This is the twelfth story in my Legacy Universe, with the previous
stories listed below for those who haven't read them. Like the others
this is a stand alone story that touches on the others.
The Miracle Legacy
A Change of Heart
Hardshell
The Praxis Crossing
Mannequin
The Vengeance of Lady Hexx
Glamour Girl
Counterweight
Grendel and Beowulf
The Dark Legacy
The Witch Seed
Marvel and Meyhem
By Morpheus
I took a deep breath, focusing all my attention on my target, taking
careful aim and then finally pulling the trigger. There as a clicking
sound as my camera snapped the picture, capturing the image of the super
heroine Glamour Girl in what I hoped would be the perfect photograph.
"Is that it?" Glamour girl asked, looking a little impatient.
I stared at the teenage super heroine for a moment. She was a cute
blonde with an aura of rainbow light around her, though she somehow
seemed a little more mature than her age would indicate. She had been
kind enough to let me take these pictures of her, but I knew she was
nearing the limits of her patience.
"That should do it," I said with a smile. "I'm sure this last picture
will be perfect."
With that I turned my attention to my camera, keeping it ready in case
anything interesting happened. Where developed were concerned, you never
knew what could happen at any given moment. In fact it wouldn't be out
of the unlikely for some super villain to burst in and challenge her to
a fight at any given moment, and if that happened I was going to be
ready.
My name is Gavin McCleod and I am a 33-year-old photographer for
Developments Magazine, a monthly magazine version of the popular
Developments TV show. We do a lot of articles about developed who are in
the news recently, doing interviews and profiles on various famous
developed as well. Of course we usually focus more on the super heroes,
but we have enough articles on the villains that most of the developed
crowd read us in order to keep up on the competition.
At the moment my magazine was doing a profile article and interview for
the young super heroine Glamour Girl and I got the job of taking the
pictures for it, but since my job was done for the moment, my partner
Tina Schue was able to start doing hers, which was performing the actual
interview for the article.
Tina was a cute and petite blonde with a somewhat perky personality and
quick wit that could be fairly sharp at times. While I was a
photographer, she was an actual reporter, so they two of us were
frequently teamed up to work together. We'd worked together often enough
that we'd even become friends, though I sometimes thought that we could
have easily become more. There were several reasons that I'd never asked
her out, one of which was that I'd just gone through a messy divorce
less than a year ago and wasn't quite ready to start dating again,
especially not in the office.
I just stood back and listened to the interview as intently as I could,
while trying to remain unobtrusive. Glamour Girl didn't really say
anything to give an idea of who she really was, though she did say she
got her powers from some mysterious voice from another dimension for the
sole purpose of fighting off an invasion in ours. And as I listened, I
became even more amazed by just how mature and well educated she
sounded, not at all like I would have expected from a teenage girl.
Once the interview was over, Glamour Girl shook hands with Tina and
said, "I've enjoyed reading your magazine and I'm really looking forward
to seeing this article." Then she winked at me and laughed. "Just make
sure you took a picture of my best side." She left just a few seconds
later, flying out the window with a glowing rainbow trailing behind her.
"That was an interesting one," Tina said with a smile. "She wasn't at
all arrogant like that one I did last week."
"I know what you mean." I rolled my eyes. "That woman seemed to think
the world owes her for being a hero and she was pretty upset that no one
seemed to realize that."
Tina frowned, looking serious as she said, "I wouldn't be surprised if
she changes sides before long. That's usually the kind of attitude that
gets you in trouble. Just look at what happened to Force."
"Yeah." I shuddered. "I met him a few years back, before he went crazy.
He struck me as kind of a loose cannon even back then." Then I changed
the subject. "So...how about we go get some lunch?"
"I don't know," Tina responded with a thoughtful look, "I've got to
write up this interview and get it turned in."
"And I have to develop my film and find the best pictures," I pointed
out, "but there's no use working on an empty stomach."
"You could afford to miss a lunch or two," Tina teased me, gesturing to
the belly I was just starting to develop.
A short while later Tina and I were sitting at a small cafe, eating
lunch and talking about our impressions of Glamour Girl. She agreed with
me that Glamour Girl was definitely more mature than she looked, though
didn't really seem to surprised, reminding me that you can't always
judge a book by its cover.
"True," I agreed. "You remember Mister Macho, that super strong guy who
was showing up a lot a few years back?"
"I heard about him," Tina nodded. "Seven feet tall and all muscle, but
I've never actually seen him. That was before I started working here."
"Well," I grinned. "It wasn't written in the interview, but off the
record he admitted that he loves doing needlepoint to relax. He
apparently loved watching soaps too."
"Really?" Tina gasped in delight, then started to laugh. "That's
definitely an odd image."
"And Ms. Fem," I pointed out. "You know that heroine who proclaims
herself the feminist ideal?"
"Yeah," Tina frowned. "I think I met her once."
"Well." I looked around carefully to make sure no one could hear us,
then I quietly told Tina, "She used to be a HE. Apparently he somehow
got mixed up with the Sisterhood...that femnazi terrorist group. This is
all secondhand and I don't know the details, but apparently they were
trying to create an army of women with super powers and femnazi ideals
when he accidentally got in the mix and turned into Ms. Fem. Apparently
only the fact that she used to be a guy kept her from converting to
their side completely."
"Wow." Tina shook her head, then laughed. "I bet that would have been
weird for him."
Then she asked, "Did you hear about Madame Dark? Well, a contact in the
Guard told me off the record..."
Just then Tina was interrupted by a rumbling explosion from somewhere
down the street. I immediately jumped to my feet and looked around,
ready to bolt into action. As soon as I caught sight of someone with a
cape flying in the direction of the explosion, I burst into action. I
slammed a twenty dollar bill down onto the table to cover lunch, grabbed
my camera and the small but expensive camcorder that I carried
everywhere as well, then I rushed down the street.
I learned a long time ago that where developed are concerned, it pays to
be prepared. Since I take so many pictures of developed, not just in
controlled studio conditions, but out in the field as well, I also carry
a camcorder. Sometimes you can get a lot more with video than with
snapshots, and there have been a number of times when my videos have
been aired on the Developments TV show.
It only took me a minute to arrive at the scene of the chaos and take it
all in. There were two super villains whom I recognized as being members
of the Black Guild, a loose knit group of villains that had recently
been showing up. From what little I knew of the Black Guild, most of
their members preferred to work alone, but they had banded together to
offer each other assistance when they needed it.
Luminator was a man with a gold and white costume and a gold cape,
looking much more like a hero than the villain he actually was. From his
name it was pretty obvious that he had light powers, though the beams of
light he shot from his hands as he floated in the air were another good
indication. He was the caped man that I'd seen outside the cafe, though
I hadn't quite recognized him until I was able to get a good look.
The second villain at the scene was Meyhem, a super strong villainess
that I'd seen up close and personal more than once before. She was six
and a half feet tall, with big breasts and a lot of muscle, not to
mention long green hair, a skimpy costume made of green leather which
looked almost like it could have come from some kind of S&M shop. She
was actually kind of sexy, in that scary amazon super villain sort of
way.
A single glance was enough to tell me what was going on. After all there
was an armored car in the middle of the street that had been literally
torn in half, so I didn't need to be a genius to figure it out. Meyhem
stood by the armored car, gathering up bags of what I assumed were
money. Luminator just floated over head, firing blasts of light at the
people running away and laughing in delight.
"This will look great on TV," I exclaimed as I moved closer, recording
the action with my camcorder. Intellectually I knew that I should
probably be avoiding this kind of trouble, but I was too caught up in
recording every moment of this. I'd gotten in trouble because of this on
more than one occasion.
Just then Meyhem looked straight at me and exclaimed, "YOU! I've seen
you before...with HER." Her expression turned from one of amusement to
one of anger. Without another word she grabbed a car from the side of
the road as though it weighed nothing and threw it straight at me.
Suddenly something grabbed me and yanked me up into the air, just as the
car smashed into the ground where I'd been standing. There were a pair
of arms holding me and I could feel a pair of breasts pushing into my
back. I didn't need to glance at the person to know who it was,
"Marvel!"
"You just keep finding ways to get into trouble," the super heroine
known as Marvel said as she set me down on the ground and stepped back.
I just stared at Marvel for a moment, feeling my heart skip a beat. She
was a tall, athletic and sexy blonde with long hair and a single lock of
blue in the front and was wearing a blue and gold spandex costume that
had a gold M on the chest and a golden cape. This was definitely not the
first time we'd met, but I always seemed to have this reaction around
her. The fact that I had a bit of a crush on Marvel was another reason
that I'd never asked Tina out on a date.
"Thanks for saving me," I told Marvel with a grin. "Again... We need to
stop meeting this way."
"You need to stop getting yourself in trouble," she teased me. Then she
turned her attention to Meyhem and muttered, "Damn... Not her again."
Marvel scowled, then flew straight at Meyhem, hitting her with
everything she had and knocking the larger woman through the remains of
the armored car. However this didn't seem to bother Meyhem much as she
immediately got up and went after the heroine.
I just stood where I was, watching the fight and recording everything
with my camcorder. Meyhem was bigger, stronger and tougher, but Marvel
could fly which gave her the advantage in maneuverability. In the end
they were pretty much evenly matched. This wasn't actually anything new
since Marvel and Meyhem had fought several times before. In fact Meyhem
was sort of Marvel's archenemy and had developed some sort of personal
grudge against the heroine. That was pretty clear from the furious way
Meyhem attacked her.
Luminator remained where he was for a minute, looking uncertain about
what to do. Then he exclaimed, "There's no profit to either revenge or
jail." And with that he dove to the ground, grabbed a single bag of
money and flew off at a high speed. Marvel was so busy with Meyhem that
she didn't chase after him and might not even have noticed his escape.
Marvel and Meyhem continued to fight for several more minutes, while the
cops finally started to arrive and surround the area. One cop tried to
usher me back, but I slipped away from him and found a new position to
record from. The two combatants were fairly even, or at least they were
at first. Slowly, but surely, Meyhem was taking the advantage. She was
dealing a little more damage to Marvel, who was starting to tire.
"Come on Marvel," I called out, "beat this bitch!"
A minute later another figure suddenly entered the fray, this one
glowing with a rainbow aura. It only took me a second to recognize
Glamour Girl and realize that she must have still been in the area and
heard about this. I gave a silent prayer of thanks and grinned as she
turned the tide against Meyhem. With her and Marvel working together,
they were soon able to take Meyhem down.
"That was some good footage," I said, patting my camera once the fight
was over.
I remained there for a short while longer, long enough to see Glamour
Girl talk to Marvel privately for a moment, then fly off with Marvel
flying away just seconds later. Then as the police came in with some
special equipment to contain Meyhem, I decided that everything was done
and over with and I could finally go.
"Tina," I exclaimed, realizing that I'd forgotten all about her during
the excitement. I cursed myself for that, then started back towards the
cafe in case she was still there. "The poor woman missed the excitement
again." I shook my head and sighed. I'd run into and been saved by
Marvel on multiple occasions, but my poor partner always seemed to miss
out. "Too bad I can never get those two together at the same time.
Marvel would make for a great interview."
--------------------
I sat back at my desk, frowning intently as I carefully went over a pile
of photos, trying to decide which ones I should submit for our next
issue. I had already chosen the ones I wanted to use of Glamour Girl for
the interview we did last week, but I still had to decide on which one I
wanted to use of that new heroine Witch Girl, especially since I'd taken
that picture from a distance without benefit of an interview or nice
studio.
"It's getting difficult keeping track of all these new developed who
keep appearing," I mused. Of course taking pictures of new developed who
make their appearance was part of my job. I just hoped we were able to
get an interview with this Witch Girl, so I might find out what
connection if any she has to that old time super heroine Ms. Witch.
Since they looked so much alike and Witch Girl was on the same team Ms.
Witch had founded, I wondered if they might be related somehow.
"Let's see," I said, spreading the pictures out and going over them
again to determine which would be the best one of the set.
Just then I noticed Tina coming towards my desk. She stopped beside it
and glanced down at my pictures before saying, "I think I've seen her
before..."
"They call her Witch Girl," I told her. "She's a recent addition to
Faction Zero."
Tina nodded, then said, "I like the pictures you took of Glamour Girl,
but I think this one will go better with the interview..."
I shook my head. "That one isn't very good. Something about her aura
kind of messed up the picture. Here, you can see around her feet where
the colors got blurry..."
Tina and I discussed the pictures for several minutes until I pulled out
a couple of stills that I'd taken of the fight with Meyhem. "I figured
we might be able to use this in the article too," I pointed out. "It
shows Glamour Girl in action and you know how much people like the
action shots."
"That could work." Tina frowned. "Except her aura messes with the colors
in this one even more than they do in that other one."
"Yeah," I grinned, "but this one is an action picture. People tend to
expect that kind of thing in action pictures. They think it makes things
seem more authentic..."
Tina picked up a picture of Marvel and Glamour Girl simultaneously
attacking Meyhem and sighed, "Did you hear about Meyhem?"
"No," I frowned. "What?"
"The Black Guild broke her out the other day," Tina sighed. "She's
already back on the streets."
"Just great," I sighed.
"It's just hard to believe that someone like that finally gets put
away." Tina shook her head. "And the cops can't even hold them more than
a week. It's shameful."
We continued talking for several more minutes before I decided to get up
and pour myself a new cup of coffee. As I got up, I put accidentally
bumped Tina's shoulder and she winced, "Ouch..."
"Are you okay?" I asked, looking at her in concern. She'd actually
looked like she was in pain and I'd barely touched her.
Tina hesitated a moment, then told me, "I'm just bruised. Some jerk
tried grabbing me this morning on my way to work. I got away, but he was
rough enough to leave his mark."
"Damn," I grimaced. "Did you report it to the cops?"
"No," Tina looked just a little guilty, then she chuckled, "Maybe I
should sign up for self-defense lessons or something."
"I could show you a few moves," I suggested helpfully.
"Like you really know any," Tina teased me.
I just shrugged. "I was pretty big into martial arts back in college. Or
at least I thought I was. I tried out several different styles at one
time or another, but got too busy with my regular classes to keep up
with any of them. I still remember a few good moves though."
"Do you have anything I could use against a guy?" Tina asked me with a
raised eyebrow and a skeptical look. "I already know how to kick someone
in their gems..."
"Well," I responded thoughtfully, trying to remember something she could
use. Then I grinned. "There are a couple moves that are great against
larger opponents because you use their own size and strength against
them."
Tina immediately became interested and I showed her a basic throw. "If
someone grabs you like this, you just have to grab them here and roll
yourself like this. You'll bring them right to the ground if they're not
prepared for it."
I practiced the move with Tina several times, at least as much as we
could since we didn't have any kind of protective gear or padded mats.
During one of the attempts she got a little carried away and actually
managed to throw me to the floor rather painfully, proudly exclaiming,
"Eat the floor buddy..."
"Just great," I grunted as I got back up, rubbing at my back. "Now I
think I've got some bruises."
"I'm sorry," Tina apologized. "I guess I got a little carried away."
"It's okay," I winced. "but next time you might want to go to a self-
defense class and practice on someone who gets paid to get beat up."
"But you're such a good teacher," she teased me. "Can you show me
something else like that?"
"Maybe later," I chuckled. "First I have to let my pride heal up a
little."
Tina just laughed at that. "Poor baby..."
I glanced down at my watch, then said, "Well, I'm off to lunch. You want
to come along?"
Tina looked tempted for a moment, but she shook her head, "Sorry. I've
got other things I need to take care of."
After a quick, "See you later," I hurried out of the office and down the
elevator, wondering where I was going to eat today. There was a new deli
that I heard had a good Reuben sandwich so maybe I'd give them a try.
I had just left the building when I noticed a strange looking woman
standing by the main entrance. She was wearing an overcoat, but even
with it on I could tell that she was extremely skinny...almost anorexic
looking. The strange woman's eyes were hidden behind a pair of blue
goggles, though they seemed to look straight at me. Something about her
immediately struck me as familiar and not in a good way.
"Are you Gavin McCleod?" she demanded.
"Yeah," I responded carefully, trying to remember where I'd seen her
before. Then it suddenly dawned on me and I immediately stepped
backwards, though it was too late. She was already pointing a strange
looking gun at me and an instant later, everything went dark.
--------------------
I had no idea how long I was unconscious, only that when I awoke, it was
to the sound of a strange humming. However I barely noticed this sound
at first since my head was pounding. Once I did notice the humming, I
only wished that I hadn't, since it made my headache all the worse.
"Oh God," I groaned, opening my eyes and looking around. My first
reaction was, "Oh shit..." I immediately knew I was in DEEP trouble.
Just a few feet in front of me was a wall of glowing red light,
crackling and humming with that annoying sound. I quickly looked around
me and saw that the glowing red wall surrounded me on all four sides. I
was in some sort of square cage with each side being about twelve feet
across.
Once I'd taken in the cage, I began to look beyond it into the room
outside. Since the glowing red walls were transparent, I could see just
about everything around me, though it was all tinged red. I was in a
large room that I could only guess to be a laboratory due to all the
high tech equipment and the identity of the strange woman with the gun.
"Doctor Nasty," I whispered, naming the anorexic looking woman. I felt a
chill go through me as I said her name.
I didn't know much about Doctor Nasty, but I grimaced as I thought about
what I did know. She was a mad scientist of the worst sort, a trait that
she supposedly inherited from her father and his father before him.
Rumor had it that her grandfather was a Nazi scientist who used
concentration camp victims for experiments far too gruesome to even
imagine. He had supposedly taught his son to place science and curiosity
above any form of morality and that lesson had been passed down to her.
I'd never heard of Doctor Nasty until recently when her name came up in
connection with the Black Guild. From what I understood, she had been
operating behind the scenes for some time, providing weapons and
technology to anyone who could pay her fee... and offer her an
'interesting' challenge. Apparently she'd finally drawn the attention of
several law agencies and super heroes so allied herself with the Black
Guild for protection.
Every fiber of my being screamed at me to get out of here as fast as I
could, but I had a strong feeling that it wasn't going to be that easy.
The cage I was stuck in gave proof to that. In fact my best hope of
escape might be for Marvel to eventually come and rescue me...if she
could even find me. I didn't even have a clue as to where I was at the
moment.
After a minute my headache began to recede enough for me to realize that
my whole body felt...wrong. I think that a part of me had already
noticed this, but had been struggling to repress it for fear of what it
might mean. If I'd been captured by Doctor Nasty for whatever reason, it
was NOT a good thing. I gulped and slowly looked down at myself, gasping
at what I saw.
"Holy shit," I exclaimed. "No fucking way."
A single look at my body was enough to tell me that it wasn't my body,
or at least not the body I was used to. My new body was also undeniably
female, revealed by the facts that I was completely naked, had a huge
pair of tits and nothing between my long legs. And just as oddly, it was
also extremely athletic...very muscular even. I had six-pack abs and
solid muscles everywhere. When I flexed my arm, there was even a bulge
the size of a softball.
"What the hell did she do to me?" I demanded as I stared over my body,
feeling completely and totally shocked. I had no idea what to make of
any of this. "What did she do to me?"
It would have been convenient if Doctor Nasty had walked in at that
moment and explained why she'd kidnapped me and what she'd done to me,
but I saw no sign of her or anyone else for hours. I was left to sit
alone in my cage, with no one but myself and my alien body. I could have
said that I was too shocked and disgusted to give myself a thorough
exam, but that would have been a lie. I looked over just about every
little inch of my skin that I could since I didn't have anything else to
do.
The glowing red walls continued to hum around me, though I made sure not
to touch them, having a feeling that it wouldn't be a good idea to do
so. Eventually though I gave into my curiosity and cautiously touched
the wall with one finger, only to feel as though it was suddenly on
fire. I yelled and yanked my hand back, though it didn't seem to be
burned or injured in the least. In fact it didn't even hurt anymore.
However I'd learned my lesson and didn't touch the walls again.
I had been in the cage for about six hours, or at least awake in it for
six hours, since I had no idea how long I'd been in there unconscious
when Doctor Nasty finally arrived. She walked into the lab, completely
ignoring me as she went to several different pieces of equipment,
examining them and making appreciative noises or grunts of
disappointment. Eventually she arrived at my cage, pausing to stare at
me for a minute without saying anything. Oddly enough she looked kind
of...short.
"Well?" I finally snapped impatiently. "What the hell did you do to me?
Why did you kidnap me in the first place?" When she still didn't answer,
I demanded, "Come on Doctor Nasty...TELL ME!"
"Interesting," Doctor Nasty mused, looking at me with even greater
interest. "You know who we are."
Doctor Nasty reached for her hair and pulled it from her head, revealing
it to be a wig that she casually dropped to the floor. Her head was
completely bald and pale colored, making her looking even more strange.
If I didn't know better, I would have thought that she was a Holocaust
victim, but I knew that this woman was no victim. She was dangerous...
extremely dangerous. And she just continued to stare at me through those
strange blue goggles.
"Such a fine specimen of a body," Doctor Nasty mused as she looked me
over, showing the first signs of real human emotion. She was looking at
me with a look of interest...attraction even. It stunned me to realize
that she was attracted to me, or at least to my body. I'd never heard
anything about her being a lesbian, but you can't count on those reports
and rumors to cover every detail. "If that particular body wouldn't
reject us, we might take it for ourself..." She licked her lips at that,
giving me an almost hungry grin that sent chills down my spine.
"Why did you do this to me?" I asked again, this time a little more
fearfully.
"Do you wish to see that body?" Doctor Nasty abruptly asked with a grin.
"Let us show you..."
Doctor Nasty went to the wall and rolled over what seemed to be a large
blackboard, but once it was in position, she pushed a button on the side
and the whole surface shimmered and changed until it was a mirror. I was
amazed at the technology that could do that, but only for a moment
before my attention was drawn to the mirror itself and my reflection in
it.
"I look like Meyhem," I gasped in shock, immediately recognizing the
villain though I'd never seen her naked. I reached up to my large and
firm breasts, then to the green hair that went down to my lower back.
I'd noticed the green hair while examining myself, but hadn't connected
it. "I look like Meyhem."
"That is because you occupy Meyhem's exquisite body," Doctor Nasty
stated with a look of delight, ogling me with undisguised attraction.
"Such a delightful body... Unworthy of one such as you, but it is
necessary."
I stared back and forth between the mirror and down at my naked body,
trying to absorb this and having a hard time. I'd seen strange things
while taking pictures of developed, but nothing like this. Or at least
I'd never been directly involved in the weird things quite this
personally. Sure, I'd been shot at, had cars thrown at me and fallen off
buildings... but it wasn't quite the same.
"Why?" I gasped, trying to make sense of it all. "Why did you turn me
into Meyhem? Why did you put me in her body?"
Doctor Nasty continued staring at me through those eerie goggles for a
minute, her expression unreadable. Then she finally answered, "Because
she asked us to." And with that she turned and walked away, completely
ignoring me and all further attempts to question her.
I grimly paced back and forth across my small prison, barely able to
take two steps either way before having to turn again. I was feeling
claustrophobic and more than a little angry. I wanted to lash out, to
smash these walls in or just kick the shit out of someone, specifically
Doctor Nasty. Unfortunately neither option was possible at the moment.
It had been two days since I'd woken up in this cage and I still didn't
really know why I was here. Doctor Nasty didn't talk to me much, though
she had no problem standing in front of my cage and staring at me for
long periods with a creepy grin. Unfortunately I hadn't seen anyone
other than her since I woke up either so I couldn't beg anyone else for
help.
There was no doubt that things could have gotten quite messy in my cage
if it wasn't for a toilet that occasionally came up from a panel in the
floor. Food and water were provided to me through a similar panel in the
floor on the opposite side of the cage. Obviously Doctor Nasty had no
intention of starving me, though that still left me with few clues as to
what she did want.
I finally got so frustrated that I just had to lash out at something. I
punched the glowing energy wall, only to feel an explosion of pain that
shot up my entire arm and threw me across the cage where I slammed into
the other wall before collapsing to the floor. I hurt like hell for
several more seconds, but the pain was quickly fading.
"You can not damage her body that way," Doctor Nasty stated, having
watched my outburst with an amused expression. "Feel free to attempt
this again. We will not stop you."
I glared at the mad scientist and settled down on the floor, not giving
her the satisfaction of seeing me do that again. She didn't look the
least disappointed, much to my own disappointment. I'd been hoping to
shake her up, but so far the only real emotions she showed towards me
were sexual attraction. I thought about that for a few minutes and
wondered if I might be able to make use of it somehow.
After a while I began playing with my breasts and nipples. I couldn't
exactly get turned on or anything considering the circumstances, but my
ex-wife had once furiously told me that she was pretending the entire
time so I figured I could do the same. It did feel kind of good, but I
exaggerated and pretended to really be getting into this. My suspicions
were right and I soon had Doctor Nasty's undivided attention. She stood
outside my cage, silently watching me with a look of utter captivation.
"So why did you do this to me?" I asked while she was distracted. "It's
not like I could tell anyone else."
"That is true," Doctor Nasty mused, her eyes remaining locked on my
chest. "And we will likely exterminate you once your use expires."
I felt sick to my stomach when I heard that, but I continued to smile
and play with myself, trying hard to make it look like I was having a
great time. I don't think she realized how I really felt or she just
didn't care because she continued to watch me intently.
"Please," I begged, "don't I at least deserve to know why you did this
to me?"
Doctor Nasty didn't answer for a minute, so when I began to stop, she
quickly exclaimed, "You have a relationship with Marvel."
"What?" I blinked as I went back to playing, pushing for more
information.
"Meyhem believes you have a relationship with Marvel," Doctor Nasty
explained, never taking her eyes off me. "She asked us for our
assistance. She assists us in testing our new mind exchange device and
we assist her in getting revenge on Marvel."
"How will she get revenge on Marvel?" I asked, having a sinking feeling
that I already knew the answer.
"She will use your body to get close to Marvel," Doctor Nasty explained.
"Then she will kill an unsuspecting Marvel with a weapon I provided."
"Oh shit," I whispered in horror as she confirmed my fears. I'd been
holding onto the hope that Marvel would come and rescue me from this
cage and situation, but not it looks like she was the one who needed
rescuing. I had to warn her...somehow. "Meyhem doesn't know how to find
Marvel," I pointed out, hoping I could get something useful.
"And you do?" Doctor Nasty asked me with a cruel smile.
"Like you said," I bluffed, "I have a relationship with her."
Doctor Nasty actually laughed at that, though it was not a pleasant
sound, but more of a wheezing. "We already interrogated you while you
were unconscious. You do not know Marvel's location or even how to
contact her. She has always just appeared when you were in danger.
Eventually, Meyhem will locate her and complete the plan. All she must
do is create an apparent danger and she will draw Marvel to her."
I just stared at Doctor Nasty, who no longer seemed all that captivated
by my new body. She stared back at me for a moment more before turning
and calmly walking away, ignoring me and my attempts to get her
attention again. That mad scientist was really pissing me off big time.
For the next two hours I just sat in the cage, grimacing as I tried
thinking of a way to escape. I only came up with one thing though and
that was captivating Doctor Nasty enough to let me go. I tried getting
all hot and turned on, or at least looking like it so I could give her a
show and captivate her. Doctor Nasty watched, but just grinned evilly
and said, "We are not as stupid as you think." That plan was a bust and
I'd given her the show for nothing.
I paced the cage again with a deep scowl, knowing that since I was in
Meyhem's body, I also had her developed powers. I had her super
strength. I could feel it inside of me. I felt far stronger than I ever
had before in my life, though it didn't do me any good at all inside
this cage where I couldn't even touch the walls. Of course that was
obviously the intention.
It wasn't until I was going to the bathroom again, in clear view of
Doctor Nasty and anyone else should they happen to come into the lab,
that the answer suddenly came to me. The walls were all made of this
force field that I couldn't get through, but the ceiling and floor
weren't. As far as I knew the only thing beneath me was the equipment
that took care of my food and bathroom needs.
With a massive surge of hope, the first I'd felt in several days, I
grabbed the toilet and tore it right out of the foundation as easily as
if it were made of styrofoam. I felt a rush of excitement at this, at
how easy that had been. This was the first time I'd used the super
strength that came with my current body, though I wasn't about to waste
time being impressed with myself. Instead I threw the toilet as hard as
I could into the force field wall. There was an explosion of sparks and
red light going all over the place before the smoldering toilet fell
back to the floor.
"Damn," I grimaced, having been sure it would work. For a moment the
force field looked as though it were about to fail, but it hadn't quite
been enough.
I wasn't about to give up just yet though and grabbed the toilet again,
this time throwing it as hard as I could at the ceiling. It smashed
through the ceiling with a crunch, leaving wires and strange bits of
equipment exposed. The force field flickered and wavered, so I grabbed
what was left of the toilet and repeated my actions two more times until
the glowing red walls around me suddenly vanished with a loud popping
sound.
"YES," I exclaimed as I jumped out of the cage, taking a deep breath and
savoring that victory.
Doctor Nasty finally hurried back into the room, staring at me in shock
and horror. She rushed to grab a large ray gun from a table, but I got
to it faster, grabbing it and tossing it all the way across the lab.
Then I grabbed her by her clothes and lifted her off the ground with one
arm, amazed at just how small and fragile she seemed. Her anorexic body
looked as though it would snap in half without any effort at all.
"Now I've got you," I snarled, feeling quite menacing in my new body. I
could easily see why Meyhem got so carried away with causing
destruction. This kind if power had to be addicting.
"Let us go," Doctor Nasty demanded, struggling in vain to get loose.
I just glared at Doctor Nasty as I tried to decide what to do with her.
I was furious and wanted to hit her, but had no doubt that doing so
would probably kill her. However I was sick and tired of looking at
those stupid goggles of hers so I tore them from her head.
"OUR EYES!" Doctor Nasty screamed, looking at me with a pair of eyes
that seemed to be nothing, but glowing blue energy. I was so startled
that I dropped her, where she immediately scrambled around, feeling the
ground with her hands until she touched her goggles. She quickly put
them back on and calmed down a bit, though she started to back away from
me. "We can not see without our eyes..."
"What are you?" I demanded.
Doctor Nasty just gave a cruel smile and looked as though she were going
to try making a run for it, though I blocked her path and grabbed her
again. "Let us go," she demanded, "we order it."
"Kind of full of yourself aren't you," I grimaced, taking a deep breath
to calm down and remember my priorities.
My first impulse was to hurt Doctor Nasty and get out of here as fast as
I could, but I knew that there were more important things. For one, I
didn't want to be stuck in the body of a super villain much less a
woman, but even more importantly than that, I had to warn Marvel, but
since I was already at the lab, I knew I should take care of this first.
"How did you switch me and Meyhem?" I demanded of Doctor Nasty. "How
were you going to switch us back?"
Doctor Nasty hesitated a moment, but when I pulled back a fist
pretending I was actually going to hit her, she immediately gave in and
led me to a strange looking machine on the other side of the lab. "Our
mind exchange device," she told me nervously, looking afraid.
"Mind exchange device," I scowled. It was big, too big to easily picked
up and just carried out of here so my only choice was to find Meyhem and
bring her back, but since she was in my body and I was currently the one
with the super strength, that shouldn't really be too much of a problem.
"First I have to find her."
"It is our greatest invention," Doctor Nasty said, sounding more as if
she was talking to herself than to me. "We have been working on it for
nearly sixty years..."
"Sixty years?" I blinked in surprise, staring at her in disbelief. Then
it suddenly dawned on me. "Doctor Nasty...Doctor Nazi... You're the Nazi
scientist...the grandfather...."
Doctor Nasty cowered back, stammering, "Our first success was one way
mind transfer... We used it on ourselves to survive, to transfer our
mind into our own son self, but our mind did not overwrite his as
expected... Instead, we became one... And when our body wore out, we
became our granddaughter daughter self. Now this body wears out and we
need a new one... one that will not reject us. We need a body of our own
lineage and blood..."
"My God," I whispered, feeling sick to my stomach with disgust. I'd
known that Doctor Nasty was messed up, but I'd never imagined something
like this. She was some sort of twisted body thief, going from body to
body as hers wore out. And from her emaciated look and glowing eyes, I
had a feeling that there were side effects to the process beyond just
messing up her mind.
Doctor Nasty continued to babble on about her life story, telling me
things that she thought might make me more sympathetic to her, but which
only made me more disgusted. She was obviously attempting to create some
sort of emotional bond between us in some desperate attempt to keep me
from harming her, but it wasn't working. I wasn't going to hurt her just
now, but it had nothing to do with what she was saying. In fact that
only made me want to hurt her even more.
After a minute I found another cage in the lab, this one an old
fashioned type with iron bars. It wasn't as fancy as my own cage, but I
knew that it would do perfectly fine for Doctor Nasty. And since I
didn't completely trust her not to pick the lock somehow, I used my
strength to bend the metal of the door to ensure it was permanently
jammed shut. The only way for her to get out now was to cut through the
bars.
"That should hold her for now," I muttered, taking a quick look around
the lab.
Most of the lab was filled with equipment, the purposes of which I
couldn't begin to guess. There were also a number of ray guns of various
models, a suit of power armor, a half completed robot and something
which resembled a glowing green soccer ball that floated in a large
glass cylinder. However, what delighted me most was when I stumbled
across Meyhem's clothes. Sure, her costume looked like something from an
S&M catalog, but I'd been naked for several days, so even that was a
relief.
Once I was all dressed up, I looked at myself in the strange mirror
Doctor Nasty had shown me after I'd first woken up. I definitely looked
like Meyhem now, though I did lack that particular menacing aura. Still,
with a little effort I was able to mimic that a bit in my reflection as
well.
"Now to go find Meyhem and get my body back," I said. "Hopefully before
she runs into Marvel."
I went to the main door to the lab and took a deep breath, not sure of
where I was or what was outside the lab. I looked at the metal door,
then I pushed the button on the side and sighed in relief when the door
slid open. I hesitated just a moment before stepping through it and into
a large hallway.
"Now where am I?" I muttered to myself.
I scowled as I went down the hallway, trying to be prepared for
anything. Then I turned around a corner and suddenly found myself face
to face with Luminator. I braced myself to fight, but he didn't seem the
least surprised to see me.
"Oh, Meyhem," he nodded, looking up at me a little. "I haven't seen you
around for a few days. What have you been up to?"
This startled me some, especially since he obviously thought I was
Meyhem. Didn't he know about what Doctor Nasty and Meyhem had done? One
look at his face was enough to tell me that he didn't.
"I've been working on a plan to crush Marvel for good," I bluffed,
trying to sound as arrogant as I could.
Luminator nodded, "Good luck with that and let me know if you need a
hand."
"Like you'd be much help after the way you ran away the last time," I
couldn't resist taunting him.
He just shrugged though. "I just don't want to waste my time when
there's no profit in it."
Once Luminator was gone, I continued going down the hallway, feeling
more nervous than before. If Luminator was here, then who else was as
well? That question was soon answered though as I walked past two other
super villains, both known members of the Black Guild. Neither of them
seemed to think anything odd about my presence either.
"I'm in the Black Guild headquarters," I whispered in realization,
feeling a bit queasy. I was right in the middle of a group of super
villains, in the middle of enemy territory. Anyone of these people would
probably kill me if they suspected who I really was, or at least use me
as a hostage or bargaining position. However, not a single one of them
seemed to think I was anyone other than Meyhem. "This is not good..."
Of course the fact that they all seemed to think I really was Meyhem was
to my advantage. The question is, why didn't they know? Doctor Nasty and
Meyhem had been keeping me locked up right there in that lab, right
under their very noses and none of them seemed to have a clue, but after
a moment of consideration, I realized that the answer had to be pride.
Meyhem would probably feel humiliated if any of her allies knew she'd
traded bodies with a normal man. There was also the fact that as a
villain, she had a lot of enemies, some of whom were other villains. I
suspected that there were a lot of people who would love to take
advantage of this opportunity to come after her while she was weak and
without her powers.
"So the two of them kept their plan a secret," I mused, smiling faintly
as I realized the freedom this gave me. I was an impostor, walking
through a group of super villains unsuspected. It was a damn shame I
didn't have my camera with me because I could undoubtedly get some once
in a lifetime footage around here. However, I quickly reminded myself
that I had more important business. "I have to warn Marvel."
As I walked around, I listened carefully to the villains as they talked
to each other, learning a few things in the process. This base was set
up almost like a condo, with each person having their own private
section. It was like everyone of them had their own private headquarters
that just happened to share some common areas. If any of them were
attacked, the other Black Guild members were right on hand for mutual
defense. That would explain why no one else had gone into Doctor Nasty's
lab and seen me.
"I just wonder where Meyhem's section is," I thought aloud.
I still didn't know where this headquarters was located though, nor how
to get away from all these villains so I could do what I needed to. I
had to be careful not to make them suspicious or I'd end up in even
deeper trouble than I already was. Right now, my best shot was to avoid
attention and try sneaking out.
Just as I was making my plans, I noticed a new villain walking into
view. I immediately recognized him, though was a bit surprised since I'd
never heard of him being associated with the Black Guild. He was dressed
in a green and gray costume, with a green jacket and brown hair that was
pulled back into a pony tail. He even had a pleasant though cocky grin
on his face as he talked and flirted with a sex super villainess who was
walking beside him.
"Jack," I whispered.
I'd never heard of any other villain who simply went by such a plain and
unassuming name as Jack, but he was not quite any other villain. He was
nimble, quick, and could jump a hell of a lot higher than a candle
stick. His developed powers were mostly increased speed, agility and
jumping, which didn't really sound like much, but he was also known to
use energy weapons and anything else he could get his hands on. He was
also very dangerous, a fact I learned when Tina did an article about him
last month.
Jack seemed like he was just a good natured scoundrel, the kind who was
always grinning and flirting with the ladies. He'd even been compared
with Tom Sawyer a few times, though a few months ago he'd really made a
name for himself in the developed community. Right after he first
appeared, he decided to make a name for himself in a big way by killing
a member of the super hero group the Protectorate. He'd murdered the
hero Titan, apparently, just so he could go around calling himself 'Jack
the giant killer'.
After the murder of one of their own, the Protectorate and a number of
other heroes had gone on a manhunt, searching everywhere they could for
Jack. However he'd gone underground and had vanished entirely. Now I
knew where he'd been hiding since that happened.
"Damn," I scowled, desperately wishing even more for a camera.
Then Jack noticed me and grinned even wider. "Hey Meyhem, you're looking
good today." I didn't know what to say to that so decided to say
something I thought Meyhem might, which was, "Bite me."
"I'd love to," Jack winked. "I mean, I had such a great time last week.
We're really going to have to do it again sometime."
As Jack walked off I grimaced, fighting back the urge to hit him or
something. I really didn't need to know that much about the history of
my current body. Sure, it hadn't actually been me in this body back
then, but the very thought was enough to make me shudder. I HAD to get
my own body back.
I shook it off and tried to find my way out of this place again, but I
soon found that it wasn't going to be that easy. Something big was going
down and all the members of the Black Guild were being gathered together
for some meeting. If I left now, it would look way too suspicious. I
couldn't afford that kind of attention with all these villains present.
I tried to stay calm and act in character, though the problem was I
didn't know much about what Meyhem was like with these people. I'd never
really seen her in person other than when she was going on some kind of
destructive rampage or fighting Marvel. I frowned, trying to think of
everything I knew about Meyhem, which surprisingly wasn't much. I didn't
know her real identity, only that she had first appeared as Meyhem
several years ago and that she'd apparently gained her powers in some
sort of accident with a mutagenic chemical. Other than that, all I
really knew was that she was bad tempered and liked to destroy things,
getting a feeling of power of doing so.
Once everyone started gathering for the meeting, someone asked, "Where's
Nasty?"
My heart jumped as I realized what would happen if they found her. "I'll
go get her," I volunteered, then went back down the hall to her lab.
"Have you come to free us?" Doctor Nasty asked me when I walked up to
her cage. She watched me with a blank expression. "Or has Meyhem
returned from her mission and you wish to switch bodies back."
"I'm afraid it's neither," I glared down at her.
Doctor Nasty nodded, "Yes, it is a good choice to keep that body. It is
superior...and powerful. We would take it ourselves if it were not
impossible for us to do so."
"What the hell is going on?" I demanded. "There's a meeting... What do
you all have planned?"
"Merely an assault on a storehouse of weaponry the government
confiscated from prisoners sent to Mount Prometheus," Doctor Nasty
stated. "It should be quite profitable...if you like that sort of thing.
It should also provide the Black Guild with a great deal of additional
firepower."
"Great," I grimaced, clenching my fists in frustration. This was getting
even worse. Now I not only had to worry about being in the wrong body
and about some impostor trying to kill Marvel, I had to worry about a
super villain attack as well. It was too much for a poor photographer to
handle, but I didn't have much choice.
"Consider," Doctor Nasty told me, "just how much wealth and power you
can could take with that body. We believe it can also provide a great
deal of pleasure." She licked her lips, giving me a lecherous smile as
she did so. "We could help you impersonate Meyhem. We know things..."
"Just shut up," I snapped at Doctor Nasty, who seemed amused by my
response.
"With our assistance," she continued, "you would not just be an
impostor. You could BE Meyhem. All her power is yours for the taking."
"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her.
I understood what Doctor Nasty was doing. She was pushing me, probing
me....trying to see which buttons she could push. She was doing
everything in her power to convince me that I needed her. Before long
she would probably start offering me more wealth, power and knowledge
than I'd ever imagined, even if the promises were a lie.
"Damn," I grimaced, turning and leaving Doctor Nasty's lab. I returned
to where all the Black Guild members were gathering and told them,
"Doctor Nasty says she's too busy to come. Something about working on a
doomsday weapon."
"That sounds like Nasty all right," Luminator smirked.
"She wouldn't be much use on the actual raid," Jack mused thoughtfully.
"But I'd hoped she would at least be able to point out what the best
things to take are."
"I can't wait to get my hands on one of them super weapons," a petite
woman in a purple costume told me. I didn't recognize who she was, but
she did look vaguely familiar.
I just nodded and looked around at the dozen or so members of the Black
Guild who were getting ready for this assault. There were more of them
than I'd realized and all looked eager to get their hands on some of
these confiscated weapons, a fact that made me very nervous.
"I don't need no stinking weapons," I said to stay in character,
slamming a fist into my open hand. "My bare hands work just fine..."
"That's Meyhem for you," someone I didn't recognize snorted, looking at
me with disdain, "always thinking with her fists. It's no wonder she
can't beat Marvel."
I grimaced at that, wondering what an appropriate response to that would
be when Jack started calling for everyone's attention. He quickly went
over the plan, which came down to little more than everyone arriving at
once and swarming over security while a small group of three villains
would go for the weapons. It was obvious that they weren't great at
working as a team and that this was about the best they could do as far
as organizing all of them together.
Several minutes later everyone went to a hanger I hadn't even known
about and started climbing aboard two high tech aircraft. They were both
identical, looking like a cross between a jet and a UFO. However neither
of them was big enough to carry everyone so the small army of villains
was being separated. I immediately recognized this as my opportunity.
While the villains were loading into the two aircraft, I carefully
slipped away, making sure that no one saw me do this. I was out of sight
and hiding when the two aircraft took off a few minutes later, leaving
me alone.
"Just me, Doctor Nasty and an otherwise empty headquarters," I grinned,
turning around and going back inside.
Since I couldn't very well just let the Black Guild get away with their
heist, I decided to do something about it while I still had the chance.
It only took me a few minutes to find a phone, then I made an anonymous
call to report it to the police. I would have much preferred calling the
Protectorate or some other group of heroes directly, but it wasn't as
though I actually had their number. I only hoped that the mention of
Jack being involved in this would speed things up and get my tip the
attention it deserved.
"Now that I've taken care of that," I mused to myself with a deep scowl.
"I can focus on taking care of Meyhem and stopping that impostor."
I felt more than a little awkward as I stepped through the main entrance
of the building I'd worked at for the last five years. After all I was
not only in Meyhem's body, but still wearing her less than modest
costume as well. There was no doubt that I would have immediately
attracted a lot of attention if I wasn't wearing a large overcoat and
fedora hat I'd found in her part of the headquarters, but the fact that
I was six and a half feet tall couldn't be hid nearly as well.
"What a dump," I muttered, thinking about Meyhem's private quarters. The
whole place had been filled with empty beer kegs, cases of whisky and
just plain clutter. "I guess she likes creating mayhem at home too."
After a moment, I took a deep breath and reminded myself not to do
anything that would draw more attention to me than I had to. Right now,
my main goal was to simply find Meyhem and stop her. And if she was in
my body pretending to be me, the first place I should look would be the
office where I worked. I only hoped I could do this quickly and quietly.
"All I have to do is get her back to Doctor Nasty's lab," I reminded
myself.
Once I did that, I'd be able to switch us back to our own bodies and she
wouldn't be able to use mine to murder Marvel. Of course it seemed kind
of odd to protect Marvel by making her arch enemy more powerful again,
and I didn't even want to think about what I'd do once Meyhem had her
body and powers back. I was sure I'd figure out something though.
When I reached my office several minutes later, I stopped at the doorway
to look across the room and take in every detail. I immediately noticed
Tina who stood there glaring at...me. The person in my body sat at my
desk with a smug grin on his face, apparently ignoring work while
looking around. From the way Tina was glaring at my body, I had a
feeling that things hadn't been going very well in my absence.
I glared at my impostor for a moment, knowing that I should be patient,
but I couldn't help it. I stepped forward and walked towards him,
snarling, "You..."
Tina turned to look at me, her eyes suddenly going wide in recognition
before she suddenly yelled, "MEYHEM!"
Everyone suddenly turned to stare at me, jumping to their feet and
running from the room at once. Even Tina turned and ran away as fast as
she could, though I tried calling out, "Wait..." I was actually kind of
glad she'd left though as it meant she couldn't possibly get hurt. Less
than a minute later, the only one left in the large office besides
myself was Meyhem in my body, and she was glaring at me furiously.
"I can't believe Nasty couldn't hold you." Meyhem glared up at me,
pausing with a strange expression on my old face. I knew that it had to
be odd to see her own body from that perspective because it sure was
strange to me. My body actually looked kind of short from my new
perspective. "She promised me she'd keep my body safe..."
"You're coming with me," I told her, trying to look as menacing as I
could. I had to admit that I kind of liked the ability to be
intimidating, especially when I could intimidate the super villain whose
body it was. "We're going back to Doctor Nasty's lab so we can fix
things..."
I took a step towards Meyhem, but she pulled a strange looking gun out
of my desk drawer and pointed it straight at me. She had an arrogant
expression which seemed out of place on my face. "We're going back," she
told me, "but you're not in charge. You're going to go back into that
cage until I can finish what I started."
"You're not going to hurt Marvel," I told her grimly. "I won't let you.
Besides," I smirked, "I don't think you'd want to hurt your own body.
Wouldn't you rather get back to it as soon as possible, with it still in
good shape?"
Meyhem hesitated, obviously caught between the desire to be in control
and the fear of losing her body. She slowly nodded when suddenly the
windows exploded inward and something...someone came into the room. It
took me a moment before I could get a clear look and recognize who it
was.
"Marvel," I exclaimed in relief.
"Meyhem," she snarled with a furious expression. "How dare you go after
an innocent man like that?"
"What?" I blinked in surprise, then remembered that she thought I was
Meyhem. "Oh shit..."
The real Meyhem was standing back with a gleam of delight in her eyes as
she began aiming the strange gun at Marvel, but before she could
actually fire, Marvel launched herself at me, grabbing me and snarling,
"Let's take this outside." Then before I realized it, she'd thrown me
right through the window.
I fell several stories before smashing into the ground in the middle of
the street, stunned that I'd barely even felt it. Meyhem's body was
definitely pretty amazing, or at least her powers were. And just as I
was getting back to my feet, a car smashed into me, knocking me back to
the ground, but crushing the front end of the car.
"Damn," I grimaced, getting backup and shaking my head.
Just then Marvel came flying at me, hitting me again and sending me
flying across the street and into the side of another car. I got back to
my feet, beginning to get angry. I'd seen Marvel fight before, but I'd
never thought I would be on the other end of that power. She was coming
at me hard and I didn't know what to do, but I was getting tired of
being hit.
"Stop," I called out to her, "I'm not..."
But Marvel flew at me again, punching me in the face hard enough to put
a hole through a brick wall. I staggered a little, the when she tried it
again, I instinctively grabbed her arm and tossed her into the side of a
car. I immediately felt guilty for doing this to Marvel, the heroine who
had saved my life on several occasions. Unfortunately, she wasn't giving
me any other choice at the moment.
"I don't want to fight you," I told her grimly.
"So you're surrendering?" Marvel demanded. And before I could say
anything, she exclaimed, "Not yet you don't."
Marvel came at me again, but I started blocking her punches and even
throwing a few of my own, not trying to hurt her or even hit her though.
All I wanted to do was keep her back until I could clear this up.
"I'm not who you think," I started, but she threw a mailbox at me. It
didn't hurt, but it sure disrupted my train of thought since I
instinctively expected it to hurt like hell.
"I can't believe you'd go after Gavin," Marvel exclaimed furiously,
"That's a new low, even for you."
"But I am G...," I started again, only to be interrupted by a powerful
punch.
I grimaced, staring at Marvel and wondering how I could possibly get
through to her. I'd never seen her so pissed, not even the times she
fought Meyhem for real. And to my amazement, she actually seemed to be
pissed because she thought Meyhem had come after me. I felt a surge of
pride at that, but frustration as well. This only made my job all the
more difficult.
Marvel came at me with a series of attacks and I did my best to block
them without hurting her. It wasn't easy though and I had to use a few
old kickboxing kicks to knock her back and give me some breathing room.
She seemed confused by that since it wasn't the way Meyhem normally
fought and I had to wonder if maybe I could somehow use that to get
through to her.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Marvel demanded a few minutes later,
finally noticing that I wasn't really acting like the Meyhem she
expected. "What are you up to Meyhem?"
"I'm not Meyhem," I grimaced, standing back to give her a little room to
think. "And in spite of what you think, I only came here to save YOUR
life."
"Like I believe that," Marvel snorted, though she remained where she
was, watching me suspiciously.
"Look," I said, slowly moving towards Marvel and putting my hand on her
shoulder, "I'm really..."
Suddenly Marvel grabbed my hand, shifted her body and the next thing I
knew was that I was slamming into the g round. Marvel stood above me
with a look of triumph on her face, exclaiming, "Eat the floor buddy."
I stared up at Marvel in surprise, having never seen her pull a move
like that. She usually relied on just her raw strength and power rather
than fancy moves. Then I was struck by an overwhelming feeling of deja-
vu. That was the same move... In my mind, I suddenly remembered Tina
standing above me and saying the exact same thin after I'd taught her
that very move.
"Tina," I gasped in disbelief, watching as Marvel gasped in surprise.
At that moment I knew without a doubt that Marvel and Tina were one and
the same, but that was impossible... They had almost nothing in common
except for both having blond hair, and Tina's was both shorter and
darker. At the same time though, I knew how it was possible.
"You're a skitzomorph," I exclaimed. There were a number of developed
who were skitzomorphs, able to change back and forth between several
different forms, often their normal form and a super powered one. From
the look in her eye, that was obviously the correct answer.
"How...?" Marvel gasped with a note of fear and confusion in her voice.
I can imagine what she had to be thinking since she thought her worst
villain had just discovered her real identity. In her mind she had to be
afraid that her old normal life was completely and totally over.
I took advantage of Marvel's distraction to swing my foot and do a leg
sweep, knocking her to the ground as well. Then I scrambled to my feet
and stepped far enough away that she wouldn't feel immediately
threatened.
"You are Tina, aren't you?" I asked, my heart racing, "I never would
have guessed. Maybe I should have since you use some similar gestures
and phrases, but I didn't."
"You're mistaken," Marvel said in a forced voice, struggling to keep it
calm as she glared at me.
I just shook my head, then stood there with my hands held out so she
could see they were empty and that I wasn't in a threatening position.
"If I have to surrender for you to listen to me...fine. I'll do it."
"What?" Marvel blinked in surprise and confusion since I wasn't acting
anything like Meyhem, in spite of how I looked.
"I surrender," I said with a scowl. "I've been trying to tell you that
I'm not Meyhem, but you just wouldn't listen. You always were stubborn
Tina, so maybe now you'll pay attention."
Marvel just stood there, looking confused and not sure what to do. She
stared at me suspiciously befo