A Second Generation Whateley Academy Adventure

Scamper 1: Pop Goes the Weasel

by

Amethyst

 

 

Part Two

 

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Wednesday, April 27th, 2016 – 1:08 p.m.

There was nothing that I could do but stare in fear and abject horror as the sharp, alien device came ever closer to my eyeball until it was practically all I could see. “Don’t close your eyes, and pay attention to what I’m doing,” my mother’s voice reprimanded. “You’re still young and you don’t need a lot of makeup yet, so we’re just adding some eyeliner and mascara to make your eyes pop.”

She had already finished putting some gloss on my lips and blush on my cheeks, but now she was putting what looked like a sharp pencil disturbingly close to my eye. That, combined with the words ‘make your eyes pop’, was not remotely reassuring. “Uhh… do we really need my eyes to pop? Because that sounds painful and I like being able to see, like a lot.”

“Stop being such a baby and pay attention, Carmen,” Mom grumbled.

Even though she was all up in my eyes and stuff, it took a moment for me to realize that she was talking to me. I was still getting used to the new name, a far more abrupt change than those that my body was going through. I had been Carlos all my life and getting used to her calling me Carmen wasn’t easy. It made things feel permanent in a way that the gradual changes in my body didn’t. It taunted me with the message, “You’re a girl now,” even though I wasn’t close to completely female yet.

I stifled a groan, stayed very still, and let her continue torturing me, keeping my eyes wide open so I could focus on what she was doing and how, while she applied the eyeliner followed by the mascara to my eyelashes. She was probably going to make me repeat this entire ordeal on my own until I got it right, so it was better to just let her do it, pay attention, and get it over with. Thankfully, she finished with my face fairly quickly and I guess it didn’t look too terrible, I was getting to be kind of pretty actually.

As I expected, Mom made me wash off the makeup with these special wipes she had gotten along with my makeup for that purpose, and then she made me try to reproduce what she had done by myself. It took me more than two dozen tries before she was satisfied with my work. Not that I could blame her since my first few attempts had been very clown-adjacent.

Only once she was sure that I could repeat the results consistently, did she call an end to the lesson, give me an encouraging ‘good job’, and head back upstairs to start making dinner. At least she wasn’t insisting that I help her with that tonight. I mean, yeah, I do enjoy good food, and I tend to eat a lot more now, but spending that much quality time with my mother still made me nervous.

It had been a month since we learned that I was well on my way to turning into a girl and things had been… weird. It wasn’t just Mom’s new campaign for mother of the year either, though that was a big part of it. Ever since we made that trip to Mesa and Mom got the news that I was changing into a girl, we had been spending a lot more time together, though I guess that wasn’t hard given how we tended to avoid each other before.

Now it was like she was trying to establish herself as a loving mother and put me through some sort of girl boot camp at the same time. Fashion and makeup lessons, cooking lessons, and all the little things that she would have taught me from childhood if I had been born a girl. We were spending a lot of time together and while a positive relationship with my mother was all I had ever wanted, something about it had me feeling nervous, like it was too good to be true.

Something just felt wrong about the way that Mom was jumping into this, and it wasn’t just mental whiplash from her sudden change in behavior. She said that I needed to ‘adjust to my new reality’ and that she was trying to help me do that to make up for being such an awful parent in the past. I could maybe understand that, but things were changing far too quickly with these lessons, the new name, the new clothes, and the new vanity in my room to remind me of my new gender.

The last had been a recent addition, something that she said every girl needed to look their best. She had been getting me girl clothes too, but not too many since I was still growing… err shrinking, and there was no sense in getting too much if we weren’t sure what size I was going to become. I guess it didn’t make sense to get all dolled up if I wasn’t going anywhere either.

If I thought that I was on lockdown before, it was nothing compared to now. Mom didn’t want me to leave the house at all until my changes were complete and we knew what I was dealing with. She said it was dangerous out there for mutants, and I couldn’t really argue that after what had happened to Mindy, or Megan as she was now called in her new identity. I did all my schoolwork from home and the only face-to-face human interaction I had was with my mother.

Megan was concerned about that, she said it wasn’t healthy, something that I was inclined to agree with, despite my social anxiety. Megan was helping to keep me sane, we texted a lot over the past month in secret, and she was supportive, if not terribly surprised about the whole turning into a girl thing. Apparently, when we saw each other in Mesa, she didn’t just think I looked like a girl but smelled like one too.

With a sigh, I stepped away from the vanity and tried to get my thoughts off the craziness that my life had become. I tried not to think about the weird girl bonding stuff with my mom, the new name, how my ears were still migrating upwards and getting bigger, how I was getting shorter, or how that little stub at my tailbone was now a fluffy poof and still growing. It was hard not to think about that last one while it made it difficult to keep my new panties and skirt from falling off my cute little ass. The shrinking probably wasn’t helping with that either.

Fuck, I needed a distraction, and as it happened, I knew just the thing. It was almost three o’clock now, and that meant that it was time for my show. Well, it wasn’t my show, but one that I had stumbled upon two weeks ago, and I watched it practically every day since.

Tangled Webs was a telenovela with a supernatural twist that started about eight years or so ago and aired Monday through Friday. It was filmed in Canada and was the first TV show to use mutants and other powered actors. At first, using openly mutant actors was a gimmick, but the show gained traction quickly and had a large mutant following from what I was able to find out online. One of the cast members was a shapeshifter too and played over a dozen roles so far over the show’s eight seasons.

Okay, I know soap operas are supposed to be a girl thing, but I was well on my way to becoming one and the show was surprisingly engrossing. Forty-five minutes later, I was snacking on some beef jerky and completely immersed in the day’s episode and a dramatic scene between Ricardo, a handsome and mustachioed Latino Exemplar, and his newlywed wife, Hanna, a very pretty blonde with an obvious light blue tint to her skin and glowing blue eyes. They were in their mansion, totally making out, when Ricardo broke the kiss and turned away dramatically.

I had to wonder if they did something different with Hanna’s makeup. She wasn’t looking quite as hot as she normally does. Ricardo looked good though. You know, for a guy. I wished I could have been that handsome and muscly before instead of a fat blob.

“I’m sorry, Hanna, I… can’t do this anymore,” Ricardo said as he straightened his suit and tie.  “I’m leaving you… for Desiree.”  

I gasped in shock and protested, “No, Ricardo! Don't leave Hanna for Desiree! Her corpse is being possessed by the Succubus, Kishandra! She’s evil! She'll devour your soul and leave you a barren husk! She drugged Hanna on your wedding night to take her place and she’s been working with your best friend, Chad, to help him get a controlling interest in your mother’s company!"

Even as I was voicing my despair at his decision, Hanna did the same on the screen and started to cry. "But Ricardo! How could you leave me for my dead twin sister's reanimated corpse?!"

"I'm sorry, Hannah, but we're in love. She’s not dead to me, she has this warmth that you just don't," Ricardo replied, unable to even look at her. I gasped again at that verbal slap to the face. Poor Hanna.

"That’s Hellfire!!!" she screamed as she sobbed in despair.

"She’s still warmer than you."

“You asshole, Ricardo!” I snapped at the screen. That was a low blow. He really went for the throat there. She couldn’t help that she got cursed with that freezing spell as a child, she was lucky to even be alive still.

Hanna ran from the room while sobbing, and then the scene switched to her twin, Desiree. I was pretty sure that she was played by the shapeshifter to give them someone who could look like Hanna, but more corpselike, and adding the gradual visual signs of decay and demon corruption. Desiree was smiling and laughing as the episode ended and the credits ran.

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Tuesday, July 5th, 2016 – 3:37 p.m.

I was trying to just veg on the couch and enjoy today’s episode of Tangled Webs, but unfortunately, I wasn’t having much success and was barely cognizant of what had happened so far. As engaging as the show was, I had a lot on my mind. First, I was a little depressed about missing the fireworks last night.

I enjoyed watching the fireworks every year, it used to be one of the few nights of the year that my mother and I would do something together and I wouldn’t have to worry about her draconian curfew. Now though, I was stuck in my room in the basement and Mom wasn’t letting me out for any reason until my changes were complete or we went back to Mesa for my next appointment with Dr. Deville, and that wouldn’t be until December. Over three months stuck in my room, whenever Mom wasn’t drilling girl lessons into my head, was starting to get to me.

Another reason for my distracted state was the envelope in my hands. The contents were just papers, but they felt heavy, like a millstone around my neck, dragging me down into the dark, deep recesses of girldom. The envelope had come by courier this morning from Mom’s lawyer and contained a new birth certificate, social security information, and a variety of other important documents, all under the name Carmen Isabella Melendez. It was official now.

I wished that was all that was going on in my life, but my body insisted on continuing to change. It was obvious, even to me, that I looked like a pretty girl now and the itchiness and light pain in my ears had finally stopped, so I was assuming that they were happy now in their spots high up on the sides of my head. They were large and animalistic looking, covered in bright white fur that contrasted my dark brown hair.

Something was happening with my nose though; it seemed to be flattening and was turning a definite shade of pink and my teeth were a lot more fang-like now. The nails on my toes and fingers were definitely claws now and covered in bright red nail polish that my mother had picked out.  It made it look like they were covered in blood, as if I just finished gutting someone with them.

My tail was longer and still growing, if the continued discomfort in my tailbone was any indication, covered in brown fur that wasn’t as dark as my hair. My body was definitely still getting smaller, and I was down in height to five feet even now, a little over four inches shorter than my starting point. This was definitely a girl’s body too, except for the small stub that remained of my manhood, it had curves in all the right places and lots of junk in the trunk. The only positive things were that I seemed to be putting on some muscle now and my breasts weren’t getting any bigger than a solid b cup.

The doorbell ringing shook me out of my dismal thoughts. No, wait, that was coming from the television. I turned my attention back to the screen in time to see Hanna walking through her mansion to the front door. When she opened it, Ricardo was standing there.

Ricardo looked like shit, the makeup artists had been doing an amazing job lately, even if Hanna still wasn’t as hot as she used to be. Ricardo’s dark hair was now nearly white, his eyes were sunken, and his skin seemed to sag on his bones. Instead of standing tall and proud like he once did, he was slouched over, like his back had given out.

Of course, he had every reason to look like shit. Hanna had gotten the house and a large chunk of his money in the divorce and his former best friend, Chad, had successfully taken over his mother’s company, locking them out and depriving him of much of his remaining fortune. And then there was the number that Desiree, or rather the Succubus possessing her corpse, had done on him. She had drained him of his life force to the point he was spiritually little more than a crushed juice box.

“Ricardo, what are you doing here?” Hanna asked frostily. She was good at frosty.

“I… I’ve come to ask you to take me back. I was wrong. How could I ever love another when I have you?” he said with a pleading look on his now wizened face.

Hanna turned up her nose at him. “No, you’re not fooling me again, Ricardo. I’m over you, I’ve found someone else, someone I’m madly in love with.”

“Who?’” Ricardo asked, and I wasn’t sure if he was despairing or plotting something.

“Catherine,” Hanna replied, sneering at him with her head held high.

“Chad’s sister?! How?! How could you betray me like this, Hanna?! Wasn’t I good to you?! Why?! Why must everyone I love leave me?! First, my father went out to get milk and never came back, then Chad betrayed me, and now you!” Ricardo was such a drama queen.

“Me?!” Hanna said, looking as if she’d been slapped. “I loved you once, but you were the one who did the leaving. You can leave again, and never darken my door again!” With that, Hanna slammed the door in Ricardo’s face.

A sleek, well-muscled, cat woman with black fur, strode into view of the camera to ask, “Who was that, honey?” The low-cut neckline of her dress showed ample cleavage and silvery tattoos on her chest.

Hanna turned to wrap the cat woman in a hug and kissed her passionately. When they finally broke off the kiss she said, “Oh, it was nobody, Cat. He was here to try to sell me something, but I wasn’t buying.” That was when the episode ended, and I was back to brooding about what my life had become.

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Saturday, October 15th, 2016 – 8:24 p.m.

I sat up in my bed, naked, tired, and frustrated with a slight sheen of sweat covering me. Nothing. Not the slightest bit of fun or pleasure to be had. No matter what hot girl I tried to imagine, I wasn’t getting even a hint of arousal, and I had been trying and experimenting for over an hour. Maybe it was because I wasn’t complete down there yet.

My former male junk had disappeared around a month ago, so now I got to experience the joy of sitting down to take a leak but given the discomfort and weirdness I was still feeling down there, the renovations probably weren’t finished yet. I was pretty sure that I’d be all girl though, by the time that I was due to have my next appointment with Dr. Deville just before Christmas. After all, that was only the beginning of the changes that I had gone through in the past few months.

My tail had grown out to be long and floofy, covered with silky soft fur that was a pain in the ass to clean and dry when I showered. I thought that it was done growing but there was still a weird sort of discomfort below my tailbone, different from what I had been feeling this whole time my tail had been growing. Maybe the growth was just slowing?

My nose had flattened into a cute little pink animal nose, almost like the kind you see on kittens. It was kind of cute, but I could have done without the whiskers, and the patches of fur, most of which was a medium brown in color, like my tail. I had this one patch around my eyes like a mask as well as some on my shoulders, neck, forearms, and lower legs. Like the fur on my tail, it was silky soft, and most of the rest of my body was covered in a soft downy fuzz that was barely visible to the eye and showed my flesh beneath.

That flesh had gone from slightly toned to sexily soft yet muscular. My abs were amazing, you could grate cheese on them. My hair was getting pretty long too, again a pain in the ass to clean, but Mom wanted me to keep growing it out and wouldn’t let me cut it shorter. The whole package might not have been too bad if it wasn’t for two major annoyances.

The first was that I was so short now, though I was pretty sure that I had stopped shrinking and reached my final height. That height was a whopping four foot seven and my weight was hovering around seventy pounds. I felt like a goddamn hobbit.

The other annoyance was the fur, though maybe I was still just sore about that. Like, literally sore about it. My face, and practically everything else, still hurt. Mom insisted on waxing it all off this morning, except that on my tail and ears. I was afraid she was going to pluck the whiskers from my cheeks too, but they were so damn sensitive that I ended up pulling away and almost crying when she so much as touched them.

I tried not to think about my discomfort, the changes, or my failed attempt to explore and familiarize myself with my changing body. The last had been frustrating beyond belief and the only reason I had attempted it in the first place was because I was so bored. This isolation bullshit was really starting to get to me. All there was to do was watch TV, listen to music, play games that I had long since finished, and girl time.

If I had to spend any more girl time with my mother, I was pretty sure that I would scream. The more time that passed, the more certain I was that this kinder, gentler mother wasn’t as genuine as she wanted me to believe. She was talking about maybe introducing me to some of her feminist friends soon, now that I was convincing as a girl, and the thought gave me chills for some reason. I never said it, but I would rather be isolated and bored than start drinking their cult Kool-Aid.

I couldn’t even watch Tangled Webs today since it was Saturday. I still watched it every day that it was on and there was a lot going on lately. Despite his decrepit condition, Ricardo was trying to get his mother’s company back from Chad. He had some sort of mysterious backer and was buying up shares to get a controlling interest. He got the last shares he needed when Hanna was kidnapped, and Catherine was forced to sell her shares to save her.

The episode on Friday had Ricardo finally taking over the company in the boardroom and Chad plotting how to get it back from him. He was having a dinner meeting with some shadowy figure when Chad suddenly couldn’t breathe and collapsed. The episode ended with a huge cliffhanger when the doctors told Catherine and their parents that Chad was dead. He’d developed a sudden, inexplicable, and fatal allergy to oxygen.

Since I was bored, it wasn’t too late, and I didn’t have my mother hovering around me, I snatched up my phone and called Megan. She was my lifeline when I was bored like this and it was nice to have someone to talk about my problems with who understood what I was going through, sort of. She picked up on the third ring and asked, “Hey, Carmen, how are you?”

“Meh, sore and bored to tears,” I replied quietly. I was a little paranoid about Mom finding out that I had exchanged numbers with Megan in Mesa and that I had been talking with her since.

‘Still changing?” she asked sympathetically.

“A little,” I agreed, "though I think the visible, external stuff is mostly done. I’ve gotten used to the discomfort by now, honestly. I didn’t think I could find anything that was more uncomfortable than the changes, but Mom introduced me to waxing today.”

“Waxing?” Megan suddenly sounded very concerned.

“Yeah,” I said, rubbing the back of my head sheepishly with the hand not holding the phone. “Mom waxed my whole body today, pretty much everything but my ears, tail, and the hair on top of my head. She says it’ll help me blend in better when we go out. She wanted to pluck my whiskers too but even having people touching them hurts a little, I don’t want to think about how much it would hurt if…”

“She did what?!” Megan sounded pissed as she interrupted me, something that was only solidified by the hissing growl that preceded her next words. “Carmen, she never lets you out of the fucking house! I’ve stayed quiet until now because I know your mother scares and intimidates you and you don’t want to make waves, but ripping out your fur when it’s part of your GSD and will only grow back, that’s fucking abuse! She’s been keeping you prisoner for months too, you said you haven’t even been outside since coming to Mesa! We need to get you the fuck out of there!”

“Megan, I…” started to protest.

Cloud Dragon wasn’t having it though as she rolled right over what I was about to say. “I know people, Carmen. If Kelly knew what was going on with you, she’d come to break you out of there and bring you here to Mesa. You’d be safe here, maybe Kelly or Frosty would be willing to take you in like Kelly did for me.” She was practically pleading with me by the end of her spiel.

“Mom’s been to Mesa, she knows that it’s a haven for people with GSD. It’s the first place she’d look for me,” I countered. “Besides, she’s not so bad… she’s been… better since I manifested. She doesn’t want to hurt me, just… keep me safe.” The words felt hollow even as I spoke them. I didn’t think that Megan would believe them, I wasn’t even sure if I did anymore.

“Carmen, please,” she said, her voice quiet and sounding a little choked up. “That’s the abuse talking, I know because I went through it too after I first manifested. You try to rationalize things, tell yourself that they really do care in their own way, or that you deserve it, but it isn’t true. Let me help you. Just give me your address and someone could be there to get you out of there tomorrow.”

I knew that Megan was saying this because she cared, but Mom really wasn’t so bad, was she? Even if I did leave, Mesa was the first place she’d probably look, just like I’d told Megan earlier. She’d drag me back home and I’d be back to square one, or worse. My chest tightened and I could barely breathe at the thought.  “Megan, I… I’ll think about it.” I disconnected the call without saying anything more.

Melendez Residence
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Friday, December 9th, 2016 – 3:50 p.m.

My heart went out to poor Hanna as she sat by Catherine’s hospital bed, holding the comatose cat woman’s hand with her hand that wasn’t in a sling. Catherine had barely survived the rabid moose attack when they had been on a romantic nature walk. Catherine had been on bended knee and proposing to Hanna in a scenic meadow when the attack happened, and she was trampled. Now she was in critical condition and the doctors said that she would likely never wake up.

Hanna had been pretty banged up too and besides having her arm in a sling, she was bruised and bandaged all over as she sobbed over her felled lover. All this less than a month after she attended the second funeral for her twin sister, Desiree. That was probably a mixed blessing though since the animated corpse was probably getting pretty ripe before the Succubus, Kishandra, jumped ship.

Even without the bruises, scrapes, bandages, and sling, Hanna looked like a wreck, her eyes red and puffy from sobbing. “You’ve been there for me through so much, Cat, and I love you. I would do anything, give anything, to save you.”

“Anything?” a sultry and feminine voice asked with an evil cackle, “even your soul?”

Hanna’s head snapped around and the camera view changed to show the entire hospital room, and in the doorway stood a sexy Asian woman with dark hair, crimson eyes, bone-white demonic horns jutting from her hairline, and a pair of black and red demon wings. I should have found her hot as hell (pun intended), but she wasn’t doing anything for me as Hanna glowered at her. Her tone was downright arctic as she hissed, “Kishandra, what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here? Well, I’m here to make a deal, of course,” the Succubus smugly replied as she sauntered into the hospital room.

“That moose was you, wasn’t it?! First, you possessed my twin sister’s corpse for months and used it to steal Ricardo, then you kidnapped me to get Cat to give up her shares in Torres Technologies, and now this! What have I ever done to you?!” Hanna exclaimed.

“It was just business,” the Succubus responded dismissively before she seemed to realize what she had been accused of and laughed. “Oh, I assure you, that moose wasn’t me. Why in Hell would I want to possess a moose? I assure you; I am very happy having my physical body back and I don’t intend to leave it again anytime soon. No, I’m here to offer you a deal, and it won’t even cost you your soul.”

Hanna’s eyes narrowed as she inquired, “What kind of deal?”

“The kind that would benefit us both,” Kishandra replied with a smile. “I can’t do anything to restore Ricardo’s lost essence, or heal your lover’s injuries, but I know of beings who can.”  Last week, Kishandra had professed her love for Ricardo, and it was revealed that she had been the one helping him get his mother’s company back. She had betrayed Chad and was the one responsible for his death. Now she was trying to restore Ricardo’s youth.

“Other Demons?” Hanna asked suspiciously.

“No, I’m afraid that these are the type of beings that I cannot summon myself, that is why I need you. There is a monastery that will have the information you need; I am afraid that I will not be welcome there, but I can tell you where it is and what you need to look for. When you have found the information we need, return here and we can both get what we want,” the Succubus said as she extended her hand.

Hanna didn’t shake it, at least not yet. “How do I know I can trust you?”

“Oh, dear, sweet Hanna. I’m not going to double-cross you if that’s what you’re worried about. I need you too much for that. I can’t get the information or do what we need to do myself, but I have the information on where you can learn to do it,” the Demoness said with a smile that showed off her fangs. “This is a simple exchange. I scratch your back, you scratch mine, and we both get our lovers healed.”

“What kind of information would I be looking for?” Hanna asked as she reluctantly took Kishandra’s hand and shook it to seal the deal.

“Oh, that’s easy, I need you to learn how to summon an Angel.” As the Succubus finished those words, the credits began to roll, and the theme song played.

I turned off the TV and considered what else I could do to relieve the boredom that had been my near-constant companion since manifesting. I could call or text Megan, but she had been trying much harder to convince me to run away and while I could admit that she might be right on a few points, the thought of running away terrified me. What if Mom found me? What if something bad happened?

Things were tense with Mom lately. She was still putting on the supportive and loving mother act, but I was becoming more and more certain that it was just that, an act. Megan was probably right about the waxing thing being abuse too, and the imprisonment. If she really was as loving and supportive as she was pretending to be, why was constantly trying to make me into some stereotypical girly girl? Didn’t that go against her whole feminist thing?

Speaking of the feminist thing, Mom wanted to introduce me to her Feminists for Freedom friends, a frankly frightening idea that I had not been looking forward to at all. There was some kind of big gathering for them this weekend in Reno, Nevada that she wanted to bring me to. I had dodged that bullet this week through sheer dumb luck.

I wasn’t sure how lucky I felt though since I was currently suffering through my first period, and it was making me all emotional and generally miserable. It had started two days ago and had also saved me from another waxing session since my fur had grown out again. I was honestly torn on whether I should be happy about it. Mom had decided to show pity on me (and maybe get away from me) by not insisting that I come with her like she wanted me to, so now I had a weekend of peace and quiet to look forward to.

My period had taken me and Mom both by surprise and I kind of freaked out about it a little at first. I guess that this meant that the changes were complete and I was officially a girl now, though I had been sort of expecting that since I hadn’t felt any weird discomfort or pain for almost a month now. I was even getting used to the girl thing, not that I had much choice in the matter, but I would much rather be a girl on my own terms instead of whatever Mom was pushing on me.

I suspected that she was trying to pass me off as someone who was born a girl to her feminist friends, what with the constant girl lessons and practice since I had manifested. It even made sense in a way. They all hated men, especially my mother, so if she could convince them that I was born a girl, rather than a boy turning into one, it would likely save her some humiliation. What I didn’t get was why she wanted me to be inducted into their man-hating ranks at all.

Just thinking about it made my head hurt, and I had enough pain already with those constant cramps from down below. I took some more extra-strength Midol to ease the discomfort and went to the bathroom to change my tampon as I tried to think of something to do to distract me and keep me from being bored to tears. I needed some fresh air and a bit of freedom; I needed to move.

For the past nine months, I had been cooped up in this damn house, learning to be a ‘proper’ girl and getting cabin fever. I hadn’t even really been able to let loose and fully test whatever powers I had. Dr. Deville had been pretty sure that I was an Exemplar and internal Energizer, but I wasn’t really sure what that meant in terms of what powers I might have.

I knew that I was stronger than I should be for my size and that I was fast and had really good reflexes, but I couldn’t push the limits of those abilities while stuck inside. I had noticed that I was pretty flexible too but was that an Exemplar thing or a power of its own? While I was lost in my thoughts, I heard my mother call down that she was leaving and would see me on Sunday, and while having some time away from her was a huge relief, I felt a familiar surge of jealousy that she could leave the house while I was stuck inside.

Nothing was stopping me from going outside, of course, but Mom would know about it instantly, even when gone for the weekend. She had gotten a fancy security system not long after we returned from Mesa, supposedly to keep me safe. I didn’t have the security codes though, and since all the windows and doors upstairs were wired, I wouldn’t be able to leave without her getting an alert on her phone. The sole window down here in the basement wasn’t wired, but it was easy to forget about since it opened to the backyard and was far too small for me to climb through.

The festering thoughts of my captivity roiled in my brain as I left my bathroom, and then I glared at the window and came to a sudden realization. The window might be way too small for Carlos to have squeezed through, but what about Carmen? I was barely four foot seven now and I might be kind of muscular, but I was also lithe and pretty damn bendy now.

The brief fear that this was a terrible idea just waiting to bite me in the ass clutched at my heart with icy fingers. There was a stronger feeling though, one that easily overwhelmed that fear, the need to get some fresh air and test my limits. I wanted to run.

I tried to tell myself that it would be fine. Mom was gone for the weekend, so it wasn’t like I would have to worry about her finding out, right? If I could manage to make it outside, I could get some fresh air and exercise for the first time in months. It would just be a little run to get my blood pumping, and I’d try to avoid any public areas where I could be spotted. I’d be gone half an hour, tops. What could possibly go wrong?

Everything. Everything could go wrong. So horribly wrong. Oh, don’t get me wrong, things went well enough at first. After I changed into a sports bra, a light T-shirt, a pair of sports socks, and sneakers, I was much more prepared for a run. I was also wearing some low-cut panties and low-waist spandex shorts that I still had to push down a little lower to be comfortable for my tail, and I had a small fanny pack hidden under my shirt and filled with cash, tampons, and other emergency items.

It was also far easier to get through that small window than I thought it would be, something I wasn’t sure whether to be happy or depressed about. Once I was free, I stuck to the alleys and side roads, just enjoying the wind on my face and the sheer joy of running and freedom. I wasn’t enjoying the bugs though; I think I swallowed a few. I was going to have to think about some kind of face covering. It was as I was considering that when I heard what sounded like some sort of alarm, and it was getting closer with each speedy step I took.

It was getting really loud, and I was just considering turning around to avoid trouble when I saw some huge dude, in what looked like a black leather costume, leaving a jewelry store just ahead with a duffle bag slung over his shoulder. Seriously, this guy was probably closing in on seven feet tall and he was a wall of muscles. I was about to run right on past, and keep on running, when it suddenly seemed like I was running in slow motion.

Then a massive hand reached out and just yoinked me right off my feet as a deep voice said, “Ha! Got you!” The big dude hefted me up by the back of my shirt and I found myself uncomfortably close to his masked face as he examined me. He sounded a little confused as he said, "You're not Bolt! You’re just some shrimpy kid.”

I rankled at the shrimpy kid comment, but he was right, and I very much wanted not to be beaten into oblivion right now. “So… uhh… that means I’m free to go now, right?”

“Nope, I’m still going to have to teach you a lesson for getting up in my business," he said with a grim shake of his head that I didn’t like at all.

“What?! You were the one who grabbed me! I was just running by and minding my own bus…”

The jerk cut me off. “Do you really expect me to believe that some speedy wannabe superhero was just passing by just as I was pulling a job here? Do you think I’m an idiot?”

“Yes! I mean, no! Yes, I was just passing by, and no, I don’t think you’re an idiot,” I said, swallowing the lump in my throat as I dangled in his grip. I was kind of hoping he was an idiot though; it might make it easier to get out of here in one piece. Maybe I could talk my way out of this. Or… I raised my arms over my head and slipped out of my shirt to drop to the ground. It left me in only my sports bra, but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make to get away.

My drop to the ground seemed slower than it should be, and I was barely on the ground and ready to make a run for it when he threw a punch at me and my life flashed before my eyes as I went limp. Somehow, I didn’t die instantly and when I opened my eyes, I found his massive arm extended above me as I was bent backward, still on my feet but the back of my head brushing the pavement.

I scurried between my own legs and tried to get to my feet before he could make another grab for me. “Damn, I really am flexible, do I even have bones?” I didn’t take the time to try to continue that line of thought as I booked it and immediately felt myself slowing down rather than speeding up like I should be. Well, damn. This was going to suck.

The rat bastard grabbed me by my tail, which was not a pleasant feeling at all as he lifted me by it and held me upside down in front of his face. Damn did that hurt. Despite the pain from my tail and blood rushing to my head and making me woozy, I had a sudden realization as I got a good look at the gold accents and horns on his otherwise black mask. “Oh shit! You’re Slowpoke!

I had seen him on the news once or twice. He was some kind of local supervillain, a speed negator who really hated speedsters and the local hero team, the Nuevo Rangers. Well, crap. I probably couldn’t run away from this guy. He’d just slow me down and grab me again. Maybe I could match his speed and try to get away somehow, or I could stick close and try to keep out of punching position.

Oh, and now he looked pissed too as he snarled, “It’s Slo-Moe, not Slowpoke!” Damn, his shaking me while I was upside down was not helping me here.

"R-really? You know that's not much better, right? I’m… umm… pretty sure the news called you Slowpoke though,” I blame the excess blood in my head for my less-than-intelligent reply. Don’t goad the supervillain, dammit!

Predictably, he took offense, the part of his face visible under his mask started to turn red as he shouted, “Even Slowpoke is probably better than whatever you're calling yourself!"

"No way, my codename is amazing,” I protested, even as I thought that I should probably come up with a codename and tried to find a position to push against his arm with my legs and free my tail. “I'm... uhhh... The Amazing Weasel-Girl?"

"Hah! I knew it, yours is worse than mine, rodent-girl!" he laughed as he shook me again.

Stop the ride, I want to get off! I was starting to get sick to my stomach as well as dizzy now from all the shaking. "Dude! No GSD-shaming! And that name is Amazing, it's right there in the name... Nah, you're right, it sucks. I'll come up with a better one when I'm not dodging punches from some asshole trying to pound me into salsa!"

He was right, that name was terrible, what was I thinking? I blamed the guy who was holding me upside down by my tail and shaking me like a magic 8 ball. I could workshop better names later, when I could think clearly. I had bigger issues to deal with. Much bigger. Like, at least four of me in mass.

He pulled me closer, trying to get a better look at me or something, I guess. It was enough that I was able to get my legs braced against his chest so I could try to push off and escape. It wasn’t helping, at least, not with the escaping part. I was no longer upside down though, so I’m going to call that progress. I could hear sirens in the distance too, so maybe I could keep him here until the cops came… and then become a hostage. That was a terrible idea.

Apparently, Slowpoke was hearing the sirens as well as he said, “It’s time for me to go. Don’t worry, I won’t kill ya, I’ll just break your legs. You can be an example for Bolt.” He reached for my legs with his huge free hand and my heart raced as I panicked in terror and redoubled my efforts to get away. That was when I felt something strange.

There was this feeling of release, just beneath my tail, like I let loose a wet fart or something, but it was different too, and I was pretty sure that didn’t come from my butt, but closer to the base of my tail. Whatever it was, it had an immediate effect. Slowpoke dropped me and was clutching at his nose and eyes, as he screamed, “What the hell is that smell?! It stinks!”

He was right, something smelled terrible, and I was pretty sure that whatever it was, some of it got on my tail and the back of my pants as well as hitting Slowpoke in the face. I was about to take the opportunity to get away when a woman’s voice called out. “Hey, guys, is that a smooth criminal? Nah, it’s just Slowpoke, the reject from Swan Lake! We were wondering where you pranced off to!”

Another voice, this one deep with a distinctly British accent, taunted, “That stink is you, Slowpoke! Broadway called; they still don’t want you!”

"Yo, Fe Fi Fo Fum, where are your ballet slippers? How's that dance degree working out for you? Still paying off your student debt?” another woman’s voice called out.

“Bolllllt!” Slowpoke yelled in fury. Oooh boy, the big guy was getting pissed. I figured that this would probably be a really good time for me to get the hell out of there. Unfortunately, I was stuck moving at a sedate walk until I was out of the range of Slowpoke’s power, and I had no idea how far that range was. On the other hand, his attention was now focused on the three costumed heroes who were cutting off his escape while keeping to a distance of around twenty feet away from the supervillain.

The first was a pretty woman in her twenties with platinum blonde, shoulder-length hair with part of the top and her bangs dyed a pale blue. She wore a flashy blue bodysuit with fingerless gloves and silver highlights, including silver-colored bracers and pauldrons. She wasn’t hiding behind a mask, and there was an iconic silver lightning bolt on her chest declaring her as the speedster Bolt, the leader of the Nuevo Rangers.

Her two teammates consisted of Toho and Crag. Toho was a Native American woman with cat ears and a tail, both colored the same purple as her hair, and she wore a costume with a distinctly  Native American look. Crag, on the other hand, was an eight-foot-tall, gray-skinned behemoth with an ogre-like face, muscles for days, and short black hair. He had no shirt but wore a red cape, tight red spandex-like pants with a gold belt, and boots and gloves that were red with gold trim.

Wait, I thought the Nuevo Rangers had four members, where was White Stag? I didn’t have time to think about it as Slowpoke charged past me toward Bolt in a fury. She zipped away though, careful to keep at least twenty feet between them as she taunted him again. “Watch out! Twinkle toes is about to pirouette!”

He got about fifteen feet away from me in pursuit of the other speedster when I felt a resistance that I hadn’t even realized was there before disappearing. It was like I was swimming in molasses before but now I could move unhindered. I was just about to run in the opposite direction of the fight when I found my path blocked by a man in a white and ruddy brown shamanistic-looking outfit, complete with a fur-lined cape. He was very serious-looking, with short, brown hair and a beard, but in place of human ears, his were more deer-like and he had a pair of antlers to match. It was White Stag.

“Ummm… hi. Nice rack? I’ll be… going now,” I said with a shaky smile as I started to edge around him.

“No,” he said simply. “Stay here. The MCO and local police have set up a cordon around the area. It’ll be better if they think you’re with us.” If they set up a cordon, speeding past it was bound to get their attention. They would probably assume I was working with Slowpoke or some shit, or at least use that as an excuse to slap cuffs on me. And then, who knows what the MCO would do to me once they had me away from prying eyes?

“Shit!” I hissed, “and I don’t have an MID yet.”

White Stag gave me a look that said we would be discussing that later and then he started chanting something under his breath. A moment later a bundle of gray cloth appeared out of thin air, and he instructed, “Put that on and wait here. Stay out of sight.”

As we were having our conversation, I could still hear the other members of the Nuevo Rangers viciously taunting Slowpoke. One of the two women said something to the effect of, “Hey, Slowpoke. Can I hire you for my nephew's birthday party? They need a dancing clown.” And now all three of them were chanting, “Dance! Dance! Dance!” as they stayed out of range of his power, and he got progressively more pissed off.

As White Stag approached the supervillain from behind, beginning to chant something quietly, I unfolded the bundle of cloth he had passed me to reveal a gray hoodie with Nuevo Rangers written on it in black lettering. The hoodie was way too big for me, fitting me like a dress when I got it on, and with the hood up it obscured my face and hid my ears. It was really baggy on me, and the hem was down past my knees, but that meant it was long enough to hide my tail too, at least most of it.

The other three members of the team were still staying at a minimum distance of twenty feet, moving to keep that distance whenever Slowpoke made a grab for one of them. He was in too much of a blind fury now to think clearly as White Stag finished casting whatever spell he was using. Nothing happened at first, but over the next few minutes, Slowpoke’s movements became more sluggish and uncoordinated until, in the midst of a final clumsy lunge toward Bolt, he collapsed to the ground in an unconscious heap.

None of them had even laid a finger on him. Only now, while they were putting some sort of high-tech handcuffs on him, did they even get close to him. I was still trying to make sense of what I just saw as the team approached me with White Stag assuring them, “He’ll be out for four to six hours. The police can come to get him now, but we’ll need to decide what we’re doing with this one.” The last was said as he gestured in my direction.

Okay, now I had a bunch of superheroes staring me down. Quick, say something clever! “Umm… did you seriously just bully that jerk to defeat?”

“It’s what works,” Crag said, the brutish-looking behemoth surprising me with a posh-sounding British accent. “His power makes fighting him difficult. Bullets and other projectiles drop to the ground before they can reach him so you have to get within melee range and even then, he’s strong, punches are so slow that he can just avoid them, and he’s an expert hand-to-hand fighter. The first time we fought him, he broke Bolt’s arm and sent Toho to the hospital.”

Toho nodded, her ears low and tail twitching in agitation at whatever memories that brought up. “That’s why we came up with this tactic. Slowpoke there has a college degree in dance, but he didn’t get any big roles except as the giant from a Jack and the Beanstalk musical at some shitty little theatre. Then he got caught slowing other dancers down to make himself look better in auditions and had to turn to a life of crime because it pays better than Starbucks. It’s a sore spot for him.”

“Yeah, and he hates me for figuring it out. He keeps trying to hurt me worse, damn near killed me last time we tangled, so I have to keep using the tactic because it works and I value my life,” Bolt said with a grimace. Then she turned her attention to me, and she didn’t look happy. “I’m more interested in who you are and what you were doing here. Trying to take on someone like Slowpoke is dangerous, what were you thinking, kid?”

“I wasn’t!” I protested before realizing how that sounded. “I mean, I wasn’t trying to take that guy on, not that I wasn’t thinking. I was just going for a run and getting some fresh air. I wanted to run right past and not get involved when I saw him and then I felt myself slow down and he just grabbed me and tried to beat the crap out of me!”

“Fine, we’ll need you to talk to the police and give a statement, then you’re free to go,” the leader of the team said, practically dismissing me.

“She has extensive GSD, Bolt, and she doesn’t have an MID,” White Stag said in a gentle tone.

“Fuck,” she muttered as she slumped. “The MCO is going to love that if they get wind of it. Toho, you and the others can handle handing Slowpoke over to the police. I’ll take the kid to our headquarters. If anyone asks, I had another urgent matter to look into.”

“I… umm…” I verbally bumbled as I tried to think of some way to get out of this.

Before I could come up with anything though, Bolt picked me up in her arms and then looked down at me in surprise. “Geez, kid, don’t you eat? Whatever, just hang on tight because we’re going to be moving fast.”

I was about to protest that I could go pretty darn fast on my own when she took off and I had to hold on for dear life. She was much faster than I was. Everything was a blur, and I was pretty sure that we broke the sound barrier at some point during the few minutes it took her to get us to their headquarters.

Santa Fe Regional Airport
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Friday, December 9th, 2016 – 5:12 p.m.

Lucía glanced warily at the MCO checkpoint as she made her way through the airport to the gate where the plane she would be taking to Reno would soon be boarding, and where some of her fellow local members of Feminists for Freedom were waiting. The checkpoint was a reminder that she would have to get the boy an MID at some point, but it would have to wait a while longer. She wanted to make sure that he was fully dependent on her for emotional support first.

It was a good thing that he wasn’t feeling well, or things would have been awkward when she tried to get him on a plane without an MID. Especially with it being so obvious that he was a mutant. It was an oversight on her part, she would have to do some research and plan more thoroughly from now on.

The boy having a period had been completely unexpected, but it was a fortunate turn of events now that she saw the checkpoint. That doctor in Phoenix had said that he was turning into a biological female, but she never would have expected that the changes would go so far. At least it would give him a taste of what being a real woman was like, possibly make him more sympathetic, and make it far more convincing that he had been born a girl if people started prying. Her continuous lessons had him to the point where he could likely convince most people that he had grown up as a girl, so she doubted that people would look beyond the surface.

She was a little concerned that the boy might try to leave the house while she was gone, but she quickly dismissed that thought. He was small and vulnerable, and she had been constantly reinforcing how dangerous the world was to people like him to prevent that from happening. Besides, she had made sure there was plenty of food in the house before leaving and he knew about the alarm system.

Only she had the code for the system and if any of the doors or windows were opened, she would get an alert on her phone. He was too cowed to disobey her that openly and too scared of what might happen to him outside, where it wasn’t safe. She had seen to that.

Carla and Sandy waved to her as she approached the gate, and once she was in conversation range the latter asked, “So, where is this mysterious daughter of yours? I thought that you were bringing her this weekend to show her what we’re all about at the convention.”

“Carmen isn’t feeling well,” Lucía replied with the saddest expression she could summon. “It’s a mutant thing, she’s still going through some changes and she’s very self-conscious about it. The changes should be finished soon though so I’m hoping to start bringing her to our regular meetings after the holidays. She’s a bit small, and probably not going to be a powerhouse, but I think she’ll be a good face for our cause.”

That reminded her that she’d have to make sure that the boy waxed all that excess hair off after their meeting with the doctor next week. He actually had a pretty face now and he was cute, like a household pet. She could work that into an image that would bring attention to their cause, it would just take some work and guidance.

Things would be easier once the boy was more sympathetic to their cause. Perhaps it was about time to tell him how he was conceived. Now that he was small and vulnerable and was experiencing what real women go through, she could probably turn him to her side and make it easier for him to take their cause for his own. Yes, she would tell him after the appointment with the doctor, maybe after Christmas when his guard was lower.

Carla shrugged her shoulders at the explanation. “Oh well. The seminars and lectures are going to be pretty dry anyway, and it’s not like she could hit the casinos with us. I’m sure she’ll be fine on her own for the weekend, Lucia. She’s a mutant so she has powers, right? Stop worrying about her and let’s have some fun this weekend.”

Lucía allowed herself a smile and replied, “You’re probably right, Carla.” She should enjoy this weekend, it would be nice to be away from the boy for a bit, not have to put on the act all the time, and have a bit of fun. She deserved this. Besides, how much trouble could the boy possibly get into without leaving the house?

Nuevo Rangers Headquarters
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Friday, December 9th, 2016 – 5:34 p.m.

“What’s your name, kid?” Bolt asked me as we were seated on a couch in the entertainment room of their headquarters.

Carmen,” I replied, not seeing any harm in giving her my first name. “So… uh… why am I here exactly? I can probably get home on my own. And I’m not a kid, I’m fifteen.”

“You’re still a kid then, and you’re here because you need an MID, Carmen, and I don’t trust those fucks at the local MCO office to not make you disappear,” she replied, her face twisted into a frown. “We have everything needed to test you here, and we can do it legally. We can test you tonight, and one of us can escort you to the MCO office tomorrow to turn in the results and get your MID, they won’t try to pull anything funny with one of us escorting you.”

“Oh, thanks? I should… umm… really be heading home though,” I told her uncertainly.

“Call your parents and tell them you’ll be late; this is more important than being home in time for dinner. You can tell them you’re here, and you’ll be safe with us until we take you home. I don’t know how you’ve gotten away without having an MID before this with such obvious GSD, but you’re living dangerously,” she said as crossed her arms and stared me down.

 “It’s just me and my mom. She’s been…” I wasn’t sure how to finish that statement as I squirmed under Bolt’s intense gaze. Acting weird? Super Creepy? I didn’t want them contacting her. If she found out I snuck out, who knows what she’d do next?  “Uhh… super protective since I manifested. Homeschooling me and stuff. I kinda snuck out to get some fresh air when she had to go out of town for the weekend. I figured I’d be gone half an hour or so, just long enough to get a good run in.”

“Your mother left you alone for the weekend?”

“Look, I know I’m short, but I’m fifteen. I can take care of myself, and I have a number I can call in an emergency,” I protested. If anything truly terrible happened, I could call Megan, or make a run for it. Megan had been trying to get me to leave home for months, so I figured she would jump at the chance to send someone to rescue me if it came to that.

After that, we just sort of sat there, awkwardly watching one another, until her teammates arrived. “So, Bolt, what did you learn about our little friend here?” Crag asked in his posh British accent as they all made themselves comfortable. I didn’t even take offense to the ‘little’ part of that statement because I was pretty sure that most people were little compared to him.

“Her name is Carmen, she’s fifteen, and she lives with her mother, who went out of town and left her alone for the weekend,” the team leader replied, still watching me and not looking all that impressed with what she had to report. “Other than that, she hasn’t been very talkative.”

Toho, the Native American catgirl, smiled and came to sit beside me to ask, “So, just you and your mom, huh? My mom raised me and my sister on her own too. Are the two of you close? She must trust you to leave you on your own for the weekend.” She looked gruff when I first met her on the street, but now that she was relaxed, she seemed to have a friendly aura that Bolt lacked. Maybe Bolt just wasn’t good with kids, not that I would admit to being one.

I froze for a second as I wondered how I should answer that. Most girls were close to their moms, right? “I… uhh… yeah, sure, I guess. She’s my mom, right? She’s been very… umm… supportive… y’know, helping me adjust since I manifested.” I couldn’t look at her as I stammered out what I thought was an acceptable answer.

“I still don’t feel good about sending her home alone to an empty house tonight,” Bolt said with a frown. “I think we should call her mother and suggest she stay here for the night after we finish testing her, then we can take her to get registered first thing in the morning.”

“No! You can’t!” I blurted out in a panic as my eyes went wide and my heart seized in my chest. “I… uhh… mean, she’s probably still on the plane.”

The four heroes shared a look that I couldn’t read but Toho placed a hand on my shoulder. “Hey, relax, Carmen. Unlike Bolt, I remember what it was like being a teenager, I won’t let her narc on you. I think she’s right about staying here tonight though, we’ll all rest better knowing that you’re safe here with us. We have a couple of guest rooms, and you’re welcome to use one of them. I tell you what, I can grab us a couple of pizzas, we can hang out, and you and I can make a girl’s night of it after we’re done with the testing.”

“I don’t know, I…” I started to protest. And then my stomach growled.

This only caused Toho to laugh. “Well, I guess it is dinner time. Pizzas first, then testing. I’ll order plenty so you can have something to eat once we’re done too. Testing burns a lot of calories. Hey, Bolt, would you mind calling the Doc and see if she has time to come and get in on this? With Carmen’s GSD, there may be some quirks that aren’t powers, and we want an accurate testing.”

Bolt quickly nodded, though her eyebrows were twitching. It was like she wanted to furrow her brow but was fighting to keep her expression neutral. “Sure thing, Toho. It’s probably a good idea for the Doc to look her over, so we know what we’re dealing with. I’ll call her while you put in our dinner order, you already know what we like on our pizzas. The guys can start setting up the training room for her powers testing.”

With that, Bolt and the others left the room, leaving me alone with Toho, who cheerfully asked, “So, what do you like on your pizzas, Carmen? Bolt likes Hawaiian, even though I keep telling her that pineapple on a pizza is just weird. Stag is a vegetarian, so he’s easy, and Crag isn’t too picky, he’ll eat anything.”

I was a little shell-shocked by the friendly, easy-going nature of Toho compared to her teammates, not to mention a little tongue-tied. “Umm… meat? Lots of meat. I… uhh… need to eat a lot of it since I manifested. I can eat other stuff, but I get cravings for it all the time.”

The perky catgirl grinned and put an arm around my shoulder. “Ah, a girl after my own heart.”

Thankfully, Toho didn’t seem to want to question me like Bolt did. Instead, she told me a bit more about herself, or rather her power set, while we waited for the pizzas to be ready for pickup. She was an Avatar and a teleporter, though the physical changes from her spirit also made her very quick and agile.

Her teleportation ability was pretty strong from what she said, but it took more time and concentration for her to take other people or large objects with her. It was useful in combat, but only to harry their opponents and avoid attacks. When Slowpoke had sent her to the hospital, he had gotten a grip on her arm, and she couldn’t teleport away while he was maintaining physical contact.

When the pizzas were due to be ready, Toho teleported away, returning five minutes later with a stack of seven large pizza boxes. I didn’t think we’d finish them on our own, but then, Toho did say she wanted to save some for me for after my testing, to recharge my batteries. Still, I ate almost an entire pizza on my own, and Crag ate two of them. There were still two and a half pizzas left (the two whole ones being meat lovers), but she figured that any we didn’t eat later would be leftovers for the next day.

The meal was a little quiet and awkward at first, for me at least, but Toho was cheerfully keeping me engaged in conversation for most of it. She seemed nice. After we all finished eating, Bolt made a quick phone call and then Toho teleported away to collect this ‘Doc’ person who would help with my testing.

I almost jumped right out of the oversized hoodie I was wearing when I saw who Toho had come back with. I recognized the dark-haired woman in the lab coat instantly, her crimson horns and spaded tail were very distinctive, and she had a bunch of portable devises (which I assumed were of a medical nature) hanging from a belt she was wearing. It was Dr. Deville.

My heart was racing in my chest, and I was lucky that the too-long sleeves of the hoodie were hiding my trembling hands. Thankfully, if she recognized me, she didn’t show any indication of it.  She looked me over thoughtfully for a moment and then turned to Toho and Bolt to give them a long look before asking, “So, this is the young lady who needs testing?”

“Yep, this is Carmen, though I guess we’ll need to think of a good codename to put on her MID,” Toho replied cheerfully. “We thought it best that you look her over since you’re the expert on GSD and she might have… medical issues.” The slight pause was a bit concerning, but I had been doing research, and medical issues in people with major GSD weren’t that uncommon so maybe she was right to be concerned.

“Well, let’s get her to your medical room then so she and I can talk while I examine her,” the doctor told Toho with a smile. “I imagine she doesn’t want a stranger examining her. Better the devil you know, after all.” She turned her smiling face back in my direction as she said the last and I thought I was going to have a heart attack right there and then.

Did she realize who I was? Or was this just a joke she used with all new patients? For a moment it felt like my heart was lodged firmly in my throat as I tried to force a giggle at the joke or find some way to respond. “I… umm… sure.” I finally stammered before allowing her and Toho to lead me to the room in question.

If she did know who I was, she didn’t say anything about it as she gave me a full physical exam and then ran a bunch of scans with the devises she had brought with her. She did note that my period was a little heavy but not much more than that. She was also able to explain a few things about my mutation.

The big thing was that my GSD seemed to be based on a ferret’s physiology, which certainly explained the ears, tail, claws, fangs, and stuff. That was why I was so bendy; she said that I had a mustelid-like contortion ability that made me very flexible and able to contort my body in inhuman ways. I was a chaos noodle.

I also possessed ferret-like anal scent glands at the base of my tail that spray a foul-smelling musk when I get extremely agitated or scared, which explained the thing that happened earlier with Slowpoke and the repeat performance when I was freaking out during my examination, afraid that she was going to call me out any minute. It’s kind of like what a skunk does, but not as bad smelling, and thankfully, it dissipates fairly quickly instead of lingering forever. Though quick in this case was roughly twenty minutes.

Just like last time, when she examined me, she told me what she was doing and why, making me hope that she didn’t recognize me after all. That only made me more afraid though. Even if she didn’t recognize me this time, there was no way that she wouldn’t miss the connection next week when I showed up for my appointment with her in Mesa. Mom would be there and if Dr. Deville said anything about today, I couldn’t be sure what she’d do, and that terrified me.

“So… uhh…” I began to say before quickly stopping myself. I was about to ask if everything we discussed here was just between the two of us, but that was a horrible idea. It would probably sound like a desperate cry for help.

Dr. Deville looked up from typing notes on a tablet and quirked an eyebrow as she gave me a gentle smile. “Was there something that you needed to tell me, Carmen? Or is there something you’re curious about?”

For a second there, I was so scared that she had caught me out and about what my mother might do when she found out that I couldn’t breathe, and I could feel tears starting to come to my eyes. I couldn’t stop them at first. “S-sorry. Umm… rough period and all, it’s… uhh… making me all emotional and shit.”

I couldn’t believe that I had just sunk low enough to use that excuse. I needed to come up with something to deflect things, quickly. “I was… uhh… wondering. Why ferret GSD?”

There was a look of concern written all over the doctor’s face as I struggled through tears to find words, but she stopped to give my question some serious thought after letting out a nearly undetectable sigh. "Dr. Angus Black of the University of Edinburgh postulated that there was a connection to non-avatar exemplars with animal-based GSD and proximity to the animals in question. He performed a study in 1986, in which 62.3% of the subjects had a geographical proximity to the animal that was represented in the GSD. However no causative agent could be found, and scientists widely ignore the study, based on a lack of a possible causative agent.”

“S-so what does that mean?” I asked, trying to dry my damp eyes without being too obvious about it.

“That it could be anything, but results are inconclusive with cases like yours. For all we know, it could be because you were exposed to some ferret hair on someone’s clothes at your school,” she replied with a shrug. “Now let’s finish up here, I’m sure that you’re eager to test your limits. I’m going to draw a vial of blood for testing, and then I would like you to go to the ladies’ room and get a urine sample for me.”

I let her take the blood and then followed Toho’s directions to the ladies’ bathroom. Getting urine samples as a girl sucks by the way, I think I got more piss on my hands than I did in the stupid little cup. After washing my hands thoroughly, I headed back to the medical room to drop off the sample and let Toho show me to their training room, where we would be doing my testing.

I could hear quiet voices as I approached, which soon faded into Dr. Deville’s voice. “… concerning, but I couldn’t find any signs of physical a…”

Whatever she was saying was cut off by Toho’s voice. “Thanks for doing this for us, Doc. We really appreciate it, and I’m sure Carmen does too. Just email us a report with your findings when you’ve finished looking over the results and let us know if there’s anything that needs to be noted on her MID.” When I turned the corner into the room, Toho’s large, catlike ears were twitching atop her head as she turned to smile at me. “Hey, Carmen! Are you ready to see what you’re made of?”

“Uhh… yeah, I guess so.” I wasn’t really feeling enthusiastic about it, and I was kind of curious about what they had been talking about. Was there something concerning about one of the medical tests?

“Great!” the purple-haired catgirl replied, seeming a lot more eager than I was. “Let’s get you to the training room and then I’ll take the Doc home.”

My powers testing took over three hours, and by the end, I was exhausted. They were able to determine that I was an Exemplar 2 and Energizer 2. They said that I appeared to have the whole mental and physical package for an exemplar 2, whatever that means, but as an energizer, my secondary nervous system greatly enhances my exemplar speed, endurance, and reflexes.

On a straight run, my top speed was measured at 87 mph, and could keep going for fifty minutes before I needed to take a break and refuel, though they believed that those numbers would improve with time and the use of my powers. Well, power since my speed was the only thing I really had going for me. Sure, I had Exemplar 2 strength, which I was told was nothing to sneeze at, and agility and dexterity at the same level, but that was basically it for actual superpowers unless you counted my insane metabolism.

I did have the contortionist stuff, and other ferret-related things like the claws, fangs, and enhanced senses. Those were pretty cool, but I wasn’t sure if I would call them super. I was trying really hard not to include, or even think about the musk thing though, that was actually kind of humiliating.

After my testing was complete, Toho showed me where I could take a shower to clean up and then set me up in one of their guest rooms and loaned me one of her shirts to sleep in. Thankfully, I wasn’t swimming in it like I was the hoodie that White Stag had given me. I guess that she washed the clothes I arrived in at some point as well, while I was wearing the one-size-fits-all black bodysuit they gave me for the testing. At least I would have something clean to wear tomorrow, and Toho was going to see if she could find a smaller shirt for me as well, to replace the one I had lost while tussling with Slowpoke.

After that, she just hung out with me in the guest room until I started to get sleepy. It wasn’t just empty talk either. She told me about her experiences as a person with animal GSD, explained why I needed an MID, and even told me about this private school in New Hampshire that was only for mutants. Then, before leaving me to sleep, and probably turning in for the night, she had me program her phone number into my phone, her personal phone number, and told me that I could always call her to talk about anything if I needed to.

I thought that I would have trouble sleeping in a strange room and a strange bed. It was definitely unfamiliar, but not in an uncomfortable way. I guess Toho had made me feel comfortable enough to relax in this unfamiliar room, or maybe I was just tired from my powers testing because I barely had time to wonder if I would have trouble sleeping before unconsciousness claimed me.

Dallas MCO Office
Dallas, Texas
Saturday, December 10th, 2016 – 10:15 a.m.

“Umm… where are we?” I asked Toho as I looked around at the unfamiliar sights. Even the air tasted and smelled different, and the city sounds weren’t right either.

We were definitely not in Santa Fe anymore. Toho wasn’t in costume this morning either, instead wearing a simple white floral sundress and sandals. She had woken me up early, made me breakfast, and then cheerfully told me that she would be taking me to an MCO office to get my MID. Now, here we were, wherever here was.

“We’re in Dallas, Texas,” the catgirl explained with a smile before glancing down at her phone. “It’s pretty friendly to mutants here, and the MCO isn’t too bad either, so I thought this would be a better place to register for your MID than at home. Come on, it looks like the MCO office is a few blocks down this way. I was a bit worried we might need to call a cab.”

Toho led me to the office in question by the hand, but it didn’t feel like she was treating me like a kid since she was giving off sort of big sister vibes and had been since after the encounter with Slowpoke. So, I figured that she didn’t mean anything by it. Soon, we were in front of a shining steel and glass building that had a sign outside marking it as our destination.

We entered the building, and Toho led me toward the reception desk, where there was a short line of people ahead of us. The person ahead of us in line was even more eye-catching than Toho and I were. They were fidgeting a lot and looked nervous from the way they kept glancing around them and it allowed me to get a good look at them.

The person was tall and lanky with slender legs and arms and their skin was green and glistening like it was moist. I wasn’t sure if it was sweat or something else. They had a slightly large head with no hair and looked kind of androgynous with large, bulging yellow eyes with odd-looking pupils. Between the fingers on their hands, I could see what looked like webbing.

I tried to mind my own business as the person stepped up to the counter, but I was close enough that my sensitive ears were able to pick up the conversation as the receptionist said, “Good morning, how can I help you today?”

The green-skinned person presented a card to her with a shaking hand and nervously replied, "I... umm.... need to change some things on my MID.”

“Certainly!” The receptionist replied cheerfully. “So... Frogman is it? What did you need to get changed?”

I looked at the floor and tried to mind my own business, but my ears weren’t having that, being so close. “I… uhh… need to get my codename and my... gender marker changed. Y'see... after I manifested and started changing, we... thought that I was just... androgynous. Last night I… started laying eggs."

I promptly covered my ears to not hear anymore, I was already embarrassed by proxy. Poor guy… err girl. I could totally relate to everything but the eggs thing. My period was still going strong and making me uncomfortable after all. Thankfully, soon her business was finished, and we were being waved forward by the sinfully cheerful receptionist. I stepped forward alongside Toho as the woman behind the counter asked, “How can I help you today?”

Toho smiled right back and offered, “This is Scamper, she needs an MID. The testing has already been done and verified, and I sent the completed forms to your office last night by email. I have copies here as well if you need them.” She reached into her purse to produce said copies and quickly presented them to the woman across the desk.

It was weird being called Scamper, and I wasn’t sure if it was something that I would ever get used to. Having a codename, not the name itself. I actually liked the name that Toho had helped me come up with last night while we were talking in the guest room.

The receptionist, her nametag said she was Linda, carefully looked over the forms, making sure that everything was in order. Finally, after several minutes of carefully inspecting the paperwork, Linda nodded. “Well, it looks like everything is in order. I’ll just call someone to take your picture, Scamper. Did you ladies need help with anything else today?”

“Thanks, but that’s all we need today,” Toho replied. Then we both thanked Linda as the man she had called to take my photo arrived and led us into the back to do just that.

Ten minutes later, we were leaving the building, and I had a shiny new MID card in hand under the name Scamper. “That was more… painless than I thought it would be,” I said in wonder as I looked at my new ID card.

“Like I said, they’re pretty friendly to mutants here. It’s a nice change,” Toho agreed. “Now how about I take you for lunch before I take you home? To celebrate your new status.”

Toho’s idea of lunch was a big steakhouse, where I enjoyed a sixteen-ounce T-bone and baked potato with all the fixings. I was going to get something less extreme, but Toho was having the same thing and insisted that I needed to celebrate. So, I was pretty stuffed when she teleported us back to Santa Fe.

Just like I asked, we appeared near the spot where I had encountered Slowpoke last night. I had insisted, and she hadn’t pressed the matter while being happy that I now had an MID with me. “Umm… thanks, Toho, and please thank Bolt and the others for me too.”

Toho smiled and, to my surprise, wrapped me in a hug. “You needed help. What kind of heroes would we be if we didn’t help you when you needed it? Take care, Carmen, and if you ever need anything, even if it’s just to talk, call me. I don’t care what time it is, or what you’re dealing with, I’ll be there for you. Never forget that you have friends who have your back, who you can come to if you need help.”

I almost told her everything, then and there. How my mom treated me growing up, her weird change in behavior since I manifested, how I hadn’t been let out of the house since, and even how I was terrified of what she’d do if she found out what happened while she was gone on her trip. I couldn’t though, the words caught in my throat with a terror like an icy hand clutching at my heart before I could speak them. Instead, I forced a smile and told her, “Yeah, I know. Thanks again, Toho.” And then I took off running as fast as I could, heading for home.

Elsewhere…

Garrett Wilcox, known as Slo-Moe on his MID and Slowpoke to the media, fumed as he sat in a cell at the local jail, the cuffs he was wearing preventing him from using his powers. He had let those damn Nuevo Rangers get to him again and now all he could do was wait to be transferred to whatever hellish prison they decided to stick him in this time. Not that he would actually arrive there.

Sharing his cell was another prisoner, one known to the world at large as Raging Inferno. He looked unimposing enough at first glance, a lanky man with average features, and dark brown hair and eyes who was wearing a simple prison jumpsuit rather than his usual flashy costume. He seemed unperturbed by their current situation.

“So,” his cellmate said as the silence dragged on. “I heard that the Nuevo Rangers played you again by using your temper against you. How does that make you feel?”

Garrett snorted in disdain. “What, are you my psychiatrist now? I’m pissed, wouldn’t you be, Inferno?”

“Just call me Joe, and yes, the old me would be pissed,” the other man said with a shrug. “Where would it get me though? In a prison cell again? I’m already on my way to one. You should really try to get a handle on your temper, my friend, it’s not doing you any favors.”

Another snort escaped as Garrett rolled his eyes. “This coming from the man who once burned down a restaurant, and everyone in it, because your wine wasn’t chilled enough.”

“Ah yes,” Joe agreed, “my temper has caused me to do some regrettable things in the past. So, if anyone knows what they’re talking about, it’s me. It’s why I’m willingly going to prison this time; I need to pay for the things I did when I let my rage control me. Plus, the solitude is nice. You should try meditation, I have a wonderful ocean waves track you could listen to while you do it, it’s very soothing.”

“Fuck that. I’ll be out of here soon. I’ve paid my insurance premiums to Pop-up, and when I find Bolt, her lackeys, and that rat-girl, I’m gonna pulverize them,” Garrett said, crossing his arms.

“Listen to yourself, Slo-Moe, this isn’t you,” Joe pressed as he sadly shook his head. “You’re a sensitive soul, and this will only continue the vicious cycle that you and the Rangers have going. Maybe what you need is a change and some free time to get back to your passion. I’ve got this nice lair set up in Phoenix that I won’t be using, it’s yours if you want it. It has plenty of space, you could set up a dance studio.”

Garrett looked at the other supervillain with narrowed eyes as he considered the offer. It might be nice to get away from the Rangers and start new somewhere. “What’s in it for you?” he asked suspiciously.

“For me?” Joe asked, seeming for a moment like he was genuinely stumped by the question.  “Well, I guess the satisfaction of helping a friend and compatriot and setting you on a path where your rage no longer controls you. It’s very liberating.”

For the next hour, Joe told Garrett all the details that he would need to know about his currently unused lair in Phoenix and Garrett found himself warming up to the idea of a fresh start somewhere new. By the time they were both loaded into the prisoner transport, Garret had committed those details to memory. They were well on their way to their destination when suddenly, a young blonde woman in a purple and black costume appeared inside the transport.

Pop-up was obviously an Exemplar, going by her figure, and the parts of her face not covered by her mask and hood, and before the guards watching over them could even react, she lashed out with a pair of batons that crackled with electricity, sending them both to the floor in convulsing heaps. An instant later, she looked at Garrett and asked, “Where am I taking you?”

The insurance rates she charged were well worth it and Garret found himself smiling as he said, “Phoenix. I need a change of scenery.”

She nodded, placed a hand on his large shoulder, and a moment later, they were both gone, but not before Joe waved farewell and said, “Goodbye, my friend. I wish you luck on your journey to enlightenment.”

 

To Be Continued