her to the van behind her. Idle Hands gave a predatory smile, "I always love the crescendo," he said as he conducted his orchestra, first gesturing up with both claws then straight at Copy Cat. On doing so, strings of electricity danced down the cable to the harpoon and into Copy Cat's body. She screamed out in horrifying pain before slumping down hanging limply from the harpoon. The rest of the team made no move towards the large robot or the villain controlling it. Idle Hands laughed at the sight, "Three have fallen, more to..." he was interrupted when Copy Cat suddenly awoke, still held in place by the harpoon.

"Oh, the pain. The torment of the final moments of life taunt me so, I ask for the lady death to embrace me in her loving arms to deliver me peace forever more," she spouted trying to make it sound like Shakespeare, failing horribly, and began to make drawn-out gagging noises. All of which thoroughly confused the mad villain enough that he paused in conducting his imaginary orchestra.

Dragonfly could barely suppress her smirk as she spared a glance at where Copy Cat originally stood and saw two different colored cubes. One was the gold transport cube and the other was a small blue colored cube that had small mirrors in it, a holographic projection cube currently projecting the faux image of Copy Cat pinned to the van, still giving its death gasps in a cartoonish fashion. Without warning, an energy beam shot out from behind them over their heads striking the minotaur robot in the head. The robot swayed as the lights went out in it head and the glow in its mouth faded to black and seemed to shut down.

Two blocks away the real Copy Cat was laying on an abandon bus holding a large EMP rifle that she just fired. She was thankful her decoy worked. The rifle took too much time to charge and it was too unwieldy to hit a moving target. Now, with the "Tantamount robot" out of commission, her team can move in on Idle Hands and subdue him without any further destruction.

Idle Hands gave an aggravated sigh, "I hate when a sour note sounds in my symphony," he snapped his claws and the robot reactivated, its eyes blinked on again and its maw glowed again, "Kill the girl," he ordered as he pointed to Copy Cat, who in turn muttered an "Oh shit!" before rolling off the bus just as the beam sliced through the bus from bottom to top destroying her EMP rifle in a small but fiery explosion.

The rest of the team were already in action as Dragonfly and Evangel made for the robot while Halt ran for Idle Hands. Seeing Halt approach Idle Hands gestured to him and the robot turned towards the hero and fired its laser from its maw. Instead of dodging out of the way Halt stood fast and let it hit him and used his powers. He felt the energy of the bean wash over his front and then felt it pull away, going back the way it came right back into the mouth of the minotaur robot. The effect of this reversal was immediate as its head promptly exploded leaving what remains to look like a melted twisted flower of blackened metal. The robot slumped to its knees and fell dark again.

Dragonfly allowed herself a silent cheer before turning to Idle Hands, "You robot it destroyed, your allies are in custody," she looked back at Shale before adding quietly, "Or dead by your own hands," she turned back to face the mad man, "You have no one left to shove in front of you. Now, give up!" she ordered.

Idle Hands only shook his head bemusedly, "Oh, I have much to put between all of you and myself," he said cryptically. He then snapped his claws again and the robot shuddered and got back to its metal hooves. The twisted metal petals that were left of its head came alive like living tentacles as they wrapped back into a ball on its shoulders. The metal ball then reformed, producing details like horns while a lump protruded from its front becoming a bovine muzzle. In seconds, much to the heroes' astonishment, the robot was fully repaired and active again.

"Halt! Same plan as before," Dragonfly told him as she and Evangel made for the robot again to which Halt nodded and ran after the villain again.

Idle Hands took a few steps back, "Ah ah aahhh," he chided tauntingly, "If any of you take me down before my Tantamount stops for the final time then it will blow itself up in a most inconvenient place," he teased. "Besides, while I like what my Tantamount can do, I've taken a shine to you dear boy," he said referring to Halt, "So many heroes have such troubling abilities and yours would do well to stave off a good deal of them," he cocked his head to the side with a crocked smile, "I think I'll have you." On his last statement the robot opened up its chest revealing some one inside, or more horrifyingly the top half of some one. A woman with shoulder length brown hair and what was left of her was wearing a costume red and light grey with grey metal armor on her shoulders and forearms. A piece of machinery attached to wear her waist ended look out of place from the rest of her. At one point the woman looked like she was young, some where in her twenties, as well as at one time would have beautiful. Now she looked like a living corpse, her skin was discolored and sunken in showing her bones underneath. Small cables were attached at various points on her arms and torso. She was truly a nightmarish appearance, made worse that all of team Valiant recognised the woman. She was Lodestone, a former member of the Protectorate, who was killed by her former partner turned rogue Warper. And Idle Hands had her body all this time.

"Oh my god," was all Dragonfly could say as the robot unceremoniously dumped the woman's remains and rand down on Halt. Even though Dragonfly and Evangel moved into action the robot was already on Halt grabbing him and forcing him into itself and shutting him inside. "Fuck," Dragonfly cursed, this had just got a whole lot worse.

"Wonderful, Wonderful," Idle Hands exclaimed happily in earnest, "Oh, having something that can control metal is quite useful, but considering how many of you heroes use energy to fight having him powering my Tantamount robot would be ever so much better," he stated with glee. "So much fun, so much fun," he sang over and over.

Dragonfly gritted her teeth. The situation was getting worse. She was fighting with a still unfamiliar body, one of her team mates were now trapped inside this damn robot through some means adding to its defences, and seeing the mutilated remains of a hero she respected used in such a way really put her on edge. "Evangel," she called out, "I'll distract them and you cut Halt out of that thing!" she ordered. "And one more thing," she added before Evangel started off, "Once you get Halt out of that thing destroy it! Leave nothing left," she demanded. Evangel looked at her a moment before making his way to the robot, "Of course," he said calmly.

With that Dragonfly took to the air flying over the robot throwing her knives at it which had little effect as they bounce off the armor. She had thought of targeting the joints but wasn't sure if they'd carry through and injure Halt as well, something she didn't want to do, but her job was just to distract the robot anyways and give Evangel an opening. It worked, the minotaur was looking up at her. Taking his queue, Evangel moved in slashing at it up the front pulling his sword back so as not to cut too deep leaving a large gash behind in the armor. This immediately got the robots attention and Evangel had just enough time to bring his blades in front of himself as the robot punched him sending him flying back. Evangel flipped himself as he flew through the air where he landed in a crouching position on the side of a building lightly jumping off it and landing gently back on the ground before running off towards the robot again. Dragonfly continued to throw her knives at the robot which were having less an effect than before. With very little else in ranged attacks in her disposal she dive-bombed the robot by flying from high up and at the last minute flipping around to use her legs to kick it and push herself off back into the air again. This seemed to work in keeping the robot off balance and Evangel was able to get another swipe in with both his swords and back away before it could hit him again. This back and forth between the two seemed to be working as the robot was slowing down as more gashes were added over its body exposing wires and other machinery formally hidden behind the armor.

Things were starting to look up from Dragonfly's point of view when she spied Copy Cat, the real Copy Cat, coming from the other side of the street, she must have used another teleport cube to surprise Idle Hands and the robot from behind. Her thoughts were proven right as she was holding another energy rifle. Her eyes widen as she saw her aiming it at the robot.

"No, Copy Cat, wait!" Dragonfly cried out but it was already too late and Copy Cat fired a burst of energy at the robot. On hitting the robot the round bounced back. Fortunately Copy Cat had already shifted her stance enough that the round didn't go back up through the barrel of her weapon but it did hit it in the middle blowing it in half and knocking Copy Cat to the ground, looking dazed.

Idle Hands turned to her, "Are you another copy?" he asked before breaking into a fit of giggles, "The Copy Cat has a copy who's a copy of Copy Cat in every way but one," he gestured towards her and his robot minotaur turned around and opened its arm ready to fire another steel rod, "The copy of Copy Cat is meant to die but if I kill the original does that mean Copy Cat was the copy and the copy was the original? But, if Copy Cat's name holds the word copy in it, does that mean there was never an original Copy Cat to begin with?" Idle Hands mused in a dizzying way only he could follow. "And if there is no original Copy Cat to begin with, then if I destroyed the copy of Copy Cat does that mean I never killed anyone at all? Let's find out," he said at last and with a flick of his claw and the robot fired the steel rod that towed a long cable behind it.

Dragonfly cried out, too far away to intercept the rod and too far again to move Copy Cat out of dangers way. A sudden strong gust of wind picked up sending a car door flying through the air striking the rod knocking it off course enough to bury itself in the ground in front of Copy Cat rather than in her. Down from the sky arrived Windscar lead by the two sprites Dragonfly left her. "You have no idea how grateful I am," Dragonfly said in relief to Windscar as she reabsorbed her sprites.

"Don't worry about it," she replied as she landed and unclipped herself from her parachute and used her powers to send it over to the robot entangling it, "Although, if you really want to repay me later you can get me the materials so I can replace two parachutes and my glide suit that you shredded. That stuff's not cheap you know," she quip.

"Deal," Dragonfly replied.

"I'll hold you to that. Now, let's break a robot, stop the crazy and call it a day. Not necessarily in that order," she said with a not so friendly smile.

"About that," Dragonfly started, "The robot has Halt inside it and it's using his powers somehow, according to the mad doctor, if we take him down before we destroy the robot then there's a chance he might have the robot blow up and kill us as well as any number of people still in the city. He was kind of vague on how big of an explosion but I don't want to risk it unless absolutely necessary," she explained. Copy Cat had come up to them during catching her explanation.

"If that thing is using Halt's powers then that cuts a lot of what I can do. Most of my gear has energy of some sort and the rest is lethal explosives that I don't want to use while he's in there, at least not directly," she said as she rummaged through her satchel and grimaced, "Should have thought to build some EMP grenades at some point. Although with Halt's powers I'm not sure if it would work anyways."

"I might have a way to peel that thing apart," Windscar answered although looking a bit hesitant, "It takes a lot of concentration, so I'll need someone to watch my back while I do this."

"You were flying, hitting me with walls of air and pulling the air from my lungs while you were brainwashed, just how much more concentration do you need?" Dragonfly asked wryly.

"Using wind to manipulate small grains of sand to act like a buzz saw takes a lot of focus. The first time I did this was back when I was a kid in juvi and just developed. I tried cutting the bars on my cell so I could get out. I didn't see my "room mate" come at me till after she tried cutting my eye out," she said touching the scar over her eye, "Now, shut up. This is harder since I have to use my powers to keep the thing still while I cut it open."

Dragonfly gave her a look, "Just focus on the chest piece. With that open then we can pull Halt out easily," she told her as she called over to Evangel, who was still fighting the large robot dodging and weaving while getting one strike in, to step back and get out of Windscar's way. Evangel ducked under a fist as it tried to hit him. He then stood up and brought one sword down in an overhand slash down the middle of its chest while using the other as a shield when the minotaur robot recovered and hit him with his other fist sending him flying back. He twisted through the air where he finally landed on his feet skidding several feet back.

With Evangel out of the way Windscar held up both hands towards the robot, one open-palmed and the other pointing at it. Immediately, the wind picked up kicking up lose sand and gravel from the ground as well as debris from wrecked cars and cement from destroyed pieces of sidewalk, all of which began swirling around the robot. Whenever it tried to move its arms or its whole body out of the torrent of wind buffeting about it large pieces of debris would smack the limbs back in place. A grinding sound could be heard as the sand and grit scraped along the metal skin of the minotaur robot slowly increasing in intensity where the top layer of paint was already coming off revealing the shiny silver metal underneath. Idle Hands seemed more amused by this than anything and began dancing in a circle giving the heroes obvious looks whenever he turned in their direction, making it clear he had full control of the situation as he hummed some random tune to himself.

The madman's display was getting on Dragonfly's nerves. She wanted to, in the worst way, fly over there and beat that smug attitude of his out of him but with that lingering threat of the robot blowing up... She turned to Windscar, "How long is it going to take?"

Windscar's already displayed frown deepened, "It's not as easy as it looks. I'm holding the thing in place and using whatever's around to cut through the skin of this thing," she spared Dragonfly a quick glare before bringing her full focus back to the robot, "And before you ask, the joints are covered in a mesh, the sand just gets caught in it and won't cut it. I can switch over to trying to open up the slashes Evangel already made but we may as well let him get back at it. That armor's tough as hell," she said with a note of disappointment at herself.

Dragonfly sneered at seeing Idle Hands watch them with a cheshire grin and waved "innocently" at her when he saw her looking at him. Dragonfly growled at that before a thought occurred to her and she let an unfriendly smile show back at him confusing him as she turned back to Windscar, "We've been going at this all wrong," she told her as she called Evangel over to them, she continued when he was close enough without having to raise her voice too loud. "Keep doing what you're doing Windscar but, instead of trying to cut through that armor use your powers to gum up the insides. Evangel, turn that thing into a sieve, with all that sand going through it'll be sure to screw up its circuits by damaging them or causing static charge. Either way it'll go down," she explained. Evangel nodded and turned to engage the robot as it disentangled itself finally from Windscar's parachute. Windscar, for her part, released her hold on the robot allowing it to move more freely as she now focused on moving all the dirt she kicked up to enter the holes Evangel had cut and was about to add.

Idle Hands scowled at their new strategy but quickly covered it up with another of his frequent predatory grins as he went back to conducting his imaginary orchestra. "Now it may not seem like it but I do fight fair. I could have easily made a virus that could eat the human body from the inside out as a plague to wipe out a good deal of the population on Earth, but I don't and you now whyyy?" he asked as he did a twirl spinning in place, "Because it's NOT SPORTING!" he shouted as he produced a gun from under his lab coat and pointed it at Windscar.

Dragonfly reacted instantly grabbing Copy Cat who was in the line of fire behind her so she could both her and Windscar as she turned her back to Idle Hands and ducked her head just before several shots rang out. The first four shots bounced harmlessly off her armored backside like she thought they would. The final shot was the lucky bastard as she felt a sudden jab of pain in her back, "Ah fuckfuck shitshitshit," she swore out as she jerked back feeling the muscles in her back cramp up in the worst charlie horse she had ever felt up till now. Her top left wing was pointed at an odd angle from her other wings. The bullet had hit the wing at the joint where it lead into her back under the more flexible portion of her armor. Thankfully, it didn't cause any permanent damage but damn if it hurt like a son of a bitch!

Over with the robot, Evangel was doing is best, striking the robot without risking harm to Halt who was still trapped inside. With the assistance from Windscar the two were able to disable the minotaur's mouth laser. As the robot took a swipe at Evangel, he ducked under it and stepped around slashing at its back. In response, the robot turned around but not to hit Evangel. But to open its forearm and fire the steel rod at Evangel point-blank at him. Evangel, once again, was able to bring both swords up to block just as the rod was fired sending him airborne and flying off several city blocks away.

"Fuck," both Copy Cat and Dragonfly gritted seeing their heavy hitter go flying off.

Windscar herself only grimaced as she finally dropped her arms in exhaustion, "I'm sorry, I can't go any longer, all I'm doing now is clogging the holes," she said as she took another breath. The robot turned back around and raised another arm to fire at them. "Look out!" Windscar shouted as she waved her arm and hit it with a massive wall of air knocking it off its feet where it landed hard on its back. On that, a large crack could be heard as its chest opened slightly.

Seeing this, Dragonfly wanted to pry it open but didn't have any means. Her knives weren't long enough to do the job. She was growing frustrated until she spied the unusual sword/ax weapon that Copy Cat lost earlier. Without hesitation she flew over to the weapon, still feeling the effects of the charlie-horse, and picked it up and flew over to the robot that was just sitting up as it got up and drove the length of the sword part, from top to bottom, down through the open chest piece and began trying to pry it open. The metal groaned and creaked on protest as she continued as she did her best to also pin the robots arms with her legs.

Idle Hands looked bemused, "Oh look, the little bug lady is trying to save her teammate. While I hope she realises that she's playing with a bug zapper," he teased as he gestured. The robot's skin became electrified and started shocking Dragonfly.

She cried out in pain as the electricity ran up her arms but remained where she was. Despite the increasing pain she was receiving she refused to let go and used the pain to drive her forward. She wasn't going to let what happened to her happen to anyone else on her team. A second later the robot finally shoved her off to the side. However this only help, combined with her persistence, the chest opened finally if only slightly, show a ragged Halt inside. Dragonfly got up shortly after still shaking from the effects of the electricity running through her and glanced to Copy Cat, "Get ready," she told her. Copy Cat nodded though not quite sure what she meant but had a hand in her satchel anyways. With her teammates acknowledgement Dragonfly flew straight at the robot. With both hands on either piece of the opening pried it open fully revealing Halt underneath. He looked like hell. He was half conscious and there were a few wires sticking out of his body. "Dragon..," he mumbled as he briefly recognised her before his head drooped. A dark look fell over Dragonfly's face as she remove the wires from Halt's body and pulled him free and flew back and away. She didn't need to tell Copy Cat anything as she was already in action and pulled out a heavy energy rifle and fired it into the still open torso of the robot which in turn exploded in a much satisfying fireball before the remaining pieces fell over in a smouldering ruin.

With the robot finally destroyed, Dragonfly left Halt in Windscar's care as she and Copy Cat turned to Idle Hands standing there with a stoic look on his face as he turned to leave but saw Evangel running up the street where he was going to leave.

"Alright," he said in resignation but still had a cocky look on his face, "I give up," he said as his claws suddenly detached from his wrists in a puff of pressurised smoke. Once his claws hit the ground he deliberately stomped on them wrecking them, a single claw twitched in protest before stopping as Idle Hands raised his now stumped arms in surrender.

Copy Cat's lip quivered as she growled in anger, "You 'give up'?" she accused threatening to bring her rifle on him.

Idle Hands only shrugged, "I'm crazy, not stupid," he answered like it was the most obvious thing to say.

Copy Cat's face darkened as she put her rifle away as she stomped up to Idle Hands and punched him across the jaw with enough force to send the villain on his ass. "You're damn lucky team Valiant doesn't kill," she hissed as she pulled out some new restraints that would secure the villain.

With the robot destroyed and all the villains secured, Copy Cat lead Windscar over to where she kept Drake and Danny both of whom she bolted to the side of the building.

While they waited for the police to arrive with transport for villains Dragonfly turned to Drake, "Listen Drake," she said stressing his name much to his derision, "Which of you was it that put this whole thing together? I know all of you are lone wolfs and don't work with other villains so who's the leader here?"

Drake spat at her, "All I care about is that I have killed the one who stole my name. You'll get nothing else from me," he said with a self righteous grin.

Before anyone else could react to his statement Idle Hands started giggling again and when everyone's attention was on him he spoke out in a sing-song voice, "I know who it i-iss," he said with a toothy grin.

"No, don't tell them anything," Drake cried out.

The villain's reaction to the other sparked Dragonfly's interest so she walked over to Idle Hands and lifted him up by one hand by the collar of his lab coat, "Tell me what you know," she ordered him in a low voice.

Idle Hands didn't react to the painful way she pick him up but answered her question with a grin, "A month ago, a man came to town with a plan most foul and promises for all. He promised the Princess a court, Danny wanted infamy, remote wanted money, so humdrum a reason. And 'Drake' a name he desired." he said in a childish way, not quite a sing-songy voice.

"And what did he promise you?" Dragonfly asked, her eyes narrowed.

"He came to me with a tongue of silver but it didn't matter. When I knew the chaos of his plans I freely offered my skills. Providing machines to enhance powers and provide a means for vengeance. He even told me what you want to knnnow next."

"And what is that?"

Idle Hands leaned forward as much as he could, his grin became predatory, "Where. He. Is," he stated softly.

Dragonfly's eyes widened momentarily before narrowing again, "Tell me," she ordered in a dark tone. Idle Hands, after a short laugh told her where he was waiting, after which she dropped the madman to the ground where he stumbled a bit before falling back on his ass.

As she relayed the information to her teammates the police arrived along with several ambulances, one loading Halt into it before driving off as the police gathered the villains into the police transport. Remote was already waiting for his partners in crime.

"I'm going after him," Dragonfly told her teammates and Windscar, "I can get there faster than anyone else right now and it would be very bad if he got away," she told them as she was getting ready to fly off. Before she did so Copy Cat stopped her.

"Dragonfly wait," she said as she pulled out a set of restraints from her satchel and handed it to her, "Bring him back alive. He answers to the justice system, not us. We are not jury and executioners understand?" she asked with a worried look in her eyes.

Dragonfly took the restraints and looped them over one of the handles of her knives without having anywhere else to store it. "Of course I'll bring him back. Why would you say something like that?" she asked confused.

Copy Cat pursed her lips in worry before answering, "Did you already forget what you were about to do before I stopped you?"

Dragonfly stopped herself, she looked up into the air for a second before looking back into Copy Cat's eyes, "I'll just bring him in," she promised her.

Copy Cat stared at her for a moment before nodding and letting go of her arm.

With some final reassurance Dragonfly flapped her wings and was instantly off into the air and headed in the direction of the place where the unknown person was apparently waiting. The place in question was and abandon storehouse in the outskirts of the suburbs of the city. When she arrived she touched down in the parking lot of the storehouse surprised of how calm everything seemed. This set her off in overdrive as she expected something worse. With frayed nerves and a knife in hand she entered the building through the main door. On entering she could see that the building had been made into a sort of living space. She could see the influence of such as one section was full of Disney merchandise while another was a work bench with half finished robot animals. But what drew her attention squarely was a man sitting behind a desk you would see in an office building for a high executive.

The man was a stark contrast to everything else. He was clean shaven with short-cropped light brown hair and was smartly dressed in a business suit. Seeing her enter he stood up and walked around the desk, "Hello," he greeted her, "My name is Jacob Hyers, and you are?" he asked almost gentlemanly. This put Dragonfly off, not expecting this situation from some one who orchestrated the murder of a super hero and several innocent bystanders.

"I go by Dragonfly," she told him deftly, "Am I safe to assume that you are responsible for everything that happened in the city?" she asked accusingly.

"I am," he replied. He then reached into his coat and pulled out a gun making sure to hold it in a way to make it impossible to shoot it safely and placed it on the desk behind him. "Would it surprise you to know that professionally, I work as a psychiatrist for a living?"

Dragonfly quirked her head at this wondering why he brought this up, let alone where he was going with this.

"It's true," he said simply as he sat on the edge of his desk away from where he set the gun down. "And would you like to know what else? I am a base-line human," he stated with amusement. "I, a base-line human, convinced a group of developed villains to kill, or at least try to kill, a super hero team. What do you think of that?" he asked. Before she could say anything he spoke anyways, "Perhaps I should give you some reason, personal history you could say, as to why I did what I have. I am, to put it simply, a sociopath. I have personally killed several dozen people before now," he revealed, showing no shame in what he just said.

"You're a shrink and you kill people?" Dragonfly asked incredously, "How do you live with yourself? Do you make victims out of your patients too?" She had, without her notice or meaning to, pulled one of her knives out.

The man frowned, "I keep my personal and professional lives separate I'll have you know. No patient of mine has ever suffered at my hands and have actually gone on to quite productive lives," he stated with pride in his voice, "One of my former patients is a highly successful celebrity who used to be a self-destructive hoarder before coming to me for help," he told her as if that would convince the hero. It didn't. "The problem I had," he went on explaining, "Is that as one becomes what could be called a serial killer it gets harder to feel that special rush one gets from that first kill. So, I guess at this point I should just stop refering myself in the third person as it seems to be getting silly at this point since you have no idea what I'm talking about on the personal level. Where was I? Oh yes, as time goes on it becomes less special and I feel less and less. It got so humdrum that, before I had my epiphany I had kidnapped over a dozen people and placed them in a building that was a complete death trap, like those humourless Saw movies. Imagine my surprise when one of the people I had kidnaped turned out to be a developed super hero. I believe her name was Foreshadow."

Dragonfly stiffened on hearing the name. Foreshadow was another local hero that she had approached months back when she was still just Dragon. She dressed as a ninja and was trained one as well. Her powers were surface telepathy or being a deep empath which allowed her to pick up surface thoughts and intentions from people around her. Combined with her ninja training, she was a potent fighter. A little over a month ago she had been found dead, in costume, with a bullet between her eyes. A manhunt had gone on for weeks for her killer but there was so little evidence that it quickly became a cold case despite Tobias' attempts to influence the homicide department to continue. Now she was standing in front of her killer who freely admitted to the deed. Dark thoughts began to swim around her mind about what she wanted to do to the monster. The gemstone in her chest began to feel like it was burning again. He continued.

"She revealed her identity to the others so that they'd trust her so she could lead them out safely. And she almost did had I not been waiting with a gun in each hand at the final door. I waited thinking intently that I wasn't going to shoot anyone with the gun in my left hand. She believed what I thought and walked through the door. She barely saw the gun I held before I fired. I finished off the others quickly and found where Foreshadow kept her suit. I put her in it and dumped her near the park. I was quite surprised by the effects afterwards. There was the usual stars and stripes funeral," he said with a dismissive wave, "But after that, something wonderful happened. Regular everyday people who lived around the park where I dumped the woman's body formed a neighborhood watch reducing crime in the area to the lowest levels they have ever been. Kids were picking up trash and cleaning up the area. Seeing those actions made me realise something. The human race had become lazy and the reason for that was because of people like you," he said pointing at Dragonfly, "You and others like you. All of you 'developed' heroes and villains have reduced the human race to stagnation. It was so simple that I laughed for hours when it came to me. Why should any base-line human do anything for themselves when a developed 'hero' would do it for them? An alien invasion, the worlds military will sit back and let the 'heroes' and the more territorial villains would take care of them. The police well stand back not bothering to arrest a developed villain, letting the 'hero' do the work for them. Ever since I witnessed what happened at the park I looked elsewhere. Boston has made a remarkable recovery since a few heroes and villains died. I had come to the conclusion that all developed will have to die if the human race is to break its stagnation." He paused to look at the gun he had placed on the table, "I killed her with that gun," he told her with a sly smile as he stood up from sitting on the side of the desk but walked away from it. "It was surprisingly easy to manipulate the local developed villains. A single match as it were. The death of a hero to start things off," he let out a small chuckle, "You and your friends were supposed to kill the villains in retaliation, I was almost certain that fool Drake was going to die first. But I'm relatively new at this so it is not unexpected for things to start slow," he went on.

Dragonfly spied the gun on the table and after a few quick steps she was close to the table and picked up the pistol, holding it in her hands, "This is the gun that killed Foreshadow," she thought to herself as she looked towards Jacob and thought of how he had also killed her through Drake. Her hands clenched in anger. "This man was directly responsible for killing her and Foreshadow as well as many innocent bystanders with his own hand. She had to stop him. There was no other choice. If she just arrested him he could escape to kill more innocent people. With a burning fury she raised the gun in her hand and aimed it at the man. She gasped as the pain in her chest became excruciating causing her to stager. This only seemed to spurn her on as she renewed her efforts to end this monsters retched life.

Just as she was about to pull the trigger she heard a voice in her minds eye cry out, "STOP!" it pleaded. Dragonfly did momentarily as she recognised the voice of the spirit woman.

Dragonfly blinked as she brought the gun up again, "I'm sorry but he has to die," she told the voice.

Again she was stopped by the spirit woman's voice, "Don't do it," she cried out to her, "I have seen the kindness in your soul. Don't let him take it."

Dragonfly was barely standing to the pain in her chest, "I have to do this now," she responded in quiet resolve, tears running down her face.

"Look at him," the spirit woman told her.

Confused Dragonfly blinked, "I am."

"Look at him," the spirit woman told her more firmly.

For a moment, Dragonfly didn't understand before she finally switch to her altered vision and was shocked at what she saw. A sickly inky black cloud was coming out of Jacob straight towards her. He was doing something to her she realised. With a thought she produced a sprite to have it intercept the cloud. When that happened her knees buckled and she would have fallen had she not grabbed on to the desk for support as all the hate and fury suddenly left her. She could still feel it through her sprite but she was under control of it and held it between them. She was confused as she thought the man said he was base-line but now that she could think clearly she knew what he wanted her to do.

"You want me to kill you," she said at last surprised and shocked. "Why would you want me to kill you?"

His smile grew, "What would it look like if a developed 'hero' killed a base-line human that offered no resistance?" he countered, "Either way, kill me now or send me to jail, eventually, my legacy will prevail." he said simply. "Dying here, I'll be a martyr. Going to jail, I will start over. And become a symbol as a base-line human that saved the human race by convincing the developed to kill themselves."

Dragonfly put the gun back down on the table, "No," she said flatly. "You're not going to be either. I can see what you are now and like it or not, you are developed."

Jacob's eyes widen and he looked off as if to review his memories at her declaration until he refocused on her again with a look of hatred on his face, "No," he countered, "There's no way I'm like one of you filthy developed," he spat. "I'm smarter than you developed, that's how I was able to convince the villains to follow me. Princess had daddy issues, Drake was obsessed with his family honor, that's how I was able to manipulate them," at this point he was practically foaming at the mouth, "They were all so weak minded!" he shouted. "And after I kill you it won't matter," he said as he dove for the gun on the table. A futile gesture as Dragonfly was between him and it and se caught him and quickly dispatched him, knocking him out.

The pain in her chest had cooled since she had broken free from the crumpled man's influence. But even still, she wished she could do so much more to him for what he had done, "You're lucky I'm not that kind of person," she told the unconscious man as she picked him up to take him back to the authorities. He had a lot to answer for.

Epilogue:

Of the one hundred and twenty-three people that were taken hostage by the group of villains that day, a total of thirty-four were killed. Team Valiant recovered Lodestone's remains and turned it over to the Protectorate so they could give the fallen hero's loved ones final closure. Halt recovered from his ordeal rather quickly. Drake, Idle Hands, Princess, Remote, and Jacob once his developed powers and previous actions came to light, were all intured in Mount Prometheus. Danny was remanded to an asylum for treatment and care as was no longer willing to make his own decisions mumbling that his decision killed everyone.

Dragonfly had visited the woman she injured while she was in hospital for treatment and physiotherapy in the weeks following. Her husband had initially insisted on suing Dragonfly but was chastised to silence by his wife who insisted that Dragonfly saved her. Dragonfly blushed at the praise feeling that she didn't deserve the praise but couldn't object the heartfelt thanks from their five year old daughter thanking for saving her mom.

About a month later after the events that changed Lucy's life, she walked through the lobby of their base to meet with their liaison to the local police forces. She had since had her long hair braided into one long pony tail to keep it under control while she flew or fought. She smiled as she approached the man waiting just inside the door. She smiled on approaching the man as he was her former partner.

"Hello Mr. Dunwhich, welcome to the headquarters of team Valiant," she greeted him shaking his hand.

"Please, just call me Phil," he told her with a bashful wave. He looked around the lobby, "I never imagined that you guys would be set up in a former police station," he added in appreciation.

"It seemed appropriate at the time, I've been told," she said happy at his approval. "If you'll come with me, I'll show you to your new office," she said turning around. As she glanced over her shoulder she caught Phil looking up her backside who in turned blushed and became flustered when he realised he was found out. Lucy smiled at his response. "I have heard from Tobias that you were quite the handful," she said making conversation and smiling to herself at her private joke.

"Hey, I've had to pull his ass out of the fire more than a few times," he responded hotly but playful, "I don't know if he ever told you, but he had a nasty habit of not checking behind doors when we go to clear a room," he said slyly.

Lucy stopped mid-stride and turned on her heels forcing Phil to back up to avoid her wings as he was following so close, "Actually, he said the same about you," she told him with a smile and a quirked an eyebrow in challenging his claim.

"Yeah," he admitted rubbing the back of his neck admitting the truth, "I owe him more than a few times," he said with a wistful smile thinking of the good times they had. "It's a shame that he got killed," he added with a pained look.

Lucy looked down at the floor, "Yeah," she agreed quietly, "I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for him," she said feeling the sting of tears in her eyes threatening to come forth.

"Me too," Phil agreed looking off again.

Lucy managed to compose herself and pointed to the door beside them, "This is where you'll be working. I've heard it used to be the former dispatch room but don't worry, its since been remodeled so don't worry about being stuck in the corner surrounded by old equipment," she assured him. "If you need any help you can call for Evangel or Halt and they should be able to set you up if you get stuck. I have to go see Copy Cat about something," she told him and left after he gave her his thanks.

After making her way to Copy Cat's work shop she saw Brenda there, out of uniform like her, standing there looking at her with a dazzling smile as she sauntered over to her and grabbed her hand and lead her out of her workshop and down the hall with barely a, "Come on" said. Soon enough, they were standing in front of a door to the washroom. Lucy noticed that the MEN/WOMEN's sign had been replaced with a dragonfly sign instead. Lucy looked at Brenda's cheshire grin as she gestured for her to enter. Rolling her eyes she pushed open the door and found the room had been gutted and redone with a single toilet sitting in the middle of the room. "Oh god," Lucy said wholly embarrassed feeling her face go beet red. She knew she should have expected something like this but she wasn't expecting what could only be described as a literal porcelain throne.

"Try it out," Brenda told her plainly.

"What?" Lucy asked in surprised almost screaming the name but Brenda only turned around.

"You heard me," she chastise, "You still owe me a talk and I don't want any interruptions. So, sit down, do your thing and meet me back in my workshop," she said over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

Lucy sputtered a moment but deflated in defeat as she turned to the toilet in defeat. Much to both her relief and embarrassment it was far more comfortable than what she had been using till then. So after she cleaned herself and washed her hands and returned to Brenda's workshop where she was waiting for her by the door to her personal training room.

"Well? How was it?" she asked Lucy. Lucy herself felt her face burn in embarrassment as she admitted it was more comfortable. "So," Brenda started, "About what we were talking about. You know my feelings for you still haven't changed. I still love you," she looked down bashfully, "What do you feel about me?" she asked timidly looking up with her eyes at Lucy.

Lucy stared at the apparent seventeen year old girl before her as she thought about her. She knew that she enjoyed her company and they were able to speak candidly with each other. And while she knew that Brenda was far older than how she looked, her appearance was the only thing that held her back when she was still Tobias. But now after everything that's happened and with Brenda's admission of her love for her even though she's changed so much. And Lucy had to admit that she did have feelings for Brenda. She had almost died, in fact she had died, and she had to admit that life was even more precious and delicate now. All this told her that she should cherish everything she had because there was no telling when everything would be taken away. She looked at Brenda, who was still looking unsure of the situation and opened her mouth to speak, "I love you too," she told her meaning every word.

The most beautiful smile came on Brenda's face as she reached out for Lucy's hand and pulled her with her into her training room, which seemed to become much smaller then when she was in there last but was still pretty large and looked like a bedroom with a full sized bed and romantic mood lighting. Once they were inside the door closed and disappeared behind them.

"Where did the door go?" Lucy asked, a little concerned.

"I locked the door," Brenda answered, "For the next two hours we're both locked in here. Don't worry though, if something happens and they need our help, I left instructions for them to open the door if they need to but I don't want any interruption," she said seductively as she kissed Lucy with a deep unreserved passion. Lucy felt her body respond pleasantly to the kiss.

"How's this going to work?" she started to ask, "My wings don't exactly make bed play comfortable."

Brenda gave her a knowing smile before saying, "Gravity off." And the two started to float off from the ground as she embraced Lucy.

Lucy started to protest again, "But how does th-oohh," she moaned suddenly as Brenda rubbed a leg under her vagina. "Maybe this will work," Lucy thought absently as she went in to kiss Brenda.

Two hours wasn't enough for the new couple.

Author's notes, It had occurred to me that not everyone would know about the anime I was writing the fanfic about so I wrote a brief outline of the anime to help out. I'll also post terms that would come up to help avoid confusion. If anyone has any questions about the anime or more specifically my fanfic, then I would encourage everyone to ask and I'll answer them as best I can

Term notes:
Klien field: this is essentially an energy shield that can block incoming weapons fire.

Corrosive torpedoes: This is a form of torpedo that explodes into a ball of energy. When it dissipates, it essentially disintegrates everything it encompasses.

Haida's Travels, an Arpeggio of Blue steel fanfic
By: Set3

Part 2

Haida spun her head to stare at the military man. How were they able to capture her?

"I don't like this dream," Haida stated worriedly at the nightmare her dream was becoming. She tried to initiate the subroutines to wake her up, but they seemed refusing to respond at first. She sighed in relief as she felt them working and could already feel herself beginning to wake up.

Before the nightmare faded away she heard the veteran mussing about hiding on the ship. And then she woke up.

Haida sat bolt upright with a start. Breathing hard, she ran throughout her shipself searching for anyone who could be hiding on her. She knew every compartment, every nook and cranny. She ran through herself three times finding no trace of any humans having been onboard. It was after her final search that she finally calmed down. She laughed at herself for getting caught up in her dream/nightmare. There was no way any human could capture any of her kind, let alone a destroyer like her. Taking a quick breath she made her way back to the open bridge section and stared at the horizon. She could easily see beyond the horizon with her ship sensors but there was something about seeing the horizon with what the human would call "mark one" eyeballs.

"Maybe humans aren't all bad," she thought as she watched the sun rising. She was broken from her silly reverie when she heard cannon fire off her starboard front. She used her sensors to see what was going on. She saw one of her sisters, the light cruiser, Ontario and frigate, Annan. They looked to be firing on a small human fishing boat. Her sisters were making a game of firing near-misses on the fishing boat, getting a little closer each time. The boat rocked haphazardly each time the concussive forces of the shots hit near. The humans were holding on for dear life, but, it would be a futile attempt as they would soon be killed. Whether by the explosions of the weapons fire, their boat, or just from drowning.

Haida frowned at this cruelty. "This isn't right," she whispered in a daze as she pushed her engines to full. It wasn't long before she was moving between and behind her sisters. The boat had broken up under the pounding but the humans were still alive. Barely.

At the last moment, she turned one of her turrets to port and the second bow turret to starboard and fired on the light cruiser and frigate, targeting their facing stern sections. She immediately followed up by splitting her torpedo rack and launched two torpedoes to each ship. The hits from her turrets prevented them from raising their klien fields that would have prevented a good deal of the damages her torpedoes would have caused. The corrosive torpedoes hit home unimpeded. Both torpedoes exploded in orbs of destruction atomizing the structures of the ships they enveloped. When the destructive orbs collapsed, it was as if a sphere-shape hole was missing from both ships, crippling them instantly. Haida further followed up by firing her turrets into the gaping holes of her sister's hulls causing secondary explosions. Both ships were effectively destroyed and as their bows sunk below the waves Haida was beside herself.

"What have I done?!"

End part 2

Haida's Travels, an Arpeggio Blue Steel fanfic
By: Set3

Part 3

She watched in horror as the ships she destroyed sank below the waves. Thoughts of "Why did I do this?" and, "What will I do now?" ran around in her mind again and again as the paralysis continued to hold her actions until she finally registered shouting and crying amid frantic splashing ahead of her bow. She blinked, back in control of her actions and looked on at three humans trying to keep afloat in the water. Haida hesitated at what to do. She briefly considered getting rid of the humans to save face but the damage to that had been done and there would be no forgiveness for such an act.

She was again gripped by the paralysis of indecision until she heard the child screaming out for help from her mother. Haida slowly moved her shipself forward, turning to port a little to come alongside the trio who were still desperately holding onto a piece of floating debris. She grabbed a net ladder as she jumped down to the starboard-side closes to the water and draped it over the side.

"Climb up!" she told them, but only got looks of fear from the trio. "I want to help you," Haida pleaded.

It was the apparent father of the trio that made a grab for the net ladder pulling the other two to over and having them climb the ladder onto the deck. The smallest child did as she was told quite possibly just to get out of the water. The teenage girl was more reluctant arguing with the man.

"You can't be serious! These things were trying to kill us a second ago and now you want us to climb onto one just because it says it wants to help us?!"

"Do you want to swim to shore then?" the man fired back, not waiting for an answer as he shoved her up the ladder. the teen only put up a token resistance before climbing up on her own. Haida looked at the floating debris for anything useful that the humans would need and spied a floating cooler that had remained intact. Haida jumped over the side and landed on energy barriers that she created so she could walk over to the cooler and picked it up before carrying it back to her shipself. A quick jump and she was back onboard herself. She gently set the cooler down and turned to the trio who were now shivering from the wind.

"You can go below deck to warm up if you want to. You're safe now, no one will hurt you," Haida told them.

The teen got up, stomping over to Haida's mental model, and before she realized the teen slapped her across the face with enough force to have her take a step back.

"What kind of sick bitch would try to kill us one second and "save" us the next?" she a demanded, her lip quivering and an angry accusation in her eyes.

"Grace!" the man called out pleading her to hold back.

"Shove off, dad! These things killed mom and I'll never forgive them for that!"

End part 3

"Shove off, dad, these things killed mom and I'll never forgive them for that!"

For reasons beyond Haida's understanding, the girl's statement hurt more than her coming to terms with sinking her sisters just now. She felt a well of anxiety well up inside her as she stared at the girl doing her best to kill her with her eyes.

The older man grabbed the girl in a bear hug to hold her back. He whispered a warning in her ear as he turned to Haida, "I'm sorry for her outburst," the girl, Grace, tried to protest before he put a hand over her mouth, "We're really thankful for you saving us, really! I don't know how much longer we would have survived if you hadn't come along. I don't even know what we can do to repay you," he thanked profusely, still keeping his daughter's outbursts in check.

Haida swallowed hard trying to force her growing anxiety down, "What were you doing out here? You should know that you can't go this far out to sea," Haida told him incredulously.

Grace war finally able to remove her father's hand from his mouth before shouting, "It's because we're starving you fucking machine! Thanks to you, we can't trade with other countries because you cut off the ocean supply lines. We can't even talk to other countries. What do you think would happen?"

Her father tried to shush her, "We're getting by, things are just a little tight right now," the father excused trying to get hold of his daughter again but she wouldn't have it.

"We're barely surviving on what we have right now. We're only just getting enough food on the table," she looked hard at Haida, "Since your kind killed my mom and cut us off from the rest of the world, food riots broke out all across the entire continent, not just the country. Lots of people died in those riots, lots that could have helped us now!"

Haida turned to the father, "Is what she saying true?"

The man was reluctant to answer at first before nodding, "Lots of specialized people died. Factory workers, farmers. Hell, doctors and other medical specialist were gone. After the riots, it was anarchy for awhile. Things are slowly getting back under control now but there's still some raiders on the smaller roads that intercept supplies going to small towns like ours."

"And ours got jacked," Grace added, "They're focusing on fixing the cities first before fixing the phone lines in smaller towns not near the trade routes. We won't survive long enough to the next supply run so we decided to chance fishing since we still had the boats."

"We were one of three boats," the father said. "One sank a day ago because it wasn't repaired properly and the second that was with us got sunk by your friends before you came along," he said in anger but quickly pulled it back when he turned to Haida again.

"Between the two boats we would have had enough fish to make it to the next supply shipment," Grace finished, her father just nodded in agreement. "Thanks to you things," Grace said stressing the last word to make it sound like a slur, "You things just killed our town!" she said condemning Haida accusingly again.

Haida took an involuntary step back from the girl, feeling the anxiety well up again. The Admiralty Code was the guiding rule to be held up by the entire Fleet of Fog. It was the entire reason they did what they did. Haida grimaced in anger, this caused the father to pull his daughter back protectively. Haida suddenly felt very angry. The Admiralty Code told the Fleet of Fog to do this, but, had she known what Grace and her father told them was true then there was only one thing Haida was certain about. The Admiralty code was wrong! And she would do everything she could to help these humans and make things right again!

Haida turned around and told the humans to follow her below deck. The humans were both reluctant, Grace more so, but at long last decided to follow her while carrying the cooler between them. Once the hatch was closed Haida had her ship-self submerge below the water. Grace started to scream that she was going to kill them despite Haida's reassurance to the contrary as the destroyer continued to submerge, the glowing tribal markings on her hull lit up the water around them in an eerie light. At thirty meters down Haida used her onboard supply of nanites to fashion a net and had her sensors pinpoint a school of fish. Seeing a cloud, she fired the net out and with the net being made up of her nanites she was able to catch most of them. She found another and did the same again, pulling both into her ship-self by opening up her belly and pulling the fish into an impromptu-made hold for said fish. With her hold filled of fish she sealed her belly up and made for the surface.

"Your town won't die," Haida told Grace and her father with an utmost conviction, "I won't allow it!"

End part Four.

They had stayed in the area for an hour longer to scavenge what Grace and her father thought to still be useful, like a toolbox that was still floating. On finding and retrieving everything that they could, they were underway back to the small seaside town. A three hour trip and the sun was starting to set which set Haida's hull in an eerie glow from her hull markings. They were close enough to hear people near the docks shouting and they could see people running away from the docks. Haida could see a few with rifles taking defensive positions behind whatever cover they could find. A part of Haida that she tried very hard to silence in her mind laughed at their attempts to mount any defense. Haida's anti-personal weaponry would have been more than enough to depopulate the town. Haida stuffed the feeling down as she crossed her arms. Grace was at her bow waving her arms and shouting to shore, her father behind her doing the same. One of the defenders on shore stood up, Haida could see he was looking through a pair of binoculars and said something to the other people before walking to the docks. The mood felt tense as Haida slowly pulled up alongside the docks. Haida had no lines to tie herself down but she was more than capable of keeping herself stationary.

Grace jumped down from her bow, her father opting to disembark from her midsection. Haida produced energy platforms arranged like steps so he could step down without injury. Haida simply jumped to the dock from where she was on the open bridge section but stayed back a few meters behind Grace and her father. The apparent leader greeted Grace's father.

"Mark!" the man said, shaking Grace's father's hand, "We were beginning to get worried. What happened to the others and how the hell did you get a Fog working for you?!"

Mark let out a breath, "The others are gone, Bill," he answered grimly, "One boat sank from the shitty maintenance work that was done on it and the other and mine were sunk by two other Fog ships. This one," he said sticking his thumb towards Haida's shipself, "Saved us and blew-up the others that were shooting us, saving us."

Bill gave him a dubious look as he pulled an arm across Mark's shoulders, turning away from Haida's direction, "You sure that it wasn't just using you two to lure it back here to take out the town?" he asked pointedly.

Mark gave him a deadpan look, "Bill, we're a tiny town on the coast. The most we have is a half-dozen guns and the boats we had were rust buckets. When those two Fog ships came at us, they were playing with us out of boredom. Our boats broke up from near misses. I doubt they would have cared enough to track back where we came from."

Bill grunted while raising his eyebrows unconvinced. "If you say so," he turned back to Grace sparing quick glances to Haida, both her shipself and mental model. "Well, I am happy to see at least you and Grace made it back it still leaves us back to square one and we don't even have the boats to fairy people along the coast to the next town. We have mouths to feed, Mark," he said grimly.

"We brought food, fish. Lots of it," Grace spoke out, turning to Haida, "Show them," she told Haida.

Haida turned to her shipself gave a nod. Her shipself opened up a door in the side of her hull that hadn't be there before and she had energy fields shaped in a box to carry her hold of fish out and over to the shore where the dock met land.

"Is there anywhere you want me to place this?" Haida asked.

Bill, along with the other defenders, and more than a few curious townsfolk who'd came out of hiding stared at the box floating in the air swimming with fish.

"Su-someone get the tank over for the fish, and ice! Get the smoker ready and the cleaning tables cleaned and ready before this all goes to waste," he shouted gesturing wildly as the defenders that were with him put their guns down to help along with the other townsfolk. "This'll keep us going for at least a month," Bill remarked. Haida noted that he sounded relieved, like the life was coming back in him.

"This is right," Haida thought to herself as she waited for them to get everything ready.

High in the sky above them flew a war plane that an aficionado for military jets would say it resembled a F2H-3 Banshee a severely outdated warplane in the modern world had it not displayed the glowing markings of the Fleet of Fog. The craft was controlled by a Fog aircraft carrier by the name of Bonaventure that resembled the early Majestic-class aircraft carrier. The mental model of this ship seemed to be dozing in a hammock. She had long dark hair that reached just past her mid-back, appearing to be of aboriginal decent. She wore a tight red coloured sleeved shirt that had a keyhole in the chest to show off her generous cleavage and tight hip-hugger jean pants with cowboy-style boots with the spurs on the heels. Her look was topped by a dark cowboy hat that she had currently pulled down over her face.

"That's interesting," Bonaventure said with curiosity and mirth in her voice, pushing the hat up to show her smiling face. She continued spying at her little sister through her aircraft. "I'm going to have to keep an eye on you, won't I?" she remarked as she then pulled the hat back down. On the flight deck, another banshee launched to relieve the one that was currently above the now busy little town. "Curiouser and curiouser," she mumbled, sounding as if she were falling asleep.

End part Five.

Part Six

It had taken hours to get all the fish cleaned. Some were salted, others smoked and otherwise prepped for long-term storage. After dusk fell, the townsfolk decided to have a small celebration with some of the fish they had cooked, some were fried, others baked, and a small few were put on a spit. With the future of of provisions allayed for now the people relaxed some with some music playing, both live and recorded. People were laughing, kids were playing in between stuffing their faces. Right now, life was good.

Haida sat at the docks near her shipself being careful not to raise any further concern with the humans. Her bringing the fish muted most of their suspicions, but there was still plenty of fearful gazes in her direction when they thought she couldn't see them. Haida couldn't blame them as she looked to the glowing hull of her shipself. She let out a weary sigh before she was startled by Grace walking down the docks towards her with other kids a few steps behind her. Grace was carrying a plate of food in her hands.

"Hey, uh, Haida right?" she asked nervous of herself as she approached.

Haida nodded, keeping her expression muted for now, not wanting to spook the girl despite their fiery interactions earlier in the day.

Grace stopped in front of her, "I just wanted to say thank you for saving me and my dad. I don't know why you did but, thanks. So here," she said offering the plate of food to Haida.

Haida took the plate deftly, shocked at the gesture, "Thank you," she said quietly as she picked up the fork and poked a mouthful of fish into her mouth. The taste of the cooked fish was indescribable, a tear ran down her cheek. "It's been so long..." she trailed off before she was distracted by one of the kids that followed Grace down.

"Holy crap, a real Fog ship!" he gaped, holding a hand out to touch Haida's hull.

"Craig, what are you doing?! That's the enemy!" the boy said, pulling his friend back.

Haida bristled at that. She had just brought a bunch of food, saving the town and this kid was still calling her an enemy. He probably ate some of the fish she brought earlier too. Catching herself, she just let her shoulders slump in resignation and just let it go and continued to eat the fish. Surprisingly to her, Grace stood up for her.

"You guys shut up! She took on two other Fog ships. By herself! If she didn't do that, me an' my dad wouldn't be here right now. She even caught all the fish in minutes that would have taken us with the boats days! I saw you stuffing your face earlier, Steve," she chided.

The boy in question looked away with his arms crossed, a sheepish look on his face, "Yeah, well..." he trailed off, not being able to issue a comeback to that.

Grace turned back to Haida, "Why don't you come join us?" she offered.

Haida gazed longingly to the people celebrating but shook her head, "No, it's ok. You go back and party with your friends, I'll be fine here, thanks," she assured Grace.

Grace was reluctant but acquiesced and turned back to the party, bringing the two boys that came down back with her.

"...Home made food," Haida whispered as she brought another forkful of fish to her mouth.

As Grace walked back, smiling as everyone seemed a lot happier now that they had food again. It was nice. She continued to look around, debating whether to go dancing or grab another plate for herself when she saw Bill and several other adults still loading the convoy to leave.

Running towards them she called out, "Hey, what are you guys doing? We have food now, why are you loading up still?" she asked her dad when she saw him talking to Bill.

The two adults gave each other a look before her dad turned to her and got down on a knee to speak to her, "We're still leaving," he told her, disappointment in his voice.

Grace just stood there, not being able to process what her father told her for a minute, "But, why? We have food now," she turned to Bill, "You said we had enough food for a month!" she accused the man.

Bill let out a breath as he scratched the back of his head, "I did," he said simply.

"Then why are we leaving?" she asked again.

Bill gave a grimace, "He have food this month, but, what about the next month? You were there, we lost all our boats. And even if we still had them, the Fog are still out there. We got lucky this time."

"But Haida's here now. She can get us more fish when we need it," she reasoned.

Bill gave her father a look who turned his head back to look Grace in the eyes, "Grace, you now how much I appreciate Haida for helping save us and getting us food for the town. But she's from the Fog and she killed two of her own. As much as I'd hope the Fog would ignore us, the odds aren't in our favour. You saw how they were playing with us, they could have sunk us with one hit, but, they made a game out of it. Now two of them are dead so now they're probably going to come for revenge and if the find out it's Haida, they'll find her here and take out the town since she helped us," he took a breath, "And even if they don't, word will get back further inland about a Fog ship that decided to moor here and government people will come to do who knows what and we'll have to leave anyways. Or the raiders will come to either try to take Haida for themselves or attack us for being friends with the Fog. Even if it attacks other Fog, these people won't understand," he told her, putting a hand on her shoulder to try to comfort her.

Grace just stared at him a moment before shrugging his hand off her shoulder and turning to run back to the docks, "No! I'm not running away and I won't leave Haida alone!" she shouted as she ran back. She stopped briefly, getting her friends to help her carry a cooler full of prepped fish and a camper stove with a small tank of fuel.

The two adults were watching the small group of kids were struggling getting everything down to the docks while Mark got up on his feet and started making his way down, "I'll get the kids back," he told Bill over his shoulder.

Haida noticed Grace and her friends struggling to the docks carrying a cooler and camping stove and was confused by the sight so, got up and made her way to them. "What's going on?" she asked the group, her head quirked in puzzlement.

"Haida!" Grace called out breathing hard, "Help us get this stuff aboard, we're going to be leaving soon," she told her, finally taking a breath.

This confused Haida more, "Why are we leaving? I suppose I can take us fishing again but," she was cut off by Mark calling them.

"Grace!" Mark called out to her daughter, "You can't just run off like that! I'm sorry you don't want to say goodbye to Haida but she can't come with us and we can't stay here," he admonished when he got to conversation range with his daughter.

Haida watched the interaction of daughter and father arguing back and forth when the sensors from her shipself pinged. Haida spun her head to stare out to the sea. IF she were human, her blood would have gone cold. "Get on!" she demanded the group as she stood there trying to think of what to do.

Mark turned to her, "What are you talking about?"

Haida was already in motion and had her hexagonal force fields lift up the humans and carry them to her ship self. The group shouted yelled and screamed in surprise as they moved through the air to her shipself. This action got the guards who were watching her on their feet as they readied their weapons.

"What are you doing with them?!" one guard demanded as she aimed her rifle for Haida's head.

Haida made another hexagonal force field appear between her and the guard, "There's no time! Get everyone out of here, the Fog are coming right now, so move!" she screamed at the woman.

The woman only hesitated for a second before turning to her fellow guard telling him something. The fear of god ran over the man's face as he turned to the still celebrating townsfolk screaming, "Fog! The Fog are coming, get everyone on the convoy, get moving!"

There was a brief moment of confusion as the man ran through grabbing random people to urge them to get going. A few got the hint but most looked to the docks in confusion until they notice several points of light trailed by plumes of smoke come up from the ocean beyond Haida. The screaming and near pandemonium started in earnest as everyone made for the convoy of vehicles in a mad dash. Some ran for their homes to get whatever they wanted to bring with them.

The female guard at the docks ran toward Haida, demanding to be let on to "Make sure she wasn't taking hostages". Haida did so without question, wanting to get underway. Backing away from the docks, she trained her guns on the incoming missiles while she raised he klien field. The last time she had the element of surprise, now though, she wasn't so sure of her odds.

End Part Six

Part Seven

Haida fired her guns managing to hit a half-dozen missiles as her shipself pushed away from the docks and back out to sea, towards her opponents. She continued to shoot at the missiles as they came and even had to use her anti-personal lasers when the last few got within practical spitting distance. Her shipself rocked as she used her personal shields to block the last missile, her human companions screamed as the deck shook knocking them to said deck. Haida grimaced as she looked to the three attacking ships. Four corvette types, the Baddeck, Norsyd, Fennel, and Mimico. All based on the appearance of the Flower-class design. Haida was about to call out to them to try reasoning to not wipe out the human when she got pinged by all four over the Fleet of Fog's Joint Tactical Network. Haida accepted the handshake request and her higher consciousness was instantly transported to the shared communication's link, represented as a gazebo with a table set up with a faux version of a fancy chocolate cake, ready for serving. The four corvettes were seated around the table on the opposite side from where Haida stood. Haida sat down on her side as she took in the four's appearance. They all appeared slightly "younger" than herself, if not a little shorter. Baddeck was wearing a light green sundress with a deep green velvet collar around her neck. Green seemed to be her colour as even her eyes were a sparkling green, which brought out her fiery red hair that fell stylishly down to just above her shoulders in subtle waves and presented an aristocratic air about herself as she sipped from a cup of tea, pinkie finger out. Norsyd was dressed in a grey non-descript shirt and trousers, she had mussy short grey hair. She would almost seem forgettable if it wasn't for the manic grin and insane looking eyes she had on her face as she was shaping the cake in front of her into something that was giving her a small giggle fit. Fennel was wearing a yellow t-shirt with a pair of jean overall shorts and stylish boots. Her hair, purple in colour, went down to her mid-back, she was busy playing with Mimico's black hair tying her hair into handlebar-style twin ponytails. Mimico, despite how cute her name sounded, was wearing a pin-stripe men's style suit and seemed annoyed with Fennel playing with her hair.

"My question is this," Baddeck said to Haida and she carefully placed her teacup on the saucer, "Why are you protecting these humans? If you must know, two of our sisters, Ontario and Annan, were killed early this morning and this was the nearest human habitation. Prior to their termination, they have told us that the boats they have intercepted came from here. Now, imagine my shock, when we arrived, that not only were you present at their quaint little harbor, but were celebrating with ill-gotten gains from the ocean. The Fleet of Fog have made our position quite clear, Haida. Humans are to remove themselves from the worlds oceans. Failure to accept these conditions will result in painful discipline," she said hotly.

Norsyd giggled at that, "Splish splash, I was spanking a bag," she sang refering to the attack on the human town they just attacked as she suddenly squashed the cake with her hand, sending icing and other bits of cake flying across the table. "Get out of the way! It's been so long since I got to play with the funny humans," she cackled.

Fennel seemed to not notice anything as she continued to play with Mimico's hair, now putting it into a single ponytail that was tied at the top of her head. Mimico just rolled her eyes at Norsyd's antics and turned to Haida, "Why aren't the humans afraid of you?" she queried, "In fact, it looks like they were quite comfortable around you," she prodded.

"Yeah!" Norsyd cut in, "Not that I'm complaining 'cause now I'll get to, but, why didn't you burn them? You shoot them and they go up like roman candles," she prodded as she trailed off in a fit of giggles again.

Haida frowned at that, "Why?" she countered simply.

This gave the four pause, and even Fennel turned to stare at Haida in surprise.

Baddeck placed her teacup that she was about to sip from back down and dabbed the corners of her mouth before composing herself, "What ever do you mean by such a question?" she asked incredulously. "In fact, I should aske why are you rewarding the humans with food for somehow finding a way to kill not one, but two of us?" she accused.

"Did you even destroy the base in Hudson's Bay like you were supposed to?" Fennel queried staring at her from the side of her eye as she went back to playing with Mimico's hair.

"Yes!" Haida responded a little too forcibly. She leaned back in her chair to ease the tension she was feeling, "There's nothing left of the base," she said but it came out bland, like she was just saying it to say it. She swallowed hard as she looked them over. "Do you even know what the humans have gone through since we kicked them out of the world's oceans? There's been mass starvation, people are fighting each other for what's left, so many have died. That the people in that small town you tried to blanket fire just now are leaving because bandits intercept their supply too many times," she protested.

Baddeck was nonplused, "That, among other things, is why we have exorcised the ruffians from the oceans. That said, if any of the humans in that town were responsible for killing one of us, then we need to be sure they don't spread that information."

"The humans in that town weren't responsible for killing Ontario and Annan," Haida whispered.

"Then, who killed them?" Baddeck prodded as she leaned forward, one hand holding a spoon that was slowly stirring some sugar she added to the tea.

Haida stared Baddeck in the eyes with grim determination.

"It was me," she said. And then she fired her guns.

End part Seven

MAU: Infinte Crisis Part 2

A few minutes prior to Noel's impromptu fight with the Iron Patriot, now
Iron Hulk buster, he had been chasing a different character who very
much resembled one from "Batman Beyond". In fact he was the striking
image of that Batman himself. While he looked like Terry McGinnis, his
real name was Jeffrey Donald. Not surprisingly, both he and his pursuer
had used the strange alien device. Jeffrey had a sizable lead ahead of
the guy chasing him, but he doubled back and waited for the Iron Patriot
or "Henry" as was his real name, to fly by over and a little further
ahead before jumping back up to follow at a discrete distance. A few
minutes later Jeffrey noticed that Henry abruptly changed his course
heading straight up, he dove for the tree tops in case he noticed him.
It wasn't until he saw weapons fire that he was both relieved and then
worried. Relieved that he hadn't been spotted and worried about what he
was firing on.

"Ah hell!"

Putting aside his own personal concerns, he did his best to catch up and
hopefully stop Henry before he did something really bad. Touch his hand
to his ear, he activated his radio.

"Hey John, You hear me?"

"Loud and clear, were you able to ditch him finally?" His voice had a
tell-tale sign of an English accent. Something he didn't have before he
was changed.

"Yeah, but he's shooting at something. I hope it's just some birds, and
if it's not, I'm going to check it out just in case."

"Bloody hell, does that mean I have to come pick you up when you get
into it?"

"Hmph, funny! But just in case, yeah."

Jeffrey activated his beacon for John to follow, when he saw tracer
rounds striking towards the ground. He could just barely make out a
shake of the tree tops. Clearly something hit the ground. Hard. There
were a few flashes of light and then they were off into the sky again.
Jeffrey had to strain his suits rockets to the limit just to keep up.
All the while, the two kept trading shots, although it was heavily one-
sided as the Iron Man figure was doing most of the shooting. The first
vestige of morning was just poking over the horizon when the chase soon
arrived at a small town.

Jeffrey could see a few streaks of light fall to the town, three of the
four made it back up. Just as he reached the edge of the town he saw a
beam of light erupt from a large object striking the ground. The force
of the impact was enough to cause the surrounding trees to shudder
around the beam.

"Oh God, John! You're going to have to floor it. He just fired his uni-
beam!"

"FUCK!!! I'm still twenty minutes away. Stall him!"

'Fucking radio! All it's good for is telling people stuff when they
can't do anything about it!' Thought Jeffrey.

He landed on the roof of a store behind Henry, now in Hulkbuster mode.
As Jeffrey was getting ready to throw an exploding batarang, his
combatant made a sword come out of her arm and stuck it into the arm he
was holding her by. And judging from his very angry outburst it did some
damage, just not enough to stop him from shooting her point-blank in the
face, much to Jeffrey's horror.

As each shot went, repulsor energy flared out between his fingers like
geysers. Smoke crept out like willowy snakes. It seemed that the last
shot killed her.

"Aw shit! John, step it up! He just killed her and I'll be damned if I'm
gonna let him play with her corpse after what just happened!"

"The bloody prick! 'Kay, I'll be there in ten minutes."

'Well if I'm going to stop him, I'll have to get his attention...'
thought Jeffrey as he jumped and threw some regular batarangs over
Henry's head landing several feet in front.

"Put. Her! Down!" Jeffrey said sternly while readying an explosive
batarang.

Jeffrey heard him chuckle which then turned into a laugh as he swung his
victim around to grab her legs with his other hand while charging his
uni-beam again. As he fired, Jeffrey dove forward to the left to avoid
both the body and the beam as they went by. Jeffrey rolled to a stop in
the kneeling position and fired his batarang into the hole of Henry's
oversized arm. Seconds later the entire hand blew off halfway between
the elbow and wrist leaving sparking wires and a very upset Henry. Bothe
his helmets opened up revealing an insanely mad face.

"You're DAMN lucky I want you alive! Otherwise I would've torn you to
pieces for that!"

With that said he closed up his helmets, grabbed the still twitching
hand on the ground with his other. And flew up into the sky and out of
sight in seconds.

By this time, a few people began poking their heads around corners from
opposite ends of the street. Thankfully, for the moment, they were more
interested in the smashed truck. Taking advantage of this Jeffrey walked
over and picked up the still form.

"John, Henry took off. I got the girl so tell me where you're coming
from and I'll meet you halfway!" He said as he ran down a side-street, a
feat made difficult while carrying about three hundred pounds of an
armored woman.

A GPS map appeared on his HUD with a route overlaid on it.

"Take the directions I just sent you. It's the quickest way out and
there shouldn't be too many people to spot you if anyone is up. Meet you
in two!"

Jeffrey grunted in reply as he ran down back alleys and through side-
streets away from built up sections of the town's main street to the
more rural areas on the edge of town. Sure enough in two minutes Jeffrey
rounded another corner to see a large moving truck pull to a stop.
Jeffrey ran towards the back and jumped in as the doors swung open. John
was already in back waiting for them with a first-aid kit. As Jeffrey
laid her down and stepped back John passed his sonic screwdriver over
and looked at it.

"Well!?" Jeffrey urged as he took his cowl off.

John put on a pair of old style 3-D glasses and redid his scan.
"...Amazing!"

"Don't go 'Doctor' on me, is she alright?"

John removed his 3-D glasses.

"Sorry, it's been easier to slip into character since I regenerated. And
what I found isn't important at the moment."

He then brought his screwdriver around her head. The buzzing seemed to
make Jeffrey angrier by the second.

"Stop playing with your damn screwdriver and get her out of it!!" He
screamed.

"That's what I'm trying to do! Contrary to what I look like, I'm not the
actual Doctor! I barely know how to use this thing and I've been running
on instinct!" He shouted back.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity, they were rewarded with a
soft click. John gingerly lifted the helmet up and set it aside. Jeffrey
leaned over, turning his ear to her face.

"She's not breathing."

He then sits up and places two fingers to her neck while holding his
cowl to his head.

"And I can't get a pulse."

In a sudden renewed fit of anger, Jeffrey flung his cowl to the back of
the truck and rested his back to the wall behind him with his head in
his hands.

"That's FOUR that he's killed now!" Jeffrey screamed.

"Well four we know of." Replied John grimly.

Jeffrey glared back. The two exchanged a salom look before looking down
at the girl. If it wasn't for the blotchy mess between her eyes from
Henry's repulsors she would've been quite pretty. From what they could
see, she was predominantly Asian with a mix of Caucasian to give her a
pixie look. Further adding to the look was her short sandy blond hair
with white frosted tips. As Jeffrey stared, he noticed something about
the girls' armor.

"What the hell?"

John saw it too. Where ever there were cracks in the armor, they started
to rise until they looked like exaggerated veins. They kept getting
bigger till they were a quarter inch above the rest of the armor, at
which point they throbbed and seemed to collapse slightly causing a
ripple effect across the armor. As each ripple passed over, the scorch
marks and burns would disappear as if it never happened. After the
'ripples' subsided the 'veins' sunk down leaving no trace of the cracks
they emerged from. While this was going on, Jeffrey had stood back while
John got into the driver's seat to take them out of town in case
something else happens. Just as Jeffrey was sure that whatever just
happened was finished, tendrils exploded from under her collar which
encompassed her entire head. The tendrils twitched for a minute then
began to dissolve into her head, a few receded back under her collar.
Jeffrey noticed that they healed the injury on her face, kneeling down;
he began to check her pulse and breathing. As he did, the truck ran over
a bump, and suddenly the girls' eyes opened and gasped before sitting
upright. Jeffrey jerked backwards startled and hit the back of his head
on the wall behind him. The girl, breathing hard, gulped and put a hand
to her stomach.

"Ohh, I'm so hungry, should've eaten before I left. Wait... Where am I?"

------------------

At first I didn't even know that I regained consciousness. At first I
felt that I was floating, then I was being suffocated, then I finally
came to the realization that I wasn't breathing. Opening my eyes I
sucked in the much needed air as I sat up. After a few seconds of
hyperventilating, I immediately became aware of the hunger pangs in my
stomach.

"Oh, I'm so hungry, should've eaten before I left."

When I heard myself talk, I sounded like a whiny girl and I was about to
laugh, when I felt the room bounce. It was then I noticed I wasn't
outside anymore.

"Wait... Where am I?"

I looked around me as the room continued to bounce at random intervals
and saw a man dressed in a black suit with a red Batman symbol splade
across his chest.

"Who are you?"

He looked as if he were frozen before shaking his head slightly then
extending his hand before replying.

"Jeffrey Donald... Let me guess, you found a little box which grew as
big as a phone booth and you used it to change yourself, right?"

He had a crooked smile on his face as if he wanted to share an inside
joke.

"...Yeah, a few hours ago I think. My name's Noel by the way."

I shook his hand while I cleared my throat, still not used to my voice.
He stared at me before handing me my helmet. The faceplate had a hole
big enough that I could probably fit the end of my original pinky finger
in it. Cracks radiated out from it. I then felt pins and needles in my
finger tips and became transfixed as the cracks seem to swell into
little mountain ranges towards the hole. When they converged on it, it
seemed to clot or bubble over, covering it completely. After which it
all melted into the helmet making it look brand new.

"That's VERY slightly weird!"

I then remembered the 'fight' I was in and reached up to feel my
forehead and instantly felt stupid for doing so since I was still mostly
in my armour. Jeffrey saw the look on my face and said, "Don't worry,
the rest of you healed up. Both you and your armor."

"Thanks," I replied with a smile.

Feeling more at ease with my surroundings I was kinda surprised when the
colour of my armour changed back from the two-tone olive green to its
original red and white.

"So what brings you to the grand US of A Noel?"

"...Family," I replied.

"Oh..."

"Yeah..."

The sudden question seemed to put a halt to any further casual
conversation, so we ended up just staring awkwardly at each other, till
Jeff suddenly got up.

"Well, I'm going to check on our driver. If you're hungry, we got a
mini-fridge to your right and you're welcome to it," he said hastily
before moving up front.

The truck bounced again causing him to trip. He swore under his breath
before continuing to the cabin.

"Kay thanks." I said after him. I sighed before turning my attention to
the fridge and smiling.

"You're all mine now!" I said with a chuckle.
----------

Jeffrey was still swearing when he sat in the passenger seat.

"Jeez John, are you looking for potholes or something?"

"Just whenever you're walking about. So, how's our girl?"

"She seems fine. Not sure if that's just because it hasn't hit her yet
or if she's absorbed herself into the character she turned herself
into."

"So... She's Canadian?"

"Well she hasn't said anything about where she's from. But if you're
going on the maple leaf design on her armor then yeah."

"Hey, I always wondered if they say 'eh' all the time. Or what about
'aboot'?" John asked with a grin.

Jeffrey let out a groan.

"John, if we're going by stereotypes, then you are a hill billy redneck
engaged to your sister that can play a banjo." He quipped back with a
grin of his own. John laughed.

"So what did you find when you were doing your scans?" Jeffrey asked
looking over.

"Like I said, nothing important. She's fine now so there's no need to go
into it." He said matter of factly.

"Come on, it must've been something to make you lapse." Jeffrey urged.

"I stand by my previous nonsensical statement." He replied flatly.

"Alright fine... So... Where are we gonna meet up with the rest?"
Jeffrey asked changing the subject.

"Well before all this happened..." He waved his hand randomly before
continuing. "..I came across a rest stop for campers an hour out of the
town we were just in. I thought it'd be a good place."

Jeffrey got out of the passenger seat before saying. "Well I'm going to
check up on our guest again and tell her to expect some more joining
us."

John just nodded then started humming the Doctor Who theme.

"Hey Noel, just so you know, we're going to pick up some friends and..."

Jeffrey cut himself short as Noel looked back over her shoulder with a
half eaten mini-sup sandwich sticking out of her mouth. The sight of
this would've looked even more cute if she wasn't in her armor, but
damn!

"Hm?" She 'asked' before taking another bite. Jeffrey stopped for a
moment.

"Okay, I gotta ask. Who did you turn yourself into? Are you a new
person? Or did you just make yourself a suit?"

Noel finished her sandwich before replying.

"No, I'm new all around. You wouldn't even recognize me before now. Not
that you would with this being the first time we met. No, but. I based
the armour off of an anime called 'Bubblegum Crisis'. To be honest, I
was only thinking about how to make the suit. I didn't really think
about how I should look under it. Come to think of it, I haven't looked
at myself since the second time I changed. This would be my third
change." She said, pointing to herself.

"Well the only mirrors we have are the side views on the truck. If you
want to use those, you're going to have to wait till we stop. The only
other thing we have is the laptop we use. It has a built in web cam
so... whichever you want to do." He gestured aimlessly.

Noel stood up with one hand to the side for balance in the still moving
truck.

"Let's go with the web cam then."

Jeffrey pulled out a laptop from a cubby hole beside the mini-fridge and
turned it on and opened up the webcam. Noel could hardly believe it. He
or rather she for awhile now, looks almost exactly like Nene would in
real life. Except for the white tipped hair and teal coloured eyes, she
was a dead ringer. And thanks to the presumably Caucasian mix, it seemed
to widen her almond shaped eyes to look closer to her anime counterpart.
All in all, she was cute.

"Wonder what the rest of me looks." She mumbled to herself.

Leaving Noel to her newfound vanity, Jeffrey made his way back to the
cab and sat down beside John once more.

"You know, getting up and down and walking around a moving vehicle isn't
the best of ideas." stated John. His grin abated the seriousness of it,
showing he was only kidding.

"I'd hate to ask a stereotypical question here, but. Are we there yet?"
Jeffrey asked looking out the side window.

"Actually yes. I'm surprised that you didn't see it."

"What? The turn off, or the truck stop?"

"No, I was referring to the twenty foot tall giant in medieval armor by
the trees over there." He pointed.

Jeffrey looked out the window and groaned inwardly.

"Dammit Andria!..."

As they pulled up and got out, they walked past the picnic tables and
outhouses to the edge of a clearing where they came to meet two
individuals. One just finished unsummoning the giant.

"Dammit Andria, I've told you before! We can't do things like this in
the daytime!"

She just shrugged in response.

---------------

Meanwhile at a currently undisclosed location.

"I'm a busy man, Mike. What's so important to interrupt my video
conference?" Mr. Tonaon asked impatiently.

Mr. Tonaon was the head of the company 'Tonaon Industrials' A company
that mainly sold factory equipment and supplies. Mr. Tonaon was toying
with the idea of branching out.

"Well, one of our transport truck drivers claims he nearly hit a deer."

"That's it?! If this is what you called me down here for, then I'll
charge your pay for the money you lost me. And at your current pay
level, your descendants will have to work it off for generations to
come," Tonaon said coldly.

Mike nervously taped on the keyboard of the computer bringing up several
images.

"This is what the hood cam on his truck shows."

The video was a short two-second clip where something landed then seemed
to fly back up with short streams of light behind it.

"As you can see, the video quality is too poor to make out any definite
details but you CAN see it is a person."

"...While that is unusual, it's hardly something worth my attention."
Tonaon meant to sound annoyed but he had to admit. His curiosity was
piqued. Still, business was business, and he couldn't allow himself to
be affected by something that didn't affect his company.

Mike enlarged a satellite image on the screen.

"The satellite here was currently set for analyzing energy consumption
for environmentalist. These are power lines, these blobs are vehicles,
and here are buildings. Now watch as I advance the photos."

A blob marked as the company truck for reference was just leaving city
limits. Further down and to the right of the map was a small pinprick of
light. If it wasn't so bright, it would have been swallowed up by the
other blobs and lines.

"What is that?" Tonaon asked, pointing at the unusual mark.

"That 'dot' is producing twice the energy produced by a nuclear plant.
But watch these next few frames."

The next image shows the dot at a greater intensity than before. The
next image showed only static.

"What happened on the last one?" asked Tonaon.

"The energy output of whatever that was, caused a conflict in the
satellites programming. The entire system had to be rebooted." Mike
answered before hastily adding. "And when it came back online, it
vanished! Just went back to normal."

Tonaon leaned closer to the screen, cycling back the last three images.

"Keep an eye on this Mike." He then whispered to himself, "I want this!"

The look in his eyes changed from a mild corporate paranoia to absolute
greed.

--------------

Noel stepped out of the back of the truck without any problems aside
from her 'boots' sinking into the ground a little more than the others.
John had already got out and was making his way across a clearing.
Jeffrey did a slight nod to gesture Noel to follow.

As they walked, Noel noticed that there wasn't much snow around and what
was there was melted somewhat. "So that's where they get the idea that
Canada's always winter," she thought to herself. Her attention was then
drawn to a glowing giant that then disappeared in an implosion of light.

"Holy crap!" Noel said looking to Jeff she could see he was more peeved
then awed.

"Dammit Andria! I've told you before, we can't do stuff like that during
the day!" He yelled when we reached them.

She only shrugged before looking over to Noel, "Oooo... Who's the new
guy?" she asked.

Jeffrey sighed and introduced Noel.

"Noel, this is Andria, a constant pain in my neck."

"Ciao," she said with a smile and a wink.

Jeffrey just rolled his eyes. "And.."

John cut him off ".. And this lovely girl's, my girl, Major. A bit of a
prude sometimes but I still love her," he said which earned a playful
slap from 'Major' before they kissed each other. "I'm John by the way,
John Smith! And no, I'm not joking, that is my name. Can't tell you how
many times people thought I was joking."

Noel just nodded seeing as how John was the splitting image of David
Tennant. She then introduced herself, told them about herself and how
she came across the alien machine. She skipped over the part about the
fact that she was originally a male, not sure what they'll think.

The others listened and after she was done they told her about
themselves.

John was born and raised in New Orleans but he and his family moved
shortly after the hurricane flooding to Boston where he moved out a year
later. He spent three years in university and managed to graduate early
with honors. It was the night after graduation when he found the box
embedded in his "new" car his parents bought him. He turned it on that
night but was too freaked out to try until two days later. He changed
himself into various Doctor Who characters and even some from the spin-
offs. He'd just turned himself into the ninth Doctor when the box
stopped working. Thankfully his parents and family accepted and
supported him and his new self. It was a few months later that he met
Jeffrey, and painfully, Henry soon after. Henry and Jeffrey were in a
fight and when Henry was about to finish Jeff off with his uni-beam,
John pushed him out of the way and got hit instead. Fortunately John was
a real Time Lord and regenerated into the tenth Doctor, David Tennant.
From that point on, he joined up with Jeffrey to stop Henry.

Andria Sythe didn't have much of an eventful childhood. She grew up in
Washington DC and could without a doubt be called a gamer chic. Her
parents had her attend a private school where she excelled as the team
captain for the school fencing team. Her parents cut her off when they
found out about her gaming habits. Not being able to afford school
anymore she got a job as a barista for one of the many coffee shops in
the city. It was then that she found the box and changed herself into
Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII, after which she joined an amateur
video game tournament where she eventually won first prize and a job
from Sony to beta test their future games. It was after her picture was
shown in the paper that agents from the agency that tracks the alien
devices contacted her, and gave her a new ID. After some inquiries, she
came across several "teams" that the agency employed for tracking and
containing the more aggressive changees. In the spur of the moment, she
decided to join John and Jeffrey, and has been with them since.

Major was the most mysterious. She had changed into the Ghost in the
Shell character Motoko Kasunagi, otherwise known as "Major". At the time
she had a friend who'd changed into a Tachikoma. For some reason or
another they got into a fight with Henry. About halfway through, Henry
was somehow able to hack Major and found a way to erase her history.
Henry had almost torn her to pieces if her friend hadn't sacrificed
itself by firing a grenade point-blank at Henry forcing him to retreat.
Jeffrey, John, and Andria showed up a few minutes later too late to save
her friend. John was able to save and fix Major's broken body and stayed
by her side till she woke up. When she did, she was distraught when she
couldn't even remember her own name. Her entire past and everything
linking to it was gone, in fact the only thing she could remember about
the Tachikoma was that it was her friend. Her entire life was reduced to
whatever facts and figures they were able to dig up and some vague
memories. Everything she learned about her past self felt as if it were
someone else's life she was looking in on. Needless to say, she fell
into a depression for a long time, and if it wasn't for John staying by
her side, she would have killed herself. John eventually pulled her out
of it and managed to keep her cheerful for the most part. After her
depression John told her about what their group was doing and she
insisted on joining, to see if Henry still had anything from her past
and for revenge for her friend who died.

Jeffrey didn't say much about himself. Only that Henry was his brother
and after they used the device, Henry went insane letting the power of
the box go to his head. They fought for position over it until their
sister got caught in the crossfire. Jeffrey stayed to help his sister
while Henry made off with the box. Jeffrey waited till an ambulance
arrived, told police what he could, and went with his sister to the
hospital. There he found out that she was in what the doctors called a
"light" coma. There was plenty of brain activity but for whatever reason
she wasn't waking up. He cried himself to sleep next to her still form.
It was late in the afternoon when he woke to the sound of knocking on
the door. Jeffrey wiped his eyes (he must have been crying in his sleep)
and opened the door where two men in black suits asked if they could
come in to ask some questions about what really happened. Too tired to
lie he told them about the box, the fight, and that Henry had taken the
box while he did his best to care for his sister till help arrived. The
rest was pretty much self explanatory. Jeffrey was now working for the
government under the condition that his sister receives the best medical
care available. There have been more than a few times when they thought
they finally had Henry, but whenever they managed to corner him, he
takes a life to cover his escape.

The group had moved back to the truck to get out of the cold, Major
didn't seem to notice, it was more to stop Andria from whining about her
legs freezing. It was then that Noel yawned and realized she'd been up
for almost a whole day.

"Hey Jeff, would we be able to pull into a hotel or set up camp or
something?" she asked.

Jeffrey thought for a moment "Well we have a fold out cot on the side,"
he answered pulling one down from the side.

John and Major went up to the cab and started the truck and began
driving again. The occasional giggle could be heard above the not so
quiet whispers. Andria had settled on a chair near the front playing a
PSP GO. Jeffrey was in a chair across the cot typing something into the
laptop. Normally Noel was never able to sleep in a moving vehicle,
usually just settling on sitting with her eyes closed, in any case this
time she drifted off without any fuss to speak of.

-----------

Several hours later Noel woke with a sigh to sunlight shining in her
face and realized she wasn't in the truck anymore. She sat up and looked
around to see that she was now in a large warehouse that was converted
into a semblance of a living space. She was now sitting on a cheap
convertible couch with the back cushions removed. To her left behind her
was Jeff sitting at a table cleaning his batarangs.

"You know Jeff, most would say that it's creepy to spend your time next
to someone while they sleep," Noel joked with another yawn.

Startled, Jeffrey looked over, "..Well, it's about time you woke up.
Come on, we have someone who wants to talk to you," he said getting up.

Jeffrey led Noel past an open kitchen and a dining hall, again
completely open, to a room halfway down a basketball court. If it wasn't
for the incredibly high ceiling and series of large doors along the
front, Noel would've been happy letting herself believe that this was a
hollowed out studio apartment. Although now that she thought about it,
it was pretty much is. As they entered the room Noel saw that it
resembled a board room. There was a large crescent shaped table with
half a dozen chairs lining the side and a huge flat screen TV that took
up two-thirds of the outside wall. Jeffrey gestured for Noel to take a
seat. As she did so, he sat down beside her and pushed a button on a
phone in front of them.

"She's here now. Sorry about the wait," he said letting go of the
button.

Immediately the TV lit up showing a man sitting in a desk wearing a dark
suit, the size of the TV gave the impression that he was sitting there
in front of them.

He took a sip of coffee from his desk before speaking.

"Good morning Mr. Donalds," he checked some notes on his desk, "... And
Noel is it? Is that your first or your last name?"

The man had the look of genuinely caring but Noel still hesitated. "Um,
Noels my first name. And Arthur is my last name."

"All right Miss Arthur.."

"Don't call me miss okay? It sounds kinda freaky to me."

"..Very well then. Noel. I am Agent G, I am the liaisons between the
agency and Mr. Donolds team."

Jeffrey leaned over whispering to Noel, "Congratulations. I've been
trying to get him to call me by my first name for years now, and you
managed to get him doing it for you in two minutes."

Agent G continued seemingly oblivious of Jeffrey's hushed comment.

"First, I'd like to apologize for what happened to you so shortly after
your first encounter with the alien artifact."

"Why are you apologizing for? It's not as if you had anything to do with
that psycho," Noel stated.

"True, but the agency is still at least indirectly at fault. You see,
it's the agency's primary mandate to recover these artifacts before they
end up doing harm to the public well being. Needless to say, we aren't
as successful as we'd like to be on that part."

Jeffrey leaned over again, "He's right. More often than not, we're
handing out new ID's."

"Mr. Donalds is right; we have several stockpiles of the non-functioning
devices that were confiscated from people who are now trapped in another
form. Most that change are human but there are a growing percentage of
people that turn themselves into something more...'unique'. But right
now that's beside the point. Right now we are here to talk about you."

Noel unconsciously sat lower in her chair. " 'Kay. What do you want to
know?"

Agent G brought his pen up ready to write. "Well first off, is that body
armor you're wearing or is that a permanent cybernetic body?"

The way he asked the question was the same as if he asked her about the
weather. Obviously he's done this more than he cared to admit, or at
least enough times to make it boring.

"No, this is just body armour. Although I changed some things about my
body so I'm not completely human." Then she added quickly, "But I'd
still pass for one obvious."

Agent G wrote it down. "Fair enough. Now, what was your original
gender?" He didn't even blink an eye while Noel squirmed in her seat
slightly.

"What kind of question is that?" She looked to Jeffrey for an escape; he
offered none as he looked off pretending to study something on the wall.
He coughed slightly.

Agent G rubbed his eyes before responding. "It's a standard question we
ask because there are a noticeable percentage of transformed individuals
that have changed their genders. We ask this so we can appoint a
suitable councilor or support group to assist in such a fundamental
change. So would you please answer the question?"

Noel looked down, fiddling with her hands nervously.

"um... Can I skip that for now? It's just..." She looked up at Agent G's
face for something, anything that would let her know she wouldn't have
to answer. Answering Agent G's questions was like seeing a doctor, and
with Jeff there, it felt like a stranger was watching your physical.
Thankfully Agent G got her plea and moved on.

"We'll return to that later. There are some things I'd like to ask you
about your encounter that I'm afraid Mr. Donolds will have to sit out
for."

Noel sighed in relief and relaxed a little..

"I'll also need you to tell me where you currently reside. This is just
so we can update your identification papers so you won't be considered
an illegal alien by law. And you won't have to start over from scratch
with your academic achievements."

"Okay, I live up in Canada in a town.."

Agent G cut her off, "Wait, your saying that you're a Canadian citizen?"
Agent G drops his pen and reached for the phone. "Shit, I hate talking
to CSIS!" He dialed and pushed a button on his desk and started talking
before the video cut out and was replaced by the word 'mute'.

"What's going on?" Noel asked, turning to Jeff.

"Jurisdiction," he replied.

--------------

Meanwhile at Tonaon Industrials Headquarters Mr. Tonaon was again called
down to Mike's computer lab, this time, in a far better mood.

"So, how are we progressing Mike?"

His tone implied he was at ease, but Mike knew better and got to the
point rather than begin with chit chat.

"I've sent two teams to the location, a science team and a security
team. I have a transport driver standing by in case we can take whatever
caused the phenomenon. He's been told that he's going to be transporting
defective equipment. And so far, the science team hasn't found anything
that caused it."

"So it's been moved," Tonaon said bluntly, impatience creeping back in
his voice.

"Well the evidence certainly suggests that. It could be that whoever
made this device decided to test it outside first then move it back
after maybe?"

Tonaon gave Mike an impatient glare.

"But we have people on the ground and the satellite is fully dedicated
to searching now. I've told the researchers that were using it that we
had to take it offline because we believe there's a possible flaw in the
software. I'm using the anomaly yesterday as the reason," said Mike,
sweat beading down his back. He was sure that Mr. Tonaon would fire him
for wasting his time.

Tonaon stared at the information on the screens for a moment then turned
to leave. Before closing the door he said, "Keep me apprised Mike." And
then he was gone.

Mike didn't realize he was holding his breath until he let out a long
shuddering hiss. Mike wiped his face with his coat sleeve thankful he
dodged a bullet. He'll get to keep his job awhile yet and if he played
his cards right, he might get a promotion. Or at least a considerable
pay raise.

end part 2

MAU: Infinite Crisis
Chapter 3

When Agent G came back (not in a good mood) he told Noel and Jeffrey that
the 'interview' will be finished by a CSIS agent that will arrive at
Noel's residence in a day or so. Noel gave Agent G her address for him to
pass on to CSIS. He thanked her and asked her to fly safely before saying
goodbye and cutting the connection. After a few moments the TV
automatically turned off.

Jeffrey turned to Noel while getting up. "Well, I don't suppose you have
any time for breakfast before leaving?"

Noel's stomach growled causing her to blush faintly. "That's probably a
good idea."

Upon opening the door, Andria fell forward with a yelp.

"Andria, what are you doing?" Jeffrey asked.

"It's not my fault," she responded dusting herself off. "Major wouldn't
let me see after she hacked into the comm. line. she wouldn't let me see
even though she's letting John."

Over in the kitchen area, John and Major were sitting, both with guilty
expressions on their faces.

"You know you're not supposed to do that," Jeffrey scolded.

"Don't look at me, it was John's idea! He wanted to know how the meeting
was going," Major replied.

Johns face reddened with embarrassment. "I was only curious," he stated
bluntly.

"Well, if you're that concerned, then you can treat her to your infamous
cooking," Jeffrey retorted.

John got up halfway seemingly about to argue then sat back down in
defeat. He got up again and trudged to the fridge to prep for the meal.

--------------

John had made up some strawberry crêpes which everyone enjoyed. Towards
the end of the meal, Andria began telling Noel about the people they've
ran into while searching for both Henry and thee seemingly infinite
number of alien boxes.

"So, anyway, when we got there, this couple had turned themselves into
cartoons!" she said with a laugh. "I'm not talking about people with
weird body shapes, but actual cartoons like you see in the Looney Toons
movies! They were Roger and Jessica Rabbit!" Andria was laughing so hard
that she snorted a few times. "And here's the best part! The husband was
Jessica Rabbit!" At this point, Andria began gasping for air still
laughing.

Everyone around the table chuckled except for Major who only groaned.
"Ugh, I've been trying to forget about that."

Noel looked quizzically at Major and then to Andria for answers. "What's
with Major?"

Andria, still suffering through the giggles replied. "Oh, when we got to
the house, we heard all sorts of crazy noises inside. So Major
volunteered to enter first since she can turn invisible. When she got to
the bedroom..." She descended into another fit of laughter.

Major spoke quickly. "Let's just say there was 'ink' everywhere and leave
it at that, ok?"

Noel was even more confused than before and looked to the others for
clarity but only received rolled eyes and a 'subtle' grin.

Andria recovered enough to answer once more. "They were in the middle of
doing it!"

Noel shook her head, still clueless.

"You know, sex! They're cartoons. All that 'ink' was semen!"

It finally clicked as Noel's eyes widen at the realization.

"When Major came in, they came! Unfortunately for our poor Major, the
rabbit pulled out and all that 'ink' landed right on her face!" At that
last part, Andria was laughing so hard, she fell out of her chair.

Major groaned again. "The stuff smelled like banana bread. And even after
eight showers, my hair still smelled like it for days afterwards."

John wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Ever since then, she can't
stand the smell of bananas. Which is kinda funny and helpful if I just
want some me time." Major glared at him. "Only joking. Anyways, after
they were brought to a private residence, for obvious reasons, someone
propositioned them to star in a Roger Rabbit sequel and they offered us
seats to the first screenplay."

"I'm not going!" Major said flatly.

The laughter and chuckles had then calmed down somewhat.

Jeffrey then spoke up; his head hung solemnly. "They weren't all funny or
amusingly weird... Back when it was just me, I came to a house where the
couple was listed as missing by their employers. When they found the
box... I guess they were into heavy bondage. The girlfriend at some point
changed herself so she didn't have any arms or legs, while the boyfriend
was just a head with a dick attached to his neck. As it turned out, the
boyfriend was first changed and after some fooling around the girlfriend
got excited and stupidly changed herself into the limbless state I found
her in. They had some fun but when they wanted to change back neither had
the ability to reach the panel. the girlfriend tried her best to reach it
since the boyfriend was completely immobile. It didn't help that they
were in a middle of a heat wave and had a busted air conditioner. So when
I got there, they were two days starved and suffering from heatstroke. I
called the agency for help. The girlfriend recovered relatively quickly,
however the boyfriend had spent a month in critical, probably because he
was just a head more or less."

He let out a short heavy breath and wiped away some water sitting on the
lip of his cup. The rest of the group looked on in regret for laughing
earlier.

"Holy shit," whispered Andria. "Are they ok now?"

Jeffrey looked up slightly startled. "Hmm? Oh yeah, their doing fine.
They're both on a special diet for obvious reasons. The last I heard,
they are married and pregnant." He perked up a little on saying the last
part.

After another moment of silence, Noel cleared her throat. "Well it's been
fun. Thanks for breakfast John, and for rescuing me Jeff, but I should be
going. If Agent G's feelings towards CSIS are any indication, then I
shouldn't be late for the meeting."

And with that, she said her goodbyes to Jeff and his team. they
reciprocated, Andria a little more so, which still seemed odd considering
that she looked every bit as much as Lightning from FFXIII. Waving
goodbye once more, Noel jumped high into the air with her hip and back
thrusters. When she felt she was high enough, she retracted her jump wing
and deployed her flight wings and shot off northward.

Noel, wanting to avoid any more mid-air 'turbulence', flew as close to
the edge of space as possible to the point where her wings were nearly
useless and she was little more than a rocket. The euphoria of flying so
close to space was reluctantly shoved aside for fear that something might
sneak up on her.

The flight back home was quiet and thankfully short. It was later that
afternoon when Noel reached home and fortunate for her, it was after rush
hour, so she didn't have any awkward run ins with neighbors. Noel entered
her apartment that was even smaller thanks to the alien box and the
armour she had on earlier before changing again. however, Noel was well
practiced and navigated around both them and the junk laying about the
floor.

Standing just before the bathroom, she took off her helmet and mentally
commanded her armour to open. Stepping out and down, Noel guessed she was
about a head shorter than she was before first stepping into the box.
Noel put some food down for her cat, but he didn't come out of hiding
until she was in the bathroom getting a better look at herself.

As her cat was chomping away at the dry food, Noel kept looking back and
forth between the mirror and down at her new front. Her breast weren't
large, just a nice healthy size (b-cup maybe?) in proportion to her new
body stature. Noel began to undress. It wasn't until she had her 'plug
suit' down to her waist that she realized that the sensory connectors
remained where they were on her body, instead of coming off with the rest
of the suit.

"What the hell?" she asked taking it all off to get a complete look.

First were the ones on her neck. There was one just below each ear that,
if you weren't looking closely, looked just like earrings. Next were two
at her shoulders, one at each elbow and another just before the wrists.
Looking down, she noticed another on her chest, right where her ribcage
joined at the bottom. When she touched it, she felt a numb tingling in
her fingertips. Shoving that aside for now, she looked at her legs and
discovered four more. one on each calf just below the knee and one more
on each foot just before her toes started.

"Great. This'll make buying shoes a hassle."

She turned around, as she looked at her backside through the mirror and
spied yet another one where her tailbone would be. She then caught sight
of apparently the last one sitting on the nap of her neck. A quick check
confirmed that they were all firmly attached to her body and didn't move.
Tossing her plug suit onto the futon, Noel ran the water for her shower.
She'd been gone for over a day and while she didn't look it, and actually
didn't feel it from running her hands through her short hair and over her
body, the feeling of being dirty persisted.

So to satisfy her need to bath and explore her new self, she hopped into
the shower and began washing. Starting with her hair, she rubbed shampoo
in it, rinsing it out, she marveled at how her hair was blond in contrast
to her original dark brown. Pulling down a lock of hair that was now
barely long enough to be seen without the aid of a mirror, she could see
the frosted tip.

"I wonder," she mused aimlessly flicking her hair to the side.

Forgetting about her thought, her hands roamed to her chest. They felt
just as good as the ones on her last body felt even if they were smaller.
Feeling a warm glow from her nether region below, 'cupping' her vagina
with one hand the warm glow turned into a pleasant tingle. Her curiosity
and need overwhelming her, she was surprised of how easy her finger slid
in and the sensations were so intense that her eyes involuntarily
crossed.

Although it was quite pleasant, very pleasant, she pulled out unable to
come to terms with the sensation of being penetrated. Even if she was
doing it to herself.

"Not to say I wouldn't consider trying again in the future maybe..." She
thought to herself as she finished washing up a little faster than she
would have so not to excite herself further for now.

Drying herself off with a towel, she sighed as she had to put her plug
suit back on. It seemed like a why bother having a shower if you're just
going to put your dirty cloths back on afterwards. Now not so naked
anymore, but still suggestively clad she mentally slapped herself since
she left her armour from the second change, she was still clothed when
she tested her ability to change back the other day. Cold mind you, but
still fully clothed. With yet another sigh she left her plug suit on,
since she went through the trouble of redressing, closed her eyes and
concentrated on turning back.

Instead of a click, she felt a horrible stabbing pain in her chest that
she was only able to utter a sharp yelp before falling over and passing
out. Had anyone been there with her, they would've seen both hardsuits
twitch for a few seconds before once again standing still. Inside the
helmet from her second hardsuit was showing damage to her power core.
Although there wasn't any concern for a containment breach, her ability
to become human again was now nonexistent.

-------------------

Back at Tonoan Industrials Headquarters, Mike was in the middle of
drinking yet another cup of coffee when a notice popped up on his
computer screen causing him to spit some of his coffee onto the screen
and spilling the rest on his hand.

"Shit!" he said as he dropped his cup and shook his hand.

He stared at the data pouring in from the satellite; the output was twice
that of which was recorded previously, but unmistakably the same. For
some reason the power surge is lasting longer, not that Mike was
complaining, it just allowed him to locate it better. He relayed the
information to the nearby team, hung up the phone and sat back in his
chair staring at the coffee on the floor.

"Damn, I need a mop," he thought.

-------------------

"Damn prick!!" security officer Peter Zimerson stated bluntly after
talking to Mike. The fucker gets to sit in an air condition room back at
headquarters while he and his team are freezing our asses babysitting
some geeks who're looking for god knows what. "Well shit. A job's a job,"
he muttered to himself before telling the geeks the news.

They all noticeably stiffened when he told them the new location;
obviously they knew something he didn't. The new location was in a dead
end road, they left the transport truck since it would've been hell
getting it in and out, even more so if they didn't find what they were
looking for. So the security team drove off in a SUV while the science
team followed close behind in a cargo van.

A few blocks and some quick turns and they arrived. Peter got out of the
driver's seat and scoffed at the apparent motel that stood before them.
"Well at least its better then the outhouse."

"And here I thought you liked freezing your ass on the can," Nelly said
getting out of the passenger seat.

"Funny," Peter replied with a sarcastic grin which she returned with a
mocking smile of her own.

Third hopped out the back seat and they all walked over to the van to
meet the science team for further orders. After receiving telemetry from
the satellite, the science team determined that whatever they were
searching for was in one of the two rooms on the left side of the
building. Everyone on the security team smiled to each other, finally,
they were going to get some action. They walked back to the SUV and
opened the back door and donned Kevlar vest and MP5 machine guns loaded
with stun rounds (rubber bullets). Each also grabbed a pistol with live
rounds just in case.

Peter walked to the apartment on the left while Nelly and Third lined up
on the door of the center apartment. As Peter looked through the open
blinds in the window he heard Nelly chuckle, looking over, Nelly pointed
to a set of keys still in the door. Peter raised an eyebrow before
motioning them to breach.

He checked the door to see if it was locked, since a quieter entry would
mean a lesser chance of interruption later, the door gave. Perfect. He
motioned the other two to enter. Peter opened the door slowly and
entered. As he saw from the window, the lights were off with only a faint
glow from the microwave clock.

Toys and books lined the edges of the floor and a tall box stood in the
middle. As he stepped around the box he heard a yelp followed by two
quick coughs from an MP5. Rounding the box he nearly tripped over
something lying on the floor. As he bent down to see what it was, the
lights came on. Startled, Peter gasped and jumped backward into the
fridge behind him. Nelly was laughing at the sight of him.

"Jesus, Nell. Don't do that!" Peter yelled, swearing under his breath as
he got up.

"You should've been with me next door. There were two teenagers in the
middle of fucking. You wouldn't believe the looks on their faces before
we put them out," Nelly said with a sly grin.

Peter just shook his head with a grin of his own. Looking down, he saw
the object on the floor was an unconscious girl. As he checks her pulse,
Nelly called to him referring to the hardsuits. "Whoa, check these out.
And this one on the right has a maple leaf on it. I think someone's a
little obsessed 'EH'?" She said stressing the 'eh' slang.

Peter finished counting the girls heart beats and got up and walked over
to Nelly in front of the hardsuits ignoring he 'joke'.

"Well if we're all secure here; let's tell the geeks so we can get this
over with."

Nelly just shrugged and followed Peter out while he informed the science
team. She and Peter were back in the SUV listening in on the police
channels while Third was left 'babysitting' the science team just in
case. The science team started in the center apartment and while they
didn't find anything in the sparsely decorated room, they did linger on
the teenagers still intertwined forms before moving on. On entering the
other apartment their equipment whirred and beeped as they passed the
hardsuits. Three began examining the hardsuits while the other two
checked out the unconscious girl Peter told them about.

One made a brief note of the leotard she seemed to be wearing while the
other examined the connector points about her clothing and body. Just as
he touched a probe to the connector in her chest, the probe sparked
angrily as the display winked out. He tried restarting it until he
noticed a wisp of smoke rising from the seams of the device.

Surprisingly, none on the science team paid any attention to the alien
box and treated it more as a nuisance than an object of curiosity. By and
by, they finished all their analysis they could outside of lab conditions
and had Peter and Third help them move the hardsuits into the cargo van.
Nelly carried the girl into the SUV and strapped her into the middle of
the backseat since there was no more room in the van.

Peter called the driver of the transport truck and told him to continue
on with his normal route. Driving off to the town's small airport, Peter
kept glancing in his rear view mirror at the girl sitting limply between
his team members, her head bobbing slightly as he drove over bumps in the
road.

Who was this girl? And what did she have to do with those suits that the
science team was so jittery about? The questions were far above his pay
grade judging from how this was all carried out but, he still didn't like
it. Not knowing what was going on made his job of keeping his team safe
harder. The tedium of it didn't help either. That just meant something
was going to break at the worst moment possible. Grumbling under his
breath, he continued on driving. Ten minutes later they arrived at the
small airport and another full hour in chartering a private plane to take
them cross-country to the BC coastline.

The plane ride was long and uneventful. Peter tried sleeping several
times but couldn't quite get comfortable. It had nothing to do with his
seat or that he wasn't the one flying the plane. It was just something
about moving vehicles... Peter shook his head looking to his right at
Nelly sound asleep and snoring, the sill unconscious girl was at the
window seat still out.

Burying his unease of the girl for now, he chuckled slightly at Nell; she
was pretty much dead to the world in terms of noises and such. But if you
were to touch her in the slightest then you can be sure something on your
person was going to end up broken. Settling as far back as his chair
would allow, he closed his eyes and tried for a light doze. Four hours
later they landed at a private airfield safely and began unloading.

---------------------

Back at Noel's apartment, a woman in a car pulled up, got out and knocked
on the door. Waiting a minute she knocked again. Another moment and still
no response, she looked through the open blinds in the window just in
time to see the alien box return to its stand-by mode.

"Shit!"

She pulled out her cell phone and dialed. It only rang once before being
picked up.

"This is Johanna Mars. I'm at the apartment and just watched the 'device'
deactivate. The tenant doesn't seem to be here..." She paused briefly to
look around the driveway. "There are two sets of treads and several
footprints in the driveway... recommend we have a team up here to find
the tenant's whereabouts." She waited for a response.

"...Acknowledged Agent Mars, a team will be sent by air. ETA is two
hours. Recommend you secure the device first, and then determine possible
witnesses."

Johanna exhaled sharply. "Alright," then closed her phone.

She grabbed a small lock picking kit from her car and proceeded to use it
on the deadbolt. As she turned the tumbler, she could feel the lightness
of the turn, swearing, she stuffed her kit in her pocket and turned the
handle to walk inside.
------------------------

After landing, Peter's team, and the geeks with their 'cargo' all filed
into two helicopters that carried them to a coastal harbor where Tonaon
Industrials was waiting. It wasn't a building per say, though it was run
like one, but a boat. Its outward appearance resembled that of an
American WWII aircraft carrier, minus any deck weapons. Its flight deck
was covered with artificial Astroturf. And instead of fighter planes
normally associated with a carrier, it had only three helicopters, two of
which Peter and his team were riding in. While on the outside it looked
like a carrier, inside its hull, it resembled an executive office
building befitting company headquarters.

As the helicopters touched down, a group of people came running out from
the island tower of the ship. Upon exiting the helicopter and clearing
the still turning rotors overhead, Peter and his team were met by a
security detail. Peter could see the rest of the group which was lead by
Mike Givings; meet the science team from the second chopper.

"Why is Mike up here? I thought he was just in charge of the satellite
project."

The security officer just shrugged. "None of my business sir. I was only
told to escort you and your team to debriefing."

He stepped to the side to allow Peter to walk ahead. As he passed, Peter
noticed the strap that held the security mans sidearm in its holster was
undone. When the security officer noticed Peter looking at his sidearm,
he quickly brought his hand to rest on the butt of the pistol. The act
sent shivers running down Peter's spine, and made him even more nervous
To his credit though, he kept it from showing and just gestured for his
team to follow. They were lead below the flight deck and were left alone
in an executive boardroom to wait.

MAU: Infinite Crisis

Part 4

It was well into the afternoon when the team Johanae was waiting for
arrive. While she waited she decided against immediately recovering the
alien machine to keep whatever evidence there may be.

So instead she questioned the neighbors. After knocking on the door of
the center apartment a teenage girl wrapped in a bed sheet opened the
door slightly, "Yes?"

"Hello Miss, my name is Johanae Mars. I work for CSIS and I'm here
investigating a possible abduction," she said while showing her
identification.

"So, you're like a cop or something?" the girl asked, seemingly just
woken up and still in a daze.

"... Yes I suppose so. If it's alright with you, I would like to ask
some questions about the previous day till now."

"...Hmm? Oh I'm sorry, I just woke up with this huge headache so it's
hard to think. But, um, sure just gimme a minute to get dressed ok?"

"Sure, I'll just be waiting out here then."

"Ok," said the girl as she closed the door.

A few minutes later the girl opened the door and invited Johanae in. As
Johanae walked in, she was surprised that the teenagers apartment was
literally just one room with a little alcove in the back for a bathroom.

"Well I'm Trish," she said sitting on the pull out bed. She then pointed
to the still sleeping boy behind her. "And this is my boyfriend Greg."

"Alright Trish. What can you tell me about Noel Arthur?"

Trish was still rubbing her temples wincing periodically, "... Who?"

"The person that lives in the apartment next door."

"Oh him! He introduced himself once after bringing my mail after it was
put in his mailbox by mistake. And another time he let me know I left my
keys in the door and... Oh shit, my keys!" She got up suddenly only to
sit back down, "Ow, my head. I didn't think I drank that much," she said
wincing again as she rubbed the temple on the right side of her head.

As she did that, Johanae noticed where Trish was rubbing that it had the
colour of a bluish, purple.

"Excuse me Trish, but would you mind if I had a look at that?"

"Oh, um, ok I guess,"

Johanae bent down closer for a better look. Pulling Trish's hair back,
she could see a bruise a little bigger than a toonie. Standing back up
she wondered whatever made that didn't come from bedtime flings, "Trish,
what do you remember about last night?"

Trish thought a moment, "Well, me and Greg had a few drinks at a bar,
then we came back here to um, make out."

"Are you sure? You don't remember anyone else being in your apartment
last night?"

"No, we were just making out and then... Oh my god! They shot me!" At
that Trish broke down in a state of shock, weeping about her being shot.

Johanae was about to sit down beside her to console her when her cell
rang. Exhaling sharply, Johanae stood back up and answered it, "What?"

"We've arrived. Where are you?" asked an annoyingly calm male voice.

"I'm in the apartment next door," she said as she walked to the door.
There, at the end of the driveway stood a man in a casual business suit.
Four more people wearing disposable forensic coveralls were busy taping
off the area in front of the converted motel with police tape.

Johanae gave Trish a reassuring pat on the shoulder, telling her she'd
be back and went out to meet the man.

Hello Miss Mars. I'm Lawrence Fault," he said while shaking her hand,
"So what have you found out so far?"

"Well, I was just in the neighbors apartment and according to her, both
she and her boyfriend were assaulted by one or two with guns. Luckily
for them, whoever shot the the two were using nonlethal ammunition. The
girl's pretty shaken up about it."

"And the boyfriend?" he asked.

"Still out cold, possibly from the drinking they had prior to the
attack, or a combination of that and a shot to the head."

"Alright, we'll have someone check them out. In the meantime lets have a
look at the box and see why it decided to shut down. According to the
report we should have had at least a full day to recover it," Fault
said.

"So either Noel had it longer than she said she had or somethings
changed on the device. Excuse me a moment," Johanae said as she
reentered the middle apartment. "Okay Trish, I have to go now but my
colleagues will be in here to make sure you and your boyfriend check out
alright," she said to the girl, her eyes still red and misty.

"T-thank you miss Mars."

Johanae gave her a reassuring smile before pulling out her card from her
coat pocket and handed it to the still sniffling girl, "If you have any
questions or you just want to talk, then give me a call."

Trish nodded, taking the card and looked up at Johanae managing a weak
smile.

Johanae started walking towards the door and before she left she turned
back to give Trish a final wave before walking out.

Taking a quick breath she only needed to walk six steps before entering
Noel's apartment. On entering the apartment she saw that Lawrence was
already crouched over the collapsed alien machine.

"There's puddled footprints around the apartment. Judging from the
partial evaporation, whoever left them was here in an eight-hour time
period. And also from the spacing of the puddles around the box, it was
active at the time as well," Lawrence said without looking up.

Crouching down beside him she poked the claw-like marking on the box
before saying, "It still doesn't explain why it shut down earlier than
the other ones."

"It could be that whoever abducted Noel may have swapped out their own
for Noel's version. But that wouldn't make much sense unless Noel's
wasn't activated yet but it was. Also there's the fact the door frame is
a size too small to move it out of here anyways," Fault said.

"So we're back to square one then," Johanae said standing up as her legs
stated to tire from kneeling.

Lawrence only grunted as he pulled out a small grey box from his pocket
and flipped it open and began running it over the alien box.

"what's that?" Johanae asked.

"A tricorder, confiscated from a Trek fan."

"He must of been sad to hand it over."

"Regardless of wether or not he was "sad" didn't matter. He was using it
to remotely hack into various bank computers in his home town. We also
found a phaser on him that was set to kill after we jumped him."

"My god, if he used it..."

"Then he would have burned a hole through several people or vaporised
them. Either way it would have been an unpleasant way to go."

"I'll say," she replied.

Lawrence continued to scan the device, then stood up, staring at the
tricorder looking perplexed.

"What?" asked Johanae as she looked at the display on the tricorder but
couldn't make heads or tails of what it meant.

"Well to start, it's not a real tricorder. The kid designed it to find
wi-fi signals and hack computers. It's constantly updating itself with
the latest invasive programs. I was hoping that it would be able to
interface with whatever computer the machine uses. So far, every attempt
I made has been unsuccessful. Either these don't have wireless
capability or the operating system is completely alien."

"So you're saying that we have no idea about anything here then."

"Pretty much," Lawrence said slipping the tricorder back into his coat
pocket.

Meanwhile, back at Tonoan Industrials headquarters...

Mike had just finished debriefing Peter and his team. The information
they gave him was more or less the same as what the science team told
him minus Nelly's overt description of the teenagers she incapacitated.
And stopped briefly to check his ID with the guard posted outside the
ships hospital suite before stepping in.

As with the rest of the ship no expense had been spared. Being large
enough to hold two complete examining rooms that could be partitioned
off or opened for emergencies. It even had a full operating theater
including an MRI and X-ray machine. The partition walls of both rooms
were tucked away in the recessed alcoves in the walls. The girl Peter's
team brought back was laying on one of the beds apparently still
unconscious.

Nicolette, the ships doctor in charge, looking over her. Nicolette was a
Russian immigrant that moved to the US to study psychology where she met
her late husband. During her first year she met Clint Trent and the two
instantly fell in love and six months later were married. Because
neither were rich enough the wedding was little more than wearing fancy
cloths and signing a marriage certificate at the court house.
Unfortunately a year later into their marriage Clint was striken with a
stroke and was diagnosed with an inoperaperable brain tumor. He died a
few short months later. Nicolette was understandably devastated by this
and took a year off her studies to grieve. When she came back she
transferred to a medical school and threw herself into her studies and
graduated second in her class. A few weeks later she was scouted by
Tonoan Industrials under the promise for near unlimited resources in her
research of brain cancer. That was nearly seven years ago. And she's
kept almost everyone at a professional distance.

Even though Mike was in a hurry he still took the sight of Nicolette in.
As always she wore the white lab coat normally associated when one
thinks of doctors. And under that he could see the dark brown skirt that
just barely covered her knees. Even with her lab coat on Mike could see
the very feminine curves of her fantastic ass. Looking further down Mike
was a little dismayed that she once again wore flats. "If only she wore
heels now and then," Mike thought, "If only she weren't so cold."

He had stopped beside her as she continued to read from her clipboard at
the foot of the bed the girl was on. Mike was about to clear his throat
to get her attention but she beat him to it.

"What the hell have you brought me Givings?" she asked, her accent had
waned somewhat over the years of living in the states but was still
clearly present.

"What do you mean?" Mike asked sneaking a glance down the front of her
lab coat and was disappointed to see she was wearing a turtleneck
sweater today.

"This girl is a walking contradiction! Do you want to know what I found
out when I examined her?"

Mike exhaled sharply, "Please," he said gesturing for her to continue.

"She has a pulse but no heart beat. I tried several times to find one
but there isn't one! And when I check her pulse, there it is, strong and
healthy!"

"Maybe she has an artificial heart?"

"Nyet, machines make noises when they move. All I heard was her
breathing."

"Well is that it or what?" Mike asked clearly annoyed.

"No. When I put her through the MRI machine it didn't work. Well it did
but it's weird. When I injected her with the dye it didn't move through
her blood stream, it stayed at the site where I injected her. It doesn't
make any sense! I know she has a pulse, I counted them, I got a vein!
How else could I have injected the dye without one?" She then moved to a
wall-mounted light board and clipped two sheets on it before turning it
on. "These are her X-rays, for some reason the head and chest area are
completely opaque."

"And..." Mike urged her on even though he was at a loss when it came to
medical jargon,

"And from what the X-rays ARE showing me she's missing several vital
organs! There's no liver, pancreas," she pointed to a small blob, "This
might be a kidney but it is the wrong size. There isn't even a digestive
track! And finally, she does have a vaginal cavity but no uterus or
ovaries. It's as if someone made a human using a children's book!"
Nicolette said in exasperation.

Mike stared at the X-rays for a few moments, more for effect than
actually trying to understand them, and turned to Nicolette, "And what
about these metal things sticking out of her body?"

Nicolette let out an annoyed sigh before walking back to the foot of the
bed the girl was sleeping on, "I don't know. They weren't surgically
implanted otherwise I would have seen scar tissue in the skin or slight
abrasions to the bones they're attached to. And from what the X-rays
show, there is some sort of wiring running from them through the
skeletal structure to the chest area. Which for some reason we can't see
on the X-rays," Nicolette said. Her accent seemed to thicken the longer
she went on. "The last thing I did was take some blood. It's currently
being analysed and I should have the results in a few hours," she said
as her accent returned to a more understandable level.

"So you won't be open to exploratory surgery then doctor?" Mike asked
moving to the side of the bed and leaning over slightly.

"Not without knowing the general layout of what I'm cutting into. On a
normal person I would if only to find out what's blocking the X-rays,
but from what I am able to see... I'm sorry, there's just too many
changes."

Mike only grunted at that and turned back to the girl.

It was almost scary how innocent she looked. If she was in fact the
source of energy the satellite picked up those few times during the past
couple of days. Who or whatever was obviously brilliant to create an
energy source powerful but small and stable enough to fit in something
so fragile as this little girl. But then again it could be why there
were those exoskeletal suits in the room with her. There were two suits
though, so either one was a prototype version or there's another one out
there.

Mikes inner reverie stopped when he thought he saw the girls eyelids
flutter. Leaning closer for a moment, he was back up when the girl
suddenly bolted upright smashing her forehead into Mikes face uttering
nothing but a deep gasp. Mike, both being surprised and suddenly
receiving a broken bloody nose, fell backwards onto the floor with both
hands cradling his face as he landed on his rear. Blood was seeping from
between his fingers.

0000000000

Peter and Nelly had long since left the boardroom after their debriefing
and were on their way to the ships galley. They had just passed the
doc's office nodding to the armed guard when they suddenly heard a shout
followed by the sound of several objects hitting the floor. As the guard
moved in, his mp5 ready, Peter and Nelly followed him in. When they
entered they saw Nicolette trying to calm down the girl Peter and his
team brought back while trying to hold her down and Mike who was sitting
on the floor holding his bloody face.

Seeing the three come in Nicolette immediately shouted at them, "You
two," referring to Peter and the guard, "Hold her down while I give her
a sedative! And you Nelly, get Givings off the floor before he bleeds
over the rest of it."

Peter and the guard rushed to either side of the screaming girl and held
her down by the arms and legs while Nelly begrudgingly trudged over to
Mike still clutching his face and seemingly without much effort picked
him up and walked him over to a chair. He moaned loudly in protest as
she unceremoniously dropped him onto it.

Nicolette was busy looking through the cabinet for the correct sedative
to use. Finding one she stuck the needle of the syringe in and pulled
back on the stopper filling it with the clear liquid. Once she withdrew
the needle she gave it a few flicks with her finger and push some of the
liquid out to ensure there weren't any air bubbles. Turning back to the
struggling girl she had Peter move so she can inject the girl properly,
"Hold her still!"

Peter and the guard did so putting more force down on the girl to keep
her immobilized. As Nicolette was prepping the girls arm for the
sedative, the girl looked up at Peter with tear-filled eyes, "Please
stop. You're hurting me," she pleaded as her voice broke with a whimper.

Peter hesitated as he looked at her oddly colored scared eyes and
softened his grip slightly. Wether intended or by accident the girl
renewed her struggle just as Nicolette began the injection. The sudden
motion caused the needle that was in her arm to snap off from the rest
of the syringe. Nicolette said something in Russian, the inflections she
used indicated a likely possibility of it being a swear.

"Hold her still! If I don't get the needle out in one piece will damage
something vital."

Peter complied and held the girl down firmly as this time he was willing
to give the girl a few bruises if it meant saving her from deeper
injury. The girl kept struggling as Nicolette checked the injection site
hoping that the needle was still partly out. Seeing nothing she swore
again and felt the immediate area and suddenly became confused. She
couldn't feel it. Her mind racing thinking of what to do she nodded to
herself and looked straight at the girl, "Okay miss, I'm going to need
you to listen to me."

The girl was still tense and still had fear in her eyes but she looked
back at Nicolette and nodded.

"The needle I used to inject you with has broken off in your arm. I
can't find it so I need to take an X-ray to see where it is so I can
remove it safely. Do you understand?"

The girl nodded. With a sigh of relief Nicolette gave the girl a
reassuring smile and gestured to Peter and the guard to let her up.
Getting to her feet they lead her to the X-ray machine. On passing Mike,
he waved to Nicolette with one hand, the other holding a clump of
tissues to his face. "What about me doctor?" he asked with a plugged
nose.

Nicolette knealt down and pulled the tissues back. Looking at Mike's
nose from different angles including up it she then stood back up, "You
are fine. There are no signs that it is broken. If you were in any real
pain then you wouldn't let me touch it. The girl just got a one in a
million hit."

"So, I still have a headache! Couldn't I just take an aspirin at least?"

"There's no signs of a concussion so it's probably just from caffeine
withdrawal. Just relax and take it easy for now and it will go away soon
enough," she said before catching up with the others in the X-ray room.

Since the room was fairly small for four people, Nicolette had the guard
stand outside. Turning around she instructed the girl to lay down on a
bed that was under the machine and ushered Peter into a smaller room
which held the controls for the machine. Since Nicolette was the only
one trained to operate the machine she sat down in the only chair in
front of the computer leaving Peter to stand behind her with his arms
crossed.

She then leaned forward to talk into a microphone which allowed her to
speak to the girl without having to keep the door between them opened,
"Okay, I'm going to turn the machine on now and it will let me know
where the needle is. Are you ready?"

The girl nodded staring up at the machine. Nicolette typed in a few
commands on the keyboard of the computer sending the X-ray machine to
work. When the image came up on the monitor Nicolette was confused and
dismayed that while she could see the outline of the girls body, the
details of her insides were blurry and unfocused.

Nicolette swore in Russian, "This doesn't make any sense!"

"What's wrong?" Peter asked looking over her shoulder at the monitor.

"When I took an X-ray of her earlier, only the head and chest area had
this distortion. Now the entire body is unreadable. I'm going to have to
take another one, maybe it will turn out," she said as she retyped the
commands.

Once again the image came up distorted. Nicolette grumbled and retyped
the command. As she did so Peter looked at the girl through the glass
and saw her visibly wince as the X-ray machine activated trying to take
a picture as if it was causing her pain.

Peter then put his hand on Nicolette's shoulder, "Stop the machine," he
told her still looking at the girl.

"What? Why?" she asked as she turned to look at him.

"She's in pain," he said.

"Of course she's in pain. She has a broken needle in her arm! That is
why we're doing these X-rays, to find it," she said as she turned back
to the computer.

As Peter turned Nicolette around to argue some more, the girl had slunk
off the bed and proceeded to move to the exit while keeping an eye on
the two in the control room. On reaching the door she saw through the
window of the door that the guard was standing right in front of it.
Fortunately he was distracted from talking to the two in the main room.
With little thought, other than escape, the girl crept over to the door,
careful to be low enough so the people the guard was talking to wouldn't
see her. Testing the door slightly she gave a silent thanks that it
moved easily as well as that it swung out into the hallway instead of
inward.

With a deep breath she pushed on the door with all her might catching
the guard off balance, knocking him over. As she began to bolt, the
guard kicked the door back hitting her heel causing her to stumble. This
gave the guard enough time to jump and grab her legs. Trying in vain to
crawl forward on just her arms, she was easily dragged back by the guard
who then trapped her in a bear hug pinning her arms in front of her. She
tried getting loose kicking her legs wildly till the guard wrapped his
legs around hers effectively immobilizing her.

She was still struggling against her captor as Nelly walked up with a
grin on her face from thinking of the innuendoes the two presented for
her.

She stopped just in front of them, "So, this is what you do to get laid.
Can't say I'm impressed or all that surprised," she said to the guard
mockingly.

"Ha ha, very funny. Now go get some handcuffs or something, she keeps
squirming around so much it's hard to hold on," he told Nelly.

"Mmmhmm," she responded with a catty grin once more before bending down
to unclip his mp5. Unfolding the stock of the gun she turned it around
and before the girl could react Nelly gave her two quick solid hits to
the face with the butt of the stock causing the girls head to snap back
suddenly almost hitting the guard in the face. And once again the girl
was a limp doll.

Almost as an afterthought Nelly checked her pulse. Seeing it was fine
she got up and handed the gun back to the guard after he untangled
himself from the girl. Looking past him Nelly saw the shocked doctor as
well as Peter with a grim expression on his face. "What?" Nelly asked
innocently, "She was trying to run off and I stopped her."

"You could have seriously injured her!" Nicolette shouted.

"It's alright. I checked her pulse and she's fine. And the love taps I
gave her didn't break any bones and I'll doubt it'll leave much of a
bruise either," Nelly replied nonchalantly.

"I don't care if you think it's "fine". She is different and I am not
going to have anyone in my ward assaulting my patients, regardless of
circumstance. Now, everybody OUT!"

As everyone marched out Nicolette kept the guard long enough to help her
carry the girl back to the bed before shooing him out as well. Sitting
down at her desk she messaged her temples as she mumbled something in
Russian till she heard the door open.

"I said go away, I'm busy!" she said before turning around to see a shy-
looking nurse at the door holding a clipboard in front of her as if to
hide behind it. "Oh Crystal, please come in. I'm sorry, it hasn't been a
good day," she told her.

Crystal hesitated before stepping in and closing the door. Because of
her shy nature, large rimmed glasses, and some minor dental work in the
form of braces. When asked about her personality many would describe her
as "mousey". And while she was far from being unattractive she always
dressed and acted in an apologetic manner and didn't seem to have much
self-confidence. Even as she walked up to Nicolette's desk her steps
were unsure and tentative.

"Um, I have results oo your research tests you asked for Dr. Flint EEP!"
She winced as she dropped the clipboard before Nicolette was ready to
accept it causing it to clatter on her desk. "I-I am so sorry! I don't
know what I was thinking. I thought you were holding it and when I let
go..."

"Crystal, it's ok. I doubt the clipboard will hold it against you,"
Nicolette reassured her.

"Er, yes ma'am," Crystal said looking at the floor sheepishly, doing all
she could to avoid eye contact.

"So these are the test results then?" Nicolette asked picking up the
clipboard and flipping through the pages.

"Um, yes. They did a full work up like you asked."

Nicolette nodded when the phone on her desk rang. checking the extension
number she saw it was Franks lab. "That's funny. They should still be
working on the girl's blood sample," Nicolette thought to herself as she
picked it up, "Hello."

"Is this some kind of joke!?" an angry voice belonging to Frank shouted
causing Nicolette to pull the phone away from her ear.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't play dumb with me. You had someone mess with my equipment didn't
you?"

Nicolette's eyes narrowed in confusion, "I don't know what you are
talking about. Is there something wrong with the blood sample I sent
you?"

"Assuming you didn't screw up my stuff the blood you sent me isn't blood
at all!"

Nicolette sat straight up in her chair, "What did you find?"

"Just come over here and see for yourself. If you really didn't do
anything with my equipment then you'll want to see it. You just sent me
the holy grail of medicine and everything else that revolves around
this."

Nicolette hung up and was out the door barely spending enough time to
tell Crystal to watch the sleeping girl before running down the halls to
Franks lab.

0000000000

Jeffrey and his team had the day off and were having a game of two on
two basketball. Jeffrey and Andria were behind five points to John and
Major.

"Face it Jeffrey, there's no way you'll catch up with with us. I've got
two hearts so I won't be getting tired anytime soon," John said as he
dribbled the ball around Jeffrey trying to send it to Major as she
ducked under Andria. As John shot the ball Jeffrey intercepted and ran
down the other side of the court.

"You might have two hearts John, but your girlfriend's the one that's
been carrying you," Jeffrey said as he sunk a basket.

John picked up the ball and walked to the center of the court to start
again, "Maybe, but you're still behind," he said wiping his face on his
t-shirt.

Both teams scoffed the other boasting how the other was going to lose
horribly when the phone in the kitchen area began to ring. Jeffrey made
a time-out sign as he walk to the phone.

"You're only delaying the inevitable Jeffrey," John said jokingly.

Jeffrey waved him off with a smile as he pick up the phone, "Hello?"

"Mr. Donalds? This is Agent G. Noel has been abducted sometime last
night."

Jeffrey lowered the phone, his good mood instantly drained from him.

The others came over as they saw Jeffrey grow somber.

"What's up?" Andria asked with a half smile.

Jeffrey turned to the others, "Noel's been kidnaped."

Major, who had been holding the ball dropped it and fell to the floor
herself as her legs gave out. Holding her hands around herself she began
to shake, "Henry's got her!" she cried as she began sobbing, "He got her
and he's going to come after me!"

MAU: Infinite Crisis, part 5

Mike walked into the lab where the two unusual mechanincal suits were sent. His hastily assembled team had been using various devices to scan the suits. From measuring dimensions to determining metal alloys used in their construction, nothing was missed. Still gingerly touching his throbbing nose, Mike walked over to his colleage, Tom, who was looking at the Linna hardsuit.

"I think this could be a power source," Tom said as he pulled the battery from its housing. "What the hell happened to you?" he asked seeing the sickly colour of Mikes nose.

"Don't ask," growled Mike, "So, what do we have?" he asked as he took the battery Tom offered to look at.

"A battery. Designed in a way I've never seen before," he said thumbing his nose, "I'll need to check the charge but considering the weight of the thing for its size, it's either very powerful or needlessly complex and... Well. An oversized triple-a battery," he said as Mike handed it back to him.

"Well if it turns out it is better than what's out there, then we'll have to check the patents," Mike said to which Tom gave a bemused grunt as he carried the battery to a table with the equipment he'd need.

"Hey Mike, get over here. I got something you might want to see," called another back at the hardsuits. Mike and Tom gave each other an eye as they walked over to him.

"Yes?" asked Mike.

"I've got a radio frequency here. It's cycling between the extreme high and low bands."

Mike grabbed the read-out display, "Are you saying that these things are communicating with each other?"

"Actually no. I think that something else nearby is "talking" to these two exo-suit things"

Mike raised an eyebrow, "Exo-suits? Come on, I'm not calling them that," Mike complained as he handed the display back.

Tom chuckled, "Well what would you call them?"

Mike scratched his head as he thought, "Alright fine, I'll think of something better later."

Tom and the other guy both smirked at Mike's response as they got back to work.

Just then a PA announcement came on, "Mike Givings, call 315. Givings, call 315."

Mike's head jerked up at hearing Nicolette's voice calling for him but instantly grumbled as he recognised the line as Frank's lab number. Still wishing she'd thaw out one day soon he walked over to a desk and picked up the phone before dialing the extension number.

It rang once before it picked up, "Hello Givings?" It was Nicolette.

"What can I help you with Nicolette? I'm kinda busy with something over here."

"Can you come to Franks' lab please? He found something unique in the blood sample I sent him earlier.."

"Look, I'm sure you want to show off whatever it is you two found but that medical stuff is over my head," Mike said with sarcastic disinterest.

"Just get over here Givings," she told him with annoyance before hanging up by slamming the receiver down causing Mike to pull his away from his ear.

"Cold bitch as always," Mike grumbled as he put the phone back on the desk.

As he walked to the door Tom called after him, "The doctor got you running for her again?"

"Shut it Tom," Mike growled as he stepped through the door.

"Ah, you know you like it when she does that," he goaded.

"I wouldn't mind it if she actually used my first name when talking to me. It pisses me off sometimes to know that I'm the only one she does that to."

"At least the boss uses your first name," Tom said with a laugh as Mike shut the door behind him. A scowl was on his face.

"He only does that so he doesn't have to show respect by saying "Mr." first," Mike thought to himself as he trudged the halls to Franks lab.

Several minutes of walking through the ship Mike finally arrive at Franks lab. On entering he could see Nicolette and Frank taking turns looking through a microscope talking about how "fascinating" whatever it was they were looking at. As Frank looked over and noticed Mike he motioned him to take a look.

"So what am I looking at," Mike asked.

"Just look Givings," Nicolette told him flatly.

Mike rolled his eyes skeptically as he peered into the microscope. What he saw was what he assumed to be blood cells surrounding a rectangular object. Mike then leaned back, "Okay, please tell me what I'm looking at." he said completely lost.

"It's the blood sample I had taken from the girl," Nicolette said with a small trace of excitement in her voice.

"And that means?..."

"If you paid attention you would have seen the blood cells consuming the metal object we put in with it," she said as if was pointing out the extremely obvious.

Mike looked back into the microscope and stared at the sample. In the span of thirty seconds he watched in astonishment as the blood sample seemed to be eating the metal fragment. After registering what he saw he jumped back.

"Freaky isn't it?" said Frank.

"...Just what is that stuff feeding on?" Mike asked a little freaked out himself.

"It used to be a syringe needle," Nicolette said, "Its second needle actually. It consumes metallic compounds at a phenomenal rate."

"But what is that?!" Mike asked pointing at the slide in the microscope.

"I would also like to know that," Mr. Tonoan asked finally announcing his presence in the lab.

Everyone stiffened and turned to their boss. He walked to the table and looked in the microscope as Mike got out of the way.

"So, what is this and what does it have to do with the girl Peter's team was told to abduct?" Mr. Tonoan asked still looking through the microscope watching the "blood" consume the rest of the needle.

"How did?..." Mike started to ask. He hadn't even finished writing his report concerning the girl and the technology that was brought back.

"I make it a point to stay informed on things that would affect my company. Like child abduction for instance," he said, his voice laced with underlined threats.

"They're nanites, sir," Frank said.

"That's impossible," Mike stated with disbelief.

"And why is that Mike?" Mr. Tonoan "asked" as he straightened up and gave him an ominous look.

"Um, nanites, while in theory is possible. No one has been able to do any practical work because of the complexity on the microscopic level. It's still out of anyone's capability to construct one let alone program one with specific instructions to do anything useful," Mike explained.

"I trust you are making a point Mike?"

"What he means sir, is that nanites can do almost anything from medical treatments to pretty much anything we could imagine. The holy grail of the modern world," Nicolette said excitedly.

Mr. Tonoan looked around at Mike, Frank, and Nicolette to gauge their beliefs, "And these nanites were extracted from the girl?"

"The sample Nicolette sent over doesn't have any blood in it. Each cell is actually made up of three machine-style nanites surrounded by an organic-type nanite," Frank said, "So we have in our possession both versions of nanites."

"And the girl Nelly head-butted with the guards' weapon?" Mr. Tonoans' tone of voice suggested he wasn't really concerned for the girls well-being but the potential loss of a surprisingly marketable asset.

"She's fine but she's not human," Nicolette said, "Aside from looking like a girl she's not human. And after what Frank has shown us, and the tests I was able to perform on my own, I am forced to believe that her entire body is like the sample."

"So you are saying that the girl is not human?"

"Yes sir."

"...Very well," Mr. Tonoan said as he turned to Mike, "Mike, move all our projects off the ship. I want all teams focused on the technology and equipment your teams have brought back."

"Um, Mr. Tonoan. Most of the projects aren't ready to move and most of the personnel won't be qualified to work on what we've found out about this girl so far.."

"It," Stated Mr. Tonoan.

"Sir?"

"If it is not human as the doctor has just told me then it will not be treated as such understand?"

"... Yes sir."

"And as for the projects on hand, they can be completed at the shore offices," Mr. Tonoan stated bluntly putting an end to Mikes protests. He then turned around and left.

Suddenly the phone rang. Since it was Franks lab, he answered before handing it off to Mike.

"Hello?"

"Hey Mike, it's Tom," he said in a chipper voice. "I was looking over the second suit, the one that doesn't have a battery. Anyways, I was looking through the inside of it and noticed that the connection port in the chest piece is shaped slightly different than the other one. It could be a plug for a power source. If we can get the power source, we can hook it up and see how the thing works all powered up."

"But we don't even..." Mike trailed off as he remembered talking with Nicolette about the unusual connectors on the girl earlier, "Tom, grab an electrical gauge tester to Nicolette's office. Make sure it's the heaviest tester we have. I'll meet you there," he said before hanging up. He then turned to Nicolette, "I think I found the reason for those things on the girl."

"Really, you think so Givings?" she asked sceptically.

"Yeah I have Tom meeting me there with some equipment to test my theory."

"I'll come to. Even if she isn't human she is still my patient. Besides, I have to make sure you don't mess up my office again," she said defensively.

"Fine with me," Mike said as Nicolette walked ahead of him. He stayed a few steps behind to watch her ass sway through her lab coat. "If only she weren't so cold," Mike thought to himself again.

0000000

It had been well over an hour before John and everyone else were able to calm Major down from her nervous breakdown and panic attack. Major was now resting in her room with John watching over her. Major was in her bed with her covers pulled over her head in deep thought. After several minutes she pulled the covers down to see John sitting at the foot of her bed reading a book. "I'm sorry," she whimpered.

John looked over with a puzzled look on his face, "What for?" ha asked as he put his book down.

"For freaking out. For making you all worry. I should be stronger than this," she said sullenly.

John sat there for a moment looking at her before letting out a deep sigh, "You're not a burden to us, especially to me. And none of us are expecting you to be superwoman"

Major let out a short laugh before sitting up, "I'm sure there are a few out there we haven't seen yet."

John laughed himself, "Yeah, but I'm kinda thankful we haven't had to run into any yet."

Major hugged her knees as a sad look crept on her face again, "It's just that ever since Henry stole my memories, I've been trying to figure out who I am. I don't even know if I was a girl before I used that machine. For all I know, I was some shut-in pale fat man that had a sick fetish for robot girls with guns. I hate not knowing who I was but I'm so afraid that I might be some horrible person."

John pursed his lips, "Here's what I know. Who ever was that tachicoma, that person felt you were worth it to sacrifice themself to save you. And even if you have lost all your memories of who you were, I think that the way you've acted so far shows that you are a good person. And if you weren't, then I don't think I would have fallen in love with you."

Tears crept from Major's eyes as she hide her face in her knees trying to hide them, "Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, for the briefest second of clarity, it feels like I know exactly who I am. I could remember my childhood and even my real name. and then just like that, it all vanishes. Do you know what that's like? To be so close to knowing who you really are just to have it all taken away! It scares me," she said hugging her knees tighter.

John put his hand on her knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze and nodded. "I'm not going to insult you by saying that I understand. All I'm saying is that you're not alone in this. Henry's hurt all of us," John said as he felt his chest where it was pierced years ago. He then gave her knee a pat, "Come on, I'm sure Jeffrey and Andria are wanting to talk to you too. Not to mention we're going to have to come up with a plan to find Henry before he does anything to Noel."

Major nodded and grabbed John's offered hand as he pulled her up. As they left her room she silently promised herself that she'd stop Henry once and for all.

00000000

Three days had passed at the floating headquarters of Tonoan Industrials. Mike, now the head of researching the hardsuits, had his teams box up and clear out all the prototype tech and various other chemicals to their shore office/factory building they were docked to. The rear elevator on the ship provided the easy access necessary to move all the equipment from the labs that were located where the hanger would have been if the ship were an actual aircraft carrier.

As Mike walked into the now empty lab he took a moment to marvel at how empty the normally crowded area was. Most of those who were working on their projects were sent off with them since they had no expertise with nanites in the "girl" and none relevant to the advanced technology in the two hardsuits. The results were only two and a have teams of the original standard of twenty which barely had qualifications to work on the suits let alone the "girl".

Just then Mr. Tonoan came up beside him, "What's the status of our new project?"

Mike swallowed, "We've got all the other projects off the ship. Unfortunately most of the staff went with them. With the people we do still have it'll take longer to work on these things than we wanted to."

Mr. Tonoan shifted his stance, to most would be a sign he was tired but Mike knew better, "Anything else?"

"Tom and I found that the girl.."

"The subject," Mr. Tonoan corrected.

"..The subject is the power source that our satellite detected. Tom later found that "the subject" is emitting extreme high and low end radio frequencies. After we cleared out the lab here, we used a mesh we had that's able to block radio waves and made sort of cage that you see he-it in now," Mike said as he pointed to the mesh box in front of them, he hoped Mr. Tonoan hadn't caught his slip up about the girl.

"Any signs that someone responded?" Mr. Tonoan asked seemingly oblivious, but Mike knew better.

"No sir. The signals were too weak. Tom and I have a theory that "it" was trying to send information to the exo-suits to relay somewhere else but we haven't detected any signals from them. So we should be in the clear."

Mr. Tonoan nodded, "Check the patents. If no one has a claim on this technology then I want you to subtly add our own."

"Yes sir."

"Good." And with that Mr. Tonoan left.

When Mr. Tonoan was gone Mike looked at the girl who was being connected to power cables while another team was busy erecting a mesh cage that would block all radio signals from the girl. "Yeah, real subtle."

00000

It was a day later when Noel finally awoken with a start. Even though her head was pounding she shook it to clear the lingering cobwebs, "This is becoming a bad joke," she thought as she tried to bring her hand up, she suddenly realised that her movements were restricted. Looking around herself she saw that she was now suspended by a harness, thick cables were attached to all the connectors on her body in such a way as if she were crucified. Noel began to hyperventilate as she struggled to get free. Looking around she saw that she was suspended inside some kind of mesh cage. Some people were walking around outside the cage, a woman had just entered the cage walking towards her. A second later Noel realised it was the same woman who tried giving her a shot when she was last awake.

As Nicolette walked up, she pulled a syringe out of a small case she was carrying with her. She tried once again to pull up the sleeve of the plug suit Noel had been wearing since she arrived. The material remained unyielding so Nicolette simply pushed the needle through it to draw another sample.

"What are you doing?" Noel asked weakly with a tinge of fear.

Nicolette, startled that the girl before her was suddenly awake, looked up before resuming her work, "I am taking a sample of your "blood". Whoever made you has done a very thorough job making you look human. He must have some very wealthy backers to be able to produce you while everyone else is still in the theoretical stages."

"What are you talking about?" Noel demanded as she tried pulling against the cables attached to her arms.

Nicolette pulled out a small audio recorder from her coat pocket and began to speak into it, "It seems that whoever created the subject has designed the A.I. to be self-aware and assume human-like... consciousness of self. From what interaction I have so far with the subject. I believe that it thinks that it is actually human. Unfortunately, it seems the subject has no knowledge of its creator or creators." she said with a disappointed sigh before sliding the recorder back into her pocket and left the cage.

Noel struggled against the unyielding cables again, "What are you talking about?! Of course I'm hu-" Noel stopped as she realized what she did. When she used the weird machine to transform herself the last time, she remembered that she specifically thought the phrase "Claudia-class boomer". Boomers were machines and she willingly turned herself into one. On some sub-conscious level, Noel began to think of himself as a male again. An act of defiance that reasoned that before he turned himself into this. He was human, a human male and no one was going to tell him otherwise. With that determination firmly in his mind, Noel began to concentrate on turning back to his human self to show everyone around him that they were wrong about him.

As Noel concentrated, he felt the mental switch begin to flip over before a stabbing pain ran through his chest causing him to stiffen and cry out in pain. But this time he didn't fall unconscious. Instead the searing pain only spurred him on to try harder. He was sick of the last few days he could remember. He was chased, shot at and nearly killed by some lunatic. and when he got home he was kidnaped and taken god knows where people are holding him against his will and telling him that he's not human and are now restraining him up to some nightmarish way because of it. Through pained grunts he continued to try.

This hadn't gone unnoticed by Nicolette as she stopped just outside the cage, nor Mike who'd been looking over the readouts from the cables attached to Noel. "What's happening?" Nicolette demanded as she approached Mike.

Mike looked over several screens showing data coming from the cables they attached to Noel, "I don't know! I was still calibrating the monitors," he looked over more data, "Her power output's spiking at higher yields." He paused to type in several commands.

Noel was still trying to turn back despite the pain when suddenly he felt a searing pain start to creep in from his connectors. The pain from her connectors started moving inwards. Straining against his restraints and cables attached to him his body was now fully awash in pain as he stopped trying to turn himself back to grant himself some reprieve from the pain at least in his chest so he could deal with the pain from his connectors.

Mike sighed in relief as he typed in a few more commands and stood back and rubbed his sleeve over his forehead.

Nicolette was standing by Mike at this time looking at the screens but was unable to make sense of the data. "What happened?" she asked again.

Mike took another breath as he turned to her, "It's power levels were spiking at increasingly higher levels. If it didn't stop, I think it would have overloaded and blown us up," he said grimly.

The realisation of this swept over Nicolette's face, "Then how were you able to stop it?"

Mike looked down and let out a low chuckle, "I made a biiiig gamble that I'm really happy paid off. Otherwise..." he let the sentence hang.

Nicolette was becoming very annoyed with Mike, "What did you do Mike?"

Mike looked up at her in the eye, "I plugged her into our power grid. With the way she's... It's been programed, I thought that sending an electric current back would be incentive for it to stop since whatever it was trying to do was causing her pain."

Nicolette stared at him a full minute before letting out a breath that sounded like a scoff and turned around to gather her sample and walked away to the lab to do experiments with her new sample.

Mike stared at her lovely swinging ass as she walked away. Once she was out of sight he turned back to the multiple screens in front of him. "If it did go off, we wouldn't have felt it," he mumbled as he took another drink from his coffee.

0000000

A few days later in the lab, Mike and his team had rigged up a power cable from Noel to the hardsuit with the Canada flag paintjob on it. The Exo-suit-01 as it was now called was in a separate lab on the ship. Mike, Tom, and a few others were going over the suit connecting the power cable to the connector in the chest piece. Peter and Nelly were off to the side arguing.

"Look Nell, let someone else do this. Besides, It's not even in our job description," Peter said trying to convince Nelly as she was adjusting the leotard she was wearing.

"What's the matter Pete? Pissed that you don't have the right figure to do it yourself?" Nelly taunted playfully as she began some stretches as she turned to Mike, "So Mikey-boy, You wanna explain to me why I'm wearing this get-up again? I kinda tuned you out and figured you wanted to jerk off to me when ya handed me the leotard." She then clasped her hands together, keeping her arms straight down which forced her breast to squish together. Her head was tilted like a little girl's as she looked up at him and began speaking in a mock little girl voice, "I put it on because you're just so pathetic, how could I say no?" She then bent over as she began to laugh hard.

Mike let out an annoyed sigh as he finished connecting and checking the power cable, "You're wearing the leotard because even though you're the closest person here to the girls size it's still going to be a tight squeeze. We'd use the green exo-suit but the battery that we found with it is practically dead and we don't have a way of recharging it right now. So if you want to be more uncomfortable than by all means, put your uniform and gear back on."

Nelly gave Mike a pout that was clearly meant to spur him on, "Awww, you know I only like to help. It's not every day you can get your jollies of to a real woman that's not on a computer screen."

Mike just rubbed his temples willing the headache that Nelly was giving him away. He then pointed at the hardsuit, "Just shut up and get in the damn exo-suit," he said in a weary voice.

Nelly smirked as she passed Mike as he joined Tom at some computers nearby.

"Now Nell," Tom said from the computer, "Once you get in, we'll turn the power on and the exo-suit should activate and seal you up. For now, we just want you to walk around and get a feel for the suit. We'll have you doing some strength test another day."

Nelly replied with a curt, "Okay Tom," before sliding a foot in the right leg of the hardsuit.

Mike gave Tom a WTF look to which Tom just shrugged.

"Shit, this fuckers cold!" Nelly exclaimed as she slid her other foot in the left leg.

"Don't worry about it. It'll warm up," Tom said, "Slide your arms in and once you're ready we'll flip the power on."

Nelly nodded and leaned forward. After her arms were in place, she waited for the inner lining to warm up before telling Tom and Mike she was ready. Mike turned on the power and the suit came to life. The thigh's swung up connecting the front and back sections of the hip piece before the front and back half of the torso snapped into place causing Nelly to let out an "Oof."

"Everything ok Nell?" Tom asked.

"Yeah, it's just a little tight in the chest. It's a little hard to breath," She said. Discomfort obvious on her face.

"We'll get you on the other exo-suit once we find a way to recharge the battery," Mike said.

"And here I thought you were into the whole bondage kink," Nelly teased leaving Mike to grumble under his breath.

Peter, who was standing well of to the side this whole time watching his team member, "How're you holding up Nell?"

Nelly rolled her shoulders, "Aside from it being hard to breath I'm doing ok. The suits warmed up finally so it's not freezing anymore. The suit response is sluggish though."

"It's probably because the exo-suits not getting enough power it normally gets when the girl is in it so we'll just have to deal till we get the other one working," Tom said. "For now, try walking around a bit."

Nelly nodded and began to walk around over to Peter, the actuators sounding each time she took a step. "Damn this thing's slow! It feels like I'm walking under water," Nelly said after a series of slow deliberate steps. Suddenly Nelly stiffened, a worried look was on her face.

"What's wrong Nell?" Peter asked with concern.

Nelly shifted and rolled her shoulders again, "Something in the suit's poking me all over."

"It's probably just the connectors in the suit," Mike said, "We think they act like nerve sensors to translate the persons body movements to the exo-suit. On the next test we'll try cutting holes in your leotard to see if that'll reduce the sluggish movement. Otherwise we'll try increasing power and see if that changes anything."

Nelly was about to fire off another insult when she doubled over backwards falling on her back screaming in pain.

Peter ran over to her to try to help, "Nell, what's wrong?" he shouted as he tried to keep her still.

"Something's digging into me, get this thing OFF!" she screamed while Peter shouted at Mike and Tom to shut the power off when Nelly, in a flailing frenzy effortlessly batted Peter off where he hit the wall several feet behind him where he slumped to the floor.

A second later Mike cut the power that caused the hardsuit to open a moment later. Tom ran to Nelly who wasn't moving and pulled her out. After getting her arms and legs out, he noticed bloody splotches at different points on Nelly's body and shouted at Mike to call Nicolette down here now.

As Mike called for Nicolette over the ships emergency PA system Tom asked Nelly if she was okay.

Nelly looked up at Tom with gritted teeth, "I can't move," she cried.

MAU: INFINITE CRISIS, PART 6
By: Set3

Peter was on the warpath. He had since recovered from his impromptu meeting with the wall in Mike's lab shortly after Nelly was moved out. Crystal was there to check him over to see if he had a concussion and as she checked him over she let slip of Nelly's injuries. This had upset Peter immensely; someone on his team was injured on his watch. After a flurry of questions about Nelly's state all Crystal could tell him was that she had been sent to Nicolette's infirmary. With that information Peter was off running through the halls of the ship with Crystal struggling to keep up. On reaching the door to Nicolette's infirmary he was stopped by two guards. "Let me through," he ordered them but they remained steadfast.

"We're sorry sir, but we were told by Nicolette to not let anyone in. That includes you sir," the one on the left told him.
With anger on his face he was in a flurry of motion as he wrested the guards' weapon closest to him. Just as he was about to make use of the gun and force his way in the other guard already had his pointed straight at Peters head. Crystal who'd finally caught up uttered a surprised cry when she saw the three.

"Stand down sir," the guard warned. His finger was on the trigger.

It was at this time that Nicolette had opened the door and was startled to find the standoff transpiring outside her door. Her shock only lasted a second before she let out an exasperated sigh, "Put those down, I already have my hands full and don't need you putting holes in each other," she said as her accent grew. A sign of how stressed she was.

Peter immediately relinquished the SMG to the guard he took it from and stepped past them to Nicolette. "What happened to Nelly? Was this all some kind of test to see what would happen if someone put the exo-suit on?" he shouted. Nicolette put her hand up causing Peter to pause in his accusations.

"I have already been over this with Mike. And he assures me that they had no way of knowing that the suit had this capability. Now, as for Nelly herself, her injuries are... Unusual."

Peter's eyes narrowed, "What do you mean?"

Nicolette dismissed the guards before replying, "She has been paralyzed in a way that I have never seen before. Every point the connectors from the suit had touched her body had injected a foreign substance that has cut the nervous system in such a way that prevents voluntary movement with the exception to breathing. But even though she can't move, she still has full feeling in all her limbs," she said clearly still puzzled by that. "There is one thing though."

"What?"

"If the cord Mike was using hadn't been plugged into the chest piece then it would have caused her rib cage to open. As it stands, the only thing she can move is her head and neck."

Peter thought this over a minute. "Can I see her?"

Nicolette looked back to the door behind her, "She has been under a lot of stress and trauma since the accident. Despite her immobility, she is still as vocal as ever and made it clear that she doesn't want to see anyone right now."

"You know I have to see her. She's a member of my team and that makes her my responsibility," Peter told Nicolette.

Nicolette hesitated before stepping to the side, "Just keep it brief. She has been through a lot and it still takes her awhile to calm down."

"It wouldn't be Nelly if she didn't," Peter said with the faintest of smiles as he opened the door. Almost immediately a very angry voice called out.

"I TOLD YOU TO GET THE FUCK OUT!" Nelly screamed.

Peter entered anyways and closed the door behind him. He looked at Nelly laying on one of the beds looking out the window beside her. "Is that any way to address your commanding officer?" Peter asked trying to sound jovial. Nelly continued looking out the window.

"Get the fuck out, Sir," she said still not turning to look at Peter.

Peter walked over to her bed and sat in the chair beside it. "Nell, look at me." She didn't respond. He repeated himself, "Nell? Look at me."

"I don't know how they do it," Nelly said finally, still not turning to face Peter.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been on tour," she said referring their service in the military.

"Yeah, a lot of good and bad things happened then," Peter said not sure where she was going with it.

"We lost a lot of fellow soldiers while on tour. A lot of us died for reasons no one really knows anymore and when we die, we get shits bitching about how it was god's will that we got what we deserved."

"Yeah well, there's always going to be people like that no matter where you go," Peter said with distaste.

"What I'm getting at is I can't figure out how those who get crippled like me or just loose an arm can go on all happy go lucky."

Peter was starting to worry then she finally turned to face him and was shocked at what he saw. She was crying. In all the years he'd known her, He had never once seen her cry. Even when back in the army she had gotten shot, she was more pissed off than anything. But, here now, she was a totally different person.

"I'm fucking paralyzed and I can still feel everything! I can feel my fingers, I can feel everything but I can't move a fucking thing. You know how hellish this is? I've seen plenty of guys get fucked up on tour but at least they probably don't have to feel their bodies wasting away."

Peter didn't know what to say. He wanted to say something reassuring but he couldn't think of anything. He then noticed that Nelly's blonde hair had fallen on her face. He brushed the strands out of her face and put his hand on hers. "I'll let you get some rest for now," he then got up and walked to the door, "I'll come back later and see how you're doing okay?"

Nelly just gave a dismissive snort before turning back to the window.

Peter left and closed the door behind him and turned to Nicolette who was talking softly to Crystal. "Keep me in the loop please. If there's any change, especially for the better, then let me know right away. I don't care what I'm doing at the time, just let me know," he told Nicolette.

She nodded, "Of course."

Peter took a deep breath sparing a glance in Nelly's direction before walking off down the hall.

Nicolette led Crystal into her office to change Nelly's bandages. Nelly had calmed down considerably and as they drew back her sheets they could see her bandages had just started to bleed through. Starting from the feet both Nicolette and Crystal removed the bandages and cleaned the wounds before replacing the dressings.

When Crystal finished cleaning the wound on Nelly's foot she noticed a small black speck in the middle. Fearing an infection she called Nicolette's attention and pointed to it. Nicolette made a comment about how it was too early for it to start to scab over and asked Nelly if she felt any pain. She shook her head no. Still concerned, Nicolette took a swab and probed the black spec for a sample to test. Crystal, for her part, retrieved some more things to hopefully remove the object. Nicolette put away the swab for later testing then grabbed a scalpel. She tried lightly scraping and cutting the black spec while watching Nelly for discomfort. She was able to get a small scraping before Nelly cried out in excruciating pain, Nicolette let out a swear in Russian and had Crystal put fresh dressings on her wounds with a coating of antibiotics while she checked the other bandages. To Nicolette's dismay there was a solid black spec at the center of every wound on each point on her limbs and the ones at the nap of Nelly's neck and her tail bone. Nicolette tried not to show it for Crystal and Nelly's sake but she was worried. If this was some sort of invasive infection she would have to consider amputation if she can't remove them but that would cause problems for the ones on her torso. Once they were done applying fresh bandages, Nicolette had Crystal run the samples over to Frank's lab for testing. It went without saying that she wanted a rush on it.

It was later in the evening that Frank had shown up at her door with the results. After a long day, Nicolette had looked up to discover that it was well past midnight as she walked to the door sparing a glance to Nelly before opening the door to admit Frank.

"You look like hell," Frank said as he handed Nicolette a clip board.

Nicolette took the clipboard with a soft chuckle and flipped through the results, "Thanks, I feel worse. With having to brush up on medical theory for our little girl down in the main lab, and Nelly's accident I haven't had much time to..." she paused as she read the last page. She then pushed Frank out of her office and closed the door as she continued the conversation in the hall. "These are..."

Frank nodded, "Nanites, the mechanical version."

Even though Nicolette was weary after such a long day, what Frank just told her made her eyes shoot wide open, "Frank, do you know what this means?"

Frank gave a quizzical look, "That this stuff is dangerous?"

Nicolette shook her head, "No. It means that the nanites already have programming to make surgical alterations to the human body with exact precision. Once we can program these nanites to do what we want, we can virtually eliminate the ailments of the modern world, much sooner than I could have hoped to," she said excitedly.

"You hoped for?" Frank asked with a raised eyebrow.

"We could hope for," Nicolette corrected herself fiddling with her hands nervously.

Frank just shrugged and left to return to his lab leaving Nicolette making a silent promise to herself to make sure that no one would have to go through what her and her late husband did.

000000

As the week progressed, the black specks on Nelly's body grew in size closely resembling the connectors on Noel's body. Nicolette was sure to maintain a careful watch over the nanites progression to the final stage. Unfortunately for Nelly, she remained paralyzed.

During this, Mr. Tonaon had given a press conference to address the reasons why the projects were moved off the ship so suddenly by way of giving the small group of selected reporters a partial tour of the ship. He showed them the hanger for the three helicopters and the offices, marketing rooms until finally stopping at the doors to the main labs using this as the point in the tour to answer their questions.

"Mr. Tonaon," a male reporter started, "I'm sure that you've been asked this before, but why make the headquarters of your company a boat? And furthermore, why make it look like a world war two aircraft carrier?"

Mr. Tonaon smiled at the question and replied with an air of suave confidence, "My Company has holdings in many countries around the world and I believe that it is a prudent practice that the main office of a company should be mobile. I like to think that it sends the message that we genuinely care about the places we put our factories and offices in. And to answer your second question, I have always had a fondness for the aircraft carriers of that era and while I can't have the real thing, I would like to think I am keeping a piece of American history alive. Next question please," he said before pointing to a woman in the back of the group.

"Mr. Tonaon. Why has your company off-loaded its industrial projects? According to my sources, none of them were ready for mainstream production at your shore offices."

There was a briefest flicker of anger that ran across Mr. Tonaon's face before it returned to its friendly looking business look. "It is true that a majority of the projects we have been working on were not ready to be put into production for the public consumption," he stated.

"Can you tell us why?" the woman prodded as the others shoved their cameras and microphones closer to him.

Mr. Tonaon looked at the expectant faces a moment before answering, "I can't go into details right now but my team has stumbled on a new way to produce energy more efficiently. I can't make any promises about it yet but the research being done behind these doors behind me will be put to the benefit of everyone everywhere," just before he finished talking the reporters instantly began shouting questions which Mr. Tonaon brushed off and gestured for the security that were keeping the crowd out of the more sensitive areas of the ship to usher them out and back to the dock.

As the press left and were finally out of sight, his pleasant smile fell away to a frown. The apparent news of one of the reporters "sources" is in fact true and he was prepared to give the same answer regardless, the fact she had a source to call upon told him his company had a security breach. He gestured to his personal assistant that was immediately beside him as he instructed him to find the leak and plug it. Once that was out of the way he returned to his office, the tour he conducted may have helped his company's public image but it was still a distraction to business and work was pilling up.

00000

While the past week had come by without notice, Jeffrey's team was frustrated by their progress, or lack thereof, in finding where Henry might have taken Noel. Major continued to look for her searching the net from the computer, John kept her company, while Andria trained on the firing range behind their home base. Jeffrey had gone to the government hospital to see his sister. Every time he came, he was crushed when he asked the doctors if there was any change and shook their head in the negative. After he entered his sister's room he replaced the flowers with the ones he brought with him. He then sat down next to her.

"Hello Hayley," he started, "Sorry I haven't been around much... Work's been keeping me pretty busy and all," Jeffrey then stopped for several long minutes holding back tears threatening to come out. Once he got back under control he continued, "I met someone a week ago, she's really pretty. She kind of reminds me of you in some ways." He paused. "From the moment I met her, she's already had so much trouble fall into her lap, mostly because of Henry, but she made some great friends with me and my friends. I think... I think that Henry might have taken her. I can't let him keep hurting people. I know that he's family and you wouldn't want anything bad to happen to him either but at the rate he's going at... I don't know how I'm going to stop him." He took her hand in his and sat keeping the fourteen year old girl company; the heart rate monitor was the only break in the silence.

00000

Peter had just returned to the lab to start the day shift for guarding the girl. Despite that the staff was told to treat her like and object he couldn't force himself to think like that. He was told she was nothing more than a machine but the way he acted kept him from thinking that. Unfortunately some people, much to his distaste, didn't share his moral fiber. Peter steeled himself as he relieved the guard coming off the night watch.

"Well Peter, I have to tell you, I love the grave shift," said Don Wait, the guard Peter was relieving said.

"And why is that?" Peter asked tiredly as he took his position by the door to the main lab housing Noel's chamber.

"Well, during the grave shift, not too many people are up right?" he asked in a jovial tone.

"Right," Peter acknowledged not sure where Don was going with this.

"Since no one's up at that hour, it means that one could exercise some... Personal freedoms," Don's expressions were dripping with innuendo at this point, a fact that left Peter feeling uneasy.

"Let's just say that it gives one... Opportunities to find out just how life-like that thing we got caged up really is. I mean, I can't get that weird get-up it has out of the way so I can get a the good stuff but it's the small things that keep the grave shift interesting," he said with a smug look on his face.

"Now listen here Wait," Peter said as he took a step forward before Don pushed him back against the wall and got in his personal space putting his face inches from Peter's.

"Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it huh? You gonna sick Nelly on me? Everybody knows that she's a cripple now because of her usual stupid shit. And Third? The guy's a pussy. You got no friends here. Your team, if you can call it that, is no longer the best now that Nelly's out of the picture. And nobody gives a fuck around here what you did in Afghanistan or Iraq or whatever it was you crawled out of to slink over here to get your high and mighty position here on this boat," He backed up and pointed to the science team working in the lab, "You think any of those people give a fuck what I did to that thing they got strung up? They don't care what anyone does so long as it still works in the end. So fuck off and keep your "moral fiber" for someone who gives a shit, okay?"

And with that, he left Peter to watch over the lab and stew.

Meanwhile Mike had been working with his own team as they continued to work on the hardsuits. They were having better luck with the green Linna hardsuit and were able to remove the transmitter from it. Despite their initial use of Noel's hardsuit they couldn't perform any work due to the incredible interconnectivity of its systems. He had Tom searching for suitable candidates to increase the staff so they could make some headway on the project. They were still working on the battery but they were able to co-op the power supply by hooking it into cables from the ships power grid. After awhile Mike left the lab and walked over to Nicolette's office to run over an idea he had with her.

On entering he saw that Crystal was tending to Nelly by helping her eat. He had to force himself not to smile at Nelly's immobility since he knew what would happen if they went through with his idea. He walked over to Nicolette, once again taking note of her backside as he approached and cleared his throat to announce himself. Nicolette didn't respond as she was too engrossed with whatever she was looking at in the microscope until Mike cleared his throat again which elicited a distracted grunt from her. Taking this as a cue to talk, Mike took a breath, "So, how's work?" he asked mentally groaning to himself.

"What do you want Mike?" she replied, still distracted but less than thrilled to hear him.

"Progress on the Exo-suit 1 has stalled since the accident with Nelly but we've made great strides with the Exo-suit 2 though."

"Uh-huh," she said already dismissing Mike assuming he was trying to flirt again with her.

"The reason I'm here now is that I want to borrow Nelly. I'd like her to wear the Exo-suit 2 so we can gather more data to help us figure out some of the inner working of the machine."

Nicolette was still looking through the microscope until she heard Mike's suggestion. She then sat straight up and turned around to face Mike, her accent thickening slightly, "You can't be serious putting her in that thing again. She has suffered far too much trauma for me to consider entertaining what you're suggesting."

"She won't be wearing the one that paralyzed her," he argued, "The green Exo-suit is far less advance than the first one so we should be able to control what might happen."

"Listen to yourself, "should be able to control what happened", tells me that you don't know what will happen let alone control it. I won't let you risk her again."

"Or what? She's already paralyzed. There's not much more the Exo-suits can do. Besides, if it does work, when we put her in it and turn it on she might regain her independence and be able to move on her own again. She was in the army, you think someone like that is happy to let people spoon feed her and change her diapers for her when she craps herself."

"...I," Nicolette stuttered.

"And who's to say that if we put her in again the thing won't fix what the first Exo-suit did to her. And if it doesn't? Fine then, by all accounts from the data my team and I collected so far, she should be able to move on her own again. Think about it, if we can find a way to miniaturize the Exo-suits, we could give thousands of people who were stuck in a wheel chair mobility and independence again. And considering the properties of the first suit, once we harvest and modify enough nanites, we can start helping people with neural diseases." Mike notice that what he just said struck a chord somewhere deep with Nicolette and smiled inwardly to himself as he continued, "If we succeed here that we can do away with expensive and dangerous surgeries since they won't be needed anymore. A simple injection and however long it takes for the nanites to take effect and you're done. What I'm trying to say is we need a foundation to work with and helping people walk again will give us notice in the medical community not to mention the capital needed so we can do the nanite work. At the rate we're going now with two and a half teams that barely know what they're doing it'll take several decades if not centuries to make this a reality. We need to focus our effort on one thing at a time at least." He saw Nicolette begin to fidget. "Do you really want anyone else to go through what you went through?" he asked her, knowing he was striking a low blow.

"NYET, OKAY!" she shouted with her now strong accent. "But, Nelly is still my patient. We talk to her first and if she says no, then that is the end of it, okay?" she was visibly holding back tears now.

All I ask is a chance," Mike said softly giving Nicolette a moment to collect herself before they confronted Nelly with Mike's proposal. Surprising to both of them Nelly agreed to the proposal, she wasn't enthusiastic about it but she offered no objections. Thanks to the inside of the ship being designed like a five-star hotel they were easily able to move her to the labs by way of wheelchair only a few people they past made any murmurs of Nelly's condition. Once they arrived, Nicolette and Crystal helped Nelly into a sensor suit that would give them more data when she was put into the hardsuit. A day earlier Mike had his team construct a contraption that would help ease Nelly into the suit without having to worry about a limb not mining up with the connector in the suit or a finger not making it into the right slot. The staff had jokingly called the contraption "The shoehorn" which surprisingly didn't get any reaction out of Nelly who'd seemed distant the entire time and only responded as needed when asked or told something.

"Okay Nelly," Mike said from the computer off to the side, "We have made some progress on the Exo-suit 2's battery but we still can't recharge it properly. So, we currently have the suit hooked up to the ships grid. The test we made showed no problems but if you feel any abnormal heat buildup in the exo-suit then please tell me and we'll cut the power and get you out. Both exo-suits seemed to have a failsafe that opens to let the wearer out but just in case I have some people standing by to cut you out. Understand?"

"Just start the damn thing up already," Nelly said flatly.

Mike nodded and turned on the power. The hardsuit seemed to hum as its systems came to life and sealed her inside it. Soon enough Nelly was standing, clad in the Hardsuit minus the helmet with only the stand to hold the suit upright to keep her steady. "How does it feel?" Mike asked.

Nelly took a deep breath, "It's much easier to breath than the last one," she commented.

Mike nodded and typed some things into the computer that caused the stand to drop down leaving physical contact with the suit. "Can you try moving around please?" he instructed.

Nelly hesitated before looking down at her armor clad self and cautiously brought her hands and arms up till they were level with her shoulders. She then straightened her arms out in front of her before bringing her hands in closely and experimented with wiggling her fingers. As she did this she had taken a few steps forward dragging the thick power cables attached to her back behind her. For the first time since the accident she smiled, "I can..." she stopped as she wiggled her fingers some more.

Nicolette, who was happy to see that she was mobile again called out, "What's wrong?"

Nelly dropped her hands to her sides and looked back at them, "I still can't move," she said returning to her previous emotionless state.

Nicolette was confused and looked to Mike who offered no answers, "But you are moving right now." she stated incredulously.

"The suit's moving for me!" Nelly snapped. "Just tell me what you want me to do so we can get this shit over with." she said.

Nicolette was taken aback by her sudden outburst but accepted Nelly's response for now. She then turned to Mike who began to instruct Nelly through basic movements. A few hours later they were done and pulled Nelly out of the hardsuit and wheel her back to the ships infirmary.
As Nicolette and Crystal lowered her back into the bed Nicolette asked her a question, "Why weren't you more excited to stand on your own again?"

Nelly just turned her head so she could look out the window, "Forget it. You wouldn't understand if I told you so just leave me alone until Mike wants me to put the suit on again.":

Nicolette nodded and pushed a button off to the side that activated the hidden wall panels that silently slid into place so Nelly could have some privacy.

A few hours later in the evening Mike was in one of the computer labs with bleary eyes as he looked over the new data scrolling across the screen as Tom came in. Mike looked over at Tom when he noticed a man walking behind him with a large briefcase. The man was tall and had short, dark wavy hair that looked to have a tinge of red to it as well. He was wearing and expensive looking business suit but the man looked as if he wasn't afraid of getting dirty either. Mike sat back in his chair and turned to Tom with a sigh, "Tom, I'm way too busy to talk to one of the suits right now," He turned to the man, "No offense sir." he added.

Tom just let a big smile on his face, "It just so happens that this guy is going to be joining our team."

Mike jerked up in his chair, "What?"

The man extended his hand to shake Mikes, "It's true. I've already signed the necessary paperwork and I'm quite eager to start working on your..." he paused looking for the right word, "Mechanical project."

"Uh-huh," Mike said with a raised eyebrow, "Can you excuse me for a moment please?" he said before turning to Tom. Mike waited till the man was out of the room before he turns to Tom. "How much did you tell him about what we're working on?"

"Just that we are working on advanced robotics, he actually gave me some very apt descriptions about the Exo-suit 1," he said to Mike shocked response.

"I... Is he one of the people that worked on the suits before we recovered it?

Tom shook his head, "No, he just told me that he witnessed a demonstration of the Exo-suit 1's capabilities."

Mike just sat back in his chair laughing, "How much is he asking to keep quiet then?"

Tom just shrugged his shoulders, "He didn't say anything about wanting a bribe. What I got from talking to him is that he's more interested in working on the suits than any hush money."

Mike just rubbed his eyes and flinched slightly, his nose had healed up fine but was still tender in some spots, and nodded to Tom as he got up, "Okay then. If he signed the papers then that means he cleared the background checks right?" Tom nodded. "Alright, let's go show him the suits then." He quickly turned back to save his work and encrypt it on the computer before shutting it down and leaving the computer lab.

Mike and Tom lead the man to the lab wear the hardsuits were kept. As they walked in the man was immediately drawn to Exo-suit 1, "Ah yes, this was the one I saw in Action," he said in admiration as he ran his hand over the smooth armor.

"Tom tells me you saw a demonstration of the exo-suit," Mike queried.

The man nodded, "Admitingly I snuck in, so I'm not privy to the inner workings of the suit but I can give you a fair amount in what it is capable of," he said as he knelt down touching the left gauntlet. "It's capable of sustained flight and in these gauntlets holds two sets of weapons that I noticed. It can fire some form of energy and closer to the knuckles," he said as he felt the silted panel that ran just above the fingers of the gauntlet, "Holds a nasty blade. I assume that each arm holds the same weapons," he said as he stood up brushing the wrinkles out of his slacks. "Have you found what powers it yet?" he asked as he turned to Mike.

Mike, had the look of a deer in the headlights, this guy knew far too much, "Well, I... We have found what powers it but..."

"Say no more," the man said putting up his hands in cheerful resignation, "I was just curious. Before we go any further I just want to reaffirm that I have no interest in profiting off of anything you have here or taking credit for any of it. I'm quite happy in remaining nameless in the history books. I only ask because I like to think outside the box and if I could see the whole picture then I might be able to speed up the process. I'm quite the engineer," he said with somehow no hint of exaggeration. Mike was beginning to become a little afraid of this guy, he already knew too much and he didn't want anything extra. His gut was telling him to ditch the guy but with Mr. Tonaon continually pushing for results. With a heavy sigh he held out a hand and gestured for the man to follow. Tom stayed behind with the hardsuits to work on them some more.

The two remained silent as they walked through the corridors of the ship the man remarking once about the fancy decor to which Mike mumbled an affirmative and they continued on until they finally reached the door to the main lab. Before He opened the door he turned to the man again, "Just so we're clear. You are an independent worker and everything you work on and see is to be considered company secret. If you
breach the contract you signed then you should expect to say good bye to any finances you have and be sent to jail for the rest of your life."

The man nodded again, "If I break the contract I signed then I will accept any punishment the company you work for decides to give me."

With that clear and out of the way Mike took a breath and sighed as he opened the door. They quickly passed through and were a bit surprised when Crystal came up behind them but continued to the second set to reveal Noel still hanging from his harness in his cage. Crystal had gone over to Noel to take another sample of nanites from Noel while Mike and his new employee went off to the side to a bank of monitors that were tied to the connectors on Noels body.

"After we found the Exo-suits, we found that the girl, or rather the subject as we've come to call it, was emitting an energy pulse that shorted out our satellite. That's how we were able to find it in fact," He told him. "Somehow, whoever designed her used technology that hasn't been invented or perfected yet. Inside her is some kind of power generator that rivals any nuclear power station on the planet. What we'd like to do in the long term is duplicate it."

The man looked at Noel as Crystal had just left with her sample. Don had arrived to take over for the night shift. "...Fascinating," the man said finally. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to help you create a duplicate power source that's in that girl but I should be able help you with the "Exo-suits". At least in some fashion," he said as he looked over the readouts on the monitors.

"So, what's your name anyways? I can't believe I completely forgot to ask you," Mike admitted embarrassingly.

The man chuckled as he stuck his hand out to shake Mikes, "No, that's okay. My name is Henry, Henry Donald's.

It was already late into the evening and the scientists working on Noel were beginning to call it a day and were feeling the effects of exhaustion. This was evident with two scientist where one was just entering while the other was leaving forgot to keep one door closed. In the three seconds the doors were opened, Noel suddenly looked up at the opened hallway. Mike and the man were distracted by the sudden data spike pouring through the monitors. Don was already on the move to the scientist shouting at them to close the doors. But the damage had already been done. Noel had already uploaded a program into Crystal's iphone making it buzz causing her to take the cell phone out to check it, letting it take a picture of Noel in his cage. Don had already turned to notice Crystal holding the phone as it took the picture and ran over to her taking it away from her. Once again, the damage had been done and under the direction of the hidden program in Crystal's phone, it sent the picture to every email address in Crystal's phone with the subject line "HELP ME".

00000000000

A day later Jeffries team were all accounted for at their home base save Jeffrey who stayed overnight at the hospital with his sister. Major was still more or less tied to her computer while John and Andria had taken a break and settled down for lunch while they had the TV turned to the news station half-listening to it.

"With a cook like you John, It's a wonder that none of us hasn't gotten fat yet," Andria told John as she shoved a fork full of spaghetti into her mouth, "You can make something as simple as spaghetti taste like it came from one of those exclusive restaurants."

"It's nothing really," John said sheepishly, "All I did was put in a few spices into the sauce. The only thing I did different was added shredded lettuce to the sauce before serving."

"Yeah but it's so good," Andria gushed. "Come on Major, You're missing out on you boyfriends cooking. If you don't come over here, I'm going to steal your boyfriend from you," she teased.

"Okay, I'm coming," Major said quickly as she pulled the plugs from the back of her neck and ran over to the kitchen to help herself to the meal and sat needlessly close to John earning a chuckle from the two already seated.

"So, any luck finding her?" John asked.

Major sighed before taking a bite; she took a moment to savor the flavor, "No... The only thing I was able to dig up so far was the fight she had with Henry in that town way back. The "experts" think it was a small meteorite that vaporized on impact," she said when commenting about people who weren't in the know about the alien machine. The conversation hadn't gone much farther than that when their attention was drawn to the news anchor on TV.

"And in other news, computer experts and police officials are cautioning people about a new email virus that has cropped up yesterday. People are urged not to open any emails they receive that contain the words "Help Me" in the subject header. While there haven't been any reports about any harm caused by this email virus police still urge everyone to not open the email. Once opened the virus forwards the email to everyone in your contact list before displaying an attached photo. We here at the station have obtained the photo in question. What we are about to show may disturb some viewers," the news caster said as his image was replaced with the photo. All three suddenly bolted upright as they recognized the person in the photograph. The news castor continued, "As of yet we haven't been able to identify the person in the picture but it appears to be of a young girl of sixteen years of age hanging by several cables in a mesh cage." two other people were in front of Noel but any identification was impossible due to both having their heads turned away. In the foreground was the blurry outline of a man's face that had a helmet of some kind on that suggested military. "So far, no hacker groups have claimed responsibility for what has been called the "Help me virus". We will keep you updated on or web site." The news castor then went to drown on about recent sports games results but the trio had already moved to their computer. Major was already jacking herself back in.

As she brought up the website and several others, John was already asking Major about what they just saw to which Major only hushed him as she worked. The picture of Noel was brought up on the screen and Both John and Andria were uncomfortably close gazing over Major's shoulders trying to make out details in the picture. Frustrated, Major shoved them both back causing Andria to land on her rear and John to stumble. While Major never touched the keyboard or mouse, she was working furiously through the jacks in her neck as she works to bring the blurry face in the foreground into focus. She had already tried looking for any markings that would leave a clue to Noel's location. As John and Andria watched her work at a more reasonable distance they heard a motorcycle come up signaling the return of Jeffrey.

Jeffrey walked in to see everyone huddled around Major at the computer, "What's going on?" he asked as he rounded the table.

"We might have found Noel," Andria stated with a hint of worry in her voice.

Jeffrey stopped in his tracks before resuming at a quicker pace and saw the image of Noel strung up like a prize of some sort. Jeffrey wasn't sure what to say when he saw the image. He didn't know what to feel. He just wanted to free her. Whatever else would have to wait. "Can we use this to find her?' he finally asked.

"That's what I'm trying to do," Major said suddenly just as she brought the face into focus. Everyone stared at the face of the man and the only thing they could take from it was that he looked Chinese. "Got him!" Major suddenly shouted after a minute of silence as she opened a window that had the man's employee file on it.

"That's my girl," John said as he gave Major a quick kiss.

"You know it," she said with a smile, "His name is Don Wait. And he works as a security guard for the Tonaon industrials company... Unfortunately it doesn't say where he works," she said with disappointment. Everyone swore at that. Jeffrey looked at the picture dejectedly. He was so close to finding her but was still so far off. For ten seconds he looked sullenly at the picture until he noticed something in the reflection of Don's protective goggles on his helmet.

"Can you clear that up?" he asked Major as he pointed at the reflection.

Major stared at the reflection for several seconds, "It's a little distorted but I'll try," she said as she went to work. Five minutes inched slowly by until Major was almost finished. Before she could clear the fuzz from the image on the screen she stiffened and brought up an employee file of Mike. "The guy on the right is some guy named Mike Givings, he works for Tonaon Industrials too. Unfortunately his file doesn't say where he works either. But, according to his facebook page, he works at the Tonaon Industrials headquarters."

Jeffrey breathed a sigh of relief, "Good job Major," he said giving her a pat on the back, "Now where is that?"

"It's currently docked at their industrial offices just south of Victoria on Vancouver Island in BC Canada."

Jeffrey looked at her funny when she mentioned it was docked but decided to drop it as it wasn't important. He then noticed that there was a second person in the reflection to the left of Mike. "Who's that?" Jeffrey asked Major pointing to the still blurred image of the man.

Major hesitated, "I-it doesn't really matter does it? We know where Noel is now so now we can go get her."

"Major!"

Major looked at the determination in Jeffrey's eyes and sighed as she looked down. The image cleared up and Jeffrey only took half a look before he was already running out the door. He barely needed more than one look to recognize Henry. He stopped briefly enough to grab his batsuit and stuff it in a back pack before he was out the door. It was only after he slammed the door shut that John and Andria noticed Henry's face.

Not long after they heard Jeffrey speeding away did the phone ring. Seeing that it was from Agent G they put it on speaker phone. Usually when they got a call from him on just the phone the group would do a Charlie's Angels joke but they never joked when it came to Henry so they skipped the routine this time.

"I found Noel," Agent G stated.

"We know," John replied, "We just saw the news."

"Fine, is everyone there?"

"We were," Andria said, "But as soon as Jeffrey saw Henry in the picture, he bolted."

"Damn, I was afraid of that. In any case this is a joint rescue op," he started, "Noel's still on Canadian soil so it's their call and they graciously let us tag along. So get your stuff together and get ready to move."

"When are we leaving?" Major asked just waiting for the word.

The line cut out when suddenly the door Jeffrey had left through had opened revealing Agent G in the flesh dressed in his dark suit, "As soon as you get your stuff together, we're leaving," he told them bluntly.

MAU: INFINITE CRISIS, part 8

Written by: Set3

Everyone had quickly boarded the helicopter from the Canadian frigate which then took them inland to Vancouver island. As they waited while it continued to the airport in Victoria, Jeffrey turned to Noel who was seated beside him.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he put a hand on Noel's shoulder in concern.

"Yeah I'm..," Noel's voice broke. It was then that the past weeks of imprisonment caught up to him. He pulled his arms around his armored body as he let his head droop. Not wanting anyone to hear him as he began to sob, he turned off his external speakers. Even though no one could hear him anymore the shuddering of his shoulders betrayed his emotional state.

Jeffrey then put an arm around Noel's back and shoulders and did his best to pull Noel into a hug as best he could with being strapped to his seat. Noel leaned into it. He didn't feel very masculine right now and didn't care. Maybe he just tried to think of himself as still being a guy at heart as a way of coping with what he went through, the thought of still being a guy in mind was quickly eroding. She was a girl, a girl that looked 17 or 18, and grabbed hold of Jeff's arm that went around her front for comfort. After what she had gone through, she desperately needed some kindness and Jeffrey was the closest person giving it and she clung to his arm for the rest of the helicopter trip to the airport in silence.

Major, for her part, was lost in herself. What Henry had said to her during their brief encounter stirred something in her. She knew Henry was bad, what he did to her personally was proof enough, but what he hinted about Jeffrey not telling her everything got to her. When she thought about it, Jeffrey really didn't say a lot about himself. Not even what he did when he was working for the Agency before the rest of the team came along. With that in mind, she adjusted herself in her seat to get comfortable and remote hack into the net through her dummy plug. Flying through the vast net she began looking up records of Jeffrey, his bother, sister and family. His parents were unfortunately killed in a car crash forcing Jeffrey and Henry to take care of their sister when she was just 5 years old. It was several years later that the Agency reports showed that they encountered the alien device. According to the report, soon after Jeffrey and Henry used the device and quickly afterwards got into an argument. The report didn't show what it was about but Haley, their sister, was put in a coma due to the altercation and Henry ran off with the box.

Major sighed mentally as she felt dirty looking behind Jeffrey's back like this. There was nothing out of the ordinary, the tragic deaths of their parents aside, that stood out as anything odd. So far, nothing supported Henry's claim of Jeffrey keeping secrets from them. As she was about to close up her search, she looked at a school photo of Hayley and stopped. It was a yearbook photo of Hayley, perfectly ordinary, but what struck her was the style of dress she and several other kids had. Major looked for other pictures of Hayley to double check her suspicion. According to Hayley's birth records, she was 12 years old now but according to the pictures and when she cross-checked the identities of the other children she came to the discovery that the school pictures of Hayley were taken in the early 90's. The 12 year old girl that was Jeffrey and Henry's sister should be just entering her thirty's. Major then began checking both the history of Jeffrey and Henry and was surprised that the two had nearly the same records. And stranger still, there weren't any pictures of them from before the Agency's arrival. As Major delved deeper, she came to the conclusion that the brothers records were forged by the Agency itself.

"Why would they cover this up?" Major thought to herself as she glanced over to Jeffrey who had his cowl off and was comforting Noel as she seemed to be silently crying judging from the periodic shakes. Henry knew what Jeffrey and the Agency were hiding.

Before she could think anymore on this, the helicopter bounce suddenly as they finally landed at the airport. As the combined teams got out of their seats and checked their gear before leaving. Major stayed back making sure that she and Jeffrey were the last to leave so they could have a moment alone to talk.

"Hey," she called out to Jeffrey just as he was about to step out. He turned back to look at her expectantly, "How long do you think it'll be until we finally get Henry?" she asked as she came up and stepped out the door with him.

Jeffrey didn't respond until they cleared the still rotating blades of the helicopter that lifted off once they were far enough away. "Who knows," he said bluntly, "Assuming he doesn't detect it, it won't send out a signal until he stops moving for a time. If all goes well, we should get a signal within a few days or so," he said as he replaced his cowl as they walked on to the Hercules transport they arrived in.

"On another note," Major started, "How was your sister? I was going to ask when you got back, but with us searching for Henry, it slipped my mind," she prodded.

Jeffrey stiffened, "...She's... Still the same. Still in a coma," he answered grimly. His voice shook a little.

Major almost stopped herself right there. She already knew that the subject of Jeffrey's sister was a sore subject, and his reaction to her question nearly convinced her to abandon her query. But with what Henry told her about Jeffrey not telling them everything and what she was able to find out on her own, she had to know and asked one more question.

"How old is she now?" she asked.

Jeffrey started to answer but stopped himself, Major was sure she heard him say "th-" before he stopped himself.

"She's twelve now," he said finally, "She spent four years asleep," he said as he then stared straight forward as his pace quickened as he walked on to the transport.

Major stopped in her tracks before continuing on. She felt like crap, she didn't like the way she made Jeffrey felt just now. Even if she was certain what he said proved her theory and what even Henry hinted at, she still felt dirty. With the doubts firmly seeded in her mind conflicting with her emotions she boarded the plane.

As Noel waited for everyone to board the transport she found herself feeling anxious. She would be tapping her foot impatiently if her lower legs weren't currently encased solid boots. Somehow, the compartment they were sitting in didn't feel right. It just seemed a little too small and she kept looking to the ramp to the outside. It wouldn't be until later that during her counselling sessions that she would discover that she developed a minor case of claustrophobia brought on from when she was held prisoner in the cage at the Tonoan headquarters. She cringed slightly when the ramp finally closed before the plane taxied to the runway and took off in the direction of the military base where they picked up Chris and the CSOR team. Although the CSOR team stayed behind leaving Chris as the only returning resident.

The flight back was incredibly uneventful compared to the excitement they had gone through with the search and rescue. This was further accentuated by Andria's claims of how bored she was as she was once again left with nothing to do compared to everyone else reading or filling out reports on the finished operation.

After touching down at the hidden airbase and on entering the barracks Chris was immediately set upon by the previously shy boy who leapt into her arms with a chorus of giggles and began asking her random questions. He didn't seemed to care about receiving any answers and was more than happy just to talk his head off (not literally of course). Chris answered what she could and just smiled and nodded as she continued to carry him off down the hallway. John watched the whole thing with a huge grin on his face and looked after them as they disappeared down the hall.

"You're not straying away are you?" Major teased as she slipped in beside him and gave him a playful squeeze of his butt.

John jumped a little, much to Major's amusement, and turned to her, "Of course not," he replied returning her gesture, "It's just that I can only imagine how rough that little boy had it until just yesterday. I'm not sure if I completely fixed him but I'm happy to see that he is."

Major smiled at that thinking of that being on of the many reasons she loved him before her mood turned sour, "Listen," she started in a serious tone," You've known Jeffrey the longest out of all of us right?"

"Yeees?" he answered with a cocked eyebrow, not sure where she was going with this.

"Well I was just wondering, with the way he acted storming out on his own when we found out Henry was with Noel," she paused not sure how to word it, "I mean, he just ran off without us, and it occurred to me that we don't know what happened back then between him and Henry." Major looked down at her feet, "I know Henry's bad, no one knows that more than I do. It's just," she paused again looking up into John's eyes, "Back on that ship when we were looking for Noel and I ran into Henry, he told me something."

"What did he say?" John asked, a concerned look in his eyes.

Major looked around, checking to see if Jeffrey was still outside with Noel before turning back to John, "He told me that Jeffrey hasn't told us everything."

John just looked at her while he processed what she said before he let out a scoff, "Well, you can't really expect a guy like Henry to actually tell the truth. He's the guy that stole your memories. He probably couldn't do it this time so he came up with that to buy time to escape," he reasoned.

Major shook her head, "I thought so at first too, but it kept getting at me so I went online and researched Jeffrey's family. Jeffrey's sister is supposed to be twelve and the official records reflect that but all the school pictures I was able to find suggests that they were taken in the 90's. When I asked Jeffrey how old she was I could have sworn that he was about to say thirty. Admittingly, he probably was going to say thirteen, but still, It's just too much of a coincidence to ignore," Major said with a worried look on her face. "It scares me that a man like Henry could be right about something like this."

John drew her into a tight hug, "Shh, shh. It's ok, we'll figure out what he meant by that. We'll catch him and then we'll find out what's going on," he said reassuringly.

Major responded with a kiss and a swat on the shoulder.

Outside, at one end of the runway, Noel was enjoying the sunrise with her helmet off while Jeffrey stood further off keeping her company. As she stood towards the rising sun with her arms outstretched gulping in lung fills of air.

"You know," Noel started, "I can't believe it took me getting kidnapped and caged for weeks to realise how sweet and precious fresh air is," she said as she lowered her arms.

Jeffrey just smiled at her, "I'm sorry I wasn't there to rescue you," he apologised. While his batsuit was thermalized against the cold, he left his cowl on as it was a little too cold for his tastes.

"It's not your fault Jeff. There's no way that you could have known that I'd get kidnapped, let alone that Henry was going to be there," Noel consoled him.

"Did Henry do anything to you?" Jeffrey asked suddenly, taking a few steps over to her.

Noel crossed her arms, "No, he never touched me. I only saw him the once. I think I overheard someone say that he was looking over my hardsuits," she answered.

Even though Noel couldn't see Jeffrey's face under the mask of his cowl, she could see the relief roll over him.

"That's the best news I've ever heard about him in a long time," Jeffrey said finally.

They stood there in silence for several minutes with only the soft wind rolling through to break it.

With a cleansing sigh, Noel turned to Jeffrey, "So, have you thought about what you're going to do after you catch Henry and put him away?" she asked.

Jeffrey was taken aback, "I... I haven't really thought about it to be honest," he looked down at his feet. Some snow had blown over his toes, but thanks to the insulation of his suit, he didn't feel any chill. He kicked his feet to clear the snow off. "I guess I'd do what I can to make sure my sister gets what she needs. I suppose I'll stop in to make sure that Henry is held responsible for everything that he's done," he paused at that staring off down the end of the runway, "And I suppose if I can't continue to work for the Agency then I'll have to find a real job." He let out a short laugh, "Unfortunately, I don't think the pay will be as good this," he said with a thin smile.

Noel laughed, "Yeah, I don't think that there's much call for an actual superhero. Although, you could probably make a lot of little kids dreams come true at their birthday party."

Jeffrey smiled in earnest, "Maybe if I looked like the Christopher Nolen version, I don't think that many kids nowadays know about the Batman Beyond version."

A soft series beeps sounded in Jeffrey's earpiece causing him to jerk. He then put his hand to his cowl activating the comm unit, "Major, I need you to link up with our satellite. The tracker I put on Henry activated and I need you to find out where he is before we lose the signal."

There was a brief pause before the cyber-echoed voice of Major replied, "Will do."

On hearing that, Jeffrey practically ran back inside, only sparing enough time to tell Noel that they found Henry. Noel only taking enough time to grab her helmet before following after him. As Jeffrey entered with Noel right behind, John and Andria were on either side of Major, who herself seemed to be looking off into space.

"Did you get it?" Jeffrey asked her impatiently.

"Almost," Major replied with a dazed look still on her face before she blinked a few times and turned to Jeffrey, "I've got it. He's in Detroit."

"Great," Jeffrey growled as he turned for the door before John stopped him by grabbing his arm.

"Wait. Where do you think you're going on your own?"

"I have to go now," Jeffrey nearly shouted. "If we wait much longer, he'll either move on or find the tracker and get rid of it. Then we'll have lost him again!"

"Going off by yourself isn't going to help any," John told him flatly, "You think you have enough thrust in your Bat boots to make it all the way down to Detroit from here? And even if you do by some long shot miracle get there first before the rest of us, you'll be exhausted when you get there, and you'll be on your own with no one watching your back." John gestured to the rest of the team. "We are all in this together Jeffrey. He's done something to pretty much all of us, so you're not alone in this."

Jeffrey looked as if he were to launch into a tirade. He opened his mouth, then closed it. He then looked to the floor as he balled his fists tightly. After a moment, his fists went slack, and he looked up to John with a half-hearted smile.

"You're right," he said plainly, "Lets go get him," he added as he turned and headed for the door, his team following behind him.

As they were boarding the plane, Jeffrey looked back to see Noel approaching them. "I can't let you come with us," he called out to her.

"And why not?" she asked defiantly only stopping at the ramp in front of Jeffrey.

Jeffrey was aghast, "H-he nearly killed you when you first ran into him," he stammered. "And even though he didn't do anything to you on the ship, who knows what he might've done had time gone on. I'm sorry, but I'm not letting you on this plane," he said with an air of finality.

Noel furrowed her brow, clearly insulted and angry with what Jeffrey had decreed. "Fine!" she answered, "It would've been too cramped in there for me anyways," she said as she put her helmet on. "I'll just fly circles around you until you take off," she said as she back up a few steps before jumping into the air, a flare from her hip-thrusters sending her up high. There, she deployed her flight wings for the first time in awhile, and true to her word, began flying in circles above the base.

Jeffrey could only stare up at her in stark disbelief as John came back out beside him.

John only looked up where Jeffrey was looking once before, with a smirk, turned back to Jeffrey giving him a pat on the back, "Best not to keep her waiting or she'll get impatient and get there before us," he quiped as he walked back to the planes hold.

Jeffrey couldn't form any reply and just walked into the plane where they then sealed the ramp and took off.

It was a five hour flight to the Detroit airport and the team had steeled in anticipation of Andria's string of complaints of boredom but were pleasantly surprised and relieved when she revealed that she had taken a few magazines from the base before they left. There was an instant when an air traffic control officer contacted the pilot to check their starboard side for a ghost radar echo. When they looked off the right wing they saw Noel flying beside them. A quick word from John over the radio to her and she disappeared from radar as the colour of her hardsuit switched from white and red to the two-tone olive green. After that, the flight was quiet aside from Jeffrey discussing with his team how they were going to deal with Henry.

After touching down at the airport they quickly made their way to the outskirts to a previously abandoned car factory. As they gathered in front, they noticed that the ten foot brick wall was recently added along with the thick metal gate in comparison with the rest of the crumbling architecture.

Andria was about to push on the heavy gate when John pulled her back. When she asked why he stopped her he pointed out that there wasn't any snow on the perimeter wall and gate. There was a faint hum in the air near the wall. John quickly made a snowball and tossed is at the gate which then sparked angrily as the snowball hit it causing the team, with the exception of John, to jump in surprise. John pulled out his screwdriver and aimed it at the gate. It sparked as if in defiance to John as he used his screwdriver to melt the lock in the gate. After he finished, he replaced his tool in his pocket while telling them that the electricity was still on though. Noel shrugged as she went ahead and kicked the gate open, strings of electricity danced harmlessly over her boot as the gate swung open, bouncing off the inside of the wall, with a loud clang.

They redied their weapons as they passed through the gate. The worn asphalt of the empty parking lot was peppered by large numerous dull metal rectangles in the ground. Everyone kept a careful eye around them as they approached the factory building, Henry walk out through the main doors of the building still in the armor he wore in his escape.

"Hello everyone, I've been expecting you," he said with a sense of cavalier about him.

In an instant, everyone had their weapons trained on him and fired. Only a few bullets ricochet off his armor before the metal rectangle he was standing behind erupted into an eight foot tall pillar of metal blocking the further onslaught of weapon fire as well as one of Jeffrey's exploding batarangs. Soon after, everyone stopped shooting.

Henry then casually stepped out from behind the pillar and leaned up beside it. "Well, if you all have that much energy left, then I'll have to do something about it," he said as he knocked on the side of the pillar.

As he knocked, the front of the pillar swung down revealing a robot armed with a sawed-off shotgun. Over a dozen more pillars erupted around them and opened, each revealing another robot armed with pistols, machine guns, chains, and aluminum bats. The ones with guns began shooting while the ones with the melee weapons ran towards them.

The team scattered, taking out three of the closest robots while running to the pillars for cover. John, Andria and Major fired behind the pillars while Jeffrey and Noel ran headfirst into the mass of artificial bodies. Jeffrey used his agility to weave in and out between the robots using two batarangs as makeshift knives using them to block the robots armed with bats, chains, and knives themselves and cut at their joints tearing them apart slowly letting the others have a clean shot without being shot back at. Noel on the other hand relied on the armor of her hardsuit as she plowed through the robots straight to Henry who flew up and began firing down with his repulsors.

Soon enough, the robots with firearms were dispatched and Major and Andria left their cover behind the pillars and closed to the robots. Major with her pistol and combat knife and Andria with her gunblade in sword-mode.

As Henry touched down, Noel used the jump jets in her hips and back causing her to shoot through the robot guards Henry standing behind. Just as Noel reached Henry, she swiped at him with her katar blades. Before they connected, Henry used his repulsors to push himself backwards out of her immediate range and adjusted himself before flying up again. Noel took only a second to adjust her own thrusters as she chased after him into the sky.

The rest of the team had quickly mopped up the remaining robots and were waiting for Henry to come back down. Jeffrey cursed himself. While his batsuit was capable of flying, it was little more than powered gliding and he wouldn't be able to move like Henry and Noel does. As much as he hated it, he had to wait on the ground until an opportunity to present itself.

Noel and Henry meanwhile dived and looped around each other. Noel was thankful that Henry wasn't changing his armor like in their fist encounter. As they looped around each other in a death wheel, Noel was getting fed up as she couldn't get an angle to hit him yet. With quick thinking she rotated her hip thrusters at 90 degrees forcing her to spin before cutting across the circle they were flying in hitting Henry in the back. Having a greater thrust, she forced him down into the ground hard.

As Henry started getting up, Noel stomped down on his back leaving a noticeable dent where she put her armored boot down, "That's for what you put me through when we first met!" Noel spat. After that Henry seemed to take the hint and stop moving. That, or Noel damaged something.

Jeffrey rushed over and turned Henry over practically ripping the faceplate off, "Ok Henry, you're coming with-," he stopped as he pulled the faceplate away and was surprised to see that Henry wasn't in the suit. The suit was completely empty with exception for a note at the back of the helmet kept there by the tracker Jeffrey placed on him earlier. Jeffrey reached in and pulled the note, "It's about time you found me Jeffrey. I'll be waiting downstairs for you. I have something to show you," it read. Jeffrey crumpled the note in his hand as he growled. He turned to the rest as he stood up, "Everyone spread out! I'll take the south end, Major take the east end, and Andria can enter from the west end. John, keep the north end here locked down. And Noel," he added as if he just remembered her, "You keep an eye on the roof to make sure Henry doesn't take off while we're looking for him. If he does," he said with a grim look, "Take him out." With that, he flew off into the air flying over the factory landing at the back end while Major and Andria ran to their respective assigned entries.

Once the three were out of sight, the front door exploded outward in a shower of glass, metal, and concrete. Once the debris died down, Noel and John could see a robot three or four times larger than the ones they just fought. The duo could see that it looked somewhat like the Iron Monger from the first Iron Man movie, although much more crude looking. It lumbered towards them like a gorilla using all its limbs to move.

Noel turned to John, "Get out of here, I'll take care of this," she told him as she turned back to the big robot adjusting her stance redying herself.

John gave her a look, "You don't have to tell me twice," he said as he ran back to the gate.

As the gorilla-like robot approached Noel, it pushed over a pillar in front of it which groaned in a sickening metallic screech. After which, it seemed to observe Noel for a moment, staring at her with its six eyes.

"What's a little girl in dress up going to do against me?" It asked revealing that someone was inside it.

Noel tilted her head, slightly dumbfounded, "I've got a lot of pent up anger that says you're going to regret saying that little man," she told him flatly.

The man in the robot laughed, "Girl, I've got a seven plus ton mech of Detroit steel. What do you have?"

"A hardsuit and me, a really pissed off girl," Noel growled as she ran flat out towards the mech.

The mech brought its arms up and swung them in to crush Noel between it massive hands. He was beyond surprised when Noel easily stop his hands with her own.

"How the hell did you stop me?" he asked incredulously.

"With what I based my hardsuit off of," Noel started as she made a show of pushing his arms further apart, "I can take on a guy like you in my sleep!" she cried as she ducked down only to jump up, giving the gorilla mech an uppercut into its torso that was able to lift the whole mecha off the ground where it fell onto its back.

The mecha then seemed to suffer the worst case of turtle plight. Being unable, despite its best efforts, was unable to right itself. Its arms flailed as it tried to gain momentum to get back on its feet. Noel climbed on top of it and pulled her fist back before thrusting it into the mecha's torso, literally punching a hole in it. After pulling her fist out she then ripped the hole wider exposing the pilot inside. As the man brought his arms up in defense, he actually pissed himself. Noel ripped off the pilots harness belts before pulling him out of his torn up mecha.

"Don't kill me, please!" he whimpered.

Noel only tossed him to the ground where John approached again now that the fight was over. "Keep an eye on him," she told John.

He nodded as he produced a pair of handcuffs from his tactical vest and cuffed the man behind his back before escorting him to the back of the van they used to drive from the airport. Before Noel jumped up onto the roof of the factory she thought she heard John making fun of the "man's" masculinity. Once she was on the roof, she made sure she could see the front just in case any more surprises came out. As much as she hated it, she waited. While she didn't have as much experience against Henry as the others it was clear to her that she would be the best person to catch up to him and take him out if he really does try to escape.

Meanwhile Andria was entering the west end of the factory. The section seemed to have originally used as an office area. She walk by empty cubicles with her gunblade in hand, currently in gun-mode as she walked through the aisles. Suddenly, she heard the sound of footsteps. With a smirk, she snapped her fingers causing a ghostly blue aura to form over her.

"About time I get to use this," she muttered to herself as she stepped off the ground and floated up where she stood on the ceiling upside down by a corner and waited.

She watched as a pair of robots came walking down the main aisle, possibly checking a security alarm when she opened the door to enter the building. With her gunblade in rifle-mode she fired at one of the robots, dropping it, as she jumped towards them landing on a wall of a cubicle. Standing sideways, she switched her gunblade to sword-mode as she ran to the remaining robot. Before it could react, she swung her gunblade through its midsection, bisecting it. As the pieces of the robot fell, three more entered from the other end. Andria jumped to the ceiling and began running upside down again towards them shooting at them with her gunblade keeping them behind some fortunate cover. As Andria ran between support columns, when she was close enough, she kicked off a column. As she sailed through the air she twisted around so she could kick one robot in the chest and ran her gunblade through the back of the one behind her. The third one was able to bring its gun on her and fired as Andria pulled her gunblade out. The bullet bounced off the hilt of her gunblade as she kicked the robot getting it off balance as she fired several shots into its chest. As the third one dropped, Andria trained her gunblade on the door they came through waiting just in case any more were going to show up. After a long drawn out minute, she felt that it was safe to move on, and got up and move on.

Major had taken out four robots by surprise after activating her therm-optic camouflage. Practically invisible, it was easy to get behind them as she walked through this section of the factory. The area she walked through seemed to have used for storage. She walked by various half empty shelves, the few materials on the shelves had looked worn and decrepit, none of which interested her in the least. As she looked around, still invisible, she accidentally knocked over a stack of old paint cans which caused a load crash which made her jump. Swearing to herself, she was about to move on when she heard the unmistakable whine of a repulsor charging up. Major instantly dropped to the floor as the white ball of energy flew through where her head had been, having instead hit an object on the shelf behind her sending it flying off.

Major turned to the direction of where she thought it came from, she saw a female type Iron Man suit that flew at her. As they collided, Major's camouflage flashed and she became fully visible again as she was pushed through several shelves until the "Iron Woman" let Major go sending her with a smack into a wall. Not wasting any time, Major got up and checked to make sure her rifle was still clipped to her vest, it was, and she fired HV bullets at her opponent as she advanced on her. Her opponent seemed surprised that the bullets seemed to be doing some damage to it and flew up again and away. Major didn't have to wonder what it was doing when she heard a crashing sound. The Iron Woman had knock over the shelves at the other end creating a domino effect as each shelf in turn knocked the next over. Unfortunately, Even though Major was close to the wall, the shelves were tall enough to catch her and fall on her where she was. As she turned, the last shelf was already falling over, the Iron Woman following close behind. Major ran back to the wall and as she reached it, she jumped off it turning around and aiming for one of its repulsors and let go of her rifle to stab the other one with her combat knife. She was successful in disabling both as they again collided in the air. As the grappled in the air Major was using her combat knife to try and get at the Iron Woman's joints while it was hitting her back in her stomach and kicking at her legs. Eventually they fell to the ground on top of the fallen shelves. Major had landed on top of her opponent and she used the advantage to punch it in the face before pulling her rifle in hand and shooting at its joints where the armor seem to be weakest.

When she was sure that it wasn't able to move anymore Major got up and continued searching for Henry. She hadn't got very far when Andria came rushing in after hearing gunfire and the crashing of the shelves. Major waved at Andria as she walked over to her unaware that the Iron Woman suit was opening up revealing a blond woman with short hair and was wearing a slim body suit who climbed out. Andria, saw this but when she happened to see a halo of light sitting just above the back of her neck and was wearing a thin glove that ran up her entire right arm, she quickly recognised what the woman represented and cried out to Major to get down.

As Andria switched her gunblade to gun-mode to shoot, Major stopped in her tracks and started to turn around but the woman was already behind her and stuck two fingers of her right hand to the ports on the back of Majors neck. Instant, the halo of white light on the back of the woman's neck exploded into a ribbon that traveled down her arm into the back of Majors neck. Major stood there convulsing as her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Andria threw down her gunblade as she ran in a dead sprint, knocking the woman over breaking her connection with Major. As the woman fell to the floor, Andria got on top of her and began hurling punches on either side of the woman's face screaming at her.

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO MAJOR?!" she demanded.

During this, beating for lack of a better word, Major had slowly stopped shaking and the life returned to her face as she turned to Andria wailing on the woman. Memories flooded her mind. Major knew who she was now. She knew her name was Caleb Brown. And she now knew who the woman was that Andria was pummeling.

"Stop!" she told Andria as she pulled her off and checked on the woman who now had an understandably bruised face and a split lip.

"What are you doing?" Andria cried as she got back to her feet, "She just gave you a seizure and who knows what else!"

Tears were flowing from Major's eyes, "She was fixing me," she told her, "She was giving my memories back to me," she stated as she turned back to the woman and pulled out some gauze from her small med kit. "And she's my sister," she placed the gauze on her split lip to absorb the blood, "It is you isn't it sis?"

The woman winced as she smiled, one hand holding the gauze while the other was on Major's, Caleb's, shoulder reassuringly, "Hey Cay-Cay. Sorry for leaving you on your own all this time."

Caleb sniffed before pulling her sister into a tight hug continuing to sniffle into her shoulder, "Why didn't you find me? I didn't know who I was and..." she trailed off.

The woman, who's name Caleb later told was Lisa, gave Caleb a warm hug, "I'm sorry, but up until recently, I didn't have an actual body. That suit I was in was my body for the last three months. Before that, I was a computer chip stuck in Henry's computers," She explained apologetically.

Caleb wiped the stream of tears from her face, "But I saw you blow up."

"I did... I'm sorry, but at the time, it was all I could think to do to save you. As it turned out, Henry was going to help you," she said with a laugh but quickly stopped as she held the side of her face with her free hand.

Caleb was taken aback, "How can you say that? He stole my memories from me and you say he was going to save me? Do you know how it feels living all this time with a hole in your mind? He stole my soul from me."

Lisa had a sad look on her face as she looked on, "Henry, Is quick to anger I'll give you that. Believe me, I spent the last two years reigning his emotions in and it wasn't easy when you're stuck in a computer," she explained, "He's made a lot of mistakes but he does own up to them and does his best to fix them. Not the best way, but he does. He was able to find one of those boxes and get my body back and he saved your memories to give to me so I can hold on to them until now."

Caleb just stared at her, "Why didn't he tell me or any of us this? If he had my memories the whole time then why didn't he give them back?"

Lisa gave a weak smile, "In a round about way, he's a bit of a romantic. He wanted me to give them back to you. Not him, me, your sister. I know, it doesn't make sense but he's been busy trying to find a way to save his own sister, to help her wake up again," she said as she pushed Caleb back so she can get up, "And now he's finally figured out a way to do that too now. So long as he can convince Jeffrey."

"Wait," Andria interjected, "That's why we were able to track him here? Because he let us find him?"

Lisa gave her a slightly bemused look, "Well, if all it took to track him down was sticking a tag on him then he would have been caught by the Agency you work for years ago. Anyways, we gotta get down to the basement. According to Henry, he and Jeffrey aren't the best of brothers, so we'll need to play referee," she said as she started to walk off.

"Hold on," Andria called out, "How do we know that you just aren't going to lead us into a trap?" she accused.

Lisa just sighed and pointed to the ruined suit, "That's the only thing I could've used against you and Cay-cay wreck it. And Henry isn't a Bond villain, he doesn't have deathtraps, you coming?"

Andria was about to protest some more but Caleb, Major got up and began to follow behind her without question but Andria grabbed her arm to stop her.

"How can you trust someone you just met? For all we know, they really do have a deathtrap waiting for us. You only just met her," she told her.

Caleb shook her arm free, "Because I know that she is my sister," she told her flatly, "My memories are real!" she stated with resolve, "If it makes you feel any better, if she's really luring us into a deathtrap then you have my blessing to kick the crap out of her. So can we go now?"

Andria had a look of defeat about her as she grumbled over to her dropped gunblade and picked it up muttering under her breath as she followed the two down to the basement of the factory.

Jeffrey had snuck past the robots that were patrolling in the actual factory part of the building and sealed the door behind himself. He could've taken them out quite easily but they were just a waste of time to him so he left them behind. Henry was the one he was after. And after four years of chasing him down, he wasn't going to let him slip away. One way or the other, today was the day he was going to take Henry down. As he descended the stairs thoughts of what he might do ran through his mind. He still wasn't sure what he was going to actually do.

When he got to the bottom of the stairs he came to a thick slab of a metal door. He placed two fingers on the door using the built in microphones to see if he can hear anything. As he listened, he could hear something moving around inside. He strained to hear more but the sound of gunfire followed by crashing sounds from up the stairs steeled his resolve. Jeffrey stepped back from the door and with two tries, he kicked the door in and walked into an overly large room that seemed to be set up like a make-shift lab. On the right were several beds with straps and wires strewn about them tied to a machine between them, the left side had several robots that were currently deactivated as well as a work table that had some robot parts on it. And at the very back of the room was an alien box.

In working condition and fully deployed.

This was a secondary to Jeffrey however as standing in the middle of the room was his "brother", Henry looking at him with an expectant look on his face. Seeing that Henry wasn't in his armor, Jeffrey wasted no time an jumped forward, assisted with the jets in his boots, he plowed into Henry till they hit the floor several feet on. Jeffrey kept Henry pinned to the ground by straddling him. He checked to make sure he was pinned and threw a punch into the right side of Henry's ribs. Henry coughed up blood as three of his ribs were broken.

Jeffrey then pulled off his cowl to look Henry in the eyes, "How does that feel?" Jeffrey demanded before smacking him across the face, "How many people have you hurt besides Hayley?" he back handed him again, "And John?" and again, "And Noel?!" He punched him across the face where he felt the satisfying crack of Henry's cheek bone.

Henry coughed and spat up some blood, "You have to stop," he wheezed.

"WHY SHOULD I?!" Jeffrey screamed, "WHY IN THE WORLD SHOULD I STOP?!" he demanded as he pulled back for another swing.

"Cause without me, Hayley will never wake up," he replied.

Jeffrey stopped just before cracking him across the face again, "What?"

" I found a way to bring her back using the device," he explained, "But, you're going to have to bring her here for me to do it."

Jeffrey fell back and pushed himself away, before he could ask anymore a woman came in followed by Major and Andria. The woman ran over to help Henry who shooed her away.

"You're going to have to get her here soon though," Henry told him, "The device will only work for two more hours I think and then it'll shut down. It took me four years to find this."

"But Hayley's hospital is hours away, I'll never make it in time," Jeffrey said, the hope he felt quickly fading.

Henry spat up some more blood before he mumbled something to the woman who then got up and ran to the work table.

"Stop, what are you doing?" Jeffrey called out as he redied a batarang.

Major put a hand on his shoulder, "It's ok Jeffrey, she's my sister Lisa," she told him.

"What?" Jeffrey asked, obviously surprised.

"I remember who I am," Major told him with a small hint of joy, "My name is Caleb," she said enjoying introducing herself by her actual name.

Lisa came back with a remote and pressed a button on it. There was a hum above them up in the factory.

"I made something for you," Henry said, "It should help you get there and back with her safely."

Jeffrey looked at him for a long minute, "I can't leave you," he told him defensively.

Henry just smiled back, "I won't be going anywhere, not after the number you did on me. Besides, I need to be here in order to help Hayley."

Jeffrey looked to, Caleb now, and Andria who both nodded indicating that they'll stay and watch him. Without a second thought, Jeffrey grabbed his cowl before running upstairs. As he ran the stairs, he radioed John and Noel explaining the situation. Reaching the main floor of the factory section, the pair of robots that he passed were standing beside a large mecha like an honour guard. When he approached the mecha it opened up revealing it to be a suit. Jeffrey hesitated before climbing in. As the suit closed around him he called up agent G through his cowl. He had to wait four seconds before Agent G picked up, Jeffrey didn't waste time saying hello.

"Agent G, I need you to go to Hayley's hospital and get her to the helipad on the roof. I'm coming to get her," he told him.

"Wait, what's going on?" Agent G asked, clearly confused.

"I don't have time to explain. Just have her ready for me when I arrive."

"Jeffrey, I just can't take a comatose girl from her room without a reason," Agent G explained.

Jeffrey then took off into the air crashing through a skylight and turned for his sisters hospital, "Henry said he can help Hayley, now get to that damn hospital and get her ready," he shouted.

There was silence on the other end for a moment, "Is Henry secure?"

"My team is watching him now," Jeffrey said quickly.

There was some grumbling on the other end before Agent G replied, "I'll have her ready, just make sure you know what you're doing," he told him flatly.

Jeffrey cut the connection and boosted his speed. He was already breaking multiple Mach speeds. He marveled slightly of how he wasn't feeling any g's but pushed that out of his head as he continued on.

Forty-five minutes later he arrived at Hayley's hospital. Agent G ran up to the helipad with some orderlies behind him pushing a gurney with Hayley on it. Jeffrey turned around and kneeled down, the pack on his back separated lowering a bed. The orderlies lifted the girl onto the bed and Jeffrey closed the pack firmly securing Hayley in the pack.

The orderlies moved away with the now empty gurney while Agent G walked in front of Jeffrey, "Are you sure that Henry can be trusted with her? We both know the reason he ran off in the first place."

"Hayley's the only person neither of us will ever joke about," Jeffrey replied sternly. Agent G nodded then cleared the helipad. Jeffrey blasted off going as fast as he can back to Detroit.

It was another forty-five minutes later when he returned to the factory. As he made his way to the basement. He checked the clock. With the flight out to the hospital and back plus the time it took to load Hayley and talking to Agent G, It was cutting it close. There wasn't much time left till the box deactivated.

On entering the lab Lisa was helping Henry stand by the alien box. He had his hand on the panel redying it. Jeffrey opened the pack, the bed folded down and a robot he hadn't noticed picked Hayley up from the bed and carried her over to the box. Jeffrey quickly opened up the suit and quickly made his way after her.

"You almost didn't make it," Henry said as he stepped aside to let the robot carry the girl into the box, as the doorway of the box disappeared another robot came up and stood there patiently.

As Jeffrey waited he turned to Henry who was still being held up by Lisa, "So, how're you going to fix her?"

"I'm going to put her mind back together," he said simply.

"You can do that without killing us?" Jeffrey asked surprised. The door to the box opened and a thirty-year old woman fell out into the arms of the robot that then carried her to one of the beds. The box collapsed a moment later.

"Why did Henry turn your sister into a woman?" Andria asked, Caleb echoing her curiosity.

As Henry, helped by Lisa still, walked over to another bed and slowly laid down. On hearing Andria's question he gave a short laugh which quickly turned into a series of coughs, there were only a few drops of blood on his hand as he stop, "Jeffrey never did tell you guys did he?" he said as he gestured for Jeffrey to lay down in the last bed.

Jeffrey looked at Andria and Caleb who just looked back expectantly, Caleb a little more so as if she got confirmation on something. Jeffrey just sighed as he began to tell them, "Four years ago, before Hayley found the box, she was a thirty-two year old woman. She was a classic nerd, she liked comic books and sci-fi. However, she developed a psychosis from the trauma of losing her parents in a car crash. Because of that, she developed a split personality. Needless to say it played havoc in her life and nothing seemed to work. So, when she found the box and discovered what it could do she tried to use it to get rid of her other personalities. After some trial and errors she came up with Henry and I. That's why I was wearing a Batman suit while he was wearing an Iron Man one. However, because we were a part of her mind there was nothing left for her. So when we came out of the box she was already unconscious Henry and I were surprised that we had our own bodies. We were so happy for the first bit until we realised what it did to Hayley. We wanted to help her but we didn't want to go back. We argued back and forth until, not used to our powers, blew up half the apartment. Henry ran off with the box and I stayed behind. The rest you know," he finished. He had a shameful look on his face as he laid down on the bed.

Lisa then placed helmets with wire leads on their heads and attached a set of wires to the back of Hayley's neck. Caleb realised that Henry had made Hayley like her. Lisa then went over to the machine all the wires were connected to and turned it on. She explained that the machine was copying Henry and Jeffrey's memories and personalities while downloading it into Hayley's mind. After fifteen minutes the machine stopped and Henry and Jeffrey were dislodged from the wire leads. Lisa then detached most of the wires from Hayley's neck and placed the fingers from her right hand on her neck. The halo from the back of Lisa's neck ran down her arm and into Hayley. After three minutes the light stopped flowing and returned to the floating halo on her neck.

"I was able to fuse her mind back together," Lisa explained, "As well as fix her psychosis so she shouldn't have a personality disorder anymore. The only thing we can do is wait for her to wake up," she check the read outs on the machine, "Her vitals look good, so it shouldn't be too long now."

While they waited, Caleb called for a private ambulance used by the Agency for Henry's injuries.

After what seemed like an eternity to Jeffrey, Hayley's eyes fluttered causing him to gasp as he took her hand in his. Slowly she opened her eyes and looked around, "Where am I?" she asked, her voice was dry. She was able to spy the collapsed box, after which turned to Jeffrey, "I don't hear the voices anymore so did the machine work? Are they out"

Jeffrey let out his breath before he'd been holding and shook his head in the affirmative, "Yes, the voices are out of your head now, no more black outs."

This put her at ease as her head fell back to her pillow. She didn't have much time to rest as Jeffrey pulled her up to get out of the bed. She got up on shaky legs to which she gave an equally shaky laugh to excuse her unsteadiness. Jeffrey lent his support as they began their trek up and out of the basement of the factory. Caleb made sure to retrieve the alien device as she left taking up the rear. Between Henry's injuries and Hayley not use to moving her body in so long, it was slow going as they climbed the stairs. When they exited the front of the building Jeffrey remarked about the gorilla shaped mecha which caused the waiting Noel and John to laugh. Henry was taken to the waiting ambulance. As it drove away, a black SUV from the Agency followed as it drove away.

Once Jeffrey helped Hayley into the van and shut her door he collapsed to the ground. After all that happened over the last four years, it was finally over. Henry was in custody things went even better than he could have hoped for with Hayley having finally woken up after all this time. For the first time since this all started the shadows that hung over him had lifted and he breathed in the air as if it were cleansing his soul. Noel came over to him.

"Are you ok?"

Jeffrey looked up at her and smiled, "I am now."

EPILOGUE:

A week afterwards, Agent G had debriefed Jeffrey and his team, they were relieved of all their equipment such as the batsuit, and weapons the others used. John was allowed to keep his sonic screwdriver for the occasional maintenance of Caleb's body Noel, not being part of Jeffrey's team kept her hardsuit. A short time after that, Jeffrey's team was disbanded having finally captured Henry. A month later John and Caleb had gotten married after a very short engagement, Jeffrey attending as the Best Man while Caleb's sister Lisa served as the Maid of Honour. Jeffrey had began dating Noel and hit it off swimmingly. Hayley had gone back to her life from before it all started.

Meanwhile at an undisclosed detention center, Henry sat in his cell. His ribs were still tender as well as his broken cheekbone but they were on the mend. Looking at the clock in the hall, he stood up and walked to the bars.

"I think I've waited long enough," he said to himself as he flexed his left hand and arm four times a certain way and waited.

An hour later the outside wall to his cell was torn out revealing his armor it stepped in and opened for him to climb in. He wasted no time in flew off into the night sky to parts unknown. He wasn't going to let anyone cage him anymore. He was free, now and forever.

Author's Note: I would like to personally thank Civilmage and Leo Lightstar for their own MAU stories that inspired me to write my own. Their respective stories can be found over on fictionmania and I highly recommend reading them.

MAU: Infinite Crisis, part 7
By: Set3

Earlier in the day, Peter pulled some favours to switch shifts with Wait so now he had the graveyard shift. As he walked in the now empty main laboratory, his sight immediately locked on the girl still suspended in the mesh enclosure. Peter grimaced, it was like they were treating the girl like some animal. No, worse than an animal, animals tended to be fed. Pater had asked around a few times and no one could tell him when the girl last ate. The door closed behind him and he started walking to the cage. He shifted the contents he'd been carrying to one hand as he made his way through the two sets of mesh doors of the cage and stopped in front of the girl.

As he looked at the girl, her head was drooped down, not appearing to notice him when he came in. Peter stood there a moment, trying to keep his anger down, and reached up to wake her up. Just as he touched her she pulled back as much as she could with a whimper before settling back down with a blank look on her face staring at nothing. Peter had pulled back in surprise at her reaction.

"What the hell have they been doing to you?" Peter asked as he looked back behind him imagining he was staring straight at Wait. He again swallowed his anger as he turned back to the girl. He shuffled the contents he had been carrying and opened one of them, a sandwich, and held it up to her, "I hope you don't mind turkey. It was the only kind they had left in the café today."

The girls response was as immediate as the one where she shied away earlier. Her eyes fixated on the sandwich as she tilted her head forward trying to get a bite. Peter held the sandwich closer to her and she practically inhaled it. Peter barely pulled his hand back as the girl only just nicked his finger with her teeth as she finished eating.

"Hungry aren't you?" he joked weakly while shaking his hand. He then opened the bottle of water he was also holding and held it up. She drank the water down greedily and soon the bottle was empty. It was night and day after he offered the girl food and water. She seemed much livelier now but she was still subdued.

After a minute, Peter finally spoke up, "So, what's your name? In all the excitement during the times we've met, I've never had the chance to ask you." She stared at him trying to decide if she should tell him. After all, he was, in a big way responsible for her current predicament.

"Noel," she said finally, "My name's Noel."

"Hello Noel," Peter said with a smile.

"I suppose you think you've earned a feel too," Noel spat out.

Peter's face fell, "I had nothing to do with that," he said. He then went to check her restraints and made a show of tightening them. "But, I'm still ashamed that a man like him could be called a soldier," he said as he left Noel's cage did his rounds around the lab before returning to the main console checking the readouts from the leads attached to Noel's connectors.

John, Major, and Andria had quickly gathered their supplies, mostly modified swat gear, and followed Agent G to his waiting car. They dumped their gear into the trunk and piled in. John, the look-a-like that he is now, had to wear a hat and shades to disguise himself from his unintended fame as they drove through the city from the outskirts to the airport. With Agent G's credentials, they quickly passed through security and walked out to a waiting C-130 Hercules military transport plane. As they boarded, John noticed it had Canadian markings .

As they were stowing their gear, a woman came down from the cockpit who was dressed respectively like Agent G.

"Hello everyone," she said as she began shaking the hands of John, Major, and Andria as they check their gear, "My name is Johanna Mars, I'm a representative of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, or CSIS for short, Agent G has told me about your team."

John nodded, assuming the role of spokesman for their group, "A pleasure to meet you but, why is the Canadian government letting us come along? Apparently, you guys are well within your rights to take this on your own," he queried.

Johanna gave him a small smile, "It would have been if not for the details that your liaison provided me with. From what I've leafed through, Henry is an extremely dangerous person and your group has had the most experience in dealing with him. Speaking of which," she paused to look the group over again, "I thought there were four in your group."

John looked embarrassed, "Yeah, our leader," he said stretching the word, "decided to go on ahead. He'll meet up with us when we get there."

Johanna just nodded as she made her way to her seat and strapped in. John, Major and Andria followed suit and strapped in beside Agent G who was already seated. As the transport took off, Johanna turned to them.

"We're going to do a quick stop over at a military base in the Alberta Rockies to pick up more personnel we'll need," she explained. "I hope you all brought something to read because we'll be travelling for a few hours."

Andria groaned as she realised she would have nothing to do and stared daggers at both John and Major who'd already pulled out a tablet and began to read. Major noticed Andria's glare and responded by sticking her tongue out at her. Andria just huffed at that before she twisted around to look out the window behind her as the transport began taking off down the runway. Five hours at least with nothing to do.

"Perfect," Andria thought sarcastically.

It was late afternoon now at the main lab in the floating headquarters of Tonoan Industrials and the small number of scientist and researchers went about their assigned tasks taking samples from Noel or studying the materials they were able to gleam from the exo-suit 2 (the Linna suit). Tom and Mike were at the far end of the main lab using the tools and equipment that weren't in available in the lab they kept the exo-suits in. They were currently working on a prototype replication of the exo-suit 2's battery.

"It's a work of art," Tom stated as he placed the battery in a makeshift charger they built specifically for it.

"It really is a triple A battery," Mike countered, "Once the material in the casing is used up, the whole thing becomes useless."

"I think you're looking at it from the wrong perspective," Tom started, "This is actually genius if you think about it. During the tests we did, the prototype battery gave out a uniform amount of power before it depleted. If we can refine it, we can make it last longer. There's also the fact that so far, a depleted battery is environmentally friendly, so no toxic chemicals from a tossed battery."

"Yeah, but so far when we tested the prototype to the power needs of exo-suit 2 it lasts only half an hour," Mike said. "When you factor in the cost of making this and charging it, we're actually loosing money. And no one's going to spend the money to cover the cost of one of these let alone buy them one after another."

"So they'll have to buy wholesale for awhile," Tom said with a smile, "And besides, this is just the prototype design. We're limited by the constraints of the casing we have to put the thing in. You forget that the whole purpose of prototypes is to get the bugs out of the way so the end product will be cheaper."

Mike rubbed his eyes, "Have I ever told you that I hate your optimistic view of everything?"

"Not since yesterday," Tom quipped.

Meanwhile on the bridge Mr. Tonoan had told the bridge crew to begin preparations to cast off and set a course to their shore office in Japan. The crew quickly went about their tasks in gathering supplies for the voyage. It wouldn't be until close to sundown when they finally got underway.

The plane ride was long for John and his team but made longer by Andria's childish antics to pass the time by periodically asking if they were there yet. As they were making the final approach the pilot pushed the controls forward causing the transport to dive downwards at a steep angle, causing Andria especially to scream, while dodging a fighter that had flew over them and sped off ahead before turning back and around coming alongside them. The pilots swearing as he leveled the plane was cut short as he responded to a hail from the now escorting fighter. The co-pilot handed a headset to Johanna.

As Johanna pulled the headset in place she heard a female voice, ".. I repeat, to the unknown bogey. You are entering restricted military airspace. State your confirmation code to proceed. If you do not comply you will be fired upon. This is your final warning."

Johanna signaled the co-pilot that she wanted to return the hail, He flicked a switch and nodded to her and Johanna spoke into the receiver, "This is CSIS agent Johanna Mars, confirmation code: "Black 25, they all came home." Repeat: Black 25, they all came home," she said.

There was a pause on the other end, "Confirmation code accepted," the fighter pulled ahead of the transport, "Follow me in and do not deviate your course or you will be shot down. Clear?"

"Affirmative pilot, we'll stick to your course," she quickly relayed the instructions to the pilots. The military transport adjusted it's course and followed the fighter till it hit the landing strip. The fighter did a touch and go and circled around before landing in behind the transport.

Andria was the first off the transport, having a rash of airsickness due to the sudden dip the plane took just minutes earlier. As soon as she reached the bottom of the ramp she threw up.

"What the hell was that?" Andria asked after she had a moment to compose herself.

Behind them, a service crew came out to the fighter and the pilot had stepped down from the ladder and walked over to them. The crew were already moving the fighter into the nearby hanger.

"It's not everyday CSIS comes to visit us on such short notice," the female pilot said as she pulled her helmet off. For some reason, the woman looked familiar to Andria. "So, to what do we owe the pleasure?" she asked as Johanna came down the ramp.

"Search and rescue," Johanna replied as she handed the pilot a thin file folder. "Is the CSOR team still around?"

The pilot flipped through the few pages that were in the folder, "Yeah, I didn't think they were going to take this long, must be because they spent too much time in the desert," she said as she closed the folder and looked at the group. "They'll be back in fifteen minutes and it'll take a few to refuel your transport so you all may as well come inside and warm up," she said as she turned around and lead them back to the barracks.
John looked to Major who only shrugged and to Andria who was beginning to rub her arms to keep warm and nodded and they followed after Johanna who was already on her way to the building. On entering, they quickly passed through the entryway into the common room where two teenage boys were sitting on a couch playing video games. The pilot excused herself so she could change out of her pilot suit. Andria quickly sat down on a chair beside them.

"So, what are a couple of kids doing at a military base?" she asked.

The two boys paused the game and looked at one another before one of them turned to her, "What kind of base do you think we're in?" the dark haired one asked her.

Andria cocked an eyebrow, "Um, the military kind?" she asked, not certain what he was getting at.

The blond one let out a quick laugh, he scratched his nose with his left hand and held out his right, "Touch one of my fingers," he said. Andria gave him a dirty look. The boy sighed, "This isn't a stupid fart joke, just touch a damn finger and you'll see," he said.

Andria moved her hand towards his and hesitated before poking one with one of hers. As soon as she did so, she received a nasty shock that was five times worse than any static shock she ever had in her life. With a curse, she yanked her hand back and stuck her still smarting finger in her mouth, "God DAMN it! What the hell was that?" she shouted as she shook her hand out.

The blond kid smirked as he held his hand out again, daring her to touch his hand again. Seeing that she only responded with a dirty look, he pulled his hand back with a chuckle, "This whole base is dedicated to house the people who were changed by the alien box. From those who'd be a danger to the populace to those who would be in danger from the people. Our own private resort where we can just be ourselves without having to worry about freaking people out."

"It's a place to keep you all safe," said the pilot woman who just came into the room. Hiding behind her was an eight year old boy. The woman was now wearing a pair of tight jeans and a thin long sleeved dark red turtleneck under an equally tight looking dark brown leather jacket. On her hips were a pair of revolvers and a bandolier of bullets over her belt. "I hope he didn't hurt you too badly," she said as she pats the child's head behind her.

"No, I'm ok. My finger's just a little numb right now," Andria said as she shook her hand again as if to prove her point. Andria stared at the woman, there was something familiar about her when she first saw her and the nagging feeling increased as she saw the woman now. Shaking it off for now, she turned to the blond teen, "I've seen some crazy stuff since I joined Jeffrey's team but I can't for the life of me understand why you'd change yourself that way."

The pilot woman looked at the blond coyly, "Why don't you tell her Eddie?" she asked him.

"I'm tired of explaining myself every time some one new comes along Chris," he grumbled as he turned back to the TV.

Chris, the pilot woman's name, gave him a look, "You shock a guest and just leave it at that? Tell them why you're like that or I'll toss your games outside," she threatened.

Eddie paused and turned back to Chris and saw the look on her face, she wasn't bluffing. And the last time she made the same threat, he found his games in a bag tied to the top of the flag pole. It took him days to get them down. He dropped his controller and sat back in the couch. "I used the alien machine to turn myself into a literal human bug zapper," he droned obviously tired of repeating his story.

"You turned yourself into a human bug zapper because...," Chris urged mockingly.

"I was tired of the damn bugs always flying around me," he began as he started to rant, "No matter what I did, there were always bugs flying around my head dive bombing my face," he had a manic look on his face. "I've bathed and showered before going outside wearing just cleaned clothing too. I've tried every different style of clothing too."

"It was funny seeing him in plaid and polka dot phase," the dark haired teen beside him said with a grin.

Eddie ignored his impute, "I've also tried every single type of diet under the sun thinking that was it. I even tried doing the reverse, not bathing at all."

"I was really happy when he got out of that phase. Let me just say that for awhile we bought out the local supply of air fresheners," the teen beside him said.

"Shut it Cole," Eddie told him, "You know how frustrating it is when you get dive bombed by bugs while the guy next to you who stinks like shit and doesn't have a single one buzz near him. So yeah, when Cole and I found the alien box at first we used it to change ourselves in different ways but when I was about to go outside I thought: "If these bugs want to keep flying at me then fine." Then I used the box to make it so I'll fry every single one of those fucking bugs," he said as he held his hands together as if holding an imaginary bug between them. A few static pops could be heard. "It wasn't until we came back after that the box stopped working. Not a bad way to be stuck either," Eddie finished.

"And then he nearly killed our science teacher by giving him a heart attack when he touched him," Cole said.

"He had it coming anyways, you remember how he liked hitting us with that damn strap. Besides, even after I saved him he actually had the balls to try and sue me," he said dismissively with a wave.

The room fell into an awkward silence until Major spoke up.

"So Cole, what did you change about yourself? You look pretty normal to me. Or is it something under the clothes."

Cole just laughed, "No, I'm still all guy here. I sort of have the same problem Eddie had, not to his extreme but anyways. My body now produces a pheromone that attracts dragonflies. Sometimes I get hired to go to outdoor parties during the summer to keep mosquitoes away."

"Yeah and in the meantime I have to stay here in the middle of bug central," Eddie complained.

John stifled a chuckle and turned to Chris, "And what about the little one behind you? Is he your son?"

Chris smiled mournfully as she looked down at the boy still behind her and ruffled his hair, "He's not my kid. But he's a special case. You see, there are dozens of bases like this one around the country so... If anyone recovers a working box, it gets sent to the nearest base and the person with the worst changes uses it. Our little guy here is first on the list for this base if we ever get an active box. The second is Brandon behind you," she said.

The group turned around and were suddenly faced with a horrific monster. Andria screamed and fell back unto her rear while Major put her hand on her gun at her hip. The monster was tall, about six and a half feet. Its arms and legs were long, too long to be normal for any human. With sickly pale skin and the muscles on it body seemed to be both sunken in showing the bones yet still looked incredibly powerful. It had cleft hoofs for feet and its hands ended in long fingers tipped with deadly black talons. The head on its shoulders resembled more a deer scull than a regular human one. Like the rest of the body, the head had the same sickly skin covering it. It's lips not quite able to close leaving sharp teeth on display. It's predatory eyes were sunken into their cavities. Even the points of the antlers that grew from its head seemed deadly sharp as well.

The terrifying image was offset by the fact it was wearing a bright cheery lavender vest and light green slacks.

"Holy fuck!" Andria exclaimed.

"Meet our resident wendigo. Don't worry, he just likes to meet new people, he kinda gets a kick out of seeing people's reaction to his looks,"
Chris said with amusement, "If you're wondering, he used it during Halloween one year," she explained as the "wendigo" walked off giggling with an eerie voice of a five year old.

John and Major looked at each other while Andria swore as she got back to her feet.

"So, what's wrong with the little guy that he gets to be first in line?" Andria asked.

Chris' face turned sour, "He and two other children were kidnapped by a man who had a working box. After a few days that he abused them he used the box to change them. Later after days of abuse the other two children turned feral and killed him then killed each other. Our little one here was found locked in a cage not long after that."

"How was he changed?" Andria asked, "He looks fine to me."

Chris looked down at the child and gave him a sad smile, "Why don't you show her," she coaxed with a small pat on his back gently pushing him out from behind herself. The boy looked at the new people then back up at Chris shyly. "It's ok, I won't let anything bad happen to you," She assured him with a smile.

The boy breath deeply in and out through his nose and timidly stepped forward towards Andria. Andria kneeled down and leaned closer but the boy pushed her back. He looked up at her face and opened his mouth. As he open his mouth, his cheeks split open and his jaw lowered and ten two circular saw blades came out and began spinning while grinding against each other to produce an inhuman metallic scream. Andria, with a cry of surprise bolted upwards taking a few steps back. The boy closed his mouth and ran back to hide behind Chris.

"What kind of monster would do that to a child?" Major demanded.

"You answered your own question," Chris said. "Apparently, his captor liked to beat him, even after his change. I guess one time he hit him hard enough in the head that it knocked something loose so now he can't open his mouth anymore without those saws coming out," she said bitterly.

Major turned to John and whispered in his ear, "Isn't there something you can do to help him? I mean, if you were able to fix my body up, you should bee able to help fix what ever is wrong with him."

"I'll see what I can do," he whispered back and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his screwdriver. "If you don't mind, I might be able to see what's wrong and if I'm lucky, I be able to fix it."

Chris looked down at the child with a worried expression, but after a minute she let John do what he could.

John knelt down to the boy's level, "Have you ever watched a TV show called Doctor Who?" he asked him. The boy shook his head. "Well," John started, "The hero of the show is called the doctor. And what he does is he goes about the universe in his time machine helping everyone he comes across. He uses a device like this," he held his sonic screw driver in front of the boy for him to see, "Called a sonic screwdriver that helps him help people. It can do all sorts of things. From opening doors, surfing the net, to looking inside of people." John then leaned in closer, "And if he's really bored, he uses it to put furniture together," he said in a mock conspired voice which made the boy smile. "Right now, I'm going to us this to look inside you to see what's going on. I promise it won't hurt," he reassured him. The boy absently turned to Chris who only gave him a reassuring look of her own. The boy then turned back to John and nodded.

The screwdriver buzzed as John ran it over the boy's head and body. Once he was done he stared at the blue lights on its side. He scanned the boy a few more times checking the screwdriver each time. When he check the screwdriver for the last time he just stared at the lights for several minutes after which he adjusted the controls ever so slightly and put a hand on the boys shoulder. "Ok, listen now. I'm going to use this to try and fix you now. You might feel a sharp sting in your head but you're going to have to tough it out ok?"

The boy looked nervous and held a hand out to Chris who came over and took it. They both then walked over to the couch, with a quick look from Chris, Eddie got out of the way and the two sat down with the boy on Chris' lap holding her hand tightly. John was once again in front of the boy and with steady aim, he pointed the sonic device behind the child's right eye. As the buzzing of the device intensified, the boy squeezed his eyes shut and held Chris' hand even tighter. Just as the pain was about to cause him cry out, John had finished and placed the screwdriver back in his pocket.

"Now I may not be a real doctor, I do look like The Doctor, so please open your mouth and say ah," John told him softly.

The child looked up behind him to Chris who gently urged him to try. After several long seconds of hesitation he slowly opened his mouth and quickly uttered a sound before putting a hand over his mouth in surprise. He looked around at everyone in bewilderment and quickly said a small "Hi." before covering his mouth with both hands again which did nothing to hide the smile behind them.

Chris gave him a hug and a pat on the head and told him to go off and show the others. The boy bounded off her lap and ran down the hall with a squeal of delight followed by several giggles. Chris got up and shook John's hand, "Thank you, you have no idea how much what you did means to him and everyone else here."

"It's no problem," John replied, "I was glad that I was able to help him. I do however want to check up on him after our mission just to be sure everything's ok," he added.

Chris became a little somber on hearing that but agreed none the less. Johanna, who had slipped away during the whole thing had returned garbed in in military gear with the helmet slung under one arm she came up to the group.

"The Hercules should be refueled by now and the CSOR team is back from their exercises. So, if anyone still needs to get changed, now's the time to do it," she said as she turned and left.

Chris pulled out the revolvers from each holster one at a time to check them. Major noticed that the barrel of Chris' guns were oddly designed. Instead of the normal barrel that held the bullets, the ones on her guns were open, the bullets being held in place by clips.

"Where'd you get guns like those?" Major asked.

Chris smiled as she put one back in its holster, "Complements of the box and two of a kind," she said holding it up, "With the way these are made, when I run out of ammo, I just pass them over my bandolier and I'm instantly reloaded. All the advantages of a revolver without the jamming of an automatic pistol," she said with a hint of admiration. She put the one she was holding away as well and picked up a combat knife from the chair beside the couch and attached it behind herself to her belt and then slipped on a bullet resistant vest. She gave everything one final check before she was satisfied then took a deep breath, "Ok, here we go."

Andria's eyes widened as she suddenly realised why Chris looked so familiar, "You're Rubi!" she cried recalling the character from an old PS3 game called: Wet. Andria lean to one foot excited to meet a fellow gamer chic, "My name is Andrea. So, is Chris short for Christine? What games do you play?"

Chris just snorted as she headed out to the military transport, "I don't really play that many games. And I'm sure that my mom meant for Chris to be short for Christopher. Just because I look like a girl doesn't mean I was born as one. Believe me, once I'm able to, I'm going to change back. I like being a guy and until then, I'll do my job," she said defiantly as she exited.

Andria groaned in disappointment as she walked after her followed by John and Major. They quickly boarded the Hercules transport, they strapped in next to the CSOR members, Johanna had already gone up to the cockpit.

Andria leaned over to Chris who was sitting beside her, "I'm sorry about earlier," she told her.

Chris pursed her lips in annoyance, "Don't worry about it."

"I was wondering about something," Andria started.

"What?" Chris asked.

"How come you're not taking a sword with you? If I remember correctly, Rubi had a sword on her back not a knife."

Chris sighed, "This isn't some crappy video game Andria. Besides, the sword's a bitch to get back in the scabbard especially when you're under fire. A combat knife is much better for close quarters anyways."

"Oh," was all Andria could say, much to her disappointment. She was really hoping to see a video game character move in the flesh like in the game. And while she taped herself doing some stuff, it eventually got old. "Oh well," she thought. At least she met some else who was like her. She reminded herself to ask Chris later why she turned herself into a female video game character later as the plane took off into the air.

000000

It was a few hours past sunset and the ship that was the headquarters of Tonaon Industrials had left its dock and was on its was to its Japan office to replenish the ranks of the science team to increase the rate of research being done on the exo-suits and the girl's nanites. Noel, of course, was still hanging in her cage having resigned herself to a deep state of depression as the various scientist went about their work. Nicolette had come a few times to draw some blood and make some comments in her recorder then leave. Noel had given up trying to convince anyone here that she was alive if not human. They never listened. Noel tried to pass the time listening in on the various conversations around her. Right now He was listening to two scientist talk about him.

"So, who do you think made it?" the male scientist asked the female one.

"For the last time, I don't know and I don't care. We were told to find out how it works and that's what I'm going to do."

"You got to admit that the AI program is outstanding. The response time is instantaneous and responsive. I haven't been able to trip it up at all yet."

The woman pulled her glasses off and rubbed the bridge of her nose, "I'm just tired of doing all this passive analysis. We need to cut it open to make any further progress." The phone rang on the desk they were working at and she picked it up.

Noel couldn't hear what the conversation was about but he could see the woman nod her head a few times before hanging up. She then walked over to Noel's cage holding a syringe filled with something and entered. As she walked up to him she flicked the syringe. Noel didn't like the look of this and even though it had proved futile so far, he struggled against his restraints.

To his, and the woman's surprise, his left arm came free. The woman screamed and dropped the syringe.

"Look out it's loose!" some one else shouted.

Unbeknownst to Noel at the time, Peter had actually loosened his restraints and would have let him escape had he tried to. Peter may have forgotten to put his restraints back on at the end of his shift or may have intended to leave them off. At this point, it didn't matter to Noel why they were loose, he had to act or they would kill him.

Don Wait had been bored to tears all throughout his shift and was glad it was going to end soon when he heard the scream and some one shouting. His attention was drawn towards the doll thing as it was pulling its restraints off.

"Well at least it's a break in the tedium," he mumbled to himself as he brought his MP5 up and aimed down the sights. He fired but the rubber bullets his gun was loaded with only penetrated the first mesh door before being stopped by the second. At this point Noel had finally gotten the harness that was holding him suspended off and was now working on the cables still connected to his legs. Don swore as he dropped his MP5 and pulled out his sidearm he already knew he was going to get in trouble for using live ammo but the way he figured was that since it was really a machine, they could still use it whether or not it was working one hundred percent. And with that going through his head, he fired three bullets. Two bullets hit Noel in the left and right shoulders and the third hit him dead center in the chest throwing him back through the mesh wall behind him tearing it from its frame where he landed on the floor unmoving.

Then all hell broke loose.

Up on the bridge, the crew were busy when suddenly all the system and computer monitors flashed red and blanked. Then every security and emergency alarm began ringing as security doors closed all over the ship. The helmsman informed the captain that he lost steering control. When the captain ordered another of the bridge crew to call up the computer guys in the mainframe room. The crewman did as ordered then but told him the phone line was dead. A person from security tried his radio but quickly pulled his earpiece out as a screeching tone erupted from it. The security system began warning of incoming boarders in random parts of the ship while another warned of fires breaking out in others. The ship suddenly increased speed as well knocking most people on board off their feet.

Meanwhile, in the lab containing the exo-suits, Mike and Tom were working with Nelly again in the exo-suit-2 with Peter supervising. Mike stood by going over the data while Tom was telling Nelly of how next time they wanted to test the suit with the prototype battery when the room suddenly lurched to one side. Fire alarms and automated warnings of intruders sounded in the halls. A man who was placing a sensor inside of exo-suit-1 cried out in pain as the suit, without warning, closed up slicing several of his fingers off that didn't make it in time. The empty suit then swung a hand catching another nearby that went to help the man sending him flying into the wall on the other side of the room with a sickening scrunch as he crumpled to the floor dead. The suit then plodded over to the helmet that matched it and placed it on its shoulders. On doing this the features of the suit began to melt together and less distinct. The maple leaf pattern on its chest now looked like a bloody splotch. Its head shuddered as it split open revealing a gaping maw of a mouth full of long sharp teeth. With a roar its arms grew claws and it smashed through the door and left. Nelly had finally gotten to her feet and started to run after the rampaging suit but was stopped short by the cord that was supplying her suit with power. It was only when the cable was pulled out causing her to fall did she stop.

Mike was in a state of shock while Tom check on his injured colleague while Peter check the dead one, seeing he truly was dead he went out into the hall. Aside from the smashed door the only other sign of the of the run away suit was the sound of bulkheads being smashed as it broke through security doors. Judging from the direction the noise was coming from Peter guessed that it was heading towards the main labs. He then picked up his radio to inform security but the radio only sputtered static. Running back into the lab he picked up the phone but quickly discovered the line was dead. With a growl, Peter dropped the phone down and walked over to Nelly.

He grunted as he turned her over onto her back, "Are you ok?" he asked her.

"Only my pride," she responded, "And if you tell ANYONE about this, I'll do much worse to you. You hear me?"

Peter allowed himself a short laugh, "Believe me, I'm probably the only one who'll never go waltzing over to your bad side." He turned to Mike first but saw he was in no condition to do anything. He then turned to Tom, "What the hell happened?"

Tom had just finished bandaging his colleagues hand and was wiping the blood off on his pants, "I have no idea. Nothing like that ever happened before. I didn't even know it could... Shift like that, let alone move on its own."

"We gotta get that thing back and under control," Peter stated as he looked around trying to think. When his eyes fell to Nelly he looked back to Tom, "How soon can you attach the battery to the Nelly's suit?"

"Yeah, I think so," Tom replied, "I'll still need to calibrate it so it'll take a few minutes."

"Then get started," Peter told him.

Down in the main lab, things weren't getting any better as the fire sprinklers had activated making everyone's day miserable. The problem was only compounded with the fact the doors to the lab had locked. Some were hiding from the sprinklers under desks while a few were trying the door, only one was working on the sprinkler system. Don was at the door with mixed success in communicating with the security personnel on the other side of the door. He found that if they shouted, they could barely make out what the other was saying. They weren't any better then Don in the lab but they were dry. However fortune seemed to be smiling on them as the technician was finally able to stop the sprinklers allowing "clearer" communication between the door. While the guards outside were able to move freely through the halls, every door on the ship they checked seemed to be locked. Don was in the middle of telling them to go to one of the smaller labs to find one of the computer techs and hack the door open when he heard shouting followed by gunfire and ended with two thumps on the door.

Don backed away from the door and motioned the techs and scientist to get behind cover while he swapped out the magazine in his MP5 with live ammo, the other security man did the same as they got behind cover and aimed at the door. None of the security personnel on the ship were strangers to boarders. Being the headquarters for the whole company and a ship on the ocean, they averaged on repelling boarding attempts from pirates and other like at least once a year. This was however the first time any have made it inside the ship let alone this deep into it. A second later there was a load bang on the door followed by several others in rapid succession.

The repeated bangs on the door both worried and confused Don. If it were pirates on the other side of the door then why were they banging on it? Surely they knew it was useless to force their way in like that. If it were him he'd of already had cutting torches on the door or at least some breaching charges to blow the door. He was about to relax until he heard the doors actually begin to creak under the constant physical attacks. The banging stopped for a short moment before renewing, this time slowly but more forcibly than before. The center between the doors actually began to bend inward until two bloody clawed hands burst through and forced the doors to open inwards with an ear-splitting metallic screech and cracks from the doors being ripped from their tracks in the frame. Don and the other guard readied their submachine guns as the berserk hardsuit entered the main lab. It's eyeless head looked around the lab and seemed to settle on Don. With a start is let out a heavy roar and charged straight for him. Don and the other guard opened fire on the rampaging hardsuit as it advanced, with the bullets having no effect it was already upon Don. It grabbed him by the head with one hand and crushed his hands still holding the now mangled weapon. Don screamed out in pain, the monster roared back and grabbed his head with both hands now. The other guard spent his entire magazine on it before rushing in hitting it with the butt of his gun with no effect.

The berserk hardsuit began to squeeze Don's head until a sickening crack indicating that Don was now dead. Don Wait's body fell slack. Not seeming to be content with Don's relatively quick death, the hardsuit back handed the guard still hitting it and pushed down on Don's body sending what's left of his head through his torso to his waist. The people who watched this horror screamed and scrambled for the wrecked door. The hardsuit ignored them and walked over to Noel's body. It reverted back to its original form and picked Noel up, holding him against itself and opening its armor Bringing him inside. Once Noel was inside, the hardsuit shuddered and fell to its knees. The hardsuit began repairing the damage to Noel's body.

Soon enough Noel was whole again and woke up with a start. Seeing that he was back in his hardsuit he looked around and laid eyes on the damn cage that held him for weeks on end. He quickly tore it apart with grim satisfaction. With that sorted Noel then took stock of his surroundings and nearly threw up when he saw the gory mess of Don Wait.

"Ok, I'm free now. I'm still a girl but I'm free," Noel thought to himself. "Now which way is out?"

Out on the ocean, a Canadian Halifax-class frigate was approaching the ship. On the bridge the captain told the radio man to issue a warning to the runaway ship.

"Attention fleeing vessel," the radioman started, "Cut your engines and prepare to be boarded. You are under suspicion of kidnaping a Canadian citizen and harboring a known terrorist." He waited for a response. There wasn't any. He repeated the hail but after another minute there was still no response. "The bogey hasn't responded to hails captain."

The captain nodded, "Try contacting them by signal light. It might be possible their communications are out," he said with a raised eyebrow obviously not believing what he said himself.

Over on the bridge of the company ship the bridge crew watched the light signals having not heard due to the radio still being out. However, they were powerless to respond as they were still locked in the bridge and there wasn't any strong enough lights on the bridge to send a return signal of their plight. They could only watch as the frigate came along their course at a respectable distance.

After waiting several minutes the captain of the frigate told the radioman to signal the go ahead for the boarding team to start their mission that was now flying over them.

On the Hercules transport, John and his team were getting ready along with the CSOR team. Although, John was having a slight argument with Andria over the issue of her not wanting to wear a parachute.

"I'm telling you, I don't need one," Andria stated matter-of-factly, "I have my grav con," she said as she snapped her fingers causing a faint misty blue aura surrounds her.

John raised an eyebrow, "Andria, that only worked once in the game," he told her.

Andria pouted at that, "You know that's just a plot hole for the game. Come on, this is one of the few times I'll ever get a chance to use it like this," she whined.

One of the CSOR members came over, "Trust me kid, you don't want to hit the water from this height. Even if you hit the water, with a chute, it'll feel like hitting concrete."

The statement took the wind out of Andria's petulance as she grumbled and pulled a parachute on muttering of how cool it would have been.

John pulled on a ski mask before pulling his helmet on. Both John and Andria were dressed in modified SWAT gear. The mask John was now wearing was to protect his identity and avoid future headaches since he still looked very much like David Tenant. Major had her own gear from when she was first transformed as well as the weapon that only, until she came upon the box, existed in the anime. She loaded a magazine into her Seburo C26A assault rifle with a silencer and clipped it to her tac vest. Andria herself had her gunblade configured in rifle mode. John was the only one on the their team with a conventional firearm. Another of the CSOR team members handed Major a radio but she held her hand up and shook her head.

"I don't need it," she said, "Just tell me what channel we're on." He did so. "Can you hear me?" she asked over the radio. Her voice had a weird digital echo to it but came through clear.

Johanna came down from the cockpit to the hold and stood in front of them. "We're almost over the target area. Once the signal is given, you'll all be jumping, after thirty seconds pull your chutes. There's a frigate on the surface that will provide a distraction while you land. Needless to say, the priority here is to rescue a kidnapped civilian. Target of opportunity is a Henry Donald. If possible, capture him as there's a possibility that he's kidnapped several people and are holding them at his base of operations but he is considered extremely dangerous and has proven himself to kill when cornered. So don't take any chances."

They all acknowledged while Andria spoke up, "Don't worry about the distraction, I can take care of that."

Johanna nodded, "I'll leave it to you then," she said before she turned and headed back to the cockpit. The lights in the hold dimmed as the back of the plane opened up. Everyone lined up ready for the signal. The light next to the open door turned green and everybody ran out and jumped into the air. After thirty seconds, they opened their chutes and steered for the flat top of the ship as they drifted down. As they floated down, Andria "summoned" a hologram of an eidolon from Final Fantasy XIII. It's glowing body flew off to the bow of the ship easily distracting the few guards that were on deck as well as those who had a window in the island tower of the ship. They quickly touched down on the deck, John and his team made way for the base of the island tower while the CSOR team secured the few people on the deck.

They quickly found the doors they found to be locked. Major pulled the panel off the key pad by the door and attached a device to hack the system. She pulled out the cord from her dummy plug and connected to the system. Reality fell away from her as she was plunged into the digital plane where she was floating in an ethereal void, the security system was identified as a box icon in front of her. As she approached the icons on the box turned red causing her to stop. Major swore as she looked for any holes in the systems firewall.

"What's taking so long?" John asked.

"The security system is top notch. I shouldn't be surprised since this is the head office for the entire company, so wait while I figure this out," she said. As she began to probe the firewall the red icon turned back to white. In the real world, the door opened.

"Good job," John said as the group walked in.

"But I-I didn't even do anything yet," Major sputtered. No one seemed to hear her.

"We're in. So, what now?" Chris asked. "It's not like we were able to get the plans to the ship so how are we going to find Noel?"

John pulled out his sonic screwdriver from a pocket in his tac vest, "It's all right, I can use this to track Noel's power signature. It's almost exactly the same as the alien box," he explained. "It's probably why the machine she had closed up early when Johanna came by her place."

"How do you know about that?" Chris asked as she turned him around by the shoulder.

"III may have glanced through the file Johanna gave you wen you were finished with it," he said as he began pointing the screwdriver around. Only he, and to a lesser extent Major, were able to decipher the subtle pitches of buzzing and barely perceptible changes in light. "This way," he told them as he headed in the general direction of the main lab.

"Wait!" Major called out, "What about Henry? I know he's still here. I can feel that slime ball any where," she said in disgust.

John breathed a sigh in frustration, "Ok, lets split up. Half with me and half go with the Major and search the ship for Henry."

"Looks like I'm with you then," Chris said to John, "My first priority is to rescue Noel."

Two of the CSOR team members went with John Andria and Chris while the other three went with Major. After splitting up John's newly revised team head to the aft of the ship while Major and her team went to the fore of the ship.

Meanwhile in the lab that had held the hardsuits up till now. Tom had finally calibrated the battery prototype and hooked it up into the suit that Nelly was still in.

"'K Nelly, the exo-suit is now being powered by the battery. I don't know how long it'll last but you should have on the outside of half an hour before it's dead," he winced inwardly on saying that last word.

Nelly nodded at that while adjusting the helmet to the hardsuit she was now wearing for the first time. Tom did one final check before giving her the thumbs up.

"One more thing though," Tom warned, "I have no idea how much power the exo-suit will drain from the battery. Since we haven't tested any of the combat capabilities of the suit I'm not sure if you'll even get thirty minutes."

"Don't worry. I'm not the type to play around on the clock," Nelly replied as she headed for the door where Peter was waiting.

He put a hand on her shoulder, "Be careful," he told her grimly.

She told him she would as she pulled the faceplate down on her helmet and ran down the hall. As she rounded a corner, her foot slipped on the polished floor and skidded to a halt against the wall. Picking herself up, she was glad that nobody saw her being so clumsy and was off again following the spent ammo casings and random dead body. Soon she was in the main lab and ran head long into Noel sending him to the far side of the lab.

Noel hit the wall hard and fell to the ground but got up almost immediately. He extended the blades from his hardsuits forearms and readied to attack. "I don't know who you are in that hardsuit lady but I've got a LOT of pent up aggression from being held here against my will," Noel told her.

"You don't know what the fuck you mean by 'pent up'," Nelly countered as she launched herself at Noel.

Noel swung a bladed arm down in front of Nelly but she dodged to the side at the last minute then pushed herself off the wall behind Noel kicking him in the back sending Noel flying forwards this time. Noel growled as he got up and retracted one of his blades and fired several energy bolts at Nelly's previous location. Nelly, had jumped into the air and landed in front of Noel, ducking down Nelly swept a leg knocking Noel's feet out from under him as he fell to the deck. In one fluid motion Nelly rolled over and grabbed hold of Noel's arm and held him down with her legs. Nelly's military training was obviously giving her an edge over Noel but he refused to ever go back to that cage again. He struggled against Nelly's hold but her grip stayed firm. In desperation he extended the kater blade from the arm that Nelly was holding. Sparks flew as the blade grinded against Nelly's hardsuit. In surprise, she let go to avoid being impaled in the face allowing Noel to roll away and get to his feet.

Nelly was growing concerned. She kept glancing at the indicator on her HUD that showed her battery level seeing tat a third was gone already. She ground her teeth trying to think of what to do, she had to hit the girl hard and fast enough to knock her out or knock her helmet off and knock her out that way. She knew from personal experience that it didn't take much to do that. With that in mind she rushed forward making a feint by kicking the girl in the stomach, she reacted by doubling over and grabbing Nelly's leg. Nelly then brought both arms up and struck the back of Noel's head with both elbows slamming Noel almost comically to the ground. Taking advantage of this Nelly got on Noel's back and grabbed him in a headlock and pulled back hoping to either suffocate him into unconsciousness or pull the helmet off by force. Noel countered by deploying his jump wings flipping her over. Noel then jumped up and came down with a punch followed by a kick. He tried kicking her again but she caught his leg and swung him around into one of the few robotic assembly arms still in the lab smashing it to pieces. Nelly continued swinging Noel smashing him into the floor and various other equipment until Noel kicked her away while using the jump jets on his hips to get some distance from her. Nelly was becoming frustrated and activated the ribbons in the helmet of her hardsuit. Noel groaned knowing that thing were going to get a whole lot harder.

Major and the three other CSOR team members were trying the doors and finding each of them locked. On the occasion they heard something on the other side, Major would kick the door in and check the room, often finding terrified employees. After telling them to stay put, they would move on to the next door. They continued this tactic until the hall split off into three directions. This caused Major to decide to split up the team to cover more ground. Two of the CSOR members would go right while Major and the third went down the left side. Major and the soldier walked a short distance before reaching another split in the hallway. This time Major went right while her companion went left. She had reached her fourth door when she heard a noise behind the door. Readying her rifle, she kicked the door in and came face to face with Henry who was busy putting on a suitcase style suit of Ironman armor. Major froze for the briefest of moments but she managed to compose herself quickly enough.

"Freeze!" she shouted as she aimed her rifle at his unprotected head, "Put the palms of your hands on the sides of you head and is I see you charging up any of your weapons to shoot, so help me god, I'll shoot right through that thing you call a face," she spat.

Henry calmly complied and put his armored hands to the sides of his head. He gave her an unpleasant smile, "I see you're still up and about," he said casually, "Tell me, how's your memory been?"

"Shut it!" Major shouted, she was already on the radio telling the other CSOR soldiers that came with her to come to her location. "Fuck you Henry."

Henry only smirked, "Tell you what, if you let me go, I'll tell you what your name is. I mean your real name," he said.

Major hessitated, "H-how can you know what my name is when you deleted my memories," she accused.

Henry only shrugged, "I took a copy of your memories before I erased them from your mind. If you want, I can tell you little about your robotic friend before he blew up," he taunted.

Major lowered her rifle ever so slightly. She wanted, desperately even, wanted to know anything about her past. But to give Henry any slack would be deadly. She righted her rifle in resolve. "How do I know you're not lying just so you can get away?"

Henry quirked his head, "You don't," he said simply, "For all you know I'm probably lying about everything. But can you really take that chance for a small bit of piece of mind I can give?" His smirk changed to a predatory smile, "Tell me. If you're so distrusting of me, what makes you think that Jeffrey deserves any of yours?"

Major narrowed her eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"Hmm? Oh nothing. It's just that I'm not sure Jeffrey told you everything about us,"

"He told me that you put your own sister in the hospital," Major stated.

This caused Henry to chuckle, "Oh, he really didn't tell you anything at all did he?"

Major started to feel more nervous than before, "Just shut up, if you get out of that armor and surrender yourself, you'll have your chance to tell us what you think is real."

"Maybe," Henry replied. His finger twitched.

Out on the bridge of the frigate, the radar man got the XO's attention, "Sir, I'm getting an airborne contact coming off the mainland and it's heading for the bogey."

"A missile?" he asked.

"Unknown sir, but the bogey is now between us and the contact will breach the bogey in twenty seconds."

The XO gritted his teeth, "Very well, deploy what counter measures we can and inform the boarding party of a possible missile impact."
"Ey sir."

At this time the three CSOR team members were right outside the room.

"Either way Henry, you're under arrest for several murders and suspected kidnappings," Major stated as she inched towards him, her rifle still trained on his head.

"Oh, I don't think so," Henry said as slowly turned around.

Just as the radioman was issuing the warning, when the wall exploded inwards and an armored robot climbed in pointing a muzzle on its arm at the direction of Major and the three soldiers with her.

"Run!" Major shouted as she ducked and rolled as the robot fired a shotgun blast that caught one of the fleeing soldiers in the chest. Fortunate for him, his tac vest did it's job and he mostly had the wind knocked out of him though he was going to be sore for days afterwards. When Major recovered to her feet, Henry already had his helmet on and was about to leave when he turned back to her.

"At least trust me when I say this: Jeffrey isn't telling you everything," and then he was gone as he flew off towards the mainland.

"FUCK!" Major screamed as she aimed her rifle at the robot that stayed behind and opened fire. The HV-type bullets that were loaded in the rifle made quick work of the robot as the bullets perforated the robot. the two CSOR members added to the onslaught with their own fire and the robot was quickly downed. After making sure the robot was dead they check on their companion that caught the shotgun blast and found he actually had two cracked ribs but was otherwise ok.

"We lost Henry," Major said bitterly.

John had lead the team down through the decks and hallways when they across the hallway filled with destruction, ammo casings and dead bodies.

"Well," John said grimly, "I don't think I'll be needing my screwdriver to lead us to her by the looks of this."

They all checked their weapons and continued on. As they passed a room with an broken door bullets suddenly spewed forth from the room. They took cover on either side of the door.

This is the Canadian Armed Forces," Chris shouted, "Stand down!"

"Bullshit!" a voice shouted back followed by more bullets.

"We don't have time for this," Chris stated as she took a few steps back before running to the door. Just before reaching the door she fell to her knees and slid through on the floor. Two shots rang out followed by a groan of a man and a thump on the floor. Chris walked out a second later. "He'll be walking funny for awhile but he'll be fine, lets go," she said as she continued down the hall. Andria gave John a look to which he responded with just a shrug as they followed after.

Henry was hugging the shoreline over the water as he left the ship far behind. He wished he had more time to study the girl and the tech she made for herself with the box. But, the risk was too great with Jeffrey's team there and without his usual armor he decided caution was the better part of business. As he considered what else to do, something landed on his back causing him to dip as he flew. Looking over his shoulder he saw Jeffrey in his Batman beyond suit holding on to him.

"Where is she!?" he demanded. as he tried to force him down.

"Try checking the boat," Henry replied as he began spinning so much that Jeffrey eventually lost his grip and fell off where he smacked in some of the four foot waves of the ocean before he was able to activate the rockets in his boots. With a grimace he headed for the ship.

The main lab had been completely destroyed by the ongoing fight between Noel and Nelly. Nelly was able to maintain the upper hand but her battery was nearly dead which she noticed as her hardsuit was slowing down. Nelly knew that her next move was her last chance to subdue the girl. She ran straight at Noel who moved to grab her. As he did so she duck down and to the side batting his arm away with one hand while throwing a jab to his side and slide in behind him and reached under his helmet and started pulling.

"Come on, you piece of shit, get off," Nelly gritted.

Noel grabbed her arms and pulled her over himself, thanks to her training she recovered, but Noel had had enough and shoved a hand through the battery and its casing. Nelly's suit stopped moving.

"Fuckfuckfuck, fucking move you piece of shit," Nelly pleaded to herself. She was once again unable to move. "Please move, I don't want to be a fucking cripple for the rest of my life," she pleaded again coming close to tears.

Noel didn't know what to think. Just seconds ago this woman was literally trying to pull his head off and now she sounded like she was crying. "Was she really paralysed?" he asked himself, "Was she just not able to walk? No, even if the hardsuit had no power, a person could still move it, even if only slightly." So far, the woman was only banging her head around trying to move herself. Noel could see that her fingers weren't moving at all so she must really be completely paralysed then. "How did she get like that?" He wondered. "And why did they put her in a hardsuit? Did they find something out about the hardsuits that I didn't think of?"

Noel continued to wonder these thoughts. He didn't want to leave her like that. While it wasn't the same he felt he could relate, being tied up like he was for weeks on end. Every other day, the same jerk off would touch him in places... Noel shook his head. He didn't want to leave her like this where some one like his molester could take advantage of her but he couldn't leave her with a fully functioning hardsuit either. Noel thought about this until he realised something. He was a Claudia-class Boomer. He intentionally made himself like that so he could repair his own hardsuit if he needed to. "Surely, I can use that to change her hardsuit too right," He thought to himself. He flipped her over and removed what was left of the battery casing and put his armored hand in as he concentrated. She didn't need the armor of the weapons the hardsuit had, she just needed the motors and sensors to move. Soon, his armored hand began to meld with the Linna hardsuit. Once that was done, he began absorbing the material of the hardsuit into himself and his own armor. This caused the Linna hardsuit to look sickly as veins started to grow over it. As the veins pulsed, they seemed to flow back to Noel making the Linna hardsuit somehow dull in color as well as appear thinner. Once he was done Noel pulled away, the veins on her hardsuit remained but looked withered giving the hardsuit a look as if it were dead.

Noel hoped he was doing the right thing as he turned away and headed for the exit. When he came to a corner, he bumped into Chris with John Andria and the two CSOR members. Surprised, Chris brought her revolver up and was about to shoot when John pushed it aside just as she fired sending the bullet harmlessly into the wall behind Noel.

"Stop!" John told her, "She's the one we've been looking for."

Chris looked surprised but put her revolver away and she pulled out a canteen and took a swig of it as she cursed.

"We were going to rescue you," John said as he looked Noel over, "But it seems you were able to take care of yourself."

"Believe me when I say it was pure coincidence. You have no idea how long I wanted to get out of that hell hole," Noel said in relief.

Chris quickly radioed that they found Noel and were heading out. The captain of the frigate told her that they were sending a helicopter to pick them up. The rest of the boarding team acknowledged as they headed for the flat deck. They met up with Major and her team as they got onto the deck outside. As they waited for the helicopter John and Major shared a tender kiss.

"Don't you ever do that again, you hear me?" John told her.

"I can handle myself," Major replied hotly, "I just wished I didn't loose him," she said bitterly.

"You may have lost him but with any luck, the tracking beacon I stuck on him might lead us back to his hide out," a voice said.
Surprised, they all turned around as Jeffrey turned off the cloak on his suit revealing himself.

"Once we know which rock he crawls under, we're going to get him and stop him. Once and for all," he said with a look of determination on his face.

The Gentleman's Bar: Freedom
By: Set3

Robyn Lars was sitting at a table reflecting on how his life had been going as he drank his beer, in a bar called: The Gentleman's Bar.

Robyn is a large man at 6 foot 5 but was no slouch in the looks department. He was truly blessed in the looks department, with his large size and ample muscles thanks to some really good genes, he looked like the stereotypical dreamy version of a lumberjack that drove plenty of women wild. His short, but bushy, red hair further added to the look. A man among men if there ever was one. And that was the problem.

Robyn, for a long time, felt trapped by his own body. He envied those smaller then him. Even during college he was looked at as little more than a large thug. He did try out for the college football team but left soon after playing a few games. It wasn't that he was bad at football, he was pretty decent. His problem was that he hated the competiveness of it. And because everyone was focused more on the competition than fun, he was quickly turned off by it. Some wished him well as he left the team while more than a lot called him chickenshit for leaving. He didn't care but doing that had alienated him from a majority of the jocks and other local sports fans. He graduated from college with a masters in architecture and had gone out into the world with the typical optimism of any college graduate.

It was while job hunting that the harsh reality of the real world came crashing down on him. Even though his resume was impressive and it could get him in the front door but when he showed up for the interview the person who was conducting his interview was always taken aback by his large frame and would make some excuse as to why they wouldn't be able to hire him after all. With the cumulative rejections, Robyn had to take a job where his stature was a benefit to him instead of a hindrance and found a job at a local lumber mart. The job had long and physically exhausting hours but it put a roof over his head and food on the table. And while the job provided him with a comfortable life, it was far from challenging and he spent many a day bored to tears. It didn't help that his supervisor and the assistant managers were assholes. When Robyn had made a few suggestions to improve some things in the lumberyard, his supervisor took the credit and was promoted further while Robyn was still stuck moving wood around the lumberyard.

After yet another day of drudgery he had gone home to his small apartment and took a quick shower. After getting out, he sat down in his lazy boy and rubbed his aching feet. As he did so, his mind went back to what his late father used to say.

"A man hasn't worked a day unless his feet are hurting at the end of it."

And his feet were certainly hurting Robyn agreed on that part but he didn't feel that he was doing anything fulfilling. And this depressed him. His own body was literally holding him back from doing what he wanted to do.

It wasn't the first time he's had these thoughts. Ever since high school he had to deal with people looking at him like a muscle head and were more than less afraid of him. No matter where he went, people saw the cover that was his body and never took a look at the book that was his mind.

Not wanting to hang around his apartment feeling sorry for himself he got dressed and headed out. He didn't want to party but just have a quiet drink. After parking his truck on the side of the street he got out and started walking until he eventually ended up at the Gentleman's Bar. Sitting at a small table in the corner he looked around the place. As he looked around the bar he felt a stab of envy as he saw several women walking around, all dressed in different styles of clothing and having a general good time. To him, they all seemed as if they were free to express themselves in whatever they felt like. There were times when Robyn, when he was by himself, would stare at his reflection in the mirror trying to find his real self in it. On an intellectual level, he knew that the reflection was his but on the emotional end, deep inside, he couldn't recognise the man in the mirror.

He didn't like his body, not just from the stigma of his imposing figure, but he felt that he was born in the wrong body. Robyn is, to put it simply, a transsexual. If he had a smaller build, he would have gone under reassignment surgery, but, if he did that with his build he'd feel and look utterly ridicules. If it wasn't the natural women that he envied, he also envied and greatly respected those that had gone under the knife to become their real selves.

"I shouldn't have come here. I'm just making myself depressed," Robyn muttered to himself as he took a deep swig of his beer and sighed.

Robyn was considering leaving when he noticed some one approach his table. Looking up from his glass he saw a man with dark hair and a lean build. He was wearing a dark tux looking suit.

"Yes, can I help you?" Robyn asked the man.

"Actually," the man replied, "I was hoping that I could help you. May I sit?" he asked.

Robyn gave a short laugh, "I'm flattered, really I am, but I like women." he told the man.

The man gave a small smile in return to that, "I'm not questioning your sexuality, I was hoping to speak to you."

Robyn wasn't sure what to make of the man before gesturing to the chair opposite of him to which the man took, "So, who are you?" Robyn asked him.

"I am the bouncer of this establishment," the bouncer answered after taking the offered seat.

Robyn nodded at this with a knowing grin. It wasn't the first time that he was asked to not start any trouble. And judging from the size of this bar's bouncer, Robyn was sure that the man was giving him a pre-emptive warning. "It's alright. I'm not looking to start a fight. In fact, I was thinking of leaving anyways. It's just been one of those days," he told him.

The bouncer chuckled, "Don't worry, I wasn't concerned with you starting a fight. I have been watching you since you came in and I was wondering if there was anything you wanted to talk about. I am a good listener and I might be able to help in some way," he said cryptically.

Robyn raised an eyebrow looking the man over once again trying to see what angle he was pulling but something inside him told him that this bouncer guy was trust-worthy some how. He gestured for him to sit down, to which he did.

After straightening the sleeves of his coat, the bouncer turned to Robyn, "I apologize for being awkward here, but could you tell me your name please."

Robyn raised an eyebrow a little put off by this guy's request but didn't see the harm in giving it. After all, he didn't do anything wrong so he had nothing to worry about. "My name's Robyn," he told him.

The bouncer nodded at that, "A good name," he stated, "Have you been enjoying your time here at this establishment?"

"I've..." Robyn started slowly, "been having an ok time so far," he said finally.

The bouncer seemed to smile at that, "Good," he replied. "Can you tell me what's troubling you?"

The abrupt question caught Robyn off guard as he coughed a bit of his beer that he was drinking, "*cough* *cough* Excuse me?" he asked as he wiped some of the spilt beer from his chin.

The bouncer then stood up and ushered Robyn to follow him, "Perhaps we should continue this conversation in a more discreet location. If you'll follow me to a private table."

Robyn wasn't sure why but something in him told him that he could trust this guy. So he got up, with his half empty beer and followed the bouncer where he lead him to a private booth near the back of the bar where a small sectioned wall provided extra privacy against prying eyes.

After sitting down at the new table, a waitress topped of Robyn's drink, the bouncer repeated his question.

Robyn again stared at the bouncer, trying to figure him out. Why was he so interested in his problems? From the impression Robyn got from the bouncer, he seemed genuinely concerned about him, but still... After several long minutes, the bouncer waiting patiently, Robyn decided that he would tell him.

"I'm just frustrated with my body," he started, "For nearly my entire life, when people look at me they just see some muscle-bound lumberjack. People look at me but they don't SEE me," he explained feeling the floodgates as it were opening up. "I worked hard for my education but I can't use any of it. Even though we're told that we shouldn't judge people by their appearance. All this PC stuff that's been going around just helps everyone mask their true opinions. I went to school to learn to be an architect and when I tried to get the job I trained for they always give me a surprised look at my size when I come in for the interview. They're polite and the interview goes well and I think I'm going to get the job but when I get a call back, they tell me that they don't feel that I'd "be a right fit" for their company. I eventually gave up and got the first job based on my physical stature. I gave up on trying to push past peoples perceptions and took a job that I would have no problem getting." He paused taking a breath, both because he needed one and to calm himself, "It's just starting to get to me I suppose," he said finally.

The bouncer waited patiently in case Robyn wanted to say more. After rubbing his chin in thought the bouncer finally spoke, "So, what would you like to do then?"

Robyn looked at his beer glass and shrugged, "I don't know, I just wish I wasn't trapped by my body," he gestured down at his body, "I don't feel like this is me and that's what makes this worse. I want to be able to look in the mirror and see ME, but all I see is what everyone else sees. A large man with muscles and nothing more. Just what's expected of it."

"If you had the power, how would you change your body to match the real you?" the bouncer asked.

"If I could change myself anyway I want I'd," Robyn hesitated. Was he really going to tell this man in front of him his secret desire to be a woman? He looked at the bouncer and studied his face. He could see no hint of malice or ill will, only concern for Robyn's well being if anything. Robyn swallowed hard and decided, for better or worse, decided to confide in this man, "I want to be a woman," he said finally waiting with worried anticipation not sure what he would do if the man started laughing at him.

When the bouncer opened his mouth, Robyn drew in a sharp breath and held it, "It must be hard to deal with some days," the bouncer said at last. Robyn let his breath go in a grateful exhale. Words could not describe how relieved he was that the bouncer didn't mock his admission.

"Would you mind telling me what your feminine self would look like?" the bouncer asked.

Robyn again stopped. He hadn't really given it much thought on the specifics of his ideal female shape. Then, as if he were in a trance, he began telling the bouncer about what he wished he looked like if he were a woman. As Robyn told him, his vision blurred like water bubbles on a divers mask obscuring his peripheral vision but he continued describing the woman he wished to be to the bouncer. Robyn's form began to shimmer before he started to shrink as if he were growing backwards, his clothing began to bag and swim around him as they stayed their original size. He continued to shrink until he lost just over a foot in height. His body then thinned out and became more feminine. Next his hair grew out and stopped just below his shoulders and the features of his face softened to become more delicate. Eventually, Robyn's changes were complete. While Robyn was still in a trance, the bouncer reached across the table.

"My apologies Robyn, but this will only take a moment," he said as he grabbed hold of Robyn's shirt and twisted. The shirt, along with the rest of Robyn's clothes shrank down to fit his smaller frame.

Robyn was still in a daze when the transformation of his clothes and himself when the bouncer suggested that he should have a look at his new self. Robyn nodded deftly, still in a daze and got up from the table and walked to the washrooms. He was about to enter the men's room when he was stopped.

"Hey girl, hold up!" a feminine voice called out.

Robyn blinked finally coming out of his trance-like stupor, "Wh-what?" he asked as he turned to a woman walking up behind him. When she reached him he was a little surprised that the woman was an inch or so taller than him.

"Yeah girl, you're about to head into the guys bathroom," she said with a friendly smile.

Robyn just stared at the woman before what she just said sunk in and he looked down at himself. He recognised the clothes as his own but the view his body showed him was completely different. His broad muscular chest had given way to a small feminine one. This obviously shocked him and he found a desperate need to see what he now looked like.

"Um, yeah. I guess I had too much to drink," he told the woman taking note of how light his voice sounded now and moved to the door for the woman's restroom and pushed his way in. When he got to the mirror he was shocked at the changes he had underwent. He now saw that he was quite shorter than he was before, which explained why the woman who was fixing her make up was taller than he was. His face had also significantly changed as his face was slimmer and rounder than his previous rugged square look. The spattering of freckles that ran across the bridge of his nose seemed to have changed as well. Before they gave his face the look as if he had some dirt on his face like he worked out on a farm or something, earthy could be a word to use then. But now, the freckles seemed to bring out his green eyes seeming to give them a piercing but beautiful quality. His nose itself was now indisputably dainty and cute. His hair, wasn't just longer now, curled just enough to give it a natural bounce.

Looking further down, he could see his new breasts which are now a healthy b-cup size. Big enough to show his new curves without being uncomfortably large and heavy. Robyn felt his arms and stomach. He still had muscles but they were more subdued and left his body with the look of an athletic woman, or a track runner to be more specific. Robyn wanted to reach down farther but with the woman still next to him, now finishing up her make up, he kept his small hands away from that area of his body. When he looked back to his face in the mirror it finally hit him that he was now a woman. How could this have happen? A mixture of emotions washed over him. Anger that this was done to him. Fear of what he was going to do now like what if someone would take advantage of him now that he was smaller. What if he couldn't prove who he was anymore and was kicked out onto the street? The last thought terrified him as it ran into another thought that he would have to sell his body to survive. Despite these dark thoughts, as he looked at himself again in the mirror he was struck with the realization that even with all those fearful thoughts, he could finally recognise himself. Or better yet, herself. He, no SHE, finally felt normal and right. It was this that calmed him, no HER down as vanity had overtaken her as she stared at her new features.

Robyn was so involved with her new looks that she didn't realise that the woman next to her was now watching her with a smirk on her face.

"You know, girl, if you stare at yourself any harder then your even going to melt the mirror with your looks or burn that pretty face of yours," she said with a laugh.

Robyn finally turned her gaze away from her reflection, "Huh? Oh, um, yeah. Sorry, I guess I just got lost thinking about something," she said feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment.

The woman giggled before holding out her hand, "No problem, the names' August by the way."

Robyn accepted her hand and shook it, "Mine's Robyn. I'm sorry to say it, but, that's an unusual name you have."

August grinned at that, "Don't be. my parents were either hipsters or hippie wannabe's when they named me. The juries still out on that," she said with a laugh.

Robyn instantly liked her as she smiled at her response, "Listen, I need to go talk to someone but when I'm done do you want to talk over a drink?" she asked and immediately mentally head slapped herself for asking her out. At least to a drink. In any case, it would be hard to not see the innuendo in that.

Instead of offense, August just smiled at her, "I would love to, but I was just on my way out, sorry." she then pulled out a piece of paper from her purse and wrote something on it before handing it to Robyn, " Here's my cell number, so call me sometime."

Robyn took he paper and slipped it into her pocket, "Thanks, I'll do that," she promised.

August gave her a hug which surprised Robyn, "Great! I look forward to seeing you again, laters," she said happily as she picked up her purse and left the restroom with a spring in her step and an extra sway in her hips.

As Robyn watched August leave, she felt a stirring down below. She quickly had her hand feel her crotch and confirmed that she did indeed possess a vagina having felt the absence of her former penis. She just as quickly moved her hand away despite a part of her wanting to explore it. This simply was not the place to do that kind of thing. She washed her hands to justify being in the restroom before leaving to find the bouncer. She found him standing by the table they were at earlier and walked up to him.

"Did you do this to me?" she asked gesturing down at her body.

"Yes," he answered.

"How? And why?" she asked.

The bouncer gestured for her to sit at the private table. When they sat down, the bouncer started, "I have been given these abilities by the owner of this establishment to ensure that everyone here enjoys their stay here. It is my responsibility use these abilities to punish those who break the rules."

"I do have to admit that for the first time in my life I feel that I'm finally look like the person I feel like on the inside but what about my life? I just can't go back to work or to my family and expect them to accept me, who would believe that a little thing like me is really the big guy I used to be?"

The bouncer nodded in understanding, "And if that was all I did for you, then I can understand your concern, but I have done a little more for you."

Robyn stopped, "What do you mean?" she prodded.

"By the time you return to work, everyone will believe that you were always a female," he told her, "There will be no trace of your former male self except in your memories."

The last statement removed any fears for her future she may have had. It was like she was given a new lease on life. She was free from the stigmatism of her male self. With a flood of emotions, she scooted along the seat till she was close enough to wrap her arms around the bouncer in a hug. "Thank you," she said with a tear in her eye, "I don't know what I could possibly do to repay you for this."

The bouncer patted an arm that was still wrapped around his front with a smile, "You have done more than enough by simply accepting this. This is the first time that I can honestly say that I was happy to change someone," he said with the smallest of smiles which seemed to lift a great weight off his shoulders making the air around him seem brighter. The bouncer then got up but turned back to Robyn, "Please enjoy you stay here at the Gentleman's Bar," he told her warmly before leaving the table.

Robyn sat there for the longest time until a waitress came up to inquire if she wanted anything to drink. Robyn told her no since she had to drive back and the waitress nodded before leaving her. Robyn soon got up and began walking to the exit where the bouncer was waiting for her.

"There's just one more thing I have nearly forgotten to give you," he told her. She nodded and he told her to stand still before he lightly poked her on the forehead. Robyn blinked at that and when she questioned why he did that, he told her that he gave her some memories that she would need. She accepted this and left.

When she got her truck she never thought the phrase "climbing into her truck" would be so aptly put thanks to her shorter stature. She spent the next five minutes adjusting the seat, mirrors, and steering wheel to her new size before she was satisfied and drove off for home.

After arriving home she hopped down from her truck, another aptly put phrase, and entered her apartment. She was both surprised and relieved that nothing had seemed to change. She half-expected that when she walked in the door the walls and furniture would be a bright pink with frills everywhere. She even expected some kind of vanity table loaded down with tons of make up and other assorted cosmetics but her bedroom looked just the same as it always had along with everything else in her apartment. She paused at this as she looked around the bedroom. Perhaps it was her new smaller size but her place didn't seem to be so small anymore. It felt cozy.

The moment of internal peace was ruined when she realised that she needed to answer the call of nature and made her way to the bathroom. As she undid her pants, she nearly started to go like she normally did back when she was a guy but quickly caught herself and turned around and pulled her pants and underwear down as she sat down on the toilet and did her business. If someone had asked her right then what it felt like to go as a female instead of a male she'd have to say that it was nearly the same, only the hose as it were was removed from the faucet. After she was finished and cleaned herself up and washed her hands, she stared at herself in the bathroom mirror.

Now that she was alone she started to disrobe to get a look at her new body now in the nude. Her assessment from earlier was pretty much correct, she did have an athletic body. While she didn't have the defined muscles of some female fighters she was no slouch if her opinion counted for anything. Like a gymnast or a track runner she was still well toned and after turning her body this way and that while glancing at her face she was sure that she had the girl-next-door look of beauty down.

Deciding that she had enough with looking at her true self, she decided to explore it with a more hands-on approach and brought her small hands up to her chest and gently cupped her breasts. They were nice and firm and felt pleasant to both her hands and her chest. She sighed as she gave them a little squeeze having dreamed of how real breast would feel like from the inside. She moved her hands down her body over her skin feeling the differences between her new and old self. Like night and day the old and new her were polar opposites. Her new self was obviously the most outstanding difference as well as the muscle mass but the subtle differences stood out more than that to her. Her soft skin to his hard body. Her contours to his unyielding body. Her delicateness to his bruteness.

It was only a moment later that she realise that she was mentally referring her old self as another person. Robyn stopped examining herself and looked in the mirror at herself, more specifically into her eyes. She stared long and hard at the womanly face before her. At long last she could finally confirm without a doubt that there was no dissociation between what she felt and what she saw. It was like up until tonight she was wearing the mask that was her former male self. He didn't look real to her. He didn't feel real to her. He was a lie she had to wear like a chain, locking her away in darkness until that wonderful man, the bouncer, gave her the key and unlocked them freeing her to finally go off into the world and show what she can really do. Not what someone thought she should do.

She was going to try seeing what it felt masturbating as a woman but reconsidered it for now. Doing something like that right off the bat would be something a guy would do. And while she was tempted, really tempted, she would hold off for now. Something inside her told her that there would be plenty of time for that later. And besides, it was late, and the sudden yawn she was unable to stifle told her that she should get to bed. Without further protest she obeyed and went to bed and soon fell asleep, with a smile on her lips and her arms wrapped around herself she dreamt pleasant dreams.

The next morning she woke up with a stretch, "NNnnnnn, what a nice dream," she paused, shocked to hear her voice, and looked down at herself, "It wasn't a dream," she said quietly as she wiggled her thin fingers as she smiled at them, "IT WASN'T A DREAM!" she shouted suddenly as she jumped up in bed triumphantly before falling back down in a fit of giggles unable to combat the surge of giddiness welling inside her.

So many thoughts raced through her head with what to do today. Since it was her day off today she could do anything, but where to start. Her stomach gurgled.

"Breakfast," she said with a laugh as she got up and made her way to the kitchen, "We start with breakfast."

She made herself some toast topped with strawberry jam with a glass of orange juice and half an apple on the side. After it was all put together she sat merrily at the table eating as she clicked on her stereo listening to her playlist. She hummed and bobbed her head along to the music between bites wondering what she should do first for the day after she cleaned up and got a fresh pair of clothes on. Once she was done with breakfast she place the dishes into the sink and went off to the bathroom to shower. While she did explore her body as she did so, it was without any sensual merits. She did take mental notes for later when she was ready though. After finishing her shower and drying off she went to her drawers for some clean clothes. It wasn't until she had her hands on the handles that she wondered if the rest of her clothes fit her anymore, if they didn't then she'd have to wash the ones she had last night.

That put a lull in her mood as she opened her underwear drawer and was surprised to see several sets of bras in there next to her underwear and socks. She left those aside for now and pulled out a pair of underwear and held it against here waist experimentally. They seemed to be the right size and was delighted when they fit after she put them on. Next were the socks which were easy enough. The only thing left was...

Robyn turned to the bras in wonderment. She couldn't recall wearing one last night which caused her to gulp as she realised that she must have given everyone at the bar a show of her nipples last night. She immediately grabbed a white bra determined not to give anyone else a peek at her anatomy any more than she wanted to. She knew how to put one on thanks to a few girlfriends she had in the past putting them on after sex. It felt surreal to Robyn to put the garment on like a rite of passage that she finally earned and savoured the feeling of the material on both her hands and breasts. She then pulled on a dark blue t-shirt and was about to grab a pair of pants before she stopped herself. It was summer after all and a brief check of the weather on her cell phone told her it was only going to get hot today she instead grabbed a pair of shorts instead and slipped them on. Even though it was a practical reason that she decided on wearing shorts she still felt a bit naughty with her legs showing and couldn't supress the grin that crept up on her face as she giggled once more. It was silly but the simple act of giggling sent a thrill through her. Another sign that she was a woman. Soon enough she was fully dressed.

"What to do for the day though?" Robyn thought as she paced back and forth in the bedroom. Her mind went back to last night at the bar and suddenly remembered the girl she ran into in the restroom, "What was her name? Angie? Agatha?" Robyn sat on her bed as she pondered the girls name for a minute until she finally had it, "August, that's her name!" she said at last as she stood up. Remembering that August gave her her number she grabbed her pants from the previous day and fished out the piece of paper. With it in hand she was about to open it before hesitating.

"What if she doesn't want me calling her so early?" she thought and turned to the clock by her bed which read 11:37 am. "Okay, maybe it's not that early but still... What if she expects me to call her at night? If I call to early in the day she might think I'm desperate." Thoughts like these swirled around in her mind until she decided that she should at least know her number and decide later. She then opened the folded paper and tilted her head down.

What she read made her smirk as she stifled a laugh and realised she hade nothing to worry about. Under her number was written, "Don't keep me waitin' girl," followed by a smiley face sticking out its tongue.

Robyn picked up her phone and dialed the number. It rang twice before August picked up.

"Hello? You got August here, who's speaking?" she asked in a cheery voice.

"Hey, um," Robyn started stumbling over her words, "I-it's Robyn, from the bar last night?"

"Oh, hey girl, what's up? I take it you finally read my note?"

"Yeah, it was pretty funny. I gotta remember that one when I want someone to call me," Robyn replied.

"Uh-uh, that my friend is an August trade mark. If you start using it then I'm going to have to charge you," her voice then took on a mock serious tone, "And if I find out you've been using my trade mark without payment, the penalties will kill you," she said before laughing a little.

Robyn laughed back, "So, um, do you want to meet up some time?" she prodded hoping August would say yes.

Robyn's poor heart practically leapt out of her chest with joy when August agreed, "Sure, how about at 1 o'clock at the swan dive diner?"

Robyn practically shouted yes before August could finish which set her into a series of laughs again causing Robyn to blush profusely before taking several deep breaths to calm down and told her that she knew the diner.

"Great! Can't wait to see you again, girl," August replied.

"You too, good bye," Robyn answered before they both hung up. Robyn then brought her hands into fist close to her chest as she felt a new wave of giddiness well up in her chest. "Eee, I've got a date, I got a date," she said excitedly as she went to brush her teeth that she forgotten about.

She was a bubbling mass of joy as she waited for the appointed time until she couldn't take it anymore and got her shoes on and ran out to her truck and drove off making it there, safely, in record time but had to spend those gained minutes looking for a parking spot. Once she parked and put money in the meter, she hurried off to the diner.

On entering the doors, Robyn looked around nervously silent doubts making her worry that August was just putting her on and she wasn't really here. She breathed a sigh of relief when she spied the brunette at a booth. August was wearing a tight t-shirt that seemed to emphasis her bust and still showed off her midriff. If Robyn had been able to see under the table top she would have seen her short shorts which showed off both her waist and legs simultaneously. Robyn had to admit that she felt a pang of jealousy that August looked stunning in her clothes but pushed that aside. She was, after all, still wearing her clothes from when she was still a male, they just shrank with her. August quickly saw Robyn and made a show of waving her over to her table. Robyn couldn't help but smile as she walked over and sat down across from August.

"Hey girl, you look a little flush. I hope you didn't run all the way here," she teased.

Robyn blushed as she looked at the menu trying to hide it, failing utterly judging how August's bemused knowing smile was baring down on her. Mercifully though, August picked up the menu and signaled a waiter, when he arrived, August suggested the chicken teriyaki to which Robyn agreed. the waiter took the orders and the menus and left leaving the two ladies to talk.

"So," Robyn started but was immediately stumped for what to say before blurting out, "Where do you work?"

August smirked at that finding delight in Robyn's shyness, "I work at a little hole in the wall," she answered cryptically. Robyn raised an eyebrow at that before August let out a laugh, "Sorry, I can't help but say it like that. I work at a bar called: "A little hole in the wall" so you see why I always get a kick out of it when I tell people," she explained.

Robyn nodded, "So, you being at the Gentleman's Bar was like spying on the enemy or something?" she queried.

August shook her head after taking a sip of her drink, "Mm-mm, you never drink from the hand that feeds you, especially if it's booze. That's my personal rule," she said with a look of all seriousness. "Besides, the Gentleman's Bar is a better place to party anyways," she added simply.

Robyn could only shrug at that having only gone there once so she couldn't think of anything to add to that.

"So anyways Robyn, what do you do for a living?"

Robyn fidgeted, wishing that the bouncer had done something about that but whatever knowledge he gave her didn't tell her that she worked anywhere else, so Robyn decided to tell the truth, or at least part of the truth.

"I work at a small local lumber yard, nothing special but it pays the bills."

"I hear that," August nodded at that before raising her drink, Robyn followed suit by raising her glass of water, "Here's to crappy jobs that keep us floating till we find something better."

"I'll drink to that," Robyn replied as their glass' clinked.

They continued to talk, Robyn found out that August was bi which explained her attitude towards Robyn. Robyn herself still liked girls but August admitting that she like both sex's made Robyn wonder if she would like guys now that she was a girl too. While August was talking about various encounters at her job, Robyn was thinking of guys who she knew were lucky with the women, she even thought of her former male self but felt nothing. When she set her attention back to August she felt a longing as well as a stirring in her loins. She blushed as she felt herself getting turned on. It was so different from when she was a guy. It was almost like the feeling she got when she was hungry only it was further down in her body and there were no hunger "pains" just a pleasant waiting feeling. And also a wet feeling but that was expected. Robyn guessed that she was now a lesbian.

Eventually the waiter returned with their food and they dug in. Robyn had to agree that the chicken was very tasty and had to laugh when she told August that and she acted like she slaved for hours cooking their lunch. Eventually though they finished their meals and reluctantly departed one another, both promising to do it again soon. Very soon.

Robyn was on cloud nine as she climbed back into her truck and drove off. Robyn needed to celebrate and decided to head to the mall. And as corny as it sounded, right now, celebrating meant buying some panties. The thought of actually buying such a feminine article of clothing excited her (not sexually mind you) but with all her underwear at home while indeed fitting her were in the style of men's boxer shorts and she wanted something decidedly feminine. After parking her truck, she entered the mall and instantly bee-lined for Victoria's Secret. What better way to get some panties than to go to the top, she reasoned.

On breaching the entrance, she was immediately swept up in a sea of frilly underwear. Robyn walked up and down the aisles trying to decide what she wanted. She spotted a black bra and panty set that caught her eye. After checking the size, finding that the bra in the set was for a D-cup, she put it back and searched for a similar one in her size. She had to smile to herself that she actually had to find a size smaller now. She was sure that the novelty of her new smaller size would wear of eventually but for now, she was going to revel in it. Finding the correct set of underwear in her size she went to the dressing rooms and entered an empty stall. Pulling off her top and bra she put the black one on. It fit pretty well and also seemed to make her breast seem larger too by pushing them up. Without further thought, she took the bra off and replaced it with her old one followed by her t-shirt and walked up to the check out and paid for it. She was mildly surprised of how much the bra and panty set cost but if the bra could do that to her small frame, she could only imagine how sexy she'd feel with the panties. Having bought her new girly underwear, she left for home once more and spent the rest of the day thinking about her next, as of yet, unplanned date with August.

The next day Robyn had unfortunately had to go to work. After getting ready early in the morning, she drove her truck to the lumber mart where she worked.

"Still worked," she thought glumly.

It was then that she realised that she no longer had the size and strength of her old body. As she pulled into the employee parking lot she began to wonder how things would go. Her supervisor did little more then watch him work as she moved the heavy lumber around the yard with exception to driving the forklift. It wasn't until she got out of her truck and set foot on the pavement that she was suddenly struck by a flash of memories. Back when she made suggestions for improving the yard, his then supervisor had still claimed her ideas as his own but now, she could remember going to the boss to file a complaint which resulted in his then supervisor getting fired which lead into a cleaning house of all the corrupt managers. She was now in fact the supervisor and manager for the yard.

Robyn was shocked. She had done the same things back when she was a guy and it got him no where. Her new memories told her that she pushed more than her male self did to get the complaint through. She had to admit that when she was a guy she pretty much gave up when his then supervisor told him that his complaint was dismissed. It was certainly food for thought as she punched in.

The PA system suddenly came on calling or Robyn to head to the managers office. Not knowing why, she felt some fears enter mind as she headed to the main office. On entering, she was beyond surprised to see the owner at the desk with a file with her name on it. Robyn gulped thinking the worst as she announced herself by knocking on the frame of the door. The owner, Ralfe Mayer, looked up and smiled on seeing her.

"Miss Lars, come in please, have a seat," he said as he gestured to the empty chair in from of the desk.

She did so feeling apprehensive despite Ralfe's pleasant attitude. He was a very well like man by the staff and was easy to approach even at the worst of times but it still didn't shake Robyn's feeling that she was sent to the principal's office for doing something wrong.

Ralfe opened the file and looked through Robyn's resume that was on top, "You have certainly rocked the boat in the short time you've been here haven't you Robyn?" he asked. still pleasantly.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused," Robyn said trying to look smaller than she was.

Ralfe then gave a serious look, "You didn't cause any trouble Robyn. In fact, you no doubt saved this store. I couldn't believe that I had such parasites in my business when you came up to me, but when I interviewed your coworkers they all pretty much said the same thing. One of those bastards was actually embezzling money, can you believe that?" he asked incredulously.

Robyn was surprised by the last part and told him as such, "It's surprising that they'd go that far but I wouldn't have put any of them past it."

Ralfe nodded, "Right, well, that isn't why I asked you here today. The reason is, well, you've notice how busy we've been since you got here yes?"

"Yes I have," Robyn replied remembering many an exhausting day moving the wood for customers.

"Well, I have decided to expand," Ralfe said with a smile as he looked at her resume, "And I was going to hire a firm to design the new store on the opposite side of town when I remembered a little detail I happened to see when sorting your complaint out. I noticed that you have a major in architecture on your resume. Tell me, have you ever had an opportunity to use that major?"

Robyn was perplexed on Ralfe's line of questioning, "No I haven't. No one would hire me so that's why I eventually came here," she admitted.

Ralfe scoffed at that, "Ungrateful people, that's what they are. The have and intelligent young woman fresh out of school and all they can think of is the status quo. It's a shame sexism is still prevalent in this day in age, " he said with a look of disgust, "Anyways, how would you like to be the architect for our new store?"

Robyn was flabbergasted, she never thought she'd have an opportunity to put her education to real use, "I-I... I don't know what to say," she admitted feeling the sting of tears in here eyes.

"You can say that you'll do it," he said, "In fact, I have another surprise for you," he paused causing Robyn to lean forward in rapt attention, "Since I'll have two stores to manage, I'm going to need someone I can trust to run one while I take care of the other."

Robyn was stunned, being a store manager was a far cry from the drudgery of working in the yard, "Are you really offering me a store manager position?"

"It's yours if you think you can handle it. Just remember you gotta have it build first," he said simply while looking proud of himself.

"Of course I'll take it," she said as she shook his hand, "Thank you so much!" she said excitedly.

Ralfe just smiled at that, "All right now, get out of here, you can start on the plans next week," he told her as he got up from the desk.

Robyn got up as well, "I won't let you down sir," she said with tears of joy running down her face. Ralfe offered a box of tissues to help Robyn dry her eyes which she accepted before heading back to work.

The rest of the week seemed to go by incredably fast to Robyn but at the same time couldn't go fast enough. During her time off she got together with August a few more times, of course telling her the good news of her job and later promotion. August took her out to dinner at one of the more expensive, but still casual, restaurant to celebrate. Robyn made a faint half-hearted attempt of protest but August silenced her by a long sensual kiss, the first of many. When next week came Robyn spent half her time drawing up plans for the new building and managing the yard. As she drew up the plans, she went to Ralfe for any ideas he had, changing the plans depending on his input, she even talked to several coworkers to get their input for the staff lounge and other employee-only areas.

It was two weeks since her transformation that she first got her period. It was uncomfortable and sometimes messy but no where near what she feared and took it as another rite of passage than a curse to be feared. By the end of the month, Robyn and August are now officially a couple and were celebrating their one month anniversary by watching bad movies and eating pizza. The two girls were snuggled up on a sofa in August's apartment. Robyn had her head resting on August's shoulder who had one arm wrapped around her hugging her close.

As the credits of the movie ended and the credits were rolling August turned to Robyn, kissing her on the forehead causing her to giggle.

"Stop, ha ha, don't kiss me there, I told you, it feels weird," Robyn told her with a grin as she rubbed her forehead before scooting up so she could kiss her full on the lips.

When they came up for air, both smiling, August asked her if she was ready. Up till now, Robyn and August hadn't had sex. They did kiss each other quite vigorously as well as feeling each other up but Robyn didn't feel right to go any further, August was forgivingly patient with her. Now, after a month into their relationship, Robyn finally felt that she was ready for the next level and nodded her head in the affirmative.

August was immediately upon her starting off with kissing her then reached to her breast cupping one gently causing Robyn to gasp letting August thrust her tongue into Robyn's mouth, Robyn responded in kind as well as caressing her lover's breast. This got the two started in earnest as the quickened their efforts as they got up from the sofa and clumsily moved to the bedroom with fit of giggles and moans of pleasure as they continued to kiss each other sloppily moving each others hands over one another pulling the others clothing off franticly to get at the soft flesh underneath.

Both naked, with exception to August's necklace reached the bed. August pushed Robyn who fell backwards onto the bed. August crawled up from the edge of the bed and, for lack of a better phrase, went down on Robyn. Robyn cried out in ecstasy as she arched her back and massaged her breast intensifying the experience. She instinctively bucked her hips forward trying to get more out of August's work, but she pulled back just enough to keep her steady momentum.

"Please, harder please," Robyn begged as she looked down between her breast only seeing August's playful eyes staring back at her and pushed a finger up into Robyn vagina as she continued her work on Robyn's pussy. Robyn bite her lip to keep from crying out loader as the feeling in her pelvis increased ten-fold as she fell back on the bed. It wasn't too much longer that August's actions were rewarded and sent Robyn over the edge as she orgasmed, the muscles in her vagina trying to keep August's finger in her as she pulled it out and crawled up the bed where she French-kissed Robyn who kissed back hungrily tasting some of herself in her mouth.

Robyn then ran an arm around August to pull her around so that August was laying underneath her while she was now on top and reached a hand down to her lovers own pussy and began to gently rub it while she moved down to start kissing her breast adding a few love bites smiling as August squirmed beneath her as she held Robyn's head gingerly with one hand while caressing her other breast with the other as she moaned softly to Robyn's rhythm. Eventually, Robyn picked up her pace and August's squirming turned to writhing as her hips began to rhythmically buck to meet her urging Robyn to go faster. It wasn't long after that that August came, stiffening as feeling of bliss ran through her.

Robyn had thought that it was over before August sat up and pulled Robyn up as well. She was at a loss for what August wanted to do now that they were sitting across from one another until August began climbing towards her and quickly caught on as she began scooting forward twisting their legs around each other until their vagina's were touching. They kissed and hugged each other before leaning back and began the act of scissoring.

Words could not describe how Robyn felt feeling the folds of August's vagina rubbing against her own. It was totally alien but wholly pleasurable in ways she never felt before as a man or before now as a girl and she wouldn't trade this moment for any others in the world. As the pleasure built up in both of them their gyrations increased until finally, at long last, they came together as they pushed themselves up and embraced the other tightly as the aftershocks of their climax wracked their bodies until it boiled down to some minor twitching's. They laid back down gently caressing on another gently in their sexual after glow.

With a final kiss Robyn laid on August's side and rested her arm and head on her lover's chest. Before she fell asleep she uttered a small, but meaningful, "I love you," to August before falling asleep. In her last moments of consciousness she thought she heard August reply, "I love you too girl," feeling her kiss the top of her head. She had many a pleasant dream that night.

The next morning Robyn awoke to the feeling of August gently stroking her hair and breath a contented sigh as she lifted her head up to see August's face smiling down at her.

"Morning lover," Robyn said as she lean up to kiss her.

"Morning girl," she said back after kissing her.

They laid still in bed a bit longer in holding onto the sleepy daze they had until the daze finally left them and they reluctantly got up.

As they shared a sexually charged shower, Robyn had to think back to when she was first changed. She owed so much to the bouncer for giving her her real body. She had to admit that the last month was like a fairy tale. So many good things kept happening to her now that she was a woman. She has a lovely steady girlfriend that was willing to wait until she was ready to have sex, she had a better job now and was actual able to put her major to use and even had a very real potential of an even better promotion in a year when the new store was built. She was sure that this magical train ride was going to have some major hurdles that would put a damper on things but that didn't matter to her right now. All that mattered to her right now was that she felt right with herself and that she had an incredible girlfriend. Whatever else that will come, she'll deal with in its own time.

Author's note: I had noticed that that a lot (If pretty much all) of my stories have had a tinge of darkness in them. Most notably My "Gentleman's Bar" stories have been getting progressively darker, from a beating, to suicide attempt, to rape. I'm all for the punishment stories if they're written well but it's getting to me that I'm writing progressively darker and depressing stories. I don't want to be known for that and have decided to write this story for the "Gentleman's Bar" series in order to fix that. Like a soft reboot of sorts. I hope everyone enjoyed this kinda dopey story even if it does have the magic fairy tale ending. And I'll try to keep the darkness to a minimum except where it makes sense (not because it's shocking for the sake of it)

THE GENTLEMAN'S BAR: RISKS OF A PUNISHMENT

Cindy was at a table with her girlfriends celebrating her newfound single
life. They each had already downed 2 shots of tequila and starting on a
third round when her friend Lucy, a fiery red head, turned to her.

"I know you're happy to be single again girl. But, like, what happened to
Billy? I thought he was a nice sweet guy," she prodded as she took another
shot.

Cindy downed hers before replying, "That's just it Lucy. He was a nice guy,
that's the problem. Sure being a nice guy is ok once in a while but it just
gets so boring!" She paused to bite the lime wedge from her glass, "I'm
just happy that I was finally able to brake up with him. And this time I
don't have to feel guilty about it," she said smugly.

"What'd you do?" Lucy asked.

"I made a trap for him. So, if he fell for it, then it's all his fault,"
she said as she drank from a beer put down in front of her.

This time Lucy was worried, "Cindy, what did you do?" The other girls
stopped chatting amongst themselves and looked at Cindy expectantly.

Cindy looked around at her friends with a perplexed look on her face,
"What? I told him I was being blackmailed and that they were at the bar
here and I had Marsha waiting to get him riled up where the bouncer would
take care of him."

Lucy spat out the beer she was drinking and after wiping her chin, "Are you
crazy girl?" she said in a hushed but harsh tone, "You can't mess with
the bouncer! What if he heard you?" she asked as she looked around wide-
eyed.

Cindy, calmly sipping her beer again, replied, "It's alright, I already
checked before I told you guys. He went outside." When she looked at her
girlfriends sitting across from her they both had the look of a deer caught
in the headlights. Cindy turned to Lucy who was looking behind her as well
with the same look.

Before Cindy could turn around she heard a voice that sent chills down her
spine, "The Gentleman's Bar is meant for enjoying yourselves in comfort and
safety. That is why I am here," the voice said before Cindy turned her head
to look over her shoulder to see a lean-looking man in a dark expensive
looking tux known to everyone at the bar as the bouncer.

He did not look happy.

"So you are the one responsible," he said, "I'm ashamed to have played a
part in your pettiness. Now please, take out your drivers license and place
it on the table."

Cindy's mind was racing. She and everyone else knew what the bouncer was
capable of. And right now he was focused solely on her, "What are...," she
started, trying to think of something to say to get his attention off her
but the bouncer cut her off.

"Please take out your drivers license and place it on the table," he
repeated in a firmer voice.

With trembling hands Cindy complied, with trembling hands, she took her
license out of her purse and put it on the table in front of her. She
rested her forearms on the table sitting still and staring straight ahead
as if that would convince the bouncer that she wasn't there.

She jumped when the bouncer placed both hands on her shoulders. Without a
word he began to press down on her shoulders. Cindy looked to her friends
hoping that they'd be able to help but saw only terror in their eyes. Cindy
them began to feel as if the air was being pushed out of her like a ball.
As the bouncer continued pushing down, Cindy began to feel her arms being
pulled towards her. Her legs that had been folded under her chair began to
drag forward. It was when she noticed that the table was getting closer and
feeling her legs actually dangling that she realised that she was getting
smaller. After what seemed like seconds the bouncer lifted his hands from
her now smaller shoulders.

Cindy stared at her hands that had somehow became so much smaller and
childish looking. The dress she was wearing that was tight on her earlier
now felt like a sleeping bag it was so baggy. The bouncer then picked
Cindy's license pulled out the handkerchief from his breast pocket and used
it to wipe the license as if he were cleaning it. A minute later the
bouncer handed Cindy's license back to her. Taking it, she was shocked to
see that it wasn't her drivers license anymore. The bouncer had turned it
into a library card. The card showed a picture of a small young child. With
a start, Cindy realised that the picture must be what she looks like now.
Staring at the information on the card, she was now apparently five years
old.

"Now, If you ladies will excuse me, I have a call to make. Please make sure
that the child stays out of trouble." He turned to Cindy. "You are now cut
off," he said as he pulled the glass of beer away from Cindy and walked
away.

Cindy's girlfriends suddenly made excuses before leaving, only her BFF Lucy
remained.

Both were silent for a moment, the rest of the bar had returned to its
usual bustle, Lucy attempted to relieve the tension at the table. "Well. At
least your change was gentle."

"Not funny!" Cindy shouted and instantly put a hand to her mouth shocked by
the shrill voice that came out of her.

Lucy suppressed a giggle. "You were asking for it."

Cindy growled as she almost reached for her glass that was no longer there.
Cursing to herself she flagged a passing waitress for another beer.

"I'm sorry," she said, almost patronising. "But serving alcohol to minors
is illegal." With that she walked off to another table.

Cindy crossed her arms and sulked looking at the drink still in front of
Lucy.

Lucy saw her staring, and pulled her drink closer to herself. "Oh no," she
scolded. "I'm not going to help you get drunk now. I'd hate to think what
they'd do to me if I got caught."

Cindy bulked at that and just resigned to sulking in her chair that was now
to big for her. After some time she got fed up and tried to leave but was
turned around at the door by the bouncer. Half an hour later a woman,
escorted by the bouncer walked up to Cindy's table.

"Excuse me," the bouncer started. "Your mother is here to collect you," he
said gesturing to the woman beside him.

Cindy stared at her. The woman was blonde and was dressed gaudy like a
stripper or prostitute. The image wasn't helped by the fact that her breast
were huge double D's. Her face was the epitome of raw sex as well. With
pouty lips a dainty nose and blue eyes that seemed to beg for sex
continuously. Despite all this oozing sex appeal she looked uncertain, her
eyes darting to everyone in the bar, always back to the bouncer. But there
was one thing about this woman. She wasn't Cindy's mom. She was way too
young.

"She's not my mom," Cindy stated flatly while staring at her. "My mom died
four years ago anyways," she said defiantly.

The bouncer sighed. "That may have been the case for the old you. But this
lady here is uniquely qualified to take care of you."

Cindy slid off her chair, stumbling a little still being unused to the
slight drop to the floor. She walked up to them having to crane her neck to
look up at them. "There is no way this tramp is taking care of me."

The bouncer cleared his throat while the woman continued to look nervous and
unsure of herself.

"If you won't accept the arrangement I've made, then I will have to call
child services," the bouncer told Cindy.

"I-. Fine then," she said in defeat. She could always run away and make it
back to her place later.

"Very well then. The lady will take you home," the bouncer said.

As Cindy began to leave with the woman, the bouncer tapped the woman's
shoulder. "I am sorry for the role I played. While I can't change you back,
I can relieve some of the punishment I've placed on you." The woman nodded
whole heartedly. The bouncer asked her for her drivers license which she
gave. He wiped the card with his handkerchief before handing it back. Her
eyes bulged when she looked over the information on the card. As they left
the bar the bouncer called out to them. "I expect for you not to return to this
establishment until you're twenty-one Chad,"

For a moment, Cindy wondered why he called her Chad until she reasoned that
it must have been the woman's name. As they walked into the parking lot the
woman pulled out her remote starter. Pressing the button, the headlights of
an Mercedes Benz lite up with a quick beep of the horn. The woman stopped
obviously surprised.

"What's wrong?" Cindy asked hiking her dress up while trying to keep her
feet in the heels as she dragged them along the ground.

"N-nothing. It's just that I pulled up in a crappy hatch-back," she said as
she started walking again.

As they got in, the woman checked her drivers license again before starting
the car. "My name's Bobbi by the way," she said as they pulled out of the
parking lot. "It used to be Billy but, well, I don't really want to talk
about it right now."

This made Cindy nervous causing her to pull out her new library card.
There, plain as day (or night as it is right now) was the name Chad West.
With a start she reached for her crotch where she was shocked to discover
that it had something more than she last remembered.

Bobbi glanced over. "Is there something wrong?"

Cindy flinched as she squeezed. "No, nothings wrong," she said quickly. They
spent the rest of the ride in silence.

They later pulled up into the drive way to a huge fancy house. They both
let out an astonished "Wow" before getting out of the car and walking up to
the door. Bobbi pulled out her keys and opened the door.

After walking in Cindy searched for a bathroom and locked the door. Seeing
a full sized mirror in the shower door she removed her dress and underwear.
She stared at her younger body for the longest time before she felt a
twinge in her neither region. With a sigh she turned to the toilet. She was
about to sit down when a thought occurred to her.

"Well since I have a penis now, I may as well see what the fuss is about."

She pulled the seat up and for lack of a better word, took aim, and
relaxed. And immediately flexed muscles she didn't know she had when piss
sprayed out all over the toilet and the floor around it. After grabbing a
wad of toilet paper to wipe up the toilet she pulled the seat back down and
sat down shoving her penis between her legs to finish relieving herself.
After she finished and wiped herself dry she cleaned up what she missed on
the floor. Washing her hands was embarrassing since she had to pull a stool
over so she could reach the sink.

She grabbed her penis in her hand. "How the hell do I work this thing?" she
wondered staring at it. "Wha-I'm not even circumcised," she shouted pulling
at the flap of skin covering the head of her penis.

She then heard a knock. "What is it?" Cindy asked pulling a towel off the
wall.

"I think I found your room so I got some cloths that will fit you. They'd
probably feel better than the dress you had."

Cindy grimaced and opened the door wide enough to accept her new cloths.
She pulled on the plain underwear then the red t-shirt and finally the jean
overalls. She took a moment to look at herself in the mirror again. She
looked like any ordinary five year old kid. She groaned, hating her new
body. Leaving the bathroom, she followed Bobbi who lead her to her new
room. It looked like any other little boys room. There were some dinosaur
toys on the floor. The book case was filled with Sesame Street books. The
bed spread had teenage mutant ninja turtles designs on it.

"This is just great!" Cindy said to herself hating the room already. She
looked up at Bobbi noticing that she had changed into more respectable
looking cloths. Cindy climbed up and sat on her new bed patting the spot
beside her for Bobbi to sit which she took.

"So," Cindy started. "Do you want to talk about what happened with you and
the bar?"

"Well," Bobbi said looking off. "Back then, I was a guy."

"It usually is," Cindy said.

Bobbi chuckled. "Heh, I did hear things like that after the fact. Anyways,
my girlfriend told me that some guy was blackmailing her and was at the
Gentleman's Bar. No sooner I did then some crazy lady comes up to me
claiming I stole something from her. She kept getting in my face and when I
tried pushing her away, she somehow flies backwards screaming bloody murder
of how I was beating her up and going to kill her. The next I knew, the
bouncer shows up and," she paused holding herself shaking from the memory.
"He changed me into this sexed up woman. Once I left I discovered that My
old self no longer existed and I now worked at a seedy stripper joint where
they had very loose rules against touching the dancers. I was... Expected
to service the customers in between dances. I couldn't even escape my
situation at home since "home" turned out to be a shitty apartment that was
infested with bugs in the dangerous side of town where you're just as much
expected to get raped as you are to get mugged." She then began to tear up.
"I just don't know what I did to deserve something like that. And then, out
of the blue, while I'm "servicing" in the alley behind the strip joint, the
bouncer shows up knocking out the guy forcing himself on me and drives me
to the bar. I thought that he was going to something worse like parade me
in front of the others like a warning to the others there."

"The bouncer doesn't need to do that. Everyone knows what happens when you
break the rules at that bar. The regulars have seen it every now and then
when a new person comes in thinking they're all high and mighty," Cindy explained.
The irony not being lost on her.

"So what did you do?" Bobbi asked.

"I tried to abuse what the bouncer does," Cindy said quietly.

Sensing that it was a touchy subject, Bobbi left it for now. "Anyways, as
he's driving me to the bar he's apologising the whole way about how I was
punished by mistake and that the people involved have been punished. I was
beyond surprised in the way he made it up to me. I could never imagine
living in a big place like this in the rich part of town. I even have a job
like my old one, albeit a higher paying one," she mused.

Suddenly, Cindy let out a yawn as she rubbed her eyes.

"Looks like someone needs to sleep," Bobbi said as she pulled Cindy up to
draw the covers open and laid Cindy down.

"But I'm not tired," Cindy pouted weakly. "And I'm not a child," she
complained before trying to stifle another yawn.

Bobbi tucked Cindy in, much to her embarrassment, and got up to turn the
light off and leave. "I'm not saying you are a child but your body does
need its sleep if you expect to grow up quickly. Besides, you'll have to be
up early for tomorrow since you are enrolled to start kindergarten." She
then flicked off the light and closed the door.

"What? What do you mean start kindergarten tomorrow?" Cindy asked. But she
could already hear Bobbi's footsteps going down the hall. Cindy tried for
the next hour to stay awake but her new younger body betrayed her and she
was fast asleep.

The next morning she was woken by a hand gently shaking her. She looked up
to see Bobbi standing over her. "Bluh?"

"Time to wake up and get ready for school. I have breakfast ready in the
kitchen," she said before leaving.

Cindy slowly sat up and got out of bed. she plodded over to the bathroom on
autopilot to relive herself. It wasn't until she had trouble getting on the
toilet that she remembered what had happened to her yesterday night. She
sat there a moment before nature made a more urgent call forcing her to
face her business. After washing her hands, she made her way downstairs to
the kitchen she was greeted by the smell of freshly cooked waffles. As she
climbed the chair, Bobbi put the plate of waffles down in front of her.

"I hope you like blueberries in your waffles. I used to cook them that way
for my old girlfriend since they were her favorite. I kind of got carried
away making them like that so if you want anything else, let me know.
However, it's going to have to be cereal since we only have so much time
till I have to drive you to school."

"No, these are great. They're actually my favorite too. But why do I have
to go to school? It's not like I'll learn anything new," she said as she
shoved a mouthful in.

"Maybe before you changed it wouldn't be a problem but you're a whole new
person now. Believe me, I was way overqualified to be working in a strip
joint but I couldn't prove it since the person I became apparently never
finished high school. Just think of It being a refresher course. And you
could try something different for a career this time around."

Cindy swallowed another bite. "You're awfully chipper for someone who went
through hell the last few days," she said eyeing her.

"I won't deny that it had been hard when I was there. I'm not sure if I'd
be able to live with myself much longer. Being forced to go down on some
stinking sweaty guy or else he or my boss will beat me really left me
feeling depressed. I'd be lying if I said that I never considered drugs or
worse to get through it. If the bouncer never showed up, I don't know what
would happen."

Cindy looked at her plate in solace. She had her suspicions last night when
she told her that her old name was Billy as well as her story but after
hearing what she said, she was sure of it. While she didn't know what would
happen to Billy after the bouncer was done with him she didn't expect him
to be degraded like that. She always thought the bouncer just changed people
and he was done with it. She'd seen men that became women return to the bar
so she always assumed...

"I'm sorry," Cindy said with tears in her eyes.

"What are you sorry for?"

"It's me, Cindy!" she cried.

"Wait a-"

Cindy cut her off. "I was the one that set you up. That woman that got you
into trouble was a friend of mine. I'm the one responsible for the hell you
went through." She got off her chair rounded the table and hugged Bobbi,
no, Billy around the waist as she cried into her side. "I'm so sorry for
putting you through this. It's all my fault, I'm the worst person ever! I
just thought he was going to turn you into a girl and that was it. It
wasn't even a good reason either, I was just tired of you," she stopped to
sniffle with watery eyes and turned away with her head down. "I'll
understand if you want me to go away. I never deserved a nice guy like
you."

She began to walk away but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder that
pulled her back into a hug that seemed to swallow her whole body. "I don't
hate you," Bobbi said as she continued to hold her close. "I wasn't much of
a boyfriend was I?" She lifted Cindy's head. "If you'll have me, I will be
the best mother I can for you."

Cindy ran her sleeve under her nose. "Th-that was really corny," she said
with a laugh.

Bobbi pulled a napkin from the table to help blow Cindy's nose which she
took. "Yeah, but I know that it's the corny jokes that get you," she said
with a smile before turning her around. "Now hurry up and eat. You still
need to go up and get changed since you're still wearing your cloths from
yesterday."

With a thankful nod Cindy wolfed her waffles down and ran back upstairs to
change into a blue t-shirt and beige kaki pants then ran back down to
Billy who was standing by the door with a lunch bag in hand and a brief
case in the other. The car ride to Cindy's new school was short. Cindy gave
Billy a quick hug before getting out of the car and entering the school.
She made it just in time as the bell rang where the teacher took a few
minutes to settle the class down.

"Hello class, I'm Mrs. Turner. Let's start the school year by introducing
ourselves. Lets start with you," she said pointing to Cindy.

Cindy looked around the other students, her new classmates. She felt
anxiety and nervousness. "My name is Ci-Chad. My name is Chad West, and I'm
new to the school." There was some chuckles and laughter around her causing
her to duck her head down and blush in embarrassment.

"Now class, you're all new to this school so there is no reason to laugh.
Now lets continue with introducing ourselves," the teacher said pointing to
the girl on Cindy's right.

The introductions quickly went around the circle of kids, some saying weird
and funny things as most kids that age do, relieving Cindy that she was no
longer the center of attention. The day quickly went on from there, much of
it being boring to Cindy as half of it was singing kid songs and the rest
was just the chaotic play that only five year olds could bring about. Half
way through the day a boy named Troy asked if Cindy wanted to be friends.
She almost turned him downed but considered the fact that she was going to
have to grow up all over again and it be better if she had at least one
friend, even if that friend was, mentally at least, younger than her. So
after that thought she accepted and played with him the rest of the day.

Before she realised it, the day was over and the kids filed out waiting for
the busses or their parents to pick them up. An hour later, Cindy was still
waiting by the door waiting for Billy to come and pick her up. After seeing
the last kid get picked up, she began to hyperventilate. What if Billy
decided that he didn't want her to live with him? He had no obligation to
care for her and could just as easily stick her in child services. She was
just about to consider running back to her real home when she saw a grey
Mercedes pull up in front of her honking the horn. Seeing Billy in the
drivers seat she ran for the passenger seat and climb in sniffling again.

"Where were you?" she cried grabbing hold of Billy's arm since it was in
reach.

"I'm sorry, work ran a little long and the traffic was hectic. Can you
believe I hit every single red light getting here?"

"So you didn't decide that you didn't want me anymore?"

"Of course not," Billy said stroking Cindy's hair to comfort her. "If I
didn't toss you out this morning, I'm not going to now."

Cindy looked up smiling and tried her best to reach around Billy to give him
a hug.

"But I am going to have to ask you to get out of the car though," Billy
said causing Cindy to draw back in shock. Cindy immediately began to think
that Billy wanted her to walk home.

So she got out and began to make her way off when she heard Billy shout.
"Where are you going?"

Cindy turned and walked back to the car peering over the open window of the
door. "I thought you wanted me to walk home."

This caused Billy to laugh. "You dummy, you're a five year child right now.
Unless you're sitting on a booster seat, it's illegal for you to ride in
the front."

Cindy felt her cheeks flush as she got in the back seat. "This isn't funny
you know," she said with a pout.

"Just think of it as me chauffeuring you around," Billy said with a laugh.

Five years had passed. Cindy and Billy, or Chad and Bobbi now, had truly formed a
parent/child relationship. Chad had began to think of Bobbi as her mother.
On reaching ten years of age again Chad almost missed the changes that
were happening to his body. Since he had a penis he assumed he'd end up
being a guy but as puberty started to hit him he noticed his pecks puffing
out into budding breasts. His hips had also begun to widen as well. And
while his face was always on the androgynous side, after the growing
breast and hips, his face had slowly began to look more feminine than
masculine.

By this time in his life he had been taking the bus to school. While he
could do nothing to hide his face, he began to strap his breast down to
prevent others from noticing. But as his puberty ran on, his breast got
bigger, his hips got wider and his face grew unmistakably more feminine.
This change hadn't gone unnoticed by his class mates and they began teasing
him by name calling then shooting spit balls. Troy, who had been his friend
since kindergarten had finally broken their friendship under the peer
pressure and joined the others in her torment.

Bobbi had quite obviously noticed his changes and they made a trip to the
doctors who ran every test under the sun. While Chad and Bobbi waited as
the doctor looked over the test results, the two were anxious for the
verdict. The doctor grunted as he looked through each page until finally
he put the folder down.

"Well?" Bobbi asked as she held tight to Chad's hand.

The doctor took a breath and scratched his beard a moment. "I can't explain
it," he said bluntly.

"What do you mean? What's happening with my son?"

"I'm not sure Ms. West. Your son seems to be experiencing a highly unusual
form of hermaphroditism. There's nothing in his blood work to show why this
is happening. He has the normal XY chromosome pair for a healthy male.
That's not to say it's not unheard of. There are a number of people who
have a different chromosome pair to what their apparent sex is. And while a
small percentage of hermaphrodites do develop some secondary
characteristics I've never heard of a case where a perfectly normal boy
undergoing such an aggressive attack of the female characteristics. If I
didn't know better, from just a glance, I would have said your son was
indeed a girl. Now that's not to say this type has never happened it's just
exceedingly rare."

"So where does that leave me?" Chad asked. "Do I take hormones or
something?"

The doctor shook his head. "Unfortunately no. At this stage, hormone
treatment may halt the advance of your female characteristics but it won't
reverse them. You will still have wide hips like your mother and while you
may grow facial hair with the treatment your face will retain its female
shape. Only reconstructive surgery would "fix" this and you'd still come
out looking like an effeminate boy. It would be an easier task to remove
your male genitailia and fashion an artificial vagina instead. But I must
insist that this is an extreme option at this stage in your development and
I wouldn't recommend it. It may do you more harm than good later in life."

That news hit Chad like a bomb. He just wanted to be normal. It was even
worse since he had yet to tell Bobbi about the other kids teasing him.

It was several months after the meeting with the doctor that his rides to
and from school on the bus had sunk to a new level of hell. The kids that
rode with him had began to flick him behind the ears. It didn't matter
where he sat, even when he sat behind the driver there would still be
someone sitting behind him flicking his ears. it had gotten so bad with
just a week of this constant barrage that he had become a twitchy mess
fearing contact from anyone at school.

One day, he intentionally missed the bus home so he could make the trek
home in somewhat peace. On his way he stopped at a city bus stop near a
seven eleven. Cars were whizzing by obviously in a hurry to get home ahead
of the rat race. Not wanting to but unable to stop it, he relived the
nightmares he lived through while on the school bus. He felt each finger
flick of his ears when suddenly he saw a truck barreling up the street a
little faster than the speed limit allowed. With very little thought except
wanting the torture to stop, he took a step forwards in front of the
oncoming truck.

Just before it hit him, a hand grabbed hold of his collar and yanked him
back just missing the truck by mere inches as it sped past, its horn
blaring.

Rubbing his throat he looked up and over his shoulder to see the bouncer
from the Gentleman's Bar still wearing his expensive looking tux standing
behind him.

"Why don't I give you a ride home," he said as he gestured to the parking
lot at the seven eleven. Not knowing what else to do, and still in shock
from his near death experience, he followed him to a 1950's Oldsmobile
that looked to be in pristine condition.

They both climbed in and drove off. It seemed as if the world was working
against them as they seemed to hit every red light they came across.

Chad looked out the window not really thinking of anything until he
asked the question. "Why?"

The bouncer was silent for a moment. "Why what?" he asked back.

Chad turned to him. "Why did you turn me into a freak? Why am I growing
breast and why does my face look like a girls? Do you get off on doing this
to people?" she accused.

"I have never taken the slightest pleasure in punishing anyone," he said
grimly.

"What did I do to deserve this kind of punishment? Do you have any idea what
I go through every day when I ride the bus? Everybody treats me like shit!
And everyone looks the other way when I get picked on. Even in class the
teachers would send me out to the hall for causing a distraction, they
won't listen when I try to tell them what happened. So what did I do to
deserve this. I nearly killed myself just now."

The bouncer let out a huge sigh. "What did Bobbi do to deserve her
punishment?"

Chad stared at him. "That's not fair!" he said turning his head away.

"What did Bobbi do to deserve his punishment?" the bouncer asked again.

Chad continued to look out the window until they stopped at another red
light. "At the time I was bored of him. I didn't want to put up with any
brake up so I thought up that thing at the bar," he admitted in shame.

"Billy, or Bobbi as she is now, was forced into every sexual act you could
think of. If she resisted in any way she was beaten for it. Had I not found
out your scheme She might have found herself in the position you almost put
yourself in years ago. Even though she is innocent, she can never go back
to the life she once had before she walked into the bar. I can't bring her
back to normal but I can at least make her life easier than it was during
her false punishment," the bouncer said as he put the car in gear as the light
turned green.

"But why turn me into a child? And why a boy if I was going to turn out
like this?" he gestured down at himself.

"You were being childish for how you decided to work things out with your
boyfriend. I punished you this way so you would feel how Bobbi felt," he explained.

"How is that the same thing?"

"You were friends with a boy named Troy, yes?"

"Yeah, until he got tired of all the teasing..." Chad stopped.

"Your situation was a little more extreme than Bobbi's initially but they
are similar," he said glancing over to him.

"Then why have her be my mom? Why didn't you just send me to some foster
home where I'd probably get eaten alive for growing up like this?"

"Because Bobbi still loves you," he said plainly.

Chad stopped at that.

"While she was getting beaten by random drunks she was still thinking of
you, hoping that the person who was "blackmailing" you had decided to leave
you alone," he stated

That news made Chad's eyes tear up. Billy still loved him even when he was
suffering those few days of his punishment. "Do you always try to save the
people you punish from killing themselves?"

"Yes."

"Do you always make it?"

There was a pause.

"Not always," he admitted. Chad heard the faintest strain in his voice
when he said that. "While some may say those I punish rightfully deserve
what they get. Those that are punished never deserve that fate. I can only
set the punishment. How long that punishment lasts depends on the person.
Some people understand their punishment and are better for it. Others loose
themselves and sink in it not realising that they are able to leave."

"But how do they know they can leave unless you tell them you can," Chad
asked.

"Even if I do tell a person they can escape their punishment. It is up to
them to decide if they feel they are deserving of it."

"That sounds like you're evading responsibility."

"If I told ever person I had to punish that they can leave anytime then it
wouldn't be much of a punishment," he replied. "I know, it's not a fair
answer but when has this world been fair?" he asked as he pulled up to
Chad's house. As he got out, the bouncer called out to him. "Just one
more thing. You aren't alone. You have a mother who loves you and she will
always love you no matter how your body may turn out."

Chad nodded at that and shut the door. As he got to the door of the house
he looked back to see that the car and the bouncer had disappeared as if
he was never there. He walked in the door and silently waited for his mother.

Ten minutes later Chad heard the door opened and went to see his mother
walking in.

"Hello Chad, how was your day?"

Chad swallowed the lump in his throat and walked over to hug her. With
tear filled eyes he looked at his mother saying. "Mom? There's something
I've been meaning to tell you about school."

The Gentleman's Bar: Sleepless

By: Set3

William and his two friends, Bruce and Albert, were cruising the bar scene for two things: a hot drink and a hotter chick. This, however, was not some innocent romp to hopefully pick up a girl for any meaningful relationship. These "guys", were predators, deliberately getting unsuspecting women drunk for a quick lay. Unfortunately for these women, these "players" had decided it was cheaper to drug them before laying their claim. Fortunately, they were still not as practiced as they'd like to believe and were quickly banned as they got caught attempting their easy claims. This had increased their notoriety and they had to leave one bar after another as people would recognise them.

This prompted them to drive to the next town to "stake their claim". So, after parking their car they began the trek of bar-hopping looking for the perfect hunting area as it were. While the seedy bars had some hot women, they looked a bit too dangerous and undoubtedly had some boyfriends that wouldn't think twice about beating the crap out of them. The mainstream popular bars were ok, there were plenty of people around to cover them slipping a little something into some woman's drink but tonight, the scene just looked a little too plain so they continued on.

Eventually they stumbled onto a group of hot women that were talking about a girls' night out. This immediately caught the trio's attention and they soon followed, keeping a discreet distance behind. Not five minutes later, the girls walked into a building. The ornate structure of said building was very nice and when the trio looked up at the tastefully deigned neon sign read: "The Gentleman's Bar".

William smirked at the sign as he turned to his friends, "What do you say guys? It looks like this is our bar. After all, we are a fine example of gentlemen, am I right?" He asked which caused them to laugh behind him as they walked into the bar. The interior of the bar was very posh and the patrons inside seemed to reflect that the men and women were dressed very nicely in evening dress wear. The trio momentary checked themselves over and quickly considered their polo shirts and slacks were acceptable and therefor make it easy for them to blend in. Bruce excused himself to go to the washroom, a tradition he normally does before scoping out his pick of the night. William and Albert snickered once again at that before they began making notes, singling out various women by age, hotness, and most importantly, if they were on their own. Eventually, William found his target for the night, a hot leggy blonde chick. She didn't have much up top but her bubble-like ass more than made up for it. Albert's target was a short curvy brunette that had a generous rack peeking out from her slinky black dress.

The two went to opposite sides of the bar and ordered two drinks, a beer for them and another like the one their target was currently drinking. With careful practice, they took turns slipping their ruffees into the drink for their respective target. One looked around while the other drugged the drink making sure they went unnoticed. Seeing that they were successful, they each moved on to their prey. Both considered the other on their own until the "real" party later.

As William approached the blonde from behind, he took note of her skinny jeans hugging her ass as he grinned slightly seeing the tell-tale strings of the woman's underwear only peeking from the top of her jeans. As he rounded around he his eyes fell on her dark blue halter top holding her small, but still noticeable breasts. The woman looked up at him as she finally noticed him.

"Hi," William said as he gestured in request to take a seat at her table, "I could help but notice that you are all alone tonight. Did your boyfriend stand you up tonight?" he asked as he placed the prepared drink on the middle of the table in front of her.

The woman smiled at the offering, "I hope you don't think you can buy my company with a daiquiri," she flirted.

William smiled as he looked her over, "Well, I couldn't very well come over to such a beautiful woman without an offering. After all, my pick-up lines are awful," he said as the girl laughed. William's smile grew into a predatory grin as she gently sipped the drink. William looked off behind him to his right to where Albert was working on his girl and gave him a wave signaling to him that he had his prey in the bag. Albert nodded back, a reply that meant he was working on his still.

During this, Bruce had emerged from the washroom just in time to see William signal that he got his girl. Bruce quickly glanced over to where Albert was sitting before he noticed someone approaching William's table. As he looked, Bruce saw a thin guy dressed in some sort of tux walk by William's table. He almost missed it but he saw the man switch William's beer with a different bottle.

"Oh shit!" was Bruce's first thought, this guy in the tux must have noticed them slipping the drugs or something. This had obviously spooked him and he bugged out and ran for the door. He bumped into someone who was just entering the bar causing a scene that drew Albert's attention which enabled the Bouncer to switch his own beer while he checked out the disturbance undetected. Albert had completely missed seeing Bruce and turned back to the girl he was flirting with as he took a swig of his new beer.

Not long after the disturbance two waitresses called the women away from both William and Albert under the guise of a phone call that had to be taken in an employee room in the back. The two men waited patiently drinking their beers and soon enough, they were empty. As soon as their beers were empty, the Bouncer approached them each in turn telling them that he saw them drugging the women's drinks and that they had to leave. The women had been taken away to get medical attention. William and Albert quickly left, not wanting to get into any trouble with the cops. Both silently thanking whatever god they believed in that the Bouncer didn't card them. So in their eyes, once they left, they were in the clear but understood that they were probably banned from coming back, or at least there would be consequences if they were caught doing this again. The Bouncer watched them leave with a sad look on his face before he resumed his duties.

As the two stepped out into the street they made their way back to their car. Since William had the keys they weren't concerned that Bruce would leave without them and walked down the sidewalk. As they walked along, William stumbled suddenly feeling dizzy as he grabbed Albert for support, Albert himself was under similar circumstances.

What's goin' on?" Albert slurred as he grabbed hold of a parking meter to steady himself.

William leaned up against the wall of the building across from Albert, "I don' know," he replied before his eyes went wide when he suddenly realised the symptoms they were displaying, "Oh shit! I think that bouncer buy ruffee'd us," he said as he struggled back to his feet. "Come on, we gotta get back too the car," he told Albert as he slapped his shoulder to get him moving.

Albert shook his head to clear it before continuing on, not succeeding.

As they stumbled on their bodies began to change. At first, their heights began to dwindle to five foot even. While they shrank their sandy-blonde hair lengthened and darkened, William's becoming curly while Albert's was silky smooth and straight. Their bodies thinned down as their shoulders closed and their hips widened. Neither felt their penises receded into their bodies forming vaginas. Breasts pushed out on their chests, William's was a respectable size but Albert's breasts ballooned out to EE sized cups.

Their rear ends reformed into pleasant feminine ends. William's rear ballooned out "bootylicious" is the only word to describe it. William's face shifts as his features became softer and daintier. His eyes changed ever so slightly to give the impression of permanent wonder. Not helping in this image was this lips swelling to comical proportions giving his new face the look of a clueless bimbo. Albert's face shifted becoming feminine but more reasonably respectable, but will always seem to have the look of pleading for sex. Neither talked on their trek but their voices had changed without their knowing, William's becoming high pitched stereotype of the bimbo he now seemed to look like. Albert's voice became a pleasant soprano but will forever be plagued with vocal inflictions of pleading for something.

Then their cloths magically reformed. William's briefs turned into a white G-string while legs of his slacks pulled up and up until they became a tight biege pair of short shorts showing off his large rear end. His socks somehow lengthened as they pulled up his legs becoming stockings, his shoes morphed into a pair of sneakers with two-inch high heels further accentuating his posterior. His polo shirt then changed into a tight turtle neck sweater cut to show off his mid drift.

Albert's underwear reformed into a thong, he side stepped slightly as it gave him a wedgie. His shirt shrunk down to a pink mini tube top that barely hung on around his breasts while still showing lots of cleavage. His pants shrank as well and became a black mini skirt while his socks seemed to dissolve as his shoes morphed into open toed four inch stiletto heels.

The sudden clothing change caused both to stumble more so, but both reasoned that it was from whatever drug the Bouncer slipped them. Despite this, they eventually made it back to the car where Bruce was swearing as he checked his pockets in vain for the keys.

William pulled out his keys from the tiny pocket of his shorts as he stumbled forward to open the door. Bruce caught him and easily pulled the keys from him.

"Who are you? And how did you get these keys?" Bruce asked.

"What are yew tawkin about, thew're..." William stopped as he heard his high-pitched voice. He then looked down and was met with his changed body and clothing, "What the hwell? Whad that guy do to meh?" he screamed through his thick lips before he was overtaken from the questionable drink he ingested and fell into Bruce's arms.

Albert wasn't that much farther off as he fell to the ground without acknowledging his new body yet.

Bruce looked at the girl in his arms, then at the one laying on the ground before he came to a realisation. Judging from what the girl in his arms had said, he figured it was William and Albert who drugged these girls and sent them his way. He smirked as he used the keys to open the door and loaded the girls into the back seat. As he got into the drivers seat, he made a mental note to thank his buddies for doin' him a solid twice over. With a smile on his lips and a boner in his pants, he drove off for a motel to enjoy his prizes in private.

A short drive later, he found one in an out of the way part of town and rented a room for the night. Fortunately for him, the motel rooms had an outdoor entrance which he could park William's car in front of. He was happy since he wouldn't have to waste time dragging each girl separately down a hall and possibly have to answer questions he didn't want to. Soon enough both girls were laid on the bed, Bruce making quick work stripping them of their clothing and began to caress their bodies.

Even though William's eyes were closed, he was fully conscious as he felt his new breast get uncomfortably squeezed. Even though the rate of his breathing never changed, William's heart was beating like a racehorse as he felt a mouth close over his other breast licking it and nibbling his nipple between his teeth.

"Please stop," William screamed inside his head as Bruce kissed and licked his was up to his face.

As Bruce stuck his tongue past his thick lips, he shoved the fingers of his right hand up his vagina and began rubbing it. William continued to scream in his head pleading for it all to stop as he felt Bruce's tongue swish through his mouth while the fingers in his vagina began to have effect as he felt it beginning to wet. As if answering his prayers, Bruce pulled away. But this was short-lived as he felt Bruce lifting his legs up.

"No!" William screamed once more as he felt something touch the folds of his wet vagina. Before he could register this feeling, Bruce shoved his dick straight in. On feeling this invasion of his body William was finally able to utter a small yelp to which Bruce mistook as a moan.

"Ha! I knew you bitches always like a good fucking," He laughed as he hammered his dick in and out while he groped the girls breast while once again shoving his tongue through the girls thick lips. "Wish you were awake though," he said momentarily between frenching her, "With those lips made for sucking cock, I bet you give great head." And he continued his work.

All William could do was repeat the words, "Please stop, stop please," over and over again as he felt Bruce's rod slide in and out of him respectively. As this continued, he felt his vagina responding as a heat welled up and despite what he was feeling, he didn't want to feel this. He didn't find this arousing. And as his body climaxed, he felt violated as his body betray him. He was able to give out another yelp to which Bruce took as a sign the girl he was fucking actually loved this. This sent him over the edge as he came inside William. After he came, he gave a few more quick thrusts before pulling out. On feeling the semen burst inside him, William felt tears well up under his closed eyelids.

Bruce gave his breasts a final squeeze before getting off the bed and switching on the TV. William was crying in his mind, he had never felt so used. So degraded, like he wasn't even human. He wept.

A half hour later, Bruce turned the TV off and got back on the bed and started on Albert. William couldn't be more thankful that Bruce was no longer focussing on him but was equally sorry, knowing exactly what Albert was feeling, he prayed that Albert was truly sleeping and not paralysed like him.

Fifteen minutes later, Bruce was finished, and as he pulled his cloths on he looked at the naked forms of the two ladies, "You two are the finest bitches I've ever had. Maybe I'll look you two up to get some awake action. I know I'd like to get some head from a little someone," he said as he leaned over William to french him one last time while giving both of this breasts a tweak and left. He heard the car start and pull away.

William laid there, still paralysed, unable to move, he was sobbing inside the dark corner of his mind trying to forget what he went through. Minutes turned into hours as William was unable to fade into the brief respite sleep would bring him.

Eventually, as the sun rays streamed in through the curtains in the early morning hour William was finally able to move. Slightly at first, but he slowly regained control over his body. When he finally got full control of his body, he slid off the bed with his back to the drawers as he pulled his body into the fetal position and wept openly. He hated what Bruce did to him. "How could he do that to me?" he sobbed. It wasn't much long after that William realised that he did the same thing to several other women. This epiphany of what he had done made him feel even worse. Not long after, Albert had finally woke up but William found out that he too was merely paralysed as well and felt every second of what he went through. They cried together late into the afternoon. They used the bathtub to scrub their bodies hard getting the semen out of their bodies as well as trying to get the dirty feeling off them. They dressed in the revealing cloths and left.

Epilogue:

Bruce was quickly arrested and charged for assault, rape, forceful confinement, and other related charges.

William and Albert found out that they no longer existed and their male selves and were Aisha and Alanis respectively. A bond had formed between the two from what they went through so they moved in together and became lesbians for all the world to see. While they weren't close as in the sexual way with each other (still feeling Bruce's touch on their bodies when things got too far) there were plenty of tender moments between them. Some time after Alanis had gotten sick. Having missed a few periods, she bought a pregnancy test kit. She was pregnant.

When Aisha came home from work, she found Alanis in the bathroom crying. When Aisha prodded she pointed to the test kit where Aisha saw the positive sign on it.

"What am I going to do?" Alanis cried, "You probably think I'm the worst. How could I let this happen?"

Aisha sat down beside her and pulled her into a hug, "It's ok," she said as soothingly as her high-pitched voice could do.

"But what about the baby? I don't want anything bad to happen to it but I just can't live with it being his," she said stressing the last word, both having vowed to never say Bruce's name again.

Aisha rubbed her back, "Whawt ever you decide to dew, I'll support yew," she said. silently swearing to herself for her thick lips gave her a lisp. "Whawt ever happens, I'll be there fowr yew."

Water (Not) in the ear

by: Set3

After the man left and Derek finished sputtering he turned to his friend Bill, "Did you see what he just did?!"

Bill only smirked, "Heh, That guy is one crazy nut. 'Poof' and the water in your ear is gone? That guy has obviously been smoking something," he said with another chuckle.

"Well, he did do that.. But," Derek said with a level of uncertainty.

"No way, really? Wow, and I thought he was the crazy one," Bill replied mockingly.

"He did. My ear's clear now," Derek said defensively. "It's just..," he gulped at hearing his new voice.

"Just what?" Bill asked raising an eyebrow, "Did he swipe your wallet or something?"

Derek was shocked. How could Bill not see that he was now a woman? With a mote of anger, he grabbed hold of each breast wincing slightly at the alien feelings he was receiving from each, "He turned me into a woman!" he said at last.

Bill remained still for a moment, the same eyebrow raised before he covered his mouth with his hand to cover a snicker before breaking into a full chorus laugh, "Ha ha, that's rich Derek, you actually looked serious for a moment there," he said while laughing into his hand a bit longer.

Derek couldn't believe it. How could his friend not see the female body he now had? With a sneer he said, "If he didn't turn me into a woman, then explain these tits on my chest," he countered as he lifted his newfound chest up for Bill to inspect.

This action caused Bill to stop laughing as he looked at his friend and was perplexed by his actions before giving him a deadpan look, "Derek, you don't have breast," he told him flatly as he pointed to the waitress by a counter, "She has breast," he then pointed to a hot woman that had just walked by, "She really has breasts," he then pointed to Derek, "You don't have breast. Hell, you don't even have man boobs. I don't know where this sudden self image thing came from but you're no less a guy than I or any other guy is. Sure, you got long hair, but you are rockin' it. A definite chick-magnet," he told him as he looked at his watch. "We should get going. Don't want to be late for the grind stone," he told Derek sarcastically as he signaled the waitress he pointed to earlier. Bill paid for both seeing as how his friend was out of it. Derek sat there a moment longer before Bill called out to him again. Derek startled as he stood up and walked after him.

Both drove to work in their separate vehicles and for the rest of the day Derek was on pins and needles convinced that someone was going to ask why a sexy woman was working his job. But it never came. Everyone reacted to him as if nothing was ever different. This didn't ease Derek's mood and when the unfortunate time came during the day that he had to relieve himself he spent an agonizing minute trying to decide which door he should go in. With reluctance, he stepped into the woman's washroom, only to be swatted out by a woman calling him a pervert. He was able to apologize to her and avoid any lasting negative effects saying that he was so busy that he just wasn't looking when he had to go. With the threat of office harassment averted, he ducked into the men's room and was struck by another, but brief, problem of where to go. He had to pee and his natural habit of using the urinal steered him there but his new body forced him into another direction he only used for when he had to go number 2. With internal shame, he stepped into a stall, pulled down his pants and sat down and went number 1.

The rest of the day was filled with starts and stops for poor Derek. He'd scratch an itch by his crotch while in his office before thinking that he was doing something perverted, touching a woman's crotch, and then realised that he was just doing what he normally did. He constantly checked his drivers licence through the day as well and even though the picture on the card show the face of the woman, his face now, under the section stating the sex, it clearly marked male. He opened his coat and button shirt and saw his new, large, breasts being held under a plain bra. He would've explored more but was interrupted by a random knock on the door and he quickly abandoned his attempts when his boss walked in on him as he was undoing the first button on his shirt.

Through some subtle prodding, he questioned everyone he talked to about his body. And just like Bill that morning, all confirmed that he was a male through and through. Eventually, when he got home, he tried to pee as he normally did. He would have tried this at work but would have felt too awkward standing there with nothing to pull out. At home, there was no social anxiety and released the flow. He was rewarded with this action by wetting his pants.

"Shit!" he cried out closing his legs trying to stop the flow but being unfamiliar with his body, he kept going. In a frantic flurry, he twisted himself around and sat on the toilet only getting the last of it in the bowl. He sat there utterly humiliated with his soaked pants at his feet. With another string of expletives he cleaned himself up as best he could and pulled his wet pants off and tossed them in the washing machine along with the rest of the dirty laundry. He had already pulled off his the rest of his clothing adding them to the rest of the wash and walked his naked self into the shower to clean himself as well as remove the dirty feeling from his accident. He was too ashamed in wetting himself to check out his body and did his best to quickly wash himself spending time the necessary scrubbing the area around his crotch especially hard. After finishing his shower and drying off, he put on a fresh change of clothes, all seeming to have been recut to show off his curves.

"How can anyone not see that he was a woman now?" he thought to himself. If it wasn't the blindingly obvious female body he now had, all the clothing he now had definitely screamed sexy chick. And then his live-in girlfriend arrived. With the sexy sway of her hips she sauntered into the room and wrapped her arms around Derek and purred in his ear, a blatant sign she was ready for some lovin'. The rest of the night was filled with sexiness and a heavy dose of the continued awkwardness.

As the days continued Derek received more awkwardness, like a stubborn stain, as he more than once accidently worn a random article of his girlfriend's clothing. She instantly noticed, despite both his and hers were woman's clothing, and got angry at him insisting that he was going to stretch out her clothes as well as somehow being confused which article belonged to whom. It only got more confusing when they went out to a diner date and he was wearing a slinky dress as well. Still, he occasionally mixed up their underwear. The only saving grace that he could see to this confusing transformation was that he didn't seem to get periods. He was thankful for that and was sure he would've been destined for the loony bin if that happened. Maybe he didn't really turn into woman after all, maybe he was just "repackaged".

A year had passed since that strange man turned him into a woman and he was sitting with his friend Bill at the café. Unfortunately, despite his best attempts, he was unable to find the strange man. As he sat there with Bill drinking his coffee Derek occasionally tilted his head back and forth.

"What's with the crazy moves?" Bill asked between sips of his own coffee.

"I got water in my ear while I was in the shower this morning. When I move my head one way it comes out, but when I move my head back it all come back. I don't want to shove anything in there because I'm afraid I'll end up plugging it," he explained. "It's still annoying though."

Bill could only nod at that still not having experienced that, "Hey," he called him as he set his coffee down, "Remember that one time this weird guy came up and 'cured' you?" he asked.

"Y-yeah," Derek answered shifting slightly trying not to think of it.

"Who are you calling weird?" a voice called out.

The two turned to the source of the voice and found it belonged to the man that started this whole debacle.

"You got water in you ear again?" he asked. Derek nodded. "You want me to help you with that?" he asked.

"Oh god yes!" Derek cried out.

The strange man nodded with a smile, "Ok, hold still," he told him as he brought his hands up. Derek was practically humming with excitement. "Annnd... Poof," he said as he motioned his hands in a visually descriptive explosion. Just like before, there was no actual explosion or anything resembling as such.

With trepidation, Derek looked down. And down. He his chest was flat and manly again. "Yes!" he shouted in his mind as the strange man repeated his actions again up at the sky.

Derek stood up to shake the man's hand, "Thank you so much," he told him with all sincerity.

"No problem," the man said as he waved him off, "Let me know if you ever need help getting water out of your ears and I'll be happy to help," he told him with a smile before wishing him good bye and leaving.

Derek waved after him, happy that he was back to his old self. He shifted as he went to sit back down and immediately stopped. His face shifted into an awkward sneer as now that he was a man again he was instantly aware of a critical piece of information.

This morning... He put his girlfriend's underwear on by mistake.